Question about SF and its add ons...

[Superlawndart]

Hey all,

I'm getting ready to reinstall CM:FS and had a few questions...

Do the add-ons add more than new units?

Do the add-ons add any strategic value beyond mixing and matching of the new units?

Most important, has any more progressive features been added like carrying over experienced troops to other campaigns or just a longer series of stringed missions that can go back and forth with the same units progressively?

Any stats or tallies of your results that stay with your game or is it just static missions, when you win or lose that’s it... start again? I’d love to at least have a global general stat with meddles and awards, giving some glue to all the missions…

I remember the original CM having a more progressive model with a huge "rolling" map, it did a good job of simulating a front, but in WWII we all know how these battles ended so it was easier to get your head around a beginning to end...

With SF it might be the same with the exception of rolling maps (do they have them?) but being fantasy I'd love to take my unit or battalion though and entire theater of war...

Thanks guys, I know much of this will be obvious to you, and sorry for any way off stuff… it’s been a few years.

[ChrisND]

I'll tackle this as best I can...

Improvements to the code and new features are included with the patches, which are available to anyone, regardless of which module they own. That's because the focus of modules is not new features, but rather new armies/units. So, with a module you get a new army(ies), or branch in the case of the Marines, and some new Syrian units, as well as more standalone scenarios, QB maps, and campaigns.

The value of the modules is that you get new units to play with. They aren't simply US infantry with new camo schemes - they play very differently and require their own tactics to be used properly. You also get campaigns and scenarios that are made by people who have been accumulating design experience since the days of CMSF - frankly they are far better than they were back on 1.0 day, because they have had that much longer to work with the editor. Features, however, are for a new Family, like CM Normandy. Of course some have been added, but those are patched in for everyone.

[MikeyD]

You also get ...people who have been accumulating design experience

Exactly the point I was going to make.

The new units are the least of it. Greatly increasing the number of scenarios to play is a big big big consideration too. A minor example - in the British module the scenario designers really started to take advantage of Google Earth. Not only do you get more true-scale environments, on some you're given the exact latitude and longitude to check out the real-world spot on the web! Thats' a level of detail we couldn't hope to produce for the initial 2007(?) release.

[Wodin]

said it before and I will say it again...love the brit module...

[Elmar Bijlsma]

As for the rolling maps, I assume you refer to Cmx1 ability to play on a large map where parts of it would move on the progression of the fighting? That's not in CMSF, sadly.

Campaigns are a point where CMSF is rather weak, and it's not much better in the modules. The campaigns don't feel all the campaigny. The battles don't always feel all that related to each other.

Mind you, it's still well worth any one's time to play through them. And Brits and Marines are really great fun to command. In the case of the Marines that was much to my surprise, thinking them US Army 2.0. Far from it! The relative scarcity of Javelin

and the presence of SMAW, AAV and the M32 grenade launcher are real game changer. I found the Brits and Marines much more fun to command.

[Jonny(FGM)]

Hopefully we will get map tracking for normandy.

in a blitzkrieg across Syria it's easy to imagine that the distances covered in a day can be huge and therefore it's unlikely you'll fight over the same ground twice. Obviously in the (relatively) tiny area that is Normandy the story is very different

[Superlawndart]

Thanks for all the feedback, one assumption I'm forming here is that designers are making truly epically huge maps?

The Google map tie-in is sounds amazing... I can really see where the immersion would be huge!

CM just has that feeling no other game does... rewarding in a painfully realistic way...

Would really love to get a more gamey progressive career mode, then lets revisit the old CM's and bring them back to life in the new engine... with Google maps (WOW )

[MikeyD]

Huge maps? Not especially huge, but I'd guess typical module maps are bigger than typical basegame maps. Its not the game, its the platform its running on. CD scenario designers are rather obliged to make scenarios that a 'typical' player can run. 3rd party scenarios, on the other hand, can be built as scary-big as your system, and the game engine can handle. I vaguely recall a tale about Steve observing a full battalion+ head-to-head realtime battle using multiple monitors. I recall the battle cooked a couple laptops to a crisp before it was over. No, that battle isn't on the CD

[Sheppy]

what I need from google earth/maps is terrain contour lines at 1m intervals. or just have the height as a number on each grid.

[hcrof]

A good way of getting contour lines in google earth is to create a polygon over the map area, make it a bit transparent then setting its height to whatever contour you want to draw. Where the polygon intersects with the terrain is your contour line.

I would recommend against 1m contour lines though unless the map is flat as a pancake. You will cripple your computer and it will take ages, it depends on the map but I have gone up to 50m intervals on very steep areas of a map, 20m is more normal for rolling terrain though IMO.

I don't know if that description makes any sense though

[theFightingSeabee]

US Army, USMC, and British Forces all play much differently. With USMC, you can use brute force in most cases, while playing with the Brits requires more finesse and tactics. I love them all, to be honest.

Newer scenarios aren't necessarily HUGER than any from the past, but they are a little tighter as far as AI and point scoring are concerned. Google Earth/Maps has, as MikeyD said, made the maps easier to create in a more realistic fashion. In fact, with NATO and Normandy, you'll be seeing quite a few maps straight outta google.

So not only are the maps improved, but you get tons of new units, and will more than triple (?) the number of scenarios you can play.

If you are a fan of CMSF, then the modules are worth every penny.

[MarkEzra]

Don't forget the Syrian Hardware introduced in modules. T-90 and BMP3...well worth the price of a module all on their own.

[MeatEtr]

Bottom line, if you dig CMSF and have none of the modules. Then it's a no-brainer to grab the mod bundle.