thejetset

You've got to be patient and like pain to slog through that one!!!

Hi FMB, I guess points wouldn't really matter too much when playing casual H2H in a single battle or a even in a scripted H2H series of battles. (Points would be for more specialized situations ... and of course ladder games where the only thing that counts are "points") .... I'm referring to more casual PBEM battles with friends we have made through Combat Mission. I think exit zones allow for more natural order to take place on the virtual battlefield. The "loser" is they guy that decides to cut his loses and withdraw (a fighting withdraw to reduce loses). And the winner is the guy that holds the battlefield when everything is said and done with. I've found that the H2H games I've played that have Exit Zones are in a lot of ways a more engaging battle right until the end. Currently, a lot of battles end with spontaneous "Cease-Fires" as soon as both players hit the button (and lets face it ... the winning player reluctantly hits that button! ... even when the inevitable email from the enemy commander arrives explaining the situation) Or ... they end with a bit of animosity because the winner doesn't accept the ceasefire soon enough and just keeps steam-rolling ... the looser can do nothing because he is unable to conduct a fighting withdraw off of the map. Exit Zones cure these problems .... With Exit Zones there are no cease fires. They also give the "loser" more options for continuing the battle and still having fun by switching his focus to seeing how many pixeltrupen he can safely withdraw. .... anyway ... just a suggestion for anyone developing some H2H battles. Cheers!

Hi juste86. Welcome to CMx2. I too played the x1 series when I was a dozen year younger or so, but stopped when Shock Force came out. (but I will be with money in hand when the new x3 Modern Warfare engine is released!) I'm limiting myself to having only 2 H2H games going at any one time right now. But if a slot comes up, I will send you a PM or post here. Cheers!

Does anyone know if someone is planning to release a series of H2H battles like Fredrocker did for CMBN?? These were basically a scripted campaign of H2H battles. These were GREAT for the following reasons> - Variety of engagements: Sometimes they were meeting engagements. Sometimes they were Attack / Defend. - Not always "Balanced": This is nice. Because when you do a Quick Battle, the field usually has to be relatively equal and the same amount of points are usually allotted to each side. .... These were nice because you never really knew what the next battle might bring!! My only suggestion for improvement (in-case anyone is developing a scripted campaign of H2H battles .... or really, it could be for any battle that is intended only for H2H play) - EXIT ZONES on EACH SIDE: Having an exit zone on each side eliminates the need for "cease-fires" and "gentleman's agreements". ..... You fight until you either win or have exited your men from the battlefield. ..... This allows for battles to be fun even if you are seriously loosing!! ... You now have a new mission: Conduct a fighting withdraw that leaves as many of your men alive as possible. .... please consider my suggestion for the Exit Zones. Noob did an umpire campaign where there were always Exit Zones present. And when playing H2H in the Fredrocker campaign there were many times where I wished they were present.

I'm also going to support Saving Private Ryan. It was a great WAR movie ... not just a great movie ... but a great WAR movie. If you look at the WWII movies prior to it, they all seem sanitized. I think this movie really captured what many soldiers tried to express in numerous "down and dirty" books previously. Saving Private Ryan finally got this emotion expressed to a HUGE audience that would have never experienced this otherwise. There are stories of WWII vets having to leave the theater or having anxiety attacks at certain points in during the movie!! ... not because they were appalled at the gore and violence ... not because they were pissed because the Tiger was a mockup of a T34 ..... They got stressed because they felt absorbed in that hellish atmosphere again. I think the previous HUNDREDS of WWII movies prior to SPR had us believe somehow that WWII was more sanitary and clean than Vietnam. That somehow WWII bullets just caused guys to flail their arms and fall down. That somehow explosions just caused a guy to jump up and be dead. That somehow WWII soldier's bitching and groaning and suffering just amounted to not having dry socks and not having hot chow. If you want facts and pure history ... watch documentary films. They will provide facts and a good documentary also provides great DRAMA ... real drama. If you want a good movie that also expresses history, there are plenty of "Down and Dirty" movies that succeed in doing this. .... And Saving Private Ryan is a shinning example of this. .... maybe just the simple fact that SPR more completely explained the personal effects that WWII combat had on an individual human is one of the greatest historical contributions any WWII film has done .... Not even documentaries succeed in this.

I'm going to put my 2-cents in on the side of noob. I think there are 4 types of war movies and war books - Raw Historical - Broad Scope: (not a total documentary ... but less drama and more focus on the history) - Gettysburg - Lawrence of Arabia - A Bridge Too Far - Patton (although this was focused more on a single man) etc .... - Schindler's List - Hollywood "Shine": (facts be damned ... we gotta sell this thing! .. or basic propaganda) - Pearl Harbor - Red Tails - U-571 - The Hunt for Red October - - Down and Dirty - Soldiers Perspective (Drama is more contextual) - Cross of Iron - Saving Private Ryan - The Pacific - Band of Brothers - Platoon - Piece of Cake - Das Boot - Hurt Locker - The Downfall - Story that happens to take place in the context of war (more focused on the Story ... background just adds to the drama) - English Patient - A Very Long Engagement - Empire of the Sun - Life is Beautiful (although this classification is highly debatable for this because the story really depended on the setting ... real tear-jerker) By no means a definitive list ... but I think enough to get the point across. I tend to like the "Down and Dirty" as my first choice and then "Raw Historical - Broad Scope" as my 2nd Choice. Referring to what noob was saying ... I prefer "Down and Dirty" because the story is more gripping. I like to be absorbed in a movie. I don't mind if certain liberties are taken for the means of getting the story across. I prefer documentaries over "Raw Historical - Broad Scope" movies. I think a good Documentary does a better and more thorough job than a movie that tries to stuff all of that into a 2 hour window. (exception maybe being Lawrence of Arabia and Gettysburg ... although the repective books, 7 Pillars of Wisdom and The Killer Angels were better than the films)

Hi Michael, I agree with you completely. As long as it fits into the context, it greatly adds to the feel for the characters. The Pacific was very good in doing this. Also, "Piece of Cake" ... both the novel and the mini-series did this very well. (and there was A LOT of frolicking happening both during the Battle of Britain and during the time the RAF spent in France prior to the Invasion of France) ... so these fit naturally into any semi-realistic plot and story-line. .... But, trying to JAM a romance into a story of a desperate group of German soldiers on the Eastern Front who are fighting for their daily survival might not be necessary to have an extremely gripping story. (but going into the soldier's history or showing the life of soldier on a brief leave from the front line, like they did in The Pacific, would do the trick quite nicely and still be realistic)

And I am now downloading Series 01 of Foyle's War! .. and yes, I can't believe I've never heard of it before!! hahaha!

Hi Umlaut. Yes! I forgot about Das Boot! .... That is a PERFECT example of how drama and tension can be heaped on in MAJOR quantities without stuffing some girl into the sub with those guys!! Actually, I think Das Boot might be my favorite all-time WWII movie. Let's just hope the producers of "Pearl Harbor" don't decide to do a "Das Boot" remake! .... Revised plot might go something like this: Captain KaLue (played by Brad Pit) must take his U-boat through the Gibraltar Straight. However, his fiance (played by Jessica Simpson) has stowed on board. .... Now, torn between his mission for the Home Land and the safety of his fiance ... he must make a choice.

Crap Andy! ... Yes! Cross of Iron is great!!! I will have to check out "Foyle's War". On par with "Piece of Cake"?? .... That was a British Mini-Series that would be pretty hard to top. ... But the Battle of Britain just drips of drama (the story rich and history rich varieties) And as for vehicles ... wow ... every one of those shots was REAL! .... Even the British Mosquito fighter was the real-deal. Just incredible.

But movies based on war history can be profitable and also focused on the history/story. ... without having a worried producer JAM a Love Story into it. - Letters from Iwo Jima - Band of Brothers (not a movie I know ... but even better!) - Saving Private Ryan ... maybe left some things to be desired .. but at least it stayed focused. - A Bridge Too Far - Platoon ... lots of drama sure ... but again focusing on the situation at hand - A Piece of Cake (BBC Series ... fantastic BTW) ... focuses on the pilots in a Hurricane/Spitfire Squadron in the Battle of Britain ... a little love, but not a distraction. All I'm saying is that you can do GREAT movies and have drama that is related to the context of the situation ... that can still jerk a tear ... without forcing a love story into it.

Stalingrad ..... Although, I have to admit it looks better than most WWII films made lately:

Has anyone heard any updates on the Dambusters remake?? Also, I don't understand why all crappy WWII movies INSIST on forcibly inserting a "Love Story" into the script?? ... It's like the producers grabbed the script and rammed it in there. ..... Here are some examples. (although, most of these movies had bad scripts to begin with) - Enemy at the Gates - Pearl Harbor - Red Tails - And it looks like the two US movies are trying to do the same thing in these trailers. ..... and this new Russian movie based on Stalingrad looks to attempt the same thing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(2013_film)

I just had two parts of a Split-Team infantry get nailed by a German FO with a pistol inside of a building. The FO assistant had a bolt-action rifle ... but the guy that did the real damage was picking off the GI's with his pistol. Of the 7-8 casualties, I think 5 of them came from the pistol. Range was between 5 - 30 meters. ...... I had 2 x .30cals laying down area fire into the building at 500m .... And I was leap-frogging these two teams to get into the building. .... but once they got inside of that <30m range .... that pistol become extremely deadly. ..... I fear the "crack" sound of pistol more than the "rrriipp" of an MG42!!

Yeah .. but the mushroom cloud looks too "low velocity" ... like it comes from a lower pressure explosion. ... I think they rigged it ... which is too bad. I would have liked to see what the 37mm round did on its own, even if it would not have looked as camera friendly.

hmmm ... the link I posted doesn't seem to be working .... You can copy/ paste it instead though:

FPS Russia did a video on the M5 Stuart. Pretty clean tank! ... He plays around with the 37mm (HE and Canister rounds) and also unloads some rounds with the .30cal. Although I think he's packed some extra explosives when firing the 37mm HE rounds!! (no way it could do that to a car ... right??)

Wow. Incredible map! Can't wait!!!!

Sorry ... I meant Luger .... I was writing fast from my cell-phone at lunch ... please don't rip me a new one for the oversight!!!

I'm pretty impressed with some of the "Hill Assault" missions! They can be pretty tough nuts to crack! (As I'm sure they were in reality) I think the basic elements are there to do some Pacific Theater Packs in the future. (Please not before the Eastern Front Series!!) .... but I found myself thinking a lot of descriptions of assaulting Japanese defenses on numerous Pacific Islands when playing some of these missions .... there is a lot of very diverse Pacific material make CM games from!! (Not just assaulting hills)

I've seen this issue pop up from time to time ... but it seems that pistols are more lethal in CM.FI than ever. At 30-40 meters I fear a German officer and his mauser more than a SMG. Anyone else noticing this?? Not a major thing ... but it might be worth revising.

@Ammo - I was going to post this question. I've been too busy playing missions and having fun to really notice ... but has anyone run tests on this?? Does buddy aid give you a decent amount of ammo now? A good way to run this test is with a tank-crew that has mostly .45 Pistols. See if they will pick up a good amount of .30cal ammo in addition to the M1 from a fallen soldier.

+1 to that! .... to ensure that this happens in a standardized fashion, maybe it could be fixed with a hard-coded template and pull-down menu?? Therefore scenario designers would have to select something .....

Correct ... you cannot actually hit the "deploy" command ... instead, the team will deploy any deploy-able weapons automatically. (I.E ... a mortar team will not deploy inside of a bunker) ..... but do you think this should apply to a Browning .50 in a concrete bunker?? Seems like those two should go together like peas in a pod.

I left them in there for about 5-8 minutes of action ... nothing. Here was the entire test: MISSION: Holding the Hill 1056 (I think that might be it) on the Advance Training Mini-Campaign ... a real slaughter-fest!!! hahahah!! (The Allies are given 3 concrete bunkers with a trench-line running behind) - The .50 HMG team entered the bunker on the Allie's Left (one closest to the buildings on the hill) - A .30 MMG team entered the bunker in the middle. - MMG team deployed the .30 Cal immediately. - HMG team did not deploy the .50 Cal ... even after several minutes. (Also status never said "Deploying" at any time) - Exited the HMG team ... let 2 members bite the big one to reduce the squad from 5 to 3 guys. - Re-Entered the Bunker .... still nothing. - Re-Exited and move the .30Cal team into the .50Cal Bunker. .... .30Cal team deployed their weapon with no delay. The only thing I still need to test is to try moving the .50Cal team into the MIDDLE bunker ... but I don't see how that should make any difference.