Bulletpoint

Actually, you can also abuse the lack of fire. Sometimes I have been able to defend at locations with wheat fields because I know the wheat prevents LOS unless you advance into the kill zone. That's a really tough nut to crack in the game, whereas in reality, a bit of fire would have removed the wheat (and made plenty of smoke to cover the attack). But I agree with those who argue that there are more important things to improve and fix before adding crop burning. Building fires should be in, though, especially now that we have flamethrowers. Not only for immersion, but also because you would have to think before lighting a house on fire - you would also deny it to your own troops.

I've learnt to recognise bocage from hedge, but even after years of (quite intensive) playing, I'm still sometimes not sure if there's a gap in a hedgerow or not.

Well if I lose a lot of men due to a quirk, I might reload, but I don't save often, so I could lose hours of gameplay. But having a squad run the wrong way around and get killed because of apparent gaps in hedgerow that don't actually work, etc. that drives me nuts. And I think it's very OK to reload in that case.

It sounds like the common problem of getting a blue target line in the orders phase, but then the unit can't actually fire during the turn. It happens with all kinds of units sometimes. I just had it happen in a game where I trired to use a mortar to put down some smoke so I could pull back - the mortar got the blue line to show there was line of fire, but when I wtched the tun play out, the targeting line just disappeared. Other times, the red target line stays, but the unit will be stuck in "aiming, firing" mode and never actually fire. I think what then happened to your halftracks was that even though they had no LOF to the ground, the enemy eventually revealed themselves by firing, your HTs spotted the individual soldiers, then fired on them because there was LOF to the targets (but not to the ground they were standing on). When they fired on the soldiers, they attracted return fire, and as we all know, halftracks are extremely vulnerable to small arms fire in this game. Just check out the many threads on that subject if you haven't done so already.

In my humble opinion, they should be panicked when they run out, and unless they are very tough and highly motivated troops, they should surrender if they are faced with a "welcome reception" outside the bunker. If they are fanatic, they should of course go down fighting, but not have much chance to win in that situation. But in any case, the real problem, again, is that my guys start shooting at the bunker before the enemy exits, wasting the whole magazine and getting caught in the middle of reloading.

Thanks, that's highly clever... Will try out your file and see if it makes any improvement.

Yes, it's pretty odd. Also, I think bunker crew should be in panicked state when they run out. After all, they have hand grenades coming into their dugout..

Just because it would be difficult to make "perfectly realistic TM" fire in the game, shouldn't mean that they couldn't make some kind of improved fire. Flamethrower vs house makes house catch fire... surviving troops inside flee, house becomes un-enterable and with pretty graphical fire effect and lots of smoke. That would be a big, yet quite simple, step in the right direction.

I was just splitting hairs, what I meant was that instead of changing the look of the new big hedge to look even smaller, I would prefer to keep it looking like it does, and then change the look of the low bocage in CMBN, so that it looks bigger and stronger. So yes, we agree

So far I haven't been able to do it by any combination of split commands.. which is unfortunate when it comes to defending and not being sure which team will get in contact with enemy armour. Of course, my opponent won't know which team has the fausts, so the deterrence is still there to some extent. But it would be nice to be able to "spread the pain" more.

Nice review, and your passion for the games really shines through, which is great. I also love these games. However, I think you don't need be quite so hesitant to list some of the points about the game that you feel could be improved. It's ok and actually good to mention shortcomings in a review, even when you are a fan. Most readers are looking for a balanced review to make their decision, and it would only make your review stronger. Towards the end, it's like you almost start talking about shortcomings, but then somehow make apologies for even bringing up the topic. For example, you could have mentioned that the game depends on scripted AI, and discussed why that is, and what it means. The reader might start reading it thinking "What the heck, there's no AI?", but then after your explanation, they would likely think "ah, right, that makes sense". I know I was really surprised first time I loaded up a quick battle and the enemy just sat there.

There's a problem when bunker crew is forced to flee their bunker because of close assault. As they start to exit, they are for a few seconds still inside the bunker, so they cannot be hit by small arms. But troops in overwatch outside the bunker will start to shoot at them too early, before they really exit, which is useless. The result is that when the bunker crew comes out, they face mostly enemies that are busy reloading, and they can easily shoot them. In real life, troops in overwatch would not shoot before the bunker crew actually came out of the bunker.

I would actually prefer the opposite; that the low bocage of Normandy be made to look bigger and sturdier, making it more obvious to the player what it's supposed to represent. It currently just looks like, well, a garden hedge.

On the topic of splitting squads, is there any way of splitting a 2-team German squad with 2 Panzerfausts so that each team gets one?

How did you do that? I might try the same thing. I doubt the game uses other shaders at higher graphics settings....?

I think the obvious reason is that the gunner needs to reload the MG halfway into the turn, so chooses to follow orders and keep firing, using his pistol instead. Probably range plays a part in that decision too.

I really recommend everybody try not to save and reload all the time to maximise success. It can be tempting, but the game is much more tense when you know your every decision matters and you have to live with the consequences.

Is there any reason why wooden bunkers can't be low to the ground, instead of being "wooden cabins"? It wouldn't need any ground deformation, just that the model of the bunker be made much lower, so that it would look like it was mostly under the ground. But really it would just be like a very flat vehicle sitting on top of the ground.

This sounds like a bug in itself - that the wire remains intact.

Ha! I managed to sneak in anyway

Well, there seems to be two types of player: The first type treats the soldiers as ammunition to be expended in order to win the scenario, the second type is very careful and casualty adverse. I'm the cautious type, and enjoy solving the tactical problems with a minimum of casualties. If I lose a whole team to a hand grenade, or a squad to an unspotted machinegun, that means I screwed up, even if I complete the mission. I then try to think things through and try to come up with better tactics. Yes, you just plot a move order, then click on the little white ball at the end of the coloured line. It highlights, then you can do a target order and the red line will start from the movement waypoint.

Yeah they look good when the camera is at the right angle and isn't moving...

Great idea. PM sent with details about my scenario: http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battles-for-normandy/crossroads-at-pierrefitte-en-cinglais/

Happy to hear I'm not the only one with this problem, but I don't want to turn off shadows - they mean a lot to the immersion. I reported the problem through the official channels.

You're welcome. Not all quick battles have scripts, it depends on the designer. And since the designer doesn't know what kind of troops will fight on the map, it's extremely difficult to script anything useful. Because if you script AI group 1 to assault the town, what happens if AI group 1 turns out to be a couple of AT guns?