Placing Units

[Task]

Hello all,

Its been a while since I've played the new CM titles and had the bright idea to start playing them again.  One, hopefully simple question I have, is when placing units in setup mode, is there a way to place them exactly (like pixel placing) rather than on grid-squares?  As I recall, in CM:BB or AK, you could place units on an exact spot for the most part, but in CMRT (for example), when I am placing a unit it only allows me to do on a small square area, even on grassy terrain.  This is kind of annoying when I'm trying to place, for example, an AT gun perfectly so the crew can spot and shoot between them.

[Michael Emrys]

You can't really place them more precisely than in the AS, and it is annoying, especially later in the game when I can't move a unit to an exact spot to take advantage of some micro terrain. Sometimes in certain situations you can effect the placement by adjusting the facing of the unit. The men in the unit will then squirm around to try to adapt to their environment.

Michael

[George MC]

36 minutes ago, Task said:

Hello all,

Its been a while since I've played the new CM titles and had the bright idea to start playing them again.  One, hopefully simple question I have, is when placing units in setup mode, is there a way to place them exactly (like pixel placing) rather than on grid-squares?  As I recall, in CM:BB or AK, you could place units on an exact spot for the most part, but in CMRT (for example), when I am placing a unit it only allows me to do on a small square area, even on grassy terrain.  This is kind of annoying when I'm trying to place, for example, an AT gun perfectly so the crew can spot and shoot between them.

Even in CM:BB or AK you could only place the pixeltroops on a 'grid' although in this case it was a 20x20m square and significantly less fidelity than CMX2. It may have appeared so but that was because the scale was 'larger'.

As Michael says when you place troops in CMX2 you will see the square they are going to set-up in shown when you place them. You can tweak that a bit to get the squad set-up as you like them. Many players routinely split up squads into their teams and place them that way. As Michael says changing the facing allows the troops themselves to adjust to the terrain.

My key suggestion would be, and this helps me greatly when playing, is try not to think like the squad commander but more like the platoon commander. Micro managing units works if you always play small scale but TBH IMO CMX2 is not a squad level action but starts to shine when playing around company level. If you start to think like each individual soldier on the combat area it'll soon become frustrating as the terrain etc is not quite detailed for that scale - that's moving into FPS territory I think.

[Task]

Thanks for the replys.

As far as placing units exactly for individual units, I didn't think it was too fpsish when I did it back then.  The only thing I was ever good at in that game were "defense hellzones" and loved placing AT in positions where they had superior cover on two sides and a limited ambush arc in front, with a tank or gun barely exposed.  With buildings in particular, the AI would more often then not hit the building, eventually pulverizing it from missed shots while AT guns racked up enormous kills (kind of a cheese move, but whatever).  It was good times :).

But anyways, it'll take some time to get used to again as I get up to speed again, especially now that's Blitzkrieg is out (I was hoping for a Finland or expanded East Front, but that's another topic entirely).  It's still fun in the new games, but there are some frustrating aspects like when I'm trying to place units in the least exposed spots.

[Michael Emrys]

Like I said, sometimes the troops will find good locations on their own, and sometimes they won't. But it seems to me that that too suggests the way things are in the real world even if it does not replicate it precisely.

Michael

[womble]

For vehicles, you can pretty much drop them on any point; they are not constrained by the AS grid.

For infantry, the "Face" command will jigger around with where a given element's subelements set up. If you leave squads unsplit, adding a Face command to the terminal waypoint should, as well as the blue Face line, generate a "highlighted AS" for the "other" team of the squad. The squad leader's team will set up in the AS you dropped the waypoint in, oriented, amongst the microterrain, for the best concealment, cover and visibility in the direction your Face command indicates, and the "highlighted" AS is where the other teams will line up. Sometimes it can be difficult to see the highlight, on certain terrain types in particular lighting conditions. With a single team, it just affects the orientation of the selected team.

I believe your perception of "detailed placement" in CMx1 is the memory of an illusion. For starters, Larry, Moe and Curly were not 1:1 representations of infantrymen (as the pTruppen in CMx2 actually are: where their polygons are drawn actually matters), so their position in the AS was mostly irrelevant. For second, the terrain resolution in CMx1 was about 1/6th (or 2/5 or 1/5, however you want to count it) that of CMx2 anyway. For third, the terrain system in CMx1 was an order of magnitude less complex: a terrain tile was homogenous, with few or no additional features potentially in place, whereas there are multiple elements of vegetation or flavour which can intrude into the modelling in CMx2.

[Michael Emrys]

10 hours ago, womble said:

Sometimes it can be difficult to see the highlight, on certain terrain types in particular lighting conditions.

Recently, I had to turn off Objective marking because it was preventing me from seeing the highlight, making the placement of waypoints more iffy.

Michael

[Baneman]

On ‎16‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 5:35 PM, womble said:

For infantry, the "Face" command will jigger around with where a given element's subelements set up.

This.

Particularly for Heavy Weapons like HMG's and ATG's, slight changes of FACE during Setup will cause it to jump around in the AS.
I often end up with these weapons facing in pretty peculiar directions, but as soon as the battle begins, changing their FACE will only cause them to rotate, keeping the position you so carefully selected