Zveroboy1

Nice I thought you might know the answer. Okay I was trying to add the CMA Afghan voices to SF2 but I had a feeling pixeltruppens were babbling less than usual so I wasn't sure whether it was working properly or not. Also I was still hearing arabic voices. Now I realize part of the problem is that in order for it to work fully you have to remove the additional Syrian voices in HQS. So this isn't ideal. I wanted to include the Afghan voices in my Taliban mod but it is probably going to be too much of a hassle for most people to have to delete the extra voices in HQS every time. Anyway you won't have that problem with H&E since the idea is to have it as a separate install right? I think it is good to keep it modular, so there isn't one single modtag for everything but separate ones for individual modifications. This way scenario designers can pick and choose. By the way did you find custom voices for the opfor in H&E?

1/ What does the [mountains] modtag do? I know it changes the horizon texture and also some ambient sounds. Is there anything else? 2/ Is it possible to add modtags to sounds, voices in particular?

Way to go.

Don't worry about PS, I am almost 100% sure you can do this with Gimp, it is really basic. Hmmmm. You probably forgot to preserve the alpha channel when saving as a bmp or the dimensions of the files are wrong. If you got it working once, it should work for the Army gear too.

Photoshop. It has been a while since I used Gimp but it should work more or less the same way.

Yes with an alpha channel. It is what controls transparency. In Photoshop click on the channels tab, create a new channel, fill with black. Then when you save as a bmp make sure the option to save alpha channels is checked in the dialogue box.

Assuming it does affect accuracy, how does it work exactly? Especially for HQs. Are units with a C2 link to a HQ with a +1 leadership going to shoot more accurately? What if the HQ has a negative leadership, is this going to mean the units under his command are going to be worse off that if they were out of communication range? Or does it affect only the HQ itself? Logically it should be the latter otherwise it would be a bit daft. I kinda want it to work like in ASL but it probably doesn't and it must be on a per unit basis like in Josey Wales' test for suppression.

Attack helicopters, especially Apaches will definitely find their own preys with an area target even if the enemy is static, not sure about enemy inside buildings but they will spot and murder enemies in treelines and under light cover on the other side of the map that haven't been spotted by anyone else. For jets unless there is something moving in the open that they can spot easily they will often just do a fly over and leave if you do that. Of course it depends on the experience of the aircraft. For fixed wings I usually use point targets too. But now I wonder whether A-10's might not be better at spotting and finding their own targets because of their slower speed. It should be fairly easy to test with the editor. As far as ordnance is concerned for helicopters I think it works like this : heavy : hellfire missiles medium : hydra unguided rockets light : chain gun I suspect that heavy means they are less likely to be shot down by Iglas too. But yes it is easy and quite fun to test, and a good way to toy with the editor if you're not familiar with it. Just create a quick and simple map, add tree cover and buildings and place enemies in them. Then for the other side, add a JTAC and a single air support and try all the different options and see what happens.

There was something new and a tad shocking about this patch. It didn't reset the hotkey.txt.

Oh yeah I have seen this before, it is a really good read; this part is well understood now thanks to his tests. A lot of it not exactly intuitive and not what you'd necessarily expect, especially the part with the leadership bonus of the HQ only applying to the HQ alone, not the subordinate units under its command if I recall correctly. But I meant more about the supposed accuracy bonus. It crops up on the forums regularly.

It is a bit odd how after all these years we still don't know for sure what the leadership bonus does. I see the claim that it boosts fire accuracy regularly on the forum and I kinda wish it was true but I am not sure this is the case. Maybe it is because of the way it worked in CM1 where you had several different bonuses : accuracy, camouflage & concealment, morale and commandment which gave a larger command radius. Perhaps the whole thing was a bit gamey but I thought it was neat. You had to decide which HQ to assign to what role/position.

Yes this is not a bad idea at all. I can think of at least one scenario for SF2 that starts like what you describe, from MikeyD I think, not positive. But it lets you play Blue not Red. Or it could be a logistic convoy with no dismounts, only a couple of humvees, this way vehicles would just try to extract from the ambush and drive to the edge of the map. But then you got the problem of how quickly a reaction force would arrive on the scene. In reality the insurgents would be long gone I suspect.

Nice fast and responsive patching.

Well I am not sure I have got any closer to finding a good way to make it work but at least I have a better idea about the sort of things the Taliban should be doing in a normal scenario and the tactics they use. I haven't given up though. I still think it might be interesting, in some sort of perverse masochistic way perhaps, to see what it is possible to do with a bunch of ragtag troops against a modern army with superior firepower, arty support and air power. But in the hands of the AI, it is probably bound to feel like a 3 yo holding a bazooka or a blind Mike Tyson. Because the way I see it, the only real way it can work is if A/ it is not a proper ambush, but more like the Taliban gathering and marching to the sounds of the guns so to speak, to converge on the AI forces. And B/ the AI has an overwhelming superiority and the player as a result is forced to skulk, take potshots, reposition, flank etc. And thus the AI being so strong doesn't actually have to react to the player's move but can keep plodding through toward its objective. And it is the human player who has to adapt and react, not the other way around. By the way Puje, sorry for butchering your name.

Thanks I just reinstalled CMA the other day, so I might give this a try. But it is a bit painful going back to CMA, too many missing features compared to SF2 which is a pity. I have read Glantz's book before but not this. It looks like there is a lot of good info in here, I see there are some diagrams too, nice. Since we're sharing resources, there is this that I found too : Insurgent Tactics Southern Afghanistan 2005-2008 : https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB370/docs/Document 5.pdf This plus your pdf should keep me busy for a little while.

@Combatintman Thanks yes this is clearly a good idea too, nice framework for a series of battles. I like the convoy ambush having an impact on the refit and resupply, this is good. I think this is sort of similar to what Punje did but without the logistic element. I know people really like campaigns but I don't really feel like tackling one. I am more of a single scenario type of person. I don't think I have the attention span for such a long project lol. I will try to read on the OP Loam you mentioned. And yes it is not that easy to portray it semi accurately, hard to get the balance right between too bloody and too uneventful. I think in general most people enjoy the big mechanized warfare battles more rather than this kind of stuff. But I played lots of your scenarios and they have inspired me quite a lot, made me reconsider the way I looked at Afghanistan from let's say a scenario design perspective. I think you managed to get it right to be honest. Post the maps if you find them!

Hey Bozowans thanks for the input and the suggestions. The Che Guevara account it sounds like the classic textbook example of the Mao doctrine of insurgency : hit them where they're weak, refuse to engage when the enemy is strong, retreat then regroup and harass them elsewhere etc. Ammunition is probably less of a concern for the Taliban due to the pretty much constant state of war the country has experienced for the past 40 years and also the proximity of nearby countries with large stocks of weapons that can be smuggled in. Your second idea is really interesting because it is the archetype of the fighting in Afghanistan or at least of how one pictures it, dating back to the war with the Soviet Union. It also fits with what I want to achieve, some sort of fairly low intensity skirmish with not a huge death toll. And long range fire will definitely help with that. I like large maps too. A potential issue is seeing whether the AI will actually engage at such long distances. I will have to do some testing. So far I have focused on the flatter parts of Afghanistan where this type of engagement would not work as well but this is something I could do. The part about long range firefights remind me of something I have read about how the Taliban when confronted with the Marine corps switched from opening fire at medium range to long range because the return fire from the marines was way too deadly.

I have always wanted to do a scenario like this where you play the Taliban side versus the AI and in the first scenario I released, Afghan Roulette, that's what I wanted to do originally. But it wasn't quite working as I intended so in the end I switched it around to a more traditional format. I got a new one in the works that takes place near Musa Qala where it might work but it is not that easy due to the nature of insurgency warfare and the limitations of the editor. Of course there is the classic patrol ambush but ideally, you'd need to have the computer just stroll around at a leisurely pace in move mode until someone opens fire and then they'd activate and switch to fight mode but that's not how the engine works. There might still be a workaround but I haven't found a satisfying way. Then you got the FOB or PB attack or even a convoy attack and I got a couple of ideas about that too but not sure it would be super interesting. The fact that it would be lopsided is not what bothers me. You can always tweak the victory conditions to make it work. But I want it to sort of vaguely capture the nature of the fighting, i.e. not feel like wwii and not be a bloodbath. Anyway I am looking for ideas. Actual engagements preferably but more generic ideas would work too, doesn't really matter. If you guys can think of something cool and interesting please let me know. I am not guaranteeing I'll do it but I just thought I'd ask for suggestions.

I had a quick look at the reviews on steam, there sure are a lot of angry nerds with a giant chip on their shoulder. Several reviews with less than an hour played, which means they had bought the game before and went through the hassle of registering their steam key just to leave a negative review. The thing is, in spite of it, the overall score was positive when I checked so that's quite good really.

I for one welcome the potential influx of new forum members. This forum could do with some fresh blood, otherwise it runs the risk of getting stale. And frankly I find the cliquish attitude a bit sad. Yeah some are going to complain about things, so what? New players also mean new interesting tactical or historical discussions, potentially new contributions in the form of modders or new scenario designers.

You can if the mod has no mod tag. Mod tags don't work with quick battles, only with scenarios and campaigns. A retextured file with a mod tag will have text in brackets at the end of the file name. For instance : smod_syrian_uniform_combatant 5 [taliban].bmp There are two versions of my Afghanistan texture pack (that retextures buildings and walls) one with and one without mod tags so you can use it for QBs. If you want to use the Taliban as a force though, you will have to delete the mod tag for each file in the Taliban mod. And then in the quick battle option screen, pick Unconventionals. The map though, make sure it has a plan for the AI. You can't just use any map for quick battles.

Also it is simple dropdown menu. It is not as if BFC would have to redo the whole editor interface. It is a simple menu. I mean come on. This a really simple thing to add. Just make it so when you reach the bottom of the menu, it automatically scrolls down to the extra groups when you use the mouse wheel or with a down arrow press or something. It would make lots of scenario designers happy even if most people never use all the groups for a fraction of the workload it would take to improve the AI.

Hehe

Try exporting the current modtag list, then open it with notepad, append the new tag at the end of the list, save and then import it in the editor.

I think this usually happens if you have extracted the patch in a folder with other brz files or you have a mod that modifies string.txt. Perhaps Vin's animated icons.