Lets_All_Fight

I actually really like the graphics. I've watched firefights every bit as visceral as anything I've ever seen in an FPS and, especially when a good designer delivers the goods, some of the maps are fantastic just to look at let alone play.

I'm very sorry to hear that. It's a very, very different experience to Total War, thats for sure, and maybe one that's not for everyone. In fact, I think it's closer to playing IL2 than it is Total War because, amongst other things, it rewards you for trying to understand the capabilities and limitations of the men and equipment under your command. It is definitely a simulator rather than a real time strategy game Personally, I think you should stick with it for a while, perhaps read some of the tactical advice that is to be found on these boards and see whether it grows on you. You should never be afraid to ask questions here no matter how silly you think they are, and you will be amazed how quickly things begin to make a lot more sense.

A couple of weeks ago someone posted a link to a GE grid that could be used down to 8m by 8m. Does anyone have the link? Try as I might I cannot seem to find the thread it was in.

Marines is totally worth it. They both are, in fact. Very different feel and play. Get them both, you won't regret it.

Well, to be fair to Gotz he's probably not going to be walking the streets of Berlin in full SS regalia - he'll probably take his Tiger with him and drive instead! I'll get me coat.

No...but considering how drunk we were at one point it would have been like an episode of 'Allo 'Allo.

Ah, Kreuzberg! I had a lot of fun there in the summer. I very much liked Berlin and wouldn't mind going back next year.

I haven't played a pbem game since back in the CMBO days. I've been thinking about getting into it for a while now, so I'm up for it. Oh yeah, while I might not actually be 'green', having played these games for many years, I do suck at war so that should even things up! . Pm me and we'll work something out. hope to hear from you.

It's brilliant! I've only tried the Marine version so far but it's added so much to the feel of the game. Mord, any chance of the Brit version being updated at all? As fantastic as it is, it feels a little 'incomplete' in comparison. Mind you, the quality of the swearing more than makes up for it! I'm sure that an angry Jock gein' ye pelters like that would be the exact definition of an irresistible force.

I've been working on a scenario with IED's in it and this one has been bugging me too. I wondered whether some of the small arms fire is taking place after a trigger man has activated his IED and it has failed to explode which, AFAIK, is possible. Of course, this doesn't really explain the behavior fully and doesn't explain unobserved FO's suddenly deciding to engage with small arms from range. Incidentally, I notice there is an unarmed uncon 'spy FO' which I don't remember seeing before. Did this come in the Brit module or has it always been there?

Lol! I sometimes wonder about the general mental health of Strategy/tactical/Simulation fans compared to the fans of other genres who seem capable of taking it slightly less seriously. Graphics is one of those issues that seems to drive certain gamers to frothing-mouthed craziness. I've always personally felt that graphics in titles like this add so much to the atmosphere. I couldn't imagine playing one of the Silent Hunter games and not being able to watch a winter sun setting into a broiling north Atlantic. You could play it from the map screen and the dials alone, i guess, but you would lose so, so much. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching my paratroop section inching through long grass to flank a German 88 position on a cold, rainy Normandy afternoon or a Tiger platoon emerging from a smokescreen to fire upon my hasty defenses. A good war game should always be heavy with the details and the facts, but they should always go hand in hand with other factors to tell the story. And it's the story a good scenario in CM creates that I'm always most interested in. Reliant on graphics? nope. Never should be. But they help tell the story, and the fact that wars are fought by men and equipment, not statistics and spreadsheets (at least not yet,) is something that many war games seem to forget. it is a fact that tends to be ever-present in my mind whenever I've played Combat Mission games from the CMBO demo onwards.

Thanks for this. I've been looking for something exactly like this for a long time!

Generally, British tv is probably better from a linguistic point of view than movies are; the language in modern tv drama and comedy tends to be more accurate on the little screen than the big. I recommend you go to Amazon and buy 'The Thick of It' plus it's Christmas special. Jamie's iPod rant in the special is, for my money, the most perfect use of the English language ever committed to film. It is awesome. Aside from that I would also recommend 'Auf Weidersen, Pet' (sp?) for it's brilliant mix of accents: Brummie, Bristol, Cockney and a lot of Geordie. A LOT of Geordie.

The only place I remember them being was on the old 'Combat Mission HQ' site but I think it's been gone for quite a while now. I wouldn't mind rereading them again. I found them very, very helpful in the old days when I first got CMBO. Fionn's name was one that kept cropping up on various sim/strat games. Wasn't he also involved heavily in the original Op flashpoint scene? I can't really remember. What ever happened to him anyway? He kind of vanished, turning into some Animal Chin type figure (and if anyone can get that reference without googling it you can be both very proud and very embarressed with yourself! ) Sorry not to be of any help. I'd love to have another look at them for old times sake myself.

Ah yeah. Sorry. I missed that in my enthusiasm!

Just a quick thought as I'm at work just now and can't test it but can't the vehicle condition box be set to 'immbobilized' for vbied's as it can for regular vehicles? Perhaps that might 'freeze' them into position?

I just checked and my way doesn't seem to work either. Unit teleports as soon as you start the scenario.

In CM1 I think you could put vehicles, field guns etc in buildings by placing them in the editor firsts and them putting the building on top of them. It's a very long time since I used the CM1 editor, though, so i'm not 100% certain.

I've mostly been making my own recently but the one I've probably played more than any other was 'Hammertime' by George MC which came out not long after the game first appeared. I haven't played it since the Brit pack came out so I don't know whether there are any changes to the code that affects it or not but it's a great mission. Take a US mech force along a highway to compete objectives in the town. Lot harder than it looks with a clever map that rewards careful tactics. From the disks, my favourites are Al Amarah from the original game, where you're tasked with clearing a small town of insurgents, and 'The Crucible' and 'Breaking the Bank' from the Brit pack which are both wonderful in different ways. The most painfully addictive mission, though, is 'Streets of Hama' from the Marines pack. when you first start it up it doesn't look like much but, by God, it gets to you... I managed a total victory last time I played it. Usually i've lost half my troops by the time I'm half way through and I'm still not certain what I did differently. I'm guessing it was a different Ai plan that kicked in.

Yep. It's funny how much more you worry about those little fellas than in the previous games. People say how unequal the two sides are in SF but the truth is I find that my increased awareness of my own casualties multiplies the threat of the red force by quite a bit. Playing as the Blue side might mean i have the Wrath of God himself at the other end of the radio but I still play much more cautiously than I ever did in CM1. It's a great game. You should buy it immediately.

It might also be worth remembering that you cannot edit or create new units. They can be skinned, of course, and have new sounds added but you can't mess with the data in any way. I'll also second hcrof: the map editor is fairly easy to get to grips with but making a really nice looking map takes a bit of skill.

I built a core I7 machine (920,) with 6gb of ddr3 @ 1600 back in March. I love it. One of these days I'm going to overclock it up over 3ghz but, to be totally honest, its eaten every game I've thrown at it alive without me doing anything. well, everything except IL2: 1946 which gave it indigestion - but I've been told thats a vista 64 issue. It might not be the cheepest cpu out there but it's ace. And it's hyperthreaded so you can pretend to have 8 cores! Well, it impresses me anyway.

What is working for me, basically, is blasting things from a distance. I tend to move my infantry to a good jumping off point and hammer their immediate objective with as much firepower from vehicles, air and arty as I can before I move the squaddies forwards. Fire and manoeuver - Concentrated fire and lots of manoeuver - is helping me get where I am trying to go. Doesn't work so well on dense urban maps but I'm still working on that. I'd like a good primer to how all the various elememets hang together as well. I really don't know much about real world British tactics but I guess I could begin to rectify that with some reading.

The GL are a real pain. In my current play through I got lucky with them - One of my snipers paid his way when he killed one of them and mortars did for another, both of which allowed me to advance. I'm having problems neutralising targets in buildings. It seems that no matter how much I throw at them the reds seem to survive. I got a squad onto one location last night after reducing it to rubble only to find a guy taking potshots with his AK. Guy just had a building fall on his head and he's still going. Dude must be on meth, I swear....

Ah, yep. That brings back memories: all ye Quines an' loons! I lived in the town centre, on Bon Accord Street, just off the west end of Union street, and then on George street (unless I'm getting confused here..) above a pub called the 'Butchers Arms.' Long time ago now, though: way back in the mid nineties.