bodkin

Vein's effects mod.

Never get out of the tank, never get out of the tank.....

There was a patch for CMSF that fixed the bug where the whole terrain flashed brilliantly from gun fire and explosions. This problem started after a certain Nvidia driver version so I kept my pc on the older drivers until BFC worked around the issue in a patch. So I'm hoping they do the same for CMA at some point. Erwin, Fog effects?

I updated my Nvidia drivers after the fix came out for CMSF but now CMA is left with the flashing bug. Is this going to be fixed soon? I haven't heard anything about another patch.

Me to.. "Fatal error - attempt to access unpublished file by non-admin user"

Mark, I'll have to check and see if I'm rostered off on the 19th, if so count me in. Are you at Holsworthy? I'm not far away if you are which means I'm not too concerned about travel. Anyway I'd be a happy with a 3 - 4 hour session no preference for time but a bbq would be good. I'll let you know Thursday if that's not too late.

Can tanks go through those wooden fences? In the game I mean.

Well there's been alot of testing that suggests otherwise. http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=94051

Now that this thread is stickied the name should probably be changed to AI Plans Q&A or somefink. Considering it's gone beyond the initial enquiry.

At the moment 155mm arty will do the trick but things like 60 or 81mm mortars are pretty much useless.

Preping suspected or potential ATGM launcher positions with airburst artillery is a tactic I've used with good results in the past. However the issue of near invulnerability of troops on rooftops after the last patch makes things more difficult in urban terrain.

Paper Tiger, I really don't understand what is going on with the points scoring in mission 5 'Charity' of the Canadian campaign. **spoiler warning** I achieved all my objectives except the secondary one of wiping out the enemy but I suffer a minor defeat and got bumped from the campaign because I didn't achieve enemy casualty bonus, and the enemy got a wopping 500 points for their freindly casualty bonus! If I knew it was so important to cause more enemy casualties I would have attempted to do so, but considering I was up against special forces troops I wasn't prepared to risk more of my mens lives on an objective that wasn't essential. Just think the scoring is a bit skewed. Luckily I reloaded a recent save and wiped out a couple more squads with the loss of 3 men and an LAV to get me a victory.

I'll have to play it and just do some test firing but I'm not sure what - if anything - identifies the behaviour of the missile as being consistent with a Gill. Edit: Just tested and it seems they are unable to target anything, a target area order will result in them continuing to spot and nothing else.

I started playing the 'Road to Dinas' campaign by Paper Tiger before NATO came out and decided to continue on with it again the other day. When I completed the mission I was on and started the next one titled 'The Tumah Crossing' I found my Syrian ATGM crew had somehow acquired a Gill. I haven't heard of anyone else having this issue so maybe my save is corrupted, but if PT reads this maybe he can check what type of ATGM their supposed to have and see if it's just one isolated anomaly.

Moon said that it would 4-6 weeks after they start taking pre-orders, not sure if that helps but I'm tipping mid March at the earliest.

PT I wasn't directing my rant at you as I feel most of the time your reasonably fair -albeit with a slightly cruel streak. But some designers give huge bonus points to the enemy so that you cannot win even if you achieve all your objectives with about 15% casualties. I feel in a campaign if a player loses too many men then they will be punished regardless if they have to play through the whole campaign with the same core units. Losing too many men should incur some sort of penalty, if your reckless with your mens lives then it's inheritantly going to be harder to get through later missions, which is fair enough and rewards good tactics. My main point which I may not have explained that well, is why give the enemy huge bonus points (that negate any points for wiping the enemy out and achieving all objectives) for losing say 10-15% of your force? I think I'm more of a Patton than a Montgomery, I just see the objectives and go for them with geniune caution but without micro-managing to nth degree. Bring on Normandy.

Yeah good for you, but I'm not saying I have a problem with difficulty, playing a game that assures easy victories is not rewarding. How that difficulty is managed by the scenario designer is the question. I played all the CMx1 titles before I played CMSF and it may be just my personal taste and the modern setting but getting a defeat in a mission where you've caused 150 enemy casualties and achieved all objectives to your 20 casualties dosen't make for great gaming experience in my opinion. I'm not specifically talking about the official missions that come with the game/modules here, but I'm finding CMSF less fun nowadays with constant reloads because a squad got shot up by a well planned trap the scenario designer has placed to cause casualties but you know that's going get you over your friendly casualty limit. I have played some great CMSF scenarios that have been really enjoyable in the past. I prefer a scenario of tactical choices so if you go down the wrong path and cop a bloody nose you re-evaluate the situation and try to secure the objectives through different tactics. Not reload and start again or even worse quit the mission to minimise losses which is not even gaming. I think I'll cope better with CMBN.

Maybe someone can make up some nice sigs that advertise the game for others to use on other gaming forums. I'm sure there are plenty of younger gamers that are unaware of the CM series that would like more of a thoughtful tactical challenge. I'm thinking Total War forums are full of naive young gamers we can corrupt. I only found out about CMBO by it being recommended on the old CDV Sudden Strike forums years ago, and it seems unless your a regular to the more groggy gaming sites you may never know what your missing out on, so I'm keen to help promote.

I'm more concerned about how breaching the bocage will play out. The first tank to breach a hedgerow would commonly rake the base of any opposing hedgerow with mg fire as a precaution. There currently is no command to simulate this tactic. You could set a fire arc but this requires the enemy to be spotted first for the tank to open fire, and the area fire command is only for a specific action spot.

No official winter setting of the bat, but someone could make a winter mod just like CMSF has been turned into a European setting if you download the necessary mods.

If I understand the situation correctly, the first module will contain Commonwealth forces, SS and FJ's. That's a huge module, if Commonwealth means full Brit and Canadian TOE. Then again NATO had three different forces in it.

The campaigns seem to be getting harder with each new module, I'm finding some of the NATO missions a frustrating chore rather than enjoyable gaming.

I'm not crying it's just a bit of dust in my eyes really...............sniff, thank you Santa I never stopped beliving in you despite that unfortunate 'incident' with the elves.

That's the only thing about the release I"m concerned about, the lack of FJ's and SS in the base game. They were involved in so many of the important engagements in Normandy I'm almost resigned to accept that Heer will be used as substitutes in alot of scenarios. I can understand the SS being a bit harder to get in, but the FJ's would have been a good comprimise. *sound of can of invertabrates opening*

Sorry, I'm just frustratingly stuck on that 'Red Barricades' mission, I've already taken too many casualties, and can't see any way forward, there are even IED's outside doorways! I don't like to call cease fires when losing because I feel I'm not really playing the game but if I continue it's going to be a bloodbath. Update: I'm now using the full firepower of my mortars to cut a swathe through the town ahead of my advance, things are looking a bit better now.