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#4252497 - 04/24/16 04:40 PM A Bridge Too Far (and other Close Combat games)  
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There's a bit of an old-school theme 'round here at the mo. I've just bought a new house, and going through some of my storage I came across a few boxes with dozens of games circa 1995-2005. Close Combat 2 through 5 (can't find CC1). Strike Fighters, Steel Panthers, Panzer Elite, Rogue Spear, Unreal Tournament, Steel Beasts, Op Flashpoint, F/A-18, F1 2002, NASCAR Racing, Panzer General II, Quake II, Thief Gold, GPL, Falcon 4.0, Grand Prix II, Combat Mission Beyond Overlord and Barbarossa to Berlin and well, you get the picture. Lot's of great games.

So I tried installing CC5 Normandy, but can't get it to work (Win 7 Pro 64 bit). Then I popped in CC2 and much to my delight, it works! I haven't gotten the resolution right, so it doesn't take up the full screen, probably won't with a widescreen monitor. But the game works perfectly and really takes me back. I played the hell out of this game, though how long has it been? 10 years? Probably more like 15 years since I played it. Remember this?




No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4252576 - 04/24/16 08:48 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Sure, I s a brilliantyl done game, the sounds are amazing helping building the tension.


-Sir in case of retreat, were we have to retreat??
-To the Graveyard!!

sandbagger.uk.com/stratos.html
#4252702 - 04/25/16 05:20 AM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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I played CC2 & 3. Think I got more hours out of 2 than 3, I recall.

I hear there is a new 3D CC to be released soon.

#4252797 - 04/25/16 02:31 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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IMO CC2 was the best of the series. I bought a couple of the remakes in recent years but CC2 is still my favourite.


"...late afternoon the Air Tasking Order came in [and] we found the A-10 part and we said, "We are going where!? We are doing what!?"

Capt. Todd Sheehy, Hog pilot, on receiving orders during Operation Desert Storm

#4252832 - 04/25/16 04:17 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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I agree PB. CC3 gets alot of love from CC players too, but for me CC2 was the one. Replaying it now, it stands the test of time. Oftentimes it seems that you play an old game you loved and it just doesn't really stand up. It was great then, but less so in the modern paradigm.

Installing showed just how long ago it was... You have the option of course of a minimum install (core files), or a 'full install' (everything but the videos). The basic install is 53 MB and the full install, if you have a big enough hard drive, is 250 MB! smile

A brutal battle



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4252841 - 04/25/16 04:57 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Nice shots, I didn't know these ran in modern Win systems, unfortunately my copies are long gone from when we last moved and I decluttered my stuff.

Thankfully I searched around and they are all still available online, so I will be revisiting these soon.


i7-7700k@4.5ghz, GTX1080Ti,BenQ XL2420G-g-sync,Oculus Rift
#4252848 - 04/25/16 05:16 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Kludger, CC2 ran straight away, I did nothing aside from installing as administrator, and even that may not have been necessary. But as mentioned I had less luck with CC5, it installed fine it seemed, but crashes when I attempt to run it. It may indeed work with Win 7, but I've yet to work it out. I'll get around to trying 3 and 4 soon, but I have some LZs to overrun smile


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4252856 - 04/25/16 06:02 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Cool I will check on closecombat.org to see if anyone has gotten CC5 running on Win7+.

These were my first wargames, along with Panzer General and Steel Panthers, all 3 have stood the test of time.


i7-7700k@4.5ghz, GTX1080Ti,BenQ XL2420G-g-sync,Oculus Rift
#4252900 - 04/25/16 08:06 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Same here, although I also remember playing a game called Battleground Bulge Ardennes from Talonsoft if I recall correctly. Steel Panthers was definitely my first. That game taught me so much about WW2, and sparked a life-long interest. I found all of these games in those boxes I mentioned. It's cool to still have this stuff after 20 years.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4253219 - 04/26/16 05:57 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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Ah wasn't familiar with Battleground Bulge Ardennes, but from watching it on youtube, it looks like a forefather of the more modern John Tiller and Campaign Series games which I'm familiar with, so if you ever want to play that style of game there are lots of options these days.


i7-7700k@4.5ghz, GTX1080Ti,BenQ XL2420G-g-sync,Oculus Rift
#4253271 - 04/26/16 08:50 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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That's really going back. I don't recall playing it all that much. I think I got Panzer General II around the same time and played more of that. Played Steel Panthers hotseat with my brother. At the time, I was completely ignorant of WW2, other than it had happened many years ago and 'we' won.

But Steel Panthers was a crash course in WW2 hardware. I learned what a Wolverine was, And a Panther, and a Cromwell, Valentine, Chafee and on and on. Learned how they were different. Which had speed, which had heavy armor, which carried a big gun. It was eye opening, fun, and as mentioned, sparked my thirst to learn more, which I still have.

I will never forget a battle my brother and I played. I had discovered that an 88mm FlaK gun was an amazing tank killer, and I deployed a line of them at the back of the map, rubbing my hands at the thought of the tide of my brother's armor being smashed on the rocks of 88's. And then he opened by sending over a bomber strike, which destroyed my guns and my morale. Da bastage!

As for Close Combat 2...if anyone installs the game from an original disk, the patch won't work unless you choose compatibility mode. I used Win 98 and it worked. I did not need to use compatibility mode to install the game however. I would imagine if you get the re-release from Matrix it comes all patched up.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4253924 - 04/28/16 03:17 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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I started off playing the Germans to get used to the game again. Playing the German side isn't too challenging really, I set it to weak German vs. strong Allies and we fairly easily held the Allies off, ending the Arnhem operation by day 3. With that shut down I started over as Allies, normal vs normal which of course is more of a challenge.

The biggest key to the whole operation in my opinion is the Son Bridge. Holding it, or less desirably blowing it as the Germans, or capturing it intact as the Allies has the biggest effect on the course of the campaign. If you can capture it as the Allies it allows XXX Corps to quickly advance to Nijmegen, and having armor is far better than not having armor, particularly as the German armor reinforcements start showing up all along the corridor.

In this playthough I got through the Son town map, you know the one with the 88 in the center of town looking straight down the road, with only a few casualties and pressed on to the bridge map. You get just 4 minutes to capture the bridge before the Germans can blow it. And the enemy has 2 88's covering it. I was able to get the last man standing in an Ad Hoc squad on to the bridge with literally one second left on the timer, preventing the destruction of the bridge, and when XXX Corps arrives they should be able to push right on up the highway.

The second key as the Allies is to get as far in to the Arnhem series of maps as possible. The first map is Arnhem railbridge and this map sucks. It's is very difficult to attack here, and the Germans somehow could afford three freakin' SS MG42's. Took some heavy casualties, and the Germans blew the bridge. The plucky band of Colonel Frost's men managed to keep going though and by the end of the first day had made it all the way to the last map. That's important because the Para's stand a much better chance in the urban area against the heavy German armor that shows up on day 2 or 3.

Our plucky airborne troops managed to complete all of the day one objectives aside from holding all of the 82nd's LZ and now it's waiting for Horrocks to arrive. We decided to get a brew on so that the tankers can just get their tea like in a drive-through and keep going to the Waal.

The start of day two, with supply drops in the two LZs we hold completely




No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4254278 - 04/29/16 05:01 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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The 82nd Airborne crosses the Waal River in order to sieze the northern end of Nijmegen Bridge early on day three.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4254585 - 04/30/16 04:41 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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By the morning of Day 5, XXX Corps had punched through the Island with moderate armor losses, and linked up with 1st Airborne and the campaign came to an end. We had managed to take back the 82nd's LZ by day three, but at the same time German armored counterattacks booted us out of the other two LZs and we had not managed to get them back before the campaign ended. I had a shot of a desperate battle in Arnhem with an assortment of knocked out German heavy armor, but I must have forgotten to save it.





I installed Close Combat 3 The Russian Front and patched it to 3.0b and it also runs fine on Win 7 64, and has widescreen support. Here, my small detachment makes the opening move toward Lvov on June 22nd 1941.




No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4254762 - 05/01/16 01:37 PM Re: A Bridge Too Far [Re: DBond]  
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CC3 gets a lotta love from players, but for whatever reason it's probably my least favorite of the series 2 through 5. I like the core battlegroup mechanic, but the campaign system isn't my favorite. A good game, but I prefer the others.

Revisited CC5 Invasion Normandy. Tried every compatibility option. No luck. I had installed it in it's own directory, not in Program Files. So I uninstalled/reinstalled in Program Files, and also tried all compatibility options once again, and no luck. Then I downloaded the 5.01a patch and installed it. The game ran fine first time! For whatever reason there are fewer resolution options than in CC3, but I got it working rather reasonably, taking up almost all of my screen.

Here, the intrepid troopers of the 82nd Airborne move up Le Fiere causeway.




No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

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