A Canadian Cat

Ah, huhh?!? Am I missing something? Why are you here if you don't like these games? It is totally your prerogative if you don't like them it just seems strange that you would post here if you don't enjoy these games.

Well it is a good start to know basic tactics for sure. I have no idea of a percentage but I can say that there are differences and that I have yet to figure them out. My win record in WW2 is way better than in CMBS. There have been a few discussions that might help you with that. The one that I found quickly was: It is easy to find opponents yes. Check out this thread that discusses some options: May I recommend the blitz scenario of the month - which picks two titles per month for showcase a scenario and encourage people to play new opponents. Here is a link to an announcement thread for CMBS but each title gets a new post on their respective announcement threads as appropriate for the month.

Have you played the user made scenario and campaign too? Check out: http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/BlackSea/Scenarios/index.html for the scenarios. Sort on the links columns to separate the stock scenarios from the users authored. There is a campaign listed as well.

The later. How would they drop down before anything has happened yet?

The tac AI does have soldiers automatically go to ground. They don't all 100% hit the ground and stay there but they do take cover.

I am going to guess that the German mortar pictured above is a 50mm mortar team. If that is the case then it is because the German and British 50mm mortars can only be used in direct fire roles while the US 60mm and everyone's 81mm and 120mm mortars can be called indirectly. It is how the game is designed - which is based on country doctrine. I personally find that I use my US 60mm mortars for direct fire too. The small mortars are more effective that way - IMHO.

This will be an excellent resource. I am very much enjoying the read. I have found this excellent tool to be very handy for all this: http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=4236 I personally get tired very fast from entering values in to a calculator and risk not doing a complete job of setting up the point allocations. @Ithikial_AU's tool takes a load off. I don't know if there are any differences in the way victory points are calculated in Shock Force compared to the other games that need to be considered.

Credit for that goes to @Mad Mike - I'm just showing his work in a pretty web page. Now that's just what I was hoping would happen - people finding and trying out scenarios they might not have otherwise known about. Excellent!

Steve has said there are no more modules planned for CMBN. I don't recall him explicitly saying there will be no more vehicle packs but I have no idea what would go into one.

There is a time limit after which you can no longer edit a post. Editing is meant to fix errors but not to allow the rewriting of history. At least that's why I figure it is that way.

Map size I can help with. You can use the sort feature here http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/BattleForNormandy/Scenarios/index.html the url does not code the sorted column but if you click on the Map Size column title it will sort, click again and it will put the largest first): Red Thunder: Clash of the Titains Redux2A - 9.38km^2 http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/RedThunder/Scenarios/Clash of Titans Reborn.html Black Sea: Rollin' on the River - 9.1km^2 http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/BlackSea/Scenarios/Rollin' on the River.html Final Blitzkrieg: Day of Attrition - 8.9km^2 http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/FinalBlitzkrieg/Scenarios/Day of Attrition.html Battle for Normandy: Desert Fox - 8.76km^2 http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/BattleForNormandy/Scenarios/Desert Fox.html Fortress Italy: The Forests of Wild Beasts - 5.76km^2 http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/FortressItaly/Scenarios/GL The Forest of Wild Beasts.html

^^^ This. Also better lead more experienced troops will stay down and not get up an try to run away - which is deadly when under a barrage. ^^^ This too.

You are correct, so thanks for the reminder for anyone else who reads this. In this case the number 2 image was the final one. I should have made mention of that but it slipped my mind since I did not need to renumber anything.

Yes, the file is in the Aris mod "Aris American Halftracks CMFI&GL" the version with the cross is called m3-hull 2.bmp. There are only two versions so I just deleted that one file - no more ambulances in combat.

+1 and nicely done - I am not usually that successful

LOL I never know if you are going to be right back and comment or be to busy to get back to a thread. And since the game is trying to be a simulation any flaws need to come through. Which begs the question: we players should be admonished for hacking around this problem too - my self included apparently. On the other hand it makes you wonder if the Russian army was in a hot war and started to suffer from a reduced support form their BMP3s what would (or do) the Russian line officers do about it? What changes would the make to the way their squads operated or how the IFVs were used? Would they assign someone from the squad to stay behind in the top chair? Would they have the squad leaders stay in the vehicle? Not use the BMP for a close fire support role? I would be interested to know. I wasn't really worried

Funny that you mentioned that. I was playing CMFI the other day and spotted those crosses. When I saw that I said to my self I need to get those out of there - ambulance HTs don't make sense attacking. I am pretty sure it is part of the Aris mods but I'll check tomorrow morning when I remove it and let you know

I just buy using typical and leave what I get - nearly. I do sometimes bump squads up from low motivation and I will drop squads down or up in experience to use up the last few points (or get back from negative values). And I also do make sure my snipers are way above average. I don't feel the need to make everyone veteran to satisfy an arms race. That's what more tanks are for

Ah that's not the same thing. The Bradely hack was to prevent the need to cross load troops in ways that the engine did not support splitting the squads (not to mention having to split in odd ways to load the platoon would be frustrating for us players too). The capabilities of a commander for the IFV and a commander or the squad is how it actually is. Ah, no. If the Russian doctrine is that when loaded the squad leader is the vehicle commander and when the squad dismounts he goes with them then that is what they should do. *We* are hacking things by splitting off guys to stay in the vehicle or purchasing other teams to add to the vehicle. Doing that is unrealistic. BFC no hacks please.

LOL Yeah I was excited to find that work around too. And then I got a private PM saying, could you not push that any more because it can be abused to allow you to mortar anywhere on the map with direct fire. Talk about unintended consequences. I can say that now because that technique has been blocked for awhile now and no current or even one back patched games allow you do do that.

Attached is some light reading on the subject. The tldr version is this is a game limitation and BFC have experimented with various methods to improve it but none worked (aka performed) well enough to implement. In your specific case it looks like you might have a bit more room to the right there that could get you enough of an angle to target that building. It is hard to tell just from a picture if you have enough room.

The Blitz is running two scenarios this month. Sign up for the November scenario of the Month has started over at the Blitz. This month the scenarios are: CMBN: A Royal Pain (requires the CommonWealth module to play) CMFB: Battle for Chaumont - First Round The form post on theBlitz for sign up.

The Blitz is running two scenarios this month. Sign up for the November scenario of the Month has started over at the Blitz. This month the scenarios are: CMBN: A Royal Pain (requires the CommonWealth module to play) CMFB: Battle for Chaumont - First Round The form post on theBlitz for sign up.

Good point about the availability of HE. On map mortars can be used in direct fire (the US 60 and British 50mm mortars provide the best quick application of HE in WW2). Keep them safe behind your front lines but close so that they can be brought up to drop some HE in the right place. Otherwise you do have to plan your artillery use more in the WW2 titles. On the offence I find it slows things down and sometimes I even try to break contact while I wait for the artillery to arrive. Just be aware the the other guy could be lining your attacking force up too. On the defence I try to pin the attackers and slow them down while calling in the artillery. It is just harder in the WW2 era because the call times are longer.

Yes, they do. That does not mean you get "insta spotting" (TM) but they will share spotting information. It is not so much that the vehicle has crappy optics it is that the commanders chair has the best optics and when the squad dismounts the squad leader leaves the commanders chair and goes with his crunchies. BFC are, apparently, following doctrine. Is there another solution? Is there some resources that show the Russian army leaves someone in that chair?