A Canadian Cat

But that was the point. Nothing happened. I dropped a load of 105 onto what used by be my position but things were so bad, for me, that by the time they rain started to fall even @slysniper's guys were not there any more. So, nothing did happen

Oops then I have not added any value - to them. I do not remember reading that.

I am and I have - I just finished trying it myself and it "worked" like a charm. It has to be, what's called in the software business, a clue.

Interesting. I have no idea about your conclusions but I'll try and reproduce that and see what happens. If I can I'll pass that along. Heck I'll pass it long period but if two of us can do it then all the better.

There does seem to be a handful of new users posting here lately. Hopefully that is a new trend. How did you count me? I consider myself as one of the 7% who found CM2 first although technically I did buy CM1 games first because CMBN was in Beta still. However I had no knowledge of CM1 games and it was CMBN that I found. If it had been released I probably would have never played CM1 for those months.

And I was so sure I had remembered correctly - I guess not - sigh.

Or use the ones in the forest in the centre close to the Russian side in Monster Mash. That is the one I have been using to test. I also have created my own test scenario. I had not noticed the 2 story effect you mentioned - mind you I have not looked for it either...

I checked the manual and could not find an definitive answer. Now let me remember... I am pretty sure they offer some cover but no concealment which is why the limit their size. It is not surprising if a three man team cannot all hide behind a utility pole but if they made a civilian car that a three man team could not hide behind that would feel odd.

Sadly no it will let you purchase what ever and then your opponent (who does not own that content) will not be able to load the turn. I'm not sure about excessively poor. Disappointing yes. Thankfully they are releasing a family of games with at most two modules so the combinations are too crazy. If they had just one game and 6, 7, 8 modules then it would be to insane for players to figure out.

I am currently playing as the Russians. It is not over yet but it is looking good for me. However my opponent did manage to loose two Panther's early moving them around. If I had to deal with four of those things in my initial assault things could have turned out differently.

I have to say that I think the way surrendering woks in CM2 is a much better compromise. When troops surrender someone actually has to take them into custody. If a couple of guys in one fox hole drop their weapons and put up their arms that does not mean that the guys 100m away have given up and therefore no one can get to the guys who want to surrender to take their weapons and search them yet. If some officer crawls up to their position and gets them sorted and they pick up their weapons again I am fine with that. It seems pretty reasonable to me. Don't forget any guys that surrendered but then changed their minds are not exactly in top form any more. But if that does not happen then they just disappear off the battle field once they are sufficiently cut off. BFC have abstracted out prisoner management just like they abstracted out med evac. They kept in simple first aid. No one has to micromanage ambulances moving wounded around or MPs collecting POWs and moving them to the rear. The weird CM1 thing where you had to manage the POWs for the rest of the game just added useless micro management that I am glad to be rid of personally.

I think you missed the sarcasm tags that were implied given it was in response to @JohnS's biting but hilarious post.

That was my game plan for my first run through as the Germans. And it went about the same but I think I lost more than two tanks. But my flanking force was not even half way across the map and my centre force had only moved forward a bit after KO'ing everything in the centre of the map before the AI surrendered.

Making sure their surrender is accepted is important. If your troops are naturally heading towards the surrendering troops then it is easy but be weary of by passing surrendering troops and ignoring them. Playing Monster Mash against the AI I made this mistake. The last two members of a SMG squad surrendered and I had my units turn and continue on their way only to discover a turn or so later that someone had convinced them to return to the fight. The shot up a HT gunner from behind before trying to run away. I had to hold up the attack and send some units to find them and their buddies. Oops.

Well as the Germans your advantage will be at range. I recommend dedicating a sizable force to finding good cover - woods or lower ground that has visibility to the centre and wait for the enemy to come to you. Also have a maneuver force that can use cover to flank the enemy when they appear.

Hee hee. So true. Amen, actually my new job is the closest I have seen to that so far in my career. And I have to say it is wonderful.

As others have said there are things going on in the background that are not clear. And part of the confusion is you do not have knowledge of where the enemy is. But there is something you *can* do to get the surrendering soldiers to really give up and dissapear - keep pressing. I have found that the surest way to make sure they complete their surrender is to forget about what support they might have and just keep moving forward toward your goals. Once you have your good order troop pass them and in position to keep moving forward they finish surrendering pretty much right away.

Oh, yes. <alt>K turns smoke on and off. I have accidentally had it off and been very confused. Start with that. Also, if movement orders are involved they will cancel the smoke command once they start moving so if you want them to pop smoke and move right after you need to add a pause before they start moving.

Ah, now you are talking. So you can come close but not with just using the existing fortifications but also by editing the terrain as well. I was thinking of the defenses you can build from what you can buy in a QB.

Good advice here. I will add one more thing: Do not forget it is probably not alone. You can pay a high price for focusing on the one tank while not paying attention to what friends it has with it. @slysniper just reminded me of that when I thought I could zip up behind one of his tanks only to find he had a friend covering his back. Damn, I thought I knew where all his buddies were but no I missed one. So while you are planning to flank this guy pay attention to where other enemy units might be hiding out and try to figure out where they are before you expose your tanks.

I would say only in the sense that you can setup the defensive fire plan with some extra protection. WWI like defensive belts included lots of overhead cover, protected sleeping and eating locations we cannot get anywhere near that level of protection. Then perhaps we could come close to WWI like defenses.

LOL true. The issue, for me, is that there were only two batteries but lots of guns and loads of amo but the call times for the HQs I had were crazy. 13 minutes is a century when you are facing 100s of Tiger tanks. Those four that have surrounded my stagglers just drove out my side as the barrage as getting going. If only it had been a 9 minute call things would have been different. Or at least your Tigers would have had to doge the rain:-) Yeah, true. They are hanging around. I am hoping for a few more two Tiger turns before the time is up. Not sure I have enough Cromwells left to draw the Tigers out to play though. One thing is for sure this is not the eastern front those Tigers are really mean and nothing can stand up to them. Oh, I know the Fireflys hit hard but they cannot take any incoming fire at all.

Is it serving you well in our current game? There is a ton of 105 coming down on what was my positions. I had to call in the arty on my own lines as I pulled back / got shredded by your Tigers. I have a bad feeling that I am dropping it on empty space. :-(

Yes, No and yes. The AI has several postures for moving which includes some that result in Run orders. As far as I know there is no way to make hiding part of the AI script. There are several AI ambush commands that result in covered arcs being added to the orders. Not sure what to advise here. You might be more satisfied with a Probe against the AI or being Attacked by the AI.

My only advice is if you see spotting rounds try and guess where the target area is and clear it. If it is too late for that anyone under the barrage is better off hiding in any cover they can find. So if they are in a building stay there and hide. If they are in the forest stay there and hide. Being in the open is a crap shoot with no good side - you can either hide where you are or run for cover and hide there. Hiding definitely improves your odds but if your guys are right under a round no amount of hiding will help. Anyone on the edge of the barrage could benefit from running out from under it so look for opportunities to get your guys out of the target area if you can but running around is the worst thing you can do so only do that if you think they can clear the area quickly. If your guys have fox holes or trenches then hiding can be very effective for weathering the barrage. Only a direct hit right in the trench will cause casualties.