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Hello all! Brand new player here!

H

hungry animals

Guest
I discovered Combat Mission last week and let me tell you, I've been looking for a game like this for a long time. I don't know how it's eluded me for so long!


So far I just have Battle for Normandy base game, and I'll probably buy the expansions here soon.


I do have a few questions though:

1) Is there a way to play co-op? Like, two players against the AI?
2) I have a lot of trouble moving through wooded areas. It always seems like I get wrecked when I hunt through them. Any tips to alleviate this?
3) I'm having trouble with spotting in general. On mission 4 of the German campaign, for some reason I couldn't spot a pair of Shermans that are in the middle of a field. The icon of the team I was trying to spot with is the one holding the binoculars (NOT the forward observer). Are those guys supposed to have a bonus to spotting? Also, they were next to a hedgerow with a small firing arc so they wouldn't fire on anyone. Also the conditions are light fog and early morning, and I know that factors in, but they're big tanks in a field!

Thanks for any help! It's great to be here and I look forward to facing other people! Just got to get some basics down first!
 
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Welcome! Combat mission are great games imo. Discovered CMSF1 in 2007, which made me get all CMx2 releases since.

1) Not by design, but some people have and are experimenting with using dropbox to sync saves between players and simulate coop that way. Same goes for coop H2H.
2) a- Don't go in the forest. b- Shell the forest until it's devoid of any life 3- If you must go in: use a point team with plenty of pauses to allow for listening/spotting enemy troops. Have support close by, preferably with automatic weapons. Spray any suspected contact / area with overwhelming fire. Rinse and repeat. You will take casualties.
3). Binoculars help with spotting (especially further away). Light fog might offer less visibility compared to what you see on screen. Make sure the target arc is also pointing in the direction you wish to spot, because troops will give more attention to the direction of the arc than to other directions. Allow time for spotting. If you didn't already: try sharing c2 info so that the team already have some idea what they are trying to spot. This makes spotting much quicker imo.

When you are ready there is plenty of H2H action to be had here. I've seen more new players around, so you won't have to fight veterans only.

Enjoy!
 
Greetings, @hungry animals! You should soon receive @Hedgehog's Welcome Wagon hand-outs! They make good reading.

When you are ready for H2H play, consider using CMHelper to manage your matches.
Then, post your first request for a match either here or at the forum for the game(s) you own.

Welcome to The Few Good Men. Good luck and good gaming! Have fun.
 
Welcome aboard!
For coop-play player 1 plots his moves and fires and saves the file without hitting the BRB (big red button)
Player 2 takes that file and when he is finished he hits the BRB ending the turn

Spotting has so many variables to it

Wooded areas - don't go in if you dont have too
Suppress it with indirect fire and in with mutually supporting fire teams
If you have to enter the woods
 
Welcome.

2) I have a lot of trouble moving through wooded areas. It always seems like I get wrecked when I hunt through them. Any tips to alleviate this?

Woods are one of the most difficult terrains in the game for two reasons.

1: The game doesn't let you plot fire orders very deep into them and trees block bullets very well. So you can rarely suppress the enemy in there.

2: Trees block LOS much more than you think they do when just looking at the graphics. Which means you have to get much closer than you would in reality.

The way I clear forest is to divide squads into teams and make a long line abreast .. then move the whole line forward at the same time, using HUNT. In this way, when enemy pops up, you will probably take casualties, but there usually will be someone able to get LOS and return fire. It's often surprising who actually gets the LOS. Sometimes it will be a team quite a long distance away, while the team close by sees nothing.
 
3) I'm having trouble with spotting in general. On mission 4 of the German campaign, for some reason I couldn't spot a pair of Shermans that are in the middle of a field. The icon of the team I was trying to spot with is the one holding the binoculars (NOT the forward observer). Are those guys supposed to have a bonus to spotting? Also, they were next to a hedgerow with a small firing arc so they wouldn't fire on anyone.

It's best if you show a screenshot of the situation, because tiny details can mean a lot.

In this case, my guess is that you are using the HIDE command. That makes troops unable to spot through tall hedgerow. But they can spot through short hedgerow.
 
Big welcome to the Club @hungry animals The Few Good Men are welcoming you!.... You will find a lot of interesting people here
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http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/
http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forums/site-manual.25/
http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forums/combat-mission-x2-world-war-two.160/


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3) I'm having trouble with spotting in general. On mission 4 of the German campaign, for some reason I couldn't spot a pair of Shermans that are in the middle of a field. The icon of the team I was trying to spot with is the one holding the binoculars (NOT the forward observer). Are those guys supposed to have a bonus to spotting? Also, they were next to a hedgerow with a small firing arc so they wouldn't fire on anyone. Also the conditions are light fog and early morning, and I know that factors in, but they're big tanks in a field!

@hungry animals

Like @Bulletpoint said, a screenshot might help . You may create screenshots e.g. with the free demo version of FRAPS (www.fraps.com). The screenshot can be uploaded to
IMGUR then and the link can be posted here.

But now without a screenshot - what I can also think of (beside the excellent idea from @Bulletpoint regarding the HIDE command):

1. Conditions are "early morning/dawn and light fog" - is the artificial light function toggled on/off? When set on "off" you can see how dark it really is on the scenery.

2. Bushes and trees in the way? - Just check with Alt+T, toggle on/off the trees.

3. Shadows (toggle on/off) - are the tanks standing in the shadow of a tree or haystacks?

4. How is the experience level of your men? "Regulars" need more time for spotting/recognition than veterans.

:unsure:
 
Hey guys, thanks all for the help. So I think the problem may have been was the spotter I used was green rather than the one that was regular. The green arrow is where I moved him from not too long before a tank (the frowny face) showed up right in his face on the other side of the hedgerow. And the weather conditions are light fog.

This is the area I was talking about. I completely got wrecked in this mission so I had to restart. The star is about where I had the team placed, with the purple line the facing direction I set. I didn't have him on hide because I knew that would affect spotting, so I just set the targeting arc so he wouldn't shoot at anything.

things.png

So yeah, I think the mystery is solved. I moved my spotter and didn't give him enough time to spot considering the weather conditions.
 
Hey guys, thanks all for the help. So I think the problem may have been was the spotter I used was green rather than the one that was regular. The green arrow is where I moved him from not too long before a tank (the frowny face) showed up right in his face on the other side of the hedgerow. And the weather conditions are light fog.

This is the area I was talking about. I completely got wrecked in this mission so I had to restart. The star is about where I had the team placed, with the purple line the facing direction I set. I didn't have him on hide because I knew that would affect spotting, so I just set the targeting arc so he wouldn't shoot at anything.

View attachment 18983

So yeah, I think the mystery is solved. I moved my spotter and didn't give him enough time to spot considering the weather conditions.

The reason he didn't spot from the original position is because you cant spot anything through tall bocage, unless you are up against it. But he should have been able to hear it, so that a contact marker would appear at the tank's position.
 
The reason he didn't spot from the original position is because you cant spot anything through tall bocage, unless you are up against it. But he should have been able to hear it, so that a contact marker would appear at the tank's position.

Right, that's why I moved them to the new position to spot the contacts he heard. I don't there was enough time for him to actually spot it when I relocated him.
 
I also have a couple more questions that I just thought about:

1) How effective are buildings? I know this seems like a dumb question but I've experienced enemies doing well in buildings and myself getting killed kind of easily. Do different floors provide any additional protection or is that just for line of sight?
2) What exactly is the difference between a Probe, Attack, and an Assault? Is it just the disproportions of the two forces? (I've read in the instruction manual that attackers in an assault game have about 2x more forces than the defender).
3) The turn rate under the usernames: does that mean 6+ per week? As in you'll email 6+ turns a week?
 
In general terms a large church building is more beneficial as far as protection goes then a wooden barn
Both provide cover and concealment for your pixeltrulpen but different degrees of protection.
Probe attack and assault increase the ratio of attacking points to defending points. Also victory point objectives are scored differently and the defense gets a deeper depth to set up in
But to balance that the Attacker usually has a better degree of pre battle intellectual
Again all this is quick and dirty explanations
 
1) How effective are buildings? I know this seems like a dumb question but I've experienced enemies doing well in buildings and myself getting killed kind of easily. Do different floors provide any additional protection or is that just for line of sight?

While it looks like there are many kinds of buildings in the game, there are in reality only 4 kinds. In order of protection: barns, independent, modular, and churches. Barns provide almost no protection, churches provide very good cover. I think the floor you are on only affects line of sight.

2) What exactly is the difference between a Probe, Attack, and an Assault? Is it just the disproportions of the two forces? (I've read in the instruction manual that attackers in an assault game have about 2x more forces than the defender).

Only difference is the ratio of points between attacker and defender. It's assumed that objectives will be scored differently and that there will be different setup zones, but actually most designers don't realise that. Even many of the scenarios that comes with the game have the same setup zones for probe, attack, and assault.

3) The turn rate under the usernames: does that mean 6+ per week? As in you'll email 6+ turns a week?

Yes. I usually only play one game at a time, but I'm often able to do at least one turn a day. Not really playing much at the moment though.
 
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2) I have a lot of trouble moving through wooded areas. It always seems like I get wrecked when I hunt through them. Any tips to alleviate this?

Make sure your troops have plenty of SMG's or LMG's and send a scout ahead and then have his buddies 'area fire' at the target.

Welcome and happy gaming :)
 
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