[Concerns before buying]

9 hours ago, Vacilllator said:

I remember playing that scenario in the demo.  I didn't really know what I was doing at the time so may have missed it, but I don't recall the behaviour described with the infantry. 

As far as I can remember my infantry gun didn't get into the action either, but I thought at the time that was due to lack of targets.  Did your arc cover the target both in angles and distance?

Unless someone says otherwise I don't think you can grind the enemy infantry under your tracks - I try to keep a healthy distance anyway if I can.

You may be able to recover the MG if your original crew are wounded.  Place the ammo carriers (or another infantry unit) 'on top' of the wounded crew and they should in a short while perform medic / buddy aid action, part of which is recovery of weapons / ammo.  No guarantees though, and I haven't tried it with ammo carrier units but I assume it's the same as for other infantry units.

As for buying the game, I would totally recommend it.

 

Yeh, the arc did cover the edge of the orchards in front of it (with good reason!), which is where the Brit. infantry eventually emerged from to kill them, so who knows. I think the points that have been made here about the out of date engine on the demos may well be a factor, and as I mentioned to Sgt. Joch, the uncommanded movements didn't happen until towards the end; although the first signs of it cost me some people when a couple of units just left their building, defensive positions and promptly got cut down in the open!

I am going to have to try to see if the ammo bearers can pickup the lost MG in a later scenario for sure! Thinking in terms of real life, it would seem proper and true-to-life, even instinctual for them to take over from the lost crew that they served.

Finding the infantry under my tracks was, ironically by accident. The AFV was moving in Hunt mode but apparently didn't see them until it was, literally right on top of them! I subsequently back it up, and they did the needful, but it's another point of curiosity what would happen if one were to just leave it there! I assume the infantry would eventually assault the AFV?

[Concerns before buying]

3 hours ago, Sgt Joch said:

Hi, as mentioned above, units will ONLY execute the orders you give them. The only time they move on their own is if they perceive an imminent threat, are under fire and suffer a severe morale hit. As mentioned above, you highlighted all the units which the game interprets as giving the same order to every unit. A common mistake when first playing the game, but you quickly get used to it. Note that you can show all movement paths for all units with the alt+p hotkey which allows you to do a quick check before you hit GO.

The Alt+P is a really good tip. Thanks. I have checked the saved files, and it wasn't because of multi-unit selection, but as others suggested herein, perhaps the demo has a bug, because there were actually a couple of different units, that simply, turn after turn, either refused to stay in a building I told them to go to, or didn't go into at all but camped out close by instead. Just bizarre. Now all that said though, this is a behaviour that developed later in the game, and they were not under any combat duress at that point; all the fighting had progressed to the east of the town. In the beginning, things were working as expected, and that's why I wonder if it may be something to do with saving files and coming back to them at later times.

I will say that it is a really good and challenging scenario, perhaps too much for a novice even. Fortunately, there are some really good, YouTube how-to videos these days, and they gave me some really good instruction-prep and tips ahead of time.

[Concerns before buying]

1 minute ago, danfrodo said:

the extra commands were because you had multiple units selected when you gave subsequent commands.  Or you double-clicked on a unit to select it, which brings up entire unit's formation.  Look at what unit symbols are highlighted in orange -- that's who's getting commands. 

That's not normal for AT gun either.   Any chance you set up an "armor arc" -- that would tell unit to only fire at armor. 

These issues you are having are just learning issues, CM does not behave like that.

I'll check on the multiple selection; although I'm pretty sure I didn't have multiple units selected and doesn't explain the strange behaviour of some units to either not stay put or not entering the building. Since they were often not under Command (no link at all), is that a possibility, a feature of the game if not in command? On the other hand, there were other units that did stay put. Is this, possibly a morale issue ?

The INF gun was set for a normal covered arc, so who knows.

Good to know this isn't normal. I had the same behaviour on my Win10 laptop and Win7 desktop. Is it possible that in saving and reopening files or transferring between machines?...but on the other hand, I was getting this on my laptop when opening the file to continue the fight. Hmm

[Concerns before buying]

Just finished up a CMBN demo battle (SS v's Polish and Brits in a town) and while initially I was excited by it all, as things progressed I started to wonder:

I started to find that I needed to check *every* single unit's orders at the end of the command phase, because no matter what they had been previously issued, sometimes there would be extra move commands added onto what I had issued, or in one case, I could not get one unit to stay in a building or another to get in a specific building in the first place! They would always run off to some other spot close by but not the building! This went on for some 5 turns. Then, once I finally got them into the building, the next turn, they ran back out of it! There was no combat going on this whole time anywhere near them. I just wanted them to stand guard there in case. They kept wandering off, usually into open space where they could have been, conveniently mowed down! Is this a feature? The units in question were all in good order, and the only thing I could note was that they were spread out around the town and not usually in HQ contact. Towards the end, frankly, I started to just get tired of it and let them wander off, since there wasn't much enemy activity left, but that's hardly realistic and ruinous to any sort of organised defense against last-minute appearing enemy units!

There was one, infantry gun ordinance that the SS had. I had them setup with a covered arc, but when British infantry appeared along the edge of the orchard, within the arc, the crew never fired and were subsequently dispatched by said infantry! Any insight why they wouldn't have fired on the Brit infantry?

I take it there's no version of AFV overrun? I had one AFV stop right ontop (literally) of enemy infantry but nothing happened!

Can MG ammo bearer's possess and fire the MG they are attached to if the original crew are lost?

Thanks for any info and insight

[Concerns before buying]

Just finished up a CMBN demo battle (SS v's Polish and Brits in a town) and while initially I was excited by it all, as things progressed I started to wonder:

I started to find that I needed to check *every* single unit's orders at the end of the command phase, because no matter what they had been previously issued, sometimes there would be extra move commands added onto what I had issued, or in one case, I could not get one unit to stay in a building or another to get in a specific building in the first place! They would always run off to some other spot close by but not the building! This went on for some 5 turns. Then, once I finally got them into the building, the next turn, they ran back out of it! There was no combat going on this whole time anywhere near them. I just wanted them to stand guard there in case. They kept wandering off, usually into open space where they could have been, conveniently mowed down! Is this a feature? The units in question were all in good order, and the only thing I could note was that they were spread out around the town and not usually in HQ contact. Towards the end, frankly, I started to just get tired of it and let them wander off, since there wasn't much enemy activity left, but that's hardly realistic and ruinous to any sort of organised defense against last-minute appearing enemy units!

There was one, infantry gun ordinance that the SS had. I had them setup with a covered arc, but when British infantry appeared along the edge of the orchard, within the arc, the crew never fired and were subsequently dispatched by said infantry! Any insight why they wouldn't have fired on the Brit infantry?

I take it there's no version of AFV overrun? I had one AFV stop right ontop (literally) of enemy infantry but nothing happened!

Can MG ammo bearer's possess and fire the MG they are attached to if the original crew are lost?

Thanks for any info and insight