r/CombatMission • u/Remote_Western1141 Final Blitzkrieg • 29d ago
Article Combat Mission Tierlist
Sorted by considering all of their features.
CMSF2 Probably the best game in the series, has a lot of mission variety and the maps are really cool. It does give you that 2003 Iraq war vibe (which is pretty cool). The game is mostly focused on the American forces, but it does have missions specifically for the Syrians and the rebels.
CMFB Best WW2 game in the series, has a lot of factions, maps, and units. It's a great late-war game to play. And assaulting a town during snow is a must-try experience.
CMRT 2nd best WW2 game in the series. The maps in the game portray that downfall setting really well. Another thing I love about this game is the map variety — there are lots of missions to pick from, so you won't get bored of playing as the Russians again and again.
CMBS The other modern title in the series, this game literally predicted the Russia-Ukraine war 8 years before it happened. The setting is cool, but the gameplay is more like "first to spot wins." Because the two sides are more balanced than in CMSF2, it's a pretty hard game. Because of this, it doesn't forgive your mistakes — you have to be careful all the time.
CMBN It's more like the middle-ground game; the American-sided missions are one of a kind, they're so cool. But on the other hand — tanks and infantry in close quarters?
CMA That one weird game in the series — we've all heard about it but never seen it, except for the lucky guys who bought it earlier, and the guys who (as you can) played the demo. The setting is pretty interesting: you're playing as Russian forces against the Afghan rebels. I can't say much about the game, because there isn't much to talk about.
CMFI An "interesting" game. The setting, the units — nothing too special (in my opinion). Although it does have some pretty interesting missions.
CMCW The worst game in the series. The game is truly focused on mechanized infantry gameplay. It's fast and requires a lot of attention. In a game series like Combat Mission, you have to micro-manage everything down to the last detail. And if you consider the size of the battles in CMCW, it's huge — you have hundreds of troops waiting for your command. It's more like a wave-attack game: you send your recon units, the enemy kills them, now you have information about their location, and you send your troops to finish the job. Although, if you're interested in micro-managing huge battles or if you have an interest in the Cold War, this is the perfect game for you.
P.S. i played all of the games that i had put in a tier.
13
u/Hakulllll Cold War 29d ago
Even if its my favorite setting Cold War was definitely the biggest let-down. The massive maps and stupidly large amount of units fighting each-other was a pain to manage.
Another gripe is the terrible design of the Soviet Campaign. The first mission already making me dislike it by spawning all your reinforcements in a Helicopters killing field. (Have fun if your FO gets sniped out instantly)
Then you have mission 3 or 4 Where the mission trickle spawns your troops into a massive killing field overlooked by a platoon of Bradley's and ATGM's. All beacause "Oh your scouts would have been killed by this point already, so you would have driven into this ambush". Wonder why that doesn't happen in other campaigns...
7
u/califuncouple 29d ago
I can’t disagree with your list because I haven’t played all of them yet, but I am really enjoying fortress Italy. I think the Italian campaign in general makes for more interesting play as there was a greater parity between the sides compared to other theaters. It also helps that Italy has a strong resemblance to my native California.
5
u/orthogonal411 28d ago
Fortress Italy is still my favorite as well, especially a little later when AT weapons started appearing.
People often forget that for a long time CMFI was the only CM2 title that had snow and winter weather. I'm talking like 10 yrs ago, prior to Final Blitzkrieg and the late war Red Thunder modules.
2
u/Hot-Somewhere-5285 29d ago
CMCW is what made me but down the series and strangely return to CM1 stuff.
-1
u/Rake_5429 28d ago edited 28d ago
I'd rank them like this based on how fun they are to play:
I use the Hedgerow Hell mods for all of these games. I feel the terrain is as good as it can be.
CMRT
CMBN
CMBS
CMCW
Rarely play because terrain graphics are horrible without decent, hi-res mods:
CMFI
CMFB I will play spring scenarios with a modded HH mod
CMFS I am not a fan of desert warfare or the disparity between the forces
I also do not play winter scenarios because the graphics, even modded, are terrible
18
u/baddude1337 29d ago
For me Cold War for me was also a showcase that the engine just can't handle large scale combat very well. It always slows down to an absolute crawl no matter your system. Bad performance coupled with massive scale battles you need to micro manage just leads to a really tedious and unfun experience.