[The look of CM - were are we going from here?]

While I'll confess that I do really miss damaged (and burning) buildings, I'd have to say that I think that the current state of the graphics in the game are really excellent already. I play with all the graphics settings maxxed out with shadows enabled and when I 'follow' one of my units as it performs it's actions on the map, I am occassionally blown away by the beauty of the graphics.

Regarding modding, I think BFC have already stated their reasons for not letting the community mod the models VERY clearly a number of times before. Whether you agree with them or not, you have to respect their decision as it's their product and they want to make as much money out of it as possible. Even if every single person who visited this site signed a petition for this, they still wouldn't change their minds.

[Release Date?]

It's my wife's birthday on the 19th and I'm sure that she would love to receive this as a present .

I must confess that I was horribly frustrated back in June about this but now, with the release so close, I am quite content to wait another week or two as long as it's not the 29th September or later.

[AI set up facing - how does it work?]

Beautifully crafted and correctly made.

LOL... you must have been very disappointed when you opened up the file then. I had the idea to repeat the experiment on a completely blank map to eliminate the possibility that some terrain feature might be responsible for the misalignment of the AI units. Sure enough, when I fired up the test scenario, all the Red units were placed in an identical fashion, the closer they were to the Blue board edge, the more they turned towards their own board edge.

I was glad (?) to hear that you saw this behaviour when you loaded it up as I was a bit worried that your system would correct the error and deploy them correctly, i.e. facing the blue board edge.

So if you want to lock your units in place no painted map 'setup zone' (or at least place 'em outside of any setup zone) and no initial painted area in the AI orders set (orders 1).

Unfortunately, I first picked this up when I noticed that units I had positioned myself were reversing their facings. It is a BIG problem when you are trying to position the AI vehicles in clever places only to find that the AI takes it upon itself to re-face them in the same position so that their arses (apologies folks) are facing the Blue board edge. You can imagine how effective that 'ambush' is.

[Campaign Crashing]

Hi

You're going to have to give us a bit more info than that. I've done my share of compilng and I haven't had this problem so I can't help you off the bat. However, it sounds like you could have a problem with your core unit file. If it was the campaign script file then it can't be a syntax error as it just wouldn't compile in the first place.

Forgive me for asking the obvious but have you created a separate scenario file for your core units? That shouldn't be scenario 1.

[AI set up facing - how does it work?]

I am currently working on a very large map and I've been VERY careful to avoid any potential pitfalls regarding facing. When I created the map I set up South as the Blue Friendly Direction and North as the Red Friendly Direction. Then I built my map up and it's 3.2km long and 1.2km wide. The red set up zone extends from the north board edge to within 600m of the south board edge. Then, I purchased the units and set up the Red forces myself.

So I loaded up the alpha version and got started and voila, all the Red units deployed in forward positions were facing backwards, i.e. north, and as I moved further back towards the Red Board edge I found that they mysteriously started turning towards some point just off the centre of the east board edge. Finally, when I got towards the Red Board edge (about 600m from it), they were generally facing the right way.

Since I manually placed all the units myself, I know that they were set up facing the Blue Friendly Board edge and indeed, the immobilised tanks were still facing the direction that I set them up in. But all the other units reorientate themselves to face away from the Blue direction. I also repeated the experience, this time with AI set up zones and it was exactly the same.

Now I've mentioned this before and I got this from one of the Beta Testers.

If the Scen/Map designer sets up Blue friendly as East (default) but chooses to create set up zones on the West side of the map you will get what you've described.

That actually describes what I'm seeing perfectly so it's obviously not a bug.

So my question is this; Since it obviously doesn't set them up to face the enemy friendly direction, how does the AI choose to set up it's units on large maps? If the problem is the map size then that's fine, I'll just stick to smaller ones when I need the AI to start on board and stick to meeting battles on large maps.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

No problem. Here's all the info and more...

Name Length Width Area

Petani 880m 448m 0.39km2

Orchard 3200m 1200m 3.84km2

First Blood 640m 960m 0.61km2

Farmers 880m 1152m 1.01km2

Bridges 1136m 1808m 2.05km2

Dimas 1 1280m 1200m 1.53km2

Amarah 2160m 800m 1.73km2

Tumah 1344m 2096m 2.82km2

Flames 1248m 1952m 2.44km2

[TF Lightning / Thunder]

There is no difference between the two campaigns. It's the same campaign with different names, that's all.

[Does Maries Module bring any Campaign changes?]

Do the soldiers walk on the water though...or bail out and sit/stand on top of the modded water tiles; do they behave exactly as they would on land?

No, it's a work around that's visually convincing but it's still a marsh tile and that means that troops and vehicles can't enter it. The workaround that Pete came up with is very clever but I'll let him explain it to you 'cos it's his brainchild.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Mission 6 - Dimas Part 1 - The Agony of Doom

This is another BIG map and potentially a very big battle.

It's not apparent from this view but this map is my own attempt at making a Hill 621 map. I had a look at Cpl Steiner's Hill 621 map but decided that I couldn't use it as it was too ASL-ey (okay, that's not a real word but you get my meaning). It's a FANTASTIC representation of the actual board but it lacks the authenticity that I am looking for in the maps for this campaign. So I started up a new map that attempted to get the spirit of it and this is what I came up with.

The Hill 621 reference should alert you to the fact that you're going to get a bloody nose in this one. You should have the full Group A in this battle and you have to acheive a victory or the campaign is over. I'm going to try and make it so that you have to expend the best part of your force to get that win but so much is yet undecided.

It's quite possible that playtesting the compiled Group A missions will reveal that Group A is spent in the 'Bridge' mission so this might end up being the first Group C mission. Anyways, this will be your first encounter with the 3rd Armour Division and it should be a huge change of pace for you.

This one is awaiting compilation and playtesting.

Anyway, that's enough for one day. There will be two more missions, both night battles, before the three Perdition missions come up.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Mission 5 - The Bridges are Burning

Well, of course, they won't be but I like the title.

This is a very large map and it's another Group A battle. You will have the best part of Company A and some engineers as well as tanks and, hopefully some artillery to do this one. It's another 2 hours plus the maximum extra time mission.

It's been playtested a few times but not as part of a compiled campaign and of course, that will be essential. So the status of this one is awaiting compilation and playtesting. So far, every time I've played it, I've managed to get a win but it's sometimes a VERY costly win. But that's why you've got nearly a full Regiment as your core forces.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Mission 4 - Where Farmers Dare

Another Group A mission this one should have a twist in it. So far, you've been overrunning the Reserve force without too much trouble and now you hit a serious barrier. This could even be retitled 'The Reserves Strike Back' if I didn't like the joke title so much.

You will have the best part of two Infantry Companies, D Company and some tanks to do this one as well as the obligatory artillery but you'll probably start to feel a pinch as your artillery starts to run out of ammo.

This is one of my all time personal favourite missions and it's pretty much finished too. Once again, it needs to be playtested with v1.1 but otherwise it's FINISHED. I'm REALLY looking forward to playtesting this one thoroughly.:cool:

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Mission 3 - First Blood

I expect that the title will change before the campaign is finished as this was originally intended to be the campaign opener.

This is another Group A mission with a single Mech Infantry company and some tanks and a load of artillery in support. The terrain is becoming greener now as we race into the Tumah valley towards Dimas.

That village must be cleared out and you have 1 hour and 20 minutes with some extra time to do it. Once again, your opponent is a Reserve infantry formation but resitance and resolve is stiffening so you can expect them to put up a real fight in this one.

The status of this one is FINISHED although it will need to be playtested with the new patch just to make sure everything is fine.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Mission 2 - Orchard Road

The second mission is still in the drawing phase but it's nearly finished and I'm going to start playing seriously with it tomorrow to get an idea of how to place the AI forces.

This is Group A's first mission. Group A is not an impressive force, a BTR Mech Infantry Company with a single company of T-72M tanks in support. At the moment, you have the full tank company, one Infantry company and a load of artillery to accomplish your mission which is to clear the huge orchard complex of Reserve infantry and some T-54 static tanks. You have 2 hours and the maximum extra time to do it and it looks like a very tall order indeed. But when I ran it through yesterday, I managed to do it all without using any artillery and I didn't take heavy casualties either. Expect this situation to change though as there's only one huge AI group at the moment and I'm in the process of organising the defence.

BTW, the orchard complex at the back of the map is a much more accurate representation of the real life Syrian orchard that 'Strong Stand' was based on. This time around, I think I've managed to do it properly.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

Before I start posting more screenshots, I suppose I should give a little more background to the campaign. It's Red on Red (of course) and you will have practically a full Mech Infantry Regiment as your core forces. Don't worry, I'm not INSANE (yet) so only a fraction of your whole force will appear in any one mission. This large core force is split into three distinct Battalion groups imaginatively named A, B and C. The Perdition Group is group B and they get to open the show.

Mission 1 Petani - Shock and Awe

The first mission in the campaign starts at 5am, just before the dawn on a very hazy day. The battle will be quite short, only 45 minutes with some extra time but you will have a LOT of firepower at your disposal to do the job. It's my intention for the first mission to be a bit of a doddle, as long as you go about it the right way. You will have a single BMP-1 Mech Inf Company and a company of T-62MVs from Group B, the Perdition group, and a mass of artillery including a battery of Heavy Rocket artillery to do the job. The enemy force is a single reserve Infantry company and they are nervous and poorly motivated. But they will receive some support from a company of reserve tanks racing along the road to reinforce them.

The village is quite detailed and so far, I've had an absolute blast playing this one. The status of this one is FINISHED. I just have to playtest it with v1.1 to make sure everything is fine and then it's done.

[Does Maries Module bring any Campaign changes?]

Still bummed about the no water thing though...

Was hoping for some amphibous assaults...

Oh well...

Pete's something of a genius with the scenario editor. I've seen his mod in action and it'll be THE mod to have when he uploads his marsh to water mod to CMMODS. You'll really FEEL like you've got water in the game and this mod will serve the community very well until BFC do it properly in the first of the WW2 modules early next year.

BTW, I've seen this mission and you bet your ass that there'll be fantastic amphibious assault missions made using this mod. I'm DEFINITELY going to do one for my own Marine campaign.

[Work in progress - The Road to Dimas]

(In game action phote from Dimas Part 1)

Well, this is my current work in progress. Rather than drop small tasters and screenshots into a multitude of unrelated threads I'll start up a new one where I can post screenshots as they come out.

I've been working solidly on this since I finished the Perdition mini campaign. It's tentatively called 'Perdition - the Road to Dimas' and it will include variants of the three missions from the mini campaign. And there will be a minimum of nine other missions included in it for a total of 12. It's quite possible that there'll be more missions as I'm really warming up to my subject here. It also happens to be my most ambitious project to date. Not only will it be fully dynamic like 'Hasrabit' but it really will use all the tools that BFC have provided.

There will be a mixture of small and epic battles in this one ranging from lightning assaults made by armour and mech infantry forces on confused and frightened Reserve units based in a small village to large tank battles. The maps will also vary from edge-of-the-desert villages to very green agricultural terrain intersected by water obstacles.

The photo at the top of the thread comes from the first ever playthrough of one of the bigger maps and the mission is tentatively called 'Dimas Part 1 - Agony of Doom', the 6th mission in the campaign so far. Like many of the other new missions, it is awaiting v1.1 before playtesting can begin in earnest. This mission is one of a set of three, Dimas Parts 1, 2 and 3, that will represent the large battle for the town of Dimas and will be a major feature in the campaign.

The next shot is a map work in progress and it's the biggest. most detailed map I've ever worked on. It's about 75% done now and I've just started fooling around with units on it to get a feel for the battle.

(Map in progress - Orchard Road)

This battle, the 2nd mission, is tentatively called 'Orchard Road' and will be a full length (2 hours +15 mins extra time) fight to clear a large orchard complex of Reserve forces. This map is huge at 3.2km x 1.2km and it's one of three giants planned for this campaign.

Unlike Perdition, there will be more emphasis on infantry action in most of the missions but each one will be combined arms all the way for Blue. I just get bored playing missions without tanks and vehicles. the battles will start out as simple bloody affairs as your mech forces smash their way through Reserve forces on your way to your first day's objective, the town of Dimas. You won't have any air support although the enemy will from time to time but you will have a lot of artillery available to you. as the campaign continues, you will eventually encounter lead elements of the 3rd Armour Division and then the fight will become much more difficult. they'll enjoy most of the advantages then and you'll have to overcome them in your own way.

I'll post more screenshots of the individual maps with a brief outline of the campaign story later this weekend. I need to redo some of my screenshots as I want to exhibit them with Pete Wenman's Marsh to Water mod.

[When combat mission make it back to Eastern Front what battle do want it cover ?]

I believe the smart money is on Operation Bagration. I'd be happy to start there too and work backwards.

100% pure speculation by the way

[The Hasrabit Campaign]

Yeah The Barrier was enother one i forgot to mention. As is it is my least favorite scenario - too saturated with forces and requires alot of "terrain crawling" at ground level to find that perfect hull down position (for 20+ BMPs and their infantry).

Ach well, at least it's short .

I'll probably be posting a new batch of screenshots of some of the maps for the new campaign after the weekend. The one I'm currently working on is unbelievable and it's very long, (3.2km x 1.2km) and highly detailed. It's based on a real place, actually two real places but the map is large enough to accomodate them both. It's already taken more than a week and it's still only about 75% done. The REAL finishing touches get put in after I start playtesting a map and I get a feel for what's needed. I loaded it up yesterday and gave it a try out and it was fantastic and I was getting good fps too. I just need to wait for 1.1 to come and then I can finalise it.:cool:

[The Hasrabit Campaign]

It'll definitely get looked at when I playtest that mission again. As it happens, there is a real story to this particular action; as your forces approach Saudara the rebels hear some strange noises on the south road. They send out a small patrol to investigate and when it runs into trouble, they send out a larger counterattack force. This should embroil your forces in a struggle close to their entry point rather than fulfilling the plan in the briefing.

I did it this way because the AI doesn't have dynamic triggers and so I had to approximate the timing of everything to simulate this situation. It also happens to distract your attention from something else that's happening.

BTW, if you get the AI plan with the AT-4s deployed on the hilltop, you'll find that struggle at the start much more challenging than if they're at the back of the board. This one change alone will ensure a greater challenge.

But don't worry, I want this mission to be as good as I can make it. I expect that I'll spend a lot of time doing this one and The Barrier properly.

[US MMG team unable to deploy in rubbled building]

You're probably going to find that Mark is playing v1.1 and one of the changes listed is that MGs can deploy inside buildings.

[The Hasrabit Campaign]

Although I'm relly desperate to get stuck into playtesting the new missions for my new campaign, I'm also quite excited about testing the altered missions with the new features. Here's what's new.

The opening mission 'Ambush' has a completely redone map more in line with the maps I'm currently drawing up. Both sides will have artillery available to them. This means that you will be able to set up a pretty devastating ambush and win quickly, but fluff it up and the AI will be more punishing. There are now three AI attack plans in this mission although the forces on both sides are identical to the original battle.

There's almost no chance in hell :eek: of me giving the AI artillery to play with during the mission as those Green troops are vulnerable as hell and a reasonably well placed AI artillery strike would mean 'GAME OVER' for Blue. However, I'm going to try it out and see if it's fun.

The Guards Counterattack should play pretty much the same way even with the dynamic artillery although I've done a tiny bit of work on the Red OB to make it a bit more challenging. Nothing drastic, nothing new so don't panic.

Hill 142 should stay the same although I've added another AI plan. There will be dynamic artillery in this one too.

The Barrier is the mission I expect to have the most work to do as I'll try very hard to co-ordinate the AI's attack with an artillery barrage. That will be tricky but hopefully, doable. I want the new artillery system to play a BIG role in this mission.

Buying the Farm will probably be a little bit more difficult with a little AI artillery. However, the version that you'll get if you lose the Hill mission will be much deadlier. I've 'undone' some of the penalties Blue incurred, delayed reinforcements and less tanks, and instead given the AI plenty of artillery to use throughout the game. That was what I really wanted when I first conceived of this branch but it wasn't possible.

Breakout shouldn't require much work and I expect neither will Saudara Part 1 as they'll both get a little artillery to keep you on your toes so no real surprises here. However, take care of your armour in Breakout and you might have some tanks in the finale.

Saudara Part 2 will probably be much tougher this time around though as I want to make this one a bitch to beat :cool:. The AI will probably have some BIG guns available to it here. And that old AI plan that positioned the AT-4s at the back of the board with no LoS to anywhere is gone.

In the finale, the AI will have some artillery available throughout the mission but to compensate you for this, you might have some crappy reserve tanks for the last mission. I fully expect to take heavier casualties in the earlier mssions due to hopefully, better AI attacking behaviour and the dynamic artillery. However, I suspect that once people have overcome their initial shock at having the AI use artillery in-game, we'll develop tactics to overcome ths new obstacle.

There are a few other changes that I've already mentioned earlier in this thread. they're all still valid and apart from retexturing the Shuruk valley maps to make them greener and more visually appealing, there's nothing else new.

I suppose I could put it up untested right now if I wanted but that would probably mean revising it AGAIN after I've got the Marines installed.

[The Hasrabit Campaign]

The old version is gone from my hard drive now and the new v1.1 is all ready but of course, I can't playtest the changes yet. Unfortunately, I feel your guess of about 3 more weeks is probably about right. When they announced September, I figured, 'okay, make that last week of September'. And after I get the new module installed, I expect to have about a week of work just playtesting the missions with AI artillery.

It just takes so l-o-n-g to upload stuff onto CMMODS. The last time I uploaded this campaign, it took almost an hour. But we'll see. I'm hard at work drawing up a batch new maps for my next campaign, i.e. not playing the game, and I will really want to get to work on playtesting these new missions when the Marines is installed on my hard drive and not spend much time retesting the Hasrabit missions.

[The Iron Man cometh]

So Iron Man is just the old Elite? Ah well, that fantasy was very short lived. I'll look forward to hearing about your plans for this option in the future.

I spent a bit of time thinking about a couple of really cool mini scenarios I could make for true Iron Man rules. with one or two platoons max. I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer then.

[The Iron Man cometh]

I really have no idea. I'm just sharing the info. However, one thing that I DO know and that's it's just an option for playing the game that a few of us would like to have (emphasis on few). If you don't want to play this way, you won't have to, it'll just be one more option.

[The Iron Man cometh]

From the Blog for those of you who missed it...

In the next days we will also once again update the Online Game Manual for CM:SF to the final release version of the v1.10 patch. No huge additions/changes any more to the current v1.10 beta version, although, well, there is the introduction of a new Skill Level (Iron) on top of the existing ones (Beginner, Veteran, Elite)... Check the webpage for the update in the next days.

If I remember, this might mean that you can only observe the battle from the viewpoint of your troops. Cool... I can't wait for the next update...:cool: