ZPB II

Oo, necromantic rituals! 26 here. My first video game was something on the Commondore 64, can't remember what it was exactly. Started playing CMBO when the beta demo came out. Which was a long time ago.

Just playtesting a large CMFI scenario with this installed. Lots of cool little details like the smoke launcher, bullet zips and tank reload sound. Mortars sound like they mean business. Casualty sounds are downright evil!

I agree with baron, that does not look like a good defensive position at all. The buildings look no more resilient to HE than normal ones and if the defenders hide into tunnels or somesuch, just start a big fire outside the entrance... So maybe the scenario should be something out of the Dirty Dozen or Commando instead of a normal attack/defend.

Ah, the idea about growing BFC into a gigazillion dollar hypercorporation to govern all forms of life took me to read again the article about BTS/BFC origins. Formed as a last refuge against gigazillion dollar hypercorps. Then it reminded me about a smart person who said that managing gigazillion dollar assets is a nice way to lose your hair. Maybe it'll happen on a yacht or in a Lamborghini with a 20-year-old model giggling shotgun, but they'll still fall off. Funny how EA started out way back, for gamers by gamers, and now it's mostly a bunch of suits preparing expensive parachutes while thousands of nervous people watch. (post contains hyperbole)

16 minutes until 4:20.

As far as I know, AT mines (if they were AT and not AP) are currently bugged. There have been several instances where a tank drives over 3 AT mines that detonate and no meaningful damage is impacted. If 10kg of TNT detonates under a Tiger track, that's a track and a few roadwheels less at minimum.

M8 and M20 sound heavy to me, but I don't have CMx2 handy right now to check.

Gentlemen, can we leave that stuff at the door please? It's been apparent since the start that a non-native English speaker will use phrases and words that carry different weight. Some terms might be more loaded than others. A certain degree of leniency is required, surely this discussion about semantics and manners has been had before. And as to not appear too biased toward Poland, I will say that we had some rather enthusiastic Polish soccer fans over a couple of months ago. The riot police was called in, something that is exceedingly rare in Finland.

There has, as far as I know, always been a patch associated with a module release. The patch has been universal for both owners of the base game and the module. So any optimization or fixes will not be listed in module features. If BFC released patches only as part of a module that you need to buy, can you imagine how much people would complain then?

All those improvements sound nice, but I don't see BFC doing it's black code magic on the TacAI and the general AI anytime soon. That's a lot of stuff there. In the meanwhile, it'd be nice to be able to play against the AI and have it mount a convincing urban defence. Many times even if the scenario designer has carefully placed the defenders in good spots, if they fall back the TacAI places them inside buildings, neutering their AT capability. Sometimes even in H2H matches the TacAI retreats inside a building for the turn and your AT guy ends up loitering there when he could and should be taking a shot. Some QB maps and scenarios are designed in such a way that there isn't much small cover to use other than buildings. All this has me thinking if the AT weapon building ban is worth the hassle, since oftentimes the simulation provides results that are not entirely realistic due to it. Since the net result right now is that tanks roam the streets with way more authority than they should. Tanks not riding into the boulevard should be the norm, not something only achieved by Grandmaster level tacticians and map editors. Also, are those tactics manuals and training from peacetime or wartime? Since there are usually vast differences in protocol depending on the gravity of impending death. To face a tank pointing it's gun at you and not pull the trigger, to not risk burst eardrums and burnt skin instead of HE turning you into pink mist...

M18 it is

The problem feels bad partly due to the point that I think tanks spot threats from the side and rear a bit too good and react to threats a bit too fast. Having played a lot of CMSF back in the day, the AFVs feel modern in that respect. The visibility from a modern IFV (CV90) to the sides is somewhat bad, especially when it's moving. Especially that the CV has dual commander hatches with 360 degree vision (although slotted ofcourse) both for the vehicle commander and the infantry squad NCO in the back. Having looked at museum Stugs, PzIVs and several Soviet tanks I've come to think of the visibility from inside one as utterly abysmal. This is all just gut feeling ofcourse. When Eastern Front comes out, I can see myself posting and cursing about Soviet tanks being blind.

I almost never play urban scenarios because in my opinion they are currently broken. Tanks are king in the city, and that is the exact opposite of reality. During my peaceful military service, I was the rocket launcher guy in an armoured infantry squad (LAW & Apilas). I think bazookas/fausts/shrecks and infantry close assault from inside buildings should be enabled. Though I do admit that I have never fired WW2 era rockets. This is even worse because CMx2 doesn't model peek-shoot-GTFO behaviour for infantry very well. The kind of behaviour that is taught to possibly every guy ever handed a rocket launcher and instructed in it's use.

More mods! More mods! More mods! (to be chanted in the fashion of Tales of the Black Freighter) So a change of scenery both in the real and virtual world. Me and the word filter go back a long way. We still bump into each other every week.

Surprised that there aren't any posts claiming this is a conspiracy by BFC to get people to purchase the scandalous MG module. The same module that shot both Kennedy and Palme. Who am I kidding, bought every module since CMSF days. I don't see myself making an exception. I am hoping it's an M36. Finally the Amis would get something that can reliably ventilate big cats from the front. EDIT: The more I look at the geometry of the rear hull corner and the front lights the more I think it looks like an M18. Which is almost equally cool. Speedy bugger. Bound to be used in too many gamey ways to even describe.

Indeed, I don't believe amphetamine use during combat will accomplish much else than get you killed faster. Atleast in modern combat. Back in the day when differences were sorted out with swords and spears, it might have been different. I can see that it could help on long marches and staying awake during a repetitious task like standing watch, staring at a screen for radar returns or listening to a sonar. But even that would be dextroamphetamine, not meth.

This is indeed something I've been desperately lusting for ever since Shock Force. I like to keep track of casualties and it is a chore since the UI gives practically no feedback. Having somesort of minor UI graphic that shows casualties in red would be immensely awesome. It could just be a small number somewhere in the unit panel that counts how many casualties the unit has taken during the scenario. The UI already gives very specific indicators on ammunition and suppression, so it would be logical for it to display casualties as well. Either that, or remove all the psychic mumbojumbo and make us players count the clips and grenades our pixeltroops are carrying. On the bright side, exercise for the brain is good. I just wish it was slightly more relaxing GUI wise to play CMx2. BFC has stated many times that GUI improvements are on the to-do list, so I assume it is a matter of time.

Grog fight!

"Drop acid, not bombs!" That's exactly what the US military had in mind: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_ultra Yeah, I know, this CIA mind control thing is wee Kettlerian, but MK Ultra is pretty much legit. Atleast no reptiloids are involved.

As far as I know, the survival kit of several modern Air Forces still includes dextroamphetamine pills. Granted, it's nowhere near as bad as methamphetamine but it's understandably being replaced by less notorious stuff like modafinil. The Tarnak Farm incident gave dextroamphetamine use really bad publicity. EDIT: Here's what Wikipedia says about modafinil & the military: "Militaries of several countries are known to have expressed interest in Modafinil as an alternative to amphetamines—the drug traditionally employed in combat situations where troops face sleep deprivation, such as during lengthy missions. The French government indicated that the Foreign Legion used modafinil during certain covert operations. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence commissioned research into modafinil from QinetiQ and spent £300,000 on one investigation. In 2011, the Indian Air Force announced that modafinil was included in contingency plans. The Indian Armed Forces Medical Services is researching its use. In the United States military, Modafinil has been approved for use on certain Air Force missions, and it is being investigated for other uses. One study of helicopter pilots suggested that 600 mg of modafinil given in three doses can be used to keep pilots alert and maintain their accuracy at pre-deprivation levels for 40 hours without sleep. However, significant levels of nausea and vertigo were observed. A second helicopter study found modafinil was comparable to dextroamphetamine and was well-tolerated. Another study of fighter pilots showed that modafinil given in three divided 100 mg doses sustained the flight control accuracy of sleep-deprived F-117 pilots to within about 27 percent of baseline levels for 37 hours, without any considerable side effects. In an 88-hour sleep loss study of simulated military grounds operations, 400 mg/day doses were mildly helpful at maintaining alertness and performance of subjects compared to placebo, but the researchers concluded that this dose was not high enough to compensate for most of the effects of complete sleep loss. In law enforcement, tactical paramedics in Maryland (US) may administer 200 mg of modafinil once daily in order to "enhance alertness / concentration" and "facilitate functioning with limited rest periods." The Canadian Medical Association Journal also reports that Modafinil is used by astronauts on long-term missions aboard the International Space Station. Modafinil is "available to crew to optimize performance while fatigued" and helps with the disruptions in circadian rhythms and with the reduced quality of sleep astronauts experience." Also, no discussion about drugs and the military is complete without this video of LSD being tested on British troops: "The efficiency of the rocket launcher team was also very impaired." Such a British thing to say when you see two men on acid trying to aim a recoilless rifle.

I remember reading allegations that Hitler (and other high staff) used meth daily from around 1943 to the end. That would explain some of the decision making. I don't know if use in the field was widespread enough to be considered meaningful, in the grand scale of things. I'd say the positive effects were more than balanced by the negative effects. In Finland, pervitin (meth) was issued widely enough to cause an addict epidemic post-war. Real class act from the government, during wartime they pumped amphetamines into some troops but after the war ended they did nothing to help the addiction that followed. I guess this was partly due to the need to appease to the Soviets. Here's a really good article in Finnish by the country's leading newspaper (use Google translate!) http://translate.google.fi/translate?act=url&hl=fi&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http://www2.hs.fi/uutiset/juttu.asp%3Fid%3D20020526ER2&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhiPYmzzH28E5MTPXRN5DDvKNQE-Lw It's not really a secret, but neither is it talked about much. Also, Finland didn't have meth in the Winter War, so it doesn't explain all the crazy stuff with pinecones and logs.

The statistics are kinda grim here. Wiki says 4 roughly regimental sized units of 12 000 goumiers in total participated in WW2. Consider this in light of the estimate of 60 000 cases of violence and 12 000 cases of rape. So...I don't think this can be dismissed as a generalization instead of systematic behaviour. (Sorry for taking this further offtopic, but in my opinion these guys deserve to be called bastards. Even that's putting it lightly.) "Four Moroccan groups (regimental-sized units, about 12 000 men in total) served with the Allied forces during World War II." "Over 60,000 women, ranging in age from eleven to 86, suffered from violence" "He considers probable the figure of 12.000 women raped given by the Unione Donne Italiane."

It's the same thing across all genres. Atleast I don't play wargames to avoid and avert conflict at all costs. I seek conflict in order to understand and appreciate how ****ty it all was. If I was commanding a real company in Normandy, every day I would wake up hoping there would be no enemy contact. This is the polar opposite of how a wargame should play out in my mind. It's the same in realistic FPS games and flight sims. Planes are shot out of the sky as soon as they clear the assembly line and the body bags keep on piling. Very rarely in a game does anyone retreat.

Looking good. Are these wiki links legit? Curious, so I know what to think about these guys. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goumier#Reported_atrocities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marocchinate "Monte Cassino was captured by the Allies on May 18, 1944. The next night, thousands of Goumiers and other colonial troops scoured the slopes of the hills surrounding the town and the villages of Ciociaria (South Latium). Over 60,000 women, ranging in age from eleven to 86, suffered from violence, when village after village came under control of the Goumiers. Civilian men who tried to protect their wives and daughters were murdered without mercy. The number of men killed has been estimated at roughly 800.[3] The mayor of Esperia, a comune in the Province of Frosinone, reported that in his town, 700 women out of 2,500 inhabitants were raped and that some had died as a result. According to some sources, more than 7,000 civilians, including children, were raped by Goumiers.[4]" Sounds...rough...

Well, it's technically still summer in Finland so I assume Sergei is fulfilling the Great Patriotic Duty of lying naked on the grass next to an empty bottle of vodka, in order to absorb precious vitamin D from the sun and make sure his body is prepared for the liberal amount of spirits needed to stay warm and survive the winter.