Good News and Bad News

Well here's some news on the recent development. The good news first; I previously estimated between 2 to 4 weeks after the release of the NATO module before we can start the campaign. It's now been 10 days, so I'm still confident that we will make it before 4 weeks have passed. Sorry to say we won't make within 2 weeks... And this has to do with the bad news I've got;

Unfortunately I'm struggling with a crashed laptop at the moment (where I stupidly enough kept the most recent version of some files...) I know, I know, should have backed up those files. But, I simply didn't.

I'm having hardware replaced this upcoming monday and assume this will allow me to access the files needed.

I'm hoping that we'll see the first deployment in the CaT started the upcoming week. We will start by having the OPCOs place units according to their plans along the restrictions for deployment mentioned in the rules. Oh, yes, the rules! They're done, I've finished editing them, but they're on the laptop. The, for the moment, not accesible laptop.

If things go as I want they will also be released this upcoming week.

I'm in the process of editing the ORBATs right now, based on the feedback from the last survey of active players. The ORBATs v1.0 contains all the latest changes (active players). Some people have registered at the forum after enlistment was closed. There's a good chance, if you're one them, that there will be spot free for you.

As soon as I have more news about developments I'll let you know!

Any Players left...

The NATO release getting closer and the last bits and pieces of the rules and the CaT coming together nicely means we're almost there. Next week You may expect a general poll among the enlisted players to get a picture of how many of those enlisted are still interested in participating. Quite a lot of time has passed since this MC was announced and I wouldn't be surprised if fair share of the enlisted players have lost the will to wait. I'll be making a general call for new players if it will be necessary. 

The OPrules and TACrules pages will get one last revision before the NATO module is released. After that, I'll probably need 1 or 2 weeks before the first STRATturn commences. 

I'm happy to repoprt that the issues with the CaT seem to have been resolved by exchanging the high-res counters with not so high-res versions. It still looks quite ok ;-)

NATO getting close! (...and so is the start of the campaign!)

So, the long awaited release of the NATO module for Combat Mission Shock Force is very close as the latest news on the BFC site implies. Pre-orders for the module will be up this coming week, BFC states.

This means that the start of Operation Nemesis Meta Campaign is also getting closer - expect 1 or 2 weeks delay after the NATO release before the MC starts.



Read more about the upcoming NATO module here

News on the development of the CaT

Well, I have had some success in adressing the problems with the CaT lately. I'm now changing all counters (approx 320!) to a new version with lower resolution, hoping that will take care of the problems I've experiencing with the CaT freezing up. This change will decrease the amount of memory the CaT needs.

The main problem , so far as I've been able to tell, isn't in the CaT itself, but rather inherent to Java, which is by default set to limit the amount of memory to work on older computers as well. This limitation is identical in all versions of Java, so it hasn't helped to change Java-version.

But, I'm in good spirits that the lower resolution of the counters will have a decisively positive effect on the performance of the CaT. Now, back to the counters and the CaT!

CaT Issues

The last parts of ORBATs and rules are now edited and put together. As far as rules and ORBATs go I'm quite confident they will be ready at the time of the NATO module release. That would only leave the counters and TO&Es left to be done when the new module arrives.

However, a much more serious matter has returned; unfortunately the problems with the CaT seem to be coming back again. I'm experiencing some severe stability issues with MapTool, the application used as Camapign Tool (CaT).
MapTool is in constant development and the developers are quick to release new builds - unfortunately not all of them are stable.

Since the CaT uses Java I'm trying different combinations of java versions and builds of MapTool. Hopefully I'll find a combination that might work as a solution to the problems; going back to earlier, more stable builds of MapTool is one of the solutions I've tried to no avail so far.

I'm also reviewing the installed version of Java, but frankly, if a solution to the problems can't be found by tweaking the settings for MapTool itself, then I'm afraid I might have run into a dead end. Changing to another CaT would be a huge undertaking at this late moment in the development; most of the data is already put into the CaT at this stage.

Other than these new stability issues MapTool is doing a great job as a graphical campaign manager. But it is crucial that the CaT of the MC is stable, otherwise it can not be realeased to the OPCOs/TACCOs of the MC.

We quite simply cannot have a CaT that keeps chrashing. I'll get back on this matter as soon as there is anything new to report!

Syrian Surprise in the NATO module!

Today it was revealed at the BFC site that we're getting quite a few new Syrian units with the NATO module. There has of course been rumours about some new Syrian goodies, but no one probably thought we'd get all that was asked for.
Battlefront certainly know how to please its customers and surprise them at the same time!
Here's a list of what will be included in the new upcoming module for CMSF;

Syrian Army:

• Truck Platoon - Zil-131
• Flak Battery - ZSU-23-4 Shilka

Unconventional:

• Technical Group[Heavy] - Pickup ZU-23-2

Air Support:

• MiG-23
• MiG-21bis
• Su-25
• Su-22M
• Su-17M
• Mi-24P
• Mi-24D

This will of course mean that there will be some small additions and revisions to the TO&Es and the ORBAT; it is very likely that some of the better equipped UNCON forces will be sporting some Pickup ZU-23-2 for instance. The ZSU-23-4 Shilka is already in the campaign - but up until now the ADA units equipped with them were OPUNs only - meaning they were Operational Units that couldn't participate in a TACBAT. This has changed from now on. These ADA units will be possible to throw into TACBATs as well. Very interesting indeed to see how the red commanders will use this asset.

As for REDFOR Air Support; the aircrafts in the list were already included in the campaign: they would have had "blue" aircraft to represent them in TACBATs. As of now, they don't need any blue representatives!

To read more about the Syrian units and watch more screenshots of them in action visit the NATO module Media Page

Hiding from the enemy

At the moment the section in the OPrules (and TACrules) on Unit Formations and Stealth Mode is finalized.

The formation of a unit will detemine how the Setup zones look in the CMSF battles, so it is important to have your units in the proper formation.

One other important feature of some units is the capability to operate in stealth mode, or STM as it's abbreviated. Only SF units and UNCON units have this capability however. Used wisely by the Commanders this feature will allow these kind of units to be used in variety of roles. They may perform long range reconnaisance, ambush regular units or blow up bridges for instance.

A unit in STM can not be detected by a regular enemy unit and will stay invisible to the opponent as long as it remains in STM. This means that a stealth unit can actually stay in the same hex as enemy units and be used by the commanders at the right moments. This way units in stealth may spring ambushes on weak enemy units or conduct sabotage operations against military installations like air bases or bridges.

There are of course some drawbacks to the STM as well; your unit in STM does not exercise any control of the hex it is in, therefore it is not possible to hide STM units at SVP locations on the OPmap and win the SVPs for that spot at the end of the campaign.

Dutch Screenshots at the BFC site

Great news for CMSF fans! Today new screenshots were revealed at the BFC site and on top of that an ingame video of a Dutch mechanized assault is also shown. NATO release is getting nearer definitely!

Pictures of OPNEM

During research for the Campaign I've collected some pictures of places, equipment and other interesting stuff. These pictures are solely meant to be used as inspiration and factual reference since I do not have any copyrights to them. All credit goes to the photographers.
Some screenshots of battle situations and maps have also been saved during development of the MC.

All of these pictures are now available in the public section of the MC album. Welcome to have a look at http://picasaweb.google.com/cmmcopnem

Preparing the MC management "Tools"

Well ,there isn't very much more research to be done for the ORBATs, thankfully. They'll have to work as they are now.
What is taking my time now is the spreadsheets for the ORBATs; getting the right columns where they should be, to check that all the HQs have the properties they ought to have, to go through the UNCON groups to see that I haven't missed anything (well, I'll probably discover I have anyway...).


The HQs will be one way of communicating with the players - the HQs are getting an overhaul at the moment. Of course, the Forums is as good as anthing really, but the HQs can be linked to separate GDOCs, which will be good when we have to update MC files.

A First Glimpse of the LEOs

Exciting news on the BFC site today!

A special focus on the different variants of the LEO MBT has been publicized, showing the differences in appearance and technical specifications.


You may read more here.

Foucs on the new IFVs and the Rules are getting there

A Close-up of the new Infantry Fighting Vehicles that will ship with the NATO module has been published at Battlefronts site today.

Read more about the IFVs here.


An excellent text, dealing with the unique properties of the Dutch, German and Canadian IFVs.
Lightly modded in Operation Nemesis some of these vehicles are already planned to represent other nations in the campaign than just those in the NATO module.




Parallell to the work on the CaT (counters/unit properties), attention is also put to the rules of the campaign.
All of the Rule sets; the TACrules, OPrules and GENrules have now been made available in their latest versions at the OPNEM website through GDOCs.

Random Events keep happening

Each STRATturn a random number (1-10) of events will be generated from the Random events table (RET). Some of these events will render the opposing sides negative or positive SVPs, others will only present changes in the operational situation, while some are a combination of both.

The random events will stay in effect throughout the STRATturn. The total theoretical sum of SVPs from the random events are equal to both sides – no side will have an advantage by default due to these events.

Every STRATturn the random events are presented to the teams by the GM in the section on OPSIT at the OPNEM website.

Below an example of how some Random Events may look and influence campaign play. (Right click to get a larger picture of the table)

Installations and Facilities on the OPMAP

On the OPMAP there are several different facilities that influences campaign play. The military installations on the OPMAP are Air bases, Army Bases and Fortified Areas. Other installations that influence game play are ports and bridges.

Air Bases are military installation with one or several airstrips capable of supporting fixed wing air units as well as rotary wing air units. An Air base has a maximum number of air unit TOEPs that may be based at that hex. This limitation only goes for air units – ground units follow the same rule for stacking as in other hexes.

An air base may be totally or partially destroy as a result of Combat Actions. Any damage to the installation will decrease the maximum number of TOEPs that can be based.





In the screenshot above can be seen several Air Bases/Air Fields, Army Bases and a SSM Base. Right clicking on the icon of an installation will bring up a factsheet in the lower rigth corner of the CaT. In this case we can see the factsheet for Afis helidrome outside Idlib. The factsheet displays the properties of the installation; how many TOEPs it can serve/accomodate and what effects on OPLEVEL the installation has.

Army bases are military installations that offer storage facilities, very often ordnance and weapons are stored at the army bases, which will affect the supply levels and available weaponry of nearby units. An Army base may work as training facility to raise reserve or militia units for REDFOR. An Army Base may also serve as a base for up to 30 TOEPs of rotary wing air units.





Some, but not all, of the installations also render SVPs when controlled at the end of the campaign. SVP locations on the OPMAP are marked by a triangle at the bottom of the SVP hex - in the case above all SVP locations are currently controlled by the NBM/REDFOR. The factsheet will display any SVPs associated with the installation. As you can see in this screen, control of Damascus International Airport will render 95 SVPs at the end of the camapaign.

Finally, some screens of custom made mods for OPNEM; Polish desert camou (there will be a Polish BG) and Hezbollah fighters.

CMSF:NATO announced!

Great News at the Battlefront site - the third module in the series is announced. We are now getting more pictures and additional information on which units and equipment to expect. Although the module is still in Alpha-stage we now have lists for the Canadian, Dutch and German forces.

Judging from the inclusion of the Wiesel in the list we'll probably get TO&E for the german AASLT infantry of the Heer as well. What we still don't know is what BFC means by "some new, much requested, units and vehicles for the Syrian side" as is stated at the news page.

As for development of OPNEM it still continues. No change in plans; start of MC is still planned for some time after the release of the NATO module.
Reason for this is that I will need some time after the release to update the ORBATs and CaT, but all work on the rules and the majority of the CaT unit properties will have been finished by then.