Anonymous_Jonze

Do you ever think before you type?

CMFI Map Pack 1 - thanks for the encouragement of my friends on the BF forum.
Map packs contains 120 maps, based on 40 different areas of terrain, with an Assault, Attack and Probe for each map. Each map has unique setup zones and objectives. Each map has four defender AI plans and one attacker AI plan, so you can play as defender, and play and re-play as attacker.
Attacker AI plans are based on my own attacking strategy when I played the map, so they work OK. Defender AI plans are quite mixed - at least one defender plan in each map will contain some sort of spoiling attack or counter-attack, sometimes quite an aggressive one! I hope it keeps you on your toes...
(More to come - I started with the maps already closest to completion)
Thanks especially for the kind encouragement from you guys who downloaded them and tried the draft versions
 
 
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1t9fk91jvrhsd48/Frey CMFI Maps 1.zip?dl=1
 
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-fortress-italy/cm-fortress-italy-add-ons-maps/cmfi-frey-cmfi-map-pack-1/

slowly crawling up Mount Moddington...

 

Now I mod it in Blender to be THIS MOSQUE! 
The one at Bir Akroma where Master Sergeant Gunn held off Major Von Falkner's DAK troops.

It's foolhardy, but fo'sure there are plenty of times when, for one reason or another, they didn't don their helmets. This lot look like they might be on anti-partisan operations ... and the guy taking the weight is gonna get so deaf. The MG doesn't have a bipod so it could have been vehicle mounted or they didn't want to deploy it on a full mount cos of the long grass.

Guy laying down suppressive fire with a sidecap on. Could be staged, but I really don't think it's farfetched that some German soldiers abstained from wearing their stahlhelm every minute of combat. They're uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time and given the ragtag state of the German army by 45 it's possible they didn't even have enough to supply all of their troops. (This photo is from 1943 though)

@chuckdyke it's true that it looks more like the swim 😁
Yes @Chibot Mk IX I saw your post, your vehicle passed?
here is my solution!

it does not harm the aesthetics too much

This allows you to enjoy the scenario without it being spoiled by this bug which is very difficult to remove !

I don't have a problem with the animation. I have a problem with their reaction when coming under fire. They don't drop to the ground immediately. There's usually a couple of moments where they're still walking around. I guess this could simulate confusion but somewhat frustrating anyway. Perhaps this is scaled in regards to the unit's experience... I haven't done any tests.

Campaign generator.

I don't have a problem with the animation. I have a problem with their reaction when coming under fire. They don't drop to the ground immediately. There's usually a couple of moments where they're still walking around. I guess this could simulate confusion but somewhat frustrating anyway. Perhaps this is scaled in regards to the unit's experience... I haven't done any tests.

Gotta be honest, the video gave me flashbacks to the first time I saw CMBO.  Nice and clean interface.  The level of abstraction will be key.

MOVEABLE wheeled flak PLEASE!!!!
We already have the wheeled 85mm 52k AT gun for the Russians in CMRT. But the thing can't move. So what the hell. 

I'm hoping for wheeled flak guns and Free French Armor. 

I faintly remember Steve(?) writing at some point that there will be no more completely reprogrammed CM (=CMx3) beyond CMx2. It is probably more realistic to expect CMx2 v5,6,7....
Apart from that I bet on a CM Afrika Corps as next full game.
1) No need to make new graphics for the landscape.
2) American forces participated.
My second bet is the Korean War set.

Yeah, I’ll be playing CMx2 alongside 3 for quite a while I imagine.

As cool as a 3rd iteration would be, god how I loathe the thought of how long it's gonna take to add what we already have.
 
Mord.

Traditionally Erwin has always gotten it wrong about the Early War stuff. He has a lot of wishful thinking. Somewhere along the line he got the idea the early Western Front was part of the plan. He's been corrected a few times but god, it's been 10 years, 7 titles, 8 Modules, 1 Battle Pack, 2 Scenario Packs, 3 Upgrades, and 200,000+ threads, so you can't expect him to remember all of it! BUT, BUT, BUUUUUUUUUT, to be fair, up until recently the plan was supposed to be BF working backwards until the East Front hit Barbarossa.
However, as we know with BF, plans change, especially when they say they aren't gonna do something. So it remains to be seen. But here's something to chew on, once FB gets its module, that is it for WWII. We all know they aren't gonna stop producing WWII content. So the question is, what will it be? Another title? Vehicle Packs? New nations? The mythical CM3?
 
Mord.

I'm pretty sure BFC never promised to make an Early War game.

We're already in May '45 with Red Thunder after the Fire & Rubble module, so what's to follow?
The only criticism I have of the business model, if you want to call it that, is that the maps are not interchangeable between the different main titles. This would simplify the scenario design and increase the number of Quick Battle maps.

Hello...I have finished the map...I will provide a link down below if anyone would like to download it and use it in their own scenarios or in H2H games...
The map in the editor

 
As mentioned at the start of this thread one of the main features of this map will be a number of 'blocks' that consist of multiple single tile
buildings combined together to build up the towns main housing complexes...These combinations of buildings will form nice fighting possitions that will allow
for full freedom of movement inside the buildings as all of them have fully funtioning internal door on every floor and in every direction. My goal here is to
try and make these buildings somewhat harder to suppres from the outside as there are so many different locations in them...with the ability to repossition within them quickly..
Some of these blocks seen from the editor...

 
And in game...

 
appart from these 'blocks' the map contains a large number of other rubbled buildings as well as a complete factory district with two decent sized factories
that also will allow for some form of movement inside them.
The map is by no means huge but it is very detailed and i contains a lot of 'stuff'...
some more pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given the high level of detail and the many rubbled buildings and flavoured objects etc...The map will be somewhat demanding on your computer i belive.
If you do decide to download this map and give it a try...Please make a short comment in this thread and tell me if your FPS performance is acceptable of if it is to demanding for your ,machine.
If the majority of people are seeing acceptable FPS i may very well decide to expand the map a fair bit...perhaps makining it usable for a static campaign or somewhat larger scenarios that would provide more room for manouver.
Also...What do you think about these kinds of buildings ? Do they provide some nice oppertunities and tactical challanges or do you considder them to be more of an waisted effort and not something that i should include in future maps...
A link to the map:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/55n385af4jloslg/Rebels in Odessa MAP.btt?dl=0

Any feedback will be apprisiated (good or bad), thanks...
Hopefully the map will work fine for you and be cool to play on...If FPS are low try to toggle shadows off and see if that helps...

That looks like a detraining under fire exercise, to get off that quick.
Also, those are T-55's not T-34's.

This is why I like the idea of allowing the player to play for extra time at the cost of VPs.  The briefing must be clear that the player has a decision.  Hit cease fire at the recommended 2 hour mark or play past 2 hours the cost of 300 VPs (or whatever VP amount is appropriate).  This also keeps a scenario from abruptly ending on a player who is having fun and wants to see his plans finish playing out. 
For replays of the same scenario It may be useful to identify what AI plan the player is fighting against.  For this purpose I sometimes use the following method in testing a scenario (when not on scenario author test mode) .  If the scenario has three AI plans: 
Three small modular buildings with no windows or doors are placed on the players side of the map.  There are at least three action squares (24 meters) between each building.  The buildings are landmarked (the red on map lettering) with PLAN ONE,  PLAN TWO and PLAN THREE.  When the player hits the red button to start the game an OpFor AI unit spawns inside the building with the AI plan that loaded.  A OpFor tentative contact icon will appear in that building.  Or if the player doesn't want to know he doesn't place a unit next to the row of buildings during setup.  So, if the player chooses, he now knows  what AI plan he is up against and if he has already played it before.
Granted, if he wants a different AI plan he now must exit the game and reload.  But for a player who's not comfortable opening the editor and turning plans on and off it might be something.  It's easy enough for the designer to set up.   
Hmm, I think there is another thread about replaying scenarios.  I might repost part of this reply in that thread if I find it.              

There are lots of explanations that contribute: poor play on our and the computer's part, a misunderstanding of how different casualty rates were at he tip of the spear vs the over all numbers, various (mostly incorrect) theories about fortifications and modeling etc.
The biggest difference is that we don't act like real commanders. We press far too much and don't withdraw when we take casualties. In a real action units rarely stay and fight on and on. They pull back to fright another day or bring up extra fire power or wait for support etc.
We are playing a game so we don't do that. If you play a game with someone like @Bil Hardenberger or another professional they will tell you when they would be done in real life and trust me it is way way before most people stop. Including myself.

While I agree with the above comments about tactics and players pushing too hard, here are a couple of very specific reasons why we see such high casualties.
The HUNT command doesn't work as it should - troops don't go prone immediately when fired upon. There is currently no way of really advancing cautiously with infantry, even when you know enemy contact is imminent.
  Real life troops can go "hull down" behind ridges, but in CM, since it's a square-based system, it's either you stay where you are or you advance 8 metres into the field of fire. No middle ground. This makes slopes more difficult to deal with than in reality.
  Troops can't use corners of buildings for cover. Yes, there was a "peek around corners" feature added recently, but it doesn't work reliably, and even when it does, it just places one guy from the team in the street. He's not peeking, and he doesn't seem to be getting any cover bonus from the corner of the building.
  Broken troops can still be ordered to advance, and even though they are less effective than fresh troops, they can still engage. They never reach the point where they refuse to follow orders. In reality, there's a limit to how far you can push people.
  Many buildings offer less cover than they should. Especially the barns in Normandy are shown as being made of stone, but they offer cover values as if they were American barns made out of thin wooden planks. I've seen many opponents place MGs etc. in such barns, not realising they are death traps.
  When placing troops in shellholes, some guys will often simply refuse to take cover in the crater, and instead they will sit on the edge in full view. In CM1, this was abstracted, but in CM2, placement of individual pixeltroops really matters.
  Gunners in most open vehicles are placed way too high compared to where the sight of their weapon is.
  When sending a team to run or hunt along a low wall, individual troops will often decide to cross the wall and walk for a while on the other side before crossing back. This exposes them to fire and makes it more difficult to use the cover.
  Troops don't go to ground when they see artillery starting to land nearby. They only go prone if the enemy shells hit very close to their own location. In real life, if you saw a mortar shell hit 100m to your right, and another 80m to your left, you'd be smart enough to realise that you're in a barrage, and that you should get down. Even if no shell actually landed on top of you yet.