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Probus

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Posts posted by Probus

    Beware the Hunt Command

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    I highly recommend reading the rules (twice) before you use the hunt Command with infantry. You may not get what you are expecting. I will post a couple dramatic screen shots shortly to illustrate my newbie mistake. 

    But in the mean time, a question. If you hunt with a 60 degree Target arc to the front and get shot at from an unseen enemy, do your troops still stop no matter what?

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    Shock Force 2 Map Tiles with Grid Edges

    in CM Shock Force 2 Maps and Mods

    Posted · Edited by Probus
    Grids

    Since the desert tiles are so...  homogeneous, is there a mod with grid edges on each square to make it easier to see rolling hills and dunes.  I know this reduces the realism a bit, but for us relative SF2 newbs it would be a big help.  I've been searching for a mod like this, but I'm not sure what to call it.

    EDIT: Grids.  Gridded map tiles.  Has anyone done this for SF2?

    0

    Exciting news about Battlefront and Slitherine

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Anson Pelmet said:

    Excuse my woeful ignorance, but will Steam allow me to play live CM games against real opponents in real time, as if I had a hot-seat opponent in the same room with me? This would be a huge advance for players like me who'd love to play against a human opponent but lack the patience and technical smarts (or patience to learn the technical smarts) to master PBEM!

    A little user made app called "Who's Turn is it?" does an awesome job of managing your PBEM games. It's as easy as pie with that app. 

    3

    Exciting news about Battlefront and Slitherine

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    6 hours ago, danfrodo said:

    Dumb question:  Other than BFC getting lots more love & money, what advantages do y'all see from Steam?  I get that purchasing is easier.  what else do you see that makes this good for existing BFC customers?  -- honest question, I really don't know the answer but given the excitement I am obviously missing something.

    Greater cash flow = larger staff = more content?

    0

    Exciting news about Battlefront and Slitherine

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    27 minutes ago, com-intern said:


    The Steam version goes into the Steam downloads folder. You have to redirect your PBEM games there.

    Essentially the game doesn't actually track your PBEM games and it was always reliant on you putting them in the right place. Steam changes the location so you will need to update any PBEM helper programs to use that new location.

    Bingo.  That did the trick.  Thanks again @com-intern!

    0

    Exciting news about Battlefront and Slitherine

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    On 8/14/2020 at 5:35 PM, Combatintman said:

    He makes me look like Guderian's love child though ... I cringed throughout the Abu Susah battle  "Javelins - not sure how useful they will be ..." and then getting a fully embarked Stryker whacked on or about turn 2 and then just going full frontal ... again with troops embarked right up to the front door of the Madrassa.  Perhaps I'm not such a sh1t player after all.  Nevertheless, entertaining.

    As I mentioned on A Few Good Men, CMSF2 will teach you very quickly "Only Fools Rush In".  You get schooled pretty quickly in these games.

    1

    CMx1 screen resolutions

    in Combat Mission - Tech Support

    Posted

    I was wondering if anyone could sum up this thread for a windows 10 computer 1920x1080 or a 2K monitor possibly since the last post was in 2015.  I am spoiled with the latest CM games resolutions, but I thought I could do better than I'm doing now for what looks like a default 4:3 resolution.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated to breath some new life back in these original titles.

    NOTE: Totally unrelated to the graphic resolution, the QB setup screens are much more useful in the original titles.  Why does CMx2 not give you mouse over basic info on the units you are looking at.  101 different German halftracks can be hard to memorize, especially if you are trying to memorize every little difference in the Russian T-55, T-62, T-72, T-...  My brain filled to capacity at age 48 and I have to erase data now to get anything new in.  I'm afraid I'm going to accidentally format the whole thing and have to start over.  With my luck I'd develop an interest in bird watching or something...

    0

    Informal Poll Winner - Engine Update

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, BornGinger said:

    Is this literally what is says? Updates to the existing game engine won over the option to get a new and up to date game engine? Or is the text I'm quoting just not written well enough and it should be saying that a new game engine won the poll?

    If Battlefront is having a read of this thread and consider whether to follow the wish of the customers, I hope they decide that a new engine is better than updating the old one.

    I'm an engineer so explaining things clearly comes very... very hard for me. :)  New Engine or Engine Update.  It beat out new content, modding ability, horses, etc...

    A new engine, I would think, would come at a high price with many new bugs to deal with.  A greatly improved, yet proven engine with many new features would be a more realistic request.  Who knows what Battlefront actually has up their sleeves.  I assume they wear sleeves and not cloaks or togas.

    1

    Informal Poll Winner - Engine Update

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Probus

    3 hours ago, Jesser said:

    I'm kind of bummed that not many people wanted a Vietnam era game. Luckily there's a mod for that... just have to get CMSF2 one day.

      I have a feeling a Vietnam game may still be a pretty raw subject for older US wargamers.  More because politicians dictated rules of engagement that were ridiculous (bordering on criminal), that the Army/Air Force had to follow.  The war would have been over so much quicker with so much less loss of life on both sides if the politicians weren't calling all the shots.  I was just a child at the time.  My dad and my wife's dad were both involved with the war.  I didn't really get angry until well after I was older and understood what RoE was.  I cannot imagine the level of frustration that was felt by our military folks.

      The only thing I can think of that is similar, in my lifetime, is the situation that caused the "Blackhawk Down" in Somalia.  When I found out that our troops were denied the armor they requested to stay safe(ish-er) and do the peacekeeping job I about blew a gasket.  I couldn't watch the movie for years because it would make me angry just thinking about it.

      I imagine there are still a lot of non-US players who would love to have access to both scenarios.

    2

    Informal Poll Winner - Engine Update

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Probus

    4 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

    Shadows that flicker on and off when moving the camera, hillsides that are lit from the direction opposite the sun, patches of terrain where no fog effect is applied, framerates that often run very low, shaders that crash the game unless you toggle them off.

    I believe most of these are caused by obsolete OpenGL driver support, so a move to DirectX would be great.

    @Aquila-SmartWargames did a little video about combat mission settings and he mentioned a little app called Reshade.  Wow!  I had never seen this before.  Really made a difference to the graphics.  Here is a link to about the time he starts talking about it:

     

    0

    Informal Poll Winner - Engine Update

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Probus

    Well it would seem that updates to the Combat Mission Engine is going tobethe clear winner in this little informal Poll. Thanks to all for putting your "two cents" in. That would be your "two As'es" in in ancient Roman coinage. Maybe "Bias" in Latin? I don't know, but I digress. 

    Now without any kind of poll format, may I ask one more question?  If you could pick only 1 thing you would ask the developers to add to the Engine, what would it be?

    For me it would be Field of View/Line of Sight enhancements. Buttons to show exactly what a unit could see in it's configuration. Optics, buttoned, weather, etc...  This could be shown in arcs like Graviteam does or what would be REALLY cool is you can see only the terrain that your units see. Anything else looks like a "paper" map or is blacked out. Using shaders to dim the view would be cool also in hazy situations. See attached without/with optics. 

    Can Battlefront comment on anything in the works @BFCElvis?

     

    3452A4D8-8168-4ECE-B2BE-AF73404954DA.png

    1

    Battlefront Poll Updated

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, kraze said:

    I've been waiting for a CMBS module for 5 years now...

    Holy cow!  That's just too long if CMBS was a successful title.  I can't help think how much more successful these games would be with a good marketing campaign, but that doesn't come cheap.  So I guess its the job of the community to get the word out there so they can focus their $$$ on the programmers.

    0

    Battlefront Poll Updated

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    26 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

    We have our dreams but BFC is looking it:

    • Is the topic researchable in depth?

    1️⃣Many modders would start many projects.  Some would stick some would not.

    • Is the conflict compatible with the game engine?

    2️⃣Mods would find all the areas that are weak that need programming support (or deeper modding capability).

    • would it generate sufficient sales to cover the cost of development?

    3️⃣Very limited development to allow an (alpha) version of the engine that accepts limited modding.

    • Can the topic hold their interest through the long development process?

    4️⃣I have to admit, I don't know if modding could help here, but some mods may just spark new interests.

    • Is dedicating resources to idea A worth postponing the development of idea B?

    5️⃣See number 3️⃣

    BFC can still surprise us. Think back, CMFI came like the bolt out of the blue. Nobody was expecting to see an Italian Theater title right after CMSF. I can't recall if the Ukraine title came as a shock or not. Maybe people were expecting a modern war European theater title to show up - just not that one. It was less of a surprise than it would have been because events on the ground overtook BFC's planning. If it weren't for Putin players would have been asking 'WHY a Ukraine conflict, of all places?'

    @MikeyD,  You make great points.  Now imagine modders had just a tad more ability to add content (free labor :)) and the risks you point out become much more mitigate-able. (I took the liberty of inserting comments above).

    Honestly, when I bought Black Sea a few weeks ago the Ukrainian conflict did not play into my decision.  But I'm a child of the Cold War.  I'm also the kind of guy who would want to see not only how well the latest Russian tanks stand up against M1A1s, but also how long a platoon of M1A1s would last against a battalion of Tigers and Panthers.

     

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