Combat Mission: Shock Force Patch

Combat Mission: Shock Force is poised to become the new gold standard for computer wargames and military simulations. With over three years of intensive ground-up development, Combat Mission: Shock Force is ready to succeed Battlefront's previous series of top rated, award winning WW2 tactical simulations; Combat Mission Beyond Overlord, Barbarossa to Berlin, and Afrika Korps, practically anywhere in the world.

At it's core, Combat Mission: Shock Force is a military simulation depicting a hypothetical near-future conflict in Syria following a fundamentalist coup d'tat. As in Afghanistan 2001, the radical new government's refusal to shut down major terrorist organizations and its' regional destabilizing effect, compel NATO Coalition forces into action.

The initial release of Combat Mission: Shock Force focuses on the actions of the US Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCT) and Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (HBCT) as they fight against Syrian Army Infantry, Mechanized and Armored units. Combat Mission: Shock Force also features Unconventional Threat forces such as terrorists, spies, suicide bombers, IED's and other deadly tools employed in the asymmetric warfare of the modern day.

Along with the standard Red vs. Blue engagements typified in most wargames, Combat Mission: Shock Force will also allow players to fight Red vs. Red (Syria vs. Syria) and Blue vs. Blue (NATO vs. NATO) battles as well.

Since Combat Mission: Shock Force models combat set in Syria, a nation rich in diverse geography, the terrain types range from flat expanses of desert to vast wooded and mountainous regions and from small villages and towns all the way up to and including dense urban centers. Gamers familiar with the earlier Combat Mission games will be thrilled with the new 1 meter by 1 meter terrain mesh that allows for stunningly realistic maps. Dynamic lighting, deformable terrain, new 'flavor objects' and graphic special effects only help to further accentuate and intensify the playable environments.

Of course this new High Fidelity terrain modeling also extends into the realm of structures. Combat Mission: Shock Force features buildings with distinct window and door placement and interaction, variable roof styles, balconies, foundation sizes and heights. Buildings range from simple single story shops to soaring 8 story high housing and office complexes.

Combat Mission: Shock Force features a completely new experience for players in the form of a highly story-driven, semi-dynamic campaign from the US perspective. Each battle includes a detailed Mission Briefing outlining specific objectives, ranging from traditional "hold this spot" type battles to engagements where maintaining force cohesion or inflicting casualties is the goal.

In addition to the playable story based campaign are many stand alone battles depicting various types of firefights and situations facing the US and Syrian forces. Playable from either side (or both in Multiplayer mode), these single battles will cover a wide range of battle types, forces and environments.

The dynamic style of play inherent in Combat Mission: Shock Force's new game engine allows, for the first time, unique objectives for each side in a given battle, allowing each side to fight to fulfill its own goals rather than a single set common to both. This introduces a new challenge of having to guess and anticipate what the enemy is trying to achieve instead of knowing for sure what the other side is up to.

For those that prefer quick pick-up-and-play games, Combat Mission: Shock Force also includes the fan favorite Quick Battle option, now with more customizable options than ever. Those with a penchant for design can dive right in to the all new designed and expanded Game Editor to create their own battles.

Like in earlier Combat Mission games, games, Shock Force puts players in control of teams, squads, individual vehicles, and support assets organized according to meticulously researched real life TO&E (Tables of Organization and Equipment). New to Combat Mission: Shock Force is that each soldier is now modeled individually, including independent spotting and combat/weapon capabilities.

Vehicles are also simulated in greater fidelity in Combat Mission: Shock Force than what was possible before. This allows not just for exponentially greater data modeling, but also better visuals as the 3D models now sport between 10 and 30 times more polygons as in earlier titles.

To accurately simulate the often frantic and rapid pace of modern combat, the Combat Mission: Shock Force game engine was designed and programmed from the start to be RealTime. Experience Combat Mission like never before as you order your units while the battle rages on around you.

Knowing that RealTime play is not for everyone, Combat Mission: Shock Force also offers the exact same ground breaking WeGo hybrid turn based system that propelled the original Combat Mission games to an unprecedented three Wargame of the Year Awards from PC Gamer magazine.

Play the game as you want, in RealTime mode or in the traditional WeGo turn based style. Battle against the AI or another Human player via TCP/IP, PBEM (Play By Email), or Hotseat.

There are so many powerful features awaiting you in Combat Mission: Shock Force that it's impossible to list but a few of them. Experience the unique Relative Spotting system that reduces the unrealistic targeting problems found in most games (aka Borg Spotting), call in highly realistic air and artillery support, encounter extensive vehicle damage modeling, wield a full array of modern ATGMs, utilize up-to-date "up armor" modifications to US vehicles, control dozens of extremely detailed vehicle types with fully articulated suspension systems, command your troops using realistic portrayals of C4ISR communication systems, and so much more.

Combat Mission: Shock Force is not just a evolutionary advance from the earlier CM games, but a revolutionary jump. It takes all that we did right from before, adds in almost a decade of technological, computing and gaming improvements and mixes in our own unique and proven vision of what makes a GREAT game. It's been a long wait for you hardcore Combat Mission fans, as well as those new to the series, but Combat Mission: Shock Force is about to raise the bar for wargames and change how they are played and made for years to come!

Since the announcement of this game we have gotten a lot of requests in email and the forum for our "Best Picks" of books that we think would help gain a deeper appreciation for both modern combat and the types of operations that are modeling in Combat Mission: Shock Force. It took us a little while to compile such a list, but we have just posted a brand new Bibliography Page which lists 18 essential reads. My personal recommendation, Thunder Run, by David Zucchino. I can't say enough good things about this one! Every page is packed full of exciting combat between men and machines and presented in a very mature and in-depth way.

Here are some key features of "Combat Mission: Shock Force":

Both RealTime (pausable) or WeGo (turn based) game modes offered Detailed, story driven, semi-dynamic campaign as told from the NATO perspective Stand alone (non-campaign) battles Multiplayer modes with Internet, LAN, PBEM, and Hotseat play Red vs. Blue (Syrian vs. NATO), Blue vs. Blue, and Red vs. Red play options Full featured Game and Map Editor, create your own battles and maps or edit existing ones Configurable Quick Battle Generator Customizable Orders of Battle from meticulously researched TO&E Map sizes as tiny as 224mx224m up to a massive 16 square kilometers Play large scale battles or small platoon sized firefights Conduct combat operations in dense urban settings with buildings up to 8 stories high Over a hundred different terrain types including dozens of different buildings styles Windows and doors of buildings explicitly simulated, and their placement and appearance editable Individually tracked and modeled soldiers, including their equipment, ammo and weapons Comprehensive depiction and modeling of US Army Stryker Brigade combat Teams and Heavy Brigade Combat Teams Comprehensive depiction and modeling of Syrian Mechanized, Infantry, Special Forces, and Unconventional Threat forces Dozens of detailed US and Syrian vehicles including the M1A2 Abrams, T-72M1, M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System, and the M2A3 Bradley (planned vehicle list here) Inclusion of new and upcoming vehicle upgrades and add-ons like the Systems Enhancement Package, Tank Urban Survival Kits, Slat Armor and IR Obscuring Smoke Full simulation of advanced technologies such as active defense systems, ATGM tandem warheads, and 2nd Generation Thermal Imaging Systems Terrain mesh maps calculated and displayed to a 1 meter by 1 meter horizontal resolution Deformable terrain, including partial and complete destruction of buildings Access to C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) assets including FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below), Blue Force Tracker and UAV's Advanced human psychological modeling (morale) and tactical artificial intelligence (TacAI) Unit by unit relative spotting Extensive vehicle damage modeling Highly realistic and easy to use artillery and air support Stunning high resolution graphics featuring dynamic lighting and object self shadowing Vehicle 3D models with fully articulated suspensions, animated hatches, MG / Weapon mounts and smoke launchers Exciting soldier animations display exact stances, weapons, positions and unit status Wide range of weather types and environmental effects Night combat complete with night vision devices