Combat Mission: Afrika Korps - Games

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/sfymmf.jpg[/IMG] Now let me introduce you to this awesome old strategy game made by Battlefront. It is called Combat Mission Afrika Korps, and it's the third game in the series. There's also CM: Barbarossa to Berlin and CM: Beyond Overlord (first) but I'll talk about CMAK for now. The game was released in 2002 but it still retains its awesomeness despite having outdated graphics and slightly clunky controls. It's kinda like Steel Panthers, but in 3D. The game is turn-based. You give your orders to your units and the game generates one minute of combat which you can then watch but not interact in any way except to see unit stats and rewind scenes. So if you order your only tanks to go for example behind a hill, and there's a Flak 88 which you didn't see before, you can only watch as it picks off your poor tanks one by one. But after the minute is over, you can give new orders. [quote]Combat Mission: Afrika Korps covers the war in North Africa, Italy and Crete from 1940 to 1945. From the sweeping deserts of Libya to the mountainous Gothic Line in Northern Italy to the islands of Crete and Sicily. Combat Mission: Afrika Korps will bring combat to very diverse areas each with their own unique forces available, terrain and weather. Battles and Operations can be designed, modified and customized by the player with the full Editor that is built into the game. Create your own maps, save them and even re-use them in different battles using the new Map Import Feature or let the powerful Automap creator do it for you.[/quote] There are over 700 vehicles, infantry units and armor to choose from. What really shines in this game is tank combat, as it is very realistic. If an enemy tank hits you, there's a lot that can happen, including ricochets, penetrations, damaged tracks or guns, crew deaths, explosions etc. [quote]Some factors taken into account when determining whether a round penetrates armor are: Armor thickness for front/side/rear as well as top/turret/upper hull/lower hull Armor slope for all of the above Side angle (i.e. obliquity) Striking velocity (reduced by air resistance as the shell travels) Armor quality (i.e. metallurgical flaws) Face hardened or homogeneous armor plate Brinnell Hardness Number (BHN) Shot-to-plate diameter ratio Shell cap type and strength Special ammo (like tungsten rounds) Shot shatter Shot traps (a design flaw in the vehicle shape which tends to catch shells rather than let them ricochet away) Armor skirts Note: Combat Mission: Afrika Korps does not use a generic armor strength, but real-life values taken directly from historical sources: armor thicknesses in millimeters and slopes measured in degrees. [/quote] Then there's infantry, which is represented by small squads of 3 men (even if they have 12 soldiers). It's also pretty nicely done, and they can be useful in village maps for ambushes and such. Some screens: [media] [url]http://i47.tinypic.com/123barb.jpg[/url] [url]http://i48.tinypic.com/2n1dz4z.jpg[/url] [url]http://i49.tinypic.com/zo9u15.jpg[/url] [url]http://i47.tinypic.com/2jfy89g.jpg[/url] [url]http://i50.tinypic.com/16gh45f.jpg[/url] [/media] [b]Videos[/b] Tiger beats a bunch of Shermans [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKMGy96lfzU[/media] Allied advance with some swingy music [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVhaE1t6iJ4[/media] Some action in Africa [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Tb4buJvuY[/media] [b]Official site[/b] [url]http://www.battlefront.com/products/cmak/cmak.html[/url] [b]Demo download[/b] [url]http://www.battlefront.com/u.php?896580265[/url] [b]The manual (213 pages)[/b] [url]http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?5cynzy52wun[/url] The game has multiplayer. You can either choose to connect through IP or, in a more archaic way, play by e-mail (who uses that anymore). I have my share of experiences in multiplayer, both good and bad, but it works well and I think it'd be fun if some of us on FP could play together. So if you like realistic turn based strategy, I strongly recommend this. Edit: Oh right, forgot to mention. It doesn't have widescreen support because of the oldness so you'll have to play with a slightly stretched screen if you own a widescreen monitor. There's also a way to have it non-stretched with black bars at the sides but I can't remember how it was enabled.

Loving the pixelly goodness. Will give it a go.

Ah, I remember this wargame. I liked it aside from the fact that the camera controls were clunky. The Canadian Army is a real beast against the Germans. Though I still prefer Steel Panthers MBT due to the fact it covers a wider timeline. [editline]02:40PM[/editline] Has anyone played the newest game in the series Shock Force? When it first came out it back in 2007 was buggy and unoptimized as hell.

Awesome nostalgia, this game is pretty authentic and takes patience but it's very rewarding and fun.

It's amazing :O I have to try this thing. Oh it's an RTS. Was hoping for Sim gameplay. Ah fuckkk it's also for mac. Just rebooted in bootcamp.

Doesn't sound very fun to play really. I'll give it a whirl though.

Shitty cam and controls but surprisingly fun realism. Just don't like how slow everything is.

There's a fast-forward button in the controls you can use if you want to speed up everything in the orders execution phase.

[QUOTE=The_Marine;19490867]Doesn't sound very fun to play really. I'll give it a whirl though.[/QUOTE] It's at its best in multiplayer if you can find someone to be your opponent, especially with a friend.

Fuck that, Combat Mission: Shock Force is way better. And Battlefront is making CM: Normandy on the CMx2 (CMSF) engine currently, which will be sweet. Don't get me wrong, CMAK and CMBO, CMBB and all of them were great games, but doesn't hold a candle (obviously) to the newer engine.

I tried the demo, didn't really like it.

[QUOTE=Uberman77883;19496003]I tried the demo, didn't really like it.[/QUOTE] 95% of people will HATE the combat mission series. It's definitely an acquired taste.

I don't hate it, I enjoyed it for a while but then I lost really bad so I stopped playing. I'll play it later.

[QUOTE=Uberman77883;19497871]I don't hate it, I enjoyed it for a while but then I lost really bad so I stopped playing. I'll play it later.[/QUOTE] The Combat Mission series is one of those games where you should at least have a rudimentary understanding of military tactics like suppression, combined arms, taking advantage of terrain features and flanking.

[QUOTE=Tac Error;19500237]The Combat Mission series is one of those games where you should at least have a rudimentary understanding of military tactics like suppression, combined arms, taking advantage of terrain features and flanking.[/QUOTE] I wasn't sure what to do in the Africa demo mission. You start with a bunch of infantry men and some light armoured vehicles. You're supposed to take out medium tanks and AT guns. You should wait for reinforcements before attacking or something? But then your infantry will be shredded before you can even attack anything. I think i'll try again when i get home. Understanding the game better now.

Is that the "tutorial" mission you're talking about? The downloadable manual has a nice guide for it.

Oh God I remember this game. It had one of the most impressive RTS multiplayer [B]EVER[/B]. You just made me reinstall this thing, God I loved to create ambushes and flank the ever loving God out of the opponent with fast tanks and mess with his defences.

[QUOTE=Raiskauskone;19507895]Oh God I remember this game. It had one of the most impressive RTS multiplayer [B]EVER[/B]. You just made me reinstall this thing, God I loved to create ambushes and flank the ever loving God out of the opponent with fast tanks and mess with his defences.[/QUOTE] We should play together someday as fellow finns.