Sulman

I prefer the incremental model. I hope to see it in CMSF. No idea if that's planned, but I have had many hours of enjoyment out of that game.

It's $10. That won't even get me two pints in my local nowadays. Development is expensive, and it's only getting more expensive. It's a small price to pay.

I saw precisely this after an ATGM hit during one scenario. The Brad went up with an enormous boom, and took out a whole squad near it, too

Perhaps, but Russian kit can be a fearsome opponent in Pro PE. I find CMSF 'easier' as blue, if that makes any sense.

I've been playing 'Trident Valley' (it ships with CMSF) a fair bit as it's good fun and ostensibly a straight fight between blue and red; a company on each side. Any Steel Beasts Pro PE player knows to be wary of the BMP-1; it doesn't usually survive long enough to get within gunnery range but if you're in a 70's MBT like the Leo 1 or the T-72M1 the 73mm HEAT armament is enough to embarrass you from any aspect. In the scenario, playing red, the Bradleys were an absolute terror, and I was surprised how difficult they were to kill with BMP-1's, even in a well-organised flank attacks. I think (I'm still not sure if it was the BMP or ATGM fire) I managed one gun kill, but I saw at least half a dozen hits to the M2 side armour, with no apparent effect. The Brad's main gun went through the BMP's like they were paper. I was very impressed. Surviveability is correctly awful, too. I kept the dismounts well away from the vehicles as it was clear any pixeltruppen in the BMP's when they get killed tend to become casualties. I'm sure the high red bodycount in a few scenarios is entirely down to the BMP's ability to cook infantry, and the AI's tendency to be very rigid about dismounting only when at objectives. Learning to use IFV's properly is one of the fun things about CMSF; they're not easy to use offensively but it's hard to see how the BMP is anything other than a battle-taxi, vulnerable as it is to pretty much everything.

I remember Panzer Elite SE very well. I lost the media when I moved to the US, sadly. That was a hell of a game, and did a great job with the terrain engine. It was memorable for me for being so easy to use the terrain & TC position for situational awareness and finding hull down positions. I also recall - as you say - the crappy performance on my relatively weak system...

Thanks for your detailed reply, I appreciate it. So it's pretty much as I suspected. I don't think I would have even thought about it had I not tried both styles. Wego is still superb in the big scenarios, too. This discussion pops up occasionally in Steel Beasts Pro too. There's some excellent missions for that game, where you only need worry about your immediate platoon - everything happens around you, but you can take control if you wish. On the other hand, it's entirely possible to overwhelm yourself, too. Your comment about the big picture is spot on. I'm occasionally impatient and guilty of that even when I have all the time in the world!

I'm not sure it's an age thing, and more what you're used to. Wego was one of the great things about the CM series. The realism argument is a bit daft because of both the limitations and the sheer processing power of a PC - you have a huge decision-making advantage in wego over the AI, but in RT you will not beat the PC's information processing (and therefore reaction time) without disciplined use of the pause key, so it's swings and roundabouts. I wrote some thoughts here on CMSF and RT/wego: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=103644

Hi all, I know reams have been written about this, but there's a couple of things I'm curious about. I've been thoroughly enjoying CMSF and playing through some of the missions in different play modes - I'm inclined towards wego (since the days of CMBB) but really enjoy the different vibe in real time - there's a tension and atmosphere that is really quite exciting on some maps. The challenge with RT is one of information processing, and hence reaction time: On a busy mission, such as the fab 'Factory Complex' I can absolutely slaughter the AI on wego (and I'm not a great player, really) and yet playing in real time I can typically barely fight to a draw. There's a little bit more going on here than simple unit management, though (I think). More later... Generally, a human will make much higher quality decisions than the AI, but will take considerably longer, so even with a relatively dumb plan, the AI can get inside the human's decision-making and therefore continually push the initiative. Computers are designed to process information, so this is a given that they will naturally be excellent at it. The more forces the human has (I think, anything above a company) the more critical this gets. Until the day comes that you can somehow communicate intent, do not have to micro manage down to squad level, and the AI can really look after itself (no small thing), this will always be a challenge. Now, wego (the mode we all love) entirely removes this disadvantage. As far as the computer is aware (by the the game clock), we are making decisions at the same speed, but a human has a huge qualitative gain; effectively we are robbing the computer of its processing advantage. - we can manage units with total precision, and take as long as we like looking at the battlefield and the cinematic replays. It is one of the joys of the game. The pause key, of course is a great equaliser and allows one to play real time and 'catch up' on the busier maps. I read the statement on this forum (by Erwin, I think) that if you're pausing you may as well play wego, and I would agree. However... I have a hunch (with no real data) that something is different in wego vs ai. Specifically, the AI seems a little more docile, to the extent where it really does feel like I'm playing two different games. I'm wondering if it is down to the command and replay phase, and this is where I'm not certain about things. Is the AI in wego subject to exactly the same rules as the player? I.e., does it issue orders in the command phase, and have no intervention in the 'playback' phase? If so, that would explain why it does not react quite so dynamically to what is going on - in real time (naturally) all players can issue orders dynamically, you are not in the 60 second 'jail' of wego where you get to pay for your sins in that painful minute with your hands tied. I don't know how it all works under the hood, but I do feel that even if one negates the disadvantage of reaction time in RT by using pause (and you have to, really on the larger games) the AI still seems a bit punchier in RT mode. I may be completely imagining it, of course