First Impressions

[MrSpkr]

First impressions?

Hmm.

A few nice things, a few let downs, and have I mentioned that finding drivers for a GeForce Go 7600 for the new laptop is a pain in the butt? I currently have version 84.54. I have downloaded version 84.71, but am completely unable to install them (installation program says that they are either th ewrong drivers or mine are the most up to date (which I know is wrong).

First, the nice things: sounds are terrific, and I love seeing the individual men fly through the air when wounded, killed, etc. It was interesting to see (by following the body trails) my opponent's attack lines.

I also like the ability to choose various stories of a building -- rooftop access rocks.

Vehicles are nice, and the strength of modern firepower are telling.

Gameplay was smooth, for the most part, with graphics on the "Balanced" or "better" settings.

I also loved the graphics of a crew bailing out of a tank! Very cool!

Hiccups: a few. In the ambush tutorial, I was attacked by the Syrian First Levitation Brigade, which was rather startling. Also, I had some probs with shadows -- probably my video card drivers. Wish I could fix them.

Things I wish were in it: (a) ability to speed up, rewind or slow down turns as they commence.

( The ability to see a given unit's kills in a scenario (one of my favorite things about CMx1).

© Better AI on quick battles. I did a QB, blue on blue, I was supposed to defend against an attack. Computer never moved his forces, and I was unable to determine what my objectives were (nothing indicated on the map). If this is the quality of QBs, I am a little frustrated, though I wil probably learn to live with it.

(d) Smoother transition between the actual map and the background.

(e) Joe Shaw driving a technical around town in the aforementioned Ambush scenario.

Overall, I was not as "wowed" as I was with CMAK or even CMBB; however, I do not regret getting the game and look forward to more play!

Steve

[ July 27, 2007, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: MrSpkr ]

[qsito]

I hate you all . I'm sitting here drooling because I'm too cheap to buy it.

-qsito

[Joe Shaw]

Originally posted by MrSpkr:

First impressions?

Hmm.

...{snipped}...

(e) Joe Shaw driving a technical around town in the aforementioned Ambush scenario.

...{snipped}...

Steve

Just shows how much YOU know, there's nothing "technical" about driving through a town ... I do it all the time.

Joe

[Sirocco]

Originally posted by rune:

Sirocco sure they had 1 remaning and not just the launcher?

It said something like "Javelin 1" under ammo. I'll have another look at that tutorial to confirm, but 3 tanks, 9 Javelin's in total. All three teams seemed to hit the first tank, but I heard the second and third go up quite quickly together, so I had the distinct impression more were left.

[Salkin]

I just had a quick RTFM session.

I ahve to tell you guys, this game doesn't include the kitchen sink, but just about everything else .

There's alot of fun stuff here .

//Salkin

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by Sirocco:

I couldn't get the AT teams to use their last Javelin's against the bunkers in the training campaign.

I had the same thing happen. The ATGM teams quickly engaged the T54s without orders. The I manually targeted both bunkers. One bunker was fired at, the other wasn't. I couldn't compel my ATGM teams to fire on the second bunker. The M249 had no problems targeting the same bunker and there was a red icon above the bunker (unlike the dead first bunker and dead T54s).

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by Sirocco:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by rune:

Sirocco sure they had 1 remaning and not just the launcher?

It said something like "Javelin 1" under ammo.</font>

[B00M$LANG]

First, My hardware:

Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 939)

2GB ram

NVIDIA Geforce 7600 GT, 256 MB

Windows XP, SP 2

Second, game settings: Everything on "balanced"

I'm having no issues at all. Game runs very smooth, no stuttering. I only play in Real-Time (turn-based is for wimps, IMHO! ).

I really like this game so far,...and since my job entails using modern military games in the classroom, I'd think that's saying alot.

Though I haven't messed with the editor, if it's fairly straightforward and relatively simple, I could see this as being a valuable training tool.

My only reservation is the map size - 4km x 4km is definitely NOT what the Army needs for an entity-based training simulation.

Any chance the game is HLA-compliant?

BTW, I actually LIKE the camera controls! This is significant, because I couldn't stand the older CM games because of this, but now, I'm liking the RMC+hold paradigm, and I'm getting around rather quick.

[ July 27, 2007, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: B00M$LANG ]

[B00M$LANG]

Originally posted by metalbrew:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Sirocco:

I couldn't get the AT teams to use their last Javelin's against the bunkers in the training campaign.

I had the same thing happen. The ATGM teams quickly engaged the T54s without orders. The I manually targeted both bunkers. One bunker was fired at, the other wasn't. I couldn't compel my ATGM teams to fire on the second bunker. The M249 had no problems targeting the same bunker and there was a red icon above the bunker (unlike the dead first bunker and dead T54s). </font>

[Blackhorse]

BOOM, where are you located that you use these in a classroom environment?

Cheers,

BH

[B00M$LANG]

Originally posted by Blackhorse:

BOOM, where are you located that you use these in a classroom environment?

Cheers,

BH

Fort Leavenworth

[Sirocco]

Originally posted by B00M$LANG:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by metalbrew:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Sirocco:

I couldn't get the AT teams to use their last Javelin's against the bunkers in the training campaign.

I had the same thing happen. The ATGM teams quickly engaged the T54s without orders. The I manually targeted both bunkers. One bunker was fired at, the other wasn't. I couldn't compel my ATGM teams to fire on the second bunker. The M249 had no problems targeting the same bunker and there was a red icon above the bunker (unlike the dead first bunker and dead T54s). </font>

[Blackhorse]

Boom,

Are you at CGSC? Contact me off-line. I'm at the Belvoir Satellite.

BH

[Sirocco]

I tried the tutorial again. The three squads have two AT4's remaining, and one Javelin. I have one squad split into two, both manually targetting one of the bunkers, and both use only small arms.

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by B00M$LANG:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by metalbrew:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Sirocco:

I couldn't get the AT teams to use their last Javelin's against the bunkers in the training campaign.

I had the same thing happen. The ATGM teams quickly engaged the T54s without orders. The I manually targeted both bunkers. One bunker was fired at, the other wasn't. I couldn't compel my ATGM teams to fire on the second bunker. The M249 had no problems targeting the same bunker and there was a red icon above the bunker (unlike the dead first bunker and dead T54s). </font>

[Battlefront.com]

MrSpkr,

Hehe... shoot, I thought we fixed that bug! Oh well, at least you probably toasted them shortly after you took that screenshot. Toyotas pickups may run for 300k miles under normal circumstances, but in CM's harsh environment most don't make it that long

B00M$LANG,

Not sure if I know you or not, since I'm in contact with several of your cohorts, so contact me off line if we're nto already in contact. We can talk shop.

Metalbrew,

I think I know what caused that bunker problem. When I was testing that scenario I *THINK* I noticed that if the crew abandoned the bunker, or was killed (but the bunker still intact), the Squad decided it wasn't worth wasting a Javelin on. That should be fine for automatic targeting behavior, but heck... if you want it gone, who are we to say it shouldn't be gone? I'll write up a bug report for that.

The Javelin is shown in the weapons display and in 3D when the guy feels that is the weapon he should use. If not, it is "stowed" and his primary small arm is put back into use. This is consistent with what I said just above, so if we tweak one the other will follow suit.

Steve

[metalbrew]

Steve,

The thing about the abandoned bunker or killed crew makes a bit of sense. The reason I didn't think this was going on was the red 'MG Crew' icon was still hovering over the bunker. I don't know what enables or disables this icon, but that's why I thought the thing was still alive.

In that scenarios if the Stryker's hadn't been immobile I would've driven down and checked the thing out. As it was, I didn't want to waste 15 minutes moving infantry down the map to see what was what.

[Battlefront.com]

Some quick answers to a couple of questions:

1. Syrians can not split off an AT team from their Squads. There is a different philosophy about their employment in Soviet based doctrine. They are, basically, like a BIG M203 grenade launcher, not an independent tank hunting element. There are some dedicated ones like that, just not with the Squads.

2. We also don't let Syrian Squads split up because, according to their doctrine, they can't. There is a lack of junior leadership and initiative at this level that is not present in Western forces. Look at the HQ element of a Rifle Platoon. The Platoon Leader doubles as a Squad Leader! This reduces the need for Squad Leaders by 33% and Team Leaders by 100%. It also reduces tactical flexibility by as much.

3. WeGo turns can not be speeded up. The reason is... there is no turn compile like in CMx1. The first 60 seconds you are watching *is* the turn compile, so speeding it up would mean crunching numbers faster. It's not possible since the CPU is already doing a lot. The interesting thing is that this means in CM:SF you always wait exactly 60 seconds before you can issue orders again. No less, no more. In CMx1 you could wait that long just to have the turn crunch before being shown even 1 second of combat. So in the end this system results in a HUGE time savings to the player (after all , you don't want to skip all your turns, do you? ). Note that you can fast forward and rewind after the initial go through.

4. Trees can't be turned off because there is no ground texture, like CMx1, to show you where the trees are. Plus, individual trees matter in CM:SF, so turning them off has a lot of implications that did not exist in CMx1. Having said that, we know that if we could find a way of turning them off many of you would be happy about that.

5. CTDs are most likely due to some issue we are currently working on now that some of you are seeing it. Looks like the dual processor and OS combos out there are a lot less predictable than they should be from a coding standpoint. Most of us who tested the game have dual processors and we haven't noted these problems. It's definitely specifc combos of things that we didn't have, so Charles has this as his top priority to address. He's even going to go out and buy a new computer. And if you knew how cheap Chalres is about hardware, you'd understand how serious he takes this problem

Steve

[Lio]

Ive had the Javlin/bunker problem to.

But back to "First Impression" tbh my first impression was, CRAP.... then i did a quick read of manual and figured out the hotkeys... its still a hard game since you have to figure out alot of things and i never played a CM game before. But when you learn it all i have no doubt that it will be awesome. Well it already is, but there is some subtle stuff that sometimes leaves one wondering if it is a bug or design. But i guess that just becouse im new with the game.

So two thumbs up from me im a happy costumer.

And that Todd guy who wrote that crappy review must have been on crack or something.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Originally posted by metalbrew:

One thing I did notice regarding this, was the in the green-screen portion of the squad info window. The part I'm referring to shows how many M4s and M249s etc... the squad is equiped with. In the early part of the mission and while engaging the T54s the antitank squad member's slot showed a silhouette of a CLU mounted on a Javelin, I took this to mean the AT dude was 'using' the Javelin. Later when I couldn't get the ATGM team to engage the bunker, the green-screen portion of the squad info didn't show the silhouette of the Javelin, just small arms. The colorized info screen for the squad showed 2 Javelin tubes and a CLU. It's as though the AT dude no longer had the Javelin and swapped for a rifle.

Basically the green-screen and colorized screen differed regarding squad loadout.

The green Javelin in the weapons slot is just to show you who's carrying the launcher, not the missiles. The missiles themselves, including the one attached to that launcher, is displayed in the equipment screen. You say you had two rounds left. How sure are you those aren't AT-4 rounds? I'm pretty sure all squads lug two AT-4s around also.

Also, if troops won't fire the Javelin at the squad in the bunker you can area fire it. Effect is the same.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

4. Trees can't be turned off because there is no ground texture, like CMx1, to show you where the trees are. Plus, individual trees matter in CM:SF, so turning them off has a lot of implications that did not exist in CMx1. Having said that, we know that if we could find a way of turning them off many of you would be happy about that.

Are you talking about something other then turning off trees with {ALT}+{T}? :confused:

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by Elmar Bijlsma:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by metalbrew:

One thing I did notice regarding this, was the in the green-screen portion of the squad info window. The part I'm referring to shows how many M4s and M249s etc... the squad is equiped with. In the early part of the mission and while engaging the T54s the antitank squad member's slot showed a silhouette of a CLU mounted on a Javelin, I took this to mean the AT dude was 'using' the Javelin. Later when I couldn't get the ATGM team to engage the bunker, the green-screen portion of the squad info didn't show the silhouette of the Javelin, just small arms. The colorized info screen for the squad showed 2 Javelin tubes and a CLU. It's as though the AT dude no longer had the Javelin and swapped for a rifle.

Basically the green-screen and colorized screen differed regarding squad loadout.

The green Javelin in the weapons slot is just to show you who's carrying the launcher, not the missiles. The missiles themselves, including the one attached to that launcher, is displayed in the equipment screen. You say you had two rounds left. How sure are you those aren't AT-4 rounds? I'm pretty sure all squads lug two AT-4s around also.

Also, if troops won't fire the Javelin at the squad in the bunker you can area fire it. Effect is the same. </font>

[konstantine]

It's all been said, so, simply everything is great so far, but is there a printable list of hotkeys until I memorize everything?

[Timskorn]

Just played the demo. I haven't actually played a CM game since the original, which I played quite a bit, so I was expecting to have to re-learn a lot of things.

I would have loved to have had mouse-over tips to explain what the three dozen icons meant, but I understand this is probably tailored towards a hardcore audience who will RTFM. Fair enough. To get new blood into the series though, mouse-overs would do wonders to lower the confusion level.

I didn't mind the camera system. Picked it up quick as I've forgotten how the old CM camera system worked. Seems easy to learn and master.

The real-time aspect is fun and helps speed things along and keep the action rolling. Animations and graphics are well done, and my favorite moment was towards the end of the demo scenario. I unloaded in the orchard and ordered my men to assault the houses, and I get a pop-up asking me which floor! Simple, but I thought it was cool. Then, to get into ground level and watch the men storm the building and wax the enemy was great.

It's fun, I dig it.

[Zulu]

First impressions - Wow!!

Second impressions - Holy crap, this is awesome.

Third impressions - Well spent $62.

Only complaint - waaa. I want CMSF WWII now!!!