pawter Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 I've just started to try the demo on my laptop which is a few years old and unfortunately also has an Intel Intergrated Graphics chip. I'm also unfamiliar with CMSF and have moved more or less straight from CMAK to CMBN. I'm trying to understand whether the behaviour of tanks I'm observing is due to the game system or to the incapacity of my machine (dual core 2.2Ghz, 2GB RAM). 1) it appears that when I issue movement orders they must 'snap' onto some underlying grid so that unlike CMAK where I can move vehicles (minimum space between them being allowed) to the exact position I wish, with CMBN they move approximately to half a dozen metres of it. 2) ditto for area targeting. Unless targeting an identified enemy unit it isn't possible to target an exact point of ground; when the target line is assigned it appears to 'snap' onto the nearest node of the underlying grid which is usually about 10 metres away. 3) it is often (95% ocurrence) imposible to order a tank to target a vertical surface eg. an unoccupied building or a hedge or wall. If these behaviours are an artifact of the system I'm sure they would've been discussed before, but as I've failed to find a thread I'm hopeful it is just my inadequate machine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVulture Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Area fire and infantry movements do indeed snap to the nearest action spot (centre of an 8m x 8m terrain tile). Vehicle waypoints can be placed anywhere (or anywhere a vehicle can validly go). If you have LoS to a target (e.g. building but can't target it then the loS to the target is usually too marginal to do area fire. But is is an annoying feature of the engine that you often find that line of sight appears to be mysteriously blocked in open space a few inches in front of a building. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeDog Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 1) it appears that when I issue movement orders they must 'snap' onto some underlying grid so that unlike CMAK where I can move vehicles (minimum space between them being allowed) to the exact position I wish, with CMBN they move approximately to half a dozen metres of it. This does happen for infantry unit movement orders in CMBN; their orders are "snapped" to the center of the 8mx8m "Action Spot". This is because an infantry team will actually deploy itself around the 8mx8m Action Spot as it sees fit depending on the tactical situation (and Face/Cover Arc Order, if you give it one). So the "Grid Snap" combined with the highlighting of the Action Spot(s) shows you the exact region the infantry unit will deploy into. It's very important to understand this aspect of CMx2 infantry modeling to get optimal deployment for your infantry teams. However, this "grid snap" doesn't happen for vehicles; you should be able to place a vehicle movement waypoint at any spot on the map with no "grid snap." I'm not sure why you are seeing this... are sure you are seeing this with tanks specifically, and not with infantry units? (2) ditto for area targeting. Unless targeting an identified enemy unit it isn't possible to target an exact point of ground; when the target line is assigned it appears to 'snap' onto the nearest node of the underlying grid which is usually about 10 metres away. Yes; Area Fire orders "snap" to the center of the closest 8m x 8m Action Spot, simulating the fact that area fire cannot be too precisely targeted. (3) it is often (95% ocurrence) imposible to order a tank to target a vertical surface eg. an unoccupied building or a hedge or wall. If you place the cursor on the wall, hedge, or building when plotting the target order, the area fire should (mostly) hit the wall or building. Sometimes the target line shows as ending just at the base of the wall or building when you do this, but the fire should mostly hit the wall/building. If these behaviours are an artifact of the system I'm sure they would've been discussed before, but as I've failed to find a thread I'm hopeful it is just my inadequate machine. Definitely not your machine; it's well above the recommended specs (though you might want to upgrade that RAM; it's cheap and CM is a RAM-hungry game). I might suggest perusing some of the older thread in the CMSF "tips & tricks" forum, as most of these game features are the same in CMSF as they are in CMBN, and a lot of these basics were discussed in considerable detail in the months just after CMSF came out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Your questions have been answered, but I have one for you - my laptop also has a (terrible) Intel integrated card - do you also get little blocks all over most text (menu's etc)? CMSF also does it with the laptop, I guess it's an engine thing... As regards area fire, I've found that it's ok if the target point snaps to an action block, since infantry deploy by block anyway, and the area fire will cover the whole block. Also, as mentioned, wall and hedges still get hit by area fire more than adequately. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The question is even though the target line snaps to a location you may not quite want, when your unit fires, does the game system calculate the effect on the location as if the enemy unit was there? ie: Is this visual phenomenon merely one of the many game abstractions, and the effect you desire still occurs? (I still find I am able to damage the enemy and win battles regardless of this strange effect... so I ignore it these days.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVulture Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The effect of area fire is spread over the action spot, and to some extent over the immediately adjacent action spots too (I believe). If the target is in the action spot, it will be affected by the area fire as much as it can be - which may not be very much. If it isn't, then you are targeting the wrong place 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 There are some restrictions on where you can place vehicle waypoints. Sometimes they can't be too close together. Sometimes (near some kinds of hedge) there are restrictions on quite where the vehicle will end up, even if you place the waypoint where you wanted it. Sometimes the vehicle won't end up quite on a waypoint near an obstacle, if you've approached the waypoint from some angles. But it shouldn't be snapping to the AS all the time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pawter Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Arm505 your profile doesn't list an email address so I'll have to add to the congestion of the forum to reply directly to your question. No my Intel Integrated Graphics doesn't cause blocks over text in menus etc. However all my text is blurred and unclear but readable if you squint your left eye. The answers to my original questions 1 & 2 match my later experience however NOT question 3. When ordering a unit to target a building when it is not occupied by a spotted enemy getting the target line to attach is impossible 95% of the time. Instead the line attaches to the nearest "action spot" and the rounds visibly fall there, short of the building. The walls of buildings block LOS to the "action spot" within it. I hope this behaviour is due to my suboptimal graphics chip as it is as frustrating as hell and I'm sure there would already be a torrent of complaints from players. I am due to get another desktop soon so hopefully this won't continue to spoil the game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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