Ryujin

Is multiplayer coop in the works? Personally I haven't heard anything about it, did I miss something? But yeah, once TAC gets very, very good you could in theory have real C2. You play the company (or whatever is the highest commander) and just give orders to your immediate subordinates. But I think it would be very, very different from CM as we know it, much more hands off and fluid. Commanding people from ground level is a very different experience. As it stands, it's probably best to not go with delays as they tend to feel very arbitrary. Leaving C2 to spotting and moral is probably for the best. At the moment it seems to just be a shortage of user feedback ingame and with out a lot of feedback people get different impressions of what they think is happening. Though now it's not as simple as yes/no for C2, so I'm wondering if there could be some sort of color coding for the "strength" of the C2 link? Maybe add another box for 'C2' that goes from black-red-yellow-green to show the C2 link. Or maybe click on a HQ and all the subordinate units somehow show up color coded (either unit icon color or say a indicator next to it). It's not an easy fix I geus.

I agree with steve that the effects are there, they're just hard to notice. You either have perfect C2 as the BLUFOR (Radios, GPS, BFT, near impossible to be out of C2) and REFOR with next to no C2. I have notice REDFOR units with no C2 are more likely to '!' under fire. However vs BLUFOR they tend to die so fast it doesn't get to that point... CM:A or RED vs RED can highlight the C2 effects a bit more. Orders delay is a tricky subject as the player is every leader on their side. So how do you judge where the order is coming from? Does a tank need a command from the PL to bob up and down out of a hull down position? The question is where do you draw the line of initiative vs orders from above? A long orders delay because the radio was damaged on my tank may not make sense for more than half of the "orders" I give them. You have to micromanage and order them to do things they would be doing on their own.

Looks good!

No, not really, you seem to be able to control units with no communications link just fine even on elite/iron. I imagine this due to the player being the Borg hive mind of every leader in the unit, not just the company/battalion commander. I think they just get a big moral penalty.

It seems like jumping all the way back SMGs might be a bit too much. While the MP7/P90 mentioned have more of "mini rifle rounds" with an effective range of about 200m, since most engagements occur under 300m, it seems like it would be a stretch at times for the SMG. But if you give up on actually hitting the target at 300m, I guess it might still be effective. Perhaps a purpose designed weapon and round would be best. I'm more a fan of spending ridiculous amounts of money to address the whole missing the target by 6 meters in the first place. Things like powered exoskeletons capable of lifting hundreds of pounds and integrated fire control/stabilization. Make em lethally accurate and weight a non-issue. It'd be mere billions to outfit a battalion I'd imagine. Nobody liked all those other government programs anyway .

I like the almost Iraqi paintjob, looks pretty sweet.

I can compile when I have time, but I'd probably put it off till have time off.

No problem, I think I kind of follow what your saying.

Hmm I geuss we do need some basic ideas of what exactly we need. In the mena time I might put out something on the armor model and something on the basic infanty/vehicle types in the same sort of "for newbies" style of my previous installments. I guess quasi-glossary stuff.

Actually now you have me confused as to what you did, but I'm glad to be of assitance somehow . I'll have to give it a try.

usually you need to do "texturename 1" The space is important to denote it as being random. However the CM:A team did not randomize textures, they seem to have made separate models for different textures. Check the "Sekletons" folder. I don't have the unpacked CM:A in front of me, so I may be wrong, but the first part about the space is key. Underscore won't work (if "mujahideen4_body_x" is exaclty what you typed with x being a number).

Just saw that he had that on the repository! While aimed at the CMx1 player, it has lots of good stuff. So I think some collaboration would be good and maybe a form a larger version of the FAQ.

True.... I'm also not sure about the armor, I'd have to try it and see what happens. (we should also get the RG-31 (Nyala) as a MRAP platoon for the US as a bonus, just needs a little tan paint)

You can only give ammo to the PK/SGM and then only the 7.62x54R, they cannot use the NATO round (or NATO denigrating linked ammo belts for that matter, Russian machineguns tend to have reusable belts). SVD and RP-46 cannot acquire ammo. So, no, each weapon can only use it's intended ammo. Note I am not a NATO tester and I don't know if it is in or out. However... certain 's have been exchanged by certain members of the community..... When I meant it took NATO into account, I just used the confirmed information available and the current version of CMSF. Perhaps some additions may be required when NATO is released.

I think he means from aircraft... I haven't seen any airbursts from my CAS. I guess it seems to favor lighter munitions, not really sure.

That's an impressive quote you got there . Anyway, I do remember a thread on internal armor arrays and one on the RHAe penetration values of weapons. I wasn't thinking of an all inclusive guide, just something to address basic questions. I'd leave the advanced stuff to other guides and not get too technical too fast. Another FAQ that popped up in the CMA forum, different small arms rounds and acquiring them. Ammo and corresponding weapons Pistol rounds Used in SMGs and handguns, not acquirable. Makorov PM is 9x18mm, M9 is 9x19mm, PPSH submachinegun is 7.62x25mm. Intermediate rifle rounds Intermediate rifle rounds are smaller/cut down rounds for assault rifles. They offer light weight, lighter weapons, and often lower recoil when compared to full size rifle rounds. Effective range is generally 500m or less and penetrating power is low. 5.56x45mm Standard NATO round for assault rifles. In CMSF 5.56 is abstracted as belted and magazines, so can be used as magazines for rifles and 200 round belts for the M249/Minimi. Used by: -M4/M16A4/C7/C8/M16A1 -L85A2/L86A2/L22A2 -G36 -MG4 -M249/L110/C9/MINIMI 7.62x39mm Older Russian assault rifle round. Abstracted as magazines and belts. Listed as just “7.62mm” in Syrian vehicles. Used by: -AKM/AKMS/RPK(-47)/Type 56 -RPD 5.45x39mm Newer Russian assault rifle round. Magazines only. Used by: -AK-74/AKS-74/AKS-74U/RPK-74 Rifle rounds Full size rifle rounds. In many armies these are found primarily in medium machineguns and Designated Marksman's Rifles (DMRs) and sniper rifles. Effective range can often be around 1,000m. 7.62x51mm Standard NATO round. Can only be aquried as belted ammo for machineguns*, you cannot aquire more ammo for rifles. Listed as just “7.62” in BLUFOR/NATO vehicles. Used by: -M110/Mk11 -M40A3 -M240/MAG/C6/L7A2 * -MG3* -L96 -C3A1 -AR-10 -FAL -G3 7.62x54R Standard Russian rifle round. R stands for “rimmed”. Cannot be acquired in CMSF, however can be found in vehicles in CMA as belted ammo only*. Used by: -SVD -PK* -SGM* -RP-46 Special rifle rounds, not acquirable: .300 WM .300 Winchester Magnum, “sniping” round 1300-1500m effective range based on round used. -G22 .303 old British round. -Bren -SMLE Mk. III .338 LM Lapua Magnum, “sniping” round. 1,800m effective range. -L115A1 -C14 -AWSM-F That's enough for one sitting. Takes into account NATO and CMA. Will add more later.

AKM/AKMS/RPD/RPK-47 use 7.62x39 SVD/PKM use 7.62x54R Big difference in performance.

I'd like to assemble as much information as possible in this one thread to then be consolidated into an easy to read .pdf or stickied post as threads can quickly become convoluted. So feel free to comment and contribute in here and it'll all be condensed into something easier to read when we have the a good chunk of material. About the guide It appears that new players could use a guide of CMSF(and even CMA) basics to ease them into the game. The goal is not to provide an advanced or highly technical guide, but try to boil it down to the basics needed to get started and learn the game. As such, if you contribute material (of any length, all comments and additions are helpful), try to focus on primarily conceptual information that is concise and easy to understand. The manual provides much of the technical information and basics, I think we need to fill in the gaps and practical application. Screen shots/graphics can help. I'll start by picking up where I left off in the "marine AT assets thread". Please let me know if I miss anything or make any mistakes . Ammunition types Ammo often goes by it's acronyms for it's warhead/type and caliber(dimensions). The name of the corresponding weapon is generally not listed, so be sure to check the caliber of the weapon you want to acquire ammo for (sometimes possible in game, if not, you can check a manual). Learning the acronyms will make it easier to understand the roles of each type of round. When acquiring rounds, "ATM" at the end of the name stands for "Anti Tank Missile", “ATGM” is “Anti Tank Guided Missile”. -No acronym/size 14.7mm or less = "standard" bullet. Unremarkable solid metal round used in machineguns and small arms. Best employed on soft targets. Note that rounds under 12.7mm (.50 cal) and hand grenades will NOT cause friendly fire (game abstraction). All other rounds should be employed with much more care INCLUDING ARTILLERY SMOKE AND THE CHALLENGER 2's CANNON FIRED SMOKE ROUNDS! -WP = White Phosphorus, an incendiary used in smoke rounds used to create a concealing smoke screen. Note that large WP shells for artillery and cannons can cause friendly fire on impact. However, it is not dangerous to then move through the smoke or over the point of impact. Smoke grenade discargers on tanks or thrown smoke grenades ('pop smoke' command) are not dangerous to your troops. -AP-I = Armor Piercing Incendiary. Generally used with heavy machinegun ammunition, a dense/hard bullet combined with an incendiary element for "after armor" effects (causing internal fire/setting off ammo). -HE = High Explosive, just explodes on impact, lots of shrapnel and blast effects, good vs infantry, light building walls, in windows, and other soft targets. Not good vs armor or hard targets (think of throwing a water balloon at a wall, the explosion, like water, will take the easy route and "splash" off the surface). Related round type is HE-I, high explosive incendiary. However the incendiary seems to have little effect ingame. -PPHE = Programmable Prefragmented High Explosive, anti-personnel round that can be programmed to air burst at a certain range (generally over the target so as to be render most cover useless) and is designed for effective fragmentation. -HESH = High Explosive Squash Head, a variation of the HE round where the plastic explosive “head” of the round “squashes” on impact. Much like throwing clay at a wall, the explosive flattens and spreads across the impacted (hard) surface before detonating. This sends a powerful shock wave forwards into the target. As a result this rounds is more effective against structures and armored vehicles than standard HE. Against buildings the powerful shock wave directed into the target has devastating effects on walls, making it one of the most effective rounds against hard concrete structures (it'll do much more structural damage than the armor piercing HEAT round or plain HE). When employed against armor it relies primarily on internal spalling to cause casualties, it will not penetrate most armor (spalling is the deadly spray of armor fragments thrown into the crew compartment, in this case caused by the shock wave impacting the outer armor and being transmitted through the armor, causing spalling on the inside). This is only effective against older tanks without spaced armor or internal “spall liners”. -HEAT or HEAA= High Explosive Anti Tank or High Explosive Anti Armor. Shaped charge warhead with metal pentrator cone (short version, explosion liquefies and propels metal penetrator in warhead through armor). Also known as a Chemical Energy (CE) or Explosively Formed Pentrator (EFP). The combo of shaped charge/pentrator makes it good vs armor and though buildings. -T-HEAT = Tandem High Explosive Anti Tank. Two HEAT warheads, one behind the other. In front is a small "precursor" charge that is designed to set off any addon-armor like Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) on the tank. The main charge then reaches the armor unhindered. -HEDP = High Explosive Dual Purpose. Generally a HE warhead warhead with a smaller HEAT warhead at the front. As the name implies they can be used against armored or soft targets, but does not excel in either role. -NE or Therm: Thermobaric (aka Novel Explosive for SMAW) warhead. Fuel-air explosive (mixes a huge cloud of fuel vapor into the air and detonates it), kills via overpressure and blast effects. Deadly in enclosed areas like buildings where pressure reaches massive levels. -APFSDS = Armor Pricing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot, it's essentially a big solid metal armor piercing dart, relies on kinetic energy to penetrate armor. Also known as a Kinetic Energy (KE) or sabot round. It's sub-caliber and has a 'sabot' to stabilize it in the barrel, falls off on exiting muzzle. Two things to note, sabot rounds rely heavily on their velocity and contain no explosive. This means they lose penetrating power over distance and kill vehicles by a direct hit on a vital component or spalling for the most part. They can pass through thin surfaces with little effect and are really only useful against vehicles. Some of the highest quality western ammo found in CMSF is made of depleted uranium. DU is not only a good penetrator as it's self sharpening, it's also pyrophoric (short version, small particles of DU thrown into a vehicle after penetration of the armor will catch fire on contact with the air, increasing chances of a vehicle fire or ammo detonation). That should be all the ammo types to start, giving an overview of each type without going into specific rounds.

The infantry are pretty light by comparison. Even the artillery seemed low on rounds (don't know if that was just part of scenario). The missions are a nice change of pace, never did a cordon mission quite like that in CMSF.

Yes, I had to cackle evilly the first time I saw those four barrels. Overall, the combat does feel much less precise and more about brute firepower than precision fire, the fighting could get really bloody as both sides are (asymmetrically) well matched. No enemy ATGMs either, so if you can get your armor into a good position, you can rain death with impunity. Terrian however makes this a bit tricky at times and gives good opertunities for RPG ambushes. The late-era spetsnaz mounted in BMP-2s is an interesting combo, you usually don't see SOF i CM and now you get mechanized SOF. One thing that is sorely lacking though is a way to have CAS drop parallel to your position. With no JTAC, unguided bombs, and maps where you're usually danger close makes for some scary CAS. Those pilots seem to interpret my target as more of a suggestion . Make sure you get everyone in good cover before you call in any bombs.

I completely, but some of those items like carts or mujahideen, would be really handy in some scenarios CMSF. What you want to port is up to you.

Those might be pretty easy as they don't actually 'do' anything. Same for say infantry models. And those nice building textures . As far as the swap of the pickup for the ZU23 truck, it's still got the characteristics of the pickup. However I'm still picking through the files to see where this is all defined and if I can tweak it. It's all in there... somewhere.

My UNCONs just traded their Dshkm pickup in for a new ride.... Cannon functionality is still WIP, I'm digging through the files to see if I can pull it off.

Flogger? Anyway, I found that the names ingame and in the manual tend to line up, but here's a super clear version to try to make it easier. Ammo often goes by it's acronyms for it's warhead. Learning the acronyms will make it easier to understand the roles of each round. HE = High Explosive, just explodes on impact, lots of shrapnel and blast effects, good vs infantry, light building walls, in windows, and other soft targets. Not good vs armor or hard targets (think of throwing a water balloon at a wall, the explosion, like water, will take the easy route and "splash" off the surface). HEAT or HEAA= High Explosive Anti Tank or High Explosive Anti Armor. Shaped charge warhead with metal pentrator cone (short version, explosion liquefies and propels metal penetrator in warhead through armor). Also known as a Chemical Energy (CE) or Explosively Formed Pentrator (EFP). The combo of shaped charge/pentrator makes it good vs armor and though buildings. T-HEAT = Tandem High Explosive Anti Tank. Two HEAT warheads, one behind the other. In front is a small "precursor" charge that is designed to set off any Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) on the tank. The main charge then reaches the main armor unhindered. HEDP = High Explosive Dual Purpose. Generally a HE warhead warhead with a smaller HEAT warhead at the front. NE or Therm: Thermobaric (aka Novel Explosive for SMAW) warhead. Fuel-air explosive (mixes a huge cloud of fuel vapor into the air and detonates it), kills via overpressure and blast effects. Deadly in enclosed areas like buildings, pressure reaches massive levels. As far as picking up rounds for marines: 83mm = SMAW rounds M72A3 in manual = M72A7 LAW ATM ingame (correct name), 66mm HEAT M136/AT4 in manual (base game manual) = M136/AT4 ATM ingame, 84mm HEAT M32/M203 ammo is just 40mm HE or HEDP. Never seen that thermobaric stuff mentioned in the manual, but it would be hard to tell. For brits: LASM in manual = L1A1 LASM ingame 66mm HE anti-building warhead L2A1 ILAW in manual = L2A1 ILAW ingame 84mm HEAT, same weapon as the M136/AT4 We really need a basic "CMSF for cannon fodder" thread, with all the basics. Maybe I'll start one if others are interested in help filling it out.

Models have self explanitory names like "us-soldier.mds", but the textures may or may not share the same names and such, but are usually easy to figure out. i.e. "vest.bmp" is the army vest, "Marine-vest" is the Marine vest. .mds are soldier models .mdr are "ridged" moles like vehicles and objects. Some models will have -lod-# in the name, showing which level of detail this model corisponds too. No Auto-LODing or LODs packaged within one file So for example: t-72m1.mdr (LOD 0, highest detail T-72 model) t-72m1-lod-1.mdr t-72m1-lod-2.mdr t-72m1-lod-3.mdr t-72m1-lod-4.mdr (Lowest detail) To be safe you may want to swap all of em, and make sure you swap the appropriate LODs.