Concerns before buying

[RMM]

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

[kraze]

your orders will get cancelled by the squad AI if they feel extremely threatened, get heavily suppressed, get killed en masse or already have broken morale due to being mowed down previously - it's only made worse if they don't have a commander within at least a visual hand signal range (ideally it should be a hearing range). The latter part isn't as critical in modern warfare titles where everybody has radios.

Unless there's much stress - they will certainly not cancel orders or leave buildings. Maybe you are missing something? Sending them somewhere alone, without their immediate commander's support and any friendly troops present nearby and them spotting a lot of enemies (and especially armor) may force your troops to break down or panic.

[Bulletpoint]

18 minutes ago, kraze said:

Sending them somewhere alone, without their immediate commander's support and any friendly troops present nearby and them spotting a lot of enemies (and especially armor) may force your troops to break down or panic.

This is not true. They only panic when taking fire and especially casualties. Spotting enemies doesn't affect the morale state of a unit.

[Vacillator]

Have replied to the same post in the technical help section...

[Jesser]

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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!

This sounds odd. Other than accidentally double clicking on a unit and giving them a move order (which would give a move order to everyone in that unit), I don't see how this could happen by themselves. I don't remember ever experiencing something like this. Did they come under fire when they would get into position?

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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?

Did that specific gun team spot the enemy infantry? The Brits may have been spotted by a different unit. Also, just because you're able to see something may not necessarily mean you can shoot it. Was the targeting arc you used purple or yellow?

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

If it's an HMG, then no. Once a whole team is knocked out, the weapon they crewed is knocked out with it. Keep in mind if you decrew an AT gun manually you won't be able to recrew it. If it's a light MG, then other teams MAY pick up the weapon but there's a chance the weapon gets destroyed as well.

[chi-chi]

On 9/16/2020 at 10:42 PM, RMM said:

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!

I believe the hot key is ALT-p to show all movement lines at the same time. This will allow you to see where everyone is going without needing to click on each squad individually

[StieliAlpha]

On 9/17/2020 at 5:42 AM, RMM said:

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

Did you give orders to individual units and later by accident issued a group order which sent them elsewhere? In this case the group order would cancel the individual order. Happens to me from every then and when.

[BornGinger]

On 9/17/2020 at 4:42 AM, RMM said:

no matter what they had been previously issued, sometimes there would be extra move commands added onto what I had issued

I have noticed that behaviour in CMFB. It's quite annoying. I don't remember having noticed that before the latest patch. But maybe I just missed it earlier.

[Andrew Kulin]

On 9/19/2020 at 3:16 AM, StieliAlpha said:

Did you give orders to individual units and later by accident issued a group order which sent them elsewhere? In this case the group order would cancel the individual order. Happens to me from every then and when.

That is what I was going to suggest as well.  If you double click on an HQ, all the teams under their command are highlighted.  If you give a movement order to the HQ, or any member of the command (while all remain highlighted), that movement order gets added to everyone's existing movement orders.  So if you select on any squad and tell them to move quickly 20 m east, that 20 m east quick command is added onto all the highlighted units movement orders. 

You need to make sure that if you highlight a bunch of teams that you unhighlight the group (click on open ground or a non-highlighted unit) and then click the unit you want to move and give their individual command.  If you have a bunch of units highlighted clicking on any of them does not unhighlight the rest of them (they all stay highlighted and subject to what ever orders you plan).  I have done his accidentally on occasion, sometimes with poor results.

I find the group commands (when all are highlighted) useful at beginning of scenarios when you need to move troops a large distance forward and the specific paths taken are not yet too critical.

[RMM]

21 hours ago, Andrew Kulin said:

That is what I was going to suggest as well.  If you double click on an HQ, all the teams under their command are highlighted.  If you give a movement order to the HQ, or any member of the command (while all remain highlighted), that movement order gets added to everyone's existing movement orders.  So if you select on any squad and tell them to move quickly 20 m east, that 20 m east quick command is added onto all the highlighted units movement orders. 

You need to make sure that if you highlight a bunch of teams that you unhighlight the group (click on open ground or a non-highlighted unit) and then click the unit you want to move and give their individual command.  If you have a bunch of units highlighted clicking on any of them does not unhighlight the rest of them (they all stay highlighted and subject to what ever orders you plan).  I have done his accidentally on occasion, sometimes with poor results.

I find the group commands (when all are highlighted) useful at beginning of scenarios when you need to move troops a large distance forward and the specific paths taken are not yet too critical.

Hi Anderw,

Yeh, I did go back and check that from the saved games and no. The extra or unwarranted commands were individual in nature, and it happened a number of times but only in the latter half of the game. It was fairly coincident with my not being able to successfully order a couple of other units into their buildings or to stay there.