Zveroboy1

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.

The Combat Mission games are often mentioned to be simulations of the battlefields of WW2 and more modern days. But although they probably are good simulations I feel that there are too many limitations to these games. The list contain 28 things that probably could be added to the promised engine 5 of CMx2 or to a hoped for, but not promised, future CMx3 engine.
Most of the things that follows are the same as I have mentioned earlier in this thread. The difference is that I now have added a few pictures and a link to a video.
We begin this with a few changes I'd like to the editor:

1) Trees could sometimes have a broader variety. I often get the feeling that the trees are too thick and look too much the same. Instead of only having one single tree, two trees and three trees of each type to choose from, there could also be trees of different angle, height and thickness to each type. This variety could be randomly decided by the AI. If I for example would choose to place two single trees of type A beside each other the AI could choose two different looking type A trees; for example one thinner and smaller which is slightly bent towards the east and one thicker and larger which is pointing straight up. There could also be the options to choose different type A trees just as there are options to choose a fence which is going in different directions or are to be used as corners.

2) When talking about placing trees in the editor it would help tremendously if there in the 3d environment was the possibility to mark a section of different trees with for example Shift key + clicking on trees, just like how we mark groups of infantry, and copy them to be pasted where ever we want to have more trees in woods or a forest. If we wanted to make some changes to the copied and pasted trees we could maybe remove some of them with Ctrl + clicking just like we remove props we don't want. An option like that would make the tedious work of placing trees much easier and quicker when the scenario map is supposed to have larger forests or many smaller woods. If it would be a problem for a 2d map to register those copied and pasted trees, the copying and pasting could maybe be done on the 2d map.
3) The possibility to make the direction of roads more like they are on the maps we use as a reference would be great instead of having roads that only go straight to the left/right or up/down and bend in 45° and 90°.
4) It would be great if the update of the current engine, or a new CMx3 Engine, could add some more editor props, like for example abandoned cars and lorries which can be placed on the roads and in villages and towns, and more buildings, for example cafes, more shops and houses of different sizes than there is now, which will help make towns and villages become more interesting to fight in.
5) It would be good to have the ability to set an AI-artillery fire order anytime in the AI's battle plans and not only for the first three minutes. The ctrl + c command is only for small arms fire, armoured vehicles and mortars. But sometimes it could be challenging for the player if there was a heavier AI-artillery barrage a few minutes before the AI-troops are sent forward to assault a position. Another thing that would be great is if it was possible to choose how intense that AI-barrage would be, just like how the player does when fighting the AI, and whether it should be to harass the player or a short, medium or heavy barrage.
One thing that would help in this would be to have the ability to make the off-map artillery part of an AI-group so it's possible to use the Ctrl + C command with the off-map artillery AI-group. The AI-officers and FOs seem to prefer to choose the on-map artillery when they request artillery support. When the AI-officers and FOs choose the on-map mortars instead of availabe off-map artillery, the on-map mortars, which have been assigned to the Ctrl + C order by the scenario designer, don't shoot as much on the red marked areas as hoped because some of them have been ordered by the AI-officers to shoot somewhere else although there is off-map artillery available. Being able to make the off-map artillery part of an AI-group would be of help to avoid the trouble with the AI and on-map mortars.
6) AI to be able to use smoke shells which we order by painting an area on the 2D map with for example Ctrl + S or similar.

7) Have the ability to use more than one trigger area for an AI-group. If we could connect more than one trigger area to an AI-group at a time the AI-group will stay in position and move when the enemy has entered any of the two or three trigger areas.
An AI-group could for example be connected to two trigger areas which would mean that an AI-group stays in the position where it's been placed. But if the enemy would enter any of the trigger areas it moves to the position for defense which the scenario designer has decided for the group to move to in cases of necessity.
If both triggers areas would get activated at the same time there could maybe be another string of code, or strings of codes like a counter tied to the trigger area, which would make the AI-group move to the position where the threat seems to be the most severe.
If the trigger areas were able to count the amount of enemy soldiers that enters them, scenario designers could decide in advance how many soldiers that are needed to enter to be counted as a threat and cause the AI-group to leave its position to move towards the threat. It would probably have to work a bit differently when it comes to trigger by enemy armour as one or two armoured vehicles can cause a lot of damage.

8] More than 16 AI-groups, preferably at least 32 or 40, so the scenarios can become more tactical, more interesting and more fun to play against the AI. It's sometimes a bit frustrating when you need to decide which units are "less important" so they all can be put into one or two groups when you really would like to have them in four or maybe six different groups to make them able to for example surround the player's troops.
Sometimes it would also be useful to have an officer responsible for off-map heavy mortars as his own one-team group, or their own groups if there are two batallions with such an officer in each, so they can sneak up to a good position where they are more able to hide, being only a three or four man team, and direct requested off-map heavy mortar artillery fire on the Player's troops.

9) Most likely for a CMx3 engine: If there was the possibility to go between the 2d map and the 3d environment without having to exit and load any of them, making maps would be much easier and go much quicker. One way to make this possible could be to have a tab system in the editor where the 2d map is on one tab and the 3d result of the 2d map is on another tab. To control the result and make other changes one would only have to go between those two tabs. To go between the 2d map and the 3d environment without having to exit and load either of those two would also make it much easier and much quicker to do the AI-orders as one sometimes have to go to the 3d environment to make sure that what is planned for will be possible, for example to make sure a unit hopefully will be able to have eyes on a certain area from a certain spot.

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.

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                  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
 

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
 
 

So I had been planning on making this post for a while but I haven't really had time to do it properly until now. I wanted to showcase some examples of how I tried to incorporate real architectural elements into the mod to make it as true to life as possible. All the photos below are from Syria.
First all of I wanted to talk a bit about mosques. Some of you probably saw the in game picture of the mosque with a greyish silvery looking dome and might have asked yourself "but Zveroboy aren't the domes of mosques all colourful with flashy teals, greens or gold?" And of course you would be right, some are just like that. But actually in Syria in particular plenty of mosques have this silvery or greyish looking dome as you can see in the photos below. But I included two alternative dome textures that you can use if you don't like the default colour.
The first picture is actually located in New Aleppo, just 100 m to the west of the area I mapped, alongside that large avenue in the southern part of the map.

Aleppo mosque details :

A school I based an extra building on :

A roll down door :

Balcony and facade details :

Window :

Doors :
(Almost all the door textures are based on real Syrian doors)


That's all.

Nice.

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

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
 

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

---------------------------------------------------------
                  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
 

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
 
 

Hi all. 
New to this forum. After a break from PC gaming for over a decade I got back into it again. Last few weeks have been buying and playing CM2 games. Latest purchase is CMA. Love all the CM2 games but CMA is by far my favorite. 
I liked it that much thought I would knock up a small mod by changing the games screens. 
Would like a few of you to try them out for me. 
New to dropbox so if this does not work please let me know. https://www.dropbox.com/home#:~:text=https%3A//www.dropbox.com/sh/2dxzb990qi1h4i2/AACJgMmCxi8bQop7heuhq2Xoa%3Fdl%3D0
 
 
 

The above unit, in game:


In Quick Battle terms that's fairly expensive - it costs about as much as two US Infantry squads without transport, but that's mostly the extra premium you get for hiring the Technical and Pickup groups. You can't buy individual Pickups or Technicals to add to the formation, so the correct approach would be to buy this for the entire force and then parcel them out, rather than buy the formation and pare it down - you pay the extra cost anyway, so you may as well buy more.

Typical soft factors are Conscript/Green experience, with Extreme or Fanatic motivation. Leadership is variable across the board.
Points without transport for the above were generated at 123, which is about same cost as a single Veteran US infantry squad with +2 Leadership, which is also common on Typical settings.