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How to play Combat Mission: Guides for new players!

Stafford

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Greetings one and all and welcome the The Few Good Men, if you've found your way here doubtless you have an interest in all things Combat Mission.

Combat Mission can be a daunting game to new players, the sheer number and type of formations, vehicles, environments, maps, and scenarios is almost limitless.
However, what most people struggle with is the game commands and their nuances, there are many vital controls you may not even realise exist!
Fortunately one of our members, @Hapless , has an outstanding youtube channel covering much of his gameplay and numerous tutorials covering commands and how to use them in a clear and concise manner, so without further ado....

Tutorials:
Basic Infantry Movement
Force Selection
Spotting (Vision mechanics)
Direct Fire
Splitting Squads
Firefight 1
Firefight 2
Firefight 3
Firefight 4 (MOUT edition)
Calling for Fire (Artillery tutorial)
Machinegun Theory

Mines (Things that make you go boom!)
Vehicle Movement
Transport (Battlefield taxis!)
Buddy Aid (Medic!)

Technical Bits
Camera controls and orders
Vehicle Penetration
The AI (Skynet is real!)
How to: PBEM

I have arranged the tutorials in the order I believe will make the most sense to watch, each building on the previous as it were.
All credit for these excellent tutorials must go to @Hapless , I feel that more new players seeing them will ease the learning curve and add many more skilled players to our community.

Other text tutorials, excellent information contained within!
Battle Drill tutorials by @Bil Hardenberger , go to the 'Tactical Toolbox' section.
The relationship between Soft Factors, Morale, and Fatigue by @Josey Wales , he also has an excellent youtube channel with many great After Action Reports.
 
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I've just started going through the videos and the ones I've viewed so far are excellent. I even re-posted the Buddy Aid video over on the BFC forums. Good stuff. Thank you.
 
Thank @Hapless , they're his vids. :)

But they are excellent, learned a few extra things myself on first watching. (f.ex I had no idea one could pause, retarget, add arcs etc, off waypoints - makes a big difference!)
 
Good job @Stafford. I've seen some of them and they're very useful, even to someone who's been playing a while, you can pick up some very handy tips.
I found this (link below) the other day on the battlefront forum and was also very impressed. It's a great little guide to scouting. Anything by Bil Hardenberger is well worth a look:

 
Great idea, that video by Josey is a solid bit of research. Here's the link to the main page of the Bil Hardenberger manual:


A lot of the time I think I have the knowledge but I realise it's easy to forget protocol and F it up badly (not scouting properly). This kind of information helps my men not get shot, which they seem to prefer :)
 
@Stafford , or anyone else, do you know of any good tutorials for choosing troops for Quick Battles? I always struggle when it comes to fitting troops to situations. Perhaps that's why I like scenarios more, it takes the pressure off.
 
@Stafford , or anyone else, do you know of any good tutorials for choosing troops for Quick Battles? I always struggle when it comes to fitting troops to situations. Perhaps that's why I like scenarios more, it takes the pressure off.

Unfortunately I don't, there isn't really a 'one size fits all' solution to selecting troops.

That said, most video AARs have the set-up shown, and the author will typically show their plan for the battle, again, Hapless, Double Vision, and Josey Wales are all good for this.

In a nutshell my way of doing it is firstly look at the map, figure out the avenues of attack and likely resistance areas, figure out what I will need to prosecute the offence and then select based on that.
Learning by trial and error is also worthwhile, and discuss the battle afterwards with your opponent, find out what worked and what didn't.
 
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Yeah, thanks for the reply @Stafford . I figure trial and error is the way to go. Of course, there's no set formula. I figure I'll just have to play more QBs then.
 
Yeah, thanks for the reply @Stafford . I figure trial and error is the way to go. Of course, there's no set formula. I figure I'll just have to play more QBs then.
Find a way to test and then test some more. Say you got hammered against the AI. Replay on Hotseat against yourself. One turn you play as blue the next turn you play as red with no FOW. A good way to see what works and what doesn't. Turn your subjective thinking into the objective mode. Learning the editor is good too. Make a test map and try out the different weapons.
 
Hi @ChuckDyke . Thanks for the post. I never play the AI any more, I need to know there's someone real there on the other side nowadays. I suppose looking on the editor and trying things out works but it's just not my thing. I prefer to learn the hard way I suppose. Always have, now I come to think of it :) I do appreciate the videos and tutorials posted by you guys (@Hapless @Josey Wales forvexample) who do have the patience to do the research though ;)
 
Hi @ChuckDyke . Thanks for the post. I never play the AI any more, I need to know there's someone real there on the other side nowadays. I suppose looking on the editor and trying things out works but it's just not my thing. I prefer to learn the hard way I suppose. Always have, now I come to think of it :) I do appreciate the videos and tutorials posted by you guys (@Hapless @Josey Wales forvexample) who do have the patience to do the research though ;)

One thing I've noticed with new guys who play their first PBEM is that often they take it badly when they lose, sadly sometimes never to be seen here again.
This is a mistake, as they're not taking into account that often the guys they played against may have dozens or even hundreds of games under their belts.

Starting out your PBEM 'career' as it were, the focus should not be so much to win, as to learn, if you win, great, but typically you'll learn much more from a loss - especially if you talk it over with your opponent, which most will be happy to do.
 
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One thing I've noticed with new guys who play their first PBEM is that often they take it badly when they lose, sadly sometimes never to be seen here again.
This is a mistake, as they're not taking into account that often the guys they played against may have dozens or even hundreds of games under their belts.

Starting out your PBEM 'career' as it were, the focus should not be so much to win, as to learn, if you win, great, but typically you'll learn much more from a loss - especially if you talk it over with your opponent, which most will be happy to do.

Also unless it's a ladder game, you don't risk anything in a friendly PBEM game, so don't be afraid to try things out, test different strategies, etc.
Generally speaking I'd recommend new players not to play a ladder game until they have 10-20 games under their belt.

If only someone had told me this when I first joined and played @Meat Grinder donkeys years ago. He scarred me for life!!! ;D

Many psychologist sessions later, I can almost interact normally with other humans again..... :ROFLMAO:
 
It's like the first serious scenario you play and get your ass kicked by the AI...you get over it and admit you need more practice and play time!
No harm or serious psychological problems (usually hehe) losing your first second third fourth game haha
 
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