Questions from the new guy

[RadioactiveMan]

Greetings! This is my first foray into a Battlefront game since CMBO... and things are quite different this time around! Mostly what I see is good, so far. I am enjoying some of the scenarios, and have not yet attempted the campaigns.

Of course after a few scenarios I found I had the urge to make one of my own, and I have ran into a few issues, mostly w/ purchasing units. I don't know how I feel about purchasing actual TOEs... Although I can see the advantage of being able to load a readymade company or two, I have generally found it to be more of a hindrance than a help. A couple questions:

1) why can't I delete the battalion commander? I really dont want the head of the battallion overseeing my two platoon recon mission... am I missing something obvious here?

2) On a related question- Say I want to purchase a rifle company of marines and then also a machine gun section from another company. Will there be any chain of command/communication issues between the two in game? (is this why I am unable to delete battalion commanders?) Similarly, if I purchase units from two different battalions, will they have issues talking to one other?

Thats all for now, thanks very much. For me the best part of Combat Mission games is the small unit stuff, so I am hoping to create some scenarios in this vein.

[bardosy]

is this why I am unable to delete battalion commanders?

Shortly: YES.

[bardosy]

Longer: I'm a CMBB mission designer too, and it was very strange for me too. Why I cannot just drop an Abrams or two? But in CMSF the communication chain is very important.

[ChrisND]

1) why can't I delete the battalion commander? I really dont want the head of the battallion overseeing my two platoon recon mission... am I missing something obvious here?

You can delete the battalion commander, provided you have deleted all battalion level assets, including organic fire support. Any unit (company, platoon) with it's own HQ is capable of being standalone... so you could for instance delete everything but the scout platoon, but you couldn't delete the scout platoon leader. If you left in a JTAC or a battalion FO or the battalion mortars, you would have to leave in the battalion CO, since they answer directly to him.

There is a work-around to "vanish" those COs. If your battle is 55 minutes long or less, simply set them as reinforcements with the time of entry at 60 minutes.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Basically what ND said. Also, if your battle is 60 minutes long, you can set it for 60+up to 30 minute span.

[RadioactiveMan]

Wonderful!

Thanks for the replies. I sort of suspected this was the issue, but had not thought of delaying the commander until the fight is over... that will work for me, and actually sounds like something a commander might do

[SgtMuhammed]

Remember that the time span is a + OR -, so if you set a 30 minute span they may never show or they may show 30 minutes into your battle.

Unfortunately I like making big battles with max time limit so I can't hide the spare commanders. I just say that they are there because they are preparing to do the follow on operation and want to get a good idea of the situation.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Remember that the time span is a + OR -, so if you set a 30 minute span they may never show or they may show 30 minutes into your battle.

My suggestion was to set it at "Earliest Possible Arrival" at 60 and THEN do "Arrival Span" of 30 minutes. So at the very worst it appears at the very end of a 60-minute scenario.