MOS:96B2P

You know the holidays are fast approaching right? .................... Good luck with that.

Nope . My new mission is in CMSF2. (Tentatively named Coup de' tat) I created it as far as I could in CMSF1. Now I'm just waiting on the release of CMSF2 so I can move the map over, add triggers, exit zones, water, bridge etc. While I wait I'm just updating / practicing some TAC SOPs. The above one was for a mounted assault drill and it looked cool so I took some screenshots. The big news for CMRT (besides the pending module) are rumors that @George MC is working on a new CMRT campaign. Looking forward to said campaign!!

A mounted infantry attack with smoke screen on a heavily suppressed ridge. Smoke, isolating part of the ridge. Infantry area firing while riding. View from knocked out Soviet bunker. Dismount!

Wh wha what? Next year! That's just crazy talk .................. Safe travels my friend.

Yes, reference 1944 partisans in the CMRT module, very cool. I wonder how they will be portrayed and equipped. Will they have any similarities to CMSF with a Civilian Density setting and forward observer spies? Maybe some type of wire detonated explosive? I'm guessing a Model T Ford VBIED is out of the question.... . Or will they just be basically groups of combatants with rag tag uniforms and equipment? Any of the above or combination of the above would be very cool for scenario design.

Nice. Always interesting to see a Combat Mission Afghanistan. +1

Or do you mean @Sgt.Squarehead ?

The 25mm fired for about three minutes on Target and took out the south wall. Then the TOW fired and went through the opening in the south wall to hit the north wall. I've seen, on other weapon systems, where the AI switched weapons when on the Target command (basically Area Target where the AI did not see a specific Opfor unit type). It was just shooting because I ordered it. In these circumstances It seemed the AI switched weapons based on the ammo count of the weapons involved. If it sees an actual OpFor unit (Tank etc.) then it uses that info to help make a decision. If it is just given an area target and has no information on an OpFor unit I suspect the decision to switch may be based on the ammo count. I have not tested the switching logic specifically just noticed the behavior while testing other things.

I loaded my CMBS test map and Targeted a building with a Bradley. For the first 3 minutes or so it used the 25mm. Then it switched over and fired a TOW-2B. Not sure what caused the AI to switch to the TOW. Nothing changed except the ammo count of the 25mm. The 25mm was down to 390 HE when the TOW-2B was fired. Screenshots below.

Another interesting forum topic by Kaunitz!!! You may already know this but in case you or others don't. Reinforcements can be made to arrive at a random time or exact time. For a random time the editor would be told 2nd Panzergrenadier Company arrives between 0110 and 0145 etc. One drawback with a campaign is CM2 does not have persistent map damage (and CM2 campaigns are single player). When it might be interesting to fight over the same map it is difficult to make it believable because the damage from the first fight is missing. So you end up with different maps for every scenario of a campaign. Or you make a static campaign like the scenario Tactical Operations Center. Basically a very long scenario so you retain all the map damage, burning vehicles, dead bodies etc. The retreat option is a very cool idea and is definitely doable in a scenario or campaign (again a campaign would be single player only). It might be even easier to do in a campaign since you want to preserve your core force. Yep. the player would need to be advised of the option. Especially since it is probably an option the player is not use to having. Interesting stuff. +1

@Bulletpoint answer made me think of the branching system in campaigns which you might find interesting. Many of the campaigns have branching paths that you can take. Example: If you win scenario #3 then you advance to scenario 3A. If you lost scenario 3 then you go to scenario 3B. This also allows for a change in the situation. Since you won #3 now scenario 3A might have some advantage for you (because you broke through the main line of resistance (MLR) etc). If you lost scenario #3 then scenario 3B would probably reflect that new situation in some way. The mod thing is kind of subjective. I think the game looks pretty good in vanilla however I do use mods. There is also a new location for 3rd party user made mods, scenarios, campaigns and maps. You might want to browse through that site. A lot of cool stuff. Link is below. Welcome back!!! http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/

YES!!!!!

Hmmm, maybe. It makes more sense than what I took from it. So what setting would you like to see for the first CM3 game? Normandy? Stalingrad? Fulda Gap? etc..........

So maybe Combat Mission North Africa for the first CM3 title?

And we can call it Fulda Gap!!! Yep, looks like the days of OpenGL are numbered. Also it seems from the link that Apple may not really be fan of gaming. I'm afraid that may not bode well for our Mac friends.

Well, Fulda Gap or an Arab Israeli war would be a cool opening game for CM3 and would get my vote. Up above (page 2, I think) Steve from Battlefront said, "Whenever CM3 comes into being, whatever Western Front game we have for it will most likely outsell all the others (by far). I guess the Western Front game could be the second or third release for a CM3 and not the first ............? However, not sure what the odds of that is.

Earlier in this thread Steve referred to a CM3. Also Steve from BFC said the below in a different thread which I'm paraphrasing: Eventually we will have a new game engine. Obviously it will be written with contemporary technology in mind and won't be OpenGL as we view it as a dead end. It will also benefit from 20 years of experience with how best to simulate tactical warfare on a computer. It's only a matter of when, not if. Link to full statement below:

I would not think so. That does not seem to be Battlefront's style.

Interesting .................... I think this might mean the first game of the CM3 engine will be World War Two, Western Front? I admit I don't understand the "won't have the same content" statement. Maybe because CM1 was before my time. My interpretation of "content" is armor, light armor, infantry etc. arranged in their historical TOE by nationality. However it doesn't seem like my simplistic interpretation is really what was intended. So, I'm not sure what content means in the above quote. The last sentence quoted is easy enough to understand: New engine = a lot of work = a lot of time. Interesting topic.

+1 Thanks!!!

Never as easy as it sounds. The map location of on map mortars does not effect the indirect fire Fire For Effect (FFE) time. If the mortars are at the back of the map or in the forward edge of the fight the indirect FFE time is the same. Having a Forward Observer (FO) make the request and/or using a Target Reference Point (TRP) will generally shorten the FFE time (If the FO is suppressed or not in a good location the quicker FFE time a FO gets can be negated). However using a mortar for direct fire (I like Target Light) is quicker than using the same mortar for indirect fire.

Cool find. +1 I thought it must be Photoshop and looked it up. From Wikipedia: The Golden Bridge (Vietnamese: Cầu Vàng) is a 150-metre (490 ft) long pedestrian bridge in the Bà Nà Hills resort, near Da Nang, Vietnam.[1][2] It is designed to connect the cable car station with the gardens (avoiding a steep incline)[3] and to provide a scenic overlook and tourist attraction. The bridge loops nearly back around to itself, and has two giant stone hands designed to appear to support the structure.

I agree a more user friendly Acquire and a new un-Acquire command would be nice. Maybe in CM3. Ammo sharing max distance is 16 meters (one open action spot between the sharing teams). Generally to share ammo the teams must be in the same platoon. The following is a way to identify what teams can share ammo: Click on a team causing it to "highlight". Zoom the camera out a bit and see what other teams are also highlighted. These are the teams that can share ammo with each other.

I'm not able to search BFC posts earlier than January 2014. Not sure whats up with that. I'm probably doing something wrong. Where's @John Kettler when you need him. John can find anything on the internet. I know In May 2013 Steve from Battlefront posted the below information which I am paraphrasing: The Base Game establishes the start time and the theater. For Red Thunder we're going to start June 1944 and go through to May 1945. The Eastern Front Families are basically divided up this way: #1 = June 1944 - May 1945 Red Thunder #2 = June 1943 - May 1944 #3 = June 1942 - May 1943 #4 = June 1941 - May 1942 The closest I can get to Steve's original post is a post of mine from December 2014:

I don't think any of the posters on this thread are assuming. We are (well, we were) having a discussion about the Battlefront road map. Steve from Battlefront has talked about future plans. See the link at the bottom of this post for what Steve said. A portion from that post is pasted below. You have implied what Steve posted (admittedly one year ago) has changed. That would be a bone. Since you brought it up, can you tell us more details about how the road map has changed over the last year? A road map bone might help to get the thread back on topic. Thanks in advance!!! Rome to Victory - this project got sidetracked due to a bunch of issues, but it's getting a lot of attention these days. When completed, CMFI will have a big list of new forces and the timeframe extended to the end of the war. It will likely be our next release Untitled Eastern Front Module - active work has been going on since the Spring and it's shaping up quite nicely. This will take CMRT up to the end of the war, including some huge Berlin maps. Existing TO&E expanded to April 45, Germans get access to a range of non-Heer forces, new weather stuff, and a couple new Regions. Waffen SS and rag-tag forces will be available for the Red Thunder Module. New Zealand Defense Forces training aid - pretty much that's all there is to say about it. CMBS is owed a Module. CMBS is theoretically next after CMRT. Marines are an obvious selection for the first Module and the work being done for CMSF2 is going to pave the way for that to happen.