thejetset

+1 to that! That would be a nice Christmas present!!!

Yep ... "With operation Market Garden, we should be able to take the Germans by surprise and open a direct rout to drive our tanks right to Berlin. Why, this war will be over by Christmas!" .... Those are about the same odds of you playing CM module by Christmas!! hahaha!

Yeah ... I've been living with my girlfriend for about 1.5 years. ... And I've found that playing excessive amounts of Combat Mission will put me in the hotseat!!

+1 here! ... I've had that happen more than once! ... and also unsuccessfully tried to hit "ctrl Z" in the vain hope that I could undo that last move! ... but only if it is an "easy" fix! Don't pull resources away from higher priority fixes!!

I downloaded the Operation Star demo this weekend and played around with it for a few hours. Pros: - The eyecandy is impressive. - I like the concept of the operational layer -- working with supply, reinforcements etc ... - I like the LOS option where you can click on a unit and see the full extent of their LOS - I like certain aspects of the way they have the OOB on the screen and the concept of being able to select units or squads from the OOB (although, their implementation in the UI for this is not perfect) Cons: - The controls are so complicated and the UI so poorly designed that they kind of made me feel retarded. ... Is it my fault that I can't figure out how to control my units?? Am I too accustomed to the CM series and even the old Close Combat interfaces?? .... I don't have too difficult of a time figuring out other interfaces for all sorts of software ... but man, even after about 4 hours I still really didn't feel I had a grasp of how to effectively control my units and move around the map and sub-menus. - Poor Infantry modeling. Several other posts have stated this pretty clearly ... I won't repeat again here. - No "WeGo" system. Real-time only. At least I couldn't find a "WeGo" type system inside the game. For me, this is fundamental. This is the thing that I love the ABSOLUTE MOST about all of the Combat Mission series of games. Especially for playing PBEM battles and just enjoying a large-scale battle without having to pause every 2 seconds to issue orders .... It gives you so much control and even an added layer of realism when your orders are delayed by up to a minute. - Poor "fundamentals" ... As Han Solo once famously said regarding the less aesthetic aspects of his Melinium Falcon: "She's got it where it counts kid!" Operation Star doesn't have it where it counts. The core engine doesn't seem correct. It seems like they have tried to take game engine to areas where it wasn't originally designed to go. .... These flaws express themselves on many small and large layers when you play the game. Summary: Combat Mission is still VERY in control of the genre!!! If I, from my total ignorance of programming perspective, could make the holy grail "perfect" tactical WWII game by merging the best of CMBN and Operation Star, it would probably have 85% of Combat Mission and only about 15% of Operation Star. Also, as Steve said in this post somewhere, Combat Mission is going to work more on the "Eye Candy" and UI issues. .... but this is fluff. CM has the basic "core" in place and a solid foundation to continue evolving . Operation Star will need to do some major fundamental changes to become a serious alternative to Combat Mission.

I'm downloading the demo now. The game visually looks incredible. It would be amazing to have these graphics and this level of detail with a Combat Mission game. I hope it supports "WeGo" and PBEM. However, I suspect that Operation Star is more of a "game" and less of a simulation .... I'm going to give it a try and report back here. And don't worry BF, I've been playing Combat Mission since 1999 and have NO intention of stopping, nor would I recommend anyone to stop playing Combat Mission.

Definitely buy it straight away. The game is constantly evolving. It is TOTALLY playable as it is. There aren't really any bugs that are being worked out ... just new features that will be added and some tweaks ... but that is the way things are with most games. Get on board now so your fun can begin sooner!

Very good idea JonS. Are there any maps that currently do this available??

I don't know if this has ever been brought up before. But has BF ever considered modeling the Higgin's boat?? It would be pretty cool for doing some beach landing scenarios.

As people have mentioned before, the problem is not with the hedgerow tile. It is with the way some of the maps are made. It's OK that the hedgerow is impassible to soldiers. ...This probably more closely models a real-life combat situation. The problem is that there are not enough breaks in the hedgerows. The shorter hedgerows should have more gaps and breaks to represent the shorter and younger foliage. Taller hedgerows should have fewer breaks ... but still have a fairly decent number of them.

One of my friends just purchased the game. BF team, you owe me a beer for my sales efforts. (or you can include the "armor arc" in the Commonwealth release!)

+1 on this. I go to wargaming clubs and other websites ... let's face it, unless your friends have the game too, that is about the ONLY way to find PBEM opponents. A well-built lobby would greatly increase the number and diversity of opponents. It would be a great addition to the game.

Anyone have any info on how wheeled vehicles do when driving on railroad tracks??

Yeah, I think that crawling your artillery would break the balance of the game. However, does anyone have any info regarding the original post? Does "Adjust Fire" improve both the spotting round accuracy and the delay of your fire mission in certain circumstances?? ... Or does it just give you a delay bonus?

Yep. I was referring to have me play the US side. That will give you two games to play at the same time as the Germans against two different US opponents. This will let you analyse two different sets of tactics and might provide some additional insight.

Thanks for the info!

Yeah ... and I've also seen them NOT let the infantry pass and instead break cover. More arc options would provide a sure-fire way of having them follow your plan.

I think that picture provides the full and complete explanation of the term: "Jerry-Rigged".

Yeah! You're right!! I remember that now too. This would be GREAT. Especially for keeping the heat on an assault. However, would this make artillery too powerful??? You would basically be able wipe out an entire advancing Infantry company with a single 75mm battery.

And on the other hand, I haven't had a single case of someone saving mortar rounds from a KO'd mortar team and becoming de-facto ammo bearers for a different mortar team.

I agree and use all of the tactics you mentioned with fire arcs. I have close arcs or "keyhole" arcs for anything that is not actively engaging a target or any area that I don't want to pour fire into even when a scout unit just pops its head into it. However, I think this is basically just making the "Best Use" of the tools that are available. It would be great to have a couple additional arc options for added realism: - Armor Arc - Infantry Only Arc - Different Arc Shapes These would be the most desired tools.

I've noticed that when using direct fire with mortar teams once they get the distance and start landing some rounds on a target, the accuracy and response time is much better when you need to adjust their fire say 50m or so. They seem to have the distance already dialed in and use this information for the next target. For indirect fire missions, I know that the delivery time is about half when you "Adjust Fire". However, assuming the spotter has a good LOS on the target area, is the spotting also generally better (would the game formula take this into account to give a better probability of having more accurate spotting rounds)?? Does the team manning the guns already have the basic distance dialed in so long as the "Adjust Fire" mission is not too far away from the original mission??

If you want to have two games going at once to try different tactics etc .... please let me know.

If you can't get a STuG in a 57mm ATG's sight ... they make GREAT sniper guns for hitting Germans a long range. I'm in a H2H game right now where I have a ATG sitting on a hill deep inside of cover aiming over at another hill about 600m away. It's sniper heaven. And at that range, the ATG nails MGs before they can suppress. You've got to use ATG's correctly and keyhole with them or put them where their range is at their advantage. Put them in DEEP. Don't put them at the font line where you will only get one shot ... if you're lucky. Also, if you're opponent is nailing your ATG with mortar rounds or arty ... that's less stuff that is coming down on your infantry. .... This can also be an advantage as long as you haven't pinned your entire defense on that ATG.

okokokok ... I admit it. .... My original post was leading up to another "Cover Armor Arc" request!!!! Any chance of that happening?? And maybe a "confirm" button after hitting the Red button. .... After 3 hours of playing and 6 beers in single-player mode, I always seem to hit that button when I want to hit the "play" button ... or vice-versa.