IICptMillerII

For me my single biggest hurdle is building maps in the editor. It takes a while, even if you have an overlay/concept for the map, and if you're like me, you can never get it to look quite right. My suggestion would be to focus on the map making aspect of scenario creation. The rest of it is relatively easy and straight forward.

I've noticed this too and came to the same conclusion. A bit back to the topic of the thread, I'll go ahead and be the obnoxious guy who asks; now that the new website is up and running with most if not all major issues fixed, can we expect pre-orders to go up in the coming days?

Hot damn these look fantastic! Who is the texture artist for the infantry skins? That guy needs a raise! Quick question concerning the radio on the soldiers back. Is this a placeholder effect from the model files being used, or will the reservists actually have a radio like that on release?

I believe he is talking more about the Abrams ability to shrug off ATGMs, including the AT-14 as well as the spotting ability of the tank. The fact is, CMBS very accurately simulates the survivability and spotting ability of the Abrams. This has already been debated to death on these forums and elsewhere.

Really appreciate the close up shots of the vehicles and infantry models, even if some of the infantry models aren't complete yet. They look fantastic!

No problem! I'm getting better with photoshop and was able to put this together in a presentable enough way. Still haven't figured out camouflages though. I'm not sure to be honest with you. I've seen some with the unit numbers as part of the helmet patch, and I've seen others without. For instance, the image I used for the helmet torii in the mod is from a picture of a helmet, and it does not have unit numbers on it. My best guess is that it's not standardized across the entire regiment, and its more of a 'commanders discretion' kind of thing. All that said, I'm not sure how well the small numbering would come out in game. The images are slightly warped by the model mapping, so the small number would likely be illegible.

Thanks for the front page mention Bootie!

I put this together while working on another project, and I think it is decent enough to post publicly. The original texture is the base US uniform texture from Black Sea. I added the correct shoulder and helmet insignia to represent the 187th Infantry Regiment "Rakkasans" who are part of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Constructive criticism is welcome as always. http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=6918

Fair point. I had an old man moment and lumped the British forces in with NATO in general.

The British have Javelins.

Was wondering, has the briefing template changed? The rest of the CM titles use a different briefing template (the order of the OpOrd sections such as mission, troops, enemy, etc) than SF1 uses.

I'm sure many here would argue against both points No worries, looking forward to future updates! I'm a bit more interested in this battle as it is more conventional BluFor vs OpFor, force on force. On top of that, I'm looking forward to seeing the Canadian's in action, as I have not had a chance to use them much in SF1.

Finale Part OneApologies for the long delay between updates. The rate of incoming turns slowed down for a few weeks. The good news is that in this past week we were finally able to finish the battle. It has quite the ending. As I mentioned in my previous update, there was a long period of inactivity between my QRF’s failed attack/probe and when my main combat power arrived. 20 or so minutes passed with nothing happening, aside from the slow drumbeat of my artillery falling on the airfield. Then, around the 43rd minute of the battle, incoming small arms fire begins to hit my positions on Resistance Nest 2. The source of the firing is not observed, and a casualty is taken. The volume of fire ramps up. First with what appears to be autocannon fire at a slow rate of fire impacting:Followed by a javelin that takes out the bunker:It’s not all bad news though. Finally, at the 44th minute of the battle, with only 16 minutes remaining for me to complete my objectives, my main force arrives. Part of the Armor Team:Part of the Mech Team:Armor/Mech elements mixed together:Unfortunately, they did not all deploy in the same place on the battlefield, but instead are spread out. This complicates my options for attacking the airfield. At the least, it means I have to maneuver some elements into position before the main attack can kick off. This maneuvering will take time, something that I am beginning to run out of. The two groups to the left will maneuver forwards first, staying in defilade the whole way. Once they’re in position, which will be where the remnants of the QRF are holding, the entire force will assault the airfield as one. It’s an all or nothing gamble but based on the limited amount of time I have left, my inability to spot any of the British positions, and the unknown status of their expected relief force, this is the best plan of action available to me. The Assault Plan:The tanks and BMP’s that are out of position will take a few minutes to get into position to make the assault. I want to attack with all my combat power at once, not piecemeal. While my assaulting elements are getting into position, things really begin to heat up on the Resistance Nests:Action shot! Our first solid spot on our enemy. This British para is literally running, gun blazing into my position. Unfortunately, this awesome display of Rambo emulation was so powerful it stunned my infantry into inaction, resulting in all of them being gunned down. Things quickly escalate. British mortar fire begins landing in the low ground between the Resistance Nests:It appears to be a smoke mission. Odd, considering it’s falling in relative dead ground, and my men can’t seem to spot anything until its 5 meters in front of them anyways. I suspect this smoke will have little effect on the battle. With some British forces spotted, and their attack obvious, I decide to get my men into the fight. Heavy machine guns area fire on the ground where the British are advancing over, and infantry squads begin spraying the area with fire as well. My men put up a valiant fight, but they are essentially fighting blind. The outer positions are quickly overrun.Then, heavy artillery begins to land on the Resistance Nest.These blocking positions are starting to take a ton of fire, while being assaulted. Despite the seemingly dire circumstances, they are doing their job. Delay any enemy attacks and divert attention away from my main effort. All I have to do now is conduct my assault before all of the Resistance Nest positions are overwhelmed. As my tanks are moving into their assault position, something nasty happens:The Armor Team Company Commander gets knocked out. Worryingly, the shot comes from the right-rear of the tank. It would appear that the British relief force is here, and they occupy positions on higher ground that are able to observe part of the defilade I’m moving through. This also means I could get caught in a cross fire when I make my assault on the airfield. The situation is becoming more tenuous by the minute. The indirect fire on the Resistance Nest being assaulted grows yet more intense. There are airbursting 155mm shells, with HE mortar shells landing as well. The good news is that all of my assaulting forces are now in position and ready to attack the airfield. With only 13 minutes left to seize the airfield, a determined British attack underway on the Resistance Nests, the British relief force on the field, and my assaulting forces finally in position, the assault on the airfield begins…

I'm assuming you have tree foliage toggled off for this screenshot, but are we looking at a new type of tree in SF2? Looks taller than the trees in SF1.

Ahh ok, makes good sense to me. Being able to split Syrian infantry is a welcome improvement. If nothing else, the new models are excellent, both the infantry and vehicles.

Hot damn these look fantastic! The quality of unit/vehicle textures has definitely improved over the years. I noticed quite a jump in quality with a lot of the infantry textures for CMFB, and SF2 seems to be of the same caliber. Great work!

Looking forward to this as well. All the new models look great, both the infantry models and the T-72 tank models. It'll also be nice seeing TRPs put to use in SF2. Speaking of those TRP's, why did you choose to only take mortars? Was it a tactical or budgetary consideration? A note on the TURMS, in my experience it only marginally improves spotting ability, and still puts you far behind the typical NATO spotting cycle. Still, they are better than nothing.

I was able to log in successfully following the simple instructions. The new website is working perfectly for me. Hope others have similar luck.

Not sure why people are having page format issues. I'm not having any issues with that. Haven't tried logging into my account yet but based on the instructions it looks pretty easy and hassle free.

*sigh* there is always one. Well actually, (nuance nuance nuance nuance nuance... infinity) In the context of Shock Force, which takes place in a modern setting of 2008, COIN refers to the modern doctrine and the modern application of said doctrine developed in modern COunter INsurgency conflicts. To avoid any confusion, the key word here is modern, and the definition of that key word is post-9/11. I know it's fun to emulate the Pentagon and try to over complicate everything as much as possible, but seeing as we are not in fact the Pentagon I am more than happy with keeping things simple and practical.

Well yes, generally speaking you are either successful or you are not in any endeavor. It's theoretically possible to make a campaign with more than 2 branches. That would essentially require making 3 or more campaigns for one full campaign, to account for all the possibilities. Like I said, that's a lot of work for a campaign designer.

sburke already covered it, but to spell it out even more, it means COunter INsurgency. This refers to operations intended to combat active insurgencies. Iraq post invasion is an example of a war that involves COIN, as is Afghanistan among many other examples. More specifically, COIN refers to the doctrine developed by the United States around 2005-2007 to defeat the insurgencies encountered in Iraq, and was then translated over to Afghanistan.

This isn't true. When you compile a campaign with its campaign script, you assign what victory condition is required for the campaign to continue. For example, you could set it so that you have to get a minimum of a "Minor Defeat" in battle 1 in order to advance to battle 2. You could even set it to "Total Defeat" if you wanted to make the campaign continue regardless of winning the battle or not. As far as giving the player choice, there is a way to do this. The Marines campaign in Shock Force does this. One of the missions requires you to recon a route and choose which one you want to take. If you take objective A, then the campaign branches to be about battles fought over open terrain. If you take objective B then the campaign branches to be about battles fought up in the mountains. The mission briefing details the two choices. Theoretically you could add more than 2 choices, but that becomes a lot of work for a campaign designer.

Important to remember that many of the mod authors that made infantry skins for previous CM games did the artwork for the vanilla infantry skins present in CMFB. That means that the normal modders likely aren't planning on making any more infantry skins for CMFB. Though someone could be working on something.

An operational layer is actually pretty easy to simulate with any of the CM games. The trick is creating the maps used for the tactical battles. It takes a long time, more so if you aren't great with the editor (like me). CMSF2 will have the same multiplayer capabilities as all the other CM games do now. That means you will get PBEM WEGO, and you will be able to watch the replay of each turn. You will also be able to direct connect with the enforced pause every minute. CMSF2 is not introducing new features to the CM series, but bringing CMSF up to the current standard all other games (minus CM:A) currently operate at.