Childress

A lot of your issues, Wiggum, result from the near absence of surrendering in the game. Troops throw up their hands in tiny groups in CM, usually one or two. If at all. Not a criticism of the game, simulating it is likely exceedingly tricky to implement due to contextual factors. But one could estimate that half or more of the KIAs at end of game are actually POWs. Or they routed off the map. There's a scenario in CMFI, Primosole Bridge. Your heavily armed British paras must annihilate the wobbly Italian force before the Germans arrive. Which they do, inflicting great carnage. In reality, the Italians promptly surrendered en masse. Or fled. They weren't suicidal. On the CM battlefield cornered or outnumbered troops fight to the death.

Why can the engine show soldiers wading through a creek, water up to their waists, and cannot produce the same effect with Heavy Snow? Just curious...

The game needs LESS suppression?

Pretty harsh there, Womble. The man owns, off this date, 41 Thumbs Up! notations on his posts. What more evidence do you need?

You sure? DUKWs were most prominently employed at Normandy, a battle type that doesn't lend itself to compelling CM scenarios. Note their absence in the CMBN release. Their main contribution in other theatres was ferrying supplies to beachheads. For direct applicability to existing CM titles simple rowboats suffice, i.e. Robert Redford paddling furiously across the Waal in A Bridge Too Far. But then, new animations required. And is it worth it for a handful of battles?

My impression: Wiggum, you seem to have a Freudian love/hate relationship going on with Battlefront. I find it reminiscent of of that classic study in contrasts, Sonny and Michael Corleone in the Godfather. It’s no surprise the two sons aren’t exactly BFFS, but in a weird way, they sort of need each other. And they have almost nothing to learn from the wimpy middle brother, Fredo. I'm glad you're not Fredo.

Yeah. This controversy has been going on for years. Steve mentioned a while ago that they would be looking into this. The final screen doesn't tally the yellow icons. But these never seem to accumulate sufficiently to redress the discrepancy. A poster (JonS?) posited last year that extremely minor wounds are not counted, i.e. sprained ankles, minor flesh wounds and the like that would be tabulated on the official AAR, hence the odd ratio. I don't know. Another culprit may be the- alleged- forgiving suppression factors. Soldiers are attacking or exposing their bodies when they should be hugging the dirt. Or aggressive and impatient players. One suggestion is that the game simply add up 'casualties'. These are then distributed by some algorithm among WIAs, MIAs and KIAs at game's end. But that could mess with the Buddy Aid sequence. If nothing else, the current numbers contribute little to the immersion factor. But if one looks simply at viable soldiers removed from battle, however classified, then it works.

1- BF will argue that flares are already simulated by the faded enemy icons present at the start of most battles. The level of reconnaissance quality is set by the maker of the scenario. The opening day of the Bulge will be a good example. 2- Realistic muzzle effects may be a way of reflecting the Germans' tactical advantage due to their smokeless and flashless powder. The coding may prove challenging.

And they had a devastating impact. To the point that German troops refused to leave their bunkers. Interestingly the Germans were on their way to producing an equivalent weapon by 1940 but, by a fuhrer decree, it was postponed in favor of projects that were applicable to the upcoming Barbarossa campaign. They developed a working prototype in 1944 but it was too late for meaningful production.

I own a higher end Lenovo with an AMD graphics card. Not bad. But the ASUS I linked to is probably 50 times faster. Maybe overkill for CM? But with 16GB of ram, an Intel Core i7-4720H and an NVIDIA GTX960 you can't go wrong for 1100 bucks.

I use a laptop as well, MOS. It runs the game decently on higher settings. Check out this one: http://www.amazon.com/GL551JW-DS71-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-GTX960M/dp/B00T7XRH2A

MOS, a new pc or, better yet, a better preforming graphics card will help. If you can afford it. These screenshots you posted are blurry and under detailed.

Interesting. If that's the case the difference between player-vs- AI battles and H2H battles is extreme to the point of unfolding on different planets. Because the human player has no restraints in applying area fire.

On the subject of spotting, does CM reproduce this German advantage? Gen. G.C. Marshall's 30 June 1945 biennial report to Congress, covering the US part of the campaign in the ETO: "A second marked German advantage during most of the European war was in powder. German ammunition was charged with smokeless, flashless powder which, in both night and day fighting, helped the enemy tremendously in concealing his fire positions. United States riflemen, machine gunners, and gunners of all types had to expose their positions with telltale muzzle flashes or puffs of powder smoke. German preparations had given them time to develop this high-grade powder and manufacture tremendous quantities of it. They had it there and they used it. "

Hehe. That first thread was a trip down memory lane, Vanir. Members were processing the shock of the new brittle morale factors in CMBB. Some opening comments, pro and con:

Yes, you could play with the soft factors: experience, motivation, leadership. But we want our Crack units/formations- Easy Company, Gross Deutschland- to be designated as such in game. Immersion counts. Ideally you'd have the 'less forgiving morale' parameters kick in with the Iron and Elite options. And, regrettably, obsolete a bunch of scenarios and campaigns in the process. But so did the MG fix. Mounting an effective assault in CM1 often proved a b*tch. But rewarding when it worked.

Great minds think alike. Suppression 'light'- and the resulting inflation in casualties- has (arguably) characterized all the CM2 titles. It may be a calculated decision on the part of BF in order to make the games more approachable and fun for non-grogs. The sterner system in CM1 (especially Barbarossa to Berlin) aroused complaints from many buyers. But not everyone. In an older post I alleged that the hardcore guys play with a modified and much more punitive version at a hotel in Vermont. These events are held quarterly and entry requires a secret handshake You'll need a cattle prod to get those cowering GIs or landsers over the next hill..

I can think of a situation, common in all the CM titles, where providing the AI with area firing capability improves realism. There are scenarios in which the battlefield is dominated by a tall building or a church steeple or windmill. The first thing a human player does is send an FO team scrambling up to the top floor. Where it remains, enjoying total immunity from speculative fire from the enemy. Against another human opponent? Fughedabouit

True: I read in some book that German tanks during the early days of the Bulge would linger over occupied foxholes, gun their engines and asphyxiate GIs with their exhausts. Evil Huns....

A bit. It seems more of a progression than a revolution like BS with its techno-weapons and RT's tank riders. But who knows?

You can kind of expect that BS would have teething issues. There are a lot of hypotheticals. It has to be the most intricate and detailed game that BF ever came out with.

BF has sprinkled some hints that the Italian theatre will be revisited. Namely to incorporate tank riders and splittable Italian infantry- in part to accommodate their tankettes. Date: unknown. BS and FI are the only two titles in which the use of the MOVE command is common. This reflects the heavy load of gadgetry the grunts tend to carry in the former and the mountainous terrain in the latter.

Sorry for the confusion. Vladimir, I mean Vlad, and I had been wrestling (shirtless) polar bears outside of Novobirisk. Man, that can make you work up a sweat even at 40 below! As we were relaxing over a pitcher of fermented Yak blood he suggested that I forward the above invitation. Properly translated, of course. So, voila.

Thanks. These would make great loading screens.

So... the role of drones in RL is collecting reconnaissance and enabling air/artillery to take out fixed targets like structures and static defensive positions. Or surprise attacks. Not killing AFVs in fluid battles.