Ultradave

My Betatruppen are dying just as fast as I can throw them into the breach. (I know that's not an answer but it's probably about as much as I can legally say )

Not yet, however I HAVE tried it on Big Sur after updating my MacBook Pro. Everything works fine with two exceptions. (which are actually the same problem). 1. When you start a scenario, there is normally a splash screen of a vehicle with a progress bar as the scenario loads. That screen is black with no progress bar. The scenario does load after you stare at the black screen for a while, and takes you normally to the briefing screen. 2. During the game, after making your moves in WeGo, you press the red button and get a progress bar as the game processes the turn. That bar is also missing, but it does work. The problem with this one is you don't get visual indication that the replay is starting until you notice the clock start counting. I've reported this in the beta forum so it will get looked at. As far as the M1 chip, while I haven't tried it, I did used to play CM1 on my Mac using Rosetta after the PowerPC chips were changed to Intel and it worked just fine, until Apple eliminated Rosetta support (which I think was a couple years). After that it was CM drought until CM2 was issued. So I'm guessing it will work ok in Rosetta2 and M1 chips. There is too much software and too many people who won't be immediately buying new Macs for it not to. My MacBook Pro is only about 18 months old and works great, so I doubt I'll be buying a new one right away. Dave

This may be a really dumb question, you did purchase a license for R2V? Assuming so, in the directory there is a script that says "Activate New Products - CMFI". I'm on a Mac so I *think* it would be in the program executable folder, but I'm not sure about that. It will either be a .bat or .exe file. Run that, and you should be presented with a dialog box that you can enter your R2V serial number into, and click activate. Apologies if all of this is stuff you already knew. Dave

Do you have a save that you could post? Be glad to take a look at it. And is this during actual play, or in the scenario author check? I *think* playing on "Iron" level, you can get friendly fire. Unless you mean your PzGs are actually going at each other. That would be bad. I'm also on Catalina 10.15.7 but that shouldn't matter, jus the v.2.03. Dave

No such luck. That would be nice, wouldn't it. Drive through and wave to the crowds.

Fire and Rubble is not yet released. It's in Beta testing/development. Red Thunder is there which is the base Eastern Front game, and Fire and Rubble will be an add on to that, with more scenarios and campaigns, more unit types. On the Battlefront web site, on the top right select the Games menu, select Red Thunder off of that, presto - there's the CMRT Base Game. Not sure where you ended up, but that will get you to Red Thunder, if that's your choice. Your other question about hilly terrain and city fighting... Fortress Italy has LOTS of hilly terrain, and there is a slew of content with both the add ons, Gustav Line, and Rome to Victory, which add even more mountainous terrain, snow, more units, more nationalities, lots more scenarios and campaigns. There's a lot of content there. There is some heavy town fighting, but nothing like what will be in Fire and Rubble with fighting in Berlin. Same path for Fortress Italy, except there you will see a bunch of options for just the base game or bundles with one or both of the DLCs. Pick one. You'll probably get addicted, and then by the time you've collected them all, you'll have all the kinds of fighting you want. Advice given to most like yourself who are wondering which to get is to pick the one of the theater that is most interesting to you, and that's what you'll have fun with. Saying that, I wasn't much interested in Italy at first but Fortress Italy and the add ons made me a convert. Interesting terrain, long time span of operations covered, and now with 2 DLCs, loads of content. If Normandy is your thing, the full package there has probably the most content per $ spent (might be a tie with Shock Force there if you have everything for both). D-Day, breakout, Market Garden, the addition of Commonwealth forces. Just tons of content. They all have a large number of user created content as well, and each has a Quick Battle generator, with unique maps to the title, terrain conditions, pick your forces, plus the scenario editor to create your own based on that particular title/theater. Dave

The full installers should be patched to the latest patch.

Interesting. I don't know how it works in the 82d now. When I was there we had brigades. We always supported the same brigade, each battery supported the same infantry battalion all the time. And as FIST we supported the same company. Today however, there is the more integrated BCT organization, which while essentially being the same people doing the same jobs, all the support units are more integrated into the brigade team. Long story - don't know who lives with who today.

Awesome. Thanks. Every time you post all kinds of cool TOE info (especially in Beta forums), I'm reminded of the line from one of the Batman movies. "Where DOES he get all these cool toys" (Penguin? Can't remember )

Ahh a bummer. Well, with the exception, and this may not be what you are looking for, that you CAN create a scenario, with AI actions, triggers, and objectives for both sides. If you browse the scenario depot at A Few Good Men, you may see that some are H2H only (this means most likely that the creator did NOT include any enemy AI so it requires two humans), or one side or the other only, or best. If "only" then only the other side has AI, if "Best" it may mean that the best side only has minimal AI coding if you wanted to switch around. These things are strictly up to the scenario designer to determine. Some scenarios in the game are listed similarly. Part of the reason also can be that it just doesn't make a very interesting scenario from one side compared to the other. But yes, you can't change the "physics" of the game. You can also create an entire campaign, with losses carried over, reinforcements, and with theoretically any number of scenarios. It's a lot of work, but there are campaigns included with the game, and there a quite a few user created ones. To create a historical campaign takes map building, which can be quite time consuming to get accurate, for historical actions, and programming the AI for each campaign scenario (H2H campaigns are not possible). You could do an easier campaign by making use of Quick Battle maps that already exist and selecting some to use to string scenarios together. Still not quick and dirty but it takes some of the work out. Your questions about medals, leveling up, gaining experience, promotions, etc....those aren't in the game and it's highly unlikely they ever will be. For good or bad, that's how it is, so you have to decide if that's more important to you than all the other parts of the game that are there. That's strictly a matter of taste, so we can't decide for you. Personally, I don't miss it. The game really portrays a level above that, unlike ARMA, where you are at man level. You just don't get that involved with what one particular individual is doing in the course of a scenario or even a campaign. There ARE one or two scenarios where it is important to keep a particular leader alive, but those are by far the exception. In one case I believe it was recreating a mission from a movie? (can't have the movie star get killed, would ruin the movie ) Dave

Do the mech FOs ride with the PL vehicle?

- I've never seen a "blood" mod. I'll leave it at that. - There are tons of mods, from maps, to dirty vehicles, to faces, to uniforms, to user interface. Check here for a sampling: https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/ At the same site - The Few Good Men, there is also a scenario repository with many more user created scenarios and campaigns to add to the base game. The newer game engine does indeed have "better" AI. That is for the enemy forces, as well as the TAC AI that controls your individual troops after you give orders. Plus new additions to existing titles will require it. I'm not positive but I don't think you can actually buy the older version 3 anymore. (I could be wrong about that). The scenarios that come with the game are not linear. They are all different, so that you don't have individuals that would gain promotions. It's not that kind of game. Campaign durations are pretty short, so what CAN happen is that leaders get killed and a team member fills that slot. But it's not something you pay attention to as identifying with an individual soldier, more just that it happens. You can create your own Quick Battles. There are a bunch of maps included for that or you can make your own. You can control the level of experience/proficiency of the troops involved. You can create scenarios the same way, using the editor. Hope that helps. Dave

AATW Brother

In the US Army Forward Observers used to be embedded with an infantry company, and would usually be with the Company Commander to provide fire support calls. That's how things were in WW2, and in Korea and Vietnam. Post Vietnam (mid-70s-ish) the FIST came about. FIST stands for Fire Support Team. The idea was to provide FOs down to platoon level. In the 82d, a FIST would have a 2LT (FIST Chief), SSG (FIST Sergeant), and SP4/PFC RTO (all 3 with radios) as its HQ unit and they would be with the infantry Company HQ. By TOE an E5 SGT + PFC (RTO) would be with each infantry PLT leader. The FIST provides a more responsive fire support element. (We never had the 3 RTOs that were suppose to go to the platoons and most of our E5 FOs were E4s). In a mech unit it's a bit different. They have their own vehicle, and could detach one of the personnel down to platoon level, but the FIST vehicle allows them to be mobile so that's not as necessary (and doesn't work with armor unless they want to ride on top The FIST vehicle provides all the radio nets they need to monitor and use, plus a laser target designator. Having an FO down to platoon level in a mech unit would be most useful if they were dismounted, I would think, and not so much when mounted. Artillery battalions also deploy Fire Support Officers, who are usually CPTs or senior 1LTs (and they come with a SSG/SFC and a PFC) to infantry brigade HQs as a Fire Support Team to do fire support planning with the infantry brigade (now Brigade Combat Teams but in SF2 days a brigade). Back in WW2 you'd just get a 2LT Forward Observer, usually down to company level. But in general, things were more compact then. In a modern battlefield platoons tend to be spread more than they were in WW2, and the FIST is a way to have the artillery be more responsive. Hope that helps. Dave (ex US Army, FIST Chief, Battery Fire Direction Officer, Brigade Fire Support Officer, FA Bn Asst S-3, FA Bn Fire Direction Officer). All Airborne so my knowledge of the mech units is a little less detailed.

If you download the latest full versions of each from BF, they will be up to date with the latest patches. You should be set for licensing because that will still remain on your computer. Once you've deleted the old and installed a fresh copy, you *should* be able to just start it up and go. Dave

You'd probably find varying opinions about that. For me, I would say it didn't matter that much. A Challenger can call for fire. In a number of the scenarios I would say I didn't make full use of the fire support I had (I know, sacrilege from a former artillery officer). I didn't always need it. I'm sure Erwin would say wait. I can suggest a compromise - start, make sure to save at the beginning of each new mission. Then if you run into a situation where you feel you don't have assets to control artillery, take a break and wait for the fix. The campaign is long enough that it will take you a while anyway. 17 scenarios, I think, if you play both forks. I can't say for sure, but it's a game issue, not a campaign issue, so *I think* that the saves would be compatible, so you wouldn't have to start over. During testing even when a new version of the campaign was put up after changes, I was able to start from the save I had made at the beginning of a scenario. Just a thought. Up to you Dave

Artillery is your friend at the end. You'll have lots, and good lord, you'll need it Dave

It was tested. I asked to have the Challengers arrive sooner, because originally they showed up with only 7 minutes remaining, no time to have an effect, and got blown up as soon as they moved. No way to take the offense and gain/regain anything. However, with the earlier arrival, I got a victory and moved on. I was aggressive on the left and sent some dismounted troops up to that small ridge/fold and managed to ambush a couple of attacking vehicles. I sent one Challenger to the right by that woodlot/orchard, and when I saw there were multiple attackers, sent another, and wiped out everything over there. I had quite a battle for that small group of buildings on the middle left. I think I lost a couple squads and possibly 2 APCs over there, but the other 2 Challengers eventually mopped up. At the end when I reviewed the map, there were still some enemy tanks, but they were far across the map and hadn't advanced. Or not far anyway. Possibly they were in overwatch and I had eliminated most of the attackers, or were ready to defend that last far objective (which I think if I remember I ran out of time to go for). Yeah, this was a hard one. But (hee, hee), wait until you get to the last scenario of the Damascus route ("Bowling Alley"). Yikes (but you will have plenty of artillery for that one - use it to prep the objectives (and by prep I mean attempt to level them . Stick with medium/medium missions and you will have plenty of ammo). And at that, it's hard now but it started out impossible, so some changes were made to make it more manageable. Dave

I believe it's the exit zone thing - proper scenario version now included.

Ok, guess I was just remembering using all the AT4s on various targets. And yes, I made good use of artillery. The initial Challenger I did have peeking from behind a building with a pretty good view downrange. He didn't get killed. I did lose several APCs when they got flanked and hit. I did get some sort of victory and move on, with the final version. Sorry @Erwin, sometimes it gets confusing remembering what happened after playing several versions of the same scenario. Dave

@Heirloom_Tomato Will have to answer. I tried downloading that individual scenario and checking it but it won't open all by itself like the Course of Action would. I could have sworn I had Javelin launchers on top of, in one case for sure, the most forward building, and took out several vehicles in that blank rectangular open field area. I think there was another team farther back. It was a while ago, so I don't remember all details and I don't have the saves anymore. I wonder if it's possible an older version got compiled. In early versions, the Challengers arrived much too late, and like you, were almost immediately destroyed as they could not move from that covered spot without taking fire. He changed the timing so that they arrive much earlier and have a good chance to move and find cover and take the offensive (two of mine destroyed everything coming at me from the right beyond that patch of woods). Sorry I can't be of more help. I'd have to replay the campaign from scratch to get where you are now Dave

I'm not sure mission numbers are getting us the correct things. The defensive one you are talking about is called Counterattack and the 'choice' one comes next. It's named Course of Action at the top of the briefing screen. Never mind my comment about the hospital. That's also a defensive one but on the other branch (to Damascus). I had originally thought that's what you were talking about and forgot about the "Counterattack" scenario.

"Highland Games" is the reworked UK campaign. Counterattack is the defensive one you were talking about. Yeah, that one was tough, and was impossible before he made some changes to it. Those tanks that come as reinforcements were way too late originally to prevent being overrun. Now they arrive earlier and can help, but yeah, you have to be careful not to expose yourself, and to move them from cover to cover. There are a pretty fair number of enemy tanks. Also, if I remember correctly, the Javelins are in the trucks parked near the buildings. You have to run and acquire them and then set up. By the time you do you'll have targets, however, the Syrians have an annoying amount of artillery support so you'll need them to survive that. I was able to take out a number of Syrian vehicles with the Javelins and a couple more with the light AT weapons of the squads. I *think* I'm remembering this right but I don't have a save I can use to go check that now. If you have a save from the beginning of Counterattack, check the trucks for resources. The choice scenario is "Course of Action" in the title at the top of the screen. Should be #9. There are 2 objectives, OBJ Damascus, and OBJ South. You pick one and that determines the remaining scenarios. The briefing describes it, I think pretty clearly. The VPs are set up so that if you "lose" by taking OBJ South and not OBJ Damascus, then you go south alone. If you "win" by taking OBJ Damascus, then you head to Damascus with the US. The OBJ Damascus was the harder one to take. The reinforcing tanks were my fire support and I just blasted everything to rubble in that corner I found the remaining scenarios of the on to Damascus choice the harder of the two paths. The city fighting was brutal, especially the final one "Bowling Alley" Tough, brutal, BUT for once you have all the artillery support you could ask for and you'll need it all. Hope that all helps. Oh, and I think there are 17 or 18 scenarios all together so each path runs through 13 or 14 to the finish. Dave

I *think* it's #9 (I could be wrong about this number after the campaign was redone). The title is something like "US or alone?" or some variation of that, I think. There are two corner objectives. Head to your left to the far left corner and exit and you are going alone, headed south from Damascus, ending with a ridgeline assault. Head to the far right corner and exit and you are going to downtown Damascus with the US forces. The remaining scenarios on that branch then have combinations of US and UK forces. It sounds like you may have passed that point if you have done 11. Sorry I can't do better than that. I don't currently have SF2 installed at the moment - I needed to make room for several Fire and Rubble beta versions and was running out of HD space. @Heirloom_Tomato should be able to answer for sure. Hopefully he'll see this tag. Dave

Ah, ok. Thinking of a different one. I don't remember that one specifically. Yes, there are two branches. In one, you head toward Damascus with the American forces, and in the other, you head south while American forces head to Damascus. You get to choose. I can't remember which scenario it is but you'll know when you get there. It depends on which objective map corner you choose to go to. VPs in that scenario only determine which path you are taking - you'll "win" both but the VPs will list one of them as a loss, and that determines the path. Best thing is to save at the beginning of that scenario somewhere so you can go back and take the other path later and play both parts of the campaign. Dave