CMAK First Impressions?

[KG_Norad]

Ok I get one game for xmas so what are some first impressions guys? Is this a BIG step beyond CMBB or about the same with a few nice tweaks? is the game req more memory then CMBB with the dust clouds?

Thanks for any insight...
Michael

[screamer]

i guess the dust clouds shouldnt need much more memory. they arent that fancy.

[Lurker]

It's cmbb with minor tweaks and new units. From the two demo games I played I was disappointed with the laser like accuracy of the US tanks at long range. Like cmbb, the German tanks are the only ones with good, very good, long range and other special optics, but these great optics don't seem to count for anything except window dressing. The allies' tanks in both cmbb and cmak will usually equal them in to-hit ability. In the case of the two cmak demos, for me anyway, they badly out performed the Germans.

[Berkut37]

I would agree that cmak is cmbb with a few tweaks here and there.
In the first scenario, I did not find the accuracy of the allied tanks to be all that impressive. What I did find in the first scenario, was that the grants lacked the ability to knock out the panzers at long range when they did hit. I also found the panzers had exactly the same problem although they hit more often.

the other thing I noticed was my 75mm FOO. His arty fire was waaaay off target, not sure what the problem there was. Certainly was not a LOS issue, not on that map.

I liked the duststorms as vehicles moved and the way tanks would pop in and out of sight as dust clouds and smoke rose up from continued firing. Not so sure about the tank modelling though, those grants shrugged off massive amount of fire. They do appear to be more durable than other tanks in cmbb.

I'm sure there are going to be alot posts about this one hot on the heels of the first patch. ;)

[Cap'n Fantastic]

It's a nicely polished CMBB. The default vehicle models are beauts. And I personally just like the setting better. You have Crete, the early clashes between the Brits and Italians in Egypt and Lybia. Rommel's attacks at Tobruk and Kasserine Pass, Longstop Hill, Sicily and Italy.

It's also got some nice units to play with. The DAK, American Rangers, HG Parachute/Panzer Division, and Airborne (US, UK and German). Heck, I had fun playing guys from the 7th Indian. Maybe I've just gotten used to it, but I've really come to like the way infantry are modeled.

The tech demands aren't back breakers. I have a 450mhz imac with 192MB ram (ATI Rage Card) and I can run "large" battles without a problem. I played Nibeiwa Fort -- which has about 800 grunts, 40 tanks, 15 field guns and a ton of buildings when you look at everyone involved -- and it ran just fine. Didn't take long for the computer to process turns, gameplay didn't stutter and those dust plumes didn't seem to put a strain on anything. I don't think I'm seeing fog, but I don't care. Foggy batles are rare.

Finally, the scenarios are just more fun. I think designers are figuring out how to craft maps which make the AI a more viable opponent. Granted, some fights can only be conducted against a human opponent. And yes, everyone's heard about how they sometimes abandon positions when the human player captures a flag. But apparently that depends on where/how those flags are positioned. Two examples:

I played Longstop Hill and while a couple of German squads tried to reclaim one flag I had taken, the rest stayed put, and it was like trying to dig out ticks to move them. Nice battle.

I also played Nibeiwa. There the Italians came pelting out like mad once I had my first two flags, but then you have to understand the battle. In the real fight, those guys DID apparently come stumbling about without any form of cohesion as they were either A) panicked by the sight of the British tanks inside their compound or B) all kinds of gung ho and naively attacked the armor with hand grenades and SMGs. It just felt right. They put up a fight at first, but tended to surrender once the casualties began mounting. I lost 37 men and a tank. Inflicted 276 casualties and knocked out 23 vehicles and 13 guns. In real life, the Commonwealth units lost 56 men and took thousands prisoner. I first read about it in "The Desert Generals."

Finally, I'm in the middle of "Texans." Here an attacking AI has hit a roadblock in the form of my two Shermans covering a road, and after taking some knocks has moved to an alternate, viable route of advance. I just about cheered out loud.

I like it. I like it a lot.

[Redwolf]

I like CMAK a lot better than CMBB.

They lowered many of that annoying features that made CMBB so hard to play: vehicle turn rate, command delay, artillery delays, bogging and a few more.

[KG_Norad]

I am one of those people that if I have a game I like, I end up buying everything evermade for it :D:cry:. Sadly its a bit of a compulsion. So I got CMAK. I am in the process of forming my opinion,instead of "polished" CMBB, I would say a tweaked CMBB.

The Mediterrainian setting is captured very nicely with the dust and open battlefields with nothing but rolling escarpements to hide behind. But I would have to say that CMBB very faithfully captures the east front very well and I am perfectly happy with its parameters. Even more so since I discovered CMMOS! (Fun with gaphic mods)

I have heard it said that if you have CMBB you don't need CMBO, and no doubt will hear the same with CMAK sporting Brits and Americans. But I disagree. For being the same basic game, I think each captures the feel of their set theaters very well and each in their own unique way. I love all three games.

Thanks again. Another fine Battlefront product one will definitly get their moneys worth with!

Michael

[Cap'n Fantastic]

One last thing -- No one here is guilty of it as far as I can tell, but I'm getting tired of hearing folks in other online forums jump on the CM series AI. Maybe I'm getting bitter but the whole "Ooooh, lookit me, I'm the next Guderian/Patton/Bradley cause I won a total victory 99-1%)" Or "I just played a scenario with 12 Panthers against 12 T-34s on the open steppe at 2 km and the AI just sucks cause it got creamed" is wearing thin. Some scenarios are designed to be played ONLY against a human opponent, or have the author's suggestion about which side to play. I'm noticing that the scenarios are getting better in terms of the challenge offered to the player. Play CMBB's "Hitler's Son" against an AI attacker and get a total victory. Then I'll be impressed. Take those T-34s and wipe the panthers clean. Then I'll think you have bragging rights.

I just saw someone whining on a forum that he stomped the Germans while playing as the Americans in CMAK's Fruhlingswind. Well....derrrr. I challenge you to find any game where the AI is going to crest a naked ridgeline, move across 600m of open ground and successfully take fixed enemy positions, while its own forces arrive piecemeal. That's why you're supposed to play as the Axis, Hannibal.

Sorry for the rant

:nuts:

[KG_Norad]

Hey no problem, we're all a little :nuts:.

My comment was definitly not meant as a slight against anyone here. It was more of an observation then a critisism. Everyone has there own opinion, I was just expressing mine.;) As far as the AI goes I agree with you.
No AI is perfect, and when I make a stupid decision in CM the AI has definitly punished me for it. Also not all scenarios are designed perfectly for play against the AI as well, even the ones that say they are. If someone has a beef that a scenario that it is to easy, handicap the AI. Or make a few quick changes in the editor to make it harder.

Which brings up another plus, and easy and functional Editor! I have about 600 user made scenarios for CMBO! Long Live the Home Scenario Designers!!!(picture the grandest Lord of the Rings type Hoorah!)

:DMichael:D

[Cap'n Fantastic]

It's all good :D

I wasn't knockin' anyone here. And I'll just toss in (before I fade out of the thread) that I like CMBB as well. CMAK just feels spectacular to me -- of course, I was drooling for a game using CMBB mechanics in a European/Med setting. I lost my screenshots, but I was happier than all get out this weekend to see infantry movement to contact drills actually pay off in a tactical scale wargame (using Brit rifle platoons in "The Ridge" and Canadians in "Killing Ground").