Paper Tiger
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Posts posted by Paper Tiger
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handihoc:
wow! Congatulations on your draw. That must have been a very hard earned result without the reserves. Anyway, you'll probably find the two final Republican Guards missions a nice change of pace. Since you got a win in The Barrier, you should be able to kick butt in the Rearguard action and then get to rampage in the Assault on Saudara. However, I'd imagine you'll find the finale, "Hasrabit' pretty tough. Look fgorward to hearing how you got in each mission. BTW, I think 'Saudara - The Boys are back in town' is the best mission in the campaign. It'll be even better in the final v4. Enjoy
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I have been meaning to post this for some time. There isn't any real info in the manual about the vehicle launched AT-10 and AT-12 rounds fired by some Syrian tanks. When I was working on 'Hasrabit' I noticed that the T-72 TURMS fired off their AT-10s first so I assume that the AI considers them to be the most effective round to use against other tanks. There's no info regarding their effective ranges or the weapon's deadliness in the manual whereas ther's plenty about the infantry equipped ATGMs.
Secondly, I'm playtesting my newest offering and I have never seem my T-55s fire off their AT-10s during a mission. I suspect there must be some sort of bug that affects this, as when I move these same forces onto my "Firing Range" map, the T-55s fire those AT-10s off to great effect. The one MAJOR difference between my Firing Range map (and Hasrabit too for that matter) and the scenario map is that there LOTS of trees on the scenario map. We all see rounds exploding in trees quite a lot so perhaps this is causing this problem.
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The last mission is called 'Perdition's Flames' or just Flames, and this map is the biggest I've ever worked on. There's so much I could write about this one but it'll have to wait until later
There will be more to follow and don't get frutrated, it reall IS nearly finished.
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The second mission is called 'The Crossing' and this map is very big, more than 2km x 1.2km. The first screenshot is the large estate that lies to the north of the Amarah pass and you must clear it out of enemy troops while also seizing the bridge and holding it against an enemy couterattack. The second is looking west across the board towards the large estate which is behind that hill on the right. There is still quite some way to go behind you so you should get some sense of the scale of the map.
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Well, I guess some of you folks are viewing in the hope of finding some screenshots so I've started uploading some this evening. I wanted to post a fuller description earlier today while I was at work but I had to ... WORK instead... sigh, sometimes real life just gets in the way of your fun! I don't have much time again this evening but I'll post these screeies now and explain them more fully tomorrow, if work permits...
Like Hasrabit, all three missions take place on the same day, the first battle starting just after dawn, the second just after midday and the third later in the afternoon. There will be no low light missions in the mini campaign and neither will there be any mines. However, I REALLY wanted to put mines into the second one but it's already wickedly difficult without them.
The first mission is called 'The Road to Amarah'. The map is quite long, slightly more than 2km but not too wide, just under 1 km. You have to move your forces through the pass to assault a small village at the north end of the map. The first shot is taken roughly in the middle of the map looking south to the crossing. The second shot is taken from behind the village of Amarah.
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I have to confess that nowadays, regardless of my troop's experience level, I always use an enormous amount of LIGHT area fire before I move units into a potential field of fire and that includes supporting fire from any vehicles that are available too. At longer ranges, I'll use main gun fire to area fire a potential target too. Red tanks are really good in this role... I play Red on Red exclusively now and I find that it's the only way to keep your casualties at acceptable levels. And by using the 'Target Light' command, I can preserve my RPG-7s for those targets that have revealed themselves.
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Just wondering if development on the marines has had to take a back foot during all the change overs etc or will be getting a juicy update soon?
He got a reply regarding his first question but nothing on the more important second one. I think a lot of us folks would really like to hear SOMETHING regarding this matter sometime really soon, ie before this Sunday night.
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Wow! You got that one sorted out really quickly. It seems to be working fine now...
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I might as well give you guys the heads up that I'm in the final stages of playtesting a new mini Red on Red campaign. It has only three missions but they're each two hours long with extra time added on. So far, both me and my playtester are finding them VERY difficult. I can't speak for my playtester but I'm enjoying playing them and I really like the difficulty of these missions. I suspect some of you will require several playthroughs before you have any chance of a victory in the third and final mission.
I was going to wait until the Marines module came out before posting this in case there are some really cool new features that would really enhance this campaign, for example, AI ablility to use artillery throughout the mission, and AI triggers in particular. However, if something along those lines is introduced, I can revise the campaign and post a new version.
Because I'm at work, I don't have any screenshots to post yet but I'll almost certainly post a few later .
As for completion, I expect to playtest the hell out of this mission at the weekend and hopefully itr should get posted sometime later next week.
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I've noticed that some of the wider screenshots get 'cut off' when we're viewing them and the text that accompanies them also runs to the hidden border. Is there any way to expand the viewable size?
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Congratulations on finally completing the migration guys. It's good to be back.
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Wow, it looks really good. But you weren't joking about the file being huge. I'm trying to download it at work as I find uploading/downloading files from CMMODS a very lengthy process. I'm currently getting 2.80KB/sec which means about another 16 hours!!! And it's getting gradually slower as the minutes creep by. Is this the same for all you guys?
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Red Rage
"only three missions"
believe me, I'm tempted to let it grow into a monster too. The conception is to create one 'extended' scenario in which the player performs a flanking attack to draw out the enemy reserves. It wouldn't be that difficult to expand the capaign to include the main front too with success on one front affecting the battles on the other. A bit like Hasrabit actually. It's extremely likely that I will expand it at a later date but for now, I just want to keep this one 'small'.
The main problem with designing a large dynamic campaign is that it takes months of work to do and, even after all that work, there WILL still be mistakes in the posted version. Designing a dynamic campaign isn't like creating a single scenario, so the two can't be compared. After Hasrabit, I really wanted to try my hand at a shorter campaign with 2-4 missions.
All three missions take place on very large and highly detailed maps and they're all 2 hours+ long. At the moment, the forces on both sides are smaller than the average Hasrabit mission but the later ones are growing. The first mission is completely finished with 5 AI plans to ensure replayability. The second mission is nearly there and should be finished later this week while the third is still being developed. If I stick with the mini campaign format, it should be finished sometime next month, probably before the Marines module arrives. I'm not going to bother waiting for the module to arrive before posting it as I want to start a new campaign using the Syrian Airborne forces with some T-90s in support. I have a feeling that that particular combination of forces will really fire up my imagination so it will probably be an epic campaign. I've also found a good site for it on Google Earth.
I understand how you feel about Blue v Red too. Every so often, I fire up a US v Syria scenario but I just can't get into it as I want to play a more conventional combat situation. I prefer meeting engagements and battles in the countryside with perhaps an urban finale (like Hasrabit!) to an urban slugfest. I also want to play combined arms missions as I enjoy the vehicular action. The three battles in the mini campaign are going to be VERY challenging so it will probably take people a long time to complete the campaign, especially as you MUST win the second mission to open up the third. That won't be easy to do. The tanks duels are hard.
Anyway, I'll probably start up a thread this weekend with some screenshots if BFC have successfully completed their move.
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I'm in the final stages of designing a mini Red on Red campaign and I've noticed that when I play the compiled missions, the Blue side (Syrian) doesn't receive it's GAZ jeep thingies for both it's FOS and Company D units. However, when I play the individual (ie uncompiled) mission, the jeeps are in there. Has anybody else seen this?
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The MTVR 6x6 Armored Truck will arrive in the Marines module which is great news. So, I'd like to ask how it will appear in the units menu. Will they be available ONLY as part of a US Marines (or Army) unit or will we be able to 'buy' them for the Syrians without being encumbered (AFTER editing in the menu as far as it will let us) with some US unit.
While it would be nice if the Syrians received their own trucks, I'll be very happy if we are able to add them to Syrian OBs in the same way that we can add other Blue stuff when desired.
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handihoc:
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on with 'Breakout'. the version you're playing is pretty tough but at least you'll have the air support to help you out.
Red Rage:
thanks for that. BTW, when I play The Farm mission, I usually run like hell before the artillery barrage starts so I consider it to be a legitimate tactic. Indeed, if you don't, the mission becomes very difficult. I've NEVER managed to repel the attack on the farmhouse with only the reserves though. Nice one.
I have almost finished Hasrabitv3 which will be the final version. I was originally planning to hold on to it until the Marines module came out to take advantage of the new undisclosed game play features but it'll probably be another 6-8 weeks before we see that. So I'll post up v3 sometime very soon. I posted something about the changes on the last page if you're interested.
I have a new campaign in the works, once again Red on Red and, right now, it's just three missions long. That might just change though as I have ideas for expanding it. But it definitely won't be out before the Marines module.
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Well, from reading Martin's post, I think it's definitely fair to say NOT this month.
I know I must come across as being horribly impatient. I 100% agree that it would be foolish for BFC to announce a date for its release as it would cause more hassle than it's worth. But I'd really just like to read a post from BFC saying something like "don't expect it to arrive any time before the end of July". That's not raising any false expectations and, if they were wrong and it WAS released before such date, who'd complain?!
The reason for my frustration is simple. I spend far more time designing and playtesting scenarios than I do playing missions. When I read that announcement a month + ago I suspended work on my current project as I wanted to see what changes would be made. Why did I think it's arrival was imminent? Recalling the time when dynamic lighting was added (in 1.05?) there was total silence from BFC about this new feature until they posted screenshots. Then, the patch arrived about a week later. We saw the pictures and got excited and the goods arrived about a week later.
I just want to 'get back to work' on my favourite game. At the moment, without ANY knowledge of what changes are being made, it's not possible for ME to design any new stuff.
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BFC-
Is there any possibility of an update on the Marines module? It's been quite a while now since you made the original announcement and created a new web page but it hasn't been updated since it was made.
I'm really not complaining. I'm just anxious to get some sort of idea how much longer we're going to have to wait. If it's not going to be this month then PLEASE, tell us so that I don't get disappointed every time I visit this website and find... nothing.
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quote - "If the VAAR contest is running for about 2 months and 2nd prize is a copy of marines module am I reading in to it too much that that is when the release is aimed for?"
When I read that announcement, that was the impression I got too. Sometime early August seems to be about right.
I know I'm just going to have to learn to be patient but I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to do any work on my current CMSF projects as they will almost certainly be made obsolete by some of these unknown 'exciting new gameplay features'. Noibody's going to want to play 'old' scenarios for a while after the release so what's the point of making them?
So come on guys. Isn't it about time you threw us a small bone here?
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Hey guys! Any more word on this yet? I've just had a look at the website and it hasn't been updated since the 28th May when it was opened. And there's been no official word about progress either. What's going on? Can't you even give us a NEGATIVE ETA... ie it WON'T be available before 1st July or something?
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I have vista 64 Home and the whole CMSF package works fine, editor and gameplay.
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FMB - "Then, suddenly, at some point (in one scenario, about five minutes in, in another, 10-15 minutes in), FPS nose-dives from at least 9 and usually more to 0, 1, or 2. This persists for way too long. Then, at some point, FPS returns to normal, only to tank again in a few minutes. This continues until I get frustrated, quit the game, and send ND an email"
Only the designer will be able to confirm this but it sounds like there are reinforcements arriving and their arrival really does hit your frames badly. If ND can confirm that, it's a VERY easy problem to solve.
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Ah, found it. I originally had two platoons of reserve tanks but I deleted one set. But because they still appear in the OB as greyed out units, and still set as R4, it kept that reinforcement slot open. That's been changed now. Thanks guys.
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It's probably the buildings. When I was playtesting the final mission of the campaign, I found that, whenever there was just one building in the picture, the fps dropped drastically. If I moved the camera to look offboard (very boring), fps shot up to 40+fps, even with all the action going on. Swing round to look back on map with no buildings, fps dropped to around 12-16fps but, get a building in and it brought it right down to between 6-8.
One building itself doesn't do this, and neither does a small village. But it seems there is some critical point when frames plummet when building density passes a certain level. Hasrabit town is really dense with lots of high walls.
As for trees, you might find that the denser foliage types produce lower frames than the less denser ones. I tend to use type E trees very liberally and they don't slow things down too badly but they sure don't look as good as type D ones.
Will problems with AI facing be addressed in the new module?
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
I have been running some tests on my new scenario and I'm consistently seeing the AI set up SOME units with their backs to the Blue board edge. Even when I place the units myself with no set up zones, the AI takes it upon itself to turn them around to face the opposite direction. Sometimes, some units face towards the centre of the board instead of a board edge. I can definitely post screenshots of this problem later if you want.
Is this going to be fixed in the next module? It's a very important fix for us scenario designers, and those people who play them.