Capt. Lortie Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Hello all, I know a lot of you guys are experienced CM players. Thus, I am sure many of you people have encountered this problem while playing the Germans. It goes like this: I play the scenario "First clash at something". I kill all GB tanks and wind up destroying almost all of the enemy infantry in the town. As I search for survivors in and around the woods, gigantic rockets or mortars fall, hitting my 150 infantry gun with deadly accuracy. Now the computer is blatantly caught cheating. Why? Because I hid my 150 MM behind a house way back and it never actually fired at anything. Moreover, NO infantry whatsoever was sighted in line of sight and in or out of the woods ( I had cornered them there). Unfortunately, the Allies in CM rely solely on this strategy to kill German infantry gun. I think it is sad. I mean, during the Normandy campaign, particularly around Hill 102, well-hidden 88s ripped through horrendous numbers of allied tanks. Allied artillery was never able to pinpoint the location of these German guns. In CM, however, there seem to be "spotters" everywhere, rendering the use of German artillery nothing short of useless for more than a round. Does BTS actually intend to correct this all-too-obvious "sighting cheat"? Thanks for listening to my pleas my fellow CM players. Any suggestion??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Now the computer is blatantly caught cheating.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Charles has programmed 4 major game titles, not ONE of which has ANY cheating. There is no cheating going on in Combat Mission either, and there never will be. Whatever happened to you, and it is hard to say without looking at your game, it has a logical explanation that any human could have been involved in. Again, the computer AI does NOT cheat. Possible things going on: 1. You did not play with Full Fog of War on. As funny as this sounds, some people have goofed on this one 2. The AI got lucky. The AI is programmed to guess where you might have stuff and hit the area with artillery. I do that all the time, and sometimes I get really lucky (once I wiped out a British Company without even seeing one man ) 3. Something spotted your gun. Forward Observers have a much better chance of spotting stuff, so it is likely that the AI's FOs spotted your gun. 4. The FO spotted something else in the area, guessed that you had more things there, and whacked the area. And they just got lucky. So, in short... there will be no fix because there is nothing to fix. Well, except for your perceptions As for relating this ONE battle to a general sense of history... don't do it. Bad science. Fact is that what you are talking about with the 88s was most probably at great ranges, like 3000m or so, not the several hundred in the scenario you played out. Huge difference. In war, stuff happens. Get ready for a LOT more of this as you play on. Steve [This message has been edited by Big Time Software (edited 08-31-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Lortie Posted August 31, 2000 Author Share Posted August 31, 2000 Thanks for the reply Steve, I am sorry if my message appeared like I meant Charles purposely programmed "cheats" in the game. That was not my intent. As for artillery, I am positive Fog of war was Full. So, like you said, the AI got lucky. In fact, it always seems to be "very lucky" with regards to artillery. But thats just the way things are I guess! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbott Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Air support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPT STRANSKY Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Ive had observers runnning and spoting me forces with amazing stealth and speed. Penetrating deep into me troops patrol lines they have taken out many a puma with there mortar fire.. w$%kers!!! The computer has a habit of flanking with observers alot, hes hit me hard this way. Never underestimate the ai. ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shaw Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Don't forget one very important thing. If you have full FOW on, you probably WON'T see every unit on the board. So when you say that there weren't any units behind you, you really are saying that there weren't any units behind you THAT YOU COULD SEE! Sharpshooters and FO's in particular are very difficult to spot much of the time. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffRaider Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 What I normally do when I get a "how the hell. . ." AI kill on something totally hidden is to save it right then as a different file. After I finish the scenario, I go back to that save file and surrender, and I get to see the AI's positions right then. Normally a spotter or an infantry squad has worked its way somewhere I never expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 I’ve played both sides (trying to avoid the phrase played myself) using the Hotseat with full FOW a couple of times and you would be surprised at which side can see what. It’s also good training on how to sneak up on people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Maybe the AI had eyes on tgt from another direction. A hidden AI who was maybe killed later, saw the move behind the house. There a number of plausible explanations. Whenever anyone sees something weird that they think is hinky they should save the game and email a copy to BTS for analysis. Since 99% of the "Something is broke becasue this happened in a battle" comments end up being "I have my head up my a**" or "my perceptions of what I think about combat is supposed to go like is way off base", or "in ASL/CC3/whatever this is supposed to happen when I do that so obviously BTS doesn't know what they're doing when the made the game". You know how many real soldiers and units have been nailed when they thought they were safe and out of harms way? Most of them. Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Hi Capt. Lortie, Hehe... I had this nice little response all typed up last night, but then my ISP went down for the count for a couple of hours. So, for what it is worth, here it is... Hehe... there is another thread where a few people are bitching that the AI "never uses its artillery". Funny enough, you are both playing the same game The AI in 1.04 was tweaked to make better guesses. It acts a bit more humanlike now. If you see a bunch of comotion around a particular area, and have some artillery lying around, aren't you tempted to rain a couple of 'em on that spot? I know *I* am Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banshee Posted August 31, 2000 Share Posted August 31, 2000 Using arty to hit places you can't see was used quite often in ww2, just because an area isn't under direct observation doesn't mean it's not a worthy target. In many games I also use arty to hit the places that I would be exposed too once I cross over a hill or come out of a treeline. Just last night I drop some 4.2 mortars in a back area behind a town, turns out the AI had 2 HT's full of troops and an wood MG bunker waiting for me their, knocked all 3 out. If the computer started dropping arty in "suspected" enemy locations like that I would be quite impressed. Also I believe the scenario you were playing was "First Clash at Cambes(sp?)", and if this was the case the 150's start over at the edge of the map and have to be moved into position, maybe they were seen being moved much earlier. ------------------ Veni, vidi, panzerschrecki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Doofus Posted September 2, 2000 Share Posted September 2, 2000 I too have seen amazing feats of German arty accuracy. I have plastered away at a loose group of tanks for 5 or 6 turns without hitting a thing, and the other day (night, way night) I lost three pieces of armor in about 5 seconds to German arty. I actually considered treason.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raze Posted September 2, 2000 Share Posted September 2, 2000 Given the fact that luck (or unluck if you prefer) is being modeled here, it's also possible that that intended target was missed and round struck your unit accidentally ------------------ Hey look, the bleeding stopped. Uh oh. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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