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New file at the Repository: Battlegroup Ivanov V 1.1. (2011-08-10)


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Hi Eddie, the last CMA mission I played was Samti Deposit Raid, recently I have been playing more of CMBN and other games. Having played CMx1 for about the past decade CMBN is a dream come true for me with the 1:1 soldier ratio, something I always was left wanting for in the game but was able to overlook. I was going to try another CMA scenario, but decided to give it a rest for awhile and come back when Battlegroup Ivanov was revised. I still have the first version of Ivanov and compared the briefings, map and initial forces. New changes I noticed not mentioned specifically on the download page were sandbags surrounding buildings, new pictures and changed sections in the briefing and no tanks in the starting forces. You put a good bit of work into this revised version, thanks for refining this. It's going to be more difficult without having those tanks initially, but why not, it will just force the player to be more resourceful. I think I'm going to post my AAR of this in three sections, for each half hour played so that you don't have to wait a long time to get feedback. With the size of the map and forces involved it looks like it's going to be an epic battle. I gave this revision a five star rating.:cool:

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I still have the first version of Ivanov and compared the briefings, map and initial forces. New changes I noticed not mentioned specifically on the download page were sandbags surrounding buildings, new pictures and changed sections in the briefing and no tanks in the starting forces. You put a good bit of work into this revised version, thanks for refining this. It's going to be more difficult without having those tanks initially, but why not, it will just force the player to be more resourceful.

I thought that a short list of changes without to much detail would be enough to clearify what had changed in V 1.1. to those who are interested. But I could have mentioned certain things more specifically. In the first version it was relatively easy to neutralise the tanks that would approach via the road on Hill 232 in the first five minutes of the mission with the tanks the player had from the start. This was somewhat unfair for the computer opponent. I think the strategic, tactical and operational maps made with google maps look better than the old ones which were just a few pictures and maps picked from various sources. And no need to thank me for the revision. I took a good look at various aspects of the first version, the briefing in particular, and was somewhat disappointed with myself. No cohesion in the strategic, tactical and operational maps what so ever and a list full of grammatical errors. This needed to be corrected, and I tried to do so.

I think I'm going to post my AAR of this in three sections, for each half hour played so that you don't have to wait a long time to get feedback. With the size of the map and forces involved it looks like it's going to be an epic battle.

I would appreciate it if You would post the AAR's in the way You mentioned. But if You don't have the time, or just don't feel like it You don't have to. You are, as You know, not obligated to anything. But when the new file was linked to this forum it was just so silent without Your reactions which were very entertaining at times.:D I hope You will find this revised version the epic battle You expect it to be, but it is still Battlegoup Ivanov. There are also things that were not changed since the first version.

I gave this revision a five star rating.

Thanks a lot, now that made making this revised version really worth the time and effort.

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That list of changes was definitely enough, I just wanted to mention that other stuff to let you know the differences I had observed, it's good to find out the reasons for the additional changes though. I don't mind posting the AARs, hopefully it will be helpful and a little entertaining. There were a few days last week when I did not check the forum, which as luck would have it was the time the mission was released. I understand some things in the mission had to remain the same, it still is one of the few missions in CMA that feature armor vs. armor battles, which makes it stand out more. I'm glad you appreciate the rating, hopefully you will get more feedback and ratings as people play through this.

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I'm glad You did observe the difference between the two versions and I hope You like the additional changes. But after reading your post of 08-13-2011 I got the impression You appreciated most changes since You gave a five star rating. You mentioned CMBN in this post as well and I have started this game up recently since I took a break in scenariodesign for CMA. I noticed there is a huge difference in graphics, aspecially when zooming out, between this title and CMSF/CMA. So I decided I'm going to pay attention to this title in the coming time. I'm almost done creating the concept maps which have a total of 87. I will pick the ones with low civilian density, and with these concepts it should be less time consuming to create the somewhat larger maps I had in mind so there will be plenty of room for defensive zones, and tankbattles.;)

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Yeah, I really like the new changes and refinements to the mission. I played six turns last night and the majority of it was just getting all my forces in position to attack. The tanks arrived within that timeframe and my observer also sighted six enemy tanks, so I was glad to have that armor arrive before any shots were even fired. I thought I would have to wait longer for it. I'm trying to proceed cautiously using artillery and helicopters for prepartory strikes and I'm keeping the armor at a distance for now. So are you going to abandon making a scenario for CMA based off an actual battle or has that just been put on hold until you make some scenarios for CMBN? CMBN has the best eye candy in the CMx2 series for sure, there are some scenarios in the repository that recreate missions from CMBO, so like I said before it is a new experience to revisit those battles playing at 1:1 ratio for the troops. It sounds like you put a lot of effort into creating concept maps considering the amount, I look forward to playing a large tank battle scenario or other scenarios you are going to create. Thanks for contributing scenarios to CMA, it is not really in a popular theater or a well-known war so I think CMBN and CMSF will always have more scenarios available and more people willing to design them. If you get tired of designing for CMBN I'm sure all the CMA fans would like more of your missions. I play vs. the AI exclusively so the work you have put into making your scenarios challenging for single player is greatly appreciated.

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Allright, so You agree with the altered start of the mission. Most of the tanks the observer saw must have been moving, at least that would make most sence to me. And don't worry; no long waits for, or last minute reinforcements in this one. The Soviets have prepared themselfes for this assault so they better would have enough firepower for this operation, which ofcourse explains the numbers in artillery- and airupport.

The information I gathererd regarding the capture of kabul will surely be used in one or more missions based off an actual battle but it is indeed put on hold because of my plans with CMBN. But the revisioned mission You are currently playing will not be my last one for CMA. I will not forget about this beautifull game and the possibilities it offers. I really liked making these scenarios for CMA, it has tought me a lot about the editor and I never would have thought that I would get the reactions I did.:D I'm having a great time at this forum so far! Yeah, it's a shame that people seem to be overlooking this great game, but with games like CMSF and CMBN I can understand it.

I have been waiting for CMBN for a very long time to arrive and untill now I did not do the things with it I would have liked to do. I have been preparing the concepts of the maps I mentioned since june, and have been gathering all sorts of information (as if I did not have enough allready) that could be used for missions. Though it is very hard to get specific information about units that were deployed in certain areas or villages. So I guess the mission(s) will become semihistorical but it is to early to tell how things will turn out.

It has my prefence to play against the AI too because that is the way I introduced myself in playing PC games and I never saw the need to change it. I loved PC gaming right from the beginning and felt privileged to live in a time that such technologies were available for people like me. Absolutely great!:) I'm glad You like the way I tried to make the AI challenging in the missions, thanks for Your appreciation!

And thanks for the tip regarding the old CMBO missions in the repository, I will take a look to see which one would be worth playing.:cool:

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A mission based on the capture of Kabul sounds like it would be exciting. As far as the old CMBO battles go, I have not played these yet so I can't comment on whether I personally thought they were good. In case you have not been able to look yet, here they are.

Valley Of Trouble CMBN

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=1287

This one was rated well, so maybe worth a try.

Chance Encounter 2.0 CMBN

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=1285

This one got poor ratings for AI, so there may be some problems.

Line of Defense (CMAK remake)

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=1211

This one was rated high, looks like players really enjoyed it.

That looks to be it for the redone CMBO scenarios, I had hoped there would be more, but as you can tell there are a large amount of other user-created battles and CMBN hasn't even been out that long. It is amazing at the amount of scenarios, mods and old CMx1 players that just came out of nowhere when CMBN was released. This is one of the few game series I know with a really hardcore following. It's fortunate you can just transfer what you have learned with CMA right over to CMBN to improve mission design. It will be interesting to see what missions you will come up with in this older and more familiar theater of war. I plan to continue playing all CMx2 as time permits and I'll continue on with Battlegroup Ivanov, although it may take me about a month to get through it. With the amount of artillery and air assets involved and armor there is bound to be some great combat footage for videos.:)

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Thanks for the links to the repository. I will download the best ones later today and try them in the coming time. I'm going to switch between the editor and all the campaigns/scenarios to see how various units could be used when creating a scenario.

I'm not really surprised with the hardcore playerbase that follows the series. It is a unique series that offers features no other game provides; lots of stock missions, superb graphics (vehicles especially), gameplay that makes You feel like You're commanding units in a combatzone with many different orders to give without losing control of the situation, an easy to use scenario editor and the opportunity to playback all important events in a mission as often as one likes. Not to mention the repository BFC provides with all these modifications and missions to improve this great series even further, for free!

CMBN is indeed another type of theater then CMA and therefore needs a different approach. But I'm going to try and make the best of it. You can, ofcourse, take all the time You need to play Battlegroup Ivanov. This could give me some interesting feedback spread out over a longer period. And I'm looking forward to some videos with close ups of these T-62's firing their ATGM's at their opponents.;)

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I’m anxious to continue on with Battlegroup Ivanov, so it won’t be too long until I post something, but the feedback will definitely be spread out more. With all those forces one turn can take awhile, but it’s worth it once the action starts. I’ll be sure to include some tank battle close up shots. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Battlegroup Ivanov 1.1 AAR Part 1 - the First 30 minutes

The last 13 turns of this part were played using patch 1.03. :)

2nd Battalion Airborne - A Company moved to position themselves on the hill overlooking Left Flank without any trouble or shots fired. The FO team was placed in an ideal position on that hill so that they could direct assets to strike anywhere on the map. A Company has held position on the hill, I wanted my armor to soften up the Left Flank more but I haven't been able to get them past the Right Flank yet.

I began my attack preparation by calling air strikes, mortars and artillery on the bunkers on the Left and Right Flanks. The mortars and artillery were fairly precise, taking the roofs out or reducing the buildings to rubble. I did not have as much luck with my first air strike directed at the buildings at the entrance of Ibrahim, the Gunships ended up never arriving, one of the first mishaps that threw off the timing of my attack. I had planned on eliminating some key buildings on the flank and in Ibrahim and using my armor to spearhead attacks, mopping up and occupying positions with the IFVs and troops - boy was I in for a surprise.

112th Motorised Infantry Regiment and 12th Tank Regiment

Meanwhile, on the Right Flank ... a recon squad from a BMP advanced under the vehicle's overwatch, they got as far as the bridge when enemy fire forced them to advance in the prone position. They occupied the building on the other side of the bridge taking no casualties, a sniper in the squad quickly sighted some BDF infantry in the trenches and opened fire. From there I sent every tank from the 12th Tank Regiment over the bridge in a bounding overwatch as they became available. When I played the first version of this mission in real time (never finished, just played 30 minutes before the pausing got out of hand), the BDF tanks came at me in a group and had their sides exposed, this time they took hull-down position at key points on the terrain. I didn't realize the range and accuracy of their tanks, but quickly found out the hard way during an assault on the Right Flank.

The first assault was mildly successful, managing to take out a tank and some of the BDF in the trenches.

Second tank assault in what I thought could be good overwatch positions - way too high up as I soon found out.

The BDF have me boxed in with superior defensive positions. I have a large amount of armor but I know if I move it forward I'm going to take heavy casualties. I tried dismounting a squad behind the small hill parallel to the river on the right flank but took 2 KIA, 1 WIA and pulled the remaining 2 men back to their BMP. Any of my infantry in the open become instantly pinned down or killed, this is going to force me to put my tanks and IFVs in more risky situations. It is ironic that there is more armor in this battle than I have ever commanded in CMA, yet the BDF's tank positions negate the advantage of my more numerous and newer model tanks. I've been playing for a half-hour already, but have yet to secure any positions, if I try to rush I think it's going to backfire.

2nd Battalion Airborne - B Company have also arrived and are moving to position overlooking the road, I plan to leave some to cover the road and take the rest to see if I can flank the BDF tanks and take them by surprise. I wouldn't be surprised though if they were be sighted and shot by BDF infantry as they maneuver through Hill 232 before they can do any damage.

These numbers are accurate, I ended the mission just to see what the casualties were so far.

Soviet losses:

Troops: 10 KIA, 3 WIA

Armor: Tanks - 2 destroyed, 1 immobilized

BDF losses:

25 KIA, 13 WIA, 5 lost

Armor: Tanks - 1 destroyed

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The last 13 turns of this part were played using patch 1.03.
It's good to know the patch can be used with saved games. I installed the patch to see if my version of CMA upgraded properly and it did. But I have not seen how the patch changes gameplay since I am using all the time I have for creating a mission for CMBN.

2nd Battalion Airborne - A Company moved to position themselves on the hill overlooking Left Flank without any trouble or shots fired. The FO team was placed in an ideal position on that hill so that they could direct assets to strike anywhere on the map. A Company has held position on the hill, I wanted my armor to soften up the Left Flank more but I haven't been able to get them past the Right Flank yet.
It is a wise decision to let the armor support A-Company in securing the left flank. But first one has to get the armor there and this can be a tricky thing.

I began my attack preparation by calling air strikes, mortars and artillery on the bunkers on the Left and Right Flanks. The mortars and artillery were fairly precise, taking the roofs out or reducing the buildings to rubble. I did not have as much luck with my first air strike directed at the buildings at the entrance of Ibrahim, the Gunships ended up never arriving, one of the first mishaps that threw off the timing of my attack. I had planned on eliminating some key buildings on the flank and in Ibrahim and using my armor to spearhead attacks, mopping up and occupying positions with the IFVs and troops - boy was I in for a surprise.
Yes, the artillery does a good job in turning any hideouts into rubble. So the gunships did not arrive? That's strange, I have never experienced this. But I never ordered a gunshipattack on a building, could this be the reason for them not showing up?:confused: The plan You had in mind for eliminating keybuildings on the flank and in Ikashim seems a good one to me. But could You please clearify why You were in for a surprise there?

112th Motorised Infantry Regiment and 12th Tank Regiment

Meanwhile, on the Right Flank ... a recon squad from a BMP advanced under the vehicle's overwatch, they got as far as the bridge when enemy fire forced them to advance in the prone position. They occupied the building on the other side of the bridge taking no casualties, a sniper in the squad quickly sighted some BDF infantry in the trenches and opened fire. From there I sent every tank from the 12th Tank Regiment over the bridge in a bounding overwatch as they became available. When I played the first version of this mission in real time (never finished, just played 30 minutes before the pausing got out of hand), the BDF tanks came at me in a group and had their sides exposed, this time they took hull-down position at key points on the terrain. I didn't realize the range and accuracy of their tanks, but quickly found out the hard way during an assault on the Right Flank.

The enemy is indeed agressive, when they spot a target they can destroy they will open fire. Fortunatly Your recon squad managed to reach the building without taking any casualties. Did the sniper hit any targets? If You could get men across the bridge without getting shot up then why not armor, this makes perfect sence to me. And yes, I tried to improve the survivability for the enemy tanks and therefore changed their orders. This way they have more chance to fight back and do some damage. The tankcrews have different skills, from green to veteran as far as I can remember. So there should be some who can hit Your units at great distances with no problem. I would not recommend playing neither version of this mission in real time.;)

The first assault was mildly successful, managing to take out a tank and some of the BDF in the trenches.
I watched the video You made. That was a nice close up of the tankcrew bailing out of the tank, luckily these pixeltruppen survived the enegament wiht Your tanks and You scored some points.:D

Second tank assault in what I thought could be good overwatch positions - way too high up as I soon found out.
Still it was a very nice video with these tanks side by side. To bad one was destroyed because it was exposed to much.:rolleyes:

The BDF have me boxed in with superior defensive positions. I have a large amount of armor but I know if I move it forward I'm going to take heavy casualties. I tried dismounting a squad behind the small hill parallel to the river on the right flank but took 2 KIA, 1 WIA and pulled the remaining 2 men back to their BMP. Any of my infantry in the open become instantly pinned down or killed, this is going to force me to put my tanks and IFVs in more risky situations. It is ironic that there is more armor in this battle than I have ever commanded in CMA, yet the BDF's tank positions negate the advantage of my more numerous and newer model tanks. I've been playing for a half-hour already, but have yet to secure any positions, if I try to rush I think it's going to backfire.
The BDF is indeed well posistioned and this can make it hard to decide which way to turn best. Thanks to the patch You can now disembark Your units, let them board the vehicle again and disembark them later on and still use them in the mission. At least that is what I understood of the list of improvemenst that came with the patch. When I designed this mission I tried to give the player the idea that he would be superiour because of the superior tanks, numbers in troops, support assets and information. As You now have experienced things turn out to be somewhat different and the mission is not so easy.:) But if You stick by the tasks each group has assigned to it You should still be able to secure most of the objectives in time.

2nd Battalion Airborne - B Company have also arrived and are moving to position overlooking the road, I plan to leave some to cover the road and take the rest to see if I can flank the BDF tanks and take them by surprise. I wouldn't be surprised though if they were be sighted and shot by BDF infantry as they maneuver through Hill 232 before they can do any damage.
Do You mean You are moving some units away from Objective Backyard across the river? If that is the case it's a bold plan but I'm curious to see how it works out.

These numbers are accurate, I ended the mission just to see what the casualties were so far.

Soviet losses:

Troops: 10 KIA, 3 WIA

Armor: Tanks - 2 destroyed, 1 immobilized

BDF losses:

25 KIA, 13 WIA, 5 lost

Armor: Tanks - 1 destroyed

That does not look to good considering the fact You have not secured any objectives so far and only managed to destroy one enemy tank. I hope You will manage to turn the whole shootingmatch around into Your favor. At least You did not loos any APC/AIFV yet. The times I played this mission one of these vehicles was ussualy the first to get knocked out. Anyway, thanks for Your feedback once again. You made some really nice videos of the action so far. And remember how things turned out with The Samti deposit raid. You thought You would loose badly but still managed to get a draw. So I think nothing is lost yet, just take Your time and plan Your moves carefully.
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I had no problems using my last save from 1.02 which was a relief. I haven't noticed any changes at all with the new patch, camera smoothness and zooming were one of the listed fixes, worked out well enough doing the videos. The changes look to be mostly with coding and bugs, so any differences will be subtle. I wish they would have fixed the messed up vertical lines on the sky background. I think it's a bug with the skybox because I use Vein's skies and they look flawless in CMBN. Those vertical lines were also there when I used to use the stock skies and the bug was reported when the game first came out, apparently it was not considered important enough to fix. I look forward to playing a CMBN mission by you, CMA has been getting most of my attention lately so the variety is appreciated plus I haven't played much CMBN regrettably.

I'm going to be a lot more aggressive in the second part with the armor, thinking about breaking the Left Flank first now with the armor if I can get it there instead of moving into the fields of fire of the tanks covering the Right Flank. If I can manage to hit them from the far left I can hit some broadside.

The Gunships were ordered to attack buildings using the attack area option. There have been missions especially in the early campaign where my air strikes have been involuntarily cancelled so it was disappointing but not new.

My surprise in planning was that I could not get my artillery and air strikes synchronized with the advance of my armor, the advance of my armor was halted by the BDF tanks taking superior overwatch positions. Even trying to sight more of the battleground with infantry to help the armor was unexpectedly difficult.

My recon sniper squad hit various targets, with the sniper making most of the kills (one sniper kill is shown in the beginning of the first video) and uncovering the BDF in the Right Flank trenches from the fog of war. That recon team was shot at the whole way across, they were fortunate to have dropped prone and I ordered them to cross the rest of the way like that, bullets were coming from all sides landing close. I'm impressed with the way the BDF executed their armor deployment better than last time when I was able to pick off most of them early on. The new AI deployment plan works well. Yeah, playing this in real time is crazy, I wanted to finish faster so I could give feedback quicker but that ended up backfiring when it got to be too much to handle - I was deluded into thinking I could handle it from playing Theatre of War a lot during that time. :)

I wish that tank would have went up with more of an explosion, it was amusing seeing the full crew spared, one less threat to my armor at least.

That second video showed why I never should have left hull down position, but then again my tanks couldn't sight anything from there. I excel at learning the hard way. ;)

Yeah I'm glad for that disembarking fix, it affected the Samti Deposit Raid battle for me, I lost the use of a BMP. You do get the feeling of superiority with all that armor, but the enemy positions and choke points even things out, it's a good example of how map terrain can add to the difficulty of the mission for the player, not unlike the problems faced in real war.

Yes I'm going to organize a "commando" raid with elements of 2nd Battalion Airborne - B Company from Objective Backyard on the Hill 232 area if possible and try to take out tanks from the back. They're going to have to cover a lot of open ground on hills fast so their chances are slim - I still want to try though.

I'm not doing well at all with Objectives but I have advanced slow on purpose trying to soften up the Left and Right Flank before I really hit hard to minimize my casualties. I did have time on my side but now being down to the last hour I'm going to have to start making some riskier moves to make progress. You're welcome about the feedback, it's cool you take a lot of interest in doing these battles and giving feedback to those who play them. I was kind of worried the videos would be bland because much of this first half hour was artillery strikes and maneuver, so I'm glad I found some combat situations you considered interesting. I hope this mission doesn't turn out to be a draw or loss, but even if it does I'm still not reducing my difficulty level from Iron. I've been playing on that level for both CMSF and CMBN and want to get accustomed to using it permanently, even if that means getting my butt kicked every time.:D

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Good to see the handling of the camera is enhanced, I will take a look a this when I get into CMA again. The vertical lines in the sky do look a bit strange but the game has to many good things to make it a gamestopper for me.

My CMBN mission is getting on the way, the map is done and the first stages of the battle are ready. I wanted to make a mission playable for both sides but Blue has got so many units (more than the mission You're currently playing) that it would be to much to handle for any player, no fun at all. Therefore I will make a mission for Blue using the same map and mission but with adjusted units for both sides. The computerplayer needs more units to make things challenging for the human player I think.

Moving Your armor to the left could be a good idea. Maybe You can find a weak spot in the defences of the enemy tanks there.

In the early campaign I only ordered gunshipattacks on terrain where I spotted muja's and never on buildings. But when I will play CMA again I now know not to order any attacks on builidings by gunships as they will be probably not be executed.

The enemy armor is well hidden in the terrain and they have good fields of fire. Most of them will see You coming from a far while You can't tell where the enemy tanks are positioned, at least not all of them.

I will take another look at Your video's to see the sniper in action, I concentrated on the armor and the beauty of the scenery to much and must have missed this. It must have been funny and maybe frustrating to see the recon forces crawling to their destination while under fire. But they got there in one piece. I tried to give the enemy armor orders in such a way they could reach their defensive positions but this is ofcourse also achieved by not giving the player tanks from the beginning. As I wrote yesterday this mission should better not be played real time but I would not dare to say (or write) one would be diluded by trying so.:D

Without the tank the crew can't do to no damage to Your tanks but they still can be a threat to Your men. From that perspective it would have been better if the tanks and its crew would have vanished in a huge ball of fire all together.

If Your tanks could not see anything from the position where they were it would have made little sence to keep them there, it's just to bad their movement was punished so hard. Some say learning the hard way is the best way, so it could be You will turn out to be an excellent CM player in the end.:)

Those who start this mission with the idea of being superior because of all the assets at his or her disposal will realise the enemy is actually a lot more stronger then one might think. The thought of a walk over will fade away soon enough when time passes and this has a lot to do with the terrain and the way the BDF is positioned in it.

I hope the "commando's" of B Company will succeed in the task You have in mind for them. The enemy is not organised in such a manner as if they would expect to be attacked from the rear. But as you mentioned there is a lot of open ground that needs to be covered and one can never know how such an adventure turns out.

Looking at the numbers of enemyunits You neutralised so far I would say You are doing a great job at softening up the defenders. I wonder how Your plan to hit them hard will be planned and executed. Just don't take more risk then is necessary or the whole thing might backfire at You.

I am trying to make my missions challenging for the player and am willing to sacrifice the time needed to do so. I'm glad to have the editor provided with the CM series as designing scenarios has actually become one of my major hobby's. And getting feedback like Yours gives creating scenarios an extra dimension.:D

I understand Your units must be positioned before any attack can be executed and this can only be done with moving Your forces. So no worries about the video's, they were very nice to watch.

If You get a draw or loose this mission I'm sure the difficulty level You are playing on is one of the causes as it is the most difficult one. But if You like playing the CM series that way why not, this is entirely up to You. I play on somewhat less difficulty level and that is hard enough for me.

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Two different versions of the same map sounds like a good idea and also past a certain point too many units will slow down the performance on lower end computers. That would be the way to go in an already large battle where evening out the sides would add so much as to bog the computer down.

About the gunships, I have successfully called air strikes on buildings before, it's just that it randomly doesn't work (could be intended and not a bug), so don't give up on doing that.

The sniper kill is the lone BDF soldier in the trench at the start of the video, you see a tracer round hit him, I didn't show the sniper in the building until a little later in the video.

Glad you enjoyed the videos and I look forward to making some CMBN ones (especially with its better graphics) as well.

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I did not even give thought about the fact that the use of (too) many units might slow down a low end computer since I don't play the CM series on such a PC. I don't play it on a high end machine either but I never had any problems with framerates and never experienced any slow downs at all. But You are ofcourse right on this.

I get it on the gunships, sometimes the attackorder will be executed, sometimes not. So no reason not to order such an attack, one just does not know if it will be executed or not.

I took another look at the first video and now did see the poor pixelsoldier in the trench falling down, and when You zoomed out the unit(s) in the building firing on the trench could be seen clearly. In the second video I now also noticed better the firing of the tank on the trench and the effect it had on the pixelsoldiers there. To bad the tank was hit immediatly after it fired.

I think You will manage to make some nice clips of the CMBN mission once it is done. There will be plenty of short and long range fire exchanges, and other action to do so.;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

:cool:Hey Eddie. Yes, I still check the forum, but I haven't commented on anything lately as you may have noticed. I'm still playing the 2nd half hour of the mission and things have really changed. There has been more action in the first 5 turns of that half hour than in the entire first half hour. I've been more agressive and taken more losses in both armor and troops. I've had to use my air assets to destroy the enemy tanks that have good positions, rather than risk further loss to my armor. I still have 25 turns to go in this second phase and I'm going to put some time in today and this weekend to play so I can write that 2nd AAR next week. I'm having a lot of problems in my personal and professional life and it has affected my gaming time drastically. I still want to play and finish the mission, it's just going to take longer, perhaps a few more weeks. When I'm done I'm going to shift over to the CMBN mission you are creating, though I will finish Battlegroup Ivanov before I take that on. It's good to see more people are creating battles and mods for CMA now and that there is more activity on the forum.

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On a certain point in the mission things get going but, as you mentioned, it takes some time for it to happen. I hope the losses in armor and troops were not so high that you wont be able to achieve any of the objectives. I do hope you will enjoy playing the mission over the weekend and I am really looking forward to your 2nd AAR, but just take your time.

The mission I'm creating for CMBN is practically done, I will playtest over the weekend and if all goes well I will upload it next week. I think you would like it. And yes, it is nice to see there are more battles being created for CMA and the forum has come to life.

I'm sorry to read you are having problems in your personal and professional life. I wish you all the best with the circumstances you are in and I hope things can, and will turn out good for you. If circumstances are such that you can't or wont play the mission any further I understand, no problem. After all its just a game and there are more important things in life.

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I've finished the second 30 minutes and things are not looking good. Sound familiar? I've been forced to use my infantry to lead attacks (my plan had been to use the armor) because my armor is highly vulnerable to attacks if it moves outside the cover of Ibrahim. Thanks for the good wishes, I may have to get a new job, but won't know until tomorrow. I'm sure I'll still finish this mission, I've already put a lot of time in playing and don't want to stop now. Right now when I call ceasefire it turns up as a Soviet minor defeat though I hope to change that to a draw, seems like the best I'll be able to do if I can even manage that. I'll post a more detailed AAR later this week with some videos. This has been my first CMA battle where I have had to fight against conventional forces with armor, it really evens things up compared to fighting the Mujahideen, although they are no pushover either. The AI is giving me a good challange, their units are well placed there is a sufficient amount of snipers, machine gunners armor and anti-tank weapons to give a hard time.

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To bad things in the mission are not going the way you planned, and unfortunatly it does sound familiar. I did not realize the tanks were that vulnerable outside Ikashim. You have got all that moblie firepower but it looks like you´re stuck with it in a village. The infantry that is leading your attacks is vulnerable also, but at least they will spot the direction of enemyfire better.

You´re welcome for the good wishes, did everything turn out allright, or are things still uncertain?

I hope you still manage to get a draw because it would be a shame if you would loose this mission after the time you spend on it. I´m curious how the mission end and I´m looking forward to your AAR. And yes, the enemy has some real firepower in this one, and they know how to use it too.

Now that the mission is underway for a while and you have experienced the way the mission is designed, do you think it is to hard? And do you think I should make missions somewhat, or maybe a lot easier? I would really like to know you´re thoughts on this and I would appreciate if you could let me know.

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The enemy has received reinforcement tanks, those and the ones still in position have a good view of most of the map and good cover. There have been frontal hits that have destroyed my tanks in one shot, I was surprised, as the Soviets are using later model tanks than the BDF. I thought the frontal armor could withstand more, maybe the BDF gunners are just aces, I know you said they had an increased skill level. The infantry has allowed me to continue taking the ground I can't with armor. Things are going better with my professional life (I'm still employed and have dropped my job search) and with my personal life (I have fulfilled my obligations from the previous weeks caused by my mother-in-law's death) so things are definitely better as of today and I have more time for things I want to do. I hope I get a draw too, but if I lose I can deal with it, I still had fun. I was expecting to use blitzkrieg tactics, but that was quickly nullified. I don't think you should make missions easier, many people can just walk over the AI, so good AI plans and choke points in the terrain are a key way to make a scenario challenging. Also tough missions help you become more proficient at the game, even if you have to learn the hard way.

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I'm sorry to hear your mother in law has deceased, but unfortunatly these things happen too. But the good news is you still got a job, so you wont have to look out for a new one. Good to read things have improved for you.

If the enemy destroyed your yanks with one shot the distance they engaged must not have been to long. I had these T-54 B's firing on my tanks as well but most of the time they could not penetrate its armor, I think this was becuase they fired from far away positions. As far as I can remember the T-54 B crews have a skil levels between green and veteran.

I was kind of hoping you would say I should not make make missions easier. To often one can beat the AI, be it in the CM series or other wargames, without really being put to the test. But on the other hand, if one looses to many missions that's no fun either. But I will not change anything in difficulty level and keep things the way they are, more or less. You can, if you want to, experience this in my CMBN mission. I tested the mission this weekend and was not satisfied with some things but everything is solved now, at least it should be. This evening I will playtest the thing once more, and unless there are really strange things happening I will upload tonight or tommorow early in the morning.

By the way, how did the "commando's" end up when they left the Backyard?

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