Should I get CMAK?

[Cuirassier]

I own CMBO, CMBB and CMSF already, though I play CMBB by far the most of the three, as I find it has the most interesting setting.

However, having almost finished Atkinson's "Day of Battle," I am becoming more interested in the Italian and African theatres. So is CMAK worth it? How does it stack up against CMBB? What advantages does it have?

Thanks for your input.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

The main difference is dust, from vehicles and explosions, which is an amazing immersion factor that I wish BB had. There are a few other tweaks, but if you like BB and have any interest in all the theaters that AK can simulate, then you should certainly get it.

It will be quite some time before CMx2 revisits WWII.

[Philippe]

Apart from dust I think there were one or two tiny tweaks to the CMBB engine, but for all intents and purposes they're pretty much the same game.

I love them both for different reasons. If you pick up the Sorted Scenario collections at cmmods as well as David Inglett's Normandy and CMETO mods, you can pretty much reconstruct CMBO in the later game. Plus you get North African and Mediterranean landscapes to play in.

The desert is a very different environment from anything you will find in CMBB. You wouldn't want to make a permanent diet of it, but that's why they included Italy and Southern France. And it's amusing to play Americans, Brits, and the different Commonwealth armed forces and to compare their weapons, accents, and tactics.

[Lanzfeld]

Well worth it. Get it. If I divide the cost of the game by the number of hours of gameplay it comes out to .03 cents an hour. DEAL!

[RockinHarry]

..and not to forget, there´s a whole lot of CMAK mods out there that lets you revisit (faked) CMBO battlefields, as well as some early war stuff. :cool: At last you have both, CMAK and sort of extended CMBO (with all new CMBB and CMAK features, except few missing vehicles and units, IE no King Tiger or Volkssturm ect.)

[Ales Dvorak]

Originally posted by Cuirassier:

So is CMAK worth it?

Yes.

[slysniper]

Well worth it. Get it. If I divide the cost of the game by the number of hours of gameplay it comes out to .03 cents an hour. DEAL!

Man, you are not getting your money's worth.

I know I am at the value of 0.0116 and getting cheaper by the hour still.

[Silvio Manuel]

I just finally ordered CMAK plus the companion book. What finally did it is that I've been reading a lot about Operation OVerlord lately, and in particular the action of the British 5th Parachute Brigade in their efforts to secure the two bridges over the Orne at Benouville. From reading the Osprey book "Sword Beach and the British Airborne" I also took interest in the 1st 2-3 encounters where the Germans counterattacked at Le Port and Benouville.

Anyhow, wanting to enjoy the enhanced features of CMBB, I have designed a scenario (which I'm playing against the horrendously-defending AI at present), a semi-historical one about the counterattack of elements of the German 716th ID (736th Inf Regiment)- the 1st Panzer Pioneer Company, plus a Panzerjager platoon, and heavy guns from the 989th Heavy Artillery Bn (150mm?) vs. the British Company B, 7th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 5th Parachute Brigade.

Since the British had NO heavy weapons in the first defense, which would make the scenario too unbalanced (maybe it would be better that way? except that the British drove them back historically), I gave them some heavy weapons. Well, I gave the Red Army units (to simulate the British, using Red army Cavalry and Airborne troops so at not to include too many PPsH SMGs) more support.

Now that I will soon have CMAK maybe I will create this scenario (I have never created one before now) on CMAK, especially if God willing I can import the map.

[Cuirassier]

Thanks for all the comments. I think I'll give in to the pressure and get CMAK, especially since some people and get as much value out of it that it only costs 0.0116 cents for an hour of gameplay

Once I pick it up though I expect an intense PBEM game from someone. Till then I'll get my game face ready.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Lanzfeld]

Originally posted by slysniper:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Well worth it. Get it. If I divide the cost of the game by the number of hours of gameplay it comes out to .03 cents an hour. DEAL!

Man, you are not getting your money's worth.

I know I am at the value of 0.0116 and getting cheaper by the hour still. </font>

[slysniper]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by slysniper:

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well worth it. Get it. If I divide the cost of the game by the number of hours of gameplay it comes out to .03 cents an hour. DEAL!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Man, you are not getting your money's worth.

I know I am at the value of 0.0116 and getting cheaper by the hour still.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I was talking about the U.S. Dollar which is in the dumper right now.

When did Ohio or Kentucky not become part of the United States. You better just keep playing and get your money's worth out of it.

I probably adv. 10 hrs a week at CMAF and 5 hrs at CMBB still.

Of course none of us are adding the price of our computers or internet service, now that would change the price, would it not.

[Lanzfeld]

yeah....up to .03 cents. My original answer!

[RockinHarry]

Originally posted by Silvio Manuel:

I just finally ordered CMAK plus the companion book. What finally did it is that I've been reading a lot about Operation OVerlord lately, and in particular the action of the British 5th Parachute Brigade in their efforts to secure the two bridges over the Orne at Benouville. From reading the Osprey book "Sword Beach and the British Airborne" I also took interest in the 1st 2-3 encounters where the Germans counterattacked at Le Port and Benouville.

Anyhow, wanting to enjoy the enhanced features of CMBB, I have designed a scenario (which I'm playing against the horrendously-defending AI at present), a semi-historical one about the counterattack of elements of the German 716th ID (736th Inf Regiment)- the 1st Panzer Pioneer Company, plus a Panzerjager platoon, and heavy guns from the 989th Heavy Artillery Bn (150mm?) vs. the British Company B, 7th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 5th Parachute Brigade.

Since the British had NO heavy weapons in the first defense, which would make the scenario too unbalanced (maybe it would be better that way? except that the British drove them back historically), I gave them some heavy weapons. Well, I gave the Red Army units (to simulate the British, using Red army Cavalry and Airborne troops so at not to include too many PPsH SMGs) more support.

Now that I will soon have CMAK maybe I will create this scenario (I have never created one before now) on CMAK, especially if God willing I can import the map.

Sounds like an interesting scenario! :cool: If you register (if not already) at

The Proving Grounds

you´d receive lots of help getting the scenario perfected for sure!

Converting CMBO/CMBB scenarios can be a time consuming process, but here some help for you at last:

Useful thread

Necessary applications:

Map Converter

and

Mapping Mission

[JasonC]

The 989th heavy artillery battalion was a higher HQ unit, equipped with 12 Russian 122mm howitzers in 3 batteries of 4 guns each. No. 2 battery was fully motorized, the others had truck prime movers but not enough lift for all battery elements.

[JasonC]

Note also that there wasn't any 1st Panzer Pioneer company in the 716th, but there was a unit of that designation in the 21st Panzer division. It was SPW mounted, with 2 81mm mortar halftracks and 43 total MGs in the company, counting vehicle ones.

As for Panzerjaegers, the important point is that the 716th's Pz Jgr battalion had ad hoc Marder SP guns in its first company (10 of them, PAK 40 on French chassis, in game terms basically Marder III late model).

716th itself had roughly 48 MGs and 6 81mm mortars per battalion, plus an Ost battalion in each regiment mostly for labor work on the Atlantic Wall fortifications. They were all green. They also had artillery support in the form of Czech model 105s.

In CM scenario terms, you'd want the German force to consist of -

veteran Panzer pioneer platoon with SPW 251/1s from 21st Panzer division. 1 each SPW 251/16 and 251/2 as well.

regular or green Marder III (late), 3 of them.

green grenadier infantry company from the 716th, with a few HMGs and on map foot team 81mm.

Perhaps a conscript platoon as well (Ost).

105mm and 120mm artillery support (representing divisional Skoda 105s and non-divisional Russian 122s).

FWIW...

[Vinnart]

Get it, it's a great game! I like it the best out of all 3, since it seems the most refined of them all. Love playing it through PBEM, but prefer only the Italian terrain.

[ March 02, 2008, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: Vinnart ]

[imported_mike_the_wino2]

I am still playing CMAK....and I hate the friggin' desert. All the sand and dust....feh. But the trinkets....oh my, what pretty clankies. Even the fugly clankies are fun to push around.