Vinnart

Hi,
As far as I can recall, I have never written a message like this one in a game's community.
I also confess that before arriving here, I've read once or twice that the CM Community is only made of fan boys, etc.
Now my factual experience is the following:
I joined 2 weeks ago and posted 12 questions by creating new threads or writing into existing ones.
I received answers from 17 mates, some of them participated in different threads.
@Artkin @Vacillator @Heirloom_Tomato @StieliAlpha @ASL Veteran @Ivan Zaitzev @37mm @kevinkin @Paper Tiger @Codreanu @PEB14 @Warts 'n' all @landser 
@chuckdyke @Bulletpoint @JM Stuff @SlowMotion ... sorry if I missed someone.
95% of my questions have been answered, the 5% remaining were not so important.
I've also received some help offer through private messaging from 2 guys who spontaneously call me 'mate' or 'friend' 👍
Thanks guys! Much appreciated 😀

And thanks to these authors because I have started using their MODs:
@Ithikial_AU @kohlenklau @Juju @Vinnart
Thanks also to @Bootie for his portal.
PS: quick question: when I write @nickmame_of_a_user he gets notified in the forum interface?

Nice post... we can be nice sometimes... LOL

Yes, All-Star-Blazers' was one of my Fav Anima back in the day.
Also, to include others (Anima, and non-Anima): Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Thunderbirds, Space 1999...Ahh Yes, the Good Ole Days 🙂

Welcome to the groghood, your search is over. You found the best! Started playing 20 yrs ago, and still nothing else compares.

Hello all,
i have been wargaming for a few years now, but only have recently stumbled across Combat Mission.
Never thought that this game series is such a positive surprise for me. All the years i have searched for a PC wargaming experience which gives me this immersive feeling to live through a authentic, tactical battle situation in a historical context. As a history and WW2 buff, i really like to read detailed through all the excellent historical briefings before a mission/campaign. 
Also despite Combat Mission has not absolute AAA graphics, it´s the only wargame which for me delievers this authentic, desperate and gritty battle atmosphere i also get from series/movies like Band of Brothers or Fury. I can really imagine the fear of the american soldiers in their foxholes, when they hear a german tiger approaching...
Finally i cannot praise the community enough for making all the high quality mods and historical scenarios/campaigns. Iam like a child in the candy store in browsing through all the user content and cannot decide what to play next...
Iam really looking forward what the future brings to this series, for now i have a huge backlog of scenarios and campaigns which i need to play through the next months.
So just wanted to say "Thank you" to the devs and all the passionate content creators of the community for giving me this absolutely great and unique wargaming experience.
 

Hi,
have you guys seen this? 
You probably have but worth watching if not. Interesting to see how the military use CM.  
Unimaginably lucky to have CM. For tactics, tactics and more tactics functions in a different stratosphere to other wargames🙂. 
All the best,
Kip.
 

So many dead boys and heartbroken families. Will the world ever learn? Every time I see one of those pictures of endless rows of graves it reminds me of why I painted and wrote this.

The Meatplow
Oil painting and poem by Vincent Monaco
Into the meatplow,
Our sons always go.
They go to be cut to pieces,
Rather than to live, and to grow. The meatplow turns,
Yielding it's gnashing teeth.
Devouring all,
All the kids that it meets.
It butchers our boys,
Leaving only horror and sadness in its wake,
But we keep turning it back on,
Sometimes it seems we just can't wait.
The meatplow is so horrible,
It spins its razored head,
Sending them back to us dead.
Why? Why haven't we learned the lesson yet?
How can we rationalize,
The harvest this evil beast reaps?
Constantly feeding it our sons,
Continually for its meat.
 

Hi everyone! I've put out a new video where I compare a combat mission scenario to both the historical events that are portrayed and the actual real-life location. I thought I'd post this on the General Discussion board as it's also kind of about Combat Mission scenario design and research in general.
As it's about a Market Garden scenario, I've slept a quite few hours less the past few nights in order to get this video done in time for Operation Market Garden's 78th anniversary on saturday the 17th of september. I hope you'll find it interesting; spending the day basicly giving myself a battlefield tour and filming the locations of the scenario that I just played was amazing. Geeky, for sure, but amazing 😁.
Props to @Pete Wenman who is the author of this scenario for his excellent research and scenario design.
 
 

I'm sure many things left out of the game are matters of having to streamline the design, but also to where to allocate time and manpower to develop one feature over another. Development is a process no matter what it is. Sacrifices are always made to come to something that is a happy medium. You can have a warship for an analogy, but it can't have planes, helicopters, missiles, big guns, and be super fast and fuel efficient all in one package for practical reasons. The good thing about development is it is an ongoing process. Those of us who have played CMx2 since its 1st version have seen it improve over time with added features or refinements in code with each version so I don't think they plan on stopping anytime soon in improving the game so who knows what the future will bring to CM.
In the meantime you can use grid mods. I use the same ones through all the games since the terrain tiles are all compatible. In some cases they won't show unless a tag is added, but it's all possible. Most of the time I'm playing with some grids on some terrain, and some without because I'm too lazy to mod. I've played so much CM (since Cmx1  for about 20yrs now)  I think I read the terrain more intuitively better now anyway.

A poem by a Soviet Soldier 
 
 

I wish him the best of luck in his ambitious pursuit, and look forward to checking his game out should he manage to make it. He's trying to do something with his life, and as a creative I think it's admirable. At least he is putting the best of the genre, CM, as his mark to strive for in his inspiration.

I wish him the best of luck in his ambitious pursuit, and look forward to checking his game out should he manage to make it. He's trying to do something with his life, and as a creative I think it's admirable. At least he is putting the best of the genre, CM, as his mark to strive for in his inspiration.

So many dead boys and heartbroken families. Will the world ever learn? Every time I see one of those pictures of endless rows of graves it reminds me of why I painted and wrote this.

The Meatplow
Oil painting and poem by Vincent Monaco
Into the meatplow,
Our sons always go.
They go to be cut to pieces,
Rather than to live, and to grow. The meatplow turns,
Yielding it's gnashing teeth.
Devouring all,
All the kids that it meets.
It butchers our boys,
Leaving only horror and sadness in its wake,
But we keep turning it back on,
Sometimes it seems we just can't wait.
The meatplow is so horrible,
It spins its razored head,
Sending them back to us dead.
Why? Why haven't we learned the lesson yet?
How can we rationalize,
The harvest this evil beast reaps?
Constantly feeding it our sons,
Continually for its meat.
 

Glad to see this is still around out there and being updated. I just got tired of constantly having to update it for all the games myself, and dealing with the constant complaints from guys saying their text was screwy when it says MUST be updated with each patch. Have fun!

Also Vins animated text is updated to 2.16 for CMBS.
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-black-sea/cmbs-other/vins-animated-text-mod-for-cmbs-v2-11/

I especially appreciated the tests on blast radius of different calibers as well as the calculation re how many rounds needed per 75 meters of treeline for suppression of any units hiding there.

An empirical study... Love the thread title 😉. This was the first time ever that I said 'time to work on my video' and opened excel instead of editing software 😅. Nice to hear you guys think it has some useful info, thanks.

I use it for harassing fire or speculative fire sometimes - don't want to use up all the ammo. It also sucks if your FO gets whacked with an on going maximum duration mission. So, in high risk (to the observer) situations I frequently do not use maximum duration.

@Free Whisky has just released this excellent video on the use of artillery, showing the results of his experimentation: 
Some great stuff, such as how many guns of given calibers are needed to achieve a rate of fire which will suppress a given distance, the distances from impact at which units will be "pinned", the effects of regular smoke versus WP (regular smoke is better at obscuration), and the effects of weather conditions on smoke (turns out only wind affects smoke in CM, rain does not), and the efficacy of general versus personnel fire missions on infantry in the open, woods, buildings, and fortifications.

Vin's Geometric Icons CMRT
This an updated polished set from the original set I made years ago. Improvements include diamond shape now for armor, and available nation HQ icons. If you are familiar with my other sets it uses distinctive geometric shapes for different units same as the others.
The set includes choice for spotted icons for Soviet;  blue or green(default).
Germany is red spotted icons
The FOW icons are grey(German), and olive(Soviet)
The HQ Icons default are a red star on green(soviet), and German cross on red (Germany). There is other HQ variants for Soviet to choose from like red star on blue for the blue set. To change to the blue set go into the HQ, and spotted folders and cut the "z" at the front of one folders name and paste in front of the name of the one you want to use. See how I have green selected soviet and the German HQ in the pic. You can also use the vanilla black HQ flag too.
BONUS! Comes with my arrow base mod, and easy vis command buttons that highlight the order color when hovered over. Two choices full color or just color outline. Again take the "z" in name from one and paste into name of folder you want to use to change.
You can use what you want. All set up to cherry pick, but think you will like defaults I have set.
Enjoy,
Vin
(Sorry, just noticed I posted this in the general CMRT forum instead of mods where this should have been. If BF can move this to the mod sub forum I'd appreciate. Thanks)

Vin CMRT geometric icons.rar

Agree with Bulletpoint. When vehicles turn on their own without having a spot on something it usually means they have been given FOW contact info through the C2 chain, and are reacting to that. From the video the tank looks like it had info the enemy tank was coming around on its flank, and it was reacting to that.

Personally, I prefer smaller more thoughtful unit scenarios of a company size or less rather than the larger ones. The platoon size ones are fun to take advantage of the small size sometimes to do a straight up real time game with no pausing which plays much differently than WEGO, but still play most of. Unlike other RTS games CM can still be a challenge to stay on top of playing that way with just that size, but it's fun to change it up now and then. The great thing is the series just has so much content of variety anyone should be able to find something that is to their different taste.
For learning the game I still think CMFI is the most forgiving as an introduction to CM, but as the others say once your hooked you will want to have all the games. Even though they all share the same engine they all have a certain feel to each of them. Also, once your hooked I warn you will likely end up a lifer like so many here. Been playing pretty much nothing but CM going on almost 20yrs now. I try other game but.....
 

Also, if you are new I HIGHLY recommend you watch Usually Hapless's Combat Mission Basics series on youtube. Hap does a great job explaining things in an easy to follow manner. Start here -
 

My advice is Italy - CMFI. It has good variety of terrain, and is easier than hedgerow fighting for a noob as in CMBN. It runs the smoothest graphically IMO too.
I think the Soviets of CMRT are a bit harder for new player to get the hang of compared to western forces.
Haven't played much CMFB since testing it way back, but terrain and units may be a bit less forgiving than CMFI.
Would recommend any WW2 for noob over any modern warfare title like CMCW or more recent time frame. Modern is deadlier, and less forgiving than WW2 combat.
Great thing about Battlefront is there is a FREE demo of each game one can try before they buy. I highly recommend any new player try a demo so they understand they are not buying Men of War or any other more "gamey" type game. CM is the real deal that takes some time to understand the depth of it, and how to master it.

My advice is Italy - CMFI. It has good variety of terrain, and is easier than hedgerow fighting for a noob as in CMBN. It runs the smoothest graphically IMO too.
I think the Soviets of CMRT are a bit harder for new player to get the hang of compared to western forces.
Haven't played much CMFB since testing it way back, but terrain and units may be a bit less forgiving than CMFI.
Would recommend any WW2 for noob over any modern warfare title like CMCW or more recent time frame. Modern is deadlier, and less forgiving than WW2 combat.
Great thing about Battlefront is there is a FREE demo of each game one can try before they buy. I highly recommend any new player try a demo so they understand they are not buying Men of War or any other more "gamey" type game. CM is the real deal that takes some time to understand the depth of it, and how to master it.