db_zero

Well I bit the proverbial bullet and decided to start over-from the very beginning of the campaign. I also did a complete uninstall and reinstall of CMBN yesterday and in the process wiped out my "z" mods folder. That may have been a blessing in disguise as in the past some of the mods I installed didn't function. Now that I did a complete re-install and re-applied mods that I wanted its all good. The maps look different, portrait, grid, sound and terrain mods are functioning and the game has a completely new feel. Makes me want to do the same for Italy. Dare I say Combat Mission is like Windows XP? You have to do a complete reformat and install every year or 2 to get it functioning like new. I should get a new Nvidia graphics card tomorrow. Maybe Christmas has arrive early for me. In addition to restarting the Allied Marget Garden Campaign, I'm going to have to restart the CW Normandy Campaign as it appears that upgrading to ver 3.0 has made my saved games vanish.

I can always return the card, but what will I save $50. Technology changes so rapidly that you're always going to be saying I should have waited.

I got this today and its what I was looking for-thanks! It doesn't have anything on Italy and iirc there was parts on Italy and North Africa. Perhaps they didn't get the whole series onto DVD

I've had both Nvidia and ATI cards in the past and like both. The ATI 2 gig 5850 card I currently have a 4 years old. It does a decent job running at 1650x1024 with everything maxed out, but I get clipping and sometimes the screen redraws lag. I hope to see a decent improvement with the new 760 card which I should get tomorrow. On the huge battles which get bogged down I don't know if the new video card is going to make a huge difference. I'm have a AMD Phenom IIX4 955 processor and 8 gigs of RAM. Will also be interesting to see how A-10, DCS world and Flight Sim X does with the new video card.

I didn't intend for Shock Force to be in the equation, but now that it is I'd have to rate it number 5. I like it and have all the modules, but its dated and when playing the newer combat mission stuff you really miss things like target briefly. The tank vs tank combat feels way unbalanced unless you go blue n blue which seems weird. I'm sure Black Sea will rectify alot of the above. Don't get me wrong I still like Shock Force and Afghinistan. Just not as much as the WW2 stuff.

It was too late as I was pretty far into the game. The damm air also hit my FAC and killed 1 member and fried the Bren carrier. I'm now onto the next mission with a much reduced force... To comfort the blow myself I just ordered a EVGA GeForce GTX760 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5 256bit, Dual-Link DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI,DP, SLI Ready Graphics Card (02G-P4-2765-KR) Graphics Cards 02G-P4-2765-KR. This will replace yy Radeon 5500. Hopefully this will allow better framerates with the huge battles. I also get the impression that you'll get better eye candy with Nvidia in CM.

ah yes...another turn and another squad decimated by my air cover. At this rate I'll have little infantry left to exit the map. I'll have to remind Monty the next time he's handing out medal to the flyboys to award them Iron Crosses with Oak Leaves. They're doing the Germans job quite well.

well after a complete uninstall and re-install to version 3.0 I resumes my game and a Typhoon rockets more troops and vehicles. My air cover has been far more deadly to my troops than the Germans. My air cover is killing more troops and vehicles than the Germans.

I went ahead and uninstalled Normandy and re-installed with the intention of reapplying 3.0 and its telling me there is a problem with my license and it won't take it so I now have to contact support. Well that's irritating...

I just downloaded the upgrade 3.0 again and re-installed and a few turns into it a Typhoon rocketed a Bren with a sniper team and HQ in it killing them all. This was way behind the front lines...

I'm playing with version 3.0. I bought the update and installed over a previous version. Is there a later hotfix I'm not aware of?

Indeed Western Tech rocks. Unfortunately for us our enemies have taken noticed and gone back low tech means like hostage taking-just like they did in the 70's when hijacking airplanes was in vogue. Our enemies kidnap the unwary and unfortunate and use social media to publish the murder of their victims. They are waging a tech war on a different non-conventional level. We use drones, smart bombs and smart ground forces. Our enemies use hostage taking, ransome and social media. Their foot soldiers are low tech peasants for the most part. The Western powers had better wake up and realize open borders and uncontroled multiculturalism is a recipe for disaster. England is going to try and rehabilitate Islamic terrorists who return after fighting in the Middle East? Really? I find it unbelievable they allow Islamic fundamentalists to preach destruction of the West from within it's borders. Unless I'm mistaken even the US or Canada doesn't tolerate this sort of behavior.

I started playing the MG Campaign Road to Nijmegen when MG first came out. I made a comment a while back about the British Air strafing my 82nd Airborne troopers. I stopped playing the campaign, but restarted it after upgrading to 3.0. I'm now playing Breakout From the Neerpelt Bridgehead. Air support is now automatic and as unpredictable and as deadly to your own troops as the enemy. A squad was decimated with just 1 survivor due to a strafing and a Bren with Vickers got a 500/1000 bomb or rockets from a Typhoon attack. Due to the nature of the battle where I have to move fast and exit the map, its not really feasible to just stop and take cover. Well at least one German 75mm got strafed. I hope my FO is in communication telling them to stop or at least tell them where the front line is cause I can't tell them to cease fire...

How would you rate it in comparison to the other theaters? For me its: 1. Normandy 2. Market Garden 3. Italy 4. Red Thunder I like Red Thunder and Russia. I just happen to like the other modules better. I know its a matter of taste. I have seen some of my h2h opponents who after we've finished 3 or more games h2h in RT want to go back to Europe. Whether that will change again once more battles come out for RT remains to be seen. Still I'm very happy with the purchase of Red Thunder and will continue playing it. Some of the battles h2h seem pretty uneven. The lack of Soviet infantry AT weapons can really put the Russians at a severe disadvantage when the Germans concentrate on killing AT guns and the few tanks if any the Russians may get, knowing that once the AT guns are knocked out they can just keep their tanks distance and have nothing to worry about.

I was going to mention Von Ryans Express, but wasn't 100% sure it was set in Italy. The movie about the P-47 Pilot I'm thinking about was in black and white. IIRC he gets shot down and escapes with the assistance of Italian partisans.

I don't think this is it. The series I had in mind covered Italy as well as Russia and the final battles for German. I don't see anything on Italy. Its cheap so I'll get it anyway.

This is about as good a place as any to ask... I remember watching as a kid a documentary series call "The Big Battles" it was in black and white and quite graphic. I collect historical DVDs and can't find this anywhere. Did searches and nada... Searched you tube and nada... Has anyone heard of this and know where I can find it?

It is a truism in some of the battles that the FO or HQ that calls in artillery is king. I find myself doing a lot of probing and sneaking around using recon by taking fire to pinpoint enemy positions to use artillery on. On the other hand some of the battles utilize combined arms and can be very interesting. Let me think of all the war movies that took place in Italy I've seen-Anzio, Go For Broke, To Hell and Back-had some parts take place in Italy. Patton... A movie about a P-47 pilot who got shot down-can't recall the name-it was a black and white film... That's about all I can think of at the moment.

If I had to venture a guess CM Italy sufferers the same issues as real life in the America. Its kinda a side show and forgotten theater even though it was the toughest fight for the US Army in WW2. When Rome was taken it was headline news for just a few days before Normandy took place and then Italy became second page news. When you think of great American commanders in WW2 you think of Patton, Bradley and Eisenhower. How many name Mark Clark? How many recent Saving Private Ryan movies or Band of Brother like series can you name that take place in the Italian theater? I know there was one fairly well known movie producer who tried to sell a 442 RCT movie in the states that was a modern version of the old movie "Go For Broke" but was rejected as not worth it and other mainstream remakes like the old one staring Peter Falk-Anzio are also seen as not worth it. Italy just isn't sexy I guess. Perhaps in today's climate a realistic Salerno or Anzio movie would be deemed too depressing. Perhaps Italy is viewed differently in Brittan and Canada. IDK...

1940-42 covered.

+100 definitely

Italy can be a breath of fresh air...or one of the smelliest farts you've ever experienced. Some of the battles are truly jacked. Infantry fighting in the hills without armor support can be a real challenge and I notice that some players who like to be very aggressive would probably not thrive in an Italy environment. Its often slow and methodical going. I've tried to entice some good players to Italy, but they just have no interest. Guess its not everyone's cup of tea. What I'd like to find out is if the 3.0 upgrade really tweaks AT guns. I get the impression from RT that the tweaks to AT guns makes them more effective and if so that would be a big change in Italy.

I think later models like the Easy 8 had additional armor and other protective features as well as an improved suspension to deal with the added weight. The crews did whatever they could regardless of degradation. Who cares if the life of the tank is lessened if you feel its already short in the face of a superior enemy. I'm sure the tankers also knew there were plenty of spare tanks if they lost one or 2 or 3. I think the practice was frowned upon, but often overlooked. I once saw a picture of Patton lecturing a tank crew to remove the added sandbags and logs as it was not good for the tank. The crew said yes sir and then drove off ignoring the order.

Formations-the ability to advance in line, wedge ect. would be nice. CQB-this is probably even more relevant to Black Sea as current conflicts take place in urban settings, but still relevant to WW2-I see a game for my tablet called "Breach and Clear" by Gun Media that looks interesting. If something along those lines could be incorporated into CM that would be something I would pay $25 for. Of course I wouldn't want to be the one who has to program something like that...

All I can say is Italy is a bitch-especially h2h with a good opponent. My h2h games proceed at a slow pace as I have to play my turn, digest what happened and plot my next move. I can pump out turns in Normandy and the Eastern Front pretty rapidly, but Italy is another story. Often times I play back a turn and go uggg and go to something else before returning. One thing I have begun to notice is while the enemy has the high ground which is a big advantage, there is often "dead space" that you can take advantage of. Regardless, its more often than not very slow going. I have had h2h games as the German paras which is fun. Now I'm facing them and its a completely different story.