Sgt Schultz

Rockin' has the historical info that obviates my last option, but I will post it anyway. This is dirt road with all Heavy Forest and triple 'E' tree on road and two tiles to either side. Then I added 'small gate' Low Bocage in alternating tiles along the road. It's as crowded as I could reasonably make it, without removing the road tiles and having a fit over locking half the hillside. While I agree that firebreaks should not be represented as road tiles, it can be a lot of both man-hours and locked tiles(comp load) to smooth out the elevations on this monster where the trails are. It should be chopped to it's basic component maps soon imho. Even leaving extra around for tweaking each battle, they would be smaller than this colossus. I got out of memory three times so far tweaking, and it has been a while since I had that happen.

This is Red Dirt with 'B' trees. ----------- Now we get dangerous with Light Forest on the road tiles... ------------------- Then we have one of the most evil, sadistic things a designer can do to a hapless player ... Heavy Forest everywhere - mwuhahaha - you lose it here brother ... you in a world of hurt.. ------ Never be afraid to slap trees and other terrain right in the road tiles. I have found places to put the 3 tree tile on a road occasionally. Pairs work best on N/S and E/W roads it seems.

OK... found the trail and did some options. This is Rocky Red and 'B' trees on same tile as road. Near the bottom of trail by the river. -------- Here we are looking down toards the river from about the middle of the trail. Red Dirt with 'E' trees on road tiles. --------------- Looking uphill towards a change to Rocky from about the same place. ------------ Rocky near the top. ----- Is that more what you are looking for? -

Try Dirt Road with Red or Rocky Red underneath, and pairs of trees as well. ..... Oh now you've gone and done it.. be right back .... ----

First of all ... wow. Excellent work. It will be a comp-breaker with troops and calculations running, but my comp would gladly risk its life for this one. ---------------------- Seasonal issues - To mimic late Fall, you think of cut fields, and bare deciduous trees. A drier, less-green time. You have the tree area covered by use of evergreens(the "B" isn't technically an evergreen, but it works as a young evergreen for me). To get the fields/bushes/bocage 'just' right means waiting for the Module or having a kind soul mod one/some of the terrain tiles just for use with this map/scenario.. and then using that terrain in appropriate areas. To work around now... I would experiment with an initial 'brush' underlay painting, and then overlay with 'Plowed' for some fields. Winter wheat is still tall and strong, so Crops "2" and "4" are still viable and of the proper Fall colors. 'Grass Y'(yellow) and 'TY' in larger areas and along naturally shady places near forests may give an Autumnal feel. I would likely shy away from all the bushes, especially the bright green holly-like 'B' Bush. Hedges can be holly, so have at it. --------------- Firebreaks - Dirt, Dirt Red, Hard, Rocky, Rocky Red. Dirt Road for some curves where appropriate. Carve away with these while placing locked elevations directly under. Forest on either side with paired tree on any Dirt Road tiles. This brackets the road nicely for a more closed-in feeling. ------------ Northern Ridge - If it is needed for an actual unit that will be on the map, then it needs to be there. Build a ridge/series of ridges along Northern edge, making the top inacessible from any playable area. 15-20 metres is enough for a cliff face. Go look at Valley of the Shadow map for example of map edge ridges. Heavy concealment along top area. Place any relevant units/reinforcements(i am assuming FOs) on top without a setup zone, or with their own setup zone that no other unit shares. taa - daa ... instant FO with all the God-like LOS goodness, but no fattening gameyness from other units. -----------

Setup File sent, Sublime. May your artillery never fall short. -

From what I have gathered, ammo bearers and XO teams are very useful for all those things stated above... medic/acquiring weapons/ad hoc AT teams/etc. Their primary design purpose is shuttling back and forth from a supply point, such as a truck or hannomag. Since we don't have ammo crates(yet), we have to find jobs for the fellows. Once all the ammo bearers and crews are outfitted with the best gleanings the battlefield has to offer, they can be matched with an XO or high-end HQ as a mobile reserve. Vehicle crews can be outfitted as dandy LMG teams. They can keep their fragile selves back and still contribute. Nothing like the end-game swarm of the ammo bearers. "Fragile but Fierce-Looking" is their motto.

On a related note... How can i scenario author test my QB map/plans? ---

QB players have a hard row to hoe, no doubt about it. As stated above though, you know the dangers and the engine and the objective. Protect it properly and this won't happen. The one big VL in QBs can be tough, but if you can protect those, you can slam people in scenario play. Scenarios are usually designed with enough VL/VC point variables so that a single last minute ammo-bearer rush won't radically change things. The VL within a VL concept is fun too... for the defenders in an attack. Keep the small one to get points and at the same time deny points to attacker by contesting the larger one. One has to take a break from QBs to experience the full wealth of variables. OR ... Place your favorite/most annoying QB map IN THE EDITOR... and 'fix' it to your tastes. It's the bottom option at the startup screen. Don't be scared... -

You can edit the amount of points a side can have in a QB with the "Force Adjustment" drop-down menu, in the first screen of the QB generator. You can load any scenario or campaign that is not 'in use' into the editor from the appropriate folder, and fiddle to your heart's content. I have not tested this, but once a battle or campaign is under way I do not think it can be altered in the editor.

From what I have read, and experienced in my Me vs AI romps, the possibility for more extreme point results is present, but is being adressed at the designer level. It is more a synergistic effect than any one of two issues. The shipped QB maps did not take into account the wealth of info developed by the community since release. Concealment is easier to find in newer maps. I am such a fanboy I hate to take issue with someone's hard work, but some of those QB maps.. well let's say they could do with a facelift. Not one thing is stopping someone from playing with any map in their hard drive to improve it. Trying to make a scenario that works for both RT and WEGO is not easy. The time factors involved are difficult. This can lead toa WEGO player having loads more time than needed. Smaller average battles make for less depth, and then add in the learning curve of a new engine. When things go wrong, they go wrong in a big way. ----------- No Exit is as balanced a battle and map as I could make. Play it with someone whose skills you know, and tell me about extreme results. The casualties may be extreme, but the totals shouldn't be. I do plan to upgrade that map with the new terrain knowledge we all shared lately, so it will be even better.

What an interesting concept. I vaguely recall interacting with humans in Combat Mission. I've had my head stuck in the editor since CMBN release. Played against my own(and others') AI plans for so long that my brain has turned to mush. Break time! ------------------ STRIKE NOW, while I'm still confused. CMBN PBEM only please. At least one file per day in evenings during the week. Maybe two if you get right back to me. I can slam 'em on weekends. Speed PBEM is fun. Keeps the adrenaline flowing. Preferred Conditions - Of course these can be discussed. I want to sort of ease into the baby pool again. I would prefer a Medium combined arms American Attack, with me as German defender. Enough depth to make mistakes, not so much to be unwieldy. You don't bring a dozen Kmart Rockets-o-Doom™, and I won't paste your setup zone with 120mm Mortars... deal? Any rarity you prefer. Any time/date/weather. Mixed buy. I actually prefer very balanced combined arms, so no worries that I will get uber gamey. You want to bring 100 LMG teams and a Sherman... go ahead... been there seen that... killed it. Village, Town, Hilly wooded terrain... you pick the map. I don't care if you have played it before. Please no open steppes or dense urban. PM me and we can discuss, or you can just have a file ready and we can jump right in. ---------------- Fire Frei!

Try it, it's fun. I have seen things, you people wouldn't believe. Troops underwater after trying to cross a bridge. I've seen 88 rounds glitter in the darkness after hitting trees repeatedly. All those things will be lost, in time. Like tears in the AAR screen. Time, to patch. --

It isn't as bad as it was, but it still happens. Most often with coax MGs on tanks for me. The tank round flies true, but the MG gnaws on a tree 30 metres to the front. I have NO CLUE how hard it would be to code in a 'hit range detect' function for firing units, but we need one. If you set a Target command to something 200m away and all fire stops well short, the gun should stop firing. I am NOT advocating an auto-repositioning of firing units. That would lead to needless deaths of units and tears galore from players. Poo-poo occurs in war, and rounds hit trees and other obstructions. No laser sights in WW2. After the first few rounds though, it just makes the firing unit look like morons. I have seen tanks drive through trees, and park with a tree trunk sticking straight out of the turret(hilarious). Make the tree trunks, not just their foliage, 'solid' in the game environment and detectable to LOF calcs please.

I did just that in my latest offering. Gated Hedge and gated Low Bocage along forest edges and inside treelines. As long as no Bocage tiles touch each other, movement is just hindered, not prohibited.

Took long enough didn't it? RL bit me hard during design, but it is suitable for Human consumption at this time. Fictional American attack along a river valley, against a hasty German defense. One German AI plan at present. I wanted to get the thing out finally. Once I get some feedback I will add other plans I am working on. No American attacker plan. Sorry, it just wasn't in the cards. Best played H2H WEGO. 2nd best American Human against German AI. ---------------------- If there are any glaring errors, please let me know before I post it to the Repository. Enjoy. -------

The designer could have given either or both sides Hidden VLs. In the editor the choices are... 'known to both', 'known to player', 'known to enemy', and 'known to neither'. The addition of 'known to neither' and leaving that VL out of the briefing will result in the totals being "off". It is like a little bonus for a player finding a tactically obvious place to be. ----

Shadows mean nothing other than eye-candy. Time of day and other changing environmental conditions do most assuredly affect spotting. The concealment modifier of the tile in question is added to the general lighting conditions and state of unit on that tile to achieve the 'spotting quotient". Forest tiles have a built in 'shade' modifier, that may be adjusted according to amount and type of foliage. -

You're very welcome GaJ. One thing I forgot to mention was that timing is crucial to proper Blasting assault. KNOW when that team will blow that hole, so the proper pause orders can be given to your assault force. -------------------- Small related hijack... It takes literally 15-20 minutes max to set up a quick testing ground in the editor for almost any CM tactical question. The amount of time spent running the different iterations is variable. Learn the timings and effectiveness of your usual buys in different situations. QB players should use the editor to find your favorite core force buys for most situations. Find out who does what in which situation to your satisfaction in the editor and test battles, then go find out how much that costs in a QB buy, then adjust as needed. One may find that your usual core buy can be smaller in numbers but MUCH more effective with a few tweaks.

The editor is your friend. Allows one to find out things before they matter. A Blast order to the direct front, followed by a move order directly back makes the team go into the breach for a moment before turning back. A Blast order to an angle, followed by an angled move away and back, is safest. One does NOT have to make the Blast command to the OTHER side of an obstruction. EDIT - The last two screens were taken while a blasting scout team was selected off the screen. No pertinent info is lost by the error. The Breach Team in the view's actions tell the tale. AND I learned something new. Breach Teams will Blast much sooner than equal Scout Teams.

Terminatortruppen. Elite/Fanatic/+2 leadership German Scout Teams(CM1 SMG half-squads) in C2 with same settings HQ. 6-8 of these and two LMG teams form an SMG/Supertoon in a large warehouse/factory setting against many more Green/Normal/0 Ami troops. Small fast intense battle without artillery or tanks. ---- Any other suggestions? ---- Oh, and Valley of The Shadow is being written up for briefings finally. 60 hour weeks suck.

The Blast command(among other things) needs to be watched fairly carefully in its current form. It is not the on-the-fly, over-the-shoulder thing it was in CM1. I am not arguing either for or against. Just stating what is and how to work with it. By spending the last few months buried in scenario author test mode I have seen things, that while not tested in a scientific manner, have shown general tendencies. I cannot help you in your current predicament GaJ, but I can offer help for the future. The battle in question is a QB, so that meant you had complete control in purchase screen. Use that control to make your force multipliers actually multiply your force. Be mindful and spend wisely where it will do the most good. 1. Veteran Experience, High Morale and +1 Leadership for both the team and their HQ. If you plan on really depending on anyone in that critical pinch, these are your settings. It's a QB, so gamey doesn't enter into it. 2. Rock-solid C2 at time of use. The HQ should be staring at the structure in question and yelling "That Wall! Blow it up!" 3. Unit/HQ Supression. Bad thing all the way around if it reaches yellow. Not critical for HQ supression, but every little bit adds up. 4. Blasting soldier cowering. Impossible to check since there is currently no charge deployment graphic that I can detect. I bet it matters if our 1-to-1 engine treats charges in this manner though. Cowering is related to supression, so less is better. If it is a team deployment code, then see 3. 5. Cover/Concealment at team's current location. Relates to supression. 6. Blast command is followed by a move command that takes team away from area instead of into battle. Those three guys are more valuable alive for the next blast than charging into battle. Their training was extensive and expensive, and they have the charges. Send in the clowns. 7. Combined Arms. Clowns from 6 have smoke usually. They SHOULD be right there. Pop Smoke turn before Blast. It helps in oh so many ways for all concerned. --------------------- Now all these variables accumulate in various and mind-bending iterations, as it should be in a BFC product. If everything I just stated goes just right, things run smoothly. If everything goes breasts vertically inclined, then the most you have lost is a turn as the team cowers or runs away. It is usually something in the middle, where the team blasts just AFTER the assault troops decide to run around the building. Pause is your friend... that hole in the wall is not going anywhere. Hope this helps...

U-Truppen!

I would prefer clown uniforms for your opponent's forces over zömbytruppen.

Well since every map is made by someone, they should all have some sort of cue. If a map in your possesion does not, then go in the editor and correct this oversight. Whether it is as small as short grass leading to the edge next to Tall grass everywhere else, or something more pronounced, no ford should exist without a lead-in of some sort. This example is rather extreme, but it leaves no question as to the location of a ford. Note the lead-in areas and the flavor object posts. --------