Pirx

I prefer my female partisans to have a neck. And breasts.

What is your record for most number of kills by a single squad? I was inspired to post because of the "best showing for off-map artillery" thread. For me, it came in a game I just played. It was a Kasserine pass scenario by Rune. I was playing the defending Americans against the AI, with an experience and personnel bonus for the AI. As usual, the AI had trouble coordinating a combined arms attack and it ended up rushing 1-2 companies of unsupported infantry against against three of my American squads entrenched on the slope of a small hill. After the battle, I found that one of my regular American 1942 rifle squads had 73 kills! I really have to stop playing single player scenarios with the AI attacking, it's too easy.

Wow. With all due respect to other modders, who have been putting out good product, in my opinion these are the best mods yet! Any chance we can get a Tiger mod, and Sherman mods?

Knifefight at Cecina is a small scenario that has Shermans v Tigers. I think it is on the CD. It was the subject of a cool comic-book style AAR.

Use a covered arc for the HQ and "sneak" them to the top of the ridge, they probably won't be spotted if they dont fire at anything. As mentioned use "area fire" to mortar the enemy positions even though you can't see them, as explained in the tutorial. To be honest, I suffered a total defeat when I played the tutorial scenario according to the instructions. I don't think its a great scenario.

Thanks for the scenario and mod tips.

Dear Canadaguy I think you are mistaken about how to purchase CMAK. It is purchased online by mail order. It is not an online download. After the usual shipping delay, you receive a CD with a quick reference paper manual. The comprehensive manual is on the CD in PDF format. That is how it works in the U.S. anyway. I don't know if there are any differences when ordering outside the U.S. Any comments from Moon? I agree with you about the digital download. For big files, it just takes too long.

I started reading "An Army at Dawn" by Atkinson, which is a really good read, and got interested in playing some single player scenarios for Americans vs Vichy French or Germans in North Africa 1942-43. Does anyone have any suggestions? I downloaded the salvaged scenarios, by Birdgunner, that were on CMMODS (I assume these are some or all of the scenarios lost when the Scenario depot went down).

You have to buy the game, otherwise the terrorists will win.

Mildly disappointed. The screenshots look promising, though. I think the WWII game will be kick-ass, but like many others I am not inspired by the fictional backstory of CM:strike force. It seems a little too "politically correct" for my taste, as if BFC were afraid of offending anyone. The backstory has the Americans working with a multinational force including many other Middle East nations. What is the likelihood of that happening under the Bush administration, which will still be in power in 2007? For more realism, I would have preferred a unilateral American action against Iran or North Korea. Even better would have been a hypothetical Cold War scenario. I definitely look forward to playing the demo (if my machine is capable of it!). For me, a WWII game would be a "must buy", but I will have to wait and see about CM:SF. I don't want to seem ungrateful to BFC because the CM series has given me incredible entertainment value for my money. The new game may just not be the right one for me.

The most successful tactic in real life is not always the most successful tactic in the game. My hunch is that "bugging out", i.e. issuing a run command to troops under artillery fire, may increase the casualties. Has anyone done any experiments?

I finished the scenario with a draw (exactly 50:50). It ended a little early, after only 31 turns (was set at 30+). That was too bed because in another turn or two I would have bagged another STUG and grabbed the rearmost large victory flag, which was a "?" at the end of turn 31. I lost 13 vehicles to 3 for the Germans, and took out 5 AT guns. Thanks everybody for the advice.

Thanks for the advice. I am in the endgame now (turn 27-28 of 30+, to my recollection). Bigduke6, I see now that, as you suspected, part of my problem was showing my assualt guns piecemeal and too closely bunched together. JasonC, I am with you on the use of HE. My game plan is whack 'em with 152 mm, then close in for the coup de gras with SMG squads. Worked extremely well until I started taking the losses to German armor. I didnt do 'recon by fire' because, with the low ammo loads, I wanted to maximize the HE effectiveness. Due to previously sustained losses I am unable to attack the left flank so I am attacking with a strike force (platoon of ISU-122 and two platoons SMG squads) on the right flank, around the woods. It has been successful so far. Since resuming the scenario I have bagged two STUGIIIs and lost two ISU-152s, one of which was already immobilized. That's a better loss ratio than before. P.S. I am a wimp so I didnt give the AI any bonuses.

I would like to add another reason for the gaming popularity of WWII: the Germans had really cool uniforms. They looked evil AND stylish, and made for great-looking movie villains. I think the writer Kurt Vonnegut may have made the same observation, but I don't have the reference.

Thank you doctor. That is, in fact, how I bagged my only Tiger so far. Problem was I didnt go on the left flank in force, just advanced a single SU-152. Since in general I have better penetration and cover on the right side at this point, I am attempting a right flanking maneuver with all the AFV I can scrape together. Will let you know how it turns out.

Hilarious. I can't believe the infantry looks basically the same in CMAK as in that CMBO beta screenshot. Time for an upgrade. I got a fever, and CMX2 screenies are the cure!

*Mild spoiler alert* I played about half of the "Cracking the Egg" scenario then quit. It was pretty obvious that I was headed to at least a draw or a tactical defeat, and was not going to win the scenario. I am no expert tactician, but it seemed to me that it was a hard scenario. My infantry was doing pretty well against the German infantry. The problem was that my assault guns were getting massacred by the German tanks. Halfway through the scenario I have taken out only 1 Tiger, and my surviving assault guns are cowering out of sight of the Germans. I tried to achieve local numerical superiority, but even when engaging at 3:1 or 4:1 the crap Russian optics and turtle-paced ROF of the SU-152s resulted in near total losses on my part. Typically, all my assault guns would fire and miss. In the thirty seconds or so while they were re-loading (at least it seemed that long), the german would pick off 1-2 of my boys. I tried shoot and scoot, which didnt help much because of the higher 1st-shot German accuracy. It seems to me that the key to this scenario is developing effective anti-tank tactics that can be used with assault guns with slow ROF. Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks for reminding me what CMBO graphics looked like.

I think we are going to see the biggest improvement in the graphical representation of the infantry.

I'm guessing, because everything else out there is WWII. Another guess is that WWII has much better "brand recognition" than other conflicts, with the exception of the current Iraq war. But no data.

I think the AA gunsight view is a great idea. The current visual display of air-ground combat is definitely lacking, graphics-wise. There is no reason FOW has to be violated by a gunsight or aircraft view, in other words it doesnt have to reveal the exact type or status of spotted units. I don't think it is inconsistent with the player's role as "commander", because the game already lets you move the camera anywhere you like. CM is definitely a combat simulator, not a command simulator. If it was a command simulator, all you would be able to see is your HQ. I know some people would like a command simulator better than the current game, becuase of the increased realism. Personally, I like the god-like omniscience of CM because I dont have to miss any of the cool little things that happen during the game.

There are several hints that they are burned out on WWII. However, the market dictates that the first release be a WWII game with Americans, Germans and Tigers vs Shermans. My prediction: The first release will be Battle of the Bulge. After troubleshooting the game engine, BFC will turn their backs on WWII in order to focus on modern combat. That means no WWII modules; tough luck for the Russians, Japanese, Finns and Dorosh. Personally, I would like to see lots of WWII modules, but I am afraid it might not happen.

I agree with a simpler user interface without SOPs. One of the beautiful things about CMX1 was that the commands were relatively simple but the gameplay allowed complex strategic thinking. There are too many games where most of the so-called fun is learning the user interface, but then gameplay is unimaginative and boring.

Please add: 1. convoy order so that vehicles not under fire can travel along a road 2. campaign system. no need for gamey experience pionts or promotions, just a semi-historical series of battles or operations involving the same unit. 3. gliders, parachutes, landing craft 4. more control over ammunition expenditure, including squads and tanks as well as artillery 5. ability to select an area for the "area fire" command, if desired Please keep: 1. "WEGO" system 2. WWII setting (for initial release) 3. PBEM 4. Similar ease of use of interface, i.e. pls avoid excessive micromanagement with move to 1:1. 5. Lots of playable vehicle, artillery and squad types.

For the men who go "elsewhere" during the fighting, where is this "elsewhere"? It doesnt seem right to have them simply vanish from the battlefield into thin air, particularly if the vanished do not count towards casualty points. Instead they should still be present and able to become casualties at a later point from artillery fire, etc. If they are graphically represented there will be a lot of single individuals on the battlefield, twiddling their thumbs, which might get too visually complicated.