blow56

Sadly, I can't seem to access CM Mods Warehouse at all - all I get is a long, slow grind of the accessing website wheel of death and nothing happens. Anyone got an explanation? Other sites work fine - CMMODS was a breeze and the Repository on Battlefront.

Not sure why, but Brit vehicles seems a bit lacking in their ammo loadouts - less than 50 per cent, which gives very limited fire support for Scimitars, Warriors and the like. Problem is that there is no way, it appears, to up it - this is what they have on a Full setting. Bug? Have I missed some essential game control - or some new British Army doctrine? In my experience, you shoehorn every last piece of ammo you can beg, borrow or steal into a Warrior, since a huge amount is expended in a firefight.

Okay - I kept my Engineers until the marker changed colour, to yellow (amber one presumes). Never thought to leave them longer, of course. Can't actually understand why the program includes Yellow, since it is just as uncleared as Red, but I suppose it gives a visual clue as to progress. Thanks to all who replied

Almost certainly friendly fire - I have had similar incidents playing a Marine beach landing, particularly when the first wave AAVs ran too far up the beach and got targetted by US CAS - best part of an engineer platoon was killed and represented almost 90 per cent of total battle losses. I have actually had a casualty from a smoke mortar when I laid a screen, forgot about it and advanced the troops just as it opened fire - the first spotting round landed smack on some poor sucker.

I note that the Brits, with its 1.20 patch, includes a fix for mine marking, simply described as 'Mine marking works properly' In what way? My engineers mark mines as they always did and, as they always do, they move into the field to do it. Once marked, I try to move them out and - bam - I lose one or more to mines. That doesn't seem proper to me.

I am a few missions in to the Brit campaign and have to say - at last, a realistic determination of how modern armies are supposed to work. Brits hate casualties. Let me repeat that - Brits HATE casualties. That's why I am pleased to see the extended battle lengths, though the campaign designers are still stuck in this short, sharp engagement mode, which works with US art-heavy forces. With the Brits you take your time, use the tactics of pin and outflank - and use those incredibly useful little mortars. It highlights, of course, the inadequacies of the WMIK, the Bulldog, the Scimitar and, above all, that appalling little obsolete Spartan (which I have driven, perched above the hot engine). This also means careful positioning and support. On the interface improvements - well done for highlighting snipers, well done for bringing everything in ready-mounted and thankyouthankyouthankyou for giving us up to 4 hours of battle time. Now that I have a Light Btn (3 Para) all I need is a decent water tile to do a proper Helmand Province campaign. And some modders to come up with Euro camo for vehicles and troops and I can add the Brits to my putative campaign about UN intervention in the Ukraine.

Same result for me on the same settings - and I play a lot. SPOILER ALERT * * * * * * * * 22 Marine dead, every enemy counterattack blown away (good attacks btw) and still a minor defeat, with me just starting up to Hill 157 in overtime. What I think would balance this is: 1 - Ditching the trucks and providing AAVs or adding a couple of LAVs. The grenade launchers are a pain, but you can take them out with mortar fire The bunkers won't be shifted except by the Harrier and by the time that arrives we are in target rich environment for it. Some LAVs early on would have negated the bunkers, let me get further forward and really caused me problems with the counterattack. 2 - The Cobras are ineffectual unless you hold them back to deal with the armoured threat. I would lose them - the infantry anti-armour can take out the tanks - and add more arty. One 60mm mortar bty is not enough. Two would be better. An 80mm would be better still and also be effective against the bunkers. 3 Ignore all of the above and simply lose some of the defenders. I was surprised, at game's end, to see how many were left, considering how many I had killed, and the complex of trenches they were in. Good scenario all the same.

I don't get this 'eyes-on' thing everyone seems obsessed with. The criteria for victory condition areas such as the NAI are Touch, Preserve or Occupy. No points for watching them - so you have to get a unit on the green. The other VC, presumably, is to inflict X% damage on the enemy which you can do if you see them. Of course, the designer has, quite properly, made a lot of them Hidden and you won't see them until they are forced to move, or shoot at a target. So, short of providing them with something to hit, which endangers the other part of the VC, which is preserving your own force, you have to flush them out with fire. It is a cunning first scenario, but IMHO could still benefit from a 10 or 20% Blue initial Intel report. Intel is not a panacea, but battlefield intel is better than the intel I think Blackmoria refers to, which is CIA intel. The CIA could not find a bull's arse in a small stall with a bright light shining on it. And the minefields are mentioned in the briefing, as is the enemy artillery, which also forces caution. Be glad you never experienced the mines with a four-man Scout troop. I hate mines in CMSF because no decent way has been found to counter them - even Engineers lose casualties tackling them. s p o i l e r Just be careful of those handy ditches, perfect cover for getting close to the NAIs. The enemy have thought of that, too. Of course you do get to kill enemy in the end, when an armoured formation erupts, for no apparent reason, in a suicide rush right into the open and along the main highway from the Threat map edge area. Almost contemptibly easy to pick them off and no seeming reason for the Threat to perform such an action other than to provide a target-rich environment.

Got the .rar unpacker - thanks for that. Played through the first few missions and my impressions are - good maps, good idea, good forces, but the balance is off. I can see why you are doing it, but the fact is that either you provide more air or arty support, or - and this is probably more realistic - up the Intel level for Blue. At the moment, Blue knows nothing at all, which is challenging to the point of suicide in the first mission. If you have air supremacy (or even just superiority) you should have sat, overflight and UAV intel that tells you something of enemy dispositions. No force commander will bumble into a blank canvas, it just isn't done. If you keep the canvas blank, then the second US doctrine will come into force - recce by fire. You hit every suspected position with artillery and air strikes right from the off and see what stirs. Sending boots on the ground in to get shot at is a last, desperate option. Especially since your force Victory conditions require conservation of ammo and casualties. It is, in many cases, not enough to get eyes-on the NAIs. I actually managed to get people TOUCH all the NAIs but one - I even got the phase line on the Threat map edge - while destroying around six APCs and at least four tanks and still got a Minor Defeat, which was galling. Still playing, though, so the first rule of a good scenario is solid - keep the interest. PS Splendid use of minefields, which I tend not to use in scenarios since there is no sure, casualty-free way of negating them using Engineers. Walked straight into one, just as I thought I was safe ...

Can't seem to open these. How do they work?

Is there a trick to this that I am missing? I believed dynamic artillery to be the ability of the computer player to use artillery in-game. I was prepared for a certain amount of idiocy, AIs being what they are - but I can't seem to get my FOs to use it at all. I have placed them in brilliant positions, made them Crack or Elite and still can't get them to drop arty fire. What have I not done/done incorrectly?

The scenarios I like best are ones slightly more rooted in the reality of modern warfare. Like how a dozen dead Marines probably means a major scandal in the US. Like how, to avoid this, you use the weapons and equipment the game designers so thoughtfully and carefully provided. If the modders can agonise over the camo scheme on the MI, I don't see why designers can't take matters just as seriously. I am not having a pop at the designer of this - I liked the ant-running and big bangs too - I just thought the guy might like to know the other side of the coin as well.

Nice map - but as a beach landing battle for the 21st century, this is all wrong. Presumably you used Stryker MOUT inf because the Marine module isn't available - Marines are the obvious choice for this. Your infantry start far too close to a defended beach, complete with emplaced MG bunkers etc etc. They start debouched. All this means they are getting slaughtered before they can order smoke, arty fire or find cover. They also start all at once instead of being staggered in waves. This is a perfect beach for a WW2 D-Day landing but things have moved on in the intervening 60 years - controlled naval gunfire and smart aerial munitions would have removed the worst of the overlooking beach threats. The inf would be coming in on AAVs under cover of a massive smoke lay-down. Mines, obstacles and enemy arty fire (hidden FOs) would be their worst problem, plus the enemy BEHIND the immediate beach area, which is where a sensible defender has his counter-attack waiting (though the US would not even be contemplating an opposed beach landing if they did not have air SUPREMACY, not just superiority so the enemy capability here would be limited). If you wanted to recreate Utah beach, well done and it is enjoyable - it would be brilliant under CM. But this is CM:SF and if you want that flavour of beach landing, have a look at Pete Wenman's From The Halls Of Montezuma for some good ideas on how to make it. He also has a very nice Marsh-to-water mod included with it. Instead of the Mud (or as well as, to simulate the tide being out) try laying down some Marsh and then running some paths through it. You will see Pete uses gravel on blue water for this, which is pleasing to the eye. The reason for this is simple - it restricts your amphibs to specific paths, to represent cleared areas through underwater obstacles or mines. If you make it a rule of thumb to use Slow when moving, you can recreate the amphib speed on approach, only using normal movement when you hit the beach proper. I think this more accurately represents modern amphibious ops - but feel free to ignore any or all of this :-)

Next idiot question - are there any mods for the Abrams, converting to European camo? I thought there was, but can't seem to find any on CMMODS

This is an appeal to the mod experts - can you do the new Abrams for 1.10 in European camo? Do the old mods for pre-Marines Abrams still work under 1.10? I am creating a Georgian campaign for the Marines situated around Batumi and would quite like not to have sandy tanks!

I am almost certainly misunderstanding how Engineers work. As far as I can understand, the Mark Mines command can only be used once mines have been detected and, as far as I can see, the only way for Engineers to detect mines is the same way as everyone else - you walk into the minefield and take casualties. Even after marking mines, the area is not safe and I have lost a vehicle moving on Slow through the marked minefield. Is there no way for a: Engineers to detect and mark mines without blundering into the middle of them? b: render the minefield harmless. At the moment, laying a Mixed minefield is the single most destructive thing you can do to a unit - even of Engineers.

On a positive note - just had 155mm artillery plaster a wooded hill with dug-in enemy all over it and was pleased to note that there were still enough of them around afterwards to cause Marines casualties - but the tree cover was blown away. I am sure this never happened before 1.10 - am I right, or have I just never noticed it before?

Played a few games with Marines now and a: Vehicle pathfinding seems worse - those AAVs blunder about like blind elephants, while trucks in a line decide to go off-roading regularly. I found the only way to get vehicles moving reasonably is to keep the path increments small - even then they balk sometimes at clear gaps . b: Marines on Hunt go to ground in the oddest formations, so that only two or three out of the 13 can return fire. And they hit the dirt every time there is an explosion on Hunt mode, no matter how far away it is and no matter whose artillery is doing it.

Thanks for that - strange that it was never an issue for me with the original CMSF, or subsequent patches but only reared up when I got Marines!

Not sure if this is a bug or not - went into an old scenario to rework it with the Marines and discovered that all the previously placed bunkers were floating in mid-air. Deleted them and picked new ones - same thing. All bunkers are now floating, in incremental steps. This also applies to new maps.

So? This is the Tavor TAR-21, as far as I can tell, a bullpup design, red-dot targeting sight, standard NATO 5.56mm ammo. The Israelis used it to change over from the US M16 and many of the TAR-21 parts are similar. Columbia, Guatemala, India, Portugal and Thailand all use the TAR-21 as well as Georgia. What is your point here? Rob

I did one some time ago, based on events then (since I am an ex-journo who specialised in war zones, I can smell a conflict a long way off). I posited a UN intervention in support of Georgia using Marines landing at Batumi (securing the oil-fields there) and moving north. I did a three or four game campaign. Frankly, the idea was sound and the maps fine, but it was my first attempts at a campaign and was not very good. I may go back and re-do it post-Sept, when my copy of Marine SF comes through! I did, however, use certain Georgian forces trained by the US under the GTEP (Georgia Train and Equip Program) so you should not overlook these. Begun in 2004, the Georgian units trained up and equipped include the 12th "Commando" Light Infantry Battalion, 16th Mountain-Infantry Battalion, 13th "Shavnabada" Light Infantry Battalion, 11th Light Infantry Battalion, a mechanized company and small numbers of Interior Ministry troops and border guards. Part of this was to get Georgian forces upgraded as part of the multi-national force in Iraq. The program ended in 2007. Allegedly. Rob

Well, it does not really work as a mod (which is what I meant). Very colourful etc etc - but you can no longer enter the building from the street, since it has no door. Nor shoot out of it at ground floor, because it has no windows. Engineers can blow a hole in it, I suppose, but an entire shopfront a-la bazaar style is virtually impregnable unless you blow them all up. Shame.

Newbie idiot question - how do you get the mod to work? A 'Z' file? In what directory?

Thanks - didn't realise I had to create the Z folder. Now works perfectly.