Bahger

I haven't played CM since Shock Force, so forgive me if my powers of recall are faulty but was it possible in that game, and in BS, to insert and extract light infantry by helicopter? I would have thought that this capability, when used alongside UAVs and certain electronic counter-detection assets, might satisfy most needs for SF ops. Might there also be low-profile, hard to detect helos for infiltration with the ability to fly NOE? I am not sure, but from what I can recall, it seems to me that this game engine could render this kind of operation without fundamental change. Come to think of it, though, I am so rusty re. CM that I cannot even remember whether there has ever been a capability for airborne or helicopter-inserted infantry so all this might be wishful thinking, sorry!

Ian: surely you cannot have room for many games on a small SSD? Mine load and run very well from a fast, capacious mechanical HDD but I gather there are performance advantages in installing very large-world RPG games on a SSD.

I quite like this Windows convention, as long as the game data is not too bulky. It means there is much less chance of corruption or problems when Steam (which manages 90% of my games) applies frequent updates. And if I decide to uninstall a game or reinstall it on another drive, all output data is preserved. Just my 2c, I might find myself abandoning this system for this game.

Thanks, guys. So it's the usual drill: game will install where I direct it to, game data will automatically go in C:/Documents/Battlefront/CM/Black Sea or some such file that it makes on initial installation. That's fine, it's the game files that will clog up a small SSD boot drive, not the data, even when there is quite a lot of it.

Gents, I just need to know if, at the beginning of the product download process, I will be given the choice to install it to my E: drive rather than my C: boot drive. Thank you.

In the initial splash screen, the intro text recommends Veteral skill level and WEGO. Just wondering, does this indicate any specific reason not to play it in RT? Curious.

Yeah, I need to ease my self back into the game, too, PBEM included, last time I did this was in CMBO! I have not started my full game d/l yet but may well email you when I have the game installed and running tomorrow.

I just got the demo. It's hard! That's no bad thing. As others have said, the non-datalinked, slower tempo of warfare in WW2 might just suit the CM gameplay dynamic for some mysterious reason. I liked the CMSF series but couldn't figure out how to love it. I like the challenge of having to have spotters and mortars quite closely connected for mortars to work at all. After I managed to do this, I won a minor victory in "The Road to Berlin" but I had to work at it! In the rookie mode! The bocage is challenging, as is the time limit for that mission. I am definitely going to buy this. Can anyone tell me if there is a LOS or hull-down tool in the interface apart from the color-change in the targeting LOS line?

I get what you are saying, Croy, I may as well d/l the demo. On the other hand, I get a funny feeling that this thing is a pig in a poke.

I'm curious about the game but BF's advance materials puzzle me. -- What is the focus of the gameplay and does it reward deep knowledge of maritime warfare and tactics? -- What is the theater and timeframe? Defense of coastal UK shipping c. 1941? -- How can the player be managing a large-scale sea-battle while commanding a PT boat? That's an immersion-buster, surely? -- What are the variety of missions and what is the tactical focus? If it's about PT Boat operations, it would involve defense against U-Boats, protection of allied convoy shipping in the English channel and (later) attacks on German shipping by night off the French coast. I get NO sense at of any historical fidelity in this sim (or is it a game?) whatsoever. BF needs to get a handle on this and do a much better job marketing the game. I want to see reviews of the non-US release, as any deliberate omission raises doubts about the quality of the thing. As a serious tactical gamer I want to know more about integration of tactics into gameplay, historical fidelity, nature of missions, scale of operations and progress through a campaign (if there is one...is there?). Come on, BF, I'm your target customer for this kind of product but I'm not going to buy it, or even download the demo, on the basis of a bunch of videos of ships shooting each other.

In my limited experience so far, you need to treat each mission as recon, as the Brit units are smaller and pack less power. You can't charge the objective, you have to use infantry units as reconnaissance first, before committing to an attack. I find the Challengers very lethal; other vehicles have to be placed carefully in defilade or kept out of harm's way but within range of their weapons systems. I never move a vehicle before checking the targeting line for LOS as there is no point risking a brew-up unless you are either moving to better cover or within offensive range of a spotted target. Tactical maneuver is more significant, as is indirect fire; I am happy to see plentiful Harrier and/or arty/mortar support in the Brit missions, otherwise, as you say, they are very vulnerable. Edit: Oh, and the Javelins are great force multipliers, just make sure they are given good FOVs, are not too exposed and that you remember to equip them from the vehicles or your Jav unit will have no Javs.

Whoa, Elmar, I didn't realise you'd gone over to the Dark Side! Good points though, and I'm only kidding. Some kind of field promotion system would work well for me. One thing I like about CMSF is the way it simulates command. Last night I fought a very satisfying battle in the third mission of the Brit Campaign, the first one where you have Challengers. I planned well, executed tightly and was rewarded with a Total Victory but, here's the good bit: I felt bad about the 12 Blue KIAs. I should not have dismounted that platoon and so, despite a pretty low mortality rate for a company-sized battle, I still felt responsible as the Major in command. It would be great to design a campaign where command and responsibility are earned, from having to lead an infantry platoon as a subaltern (2nd Lt.) to larger units as a Captain, companies as a Major and up through Lt. Col. and possibly full-bird although I doubt that a CM campaign could, or should offer battles much bigger than reinforced companies. Something could be done, however, to earn promotion based on achievement of briefed goals and force preservation, reflected in branching missions. I would have accepted another mission as a Major, having lost those 12 men, knowing that, if I learned from my mistakes I might be promoted to Lt. Col., which might get me a bigger force with correspondingly bigger responsibilities.

Funny, I used to use Led Zeppelin phase lines in Steel Beasts scenarios, there's something about Zep and tank warfare that goes well together. And I worked the Clash in, too, PL Joe, PL Mick, PL Paul and PL Topper. But there is something so unmilitary about Joy Division that I don't think I would have dared. (Although, compared to New Order they are machismo itself...)

I did a double-take as I noticed a standalone mission in the Brit module labelled Britain's Joy and, instead of some military iconography in the thumbnail graphic, there was the famous pic of Manchester's finest band on the bridge in the snow, absolutely irrelevant and very, very funny. Factory records should return the compliment and re-release "Unknown Pleasures" with a Combat Mission Shock Force image as the cover art! Cheeky.

Presumably you have to set AF/AA n your GPU interface, as I do not recall there being such settings in CMSF unless I am mistaken...

Remarkable coincidence, I have the Benq 24-incher, too. After a lot of research it turned out to be the clear winner -- by price and reputation -- and you will not be disappointed, it's a wonderful monitor. Its achilles heel, however, is that its mounting is a little less robust than one would like, which is why I have banned my little children from my office except under strict supervision. Don't get me wrong, it's fine, and can survive 31 laps at Lime Rock Park in iRacing with a force feedback wheel clamped to the same desk, but be careful, its mounting is delicate. As for CMSF @ 1920 x 1200, I'm going to give it a go, it would seem a shame to downgrade. The menu text is small but posibly a good tradeoff for the visuals and perfectly legible. I may have to move a little closer to the screen. Nice pics, Gibsonm! On a related note and FWIW, I'm getting between 35 and 65 FPS in CMSF on my beefy new system with that 24" Benq. Frames seem to fluctuate enormously in CMSF but on my last rig I was lucky to get 25 FPS so I'm looking forward to playing it on a machine that can rise to the challenge.

New computer with 24" monitor, 1920 x 1200 res, I was wondering if anyone else with this set up dials down the res a bit. The visuals are terrific but the menu text is very small. Opinions, anyone? Thanks!

Thanks, guys. I'm AFK right now but I assume the license key will be in the manual or somewhere... I can't wait to see what the game looks like on my much-overdue, beefy new system. I can run it at 1920 x 1200 (if the game allows it) on a 24" monitor. I had all sorts of little graphical corruptions on the old rig, which wasn't really up to the task but functional nonetheless. On the new PC it should really fly.

Sorry about the double-post, Moon, impatience is one of my least attractive characteristics. Your response was very helpful. I unlicensed CMSF on my old machine because I incorrectly recalled that I had bought it as a download, not in DVD form, which was in fact the case. This morning I reinstalled CMSF from the DVD with no apparent difficulty; it did not require a license key, although I have not run the program yet. I'm assuming that when I unlicensed CMSF I unlicensed Marines, too, so my understanding of the next sequence of events is: - Install Marines. - Install the latest patches (1.11 only, for owners of Marines module, I assume) - Activate the module. - Run game I'd be grateful if you could correct any of the above assumptions if neccessary. ...And apologies again for the double-post, I was just trying to get it all done before going to work. Many thanks.

Got it! Thanks, I would never have figured that out without your assist. Now all I need to do is install Marines and patch up. Thanks again.

I just reinstalled CMSF base version on my new PC. I had run it with the Marines module on my old PC but how do I reinstall Marines on the new rig without paying for it again? I did not physically transfer anything from the old hard drive, assuming I could redownload Marines as a legit customer. Can you help? Thanks!

Um...sorry but can you elaborate?

Yeah, I'd rather wait for Windows 7, too, but Vista is what came with the new rig. I'm eager to see what it can do -- it's a real beast -- so I'd rather not hold off on installing games on it. And if I get in trouble with any aspect of a release candidate for W7 I'll be beta-testing the OS rather than playing games.

Hey gents, I'm about to install a new computer which will run Vista. I've been playing CMSF in XP so far. How should I go about reinstalling CMSF? I seem to recall I downloaded it the week it came out and do not posess the program on CD-ROM. Should I simply re-download, having verified that I own the program, and then patch up? What about the Marines module? Am I supposed to copy the current installation onto a CD (will it even fit)? Finally, will my saved games transfer to Vista? I'm battling my way through the Marines campaign and would be sad to lose my place in it. Many thanks, as ever.

Thanks, Moon. I'm getting my first all-new PC in 5 years, a real monster, so I'll hold out til then.