Zveroboy1

Ideally you'd need to have two different versions for each scenario : one against the AI and one for H2H play. Simply because you have to beef up the AI side to make it challenging for a human player. And as a result it would often be too easy for one of the two human players. And so two versions means twice the amount of time spent playtesting it. But yeah you could easily add a quick briefing for the other side anyway and add a disclaimer stating it is unbalanced. The thing is often it might not simply be unbalanced, but just a cake walk for one side.

Remove the underscores and O to toggle it in game. I am not sure about the path on a Mac but I have never tried putting them in the z folder myself. On a PC I put it in my documents/..../Shock Force 2/User data.

Thanks.

I thought the first two episodes were pretty decent and was going to make a thread about it when I first watched it because the tank combat scenes were alright. But after it goes downhill and feels almost like a telenovela at times rather than a proper war themed series, if there is even such a thing. Probably still worth a watch but not as good as it could have been.

Yeah no, you'll have to take my word for it. But if you look closely at the picture maybe you'll see why they won't go on the balcony.

How's this?

Without arguing whether the current or the older mechanism was better, it is worth pointing out for the sake of clarity that they don't need to get hit or pinned; only a sliver on the suppression meter is enough.

Awesome, thanks.

One thing that struck me about Iraq is how tacky it can look like in some areas. Of course I realise it is not like this everywhere and there are also beautiful places there and I apologize if someone from Iraq is reading this but after poring over hundreds of photos of Syria the difference was pretty striking. Bit off topic but who cares. I mean look at these buildings below, talk about an eyesore. I have saved dozens of these too so it is not just isolated cases, it feels quite widespread.

Sure go ahead. It might not be useful for your project but in the texture pack there is an option to replace Syrian propaganda posters and Syrian flags painted on facades with Iraqi ones. Yeah Iraqi and Syrian towns they share several architectural elements but as you pointed out they also have significant differences. Building materials are not the same. Aleppo in particular I think was famous for its stone quarries which is why so many houses are built with these beige/white limestone blocks. There are plenty of cinder blocks too in Syria but however you don't see that ubiquitous yellow brick like in Iraq. If I ever make this Iraqi texture mod, I'll probably make some sort of a mix with some of the Syrian buildings I have here plus some of my Afghan mud houses and entirely new buildings in order to get the right blend. Right yes, I used that technique for the New Aleppo map but it was mostly to get the right footprint. I have to admit I didn't think of that. But having buildings be more resistant, that's a nice touch though. Would you mind sharing a picture or a screenshot of these recessed balconies? I am curious to see how it looks like. I am afraid I don't know how seismic it is this area, but yeah it might be.

Ah nice, that's a good way to represent it.

Hehe

Yeah it looks pretty good here. I am glad people are using the mod, I put a lot of effort into it. What's the building that looks like it is on stilts in the centre of the picture just to the right of that mosque dome?

No I didn't know it could do that! But during testing I usually let the VBIED do its thing and only launched the attack after the blast, taking advantage of the ensuing chaos and suppression so there weren't any bodies lying around when it detonated. That's not the only way to do it though. Sure thing. Feel free to let me know if it is too difficult or if there is anything obvious that I missed or that I should change. I can't guarantee I will listen to all the suggestions because I have a pretty good idea in mind of what type of action I want this to be. It is meant to be a bit frantic and without spoiling too much, I'll just say that you can't really tackle this like you would normally tackle a regular urban fighting and simply pull out your MOUT manual and do it all by the book. I'd like to say more but I think it is perhaps better if I let people figure it out alone for now.

Have fun. Oh yeah you guys might want to save one turn before you start the actual VBIED attack. I have tested this pretty thoroughly and I must have conducted close to a hundred virtual car bomb attacks (hello nsa) and I have stacked the odds in favour of the VBIED so it succeeds most of the time. But still it is not a 100% thing. And if the attack fails, the rest of the scenario gets a lot harder. So it is perfectly acceptable to save and reload at that particular moment unless you're really hardcore about it.

Recommended mods : 1/ Black Sea Flavour objects for SF2 This one is highly recommended if you want the checkpoints to look right. 2/ My buildings texture pack 3/ Squalor Mod https://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=7522

--------------------------------------------------------- Panic in Mahmudiyah ---------------------------------------------------------- Description : This is a small scale urban scenario with a low unit density taking place during the year 2005 in Iraq . You get to play a local cell of AQI insurgents fighters launching a car bomb attack on an Iraqi manned checkpoint followed by an assault on the town. Mission length : 50 minutes Map size : 600 X 650 m There are 5 AI plans : a main plan and four variants, each one with minor differences and a semi randomized unit placement. Play as Red attacker only. Extract from the briefing : Traditionally a Sunni stronghold, Mahmudiyah, located only 20 km south of Baghdad inside what the coalition dubbed the Triangle of death, belongs to the belts of towns around the capital that both the US forces and insurgents tried to control. Its importance lies in the fact that it was used as a support zone for insurgents both Sunni and Shi'a alike where fighters could regroup, weapons get stored and attacks planned on Baghdad. Vital for securing communications and logistics, these towns served as staging points and were heavily contested. During the 2005 pre-election period, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) intensified its terror campaign to further destabilize the country and set in motion a sectarian civil war. Often using car bombs these attacks were usually focused on the civilian population or Iraqi security forces rather than the coalition. Install : Make sure your game is patched to version 2.04 and you have the British module, then extract in : documents/battlefront/Shock Force 2/game files/scenarios or for a Steam install : steam root folder/battlefront/Shock Force 2/game files/scenarios Download : https://www.dropbox.com/s/ht4j828cu9dmzqp/Panic in Mahmudiyah.rar?dl=0

Nice.

No no, not at all, it is all good. I was just trying to clarify my position on the subject. Your point of view is totally understandable.

No I was talking about a different scenario that I made for CMBS, no uncons there. But yes I am going to release it soon. Only 1-2 more tests and it is going to be ready I think. There aren't that many units on the map so it plays fairly fast. It is easy to playtest. You can play the scenario in 1 hour and a half, 2 hours easily. Then I can start working on a second Iraq scenario I have been wanting to do.

No it is way beyond the concept stage, it is almost finished really. I am just bracing myself for the onslaught of comments complaining about how it is too hard. Which very well might be the case mind you. I am still trying to tweak it but it is probably going to remain rather challenging I think. And that's fine seeing as you play AQI. I don't want to make it easy on these guys. I say "I think", because I made that one scenario for CMBS that I could barely beat myself where some guy won hands down without taking a single casualty so.... Goes to show you how easy these things are to balance.

Yes real Iraq. And I am aware that it is not the best timing ever with recent events. Thing is I have been wanting to make a scenario where you get to play uncons for a long time and couldn't really come up with something that was interesting enough until now. Besides I like it when a scenario is based on real events, not super fond of the fictional storyline thing personally. I see why one would be tempted to do that but from where I stand it is simply a way to sanitize it. And of course that's convenient but ultimately all it does is hide the unpleasant aspects. It is still all there underneath the surface, you just avoid looking at it directly. So the way I see it, there is no escaping the fact that if you want to play uncons during the war in Iraq with a semi realistic setting, it is automatically going to be the bad guys. It is a bit distasteful clearly but it is hard to avoid seeing as pretty much every single Iraqi faction involved did some pretty heinous ****. And anyway we are all grown-ups and wargamers so we should be able to dissociate ideology and tactics.

Heh thanks, I don't even know for sure whether it is going to work or not though! I managed to make a lot of progress after I figured what the issue was with terrain objectives. It is almost done but at the moment I think it is a bit too difficult. It takes place in Iraq and you play the bad guys, that's all I can say for now.