Childress

Yes! You can bank on it! Although I personally find the armor targeting algorithms much better than alleged. This crusade is reminiscent of the 'we want cherry picking back in our QBs!' threads from two years ago. Eventually BFC succumbed to the non-stop nagging against their better judgement; unit values having proved a bottomless well of of controversy in the past. You see, they're not insensitive to the wishes of the base.

I can answer this one. All AT guns that begin a scenario unlimbered are considered 'enhanced' defensively for game purposes until the player moves them.

Yes. And a user-configurable chess clock for each side. And my blinking blue icons for split teams proposal.

That may require a class action lawsuit, Erwin.

Right. Even better would be, imo, a provision to color code the divided teams of a squad. I'm currently playing Contact at Golleville, an excellent scenario, in which all the American squads at setup are split. Not too onerous since this is a smallish battle but it struck me how much more user friendly it would be if, when selecting a team, the icon flashed, say, blue, instead of the default orange. That would reconcile the indolent majority (?) to the concept of breaking down every single squad on the map which, as the battle expands, can end up feeling like herding gerbils.

Setting aside the Mac issues, there haven't been ANY game killer bugs in CMBN since 1.0, in my opinion of course. Just controversies and tweak worthy stuff. In that version there was this bug that made troops behind walls more vulnerable than those in front. Now that was a baddie. But remedied in 1.01. CM will always be a work in progress, so enjoy the ride.

Same problem here with the Engel campaign. But remember, Rake, there are lots of other campaigns. And scenarios.

That's the spirit! More honey and less vinegar! A few more of these and maybe even Steve may pop up. Like the old days.

It appears the only parameters the designer are allowed to set are awarding, or deducting, points for the Casualty Threshold, remaining ammo and the final 'Force Condition'. He can't make a distinction between wounded and killed. Unless the latter is hard coded by the game. Or I'm missing something....

Are you sure about that? I find the battle results screen rather opaque with regard to casualties. The player gets totals for Killed, Wounded and Missing but I'll be damned if I can deconstruct the points distribution. For example in a recent battle the enemy suffered 11 wounded and 7 dead for a debit of 37 points. Huh? Algebra anyone? It seems logical that a wounded trooper would have more long term value than a dead or missing (captured) one. So if casualties are all lumped together I'd count this as a game flaw.

ALL the squads? Geez....

I used to hold your point of view. But participating in this thread made be wonder if we aren't better off sending 3-4 guys with (apparently) full morale on recon than than 2 guys with impaired morale.

When you think about, there's really no reason ever to split off scouts. They suffer, as far as we can determine, the morale penalty that other half teams don't. So you're better off simply splitting the squad into equal parts and sending those fractions off to recon.

Anecdotal observation shows that the 'hit' effects only Scouts. Of course, it may exist as an undocumented feature that doesn't show up in ratings. Good tip,YD, on the reverse Assault tactic. Remember having resorted to it in CM1 but had forgotten.

No problem splitting squads in a modest sized battle. On defense, it's almost mandatory. But once your units start piling up..... One not too onerous enhancement that BFC could add is color coding the disparate teams so they're instantly recognizable on the map. A color, that is, other than the default orange. I still favor mild morale hits, especially on lower quality troops. Not just scouts.

Your reasoning is sound. But who *wants* to divide up every squad in a massive battle in order to enhance his chances? Talk about micro-management hell....

Good question. There's been no definitive answer. In CM1, iirc, one couldn't split squads below a certain experience level. Personally, I'd prefer that there was a mild penalty. Especially when on offense. If only to save labor on the part of the player.

Simple? If so then there are only two possible explanations: 1- The BFC developers aren't very bright. or 2- They didn't put <insert desired command> into CMBN just to frustrate you. To take your euros and p*** you off.

C'mon, Dave, what's really bugging you? Get it off your chest!

Fair enough. The rightness or wrongness of their decisions of their decisions can be determined by the number of units they sold, the volume of posts on this forum and the contributions of modders in support. Hehe. We're fulfilling sburke's prophecy from the above post.

Yes. And you can endow the the moving units with a limited Arc that will prevent those halts. The game already teeters on the edge of over-complexity. Esp for new players. Maybe not for us. I have a list of minor bugs I'd like to see addressed. For example should we really *know*, playing on Elite, that a spotted enemy unit is detachment C of squad 2? But on the whole, the CM2 system comes together as a well thought out, even elegant design. The creators are grogs, too. Some experienced users want to weigh the game down with their own pet additions. Part of the art is knowing when to prune. BFC also cares about aesthetics which is why command lines or player-resizable units won't be re-appearing. But they've already intimated they'll be adding a new command or two for the next major release, not to mention a slicker UI.

Good game design? If they implemented everything we clamor for, every command, we might end up enjoying it less than we thought. That doesn't necessarily mean that at some point they may decide to re-insert some feature or option from the past.

Or BFC can, in response to this incessant request, re-introduce the Armor Arc for the human player only. That's how it worked in CM1. I find that those obsessed with this feature underestimate the targeting smarts of the TacAI in the current engine.

Or you can plonk down several movement commands instead of one. A squad will regroup and spread out when completing its initial destination.

German MGs, at least, have a zero setup penalty as well.