Greetings all! Newbie here

[Banjohero]

Hello forumgoers,

Today I finally decided to get a Combat Mission game, after lurking and looking at them (itimidated, and from a distance). Ww2, and games depicting it have always fascinated me, but playing games the like of company of heroes and men of war just leaves me disappointed in my ability to multitask and manage in realtime, and at the same time, they dont feel vert rewarding. It really irks me how the machineguns cant fire beyond 50 meters...

 

Well, anyhow.. I'm reading the manual like a little kid, looking fortald to getting my hands busy. But I have a fem questions. 

Is it possible to play multiplayer other than 1v1 engagements, can you play 2v AI for eksample? Or 2v2 etc.?

Does the game (this, or one of the others) have a full campaign, or is it seperate battles? ( from youtube I got the impression its mostly single battles.)

Lastly, are there any fellow beginners interested in playing multiplayer? (In turnbased mode).

 

greetings from a novice commander, from the conquered land of Norway. 

Banjo

 

[[MyIS] Buffpuff]

23 minutes ago, Banjohero said:

Hello forumgoers,

Today I finally decided to get a Combat Mission game, after lurking and looking at them (itimidated, and from a distance). Ww2, and games depicting it have always fascinated me, but playing games the like of company of heroes and men of war just leaves me disappointed in my ability to multitask and manage in realtime, and at the same time, they dont feel vert rewarding. It really irks me how the machineguns cant fire beyond 50 meters...

 

Well, anyhow.. I'm reading the manual like a little kid, looking fortald to getting my hands busy. But I have a fem questions. 

Is it possible to play multiplayer other than 1v1 engagements, can you play 2v AI for eksample? Or 2v2 etc.?

Does the game (this, or one of the others) have a full campaign, or is it seperate battles? ( from youtube I got the impression its mostly single battles.)

Lastly, are there any fellow beginners interested in playing multiplayer? (In turnbased mode).

 

greetings from a novice commander, from the conquered land of Norway. 

Banjo

 

First welcome to the forums Banjo. My post count is a bit misleading but I've been here since Combat Mission Beyond Overlord was released way back in 2000. The only reason I remember that is that CMBO almost caused me not to get married in July 2000 because as my wife said "You play WAY too much of that **** game". LOL! So welcome to the Brotherhood.

 

I can't answer the MP question because I haven't done a PBEM (play by email) since Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin. I'm going to assume it's still 1v1 that can be played via email, Hotseat, or in real-time.

 

As to the full campaign question yes there are several campaigns for CMFB as well as the other CM titles. There are also scenarios (alias Battles) galore for any of the CM titles. There's enough to keep you busy for quite awhile. The repository is being revamped but it's a good place to start if you wish to find extra scenarios or campaigns to play.

 

As for interest in playing multiplayer I don't consider myself a beginner, per say, but I'm a beginner to CMFB if that meets your definition of a beginner. LOL! As I said before I haven't played a MP game in ages but I'll be more than glad to walk you through your first one. Who knows. Will you have beginners luck or will I smite your country of Norway and send you crying to Mommy that it burns!!! LOL! Feel free to PM me as, all joking aside, I'll be more than glad to show you the ropes of what I've picked up over the ages.

[MarkEzra]

Welcome to the Family!  Glad you're reading the manual.  The guys who hang out here can be great resources for you.

[Heirloom_Tomato]

It is possible to play a 2 vs the Ai battle or a 2 vs 2 player battle.  It is not a directly supported feature and will require transfer of a saved game file between the players.  I am playing a battle right now this way and am really enjoying it.  I have all the CM games, (CMFB still to come), so if you would like to play a co-op game send me a PM and we can set something up.

[PanzerMike]

Welcome Banjohero!

[Jaws]

Wecome and I hope you enjoy the game as we do

[FroBodine]

Welcome, Banjohero!  I am also a beginner to the game, and multiplayer in particular, having never played a head-to-head game yet.

I would be interested in playing a smallish 1v1 game with you.  Let me know if you're up for it, and we'll wet our toes together into the world of online CMFB!

-=Jeff

[John Kettler]

Banjohero,

Welcome aboard!

I've left the question answering to the better informed others. Were I consistently game playing functional and not in deep game arrears to those who've mentored me in CMBN, in its various expressions, and CMBS, I'd gladly fight you. But I think it could be argued I'm somewhat more advanced than a beginner. When I remember what I learned before and chisel away the mental rust that comes from long intervals between games!

In any event, in your honor may I present the definitive banjo piece--despite the somewhat misleading title?
 

Regards,

John Kettler

[FroBodine]

Brilliant dueling banjos!  Now I have to go watch Deliverance again!

[[MyIS] Buffpuff]

30 minutes ago, FroBodine said:

Brilliant dueling banjos!  Now I have to go watch Deliverance again!

I'm ashamed to say I've never watched that movie.

[Odin]

Welcome @Banjohero,

You've made a good choice, CM might not have the graphical frills of Mew of War, but it licks the pants off MoW, and the such, in terms of authenticity.

I highly recommend giving 2-player PBEM a go. I know a few on here don't play it much, or at all, but for me it is where the best CM experiences are to be had. The AI will never present the challenges that a human opponent can, or the sociable experience of PBEM for that matter (although you don't have to communicate with your opponent if you don't want to). PBEM games can stretch into months, and at first I thought this would bother me. But I can say if anything I prefer playing CM this way for two reasons. Firstly, because I can have a few games going on at the same time, without them taking up every spare minute of the day. Secondly, because waiting for a pbem turn in the middle of an exciting battle can create a brilliant level of anticipation. I can be between PBEM turns and I'll find myself planning my next play, eg can I win that long range tank dual, pull off a flanking manoeuvre, or repel an opponent's assault.

If you want to give PBEM a go I recommend you do two things. First, join The Few Good Men which is basically a community of CM pbem players. They're a great bunch on the FGM forum and you'll be able to find opponents of all abilities on there. There are also lots of tournaments and multiplayer campaign tie-ins run by members such as Rico and Kohlenklau, who create some brilliant CM experiences.

Secondly, download Green as Jade's CM Helper. This is a free bit of software which removes all of the manual admin of uploading and downloading PBEM turn files to dropbox and greatly improves CM's 2-player experience as a result. As someone else mentioned you can play 2v2 (or even 1v2 or 3v3 etc), but if you're on a team of players you won't be able to use CMHelper as it was designed for 1v1.

Welcome aboard the good ship Combat Mission!

 

 

Edited April 16, 2016 by Odin

[Agua]

Where's the CMBorg to a[CM]ilate this guy?

[Bulletpoint]

7 hours ago, FroBodine said:

Welcome, Banjohero!  I am also a beginner to the game, and multiplayer in particular, having never played a head-to-head game yet.

I would be interested in playing a smallish 1v1 game with you.  Let me know if you're up for it, and we'll wet our toes together into the world of online CMFB!

-=Jeff

Be careful, once you start doing that, you get hooked. I just played one of the defensive battles of the Scottish Corridor campaign against the computer, and it's just so boring to 'shoot nazi fish in the barrel' compared to the really tense games I had against human opponents.

Knocking out another player's armoured car feels like a much bigger victory than destroying two elite Tiger Tanks against the computer.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Bulletpoint

[iluvmy88]

11 hours ago, Banjohero said:

Is it possible to play multiplayer other than 1v1 engagements, can you play 2v AI for eksample? Or 2v2 etc.?

Does the game (this, or one of the others) have a full campaign, or is it seperate battles? ( from youtube I got the impression its mostly single battles.)

Lastly, are there any fellow beginners interested in playing multiplayer? (In turnbased mode).

1. I believe others answered this and i didnt even know it was possible, i guess in a sense it is but not officially =D.

2. All titles have multiple campaigns, my favorites so far for campaign is Battle for Normandy and Final Blitzkrieg, although Red thunder is good as well, just larger battle that may intimidate a new player.

3. I have been playing for 2 years and im still no master, The blitz and The few good men are great places to look for opponents as well as new scenarios, and mods. before you know it you will have more on your plate than you can handle, also you will want to DL Combat mission helper and get a Dropbox account, to make things easier on you and your opponent make sure you understand how to use these before you get an opponent as not everyone has the time to show you how to use them and chat in CMH is a day by day thing making and assistance they can give you go really slow. There are plenty on here who will mentor just ask!

Lastly if you loose interest or have some pressing matters to attend to make sure to give your opponents a heads up. most of them dont mind if your gone for even months but they will end up with this game that they dont want to end (at least i do) becuase mayb the opponent will come back or is just busy.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you need anything.

Ohh and if you try to bum rush through a mission like in CoH 

 

Edited April 16, 2016 by iluvmy88

[MOS:96B2P]

35 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

<Snip>  Knocking out another player's armoured car feels like a much bigger victory than destroying two elite Tiger Tanks against the computer.

Yes.  This.   +1

[Banjohero]

21 hours ago, [MyIS] Buffpuff said:

As for interest in playing multiplayer I don't consider myself a beginner, per say, but I'm a beginner to CMFB if that meets your definition of a beginner. LOL! As I said before I haven't played a MP game in ages but I'll be more than glad to walk you through your first one. Who knows. Will you have beginners luck or will I smite your country of Norway and send you crying to Mommy that it burns!!! LOL! Feel free to PM me as, all joking aside, I'll be more than glad to show you the ropes of what I've picked up over the ages.

I will pick you up on that offer! Just not for another week or so earliest, it seems the second training mission was a tougher nut than I thought. Although after a couple of tries I now seem to realise that loosing a few men or a car isnt the end of the world haha. On that note, is there a way to order my tanks to advance then a target from the new position?

19 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said:

It is possible to play a 2 vs the Ai battle or a 2 vs 2 player battle.  It is not a directly supported feature and will require transfer of a saved game file between the players.  I am playing a battle right now this way and am really enjoying it.  I have all the CM games, (CMFB still to come), so if you would like to play a co-op game send me a PM and we can set something up.

Give me some time to get more aquainted and Im all over that! I only have the newest game though, final blitzkrieg.

18 hours ago, FroBodine said:

Welcome, Banjohero!  I am also a beginner to the game, and multiplayer in particular, having never played a head-to-head game yet.

I would be interested in playing a smallish 1v1 game with you.  Let me know if you're up for it, and we'll wet our toes together into the world of online CMFB!

-=Jeff

I'll be in touch in a week or two, so we can run blindly into each others machineguns!

12 hours ago, Odin said:

Welcome @Banjohero,

You've made a good choice, CM might not have the graphical frills of Mew of War, but it licks the pants off MoW, and the such, in terms of authenticity.

I highly recommend giving 2-player PBEM a go. I know a few on here don't play it much, or at all, but for me it is where the best CM experiences are to be had. The AI will never present the challenges that a human opponent can, or the sociable experience of PBEM for that matter (although you don't have to communicate with your opponent if you don't want to). PBEM games can stretch into months, and at first I thought this would bother me. But I can say if anything I prefer playing CM this way for two reasons. Firstly, because I can have a few games going on at the same time, without them taking up every spare minute of the day. Secondly, because waiting for a pbem turn in the middle of an exciting battle can create a brilliant level of anticipation. I can be between PBEM turns and I'll find myself planning my next play, eg can I win that long range tank dual, pull off a flanking manoeuvre, or repel an opponent's assault.

Definitely, nothing really beats playing against (and/or with) other people, especially if I can also discuss how it went and what to do differently.

10 hours ago, iluvmy88 said:

3. I have been playing for 2 years and im still no master, The blitz and The few good men are great places to look for opponents as well as new scenarios, and mods. before you know it you will have more on your plate than you can handle, also you will want to DL Combat mission helper and get a Dropbox account, to make things easier on you and your opponent make sure you understand how to use these before you get an opponent as not everyone has the time to show you how to use them and chat in CMH is a day by day thing making and assistance they can give you go really slow. There are plenty on here who will mentor just ask!

Lastly if you loose interest or have some pressing matters to attend to make sure to give your opponents a heads up. most of them dont mind if your gone for even months but they will end up with this game that they dont want to end (at least i do) becuase mayb the opponent will come back or is just busy.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you need anything.

Ohh and if you try to bum rush through a mission like in CoH 

Will take a look at those, and get and learn the cmhelper utility before I get into a game hehe. It seems really useful, do you otherwise have to manually email/send saves?

ohh I tried bumrushing, twice.. Its getting better now, kinda  Learning the basics has been pretty smooth so far, definitely much smoother than expected. And fun! I didnt know how much fun it was to see my scoutcar die in the same place a few times haha. Cant wait to get by the training (and manual reading alongside) into a real game or two.

 

to everyone else, thanks for the welcomes and tips and everything. There seems to be a great community around here.

 

ps, that banjo duel was pretty Epic, might have to watch that movie! 

Edited April 17, 2016 by Banjohero
Typos, i hate the ipad dictionary..

[Bulletpoint]

On 4/17/2016 at 2:18 AM, Banjohero said:

Although after a couple of tries I now seem to realise that loosing a few men or a car isnt the end of the world haha.

Well, there seems to be two types of player: The first type treats the soldiers as ammunition to be expended in order to win the scenario, the second type is very careful and casualty adverse.

I'm the cautious type, and enjoy solving the tactical problems with a minimum of casualties. If I lose a whole team to a hand grenade, or a squad to an unspotted machinegun, that means I screwed up, even if I complete the mission. I then try to think things through and try to come up with better tactics.

On 4/17/2016 at 2:18 AM, Banjohero said:

is there a way to order my tanks to advance then a target from the new position?

Yes, you just plot a move order, then click on the little white ball at the end of the coloured line. It highlights, then you can do a target order and the red line will start from the movement waypoint.

[Banjohero]

1 hour ago, Bulletpoint said:

Well, there seems to be two types of player: The first type treats the soldiers as ammunition to be expended in order to win the scenario, the second type is very careful and casualty adverse.

I'm the cautious type, and enjoy solving the tactical problems with a minimum of casualties. If I lose a whole team to a hand grenade, or a squad to an unspotted machinegun, that means I screwed up, even if I complete the mission. I then try to think things through and try to come up with better tactics.

Yes, you just plot a move order, then click on the little white ball at the end of the coloured line. It highlights, then you can do a target order and the red line will start from the movement waypoint.

Thank you, the targeting works yeah. it confused me by not showing the LoS-line from the new position but from its current position. 

 

I like to be cautious and not loose too many men too, but my "revelation" was that I shouldnt restart or reload a save just because I lost something. It doesnt feel right, almost kinda cheaty. The fact that I then somehow "know" before time where enemies are hidden etc. I did get over it though, I lost 9 tanks in the last training mission, 5 to the same tank destroyer.... haha. I'm pretty sure I saw some men jumping out of it earlier, after hitting it with a mortar shell or two, so I thought it was destroyed. Could the crew have gotten back into it later? It was a real hero for the germans haha. I had to move my tank destroyer into heavy forest to get a sight-line on it. It was well hidden/in cover behind a building.

 

I do plan to later try that mission again though, see if I can do it better. 

[womble]

1 hour ago, Banjohero said:

Thank you, the targeting works yeah. it confused me by not showing the LoS-line from the new position but from its current position. 

Aye, that's a bit of a boondoggle that continues to puzzle.

1 hour ago, Banjohero said:

 I lost 9 tanks in the last training mission, 5 to the same tank destroyer.... haha. I'm pretty sure I saw some men jumping out of it earlier, after hitting it with a mortar shell or two, so I thought it was destroyed. Could the crew have gotten back into it later? It was a real hero for the germans haha. I had to move my tank destroyer into heavy forest to get a sight-line on it. It was well hidden/in cover behind a building.

It's certainly possible for "ineffective" HE fire to cause a crew to panic and bail from a mostly-functional vehicle, which, if they don't run too far* before "un-Panicing", you can order back in, but I don't think the AI will ever give a bailed crew an order to remount. Possibly there were tank riders on the TD who got down sharpish when the mortars rained in...?

* As in, there's enough time left in the scenario for them to return to their vehicle, mount up and carry on fighting.

[[MyIS] Buffpuff]

1 hour ago, Banjohero said:

Thank you, the targeting works yeah. it confused me by not showing the LoS-line from the new position but from its current position. 

 

I like to be cautious and not loose too many men too, but my "revelation" was that I shouldnt restart or reload a save just because I lost something. It doesnt feel right, almost kinda cheaty. The fact that I then somehow "know" before time where enemies are hidden etc. I did get over it though, I lost 9 tanks in the last training mission, 5 to the same tank destroyer.... haha. I'm pretty sure I saw some men jumping out of it earlier, after hitting it with a mortar shell or two, so I thought it was destroyed. Could the crew have gotten back into it later? It was a real hero for the germans haha. I had to move my tank destroyer into heavy forest to get a sight-line on it. It was well hidden/in cover behind a building.

 

I do plan to later try that mission again though, see if I can do it better. 

My "frustration" with Combat Mission ended once I accepted the fact that casualties are going to happen. Before that epiphany hit me I had looked at casualties as a failure on my part to give the right orders to my pixel troops. Inevitably I was setting myself up for failure with that train of thought in that it caused me to be over cautious. Over cautious led to not utilizing reconnaissance correctly which then led to casualties from blundering into a trap and the vicious cycle continued. Once I came to grips with the reality that casualties are going to occur and that a competent commander does what he can to minimize the risks my game play dramatically improved. I still hate losing tanks but I think that's because losing a tank is losing a good chunk of firepower available to you. 

 

As for restarting/reload as a cheat I'll raise my hand and say guilty as charged. Because of my over cautious nature it was a crutch that I have found very hard to break. I'm a lot better at it now but I get really hot under the collar when a casualty occurs after one of troops does something I never told him to do (but I guess that's war!).

 

If you haven't viewed these videos then I would definitely recommend it. Slim is still working on the tactics videos but the Armchair General videos are gold in my book.

 

Edited April 18, 2016 by [MyIS] Buffpuff

[Bulletpoint]

I really recommend everybody try not to save and reload all the time to maximise success. It can be tempting, but the game is much more tense when you know your every decision matters and you have to live with the consequences.

[gnarly]

11 hours ago, [MyIS] Buffpuff said:

My "frustration" with Combat Mission ended once I accepted the fact that casualties are going to happen. Before that epiphany hit me I had looked at casualties as a failure on my part to give the right orders to my pixel troops. Inevitably I was setting myself up for failure with that train of thought in that it caused me to be over cautious. Over cautious led to not utilizing reconnaissance correctly which then led to casualties from blundering into a trap and the vicious cycle continued. Once I came to grips with the reality that casualties are going to occur and that a competent commander does what he can to minimize the risks my game play dramatically improved. I still hate losing tanks but I think that's because losing a tank is losing a good chunk of firepower available to you.

 

LOL, play Black Sea, and you have to very rapidly accept the mindset that vehicles will fireball Pretty Damn Quick, and often with no visuals (or even idea) on the enemy unit (and if you are really unlucky, no idea even of the ordnance involved!!!). Otherwise a/. your head will end up in the monitor or b/. the monitor will end up wrapped around your head.....

After that, the plinking and brew-ups in the WW2 titles are quite mild in comparison!

 

[gnarly]

7 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

I really recommend everybody try not to save and reload all the time to maximise success. It can be tempting, but the game is much more tense when you know your every decision matters and you have to live with the consequences.

A good way to remove this crutch is to play a PBEM; no saves to fall back to! You can watch your units' glorious last moments ad-infinitum though!

[Lethaface]

With regards to learning to play the game and learning to take casualties:

I had quite a bit of unlearning to do after CMSF  and for a while suffered from the 'reload save' disease too. While I enjoyed playing RED having to resort to guerilla/sacrificial tactics, taking many casualties as the dominant force was still new for me in CMBN. In CMSF playing BLUE side force preservation is a major thing. Trying to achieve the same in WWII CMx2 is, or should be, different. I recently played the 'Storm on Stoumont' battle in the CMFB german campaign. Assaulting Stoumont in daylight with a company of Panthers, Pz Grenadiers, Pioneers and Fallschirm Jagers was a great challenge. I managed a Total Victory after the AI surrendered and thought I did pretty good, while it took well over 100 casualties. Losing over 100 troops is a serious thing in the real world and I like that CM confronts me with the reality of warfare. In the end grunts and their equipment counterparts are the 'expendable' assets when it comes to military projects in wartime, while at the same time being fellow living humans. In this specific case one can question the strategic goals of the project (Wacht am Rhein). The war was for all intents and purposes lost, but still the soldiers of the Wehrmacht (including waffen-ss) sacrificed themselves for those that give orders.

Another thing is the difference between RealTime and WEGO (turnbased). From experience I think learning the game is best done in RealTime. While WEGO gives you much more information about what happened (due to replays) and the ability to micro every unit once in a minute, playing RealTime offers more fluid gameplay and much more battle experience. I think I have played maybe 3+ times as much scenario's when I played RT against AI versus playing WEGO. Currently I mostly play WEGO, due to getting used to it from PBEM's and playing large battles which are more difficult to manage in RT and more heavy on my PC.

Finally: apart from the manual and tutorial there are plenty of online resources to help play the game, look for ChrisND's channel on youtube, Bill Hardenbergers 'Battle Drill' blog, Slim's above mentioned video's, ArmChair general guides on Youtube and the rest that I can't remember currently. Plenty of great threads on the forum too. 

[Agua]

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 9:11 AM, Banjohero said:

 

 

I like to be cautious and not loose too many men too, but my "revelation" was that I shouldnt restart or reload a save just because I lost something. It doesnt feel right, almost kinda cheaty.

You'll get over it.