Overview
Combat Mission: Fortress Italy is the fourth Combat Mission title using the CMx2 engine and the first using the 2.0 version of the engine. It covers the fighting in Italy, beginning with the battle for Sicily. The initial release includes the Americans, Italians, and Germans, with each army having its own campaign. The following modules will represent the rest of the war in Italy through to the end of the war.
Gameplay
Combat Mission: Fortress Italy can be played in one of two ways. The traditional way to play is with WeGo, a turn-based mode where each player gives orders to their units and then watch the turn play out with a minute of action. During this time, no orders can be given, but the players can re-watch the turn as many times as they'd like. The other mode, introduced in Shock Force, is a real-time mode which plays out similarly to other RTS games. In this mode, depending on the difficulty selected, the player is allowed to pause the game and give new orders as often as they'd like.
Each battle revolves around victory conditions assigned to each player depending on the scenario or quick battle selected. Traditionally, this has been Victory Locations, a spot on the map that must be held by the end of the battle. These locations can be as small as a single building or as large as a city block. CMx2 introduced other types of victory conditions, including destroying a location, destroying particular enemy units, low ammo usage, keeping friendly casualties low, and other variants of these. To achieve these conditions, the player must utilize the terrain to make as best use of the units allotted as possible. Overwhelming firepower can be brought down with smart use of the terrain. While ordering the units, C2 (Command and Control) must be kept in mind, as units outside outside of leadership control may not perform as well and break easier.
CMx2 2.0
The upgrade to the next version of CMx2 brought some long requested changes. Waypoints that can be dragged have been brought back, allowing a player to adjust a path without building it from the beginning. Unit grouping through hotkeys was also added, making real-time play more manageable. Scenarios can now be sorted by the various battle parameters, and those parameters are now listed plainly beside a scenario's picture when selected. Map making was made slightly easier by adding in the ability to import an image as an overlay on the map making screen. The last big change was the addition of pausing while playing a battle online. Alongside these changes were assorted other small tweaks, a few new orders, and a change to the rendering engine. All engine upgrades can be retroactively applied to past titles, beginning with Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy. Shock Force and Afghanistan will not receive any engine upgrades due to the many changes that were made to the engine for Battle for Normandy.
Units and Vehicles
Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E)
German Major Formations
- Panzer Grenadier Battalion (1942 type, motorized)
- Panzer Aufklärungs Battalion (motorized)
- Pionier Battalion (motorized)
- Panzer Battalion (3 Pz IV companies)
- Mixed Panzer Battalion (1 Pz IV company, 2 Pz III companies)
- Heavy Panzer Company (Tigers)
- Sturmgeschutz Company
- Panzerjäger Company
Italian Major Formations
- Infantry Battalion
- Blackshirt Battalion
- Machinegun Battalion
- Antitank Battalion (Cannone da 47/32)
- Pioneer Company
- Assault and Landing Battalion (motorized)
- Guastatori Battalion (motorized)
- Bersaglieri Battalion (Truck)
- Armored Car Battalion
- Tankette Battalion
- Machinegun Battalion (motorized)
- Light Tank Battalion (L5 tank)
- Light Tank Battalion (R35 tank)
- Tank Destroyer Battalion (Semovente 47/32)
- Tank Destroyer Battalion (Semovente 90/53)
- Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion (Semovente 75/18)
United States Major Formations
- Infantry Battalion
- Armored Infantry Battalion
- Ranger Battalion
- Parachute Battalion
- Engineer Battalion
- Armored Engineer Battalion
- Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop
- Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
- Medium Tank Battalion
- Light Tank Battalion
German Tanks
German Vehicles
German Halftracks
Italian Tanks
- Renault R-35
- L5/21
- L5/30
- L3/33
- L3/35
- Semovente 90/53
- Semovente 75/18 M41
- Semovente 75/18 M42
- Semovenete 47/32
- Carro Comando M41
- Carro Comando M42
Italian Vehicles
- AB 41
- AS.42 (Cannone da 47/32)
- AS.42 (Breda 20mm AA)
- AS.42 (2x Breda 8mm)
- AS.42 (Solothurn ATR)
- Fiat 626 NM
American Tanks
American Halftracks
- T30 HMC Halftrack
- M3 GMC Halftrack
- M2 Halftrack
- M3 Halftrack (1x M1919)
- M3 Halftrack (2x M1919)
- M3 Halftrack (1x M2HB)
- M4A1 Halftrack
American Vehicles
German Large Guns/Mortar (on map)
Italian Large Guns/Mortar (on map)
- 45mm Brixia M35 Light Mortar
- 81mm Mortaio da 81/14 Modello 35 Mortar
- 47mm Cannone da 47/32 M35
- 65mm Cannone da 65/17 M13
American Large Guns/Mortars (on map)
German Small Arms
Italian Small Arms
- M1891 rifle
- Beretta M38
- M1934
- Breda M30
- Breda M37
Small Arms
Air Support (Various loadouts)
German- BF-109G6
- BF-109G6/U4
- FW-190A5
American
- A-20G Havoc
- A-36A Apache
- P-40F Warhawk
Artillery Support
German
- 81mm sGrw 34 Mortar
- 120mm sGrw 42 Mortar
- 75mm leIG 18 Infantry Gun
- 150mm sIG 33 Infantry Gun
- 75mm FK 38 Field Gun
- 170mm K 18 Cannon
- 105mm sK 18 Cannon
- 105mm leFH 18 Howitzer
- 150mm sFH 18 Howitzer
- 210mm Mrs 18 Howitzer
- 105mm Wespe
- 150mm Grille
- 88mm Flak 36 Flack (as indirect artillery support)
- 150mm Nebelwerfer 41 Rocket
- 280mm Nebelwerfer 41 Rocket
- 210mm Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket
- 300mm Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket
Italian
- 81mm M35 Mortar
- 47mm Cannone da 47/32 Gun
- 65mm Cannone da 65/17 Gun
- 75mm Obice da 75/18 Howitzer
- 75mm Cannone da 75/27 Gun
- 100mm Obice da 100/17 Howitzer
- 105mm Cannone da 105/28 Gun
- 149mm Obice da 149/13 Howitzer
- 149mm Cannone da 149/35 Gun
- 90mm Cannone da 90/53 (as indirect artillery support)
American
System Requirements
System Requirements MINIMUM:
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/Win7
- Processor: Pentium IV 1.8 GHz or equivalent speed AMD processor
- Video Card: GeForce 5200 or Radeon 9200 (32 Megabyte VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution) in OpenGL
- Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card
- System Memory 256 Megabytes RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 3.5 GB
System Requirements SUGGESTED:
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/Win7
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.8 GHz or equivalent speed AMD processor or better
- DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card
- Video Card: GeForce 6800 or Radeon x850 (256 Megabyte VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution) in OpenGL
- System Memory 1 Gigabyte or more RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 3.5 GB
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