My first CMAK battle - did EFOW become more extreme?

[markshot]

I just played my first (didn't play the demo) CMAK battle taking the Line of Defense scenario Allies against the AI. (I took that from the demo as I didn't want to miss anything.)

After a year or so of playing CMBB, I had the distinct feeling that CMBB's EFOW transformed into something even more extreme in CMAK.

I had infantry well forward within 100-200 meters of the enemy which would have given positional spotting in CMBB if not actual unit IDs. In CMAK, it seemed that I was still dealing with mostly sound contacts. I spent a lot more of my time hammering suspected positions and buildings with direct HE than I would have in CMBB. By the same point in CMBB, I would have mainly been exchanging fire and/or using direct HE against spotted units that had only just dropped out of sight.

So, is that how others see it who play both CMBB and CMAK?

Has anyone gone back and tried CMBO after getting use to EFOW? How does it feel? Does it now feel like the enemy pretty much send a runner to you with their business card as soon as they start shooting?

Thanks.

[MikeyD]

One thing I've noticed about CMAK is troops are EXTREMELY hard to flush out of rough (oops! I had previously typed rocky) terrain. It feel much more difficult than in CMBB. If your opponent is fighting from heavy cover in rough ground it could very well feel like EFOW is more extreme in CMAK.

In other terrain types? ...Eh, it feels about the same to me.

[ April 15, 2004, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[John Kettler]

MikeyD,

Speaking as someone who's had Allied troops flushed repeatedly out of rough/rocky terrain by Germans using nothing but rifle and MG fire, I have not found this to be true. To the contrary, it doesn't seem to matter much, admittedly a shock to me. Rock/rough seems to degrade my fire just fine, though, when the Germans are in it.

Regards,

John Kettler

[REVS]

I'm currently playing as Allied in a 35-turn QB against German Conscripts, with EFOW chosen, and I'm up to turn 35 now and all I have dealt with all game, infantry-wise, are sound contacts, with only one or two minor exceptions. There has been plenty of fire coming in from these sound contacts, and I have a brace of boys on a hilltop overlooking the battlefield, and also in a nice big church on the second floor – and they can't spot any infantry for sure. Almost all just sound contacts.

This is my fourth CMAK game so far, and this is certainly the most extreme example of this sound contacts phenomenon so far, but my guess is that EFOW has been cranked up a bit, compared with CMBB. Never had anything like this happen in dozens of CMBB games.