question

[AttilaTheHungry]

Hi, How many scenarios, total, is suppose to be in Combat Mission Beyond Overlord (special edition)? I just bought the game off of ebay and it only had 42.

[Kingfish]

I'm not certain, but 42 sounds about right. Now that you have the game you of course have access to all the second-party scenario, of which there are probably a thousand or more.

[AttilaTheHungry]

I'm not sure what you mean by second-party scenarios. Something I download from the internet? All the advertisments I've seen for this game states over 150 scenarios.

[Philippe]

The game has been out for several years, and the composing of new scenarios began almost immediately.

After a few years several of the scenario composers got really, really good at making new scenarios that had maps based on the actual terrain, excruciatingly realistic orders of battle, and more than a modicum of play balance.

The upshot is that there are well over a thousand scenarios for CMBO posted on the web. The original repository was at a site called the Scenario Depot, which not only maintained a great database of everything that had been done but had a neat set of filters so that you could describe the kind of scenario you wanted to play, it would give you a short list, and then you could decide what to download from there. It was very useful if you wanted to find a scenario for pbem that neither player had played.

Unfortunately that site died a sudden and unexpected death a couple of years ago. There's a new site that has taken over the name but it is run on different principles, though it does have most of the quality new scenario work that is being done these days.

An effort was made to preserve the contents of the original Scenario Depot, and what was in effect a data dump was posted on the site that is the repository of all CM graphic mods, CMMODS.com.

To find the CMBO material you should register for CMMODS (you'll never be contacted and your address won't be sold to anyone else). Then look in the CMBO section for designer names and take a look at the material posted by Birdgunner. You'll see a bunch of zip files called something like scenario depot salvage. That's about 95% of the CMBO corpus from the original Scenario Depot. There's also an excel file to help make sense out of what you've got.

Not all scenarios are the same quality, and in general the ones that were written when the game first came out were usually (but not always) less well done than the later ones. Note that many of the designers who posted scenarios were authors from the original release. [And some weren't -- I'm still rolling my eyes over an atrocious monstrosity from CMBB that has a description that starts "Fanatical SS Hitlerjuden defend..." -- you know that one was so sloppily edited that it's not even worth opening].

If you have the other games and are interested in the same issue, CMMODS lists the CMAK material under Birdgunner and the CMBB material under padivine.

After you've sifted through the data dump, you should visit the new Scenario Depot and the Proving Grounds. Good work going on there, though it is not as user-friendly as the original Scenario Depot.

The bottom line: advertisements are usually written by people who don't know anything about the games they are advertising -- that's why they're so weird. The reality is actually much, much better than the propaganda (by a factor of at least ten).

[ April 24, 2007, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

[AttilaTheHungry]

Thanks for all the info Pilippe. I do have CMBB and love it. It came with 125 scenarios. Getting more sure won't bother me.

As far as CMBO is concerned, even the box it sells in says over 150 scenarios. And I obviously got a pirate made copy with only 42. Was I ripped off do you think? I can always return it for my money.

Last question. Does the site your talking about come with instructions on how to upzip and ad these files? Never did it and I'm not that computer smart. ):

[Philippe]

Before I make any more comments you are going to have to clarify that "pirate-made copy" remark.

[AttilaTheHungry]

Just a copy I bought on ebay. It didn't come with a box or manual. And I'm just assuming that's what it is since it only has 42 senarios.

[Philippe]

I would suggest returning it and getting another copy from an accountable source.

[Madmatt]

There are different versions of CMBO out and released by different companies (Us, CDV a few other companies). The original release had about 42 scenarios. Future releases had extra special edition content "added" and I think the final scenario amount did reach about 150 or so.

All of the added content is available from various CM fan sites free of charge.

Just so we are clear though, no one is accusing you of a being a pirate or having a pirate version, but technically, game support here is reserved for people that bought it directly from us online.

Madmatt