Bloody Omaha v1.4 (played on CC-TLD, v5.50.14b)
Played as the Allies, hardest settings, 15 min battles, FM on. Achieved Total Allied Victory at 0900, Turn 1, June 7th. Overall I had a great experience playing a well manicured mod. I only had two CTDs, and they were of the 00:00 timer quality (my battle info was saved when I resumed the game).
(EDIT: I was only routed once (Rangers on Charlie)...and I only reinforced two different Allied units (116/29 and the light (Stuart) tank batallion)
I used Soldier mod '95' and it went perfectly with this mod in terms of scale. Tanks looked like tanks, not compact SUVs.
I've always thought of CC5 'Bloody Omaha' as the 'Saving Private Ryan' mod, as it covers the fighting depicted in the movie, has numerous stills and screenshots used in the UI, and even has a song from the movie. But Tom Hanks isn't on the beach.
Cohesion: Allies 70%, Axis 68%
Axis Losses: 1843 KIA, 1644 WIA, Armor 41, Veh 14, Guns 63 (!)
Allied Losses: 829 KIA, 698 WIA, Armor 60, Veh 6, Guns 0
Pros:
-Beautiful maps!!! Beach maps are mostly exquisite and challenging. Other inland maps are attractive variations on the CC5 themes of the French countryside (D3, Longueville, Chemin).
-Some maps are simply legendary and better than those in the original game (ex: Point du Hoc, Port-en-Bessin!)
-Large maps enhance strategic possibilities (ex: I enter Longueville from the west and faced with a delimma....do I attack south into the town, 150m away, or do I risk ambush or flanking as I traverse 600m to capture the town and roads on the far end of the map so my BG can keep moving?)
-Lovely unit pic photos. Most are clean and crisp and present appropriate images of the units they represent (ex: Jeep, Greyhound 37mm, 30 cal, Pfaust, US rangers, etc)
-Awesome vehicle graphics! I like the large 'boxy' feel certain halftracks and SP guns had. The M7 Priest looked great! Tanks appear large and to scale. Colors are brighter, lines are more defined. Objects look less skewed than the original sets.
-Diversity of units. German formations had unique force pools and units had interesting weapon combos (arty and flak units were ingenious!)
-BG unit markers on the strat map appear supberb and much nicer than the stock games
-Reinforce works for both sides
-Smoke grenades that work exceedingly well! 'Smoke' engineers are a unit that are very important to the Allies in this mod....they can work wonders if used properly. Hands down my favorite team on most maps!
-MG42 is simply devastating in this mod! I haven't peeked at the data yet, but I'm guessing the kill rating is substantially higher, as those bursts shred infantry and knock out scout cars with ease. There were times were I had to halt entire platoons until I could isolate and terminate the MG team firing on me.
Cons:
-Strat map inconsistencies (elevation poorly depicted, grass colors not matching, a few sloppy cut & paste jobs on some maps, tree shadows depicting different terrain than that of surrounding area – ex: crops instead of high grass).
-Wrecks were often hard to distinguish from 'live' vehicles, especially the StuGIII. Was this intentional?
-Some inland maps felt like 'filler' and were not as fun as the beach maps.
-Default BG unit selections seem disorganized (esp Germans) and need to be manually edited.
-Delay on mortar round firing/landing was too long (and often annoying)
Questions:
-If Turn 1 on June 6th @ 1800 was 'NIGHT' (and it was dark), why is there a turn 1 and 2 also labeled 1800??
-The night flare sound cue is a guy yelling 'Jabos!'...is this intentional?
-I noticed that 'resting' Bgs doesn't do anything. I left 2/16/1st ID 'resting' for four full turns and there was no increase in fatigue/cohesion bars (they remained yellow and orange, respectively). Isn't this supposed to increase with time?
-What was the rationale for using 30 cal MG teams with only 3 men, when historically they used 5-6 men? Is this an abstract expression of attrition on the battlefield?
-As above, why 3-man 60mm teams and 4-man 81mm teams? Again, is this due to attrition from the landings or simply a convenience for the modder?
-My 50 cal MG team scored a tank kill....Im assuming this was from firing on an open-topped vehicle (perhaps that russian gun on the czech chassis, or something)???
-Geballte Ladung is back! Why not in TLD?
-108 rnds of ammo for Snipers?
-Sherman dozer has over 6000 rnds of MG ammo, but Sherman DD only has 1100?
-Nice touch with the US names (with asteriks)...I'm assuming these were actual soldiers in the US units present?
-Some injured soldiers always appear as orange (incapacitated) instead of yellow (hurt) in the 'soldier' screen. Can this be fixed?
-I noticed that the Sherman DD was 'repairing' its bow MG almost constantly through certain battles. Was this intentional / historical, as these tanks were often damaged in the water and by landings?
Observations / Gripes:
-Strat map arrows not always appearing or displaying which way a BG is headed (ex:Deux-Juneaux to Jucoville, An-en-Bessin to Louvieres, from Louvieres to Formigny, etc).
-In the 'zoom out' function when viewing a map, the correct name does not appear in text at the bottom (they are still the classic CC5 names, ex: Carentan instead of Louvieres, Raids instead of Columbieres, Fort du Roul instead of Dog Green, etc)
-Some commander pics are missing (ex: 513/30 Schnelle - 'von Aufsess', US 1st ID - Col Seitz, 635th TD - LCOL Smith, 743rd TB - LCOL Upham, Ari - 'von Kistow', etc)
-Medals: Bronze stars and Silver Stars were occasionally rewarded, mainly to tankers, AT crews, and MG teams. Only had one soldier get a Distinguished Cross, and that was the leader of a Ranger Assault team.
-I like the Scheissbecher team with 2 men, 2 rifle grenades. Nice 'tank hunting' option for Germans that can be deadly if deployed right.
-D/E/F Rangers are the toughest Allied unit on the map...nice!
-On Montebourg, the elevation depiction on the map is skewed and not consistent with the graphic image.
-German FOBs were disappointing and uninspiring. Very inaccurate and rarely a game-changer.
-I noticed than an enemy Pzschreck killed one of my armored cars at 190m (!!)
-Sherman Dozer was listed as an 'amphibious tank' in descriptor bar
-For the first time ever in CC, I killed an enemy infantryman with a smoke round from a bazooka...whizzzzzz
-Won a 'Decisive Victory' on Dog Green, defending from the Germans attacking from the north. Should have been a 'Total Victory', as I had all the VLs and the enemy BG was gone the next turn.
-Occasionally when assigning a mortar or air strike to a sector, I drag-and-drop the icon to the appropriate BG marker, only to have it disappear and still be substracted from the tally on the left hand side of the UI (???). Only happened twice, but still....no air strike would appear on the BG marker, nor appear in the game.
-'Ari Beobachter' unit shows man holding MP40, yet is armed with French SMGs in the game.
-Flamethrowers NOT firing when ordered to do so. This was also a problem in classic CC5, IIRC. 'Weapon lost' message, 'waiting' to fire, firing but nothing happens, then switches to carbine and fires – even with an enemy within 30m (??!).
Suggestions:
-US has too many BG available in GC. An edited version of the GC with 10-12 less American Bgs is more challenging.
-105mm guns (M4s, M7) seem overpowered. Kill rating or related stat could be toned down.
-Some units had the same name, but with different points, morale, training, and weapon combos. Perhaps some customization with team names that are alike (ex: Scheissbecher Team, Scheissbecher AT; Spahtrupp AT, Spahtrupp SMG, Spahtrupp Rifle, etc)
-Create different names file for Ost Batallion to reflect Russian, Ukrainian, Polish names in that unit
-Command Stuart unit pic is that of an M4 Sherman
-II/726/716 ID has '7.5cm IG' duplicated in Fpool
-M8A1 uses short-barrel 75mm; long barrel is pictured
