[Infidel]

Hello everyone.  It feels kind of nice to be back on here, really good to see the community is still alive.

So, I've not played any CC games for about 4 years (perhaps one or two of you may remember me, or more likely, remember beating me in multiplayer) but recently I've had this itch that needs scratching.
My problem is that I can't decide which game to buy to satisfy this itch.  I will be mainly playing single player this time around and after seeing videos of the AI in GtC and PitF I'm a little disappointed to see that the AI hasn't improved at all in, well, forever.

So my question is this;  Which game, (and with which mod,) of all the CC games, can I get the best single player experience from?

I always loved CC even when fighting simple AI, sometimes just sitting and listening to the ambient sounds and occasional shot from a hedgerow was kind of peaceful, so I'm looking forward to experiencing it again.  But before I decide which game(s) to purchase I'd really love some opinions on this.

Thanks.

[Rodmorg]

From my experience, I would recommend Close Combat 2. It has tiny maps, but hey, the AI is very attacking. You could lose a Victory location in a matter of minutes with CC2. The AI in that game is also very aggressive, as it throws everything it has to cross a single bridge for example.
I would also recommend CC5 - Winter War mod. It is my favorite mod as it is either an offensive or defensive game because you can either play as a large but vulnerable Soviet force or very defensive Finns. What I like about it as well is that you can get so many kills when playing as the Finns. When playing as this side (on the GC), an MG can kill at least twenty soldiers in a battle. For some reason, the AI can be attacking on certain maps, like the first one in the GC.
CC3, of which their AI is quite aggresive, but not as much as CC2 (obviously, when defending as the Soviets in 41-43).
While waiting for the new game, 'The Bloody First', has a new 3D camera perspective, may have attacking AI, which is shown in the two screenshots.

I hope this helps.

[Tejszd]

Buy TLD or WAR depending on preference of location and time of year as they are equivalent in features (mods made for either with the latest patch applied can be run on the other). They are both based on the CC5 code base adding a few features and fixing a number of CC5 bugs (as CC5 never rec'd a proper patch as Atomic shutdown).

LSA has more features than WAR/TLD but less mods (and that will most likely not change as it is easier to convert CC5 mods to WAR/TLD and there are not many new mods in progress).

[kweniston]

[ke_mechial]

My Favourites:
CC2: Operation Just Cause
CC3: Vietnam
CC5: Stalingrad Winter trilogy besides Summer Battle from Manoi, GJS Total Realism, Kharkov
CC WAR: TT's VetBOB
CC TLD: Battle of Caen

[vobbnobb]

They are all good
what I did as play the non matrix originals campaigns CC1-CC5, patched them to latest.
Pretty sure they are abandonware and can be gotten from the web, with a little searching. Let me know I will link it.

Then bought and played the others from matrix

[johnsilver]

I don't think there is another AI experience like playing CC5, Stalingrad: Der Kessel for the very 1st time. Long, drawn out and brutal. Best mod out there for any title IMO vs the AI:

Der Kessel


Edit:

Forgot to add it's on totally brand new maps as well.

[Antony_nz]

Operation just cause is a good 1.

The way i look at it is realism. Are the casualty's realistic?
For an example it was very common for the NVA to take disproportionately larger losses than the Americans in the Vietnam war.