Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate This Thread
Hop To
#4477572 - 06/11/19 11:22 AM CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
trindade Offline
Mach2 Club
trindade  Offline
Mach2 Club
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
Portugal
Grabbed both these old titles since I've been curious about the CM series for a while now. Starting to learning the game dynamics. Challenging game to master but seems to be fun. smile

https://www.gog.com/games?devpub=battlefrontcom&page=1&sort=popularity

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4477990 - 06/13/19 08:05 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
Never played AK, but played the other two (Barbarossa to Berlin and Beyond Overlord). I still remember the hours upon hours I played just the CMBO demo! A buddy and I played it over and over PBEM. Good times.

Barbarossa to Berlin was for me a sort of apex in the series. I love the games, there is really no tactical simulator quite on the same level. They introduced a campaign system called Operations where it was played out over a huge map. Ending states of each battle were saved, and the following battle picked up from there. So you could take the high ground, or position for follow on actions. Forces were persistent. For me it was the ONLY good campaign system Combat Mission has ever had. And then they scrapped it for the rest of the titles. Huge letdown.

Combat Mission would be so much better had Battlefront continued to develop that system. But they didn't. Combat Mission Campaigns was a title in the works that failed, but would have filled this void. From time to time I post on their forums about this, but it's clear they have no plans to develop a good campaign system and instead rely on the scripted, episodic stuff we have now.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489238 - 09/12/19 02:45 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
Hey trindade, did you play CMBB? I'm kicking around the idea of giving it a go. I still have my original disk and manual, but not sure if it would be better to grab the GOG version. Maybe it has some fixes that would would make installing/playing this game easier today?

I've grown tired of waiting for BFC to do something about the campaign play in Combat Mission, so why not go back and try the CMBB operations again? Maybe there are more to find now?

I'm curious though, if anyone has played CMBB recently, how it went, technically speaking. Like resolutions, sound issues, mouse problems, graphics performance and so on.

I'm sure I would miss many of the CM2 features, but at least I'd have the proper Hunt command back smile

Has anyone played CMBB lately? How did it go? Recommended mods? Good campaigns or operations?


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489275 - 09/12/19 09:02 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,751
rwatson Offline
Hotshot
rwatson  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,751
New Concord, Ohio
Thanks trindade Grabbed Afrika Corps


Russ
Semper Fi
#4489340 - 09/13/19 01:18 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
Yeah, me too

I bought both CMBB and CMAK on GOG for $12 total. A fair bit of business I'd say.

I had failed to consider when I posted yesterday that I built this box without an optical drive, so still having the disk meant little in the practical sense smile

I was thinking about it yesterday, about playing Combat Mission operations again, and it struck me that maybe, just maybe, Afrika Korps has operations too! Why it took me 15 years to realize this is a mystery. But I am really happy about this since it means I have all of these to play that are new to me. A bunch are included too, maybe a dozen. Nice.

I installed both games, each are less than a gig of course. A couple minutes to install both. I fired up CMBB and was struck by a wave of nostalgia when the main menu screen appeared. I played this game religiously all those years ago. Feeling all warm and fuzzy about the whole thing I set up a small QMB to see if it ran OK. If you've ever read any of my posts about CM you might know I bemoan the loss of the Combined Arms setting in the QMB. But there it is! It's the only setting that gives me the sort of balanced AI opponent I want to fight, while at the same time not having to pick them myself and then knowing exactly what I am up against. It's the perfect setting for quick missions for me.

So I set up a small probe, 400 points, which is about enough for a couple of infantry platoons, a few light MG34s and a Panzer Mk IIC all set to Vet. Set the map parameters, rural, clear, moderate hills and so on and started the scenario. OK, now this game wasn't exactly a graphical marvel in 2002, and it's all the less so now. Having grown accustomed to the CMx2 stuff, it's striking how much more primitive CMBB looks. But we already knew this.

As the turns started ticking by, as my intrepid pixeltruppen fired, and maneuvered, and (almost) overcame the enemy, I was transported back in time. A simpler time. At it's core, CMx1 is pretty much like CMx2, but lighter somehow. Less micro, fewer options, fewer choices to make. But not by much really. Still, I loved it. No technical issues encountered, just a sense of tactical simplicity and near perfection. It's not perfect (borg spotting yeah), but it's wonderful still.

Having come thisclose to overrunning Ivan in the probe (I had set it to just 20 turns, not quite enough), I was ready for what I came for, Operations. Firing it up and seeing the map brought it all back. THIS was the future of Combat Mission, this is what I wanted to see evolve. It pains me to think where the series would be now had this feature never been scrapped.

If you're unfamiliar, Operations are like mini dynamic campaigns. They feature a huge map, on which you can advance or retreat through the course of the battle, revealing new parts of the map that aren't visible in the opening battle. Forces are persistent, ammo is replenished (or not), reinforcements may arrive, and map end-states are saved, resulting in a new front line for the next battle. So perhaps as the battle is winding down you make a lunge for that high ground, or that crossroads in order to control it at the start of the following battle. It eliminates by design the empty feeling I'm left with after a single scenario. Makes me feel invested. Rewards me for preserving my force or for capturing key terrain and denying it to my enemy. The concept was just in it's infancy (only CMBB and CMAK had it), and has some issues, but in a general sense is the sort of thing I want to play in a tactical wargame, and one with a toolbox as robust as Combat Mission.

Oh what could have been....


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489370 - 09/13/19 04:12 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,740
RedOneAlpha Offline
Senior Member
RedOneAlpha  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,740
LEGE
Does AK have Operations option? Or only BB has it?


Win10 Pro(x64), i7 8700k @ 4.7Ghz, 32GB ram DDR4, Sapphire Pulse AMD RX 6700 12GB, M.2 PCIe NVMe (x2) 480GB + 960GB, 447GB SSD´s, Samsung G6 32" , Logitech G13, G502, Warthog HOTAS, CH Pedals, Simagic Alpha Mini, and Formula Extreme FX, DC Simracing DC1 pedals, GT Omega ART cockpit, TrackIR 5.0.
AUDIO: Aiyima A07 Max, Topping E50 and L50 stack, Polk Audio Signature Elite ES20 , and Shennheiser HD 560s. DAP: Hiby R3, Hiby Seeds, and iBasso IT01, Sharp MD-MT 80H Minidisc.
#4489380 - 09/13/19 04:42 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
I could have written it more clearly I suppose, but yes it does. And quite a few included in the base game, maybe 12 or so, some as long as 8 battles.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489382 - 09/13/19 05:06 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,740
RedOneAlpha Offline
Senior Member
RedOneAlpha  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,740
LEGE
No worries, thanks Bond thumbsup


Win10 Pro(x64), i7 8700k @ 4.7Ghz, 32GB ram DDR4, Sapphire Pulse AMD RX 6700 12GB, M.2 PCIe NVMe (x2) 480GB + 960GB, 447GB SSD´s, Samsung G6 32" , Logitech G13, G502, Warthog HOTAS, CH Pedals, Simagic Alpha Mini, and Formula Extreme FX, DC Simracing DC1 pedals, GT Omega ART cockpit, TrackIR 5.0.
AUDIO: Aiyima A07 Max, Topping E50 and L50 stack, Polk Audio Signature Elite ES20 , and Shennheiser HD 560s. DAP: Hiby R3, Hiby Seeds, and iBasso IT01, Sharp MD-MT 80H Minidisc.
#4489434 - 09/13/19 10:17 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
Yeah well I was wrong... haha, now that I am home I see that CMAK comes with 7 operations, and CMBB comes with 18. Sorry for the bad info. With a number available for download at the usual places there are a lot of them to try. Not all will be my cuppa, some too huge, or some too urban for my tastes. Still, it's far more than there are campaigns available for any CMx2 title. I reckon it's more than for ALL CMx2 titles put together. I'd pay BFC another $120 for a way to generate these myself. Double that if they develop one program that works with multiple titles.

At least I have new stuff to play while I wait smile


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489517 - 09/14/19 07:29 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
I messed around with several operations from both games. Here's how one of them went...

This one was a 3 battle operation in CMBB ostensibly set around the 3rd (or 4th) battle of Kharkov. It's winter, snow on the ground. Germans are attacking. In most Combat Mission scenarios you can choose to play as either side. But the AI is terrible on the attack. They do MUCH better defensively, as there really isn't an AI in the normal sense. The Tac AI is more for reactions, like if a tank comes under fire from an unseen AT gun it may reverse or pop smoke. Or if an infantry squad takes fire it may go to ground.

It does not attack sensibly, does not use covered routes, does not support itself. The first units you'll encounter are usually whichever had the most mobility, so often you'll see the AIs attack spearheaded by hafltracks or jeeps. So even though I can choose to play whichever side is defending, I rarely do, as it's not too challenging nor tactically interesting. Against a human though it is another thing altogether.

So in this one I chose the attacking Germans, and was given two Mark IV platoons along with a company of mounted infantry and some machine gun teams. The objective was a fair sized town at the far end of the map. 1000m of open ground and scattered trees stood between the edge of the town and the start positions, interspersed with a few buildings, which I suspected held some Ivans.

One platoon of three tanks was sent to the right flank with infantry aboard, while the rest moved up the road down the center of the map. Approaching a farm complex I attempted to get some grunts in to the buildings, but they found a minefield the hard way and came under withering fire from the farm and casualties began mounting. The tanks from which they just dismounted returned fire and soon the enemy was displaced from the position.

Meanwhile I attempted to bring another platoon in from the right flank through scattered trees to hit this farmstead in the flank, which worked and hastened the enemy's retreat.

About this time both groups of tanks came under fire from AT guns hidden in the town, and I soon was down two Mark IVs, with a third bogged, then immobilized alongside the road. I attempted to move some out of the line of fire, while others shot back, and my 81mm spotter got LOS to bring some mortars on the 76mm gun, knocking it out after a prolonged barrage.

I was still short of the town and the turns were running out. But it's an operation, not a single scenario. So this meant two things. I had more battles to come, and after each the line is redrawn. So if I could just push forward a little, I might have ownership of some part of the suburbs when the next battle started. So I dropped smoke and got some men in to those buildings. How the line is redrawn is a bit of black magic, you don't always keep what you had, and sometimes you get what you didn't. I suspect it's down to the way the program assigns tile ownership. In a general sense it works well enough, just with a bit of unpredictability you might say.

When battle number 2 began, I received reinforcements, a company of Mark IIIs and some more infantry. A few replacements arrived for the casualties taken in battle one, and some ammunition resupply reached us as well. But now I held the southern edge of the town. I had some cover and concealment, which makes all the difference. Now I had good places to set up my MGs!

And so it went, during battle number 2 in the fog we moved further in to the town, house by house, while sending some armor around the flank to hit the final objective from the left flank. Once we had gained the edge of the town, the AI was going to have trouble dislodging us. A company's worth of T-34s fought us in the streets in a running gun battle, and my left flankers were knocked out, but our armor got the upper hand. On battle 3 we mopped up what remained of the enemy and captured the flag, although I lost more armor to a well-sited 85mm AA gun as we approached the bridge at the far end of the map.. Battle won. Or battles won.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489650 - 09/16/19 11:33 AM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: rwatson]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
trindade Offline
Mach2 Club
trindade  Offline
Mach2 Club
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
Portugal
Originally Posted by DBond
Hey trindade, did you play CMBB? I'm kicking around the idea of giving it a go. I still have my original disk and manual, but not sure if it would be better to grab the GOG version. Maybe it has some fixes that would would make installing/playing this game easier today?

I've grown tired of waiting for BFC to do something about the campaign play in Combat Mission, so why not go back and try the CMBB operations again? Maybe there are more to find now?

I'm curious though, if anyone has played CMBB recently, how it went, technically speaking. Like resolutions, sound issues, mouse problems, graphics performance and so on.

I'm sure I would miss many of the CM2 features, but at least I'd have the proper Hunt command back smile

Has anyone played CMBB lately? How did it go? Recommended mods? Good campaigns or operations?


Hi DBond, sorry for my late reply, i'm on holidays and only now I saw your question but, for what I have seen, you already have your answers. I went ahead and purchased CBBN, learning and playing at a slow pace but i'm having good fun.

Originally Posted by rwatson
Thanks trindade Grabbed Afrika Corps


Hey Russ, hope you enjoy it, mate.

Cheers

#4489652 - 09/16/19 12:26 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
No worries, and yes my questions were answered. Running in 1920x1080 which is a miracle in itself for a game written 17 years ago. No technical issues at all really.

I've had some really good battles, and have played through 3 or 4 operations already. CMx2 spoils us in some ways, and there are things I miss. Spotting has to be the biggest difference. Relative spotting is such a huge leap over the absolute spotting we have in CMx1, but it is what it is.

On the other hand, CMx1 has some things that CMx2 does not, like command delays, which is one of the best things about it. Especially on the East front where so many Russian vehicles lacked radios. Plus, CMBB covers the entire war, not just the small snippets in time that later titles cover. The Hunt command is nice to have again, as well the Combined Arms setting for the QMB which I really miss in the later games.

Tank battles at 1500 meters are fun.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4489664 - 09/16/19 02:47 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
Originally Posted by trindade
I went ahead and purchased CBBN, learning and playing at a slow pace but i'm having good fun.



I assume you mean CMBN? If so I recommend the Devil's Descent campaign. Another good one to start with is called The Outlaws. These are company sized paratrooper campaigns and well done.

For bigger stuff, Kampfgruppe Engle is one of the best, most innovative Combat Mission campaigns I've ever played. Quite brilliant at times.

I'd suggest that a new player start with the Task Force Raff campaign (included). Once you can handle that, and it's pretty easy as a tutorial campaign, the Road to Montebourg campaign will test your mettle, and has some very memorable battles. One in particular, called Turnbull's Stand, was a highlight of my CM career smile

On a whim, I checked to see if Blazing 88's dropbox was still up after three years, and it is!! Big thanks to him. If you play CMBN and like campaigns, be sure to grab the ones in this link. Check the dropbox in Blazing 88s first post. I am landser at the BFC boards.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/122106-campaigns/


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4490306 - 09/23/19 11:25 AM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: DBond]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
trindade Offline
Mach2 Club
trindade  Offline
Mach2 Club
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,654
Portugal
Originally Posted by DBond
Originally Posted by trindade
I went ahead and purchased CBBN, learning and playing at a slow pace but i'm having good fun.



I assume you mean CMBN? If so I recommend the Devil's Descent campaign. Another good one to start with is called The Outlaws. These are company sized paratrooper campaigns and well done.

For bigger stuff, Kampfgruppe Engle is one of the best, most innovative Combat Mission campaigns I've ever played. Quite brilliant at times.

I'd suggest that a new player start with the Task Force Raff campaign (included). Once you can handle that, and it's pretty easy as a tutorial campaign, the Road to Montebourg campaign will test your mettle, and has some very memorable battles. One in particular, called Turnbull's Stand, was a highlight of my CM career smile

On a whim, I checked to see if Blazing 88's dropbox was still up after three years, and it is!! Big thanks to him. If you play CMBN and like campaigns, be sure to grab the ones in this link. Check the dropbox in Blazing 88s first post. I am landser at the BFC boards.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/122106-campaigns/



Hi DBond, many thanks for the link. Yes, I'm doing the Task Force Raff Campaign, learning the tactics and best commands to use on each situation. I'll try The Road to Montebourg after the Raff Camp.. Thanks for yous suggestions.

Cheers

#4490308 - 09/23/19 12:22 PM Re: CM: Afrika Korps & CM: Barbarossa to Berlin now available at GOG [Re: trindade]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,159
NooJoyzee
I reinstalled CMBN and played Task Force Raff yesterday. Had 25 killed, 25 wounded and lost two tanks, both to the same panzerschreck team, who survived the campaign, the plucky bastages. Of course I had played it before so that makes it's easier.

The first battle is the one from the demo. It's a good one, a tricky map, but you have a strong force and the enemy is low quality. The second battle is fun, paratroopers are fine troops. The third is also a good battle, lots of firepower and plenty of time to get it done. Three good battles in this one.

It's the perfect primer campaign for CMBN as it allows you to test it all -- infantry and armor combined arms, on-call/off-board artillery, bocage fighting, attack and defense.


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

Moderated by  Meatsheild, RacerGT 

Quick Search
Recent Articles
Support SimHQ

If you shop on Amazon use this Amazon link to support SimHQ
.
Social


Recent Topics
Grown ups joke time
by NoFlyBoy. 03/18/24 10:34 PM
Anyone Heard from Nimits?
by F4UDash4. 03/18/24 10:01 PM
RIP Gemini/Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford
by semmern. 03/18/24 02:14 PM
10 years after 3/8/2014
by NoFlyBoy. 03/17/24 10:25 AM
Hans Zimmer North American concert tour 2024
by NoFlyBoy. 03/16/24 10:54 PM
Steam Spring Sale.
by RedToo. 03/15/24 09:09 PM
Starship Attempt Three
by F4UDash4. 03/14/24 12:06 PM
This is one cool turbofan model
by Zamzow. 03/14/24 02:41 AM
Map Errors
by F4UDash4. 03/13/24 11:25 AM
Copyright 1997-2016, SimHQ Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.6.0