And I thought it was just a CMSF issue....

[mike_the_wino]

...but no. This game is hard as f***. It's harder than...well, I will just stop there.

Finally getting a chance to fire this bad boy up and I am getting my balls ground into a fine paste by the AI. Could be that I am just a noob but as a CMBO, CMBB and CMAK vet...I doubt it. Not sure why I am sucking it but I am looking forward to finding that out.

Good job, BFC. You brought it!

[womble]

What is it that you're getting mashed by? ATGs (they're a lot harder to spot than CMx1)? AI Artillery (hugely improved)? Or one of the other step changes?

Or it might just be the scenario you've picked... they're listed in alphabetical order and vary in difficulty just a lot, with the first one being perhaps the trickiest.

[simmox]

if your trying to use CM1 style tactics,id suggest that may be a problem

forget it and start afresh

[c3k]

Welcome back!

[Michael Emrys]

Not sure why I am sucking...

It's just you. Nobody else has any problems at all.

Seriously, it's quite a change. Or rather a whole sackful of changes, and you're just going to have to master them all one by one. Fortunately, most of the process is fun, but it's best to play with the manual in one hand for a while. Recommend that you start off with smaller, easier scenarios and don't attempt anything big or hard for a while or you will simply be overwhelmed. Doing the tutorials is recommended.

[Added] Also, you may be playing at too hard a setting. Try Basic for a game or two and then ease your way up the difficulty level until it becomes so hard to play that you don't like it any more, then back off a notch.

Michael

[MikeyD]

CMSF basegame had some pretty easy scenarios. That's because everybody was a newbie at the game engine. By the 4th module, NATO, it was figured purchasers would tend to be game vets so difficulty level was upped deliberately. Give 'em a bit of a challenge compared to the basegame stuff. A couple scenarios in there are enough to make a grown man cry.

CM:BN scenarios weren't deliberately made 'difficult' as a strategy. Its just that darned bocage! We read in the history books that it was awful to fight through and it turns out to be the case. That's why my own two minor scenario offerings to the title were set after breakout. To give the poor player some relief. The Commonwealth module should have considerably less bocage to fight through. But more open territory brings its own challenges with it.

[Cymru]

As someone who played CMBO then years ago, then came directly to this game, I had (still have) similar problems. Bottom line for me is that I have to be much more careful, act paranoid and move slowly. Behavior that worked most of the time in CMBO gets you killed very quickly in the new system. So far I still don't enjoy it as much as CMBO, but I assume that will come as I improve.

[mike_the_wino]

Yeah Cymru, that's the boat I am in. I am playing Cats Chasing Dogs and it is damn tough. There must be something wrong with the game play because I am playing as the Germans and everyone knows the Krauts were the shiznit and never lost.

Although I do like the fact that The All-Seeing-Eye has been corrected. I find myself frantically clicking through units to figure out what is shooting at what. The controls are a little clunky but hopefully that will become easier with time.

[womble]

Recommend that you start off with smaller, easier scenarios and don't attempt anything big or hard...

Oo-er! Missus!

Though, since 'small' doesn't necessarily mean 'easy', and there's no "difficulty' info on the scenarios, I'd recommend staying away from scenarios, if you're playing the AI and run through a few small or medium QBs to get the hang of the new engine. Many scenarios have secrets that mean replay is devalued. If you burn through all these while learning what the devil is going on, you'll never get to try them with game competence and without prior knowledge.

[Added] Also, you may be playing at too hard a setting. Try Basic for a game or two and then ease your way up the difficulty level until it becomes so hard to play that you don't like it any more, then back off a notch.

I don't think the "difficulty" (actually Fog of War) levels make much difference past "Basic" (which is the next best thing to hotseating through a game), except in how much of a ballache it is to control your troops.

CM:BN scenarios weren't deliberately made 'difficult' as a strategy. Its just that darned bocage!

No. No, it isn't. Bocage is (probably too) straightforward to get your head round.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

The biggest thing is to go slow and be very deliberate.

Take your time moving troops and let recon sit a while if they aren't under fire, as they will spot more over time.

Real world tactics apply much more now than the old days.

[rocketman]

Patience and field of view are your best friends. Take care of them.

[dpabrams]

Hegderow by hedgerow, house by house. Bold armoured charges and unsupported infantry attacks will almost always fail, just as commanders learned in 1944.

[Chek]

Been playing since release.

Took a wee while to get comfortable with the GUI,you can do a lot with it.I don't even think about it now.

As previously mentioned,lotsa recon,use the scout facility.You don't want to move into an area untill you know what's there.If you have to though then blast the hell out of that area first,recon by fire i believe it's called.Every bush can kill.Keep vehicles nearby if you got 'em so you can reload ammo.Watch for spotting rounds as artillery is vicious now-as it should be.

Slowly and carefully but don't dawdle.

A lot more depth in the game now,give it time you gonna love it.

[MOSwas71331]

...but no. This game is hard as f***. It's harder than...well, I will just stop there.

Finally getting a chance to fire this bad boy up and I am getting my balls ground into a fine paste by the AI. Could be that I am just a noob but as a CMBO, CMBB and CMAK vet...I doubt it. Not sure why I am sucking it but I am looking forward to finding that out.

Good job, BFC. You brought it!

If you look around, you'll find many threads complaining about how difficult CM:BN is. Just search for threads on which I've posted; there must be twenty or so.

When I played CMBO-CMBB-CMAK, I was always eager to see what had happened in the previous minute of activity. (I play WeGo, as I fear a nervous breakdown should I attempt to command in real-time more than four or five units.) With CM:BN, I dread finding out what happened, because I expect that, no matter how carefully I directed my units for the previous minute, a catastrophe other players would have avoided will occur.

In at least one thread, there was a complaint about whiners such as myself wanting easy wins for gratification. Anyone after easy wins, can get them every time on the German side in "Busting the Bocage" demo. Start the game and select Cease Fire. You get an automatic German tactical victory. Of course there's not much gratification, because you didn't have to do anything to earn that victory.

What I want is to feel that I have a chance. I had that feeling the very first time I played CMBO. I took the German side in "Last Defense" and lost against the AI. I wasn't discouraged; I just wanted to try again with a different set up and approach to the battle.

Perhaps the absence of CMBO discussion postings from people who won "Last Defense" on the first attempt with the German side while taking only four casualties prevented me from feeling as stupid with CMBO as I now feel with CM:BN.

[Rokko]

Which of the scenarios could be considered hard in the game? I haven't played all too many so far, I just have heard that many of the campaign missions are pretty hard.

"Le Desert" took me a few tries until I did it right, cause once you realize how much support fire and time you have, it becomes pretty easy actually.

[Lee_Vincent]

Your best bet is to do some research on tactics in the real world. Typically they translate into the game well.

[MOSwas71331]

Which of the scenarios could be considered hard in the game? I haven't played all too many so far, I just have heard that many of the campaign missions are pretty hard.

"Le Desert" took me a few tries until I did it right, cause once you realize how much support fire and time you have, it becomes pretty easy actually.

The demo training mission, "Road to Berlin" is one I consider hard, though everybody and his brother seem to complain that it's too easy, even on its most difficult setting, with the attacking US outnumbered roughly three to two.

[Rokko]

hm, I found that easy, too. Since the "Germans" are so easily routed they don't offer much resistance.

Its harder in the full game, though, If I remember correctly

[xian]

Funny... I used to get mashed in the CMx1 series. Haven't played any CM since 2006, but I seem to be doing better this time around with CMBN. Maybe it just suits my cautious approach.

[womble]

The demo training mission, "Road to Berlin" is one I consider hard, though everybody and his brother seem to complain that it's too easy, even on its most difficult setting, with the attacking US outnumbered roughly three to two.

Really? I never felt that the americans were outnumbered. There can't be a company's worth of troops there in defense can there?

I'm not sure how much easier a scenario can be made and still need player input to win. The Ostbattalion troops run away at the slightest pressure, so if the do outnumber the US, it's mostly not that big an issue as they melt away. When you elect to go down the right, you can drive them before your rifle line almost on autopilot, the American platoon's firepower so overmatches what's coming back at you. I'm not trying to belittle you; I honestly don't know what can be stumping you so hard. Perhaps I just don't have any habits from CMx1 that are 'bad' and need unlearning.

Can you explain what it is that goes so badly wrong all the time?

[Rambler]

They aren't outnumbered. You get more troops and vehicles in that mission than the Germans have. All you have to do on that map is go up the left side, take the crossroads, them come up behind the dudes sitting in the hedgerows on the right side. Easy as pie, really. Doesn't the manual even help you with this mission, or one very similar to it?

[mike_the_wino]

If you look around, you'll find many threads complaining about how difficult CM:BN is. Just search for threads on which I've posted; there must be twenty or so.

Hope my posts don't come across as a knock on CMBN. I am warming up to the game but like others have said, it yer daddy's CM!

Thanks all for all the tips. Knew I could count on the community for tips and tricks.

[MOSwas71331]

Really? I never felt that the americans were outnumbered. There can't be a company's worth of troops there in defense can there?

I'm not sure how much easier a scenario can be made and still need player input to win. The Ostbattalion troops run away at the slightest pressure, so if the do outnumber the US, it's mostly not that big an issue as they melt away. When you elect to go down the right, you can drive them before your rifle line almost on autopilot, the American platoon's firepower so overmatches what's coming back at you. I'm not trying to belittle you; I honestly don't know what can be stumping you so hard. Perhaps I just don't have any habits from CMx1 that are 'bad' and need unlearning.

Can you explain what it is that goes so badly wrong all the time?

You seem to be right about the force discrepancy. I thought there were a lot more Germans on the map than seems to be the case when I Cease Fire on set up at each game level. What I'm seeing now is always 139 US against 102 Germans, very close to 4 US to 3 Germans. As someone said on another thread, the variation is just the "fog of war" setting.

In any event, whenever I advance my infantry platoon leader, his three squads, and an "attached" MG team and ammo bearer past the hedgerow before the objective farm on the left, my troops get fired on from multiple directions. Some of them are killed or wounded, and I suppose the ones shown as "cowering" are considered suppressed. My Shermans do glimpse Germans and fire off a few MG rounds, but in nothing approaching the numbers I've seen in dakuth's tutorial video.

When I try sending out scouts, they draw German fire and die without providing useful info. Their extinction isn't always immediate; they sometimes cower a while before death.

[Chek]

Perhaps the absence of CMBO discussion postings from people who won "Last Defense" on the first attempt with the German side while taking only four casualties prevented me from feeling as stupid with CMBO as I now feel with CM:BN.

I think most players coming from CMx1 are struggling with CMBN, I know I it found very frustrating.Once I completely abandoned what I learnt in CMx1 it started to come together.

60mm mortars were next to useless-now in direct fire those things are plain scary.

You had to loose 4 troopers before one of your pixeltruppen disappeared-now you got four bodies lying on the ground you're trying to breath life into,do you stay with them and try and save a few or carry onto the objective?

There is no one way to play.Real time,wego,save lots or not at all.There are some guys that just do mods or make maps(thank god for them).Others just wanna watch the replay over and over simply because it's fun.You've paid your money it's your's to enjoy as you please.

Remember it just a game,a very good game but a game none the less.

[MOSwas71331]

They aren't outnumbered. You get more troops and vehicles in that mission than the Germans have. All you have to do on that map is go up the left side, take the crossroads, them come up behind the dudes sitting in the hedgerows on the right side. Easy as pie, really. Doesn't the manual even help you with this mission, or one very similar to it?

I send my troops up the left side and then cease fire after taking excessive casualties trying to take the farm on the way to the crossroads. By "excessive" I mean more than the handful reported in the posts describing "how I won the demo against the AI on my very first attempt." Except for not saying it was your first attempt, your "Easy as pie" post is pretty typical.

Only two things are stopping me from throwing in the towel on CM:BN. 1. I really enjoyed CMBO-CMBB-CMAK, right from my first game, so I want to enjoy CM:BN. 2. I'm not the only person too stupid to beat the "Road to Berlin" demo against the AI.

As for the manual helping me, I'm sure everything is covered in the manual. I just can't immediately find what I want in the table of contents or in the index. Sometimes I keep reading until I find useful information; sometimes I give up.