Offshoot

There can actually be some overlap between 'apparent' model complexity, textures and lighting when normal mapping is used. To perhaps answer the original poster's question about what might be missing compared to other games, normal mapping is pretty common in current games but I don't think it is used in CMBN, probably for good reason (although I think it would make a world of difference for the buildings, which I think are the weakest aspect with respect to the graphics). But personally, gameplay ueber alles, and I like the graphics just fine, especially looking down tree-lined avenues at ground level.

Cancel this - this was my user error and is not an issue.

OK, forget my nonsense. I have a modded compass and was reading it wrong. My apologies to the scenario writer for being such a tit.

Then perhaps we have a bigger problem than just an error in the briefing? I checked again last night before posting and the smoke for me was definitely blowing in the opposite (incorrect) direction. Just to double check, this is the School of Hard Knocks scenario, the second in the Courage and Fortitude campaign. I'm going to check again, just in case I've done something stupid and will try to post screenies.

Apart from the road up to the bridge, which I assume is TRPed to death, the shelling seems completely arbitrary. Some heavy machine guns on the little rocky mound in the ploughed field have been unmolested for ages but two big shells fell right at the back in the exact round the reinforcing company turned up, taking out the Company HQ and the XO. I had my big mortars behind a hedge on the right and they have been untouched so far. I'm seriously considering running all the infantry across open ground and hiding them by the water on the near river bank to see what happens.

Ah yes, I know the windy conventions, but I see that my comment was unclear. To clarify, the scenario says "Wind: light from SW" when it should say "Wind: light from NE". So I meant that the wrong wind direction is given, rather than that the phraseology is wrong (which isn't a typo as such).

I've worked in publishing for a couple of decades now too and my eyes are also drawn to typos, but they don't really bother me here so long as the meaning is clear. As far as typos in briefings reflecting badly on the game, I don't think they do given its total scope. The manual is a far more important part of the overall impression and I think it is an excellent example of non-technical technical writing. I did notice an error (not strictly a typo) in the briefing for The School of Hard Knocks mission. In the designers notes it says there is a light wind "from the south-west" when it should be "to the south-west" - thank the war gods for my saved game when my smoke barrage started to blow the wrong way. But looking at the writers name I imagine English is not his native language so it's just one of those things. Besides, I have other reasons to hate him for because of that mission besides something as comparatively trivial as an error in the briefing

After reissuing shoot and scoot commands to five AFVs over several turns in the same spot, one thing I would like if it were at all possible is a 'replay last' command string button.

If there is a pattern to this, it could be used to overcome the desire of the breach teams to charge through the hole to admire their work in some situations. Simply set your team to blast the opposite bocage to that you really want to breach when the opportunity avails itself - work-behind as a workaround.

Whenever I lose one member of a team, it is always the gunner. Whenever the enemy has only one member of a team left, it is always the gunner.

The title "Move shoot, move shoot again..." reminded me of the game I played last night where I was shoot and scooting 5 Stuarts and sometimes a couple of Shermans against some AT guns. It got pretty tedious having to reset the same orders every round, so I was fantasizing about order macros or at least a 'replay last turn for this unit' function

Although I have seen off-target artillery strikes where one would have thought they should be more accurate given conditions, I should say that every single pre-planned strike I have done has been remarkably accurate and most of those called in-game also. If anyone wanted to do tests, it would be useful to know how artillery strikes are handled by the game. Are spotting rounds actually used to adjust on-map co-ordinates or are they just used to check whether the spotter can see them and then this factored into something like an accuracy bell curve? Or maybe they aren't used at all? I do agree that it doesn't seem like common sense that a spotter would call for fire for effect without having seen any spotting rounds. I would prefer that the mission just took longer to get to fire for effect and used up more rounds in spotting than that it was dumped prematurely way off-target.

I had a situation where the spotting rounds fell maybe 10 or 20 metres from the spotter himself. Idiot then calls 'fire for effect' and the subsequent rounds wipe out his team and a MG team nearby. I'm pretty sure he remained spotting throughout (no one was hurt by the spotting rounds), but he was in a woods so maybe he didn't 'see' the spotting rounds falling on the other side of the tree he was behind. Or maybe he thought they were enemy rounds as they were so close

Not to mention your Private Hitler haircut.

Out of interest, how do mines work? Is each individual mine in a field tracked (like bullets) such that if one goes off, it means there is now one less in the field, or is a minefield something like an abstracted area with an 'x'% chance of hitting a mine for 'y' duration within it?

Thanks for putting this up. I tried several of the other servers but each time the download died after a couple of hundred megs. This went through fine though - much appreciated.

This is similar in New Zealand, although our allowable amount is a bit higher. In NZ though the amount on which VAT is charged also includes the cost of delivery, so you might want to check if this is the case in the UK. Actually, if you look at the UK DHL site (not sure if links are allowed here, but a search on "DHL UK duties and taxes" should put it at the top) it says: "What is the value for VAT? The value for VAT is the declared value of the goods plus the transport costs to the country of destination plus the customs duty." When I lived in the UK I remember being hit for about 14 pounds on a $50 hat, though I'd always heard tales about how it was quite random whether your item would be targeted or not.

Out of curiosity, how are personnel casualties calculated in game? I understand from other posts that vehicle casualties are calculated off the 3D model now with multitude other factors incorporated, but what about people? Is the trajectory of every bullet tracked to see if it hits a 3D man? And if it does, how then is a KIA determined rather than a WIA? Are body areas tracked, or a random chance applied based on pre-determined factors, or something else?