Hapless

If you press spacebar in the force selector, you can see what formations/units etc come with each module.

This is CMBN, but it works the same in CMSF2:



The fun things you learn by accidentally mashing the keyboard.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

Presumably it's so no one would make the catastrophic mistake of thinking it can fight tanks.

Presumably it's so no one would make the catastrophic mistake of thinking it can fight tanks.

Was going to mention the use of modded icons in the force composition diagram, but I was beaten to it by the man himself! Having being momentarily baffled by unfamiliar little icons on the briefing screen, I was going to suggest either using the vanilla ones as a kind of lowest common denominator or that Bil suggests a mod to play with. Which he has just done.
That's a very minor quibble though, based on personal taste. That diagram is actually a very helpful touch, especially when you're a Quick Battler like me and you hate having to work out what units you've got to play with at the start of a battle. I'm looking forwards to giving the scenario a go!
My only question mark over the overall concept is whether the key terrain selected as the hidden objective is going to be consistently relevant as different players bring different plans to the table. This is probably not a big deal because the game is so short and the map is so small but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

I like  @Hapless reaction to the mayhem, settling with "hmm, interesting..."
Thank God I'm not a Youtuber, I would have screamed my head off with profanities. Will check out more of his stuff on YT though.
Yes, the charm with CM, "live and learn", or "die and learn". 
"Fail again, fail better" is sort of a motto for me. Only way to improve your game, especially when taking on human oppos in scenarios never played before.

That minute traumatised me - I haven’t been able to watch a newer one. You should have put a warning about the graphic content... 

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Select the IED, then draw a target command:
Target the ground nearby to activate it and the triggerman will try and detonate it whenever something gets close enough.
Target a specific enemy unit and the triggerman will try and detonate it when that unit gets close.

Bear in mind that if the triggerman is a potato, can't see, is suppressed, dead or generally unable to push the button, nothing will happen.
There are also Blufor electronic countermeasures to bear in mind: the British Warriors in Breaking the Bank definitely have little ECM sets on them that may- or may not- prevent IEDs from being detonated.

This is a quick, dirty video explanation which I would embed if I could remember how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwfJbSag1g&feature=youtu.be

Note that the triggerman is a green and -1 leadership potato.

Below is my current IED drill: 
1. Click on IED combat order Target to activate IED1.
2. Click on ground to Target first OpFor to pass or click on specific OpFor unit2.
3. Check that triggerman is in range3.
Notes: 1)Radio triggerman needs LOS to IED to activate during game but not during setup. 2)For small & medium IEDs OpFor must enter the A/S to detonate for large & huge OpFor must enter adjacent A/S. 3)Triggermen needs to spot OpFor by IED to detonate.   
And some general notes on IEDs:
There are four sizes of IED: small, medium, large & huge. There are three types of IED: Wire 100m, 10% failure / Radio 300m, requires LOS to activate, 20% failure / Cell phone 600m, 10% failure. IED teams consist of the bomb and the triggerman.  To work the IED must be activated and the triggerman in range (if radio LOS also) and not panicked with an undamaged trigger device.  If this criteria is met when the triggerman observes OpFor enter the Action Spot (adjacent AS for huge or large device) the device will detonate.  (The triggerman will not detonate the IED unless he can spot OpFor next to it.)  An IED can be activated and detonated by any triggerman.  Example: A Wire triggerman can activate and/or detonate a cell or radio IED.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 300 meters and LOS to activate a radio IED during the game and during setup.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 100 meters to activate a wire IED during the game and during setup.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 600 meters to activate a radio IED during the game and during setup.   
Have a BLAST!! 

Select the IED, then draw a target command:
Target the ground nearby to activate it and the triggerman will try and detonate it whenever something gets close enough.
Target a specific enemy unit and the triggerman will try and detonate it when that unit gets close.

Bear in mind that if the triggerman is a potato, can't see, is suppressed, dead or generally unable to push the button, nothing will happen.
There are also Blufor electronic countermeasures to bear in mind: the British Warriors in Breaking the Bank definitely have little ECM sets on them that may- or may not- prevent IEDs from being detonated.

This is a quick, dirty video explanation which I would embed if I could remember how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwfJbSag1g&feature=youtu.be

Note that the triggerman is a green and -1 leadership potato.

Select the IED, then draw a target command:
Target the ground nearby to activate it and the triggerman will try and detonate it whenever something gets close enough.
Target a specific enemy unit and the triggerman will try and detonate it when that unit gets close.

Bear in mind that if the triggerman is a potato, can't see, is suppressed, dead or generally unable to push the button, nothing will happen.
There are also Blufor electronic countermeasures to bear in mind: the British Warriors in Breaking the Bank definitely have little ECM sets on them that may- or may not- prevent IEDs from being detonated.

This is a quick, dirty video explanation which I would embed if I could remember how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwfJbSag1g&feature=youtu.be

Note that the triggerman is a green and -1 leadership potato.

Hi everyone,
Here is a cinematic video featuring Shock Force 2! This is meant to be a showcase, similar in concept to a gameplay trailer. Keep in mind this is footage taken from a beta build of the game, and things are subject to change and all that. Hope you all enjoy!
 
 

If you really want to know what your units can see from what position and how fast they're likely to spot, just open the map up in the editor, recreate the exact circumstances, save as a scenario and then play it through a few times. You don't have to redo the entire force, just the relevant units. Then you can test it to death.

Sure it takes a couple of minutes each time, but you get solid usable results and after doing this a few times you'll start getting your head around it.

Depends a lot on how much you want to win But it makes a lot of sense to "wargame" through all your plans this way before the game kicks off anyway to get sort out time-distance questions and, obviously, how effective units are at spotting each other from different positions.

The alternative is to rely wholly on experience... and experience is a harsh teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.

I only stumbled on this a few months ago, but if you're playing someone with different modules and you're worried about what's compatible and what's not (ie. IIRC US armoured trucks are part of the British Forces module, not stock Shock Force), then you can check what units come from which module by pressing spacebar in the Quick Battle force selection menu:

The 3-D graphic representation shows:
Small IED - one artillery shell wired-up into a bomb Medium IED - three artillery shells Large IED -  five artillery shells Huge IED - an aircraft bomb The vehicle suicide VBIED has an aircraft bomb in the back seat.
Method of detonation includes cell phone, radio link and wire, all requiring a trigger man. The Achilles heal is the trigger man. If he's suppressed. distracted or killed then no IED BOOM. The detonation methods each have their own max range, susceptibility to jamming (which is in the game) and inherent failure rate.
 Syrian army fortifications includes an 'IED mine' which is a buried device triggered by a pressure plate. No need for a trigger man. No indication what the device is made up of but the boom is BIG.
I don't think IED has changed much in the game since  CMSF1. I believe the trigger man was made a bit less likely to start shooting and give himself away. Plus the game's now got an electronic warfare setting that disrupts communications including cell/radio activation devices