Thunda

I actually only noticed this yesterday for the 1st time .. pretty neat I also noticed at the same time that the explosions from Arty bounces the camera around .. I decided to position the camera in the center of a HUGE barrage I was putting in and the camera was being kicked around as though it was a football!

As it stands all that can be done is set up a static defence which, at its heart, is really just a maze for the Player to navigate and shoot things up on the way .. with various Plans, you can make that maze different a few times .. but its still just a maze. I'd figured of the few scenarios I'd played in the campaigns so far that when I was on the defence it was a bit "easy" - looking at the scenario editor with the way it works, I can now see why. Has Battlefront suggested triggers are coming or is it just wishful thinking on the part of players / scenario makers?

Has anyone yet managed to create a decent offensive AI? The main thing I'm finding is A to B movement is where the problem lies. If I set an Order to go from A to B and the AI runs into enemy troops - they just run through the middle of them (albeit stopping and shooting enroute). I was kinda expecting that the AI would see the Zone set up in the Order as a mini-objective and the AI would do what was necessary to achieve that objective. But it doesn't (or seems not to) - it just runs straight towards it regardless of whats in the way. The only way around that is to set up a whole load of mini-orders where you anticipate contact would occur such as : Run to Bocage line and wait for 5 minutes. Cross Bocage and run to next line of Bocage .. wait 5 minutes. Thats all well and good, but if the Player hasn't got any enemy in the way - the AI is just sitting around needlessly when it could be pressing forward unopposed. In the scenario I was wanting to create, I'd set up a situation where an engagement would take place between 2 Combat Patrols. I'd set a number of Objectives that each Patrol would have to "Touch" and then the necessary Orders for the AI side to go from one to one. The idea being that eventually the 2 patrols would cross (I'd set it so there were a number of potential hotspots depending on how fast or slow the Player would move). Worked fine ... until the 2 opposed patrols came into contact with each other .. While me, the player controlled side, would do the necessaries, the AI would fire a few shots off and then just run away following the next order and I'd have to chase them across the map ..... Not exactly what I had in mind .. I'd have thought something simple would have existed within the AI that said "enemy contact established - interupt current order, engage, then continue with current order when successful". But no. Which is either a shame .. or .. I'm doing something soooooooo wrong somewhere ... Anyone any idea which it is?

Ah yeah .. never thought of that! Cheers! Will go an try that now on the scenario I keep getting wasted in ..

Yeah, after playing around for a day or so it seems I was maybe moving a little too quick at times .. and in number .. .. me setting the circle target arc has helped too .. But it still seems like I'm picking my way through a maze at times. One wrong move (or fail to spot a MG nest) - and bang .. the last 2 hours of creeping around is wasted as a squad or platoon gets wasted. Ok, part and parcel of the whole thing I suppose .. but its frustrating. Another query - can be linked to scouting but its mainly for my MG Teams - is there any way in the game I can see the elevation of the terrain? I'm getting tired of going over a map with a magnifying glass looking for a good place for a base of fire, spotting one that looks great .. getting my MG Teams / Mortars to it .. only to then find they can't see further than the end of their gun. Looks flat to me .. As such, my MG Teams are quickly becoming my most useless assets.

I don't have an issue with the dangers of scouting - go blundering around then you deserve everything you get. Its really the bocage that gets me - Theres this big thick huge hedgerow sat upon a huge mound of earth and stone, yet pop your head up (when your lying flat on your stomach) to see through the branches / bushes / leaves and you get a bullet between the eyes from 150 meters - instantly. Nearly. You can't see through bocage from 5 foot away into an open field - but present the gap between your eyes through the mass of vegatation and you might aswell have a neon sign above your head. Ok, fire your weapon from that spot - no problem - your muzzle flash will give your position away. But just looking into an open field from that mass of vegatation and they see you as easily and quickly as you see them - or so it seems. This is why I'm asking - I must be doing something wrong as it doesn't make much sense. But I can't figure much more than crawling up to the bocage and not firing. Think some testing in the scenario editor is needed! Ohh! Before I go - I just thought - do the small gaps in bocage count as zero or greatly reduced concealment?

Hey there - new around these parts but have a few questions if you don't mind : 1 ) How can you scout ahead without being seen? It seems that the "hide" command just causes your guys to bury their head in the dirt and not see a thing. I would have thought concealing terrain would have been more concealing .. for instance, I crawl up behind some Bocage .. yet without Hide, every unit in Normandy can see them and opens up on them. I would have thought Bocage would completely hide your guys (them becoming only visible if they start shooting) - but it seems not. 2) In a similar vein (probably linked to 1) - How do you stop your guys from shooting Normandy up everytime they see a mouse? Again with Scouting - I'd like the scout party I send out to scout - not engage those 3 MG42 nests they've just spotted .. I've tried messing with Target Arc to have them only engage anything thats in a direction they've just come from, for instance, but then they don't Face the way I want them to look and see nothing. 3) A general question about the game and Battlefront - is Battlefront the same Battlefront that makes the tabletop wargame Flames of War? And therefore, Combat Mission = Flames of War = Combat Mission? If so - cool! Cheers!