Use these techniques to fine tune your game against an online opponent. Not all these tips will work in every situation but keep them in mind and when the time is right they will help you pull through with a victory. If these tips have helped you, or you have some of your own to add please post them in the forums.
Create numbered teams and groups. Having your mortar sections numbered one and two each game will make it second nature to lob a few mortar rounds at enemy sections that pop their heads up. Just keep scanning the map with your finger over the button for quick kills. Numbering the rest of your support teams in order from North to South will also help in quickly killing enemy units. Alternatively, grouping all your anti-tank guns and tanks with one number will is a good way to immediately override any current orders and have the entire force focus on one target. This works much better than click and dragging for mass selects. It also helps getting your soldier to get down quicker when there's incoming artillery or mortars.
Keep a command team near support sections if you plan on starting the battle shooting. Their influence will increase their accuracy and conduct under fire. When the support team is out of ammo or no longer able to be effective, move your command team up to the front line. Do not use your support teams for cannon fodder when out of ammo, have them hold rear area VL or use them to occupy safe over watch positions.
Hi all, just thought I'd let you know about a new multiplayer network I've created for playing the Close Combat series online called GameRanger. The actual list is:
Close Combat I
Close Combat I Demo
Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far
Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far Demo
Close Combat III: The Russian Front
Close Combat III: The Russian Front Demo
Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge
Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge Demo
Close Combat V: Invasion Normandy
Close Combat V: Invasion Normandy Demo
Close Combat: Cross of Iron
Close Combat: Modern Tactics
Basically, GameRanger makes it quick and easy to play your friends online.
It has full lobby support for over 500 different games and demos (including the Close Combat series, of course), without the hassles and headaches that usually happen with network connections (eg. routers & firewalls).
I'm really excited to be releasing it, and hope it helps boost the CCS community by allowing people to play that were unable to until now due to problems with opening ports, etc. The more barriers that can be removed, the more likely the community will stay strong, as new users won't be put off. You should find this far simpler than the other *****bersome methods you have been forced to use.
Thank you to our latest four cash contributors! Jscusmc69, Blitzpig_Jagger, Bordic (2nd time!) and Councilhater. Your contributions are greatly valued. There are a few minor changes to note around the site lately. Code clean up, fixing colours and some new additions to the forums. Please be patient with the new changes, they cover some of the operating costs. The Close Combat Wiki page needs some updates, will anyone be brave enough? CCS recieves thousands of visitors every mont from Wiki browsers. If you have any ideas on how this web site can be improved, please voice them in the Community Ideas Forum.
Schrecken reports that between September 6th and October 13th the Operation Mars MMCC3 server had 1300 battles! Certain unnamed parties were hard at work cutting off large swaths of Russian maps. The victory went to the Germans in the end and the server has since been reset. There are currently three campaigns ongoing, Russian Front 41'45 on server 64.111.28.17 ports 2108 and 2110 and Operation Mars can be played at 64.111.28.17 port 2109. We should be publishing a guide on how to create your own MMCC3 campaign which upon completion can be hosted online for everyone to play, stay tuned.
For everyone who has acquired Wacht Am Rhein there are new ports you may need to open in your firewall for playing online. Open TCP and UDP ports 6072 and the range of 2303-2400. WaR does not support DirectPlay like the Battle of the Bulge did. This means both Gamespy and BHQ will not connect you to your opponent. The host must start a UDP or TCP game and give his IP to the opponent. The opponent enters the IP and searches for the game. More detailed instructions start on page 61 of the manual.
Wacht Am Rhein has been released today from Matrix Games! It is retailing for USD $39.99, you can purchase via Digital River. Wacht Am Rhein has been released with a patch to install right away, download patch 4.50.2. Your serial number is required to install the patch.
The long wait for this version of Battle of the Bulge is over. Congratulations to the Strategy 3 Tactics team for releasing this product. It does come with many new changes, some of which are listed in our previous story about the game. There is a Wacht Am Rhein Forum here, we encourage all who purchase the game to post their thoughts, reviews, bug reports and after action reports.
Note: Click Read More to see a video and more details!
The highly anticipated remake of Close Combat – Battle of the Bulge is gold and poised for release
Matrix Games and Strategy 3 Tactics are thrilled to announce that their remake of the Close Combat series’ take on Battle of the Bulge – Close Combat: Wacht am Rhein – has gone gold! Gamers will soon have the chance to enjoy the improved and expanded remake of this classic title complete with tons of new art, a new grand campaign, and much more!
David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said “Newcomers to the renowned Close Combat series will no doubt find Wacht am Rhein wholly addicting and fun. The veterans of the series have even more to be excited about as the Strategy 3 Tactics team has added so much to the remake without changing the fantastic core gameplay.”
Information started to flow out steadily for a few weeks last July about Wacht Am Rhein. With a number of screenshots and details posted here, along with Wargamer's recent preview its time to check out in detail everything we know that's new. There are many updates, most of it you can`t see from first glance, but get into the inner workings of it and you can see a ton of changes. In no particular order heres whats new...
The Grand Campaign data is now exported to a text file. This file can be manipulated in notepad or any other text editor. The scenario editor does not have an option to change these new settings. Some of the settings you can change via the text file for either side are...
- Weather
- Chance of spotting enemy Bgs on strategic map.
- Three types of support. How many per day, which days, which support.
- Turns per day 1-4.
- Date reinforcements arrive.
- Redirection chance of an Allied BG.
- Date for supply drops.
Operation Mars was the operation codename for the Rzhev offensive operation part of the Rzhev-Vyazma strategic offensive operation launched by Soviet forces against German forces during World War II. It took place between 25th of November and the 20th ofDecember, 1942 in a salient near the vicinity of Moscow. Orchestrated and led by Marshal Zhukov, and launched in tandem with Operation Uranus, the successful counteroffensive at Stalingrad, Mars proved to be a monumental setback. Designed to dislodge the German Army from its position west of Moscow, Mars cost the Soviets an estimated 335,000 dead missing or wounded and over 1,600 tanks. Fought in bad weather and on impossible terrain the offensive faltered despite an initial success in some sectors. The manner in which Operation Mars was fought and the carnage the operation produced had few parallels in the later war years. For grisly results, its closest peer would turn out to be another of Zhukov's operations: the frontal assault on the Seelow Heights during April 1945.
Some of you may be asking what is MMCC3? MMCC3 is Massivley Multiplayer Close Combat 3. An online campaign is running for any Cross of Iron gamer to participate in, for either side 24/7. You can play vs the AI or a real opponent. Each map lost or gained is updated and shown on the server. You can progress through the ranks and keep the same units from battle to battle.
This campaign was created by KWP for the original CC3 and converted over to CoI. This campaign uses 42 maps, mostly if not all winter maps. The files you need are, MMCC3 v1.04r, Operation Mars Plugin and Map Pack. For those ready to play now the MMCC3 Server for Operation Mars is at IP 64.111.28.17 Port 2109.
Note: Read More for full installation procedures...
Operation Just Cause, covers the US invasion of Panama in 1989 that went by the same name. You can fight as either the Panamanian Defence Force (PDF) and its paramilitary elements or as the U.S. Armed Forces.
All the Teams, weapons, vehicles, and most of the sounds and graphics have been changed from the original game. Research for the mod started in the summer of 2006 with v0.9 being released on December 24, 2006, four days late for the 17th anniversary of the invasion. Version 1.0 took another eight months to complete, v1.0 first being sent out for testing on August 19, 2007. The final version, v1.1, was released on September 2, 2008.
I've started a new mini-mod based on this thread. Basically inspired by the movie Kokoda, the mini-mod will feature Australians (AIF and Militia Units) and the Japanese Nankai Shitai locked in bloody combat in the jungles of New Guinea. Australians and Japanese will field about 3-4 Battlegroups each and the mod will be played on just 3-4 jungle maps.
A huge thanks goes out to SouthernLand for taking the time to send me Pacific-style textures and map projects via snail mail! You're a life saver, Shane! Anzac_Tack is also helping out with Australian Voices. Some early screenshots of Kokoda Trail: Isurava mini-mod at the Combat Camera...
In the spirit of Indonesian Independence Day celebrations in August, we're releasing the demo version of CC5: Battle of Surabaya 1945 mod.
The Battle of Surabaya 1945 demo is based on the CC5 demo. We experimented working on a version of the mod that could work based on the CC5 demo because a lot of Indonesians expressed interest in playing a (war)game based on Battle of Surabaya but the majority of these people are not CC fans and don't have CC5. Releasing a demo version based on the free CC5 demo will give these non-CC-players a chance to try out BoS45 and CC5.
The demo features three maps, six historical battles and three "what if" engagements. 16 Indonesian and British Battlegroups are playable in this demo, including TKR, TKRP, Militia, Indian, Gurkha and Para Battalions.
The demo is packaged with its own Windows Installer Package and don't work with the Config Manager. Full installation instructions are included.
In August of 2004, Zappi, Homba, Bambam887, RedScorpion and MOOXE all pitched
in to create this Close Combat site. I would to thank all the people who have visited
and found this site to thier liking. I hope you had time to check out some
of the great Close Combat mods and our forums. I'd also like to thank
all the members of our volunteer staff that have helped over
the years, and all our users that contributed to this site!
Thank you to our latest four cash contributors! Jscusmc69, Blitzpig_Jagger, Bordic (2nd time!) and Councilhater. Your contributions are greatly valued. There are a few minor changes to note around the site lately. Code clean up, fixing colours and some new additions to the forums. Please be patient with the new changes, they cover some of the operating costs. The 
Schrecken reports that between September 6th and October 13th the Operation Mars MMCC3 server had 1300 battles! Certain unnamed parties were hard at work cutting off large swaths of Russian maps. The victory went to the Germans in the end and the server has since been reset. There are currently three campaigns ongoing, Russian Front 41'45 on server 64.111.28.17 ports 2108 and 2110 and Operation Mars can be played at 64.111.28.17 port 2109. We should be publishing a guide on how to create your own MMCC3 campaign which upon completion can be hosted online for everyone to play, stay tuned.
