[Pete]

thanks squadleader. Glad to see that you are enjoying the mod!
Thanks also for pointing out the graphics bug. When I get back to updating the beta I'll have a look at it. Right now though, I feel like having a bit time off from modding and am enjoying playing other people's mods  

[Ivan_Zaitzev]

Started playing this mod a couple of days ago. I went head first without reading your notes and was taken by surprise (in a positive way) by the small maps and the ferocity of the battles! I'm loving it, but I'm having a hard time assaulting as the allies. I will have to take better care of my troops.

In the Loyal Eddies Ortona Opertion it was just impossible to advance, every time I destroyed one BG, another one took it place and because the German FJ where faster than the Loyal Eddies, I ended up playing the same map over and over.

Thank you for this excellent mod! It's truly an Italian Stalingrad.

[Pete]

Good point, Ivan, about the para bg's being too fast. I will have to change that or adjust the Ops.

[CC_CO]

Ortona 43 is a well made and tense modification of CC5. Playing it is almost like going back to a more brutal version of old CC2. The terrain is rough, bumpy and uneven, creating short view distances, often leading to these short ranged, insane fire-fights you normally wont experience in other modifications.

I have reached the 12th in the Canadian single player campaign and have captured the supply road up to Cider Crossroads, however, I am constantly being cut off in San Leonardo. Have been forced to clean that map two times already, and now I have to do it a third. New German BG just moved in. So my two battle-groups north of San Leonardo are therefore running out of fuel and ammo. Good thing I’m not fighting a human opponent.

The first map in the campaign, Moro Delta, took me five painful battles to capture. The map also depleted my battle group on it. No tanks left in it until I decide to reinforce.

As others I also wanted to be surprised, so I read as little about Ortona 43 as I could and decided not to peak the German side. So on Moro Delta I got the surprises I wanted. For instance I lost 2 Sherman’s in the second battle, against an antitank gun ambushing the road. In he following battles I lost my last Sherman, this time to an infantry gun behind a hedge. A lot of my infantry got cut down by enemy MG fire.  

What else to say at this early stage.

The music. I love the intro music. It set the tone of this brutal mod. However, when a map has been loaded the music could perhaps be a bit longer in order for it to fade out in an echo. The maps are great. Love them already. They are detailed and the size of the buildings makes things more realistic.

I like the fact that rifle squads has no smoke. Also, the few shells available for the mortars works fine too. You try not to waste your mortar ammo The German Mg sound is a bit too loud. Same goes for the sound of the blasting tank Mg sound.

Whatever the changes Pete & Buck Compton will add to their modification, I think it is safe to say that Ortona 43 already at this early stage is a little unpolished diamond.

Thank you!

[pvt_Grunt]

HiPete and Buck-Reme

Started playing as Canadians today - SP GC

1) - I dont think the index.mpi file should be in the map pack, when I extract the entire map pack to /maps  it wants to overwrite the original CC5 index.mpi. The index.mpi is in the .pln file and will be swapped out with the mod.

2) - The plug in didnt work for me. I have VISTA which prevents automatic file moves and overwrites. I believe this caused the plug in to fail. I did a manual install ( ) (holy shit I remember the "good" old days when it was ALL manual - NO THANKS). Interestingly, VISTA asked me to give CfgV13 admin rights AFTER the manual install. - too late Bill Gates.

3) - The game is sweet - it reminds me of some of the harder COI mods like GDS with limited units and no support. No human waves here, the units are too valuable.

So far so good - I will do an AAR after a few more prctice OPS.

Thanks for picking this mod up from PT and doing a great job of finishing it.

[pvt_Grunt]

Also - the debrief screen has a US flag as the back ground.. just picking details...

And thanks for the historical links, this all adds to the fun of playing.

[Hanzs-Sobieski]

Very good job!!!THX

[pvt_Grunt]

Great mod to play, the Canadians are VERY short on troops and tanks, so it is important to minimise casualties. I may have to reinforce the HOC already after 3 battles!
The battle sounds are very good, lots of screams, and I hear some German troops going beserk a lot.
It is very CC2 ish with the bren sounds and small maps.

[Pete]

I appreciate your comments guys.
Yes, playing as elite is severely limiting your units. If it makes it too hard you could always play as line. I have read the comments above and must admit that it never occurred to me that it was going to be a problem for some people to win the GC playing as elite. When playtesting i usually finish a map within 1 or 2 turns and after the first German battle groups are disbanded it is possible to quickly move on and occupy the bottom half of the stratmap.  As always, the game is best enjoyed h2h.
For the update I am going to take a closer look at increasing infantry survivability.

[pvt_Grunt]

No need to adjust the force pools, I'm not saying they're wrong, only that you dont have unlimited units like in some mods. This is a good thing.

[pvt_Grunt]

The Shermans can be devastating, when they finally get through the mud!

[pvt_Grunt]

Another good result. This was me defending, so it is always a turkey shoot against the AI. But with the German forcepools so big I need to wear them down.

About the forcepools, I am playing on elite, so the quantity of many of the units is zero. It would be better to give the player 1 of all the units so I can at least play them. Example there is a Fox A/car whic I would like to take for a test but is not available.

[pvt_Grunt]

My favorite Canadian unit is the Close Assault section. It comes with a mortar and a PIAT which I'm not normally fond of, but this time Walker killed a Mk IV and got a medal!

I like the small maps. I know they are cut up sections of larger maps but I think they are better this way, it suits CC5 better to have this size maps like CC2 and CC4 did. The combat is quicker and there is less exploring / recon to find the enemy.

[Pete]

Yes, the close assault section with direct fire mortar was included to provide a little more firepower on city maps. Not sure if you have played on a citymap before but on those maps there are certain no-go zones for armour and there you'd want something to blast gerry. The 2inch mortar actually seems to have been used in a direct fire role to blast through doors.
I have said it before too: small maps = more fun. The AI seems to be different in that they move from vl to vl more aggressively. The space between vl's seems to have an influence too.
Glad to see you are having fun playing sp . How about a h2h game?

[mooxe]

I played a few battles vs Ivan_Zaitsev on Gameranger the other day. It was fun. Mortars are pretty deadly, maybe even more deadly coming through a roof?

Also noticed something about men staying in the ambush mode, even when you told them to go to defend. Not sure....

[decedus]

Thanks for this bloody job. I remember when this project strarted... was already young!
Chô.

[Ivan_Zaitzev]

I'm getting a little tired of the LOS. Walls should not block LOS if you are next to them. And every small bush blocks my tanks LOS. I don't mind the mud, that's the terrain and it's part of the mod's charm, but the LOS...  

[Pete]

Ivan_Zaitzev, walls blocking LOS was mentioned in my first post of this thread as a bug. In the bug thread I asked to comment on the los but you are the first to comment. As for the bush blocking LOS: I don't think I am going to change this because in my opinion it prevents tanks from dominating the entire map from one position or to shoot up infantry even more easily (infantry lacking sufficient AT capability).  It also causes to engage in more close combat fighting. On maps this size some compromise has to be made.

[Ivan_Zaitzev]

Thanks Pete. I knew that the walls had been mentioned somewhere but I didn't remember where.
As for AT capability, German infantry has quite a bit of it, even the 12cm Mortars can track a tank, and those engineers with FT, explosives and AT grenades are quite nasty.  
But yes, the Canadian regular teams have no means to destroy a tank.

[caruso]

well done creators...it seems a very good work, thanks