COMBAT
MISSION:
BARBAROSSA
TO BERLIN™
DEMO
DOCUMENTATION Version 1.01
Copyright © 2002
Battlefront.com
Combat
CMBB is the
most realistic simulation of ground warfare on the Eastern Front made to date,
and contains a mind-boggling amount of detail, research and information – from
the organization of the various participating nations to the unbelievably
detailed armor penetration algorithms based on real-world physics and
real-world data, to the realistic 3-D representation of environment, weather
and fog of war.
If you’re
new to the Combat Mission series (CM for short) don’t be scared. Actual
gameplay is easy and you don’t need to be a master of WWII tactics (a so-called
“Grognard”) to play and win. Use your intuition and think about what tactics
and strategies would work in the real world if you were on the front line. It’s
easy to play CM, because CM’s “rules” reflect the real-world “rules” of combat
– no need to learn an abstract game system first.
If you’re a
seasoned CMBO veteran, don’t stop reading. CMBB contains many new features over
CMBO and many things from the past won’t work! Do yourself a favor and read on
– you won’t regret it!
This demo
documentation can only scratch the surface of what the full game offers, but it
will provide you with a basic understanding of the game concept and the most
important functions to start playing and enjoying CMBB.
The Basics
This part
will help you to understand the basic elements of the game and how to start a
new game.
Demo vs. Full
Version
The CMBB
Demo contains only a part of those game elements which will be available in the
full version, and additional options to gameplay, graphics and other elements
are available for the released version. The demo itself has been stripped down
to contain only those elements needed for playing the included 2 beta demo
scenarios – this makes the demo small enough to be downloaded from the internet
– so that what you have in your hands is NOT the complete game.
Here a
short list of features which will be included in the final version:
-
Units,
vehicles and equipment from 7 nations – German, Soviet, Hungarian, Romanian,
Italian, Finnish and Polish; the full version contains a total of:
o
300+
different tanks and vehicles
o
600+
other units (guns, infantry, aircraft)
o
70
scenarios and operations
o
15
fortification types (bunkers, mines, trenches…)
o
50
different terrain types (including “destroyed” versions)
o
9
types of ground conditions and 8 different types of weather
-
Quick
-
Full-featured
integrated scenario and map editor (which was used to make the included
scenarios and operations)
-
Play
against human opponents via PBEM (eMail), Hotseat on the same computer or
TCP/IP over the internet
-
Air
strikes (dozens of airplane types and loadouts simulated)
-
Realistic
3D Sound effects in CD quality (the sounds in this demo have been downsampled
to reduce download size)
-
nearly
200 page printed full-color manual
Start a new Game
Double-click
on the CMBB Demo Icon.
(Windows)
The first time you start up the demo, a small window appears asking you to set
your screen resolution. CMBB automatically tests various screen resolutions for
you, and as soon as you see the window appear, a resolution which will work for
your computer system has been found. (Note that it might take ten or twenty
seconds for this window to appear – please be patient as CMBB tests your video
setup). You can accept it or scroll
through the various available resolutions to set it to your liking. Your choice
is saved in the preferences file of CMBB and you don’t have to go through this
again for later games.
After the
Main Game Screen appears, click on “Start Game”. A list of available scenarios
appears. For the Beta Demo, you will see two entries. These are the two
fictional battles which are included with the Beta Demo. Select one of these
battles (by clicking on it) and then click the Continue button. Read the
description which follows, and when you're finished with that you'll be asked
to choose which side you want to play. At this point, you have three options:
1. Fog of
war:
- None: all
units, also enemy units, are visible and identified on the whole map.
- Partial:
Units need to be spotted to be displayed on the map, but will be automatically
identified.
- Full
(default): units need to be spotted and identified separately.
- Extreme:
the information you will be gathering from the battlefield about enemy units is
(realistically) sparse. This is the most realistic option, but will require the
player to pay close attention to what is happening on the battlefield.
2. Computer
Player Setup:
Allows the
Computer Player to set up its own units or stick to the default set by the
scenario designer. When you play a scenario for the first time, you should set
this to “stick to scenario default”. This option has no effect against another
human opponent.
3. Computer
Experience Bonus:
Increases
the experience of computer controlled units by this value, making them more
deadly and less easy to rout
4. Play
Balance:
Assigns or
deducts units to/from one side, depending on the percentage set here. Only unit
types which are already in the game will be added.
After you
have decided which side you want to play (Axis or Allies), you can choose the
game type. You can choose from Single Player, Play By E-Mail (PBEM) and TCP/IP
(Internet play). Macintosh and Windows users can play against one another by
TCP/IP or by PBEM, as long as PBEM files have the attachment “.txt” in their
file name and the method by which files are attached to emails are compatible
between the two systems.
Note to Mac Users: HQX and SIT files can
usually not be read by PCs, so it’s best to send files uncompressed or
compressed as ZIP, when you have a Mac ZIP program.
After you
have chosen all options, you will see the mission briefings specific to the
side you have chosen to play. This will usually give you all the information
you need to play and win the scenario. Make sure you read this carefully, or
you might yourself without a clue what to do on the battlefield… however, you
can also access your mission briefing from within in the game by using the
SHIFT-B hotkey.
After the
briefing, you enter the 3-D battlefield of Combat Mission. Before issuing your
first orders, you will need to get familiar with navigation on the battlefield
first.
Navigation on the
battlefield
With no
units selected, the info panel at the bottom of the screen will give you
important information about the battle at hand. The value for “morale” shows
you the general condition your troops are in – the lower this value, the less
willing your units will be to fight. The value decreases as your units take
casualties. The number in the “victory” slot shows you the percentage of
victory points you have gained so far based on the highest total possible for
the scenario. You will also see a figure for the enemy, but keep in mind,
however, that this is an estimate only, based on what your units know about the
battlefield – if the enemy is in possession of a victory location you can’t
see, the victory total will NOT reflect this.
There are
also a number of buttons here – the most important of which is the HOTKEYS
button, which displays a screen with all HOTKEYS available for CMBB. The other buttons (ceasefire, surrender, briefings
and save) allow you to access these options quickly.
You see the
battlefield through a “camera”, which can be moved freely across the
battlefield, by using either the mouse (move the cursor to the screen edge to
move or rotate the camera, up moves forward, down moves back, the lower left
and right sides move the camera laterally, while the upper right and left sides
rotate your view), your keypad (by using the arrows or number pad) or by
clicking on the arrow buttons on the right bottom part of the screen. The
camera can also be moved up and down. There are 9 view levels available, from
levels 1 and 2 close to the ground (great for watching the action over the
shoulder of your units), to levels 3 and 4 (for an overview of the
battlefield), to the bird’s eye views of levels 5-9, giving a top down
perspective of the action much like the earlier boardgames.
You can
also “lock” the camera to a certain unit, which will cause it to follow that
unit as it moves and rotates across the battlefield. This is done by clicking
on a unit and hitting the TAB key. Even when locked, you can still rotate the
camera to watch the action from any angle. The “lock” breaks when you move the
camera or hit TAB again.
You can
also use various hotkeys to “filter” what you see on the battlefield. By using
SHIFT-C for example, you can increase the visual size of all units, making them
easier to see from far away. This has no effect on gameplay or combat (the
units don’t REALLY grow), but makes it easier for you to keep an overview of
the strategic situation when needed. Check the HOTKEYS list to see which filter
options are available.
Unit info
When you
click on a unit, the info panel changes from the general scenario info to specific
unit info of the unit you have selected. This shows you what unit it is, the
physical and morale state it is in, where it’s located (terrain type), which
weapons and equipment it has available and what it is doing currently. If you
want more detailed information about a unit, hit the ENTER key with that unit
selected. This will give you all the information you’ll ever need. You can
toggle the display here by clicking on the INFO/KILLS button, also. In order to
close the window, press ENTER again or simply click somewhere on the
battlefield.
After
clicking on a unit, you might notice a number of brown lines extending from that
unit. These lines are called “command lines” and show you to which HQ the
selected unit is attached (or, in the case you clicked on an HQ unit, which
units are under its command). Units can also be out of command, which will be
shown by a black line instead of brown. This can happen when the HQ unit is too
far away to be able to communicate with the subordinate unit. Units without
command lines are independent (and usually don’t have to be in command). Being
in command has the advantage that the HQ unit is able to exert its command
bonus to its subordinate units, making these units react faster, stay rallied
and even fight better. The leadership abilities of each HQ unit can be checked
by clicking on it and looking for the leadership icons in the unit info panel.
Winning/losing
Winning or
losing a battle in CMBB depends on skill as much as luck – just like in real
combat. “No plan survives contact with the enemy” is a very true military
wisdom. Don’t judge your abilities as battlefield commander too harshly when
you lose your first CMBB battle – you will learn and improve your tactical
skills over time. And keep in mind that there is NO way to win EVERY battle.
The main
goal in CMBB’s scenarios is to take and hold the victory locations on the
battlefield, marked by victory flags. There are small and large flags, each
worth a certain number of victory points. Unlike classic boardgames, however,
you don’t need to have your units sitting right on top of the flags – each flag
has a certain control radius around it (approx. 80 meters), in which you have
to place a sufficient number of troops (usually one tank or a couple of
non-broken squads are enough) to exert control. However, again unlike classic
boardgames, when the enemy manages to keep his troops close enough also, the
flag will be contested and will not be under control of ANY side! So keeping
the enemy sufficiently far away from the flag is as important as bringing your
troops into the territory as well.
In the full
game, there are several other types of flags, as well as operations which have
completely different victory requirements.
Game phases
Combat
Unless
playing a timed TCP/IP game, you can take as much time as you want during the
orders and setup phases, and replay the action during the action phase as many
times and from as many angles as you like.
Setup phase
Often, this
phase alone can determine victory or defeat! If you skip through this phase
quickly, you will more often regret it than not. Scan the battlefield carefully
for terrain, approaches, fields of fire. Keep your mission orders in the back
of your mind (remember – SHIFT-B brings up your mission briefing) and try to
figure out how your opponent will approach the battle.
You will
notice a few colored zones (called Setup Zones) on the map. These show the
areas that your units can be placed into. Each unit can be moved freely within
such zones, and can also be moved from one zone to another, provided it is of
the same color. You cannot move a unit from, for example, a red zone into a
blue zone, and you also cannot move units outside of such zones (the only exception
are Target Reference Points which can be moved anywhere on the map). Of course you don’t HAVE to move any units,
if you’re happy with the default setup.
In order to
move units, simply right click on them. An order menu will appear and you will
be able to choose “move”, “place”, “rotate” and other orders. You can also
alternatively left-click on a unit and use the Hotkeys to give it an order.
Most orders have a one-letter-hotkey assigned – which one is displayed in the
orders menu. For example, the hotkey for Place is “P”.
You can
also move and give orders to more than one unit at a time. There are several
options for how to do that – you can left-click and drag a selection box with
your mouse to select a group of units. You can also double-click (left mouse
button) on a HQ unit, which will select that HQ unit and all subordinate units
(in or out of command). You can also left-click on units while holding the
SHIFT button which will add that unit to the group. Then, with a group
selected, simply use the Hotkeys to issue an order or bring up the order menu
(by right-clicking on a selected unit). All units will be assigned the same
order automatically. Units for which the order is not valid (for example, when
by group-moving a unit would end up outside of the map or in water), will not
be moved.
After
you’re happy with your setup, hit the GO! Button. This will bring you to the
Orders Phase of the first turn.
Orders Phase
In the
orders phase, you tell your units (and the opponent does the same) what to do
during the next 60 seconds of real-time action. Thinking ahead not only of what
you want to accomplish but also what your opponent is going to do is essential!
Each unit
can be ordered to perform multiple actions, from moving to firing to other
special orders. Movement is done using an easy but powerful Waypoint system.
First, you need to select a unit or group of units and give them a movement
command. A number of these are available, from a simple “move” (walking) to
more combat-oriented “advance” or “assault” orders (tactical movement, imagine
infantry units running from cover to cover, using covering fire and the like)
or “move to contact” (a recon type order which will make your unit stop once it
spots an enemy). After you have selected the movement order you want, you will
notice that a colored line (“order line”) extends from the selected unit to
your mouse cursor. Choose a spot on the map you want to move your unit to and
left click. This will place a waypoint on the map – and your unit has just been
ordered to move to this location.
You can
place more than one waypoint, of course. Simply issue another order to the same
unit, and you will see that the new movement order now extends from the already
placed waypoint. If you know beforehand that you want to issue a string of
waypoints, you can also right-click on the map instead of left-clicking – this
will place a waypoint and automatically select the same type of movement again.
When you want to edit your orders, you can do so also. Simply right-click on a
waypoint and or (left-click and select a hotkey). Choose another order and you
will notice that the order line changes color to display that new order
immediately. You can also alter the position of a waypoint by left-clicking on
it and dragging it across the map.
Keep in
mind though, that the more waypoints you place on the map, the higher the
command delay (the time it takes for the unit to actually start moving during
the following action phase) increases. This simulates the time it takes to formulate,
communicate and understand more sophisticated battlefield orders, and the
command delay depends on the experience of each unit, being in or out of
command and so on. Watch the command delay as indicated in a unit’s info panel
to keep an eye on command delays. You can also deliberately increase the delay
by issuing a “Pause” order, for example when you want to coordinate the moves
of your units and want to have one unit wait a little longer before moving out.
Of course, even during the command delay, units will react on their own and
fire their weapons!
Firing
orders (like “T” for target) work much like movement orders. You will need to
place a “waypoint” (which is actually a target point) on the map, instructing
units to fire on that location. This target location is usually an enemy unit,
but can be any spot on the map which your unit can see. Other orders work a
little differently, as they are executed immediately – for example, “hide” or
“button up” for tanks.
By the way,
you can also select a unit by clicking on its movement order line!
After the
first turn is over, you will notice that old waypoints turn red, and new
waypoints are white. Red waypoints signal that this order has been given in an
earlier order phase, and such orders cannot be changed as easily as new orders.
You can edit the movement or order type, but can edit the location/position of
the waypoint only within certain restrictions. You can at any time delete the
order and issue new ones, keeping in mind, however, that a new command delay
will be added!
Action Phase
After you
and your opponent are ready giving orders, both hit GO! and the Action Phase
begins. You cannot influence the action anymore for 60 seconds as your troops
try to execute the commands given to them, but you can move freely across the
battlefield, watch and gather information about your troops and those of the
enemy. You can also rewind the action and replay as many times as you wish
(exception: timed Internet play). Something really cool: “lock” the view to a
rolling tank or a running infantry unit (by clicking on it and using the TAB
key) and watch the action unfold!
IMPORTANT GAME ELEMENTS
There is so
much packed into CMBB, that this documentation can really only show the tip of
the iceberg! Experiment! Most of the things you would expect to play a role in
the game because they played a role on the real battlefield ARE in the game,
even if not mentioned here! Another great way to find answers when you have
questions is to visit our message boards at www.battlefront.com and you will find
hundreds of thousands (!) messages from avid players, exchanging tactics and
discussing the game.
Orders
Many orders
are available for your units in CMBB, and even seasoned CMBO players will find
a lot of new orders, so read this section carefully. The hotkey associated with
that particular order is given in parenthesis.
Movement
orders
Run/Move
fast (F) – orders the unit to move at maximum speed, will not stop to engage
targets, heavily reducing spotting.
Move to
Contact (E) – orders the unit to cautiously advance and keep eyes open for
enemy contacts. Will stop as soon as enemy comes into LOS or unit is fired
upon.
Advance (A)
– tactical move when advancing under fire towards enemy position. This assumes
dashing from cover to cover, using covering fire and movement by bounds.
Assault (U)
– similar to Advance, but especially useful for covering those last 10 or 20
meters into an enemy position. Increases morale slightly while allowing units
to return suppressive fire, but too tiring to units to be used over longer
stretches.
Move (M) –
walking or driving at walking speed. Units won’t stop when enemy is spotted,
but will break off movement (and usually look for cover) when under heavy fire.
Sneak (S) –
not available for units with heavy equipment. Tells a unit to hug the ground
and crawl and use stealth. Will open fire in self-defense only. (This command
combines the “crawl” and “sneak” commands of CMBO).
Withdraw
(W) – emergency order, tells infantry units to “get the heck out of there”.
This order has NO command delay, but it increases the chance that the unit will
panic while retreating substantially.
Rotate (O)
– changes the facing of a unit.
Human Wave
(Y) – available only to Russian units. Unit will begin with a brisk walk and
cover the last few dozen meters of the way to the waypoint running. Increases
morale. Waypoints can NOT be adjusted!
Shoot&Scoot
(Q) – available only to armoured fighting vehicles (AFV). This is a two-leg
order requiring placement of two waypoints. The first waypoint tells the unit
to advance to that position and scout for targets. After several seconds, the
unit is supposed to withdraw (scoot) to the second waypoint (which – usually
–
is somewhere out of sight of the enemy).
Hunt (U) –
available to AFV only. Tells the vehicle to advance at medium speed and look
for armoured targets. When armoured enemy targets come into LOS, the vehicle is
supposed to stop and engage.
Reverse (R)
– works similar like the withdraw command for infantry and instructs vehicle to
back up out of the current position. Short command delay only.
Hull-down
(D) – orders unit to move forward towards the waypoint and, on that path, stop
as soon as a position is found which will result in the vehicle being hull-down
relative to a possible enemy in the area of the waypoint. If no such position
is found, the vehicle will move all the way to the waypoint.
Special
orders
Hide/Unhide
(H) – tells unit to keep its head down or engine idle and try to remain
unspotted. Issuing the order again tells the unit to unhide. Obviously, trying
to hide is more or less successful depending on several factors, but being in
suitable terrain is one of them. Trying to hide a Tiger Tank in an open field
is not a good idea.
Pause (P) –
increase command delay for a unit in increments of 10 seconds. Works up to 60
seconds, then resets back to 0.
Line of
Sight (L) – allows player to check what a unit is able to see precisely. Order
line is blue when LOS is free, and red/black when it’s blocked. The red part
indicates up to which point the LOS is clear. The LOS order also shows
additional information, like distance to the area the cursor is pointing to, or
even exposure of an enemy unit.
Button up
(Z) – available for non-open vehicles only. Instructs crew to close protective
hatches. This results in heavily reduced spotting ability, but obviously
increases protection for the crew.
Split (no
hotkey) – available only for infantry squads. Splits the squad into two
half-squads, which can now be maneuvered independently. However, splitting
squads reduces the morale for BOTH halves, and makes BOTH halves less combat
effective. It’s a good choice for recon purposes, but not for actual combat, as
half-squads are more likely to panic.
Firing
orders
Target (T)
– the standard firing order, telling a unit to fire at an enemy or area.
Cancel
Target (X) – tells the unit to stop firing at previously selected target.
Target Next
(N) – toggles through available targets, starting with the one easiest to hit.
Target Wide
(W) – only available for Artillery Forward Observers. Instructs the firing
battery to use wide dispersion of shells for barrage.
Reset
Target (R) – resets any changes made to FO firing orders during the current
order phase.
Smoke (K) –
instructs unit to fire smoke instead of other ammunition. Only available when a
unit is capable of firing smoke and has smoke ammo left.
Cover arc
(C) – by placing to points on the map, the player designates a firing zone for
that unit. Unit will only engage enemy units that enter this area.
Cover armor
(V) – similar to the above, but unit will only engage armoured targets. This
order only available for anti-tank units (AT Guns, AT teams and AFVs)
Experience
Each unit
in CMBB is rated for its experience in combat, determining how effective it
will be on the battlefield, how quickly it can react (command delays) and how
well it can withstand the terror of war. There are five experience levels in
the game – reaching from Conscript and Green (troops with no combat experience
and badly trained – if at all) to Regulars and Veterans all the way to Elite
(the best of the best).
Morale
No
realistic combat simulation can get away with not simulating the stress and
strain experience by front line units during war. The morale system of CMBB is
very detailed. It will have your troops get alerted to incoming fire, causing
them to possibly not follow your orders exactly as you planned them, or even
panic and rout. Troops can become brittle, losing their effectiveness in face
of the enemy, and can be rallied again by nearby HQs. How your units react to
the stress of war depends on their experience, fatigue, being in or out of
command, and not least also on your orders – when you tell a squad to storm
across 200 meters of open ground in the face of heavy machinegun fire, or when
you tell them to assault an enemy tank with not much else but small arms and
hand grenades – don’t be surprised when they become pinned, then panicked and
finally break and run away; if they survive, that is.
Fatigue
Each unit
in CMBB is rated for physical fitness in addition to its experience. The
possible choices are fit, weakened and unfit. This can simulate extended front
line duty without much rest, or simply third line replacement troops (like the
German Volkssturm units). Depending on their physical fitness, the orders you
give (running without rest for several turns), the ground conditions (for
example, deep mud or snow tires men much faster than running across flat paved
ground) and the equipment of the unit (carrying heavy weapons), a unit’s
fatigue will rise throughout the battle, from rested through tired all the way
to exhausted. Making sure you let your units rest once in a while for a few turns
will usually ensure keeping their combat ability. Once a unit becomes
exhausted, it is not able to use fast movement types like Run or Assault.
Casualties
Soldiers
seriously wounded, incapacitated, killed, or made combat ineffective by other
means are called “casualties” by CMBB. There is no distinction between the
various reasons for becoming a casualty, as the outcome is the same – the
headcount of active soldiers for a given unit is reduced. And not only the
headcount – with each soldier dropping down, his weapons and ammunition will
become unavailable to that unit, also. The exception are light machineguns,
which are very valuable to an infantry unit, so there is a chance that another
soldier from the squad will pick up the machinegun and drop his own weapon
instead.
Taking
multiple casualties is also the quickest way to deteriorate a unit’s combat
morale and make the remaining soldiers in a squad panic. The quicker casualties
occur, the bigger the morale hit – one mortar round taking out three soldiers
will cause a higher morale hit than taking 5 casualties over a time span of 10
minutes.
Once a unit
has been completely eliminated, a marker – a wounded soldier – will be placed
on the map where the last member of that unit became ineffective.
Spotting
Unless
you’re playing with Fog of War set to None, your units will need to spot the
enemy first before you will see enemy soldiers on the map. Spotting does not
occur automatically when an enemy comes into Line of Sight. It depends on the
cover the enemy is in, if it is moving or firing or hiding, what your units are
doing currently, and if they’re panicked or tired. Spotting also won’t reveal
all information about an enemy (unless you’re playing with Fog of War:
Partial). There are several levels of identification of a spotted enemy,
reaching from vague sound contacts to the exact identification of a unit’s
type, headcount and even experience. It’s even possible to misidentify units –
a conscript infantry squad will have a hard time correctly identifying that
enemy tank rolling towards them with guns blazing!
Spotting
works best when a unit has binoculars (most HQs units and guns and tanks have
these) and when your unit is stationary. The latter because movement tends to
cause “tunnel vision”, and spotting to the sides and especially the rear become
more difficult.
Sound
contacts occur even when your units don’t have a line of sight to the enemy,
but when it’s sufficiently close that it can be heard. A tank racing down a
road or a gun firing can be heard from quite far, but a unit sneaking in the
woods will rarely be heard. Sound contacts in CMBB are rarely displayed in the
exact position they are, and only serve to indicate a general area of where the
sound is coming from – therefore don’t be surprised when you see an enemy tank
sound contact rolling through a house or even off-map. It’s not, but only once
you get Line of Sight to that tank, will you be able to see its location.
Command & Control
Good
leadership on the battlefield can win wars. CMBB simulates this important
aspect of warfare through the use of HQ units. There are platoon, company and
battalion HQs in the game for infantry units, and platoon HQs for armored
units. Keeping subordinate units close enough to their HQs and within their
command range will go a long way to improving your chances to win battles in
CMBB. Units in command profit from shorter command delays, better morale, and
higher combat efficiency than units out of command.
Each HQ is
rated for its leadership abilities, i.e. combat, morale, stealth and command,
and a bonus in any of these categories improves the abilities of subordinate
troops which are in command, as displayed by the brown command lines visible
when you click on a unit – and the “command icon” in the unit info panel, which
glows green when a unit is in command, and red when it isn’t.
Infantry
Platoon HQs can keep units from its own platoon and any independent infantry
teams in command. Infantry Company and Battalion HQs can keep ANY units within
range under command. Vehicle Platoon HQs can only keep units from their own
platoons under their command.
The command
range depends on several factors – lines of sight, the command rating of the HQ
unit, and the experience of both the HQ and the subordinate unit. This is also
true for vehicles, however vehicles equipped with radios do not require lines
of sight. Vehicles without radios not only have to stay within Line of Sight,
but both the HQ vehicle and subordinate vehicles need to remain UNBUTTONED
(i.e. hatches open) in order to stay in command!
It’s a good
idea to keep your HQs out of harm’s way but as close as possible to your
fighting units to be able to exert control without the risk of being killed – a
dead HQ can mean that the remaining subordinate units have to fight out of
command for the remainder of the battle. For infantry units, moving a higher HQ
to replace the killed HQ is a good option, but this doesn’t work for vehicles!
Artillery
Artillery
is one of the most important support arms for ground combat during WWII, and
great attention has been paid to simulate this aspect as realistically as
possible. The way artillery works has also been greatly tweaked since CMBO.
There are
two types of “artillery” – on-map guns and mortars and off-map batteries.
Off-map
batteries require a “forward observer” (FO) team to provide them with targets –
usually through radio or wire telephone. These FO's are placed and moved on the
map like any other unit, but the fire orders available to them don’t mean that
they’re firing small arms at the target, but instead that they are instructing
the artillery battery in the rear to plaster the target area with a barrage of
shells.
This
doesn’t happen instantly, as there is a delay between ordering a battery to
fire and when the first rounds arrive on target. The delay depends on the
experience of the FO, the type of gun ordered to fire, and whether the target
area is within Line of Sight of the FO or not. Don’t be surprised when you see
delays of 10 turns (minutes) and more! It took a long time for a battery to do
the necessary calculations to adjust their guns on target, sometimes from as
far as 10 or more kilometres from behind the front lines!
The delays
are different for all nations, reflecting their different firing procedures and
artillery asset allocations. You will find that the Soviets, relying on a more
centralized artillery support system, usually have substantially higher firing
delays, primarily in the first several years of the war.
Note: In the full version of CMBB, firing
delays can be improved dramatically through the use of Target Reference Points
(TRP). These points reflect areas “registered” before the battle, so that all
the needed ballistic calculations have been done, and therefore it is possible,
even for guns with usually high delays and for all nations, to unload a barrage
within 1 turn on these points. TRPs work regardless if a line of sight exists
or not and are always accurate. However,
TRP's are rarely if ever available to an attacking force, or to either side in
a meeting engagement. And even the
defending side often does not receive them.
Talking
about accuracy, yes, barrages – especially those fired outside of LOS of the FO
– can be inaccurate, and terribly so sometimes. There is no indication if a
barrage is accurate or not, except to watch the battlefield closely and see
where the artillery rounds impact. Usually, before the full barrage arrives,
you will see a couple of “spotting rounds” impact somewhere on the map, giving
a good indication if the barrage will be on target or not. If it’s not, you
need to adjust.
Adjustments
made to artillery barrages work the same as placing a new target order, except
that the delays are usually shorter, as long as the new impact point isn’t too
far away from the originally plotted point. When a barrage seems off-target,
simply replotting the original point is enough to adjust the target. Even when
the barrage is on target, you can “walk” the barrage in any direction up to a
certain distance, and the shorter “adjustment” delay will be calculated. In
order to achieve this, the new point has to be in LOS, however, and not too far
away from the original point. A green target line (instead of a blue line)
indicates an adjustment bonus. At any time, you can use the Reset order (hotkey
R), which resets any changes you have made in that order phase.
Any
infantry HQ unit exerting command over an on-map order can serve as a spotter.
The on-map mortar is then able to fire at areas which it can’t see itself, but
which is within LOS of the HQ unit. This is also true for vehicle-mounted
on-map mortars!
Ambushing
One of the
best ways to smack your opponent hard is to use ambushes. In CMBB, a successful
ambush can be sprung in a couple of ways.
-
Covered
arcs: You can issue “covered arcs” and “vehicle arcs” orders to units, by
defining a killing zone laterally and in depth. Units with active covered arcs
will only engage enemy targets within these arcs, and while they are not
allowed to hide (they need to be observing so they can’t keep their heads
down), chances are that the enemy will not spot these units until after walking
right into the killing zone. By setting such an arc, it is often possible to
have the enemy come within 100 meters or less before opening fire. Covered arcs
apply to all enemy unit types, while units with vehicle arcs will only open
fire on armored vehicles.
-
Hide:
hiding your units is the best way to make sure the enemy won’t see them until
it’s too late. The downside is that hiding units are not able to spot very
well. Once an enemy comes very close to your hiding units (usually within 20-30
meters), your units will engage the enemy automatically. Of course you can
simply unhide your units manually during an order phase once the enemy has come
close enough to your liking.
How well your units are able to spring an ambush depends on their
experience, however, and also if they’re under command (especially of a leader
with high stealth leadership ability). It takes nerves like steel to hold fire
when you can see the enemy approaching your position so close that you can see
the white in their eyes.
Armor penetrations
CMBB uses the most advanced unclassified historical and physics research
currently available to simulate gunnery and armor penetration with maximum
accuracy and precision. The algorithms under the hood are incredibly detailed
and based exclusively on real-world data. The following is a very brief
description of how armor penetrations are calculated in CMBB:
-
determine
(with some randomness) the impact point of a projectile, i.e. upper hull front,
turret side or top armor. The impact is based on real-world ballistics, and
takes into account the exact position and “tilt” of a tank – since CMBB plays
in a 3-D environment, it is possible to determine the impact angle relative to
the angle of the tank exactly – in all three dimensions!
-
calculate
the basic armor of the area struck by the projectile, including a plethora of
values like armor thickness, armor quality, “Brinnell” hardness factor, face-
hardened armor (whose effect depends on type and “shape” of the striking
round), armor slope, vertical and horizontal angles, spaced armor, bolted-on
supplemental armor, curved armor and much much more. The underlying real world
values for each tank can be seen in the detailed unit info window.
-
determine
the velocity of the striking projectile at the impact point and calculate its
kinetic energy
-
determine
the ability of the projectile to penetrate the armor, including the “shape” of
the round, structural weakness, the size relation between projectile and armor
and much more. Some randomness is built in here, since no two projectiles or
armor plates are the same.
-
When
the penetration energy is higher than the armor can withstand, a penetration
occurs. But this doesn’t mean the tank is knocked out immediately. CMBB
differentiates between minimal penetrations (where the striking energy is just
enough to punch a small hole) and complete penetrations, and assigns the
possible damage to the tank and its crew depending on this, but also the
location, the size and type of the round, and several other factors (including
some randomness).
-
When
the penetration energy is not high enough, rounds can ricochet (and will land
somewhere else on the map) or even break apart. But even non-penetrating hits
can be dangerous, as CMBB simulates the possibility of armor “flaking” or
“spalling” (even non-penetrating rounds can cause damage inside the tank by
causing metal fragments from the inside armor to break loose under the impact
from the outside, and injure the tank's crew. This was a particular problem
with early-war Soviet tanks whose armor was too hard and brittle).
Fortifications
CMBB
features the most common types of fortifications found on the typical Eastern Front
battlefield, i.e. several types of bunkers, several types of minefields
(anti-personnel, anti-tank and daisy-chain mines), barbed wire, foxholes, and
trenches. These can be placed on the map by the player during the setup phase.
Most of these, however, are not available in the Demo.
Bunkers can
have different armament, depending on their type, reaching from several
machineguns to one or more anti-tank guns and howitzers. Each “minefield” in
CMBB is considered to be 20x20 meters, and any number of those can be combined
to construct a large minefield and hinder passage by the enemy. Minefields
cannot be spotted until you walk into them, except daisy-chain mines which are
laid in the open. Minefields can be reduced by firing high explosive shells at
them, but there will be no indication when it’s safe to pass or not! Crawling
through minefields, instead of running, in any way increases your chance for
not setting off too many mines…
Trenches
and foxholes allow the defending side to “dig-in” its troops. Foxholes are
individual firing positions for 1 or 2 soldiers, while trenches represent
dug-in shelters a couple meters wide and 10 meters long. Trenches can be
connected to construct whole trench systems, allowing units to shift positions
without exposing themselves to enemy fire.
CMBB allows
units to start dug-in in foxholes, but additionally to that, players are able
to place a limited number of additional unoccupied foxholes on the map, to
simulate alternative and “back-up” firing positions, prepared before a battle
begins.
Pioneers
The answer
to fortifications are pioneers (and to a limited extent also artillery). CMBB
simulates one specific type of pioneers, called combat pioneers, whose duties
were among the most difficult ones for any unit during WWII, namely assaulting
fortified positions, “bunker-busting”, clearing minefields and so on. Most
nations have pioneer units, and these come usually equipped with some
additional “firepower” in the form of demo charges or flamethrowers.
Flamethrowers
are especially useful for clearing out bunkers, but also trenches, as they tend
to panic even the hardest units subject to a flame attack. Demo charges are
great against bunkers also, but work best for clearing out mines. Each pioneer
unit in vicinity of a spotted minefield is able to clear a path through that
minefield with demo charges. This usually takes a couple of turns and the
pioneer unit should not move for that duration. Daisy-chain mines can be
cleared without demo charges.
Troubleshooting
Windows
When Combat
Mission does not want to run, or the monitor stays “black” for some time and
nothing happens, there is a good chance that something went wrong with
unpacking the demo files. A simple way to check if the CM demo has been
correctly installed is to look in the “Combat Mission” directory, if all BMP
and WAV files are located in the correct subdirectories (called “BMP” and “WAV”
respectively). If this is not the case, then simply move these files into the
correct directories, and the game should run.
NOTE: When
the CM Demo is started for the first time, the program will check your
available graphics hardware, and a window appears asking “Can you see this?”.
You have to click the OK button to confirm. When you want to change your
graphics preferences (for example, when you purchase a new graphics card or
monitor), then simply delete the CMBB Preferences file (called “CMBB Prefs”)
and your graphics parameters will be checked next time you start up the game
automatically.
System Requirements
· Supported Operation Systems (PC/Mac):
Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
Mac OS 8.6
to 9.xx
CMBB does not run under Windows NT, as Windows
NT does not fully support DirectX.
CMBB does not run natively under Mac OS X. More
details on this issue can be found on our Tech Support Forum located at:
http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=8
· System Requirements MINIMUM (PC/Mac):
Pentium 500MHz Processor (PC)
G3 (Mac)
16Mb Video card capable of running in 800x600
resolution or higher
64MB of RAM
CD-ROM drive
1.2 Gigabytes of Hard Drive space required
(160Mb required for Demo)
DirectX 8.0 compatible sound and
video cards (PC)
28.8 modem or Network/Internet access
for multiplayer
.
· System Requirements RECOMMENDED
(PC/Mac):
Pentium 800MHz Processor or faster (PC)
G4 (Mac)
32Mb Video card capable of running in 800x600
resolution or higher
128MB of RAM or more
CD-ROM drive
1.2 Gigabytes of Hard Drive space required
(160Mb required for Demo)
DirectX 8.0 compatible sound and
video cards (PC)
28.8 modem or Network/Internet access
for multiplayer
Drivers and DirectX
Most
problems can be solved by installing the newest drivers for DirectX and/or
drivers for your mouse, sound or video hardware or if your on a Mac installing
the latest extensions. When you experience problems with graphics or sound in
the demo, you should first install the newest available drivers. This cannot be
stressed enough!
DirectX 8.0
fulfills the minimum requirements, but later versions are even better. DirectX
can be found under http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.
Nvidia Drivers-
Detonator 40’s
Nvidia has
released a new set of drivers in the last week for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
It is anticipated that Windows 98 and ME drivers will be released soon. These
drivers are called Detonator 40 and the current version is 40.41.
We have
tested these drivers and there appears to be a bug in how they now handle Full
Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA).
If you have
an Nvidia video card and have these drivers installed, when you launch the game
you will no longer see any on screen text if you have FSAA enabled, which is
the default.
In order to
see text you can do one of the following:
A.)
Disable
FSAA for Direct3D applications. This can be done via the Nvidia Control Panel.
Just select NONE as the option for the level of antialiasing desired.
B.)
If
you wish to keep using FSAA you can alternately switch to the desktop (Alt-Tab)
and back to the game and the text should re-appear. You may have to do this
several times during the course of a game though.
C.)
Revert
to an older version of the drivers. The best drivers to date for compatibility
and stability are the 30.82 series drivers which you can still download
directly from Nvidia’s website. The 30.82 series drivers should allow you to
run in all FSAA modes with no visual issues.
At this
time we can not recommend these drivers however as we are getting reports from
other developers and game players of widespread issues with them. We recommend
the 30.82 versions.
Mouse cursor
When your
mouse cursor behaves strangely (disappears, freezes etc.) then you should make
sure that you are not using a custom mouse cursor. If this is the case, please
disable this and use the standard Windows cursor when playing the demo. We have
tried to code around the problem with custom cursors, but unfortunately there are
always a number of video cards / drivers which have problems with this.
Tip
Whenever
you try to find the reason for a problem, it is a good idea to delete the CMBB
Prefs file. Next time you start up the game after deleting the file, the CMBB
Demo will automatically look for new a video setting. This is like a fresh
start.
General
troubleshooting
Transparency
Unfortunately,
some older video cards are unable to display the transparency effects in CMBB
correctly – these are most visible when rendering transparent house walls and
smoke. That’s why CMBB offers the display option “quick and compatible”. Simply
set “Transparent Buildings” (Shift-O) to OFF and smoke effects (Shift-I) to
“quick and compatible”.
Fog
In order to
show the translucent fog effects properly your video card must be able to
handle Fog Tables and Fog Table Emulation. While most video cards can, ATI
video cards (including the newest Radeon card) for the PC can not (while they
can on the Mac). If the fog in the game appears to be solid grey then you can
use the weather display option (Shift-W) to turn the fog off. This setting has
no effect on the game effects of fog, just on its display.
Game performance
There are
several options to improve game performance. Try one or all of the options
listed below.
Playing by email –
Old version?
When you or
your opponent sees the message that the PBEM file is too old or too new, then
on of you is using an older version of the CMBB Demo.
Uninstalling Demo
In order to
uninstall the Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin Demo, simply delete the CMBB
Demo folder. CMBB does not have any hidden files or registry entries.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2002 Battlefront.com, Inc.
“Combat