agusto

I understand your inconvenience. That is why software developers dont like making statements about release dates. Now we pressed one out of them (approximately mid january, Chris said) but they couldnt stick to their schedule. It is a bad situation, i know that, i work in IT support and my customers always ask me for an exact ETA for their stuff getting done and i hate giving them an exact date. Sometimes bad things happen and you cant deliver without it beeing your fault but people still blame you for it.

Well the tactics shown in the armchair general tutorials are still very much relevant to modern combat, John. Fire and movement, reconnaisence (god knows if i spelled that right), OCOKA etc are still important today. But if you want to show him something more modern combat related, try this: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/93094-a-complete-video-walkthrough-of-the-german-nato-campaign-with-narration/ It is not a designated tutorial, but you can still learn a lot from these videos.

I agree with you, the release version of Shock Force was, well, aweful. I played it at a friends place and it i couldnt imagine that i one day might like the game as much as i do now. But I got back to CMSF in 2011, when the game had already been through years of patching, and i very much enjoyed and still enjoy what it has become.

22 american KIA and 60 WIA? What did he do? Order an artillery barrage, forget about it and send his men right into their own guns fire? Happend to me once or twice . Tell him to watch some of the tutorials before he gets too frustrated. Start with this one: and when his done tell him to watch the armchai general tactics series, here is part one: That should help him getting started with any Combat Mission title, not just Normandy.

It must suck to be a finnish ATGM team . What do the affected soldiers say to such calculations? Arent they demoralized?

Hi rickyd89. Welcome aboard. I dont know where you usually post, but i find this board to be much more civil and formal than most other boards i know. Probably that is because we have an average age of approximately 45 according to several polls. If you want to see total, real unmoderated chaos, go to 4chan check out the infamous /b/ if it still exists. (note: i dont post on 4chan).

The following is by no means and objective description or analysis but only my subjective perception: CMSF: Coalition forces massacring Syrian forces. Difficulty comes from trying to achieve your goal with minimal casualties. In some of the NATO campaigns you get 4 tanks and a company of mech infantry for 10 battles without reinforcements. Lots of user generated content at the Repository. Engine is not updated to 2.0 or 3.0. CMBN: Close range, bloody bocage-fighting. Stock maps are usually of average size, often with woods and village son them (besides the omnipresent bocage, of course). Lots of user generated content. CMFI: Interesting, unusual units. Mountainous, mediterran terrain. Lots of user generated content, but less than the above two titles. CMRT: Large scale, epic tank and infantry battles. Often huge, flat, open maps. Often you will see long range duels between tanks or soviet human wave tactics. Very bloody. Still relatively new, so there arent as many mods as for the other Cmx2 titles.

Some basic advice? Tanks like the M1A2 or T-90 can kill everything they see, thanks to advanced IR sights & optics they see almost everything + they can fire on the move. They are very much unlike their WW2 predecessors. The older russian models (T-72, T80 and such) are still pretty good, although they usually loose when matched against M1A2s. The old russian models like T-55 or T-62 are worthless against modern MBTs. Tactically those old 1st generation MBTs must be used the same way as tanks in WW2, which means unbuttoning the TC, standing still in order to fire accurately, no night fighting capabilities, etc. Infantry today is generally equipped with unguided RPG-style anti-tank weapons at the squad level. These weapons must expected to hit their targets at ranges around 200m. They are usually very effective against IFVs and APCs but not very effective against MBTs. They are also extremely deadly in MOUT operations. HMG and MGs in general are less important than they were in WW2 because every infantryman now has his own fully automatic rifle. ATGMs provide highly mobile long range anti-tank firepower to the infantry. ATGMs usually have ranges between 1000m and 3000m. IFVs/APCs are much more effective than the old SdKfzs or Halftracks. They are more than just battlefield taxis. They often come with 20-30 mm autocannons and are very effective at supporting their dismounted troops. Some IFVs/APCs are also equipped with ATGMs, which makes them useful against MBTs. Usually though you dont want to match your IFVs/APCs against MBTs, ATGMs on IFVs are more like self defense weapons.

I hope as well that they keep the room-clearing process out of the players hands. What i like about CM is just the fact that you cant control every single soldier, like in other 3D wargames, because if i could i would do just that and it would be a micromanagement hell. CM should stay at the squad level and keep room clearing either abstracted like it is now or make it AI controled. I dont want to be forced to control all the 350 soldiers of my battalion each one by one.

...and now imagine what my finger looks like!

The luckiest man in Syria...

Well, we have telephone poles already and neither i nor anybody i ve ever met complained about no wires beeing there. But what Kieme did is just a skybox anyways, not a 3D model.

Could upload them to the repository once they are done?

I would love to see these high voltage towers some time.

Nothing wrong with paid alphas though - as long they are anounced as such. I bought Universe Sandbox² and KSP when they still alphas, but i still had fun with both. The great thing about playing alpha games is that there are new features added regularly, so every patch is not just a patch that fixes bugs but one that adds new content, sometimes lots of new content. The downside is that sometimes you download the new patch and the game actually becomes less stable or that the developmers may not finish their product, so there is abit of a risk involved. But yeah, i think i can wait for BFC to finish CMBS - although it is becoming more and more difficult every day. I am dieing of anticipation !

I am kinda reminded of a family with 5 kids travelling by car with during the summer holydays. Every 5 minutes "Are we there yet?" "Are we there yet?" "Are we there yet?" "Are we there yet?" "I need to go to the toilet." "Are we there yet?" "Are we there yet?" "Are we there yet?". Battlefront, when are we gonna be there? I know, i know you said in the second half of january. But arent we there yet? Edit: Simpsons - are we there yet?

I just finished mission 4 (forging steel). The russians surrendered after i blew up their last T-90. I lost 2 M1s and 1 Bradley due to enemy action, 2 M1s were immobilized (damn mud!). 2 men were KIA, 6 WIA and 1 MIA. Thank god the casualty modifier is permissive in this scenario (80%), the crack +2 russians in their T-90s are much more effective than the syrians in CMSF usually are - they not only shoot back, they even hit their targets! I am not really used to that . But i think that is a great preparation for CMBS, just putting 2 M1A2s in overwatch on a hill and wait until they have destroyed the counterattacking tank company apparently doesnt work too well against well trained and equipped enemy like the russians. So far i am enjoying the campaign. After getting used to the combination of huge maps with compareably tiny forces, it isnt all that hard. It is interesting to have so much room for maneuvering and such long engagement ranges, which is something that distinguishes this campaign from most others i have seen. EDIT: BTW the maps look very european. Very much like the german countryside. Big + for use with Euroscape mod. I almost feel like i am defending the Fulda Gap.

Yeah, using cruise missiles or drones is always safer than sending in manned aircraft. However this isnt always possible since you sometimes either have no access to such equipment, the target needs to be hit with something heavier than a hellfire fired from a drone, or the target needs to be identified before beeing hit. The Urkainians mostly lost old soviet aircraft and helicopters that lacked proper eletronic warfare equipment. Out of 20 confirmed aircraft shot down, only 2 were relatively modern Mig-29s, the rest were obsolete 40 year old soviet planes and helicopters. Things would probably have looked different had the Ukrainians used F-15Es or even F-35s. But lets leave it there and not derail the thread any further.

I can only speak from my limited experience in playing combat flight sims, but when you are operating in a modern high threat environment, in general you will approach the target low & fast, using natural ground features like hills and such to conceal your approach. Radar and and active sensors are turned off, otherwise the enemy may detect you emissions. Once near the target area, you go to engagement altitude (a few hundered meters, dependent on the ordonance you plan to use), turn on the necessary sensors and jamming devices, make one pass to identify the target and another one to engage the target. Then you dive down again and try to leave the area as fast as possible. The whole engagement may only last for 2-3 minutes, maximum, and even that is already dangerously long. That is what i am talking about: Go to 2:10 for great nap-of-the-earth-flying footage

A couple of images from Euroscape mod + Forging Steel Campaign, Mission 4: T-90s and a couple of BMPs appear on Hill 39: BANG - one less.... Video of the american tanks perspective: Video of a Javellin teams perspective: Video of the russian perspective: A russian prepares to hit an M1A2 with his RPG:

Ha, and i thought i am the only posting while i should be working .

I had to restart mission 1. During the second time i won with 1 WIA and 1 KIA. Mission 2 was easy. I had destroyed most enemy vehicles already during mission 1, so it was mostly matter of carefully advancing and avoiding unecessary losses. I took 1 WIA and 1 M1A2 was damaged badly by 4(!) ATGM hits, but it survived. Right now i am 15 mins in mission 4 (the one after the resupply). I havent seen much action yet during mission 4, but i expect a lot of stuff is going to explode, given that the briefing talks about something like 2+ companies of BMPs and at least 1 company of T-90s. As soon something worthy happens i will post a screenshot. Until now i suffered 1 WIA and one M1A2 suffered some damage to its tracks when it was hit by an ATGM. I killed approximately 5-10 infantry and 1 unlucky BMP-3 that got hit from 1500m by an M1A2 during turn 2.

Chris, you said CMBS will be out mid-january. Today is the 17th. Can you stick to the schedule? After reading the Beta-AAR and watching the youtube videos I am so excited, i cant wait anymore! It cant be more than a matter of days, right?

Yeah, force him to clean the village room by room. Ambushes + short covered arcs will let you kill his infantry on by one. The claustrophopbc urban environment will allow you to deny him using his vehicles superior firepower. If you cant capture Krichek, the Power Station seems to be an object valueable enough (300 victory points) for a defense to the last breath as well. Along with the buildings at Provinska Dvor and the woods to its south-east it is also reasonably well located for defending it. I cant wait to read about their inspiring heroism. Make sure they all receive the Hero of the Russian Federation award.

AFAIK the game assumes that HE rounds are used for spotting rounds - so no HE, no artillery barrages. If you do it the other way round, i mean use up the smoke rounds first during the opening barrage and then look at the HE count, it will be the same as before the smoke barrage. There is no function like smoke_rounds = he_rounds/total_ammo, he_rounds = 0 => smoke rounds = 0. I think "However, using one type of ammunition was always to the detrmient of the other." is not unconditionally true. Smoke availability depends on HE availability, but not the other way round.