My objective is to record a full battle from the top. I had a few ideas that might help with this. The best idea, obviously, would be a single button push or console command that positions the camera at a standard x,y,z position. I don't know why this doesn't exist.
I also had an idea for an alignment box. Basically, an overlay, so I could align the edges of the map with it. My friend built one that works in many games, but it doesn't work with CM due to OpenGL. What I want it something like this so I can align the edges perfectly each time.
http://imgur.com/a/mts7Z
The video I posted shows my best attempt at recording a battle from the top down. You will notice a lot of movement. I did my best to align properly every time and I did some post processing. It's very hard to get a proper alignment. Hopefully, people can help me with something I haven't thought of or we can get such a hotkey added.
Until a 'movie' function is added to the game this is really the best idea to look back at your past turns or show big maneuvers.