DerKommissar

The Arma AI is some of the best AI out there, out of the box. I mostly play singleplayer, or sometimes play co-op with friends. I haven't done PvP in years. There's also at least 2 great AI mods (ASR AI and VCOM), in case you want them to do more. My favourite thing is that you can have a very good strategic AI with MCC4 or ALiVE, creating a dynamic island-wide battlefield. I like to command a platoon and complete randomly generated tasks (also accomplished by either MCC4 or ALiVE). Some games are great without mods, some games can be greatly improved with mods -- Arma 3 can only be played with mods. Vanilla is silly and there's very little to do.

Right you are! I've recently wondered why my recent copy of FB wasn't asking for the Upgrade key. So, all except Shock Force and Afghanistan are on the level.

I am curious regarding the use of robots in IED/demining ops, how practical/widespread are they?

I would like to recommend Arma 3. The vanilla game is worthless, but the mods are godly. You can do anything. Do you prefer multiplayer or singleplayer? Campaigns or scenarios? RNG or scripted? WW2 or Modern or even Star Wars? Realistic or arcade-y? Do you want to command a squad, or a platoon -- or not command at all? Tanks, planes, helicopters, surface ships? Something for Black Sea fans: It's got US Army, Marines, VDV, MSV, VMF, as well as other branches and uncons a-plenty. Here's the WW2 stuff: Keep in mind these aren't the only WW2/Modern mods for this game. Just the tip of the iceberg.

1 - I play in 1440p, myself. What you need to do is set the resolution to "Desktop" and it will scale accordingly. 2 - Half a year ago, Engine Upgrade 4.0 came out. It brings most titles to the same level of modernity (mechanics, performance and visuals). These titles are Black Sea, Final Blitzkrieg, Battle for Normandy, Fortress Italy, and Red Thunder. Shock Force is being updated to bring it up to par, currently. Afghanistan will probably only be updated in my dreams. If you don't want to buy the upgrade, the most recent games would have the most recent features (Red Thunder, Black Sea and Final Blitzkrieg started at Engine 3.0). What game should you get? Well, that's a very frequent subject of discussion on these forums. The short version of it is get the one that has a setting that appeals to you, the most. Each base game roughly has the same amount of content, yet each one's DLC selection varies. Aside from Shock Force and Afghanistan, the looks and game-play quality is consistent. Oh -- and welcome to the forums!

Yeah, I was weirded out because most post-Soviet variants try not to mount smoke dischargers on ERA, at all. Probably a wise idea.

Those air-burst munitions, eh? A single one can make a fresh squad combat-ineffective. Everyone has automatics, so a single crew can spew lead and pin/wound a squad. Modern tank battles feel a lot like the Wild West, be quick or be dead. I've rarely had actual exchanges of fire, usually the victor doesn't need more than two shots. In WW2, you can actually have lengthy tank exchanges, with rounds more likely to miss or bounce off and less likely to cause catastrophic damage.

Nobody wants that infamous trailer on their shirt. They would become the laughing stock at house parties. xD Combat Mission memes on shirts, anyone?

FI is my favourite Western Front title -- so I did not mean that as a diminutive. This being said, BN does have more DLC for it. It seems to get more love from the devs and the community. Not saying it's right, but the numbers don't lie. It'd be so cool if we had a grand western front campaign, which starts in Sicily and ends in the Rhine.

Really happy about Brazilians in-game. Hope they don't preform like they did in the 2014 semi-finals, against Germany!

looks so gooooood

Decked out BN is a great choice. It always felt to me that FI and FB are kinda like standalone expansion packs for BN. The terrain does change the gameplay significantly. RT is another beast, all-together. It's the zenith of grandiose combined arms. I do like modern stuff, but I am significantly bad at it. I find WW2 is generally more forgiving and gives more room for maneuver. In WW2, I know that certain tactics will work in certain situations -- in BS, especially, sometimes I feel I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

I'd buy that for a dollar... or maybe a hundred. CMA was the first CM2 I played and the only CM2 not at 4.

Great icons, cheers! However, I am slightly confused. Where's the cat memes?

My man, you hit the nail on the head. Recently, I lost a lot of modern and ww2 vehicles to mines while attacking. Infantry identify a mine, and I try to circumvent it with my vehicles. Even going backwards -- boom! Nothing I can do. There are so many tools that both WW2 and modern armies have for breaching minefields, and other obstructions. I've seen line charges even being used by the SAA. Vehicle packs with combat engineering vehicles would be worth their weight in gold.

How do you know his grandsons won't inherit the throne? Seems like a logical extension of his Tsarist dream. Here in Canada, we currently have a Junior in power. xD

Home Army was actually quite well organized/equipped by partisan standards. They even had a few of their own armoured cars as well a handful of captured AT guns. I can imagine they had plenty of experience with explosives. One of their major strategic goals was the demolition of German infrastructure, such as bridges and railways. They received PIATs, as well as plastic explosives from Allied air-drops. A big difference with CMSF, instead of getting points for preserving buildings -- the Germans would get points for reducing them to rubble. Scorched earth was the name of the game. Interestingly enough, various nationalist militias (the infamous RONA being one of them) saw service in the Uprising, Germans' own Uncons.

I've recently been reading about the Warsaw Uprising. It occurred to me that quite a lot of things happened between the conclusion of Bagration and the Battle for Berlin. Which of these will Module 1 cover? Steve did mention that Module 1 would pick up in Poland. I am guessing the Arctic front is out of the question, it'd be cool though. Same goes for the Budapest Offensive, and the latter Vienna Offensive. Yugoslavia is quite away. I am guessing the Vistual-Oder offensive will be featured. As such, I am hoping to see Eastern Polish Armed Forces. The 1st Polish Army saw action in Berlin, as well. I hope we get a glimpse of the Warsaw Uprising, some good ol' fashioned 20th century COIN. No sign of a Warsaw master-map though, xD. What do you guys think we'll see in Module 1? What do you hope to see?

Did this thing die off? I'd love a campaign generator.

Slapping sanctions is counter-productive to winning over hearts and minds. The West should have encouraged economic dependence, welcomed them happily into trade and maybe even security organizations. Instead, we rebuilt the Iron Curtain -- cutting off the exchange of goods and ideas. Speaking of China -- look at the SCO. They managed to get India and Pakistan to sit at one table and even wargame together. All the while, we're still bickering over human rights, alienating our partners and extinguishing any clout pro-West groups have in the East.

I was trying to be thematic, doing the whole Strangelove, black-white green poker table, thing. Darkest Hour and everything...

I didn't mess around with any screen settings. It's just night. This is the second Peiper mission.

A squad of SS infantry is assaulting a building, only to be ambushed by some rear-echelon Yankees. The squad runs towards cover as the MG cannot sprint with everyone else -- the American takes pot shots at him. His assistant runs to give him a hand, while the Squad Leader takes down the immediate threat. Yet, there are still Yanks there. With a slap on the bum, he sprints to the rest of his squad -- while his assistant watches another American fall.

1! 2! 3! 4! I love Marine Corps! Extra tempted to play them now that they'll be fully amphibious.

I was playing the Highland Games campaign when CMSF2 was announced. I came into it from a kitted-out CMBN and felt like I brought my stick to a rugby game. First few battles were easy, the Syrians gave hardly any resistance. Then came the asymmetric warfare, which shook things up -- and I found that my relatively limited losses began to stack up. Just as I began to get survive better in urban COIN missions -- a counter attack by a well disciplined, well trained, and well equipped Syrian mechanized battalion almost ended me. During the campaign I got to use allied assets like US Army units and friendly militias. Not something I've experienced in other CMs. My major complaint was that I was used to all the bells and whistles of Engine 4 -- which is why CMSF2 is an easy buy from me. SF is unique, and I recommend it to Black Sea and even WW2 enthusiasts. There's lots of new content here for people who haven't played the original and most of it is entirely unlike the other entries in the series. As a hack on tele said, "And now for something completely different..." SF has many more BLUFOR than REDFOR factions (6 vs 2?). It's like a saturday morning cartoon that keeps introducing new heroes, but keeps the same old villians. Hope they introduce more REDFOR. I'll also admit I liked the COIN in Afghanistan more. Sneaking in teams and precision strikes ain't my style -- I just want to smash.