PEB14

Well, the problem is, as you can see on the screen capture, it is impossible to seclect "Target Light", the option simply doesn't exist!! So I just cannot try to select a target, whatever its position… Interestingly, later in the game, both the MG and the gun were fired at the same target, which was roughly at 2 or 3 o'clock from the vehicle axis. So the MG is operational and it does have an operational arc a little bigger than what you describe. Anyway, the impossibility to use "Target Light" sounds like a bug to me!

Don't get me wrong: I'll certainly buy it at some point (but certainly not before the CW module is packaged as a bundle). It's just that it lacks the taste of novelty added by any other game. And now, what next?

Got ammo, the gunner is in position… So what???

Is it a bug? Why am I unable to "target light" with this beautiful beast???

I meant NEW vehicles, not sure my post was clear enough. In CMFB you pretty much find the same vehicles like in the other WW2 games more or less combined, plus the Flammpanzer38t and Sturmtiger, as you point out. That's not a lot of new stuff, vehicle-wise... And you are right pointing out that the situation today is not the same as at the time of the initial release,. As of today, CMFB is like a dead end: nothing but the basic game. No battle pack, no module, not even CW forces (at least not yet) included. For a new player it's by far the least attractive of the CM WW2 games (except if you NEED to play Ardennes, obviously...). I now that some players here love CMFB very much because of the quality of the maps and of the optimized engines. But these are not the most appealing things for a new player (at least, not for me!). Especially as you get excellent maps in the other games!

Sure, they're not done by the same people (not even by BF people?) and don't require hardcoding...

IMHO, adding new vehicles and forces is precisely what WW2 afficionados are waiting for... In a game that runs very nicely like CM does, you just want new toys to play with... That's pretty much why the only game I haven't purchased for now is CMFB. If I want to play US vs. German in the snow, or CW vs. German in 1945, I play CMFI-R2V. I think that CMFB adds too little to the franchise in terms of new toys; CMFI added to CMBN tons of vehicles, the Italians, the French and so on. CMRT added the Russians, the Volksturm and tons of stuff. CMFB does not, as any new game should. But that's just me!

That is sound. So why not starting backwards and not onwards? Development would be diluted over time if the next game starts with Kursk, then extending back to Stalingrad, and finishing en beauté with the beginning of Barbarossa! Many vehicles and forces required for Kursk are already there, and some of those developped for Kursk would be useful for Stalingrad... When is programming scheduled to start on this one?

I don't: LOS - Line of Sight: not affected by FO LOF - Line of Fire: affected by FO

I understand exactly the opposite from Steve's most interesting post: Haystacks and carts have absolutely no effect on LOS but do have on LOF:

Interesting, but I'm not sure to fully catch the idea. - You button up the vehicle, meaning you greatly reduce is spotting ability. Why so? - You go fast to reduce the enemy chances to fire a shot, then you reverse back towards your starting point along the same road: up to where? starting point? covered area?. - During the (slow) reverse motion you are very exposed to enemy fire, aren't you? - If you're not fired upon, your chances to spot any enemy are slim (buttoned up + fast movement)? Thanks your sharing the idea!

Yes, that's consistent with what I observed with the haystacks.

Hello, Do the flavour object have some actual effects in the game, or are they just here for what they mean - add flavour? More specifically, do they block LOS? I'm especially thinking of all those haystacks in CMFI, but the question is valid for other solid ojects as well...

What do you mean by FDC? Fire Direction Control? "off-map" and "voice contact" seem incompatible to me anyway... Agreed. IMO it has some sense when these mortars are your only "artillery" asset, and thus you want to protect them from enemy fire. By the way this way to do is taught to the beginner in the CMFI training campaign, in which you're asked to position an observer in a 2-leval building and 60-mm light mortars in the open behind the house, at voice range. And in this scenario the observer is also a HQ.

Honestly I don't think this would add much to the game considering the time scale. I'd better just have the WIA not counted the same as KIA in terms of victory conditions (perhaps not for the Soviets); it would be a realistic incitation to medic!

As Bullepoint points out, it isn't for on-map assets. In my present CMFI game, as a US player, I have two 60-mm mortars attached to Co HQ. I put the mortars behind a ridge, Co HQ on top of the ridge, 20 meters away from both mortars, in voice contact. If I use the Co HQ to call for indirect fire, delay is 5 minutes. If I use any platoon HQ to call the same mortars for indirect fire, delay is... 5 minutes. Even platoons from another Co.

You could start a preplanned mission at the beginning of the game with on-board artillery, but you couldn't do it afterwards only because of trajectories issues? It makes no sense at all, wether at the start or thereafter, impossible trajectories remain impossible!

As a matter of fact, I was surprised when I discovered that the interior of tanks is modelled as well !!!

I cannot distinguish any visible difference between the pro and commercial version at first glance. Does anybody know what are the main differences?

Never heard of a CM3 project. Only engine upgrades, lot of work associated with. CMFB is a dead end, once you've added the Brits and pushed the time frame from January to May 1945, there is not much to add. Even backwards as the timeframe/theater is covered by CMBN. If they want to keep the WW2 fan club satisfied, they will have to find something else. Like CMRT modules back in time (Kursk comes to mind, next Stalingrad…). But if the BF policy sticks with the "no US troops, no game" motto, as there probably will be no Pacific War CM ever, then …

Agreed. Add some fort (Verdun and the like) and you've got pretty much all that there is; boring on the long run.

That's what I suspected, but the allowed target in my last caption is very suspect!!! Well, A T30 in direct fire only, against a Flakvierling in the German side… Looks like I will add yet another chapter to my crystal tanks story!

Hi, I'm clearly missing a point here. I'm unable to request indirect fire on useful areas with my T30 HMC halftrack. An example: My observer has a clear LOS to the target. I am able to get in touch with the T30, but now I've got no LOS nor LOF anymore to the very same spot?! Here's the T30, no C2 issue (otherwise I couldn't get in touch with him anyway), The T30 is opened up (just in case it matters)… Side view. T30 on the left, observer on the right. A small ridge in between them. Still, I can ask for indirect fire to a point between the observer and the T30, out of LOS of the T30 ?! But I've tried any target beyond the observer, nada. No way. I also tried with a Co HQ observer, with similar results. Strangely, I can use my on-map mortar in this configuration. My best guess is that the whole area at the bottom of the valley beyond the observer is a blind area to the T30, considering the possible trajectory of the shells at the T30 gun's max elevation. But in a previous turn I tried to target an enemy unit at mid-slope on the other side of the valley, but I couldn't target it either… Any clue?

So would I. And I would buy France 1940, Norway 1940, Poland 1939 as well!

I was for sure able to fire smoke and WP shells with onboard, British light mortars (which were out of HE rounds) in one of my last games, and I haven't seen this issue.