Questions from a returning player

[SovietOnion]

Hey everyone!

I've been enjoying Combat Mission games since I got my grubby little hands on Beyond Overlord so many years ago. I played some Black Sea close to its release, but since then took a break from the franchise for various reasons. I have now returned, having recently purchased the RT+F&R bundle and Cold War. I have some nagging questions that I'm sure are very basic, but I can not find when going through the manuals. Please forgive my ignorance!

1) Is there any way to synchronize waypoints? This would make vehicle bounding much easier to manage rather than eyeballing it as best I can. 

2) For the various modules, are there explanations of the various force selection choices? I'm much more versed in terms of equipment than some of my not-armchair-general opponents, who are having issues figuring out how many men to expect in certain squads, things like that. Would also help us select our air support choices. 

3) Is there a way, when selecting forces for a quick battle, to voluntarily hold some units back as timed reserves? If not, is there an easy way to set up a quick scenario to do this without spoiling my opponent's force selection? 

Thanks for anyone that can help!

[Erwin]

4 hours ago, SovietOnion said:

1) Is there any way to synchronize waypoints? This would make vehicle bounding much easier to manage rather than eyeballing it as best I can

No "Convoy" order if that is the sort of labor-saving routine you mean.  Unfortunately we still have to do everything manually.  

4 hours ago, SovietOnion said:

2) For the various modules, are there explanations of the various force selection choices?

Comes with experience AFAIK.

Designers here will be better able to answer 3)...

[ratdeath]

2) Load up the formations in the Scenario editor or QB and have a look at them. That's what I do to familiarize myself with different formations, nations and equipment.

[chuckdyke]

If there are genuine obstacles eg a river. Just click a waypoint over the other side and a convoy goes over a bridge if there is one. The problem is orchards or wading areas. Wish there were a road-order that should be possible. Made suggestions in regard to Bezier Curves but unless we study the engine in depth there is no solution apparently. 

[Ultradave]

A "follow" command is on the wish list, but as yet, a successful one hasn't been developed. Still on the list   When it was last worked on the testing community felt that it was not ready for prime time. It worked, sort of, but there were too many times, or special instances, where it didn't work.

So, keep hope alive.

Dave

[SovietOnion]

Hope never dies!

I was mainly asking as I've had issues coordinating infantry and armor advances properly. Getting better at eyeballing things, and the turn based nature of PBEM means I can take my time making waypoints so no big issues I suppose.

Thanks for all your responses!

[Redwolf]

There is one improvement over CMx1:

when you have multiple units shift-selected, then you can give them paths with multiple waypoints. So they will fly in parallel.

Multi-unit movement orders in CMx1 were limited to one stroke.

[A Canadian Cat]

17 hours ago, SovietOnion said:

...I have now returned, ...

Welcome back

17 hours ago, SovietOnion said:

1) Is there any way to synchronize waypoints? This would make vehicle bounding much easier to manage rather than eyeballing it as best I can. 

There is nothing in the game's commands to allow you to issue coordinated orders. You have to estimate who will be where when and add pauses to the way points to create some coordination. With experience you can get reasonably good.

 

17 hours ago, SovietOnion said:

3) Is there a way, when selecting forces for a quick battle, to voluntarily hold some units back as timed reserves? If not, is there an easy way to set up a quick scenario to do this without spoiling my opponent's force selection?

That is not possible in a QB. If you are playing someone trusted you can create a scenario to accomplish this but you have to refrain from not looking at the other guy's force. Way, way back a friend of mine and I did that:

 We included some instructions on how to set it up.

[SgtHatred]

You can set reinforcements for Quickbattle using the 1-5 key, but they all come it at 5 mins and you can't change that. Also, they are not guaranteed to appear where in your spawn area. Pretty sure it's just a holdover from when they copy and pasted the interface from the scenario editor to create the quick battle editor.

This should explain.