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I have read about it and seen some posts about this, so my only question is: Why ever choose round mode? It seems to me that there are no advantages choosing round mode - so what is it good for?

I LURV round mode to bits..
I use the "60 secs per round" setting which means the game stops every minute so we can issue orders (no rush, we can take as long as we want).
Then we hit "GO" and sit biting our nails and sweating buckets for one full minute hoping we've given the right orders to suit the dynamic ever-changing situation, and when the game's over and our wildly-beating heart rate has returned to normal we can go off for a much-needed cup of hot sweet tea and a lay down.

I sometimes play realtime for a change, BUT only if there are relatively few units to order around, otherwise it becomes a crazy clickfest if we have to go around micro-managing huge masses of units.

I mostly play the game in round mode, and I play it in a very specific way.

I use the player character as a HQ unit, and I typically stay zoomed-in most or all of the way on this unit while the game is playing in real time. I don't see anything except what is right next to the character, I just read the msg box and I often have the OOB screen open. When the round ends, then I zoom out, assess the situation and give all my orders. Before starting the next round I zoom back into player character.

It is very immersive for me. It is like a texted based wargame, with the msg box/minimap/OOB screen. I can rename the units, so that helps understand who is doing what. The sounds are very important in this regard. I hear the enemy getting closer. I hear a shot far in the distance and I read who killed something or got killed. If the action gets real close the sounds get real close! I see the little red dots on the mini map. I wonder what they are but have to wait for the end of the round.

The round mode can have many uses. If a command delay is around 1:00 and the rounds last 1:00, then I must exactly think one step ahead. This varies of course depending on HQ%. Above all, it regulates the pauses.

I thought it was a lazy way not to use the pause function. I find your stories quite interesting. Maybe I'll try it one day

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I typically stay zoomed-in most or all of the way on this unit[/quote]

Interesting way to play a top-down war game. Some play CM in Iron Mode whereby you play at the lowest (ground) level view i.e. not using any of the bird's eye views. In a true 3D environment, you get the feel of a first person shooter while commanding say an entire company. Not for the faint of heart since the AI is very tough playing this way especially in a town or city. Some folks do as you do and after several turns they go to an overhead view to get oriented. Then they drop down to ground level to plot their next moves. Similar idea and you're right - immersive.

Kevin

Modern higher-echelon commanders sit at a computer screen issuing orders such as "Go here, Go there, Kill, Don't kill" etc, then leave it to the commanders in the field to carry out those orders without continually butting in.
Round Mode simulates that nicely, we issue orders at the start of each round and leave it to our boys with their asses in the grass to get on with it..

This is great to read! I had no idea that is how round mode works.
Just picked up the game last night so have not really learned how everything works yet but that will be my go to mode there.

Very much like my beloved Combat Mission.

Thank you!

ORIGINAL: Stardog765

This is great to read! I had no idea that is how round mode works.
Just picked up the game last night so have not really learned how everything works yet but that will be my go to mode there.

Very much like my beloved Combat Mission.

Thank you!

I played the Combat Mission series for 10 years, it's a 3D game as you know, but AB is top-down 2D and makes an interesting change..
Here's where you set what Round length you want in seconds (30/60/90/180/360)-



PS- Dunno if you saw the TV documentary about English soccer star Bobby Moore a few weeks ago, but Moore said the guy who had the biggest influence on his career was Malcolm Allison who told him "Always play by thinking ahead"
That applies to Round mode too, because when you issue orders before the start of each round you've got to try to think ahead to what is likely to happen when you hit "GO", and frame your orders accordingly..

Thank you!

Yes I very much prefer the round mode or actually WeGO, i think it makes for much more realistic gameplay and decision making.

Interesting snippet about commanding troops and how in Round mode we should try to look ahead and anticipate the enemy's moves-
In Norman Schwarzkopf's autobiography "It Doesn't Take a Hero" he says (page 158) the "most brilliant tactical commander I'd ever known" was Col. Ngo Quang Truong of the South Vietnamese Army.
Schwarzkopf was a Major at the time and worked closely with him in Nam.




"He did not look like my idea of a military genius" writes Schwarzkopf, "only five feet seven,in his mid-forties,very skinny...yet he was revered by his troops and feared by those North Vietnamese commanders who knew his ability...it was fascinating to watch him operate.
As we marched, he would stop to study the map, indicate a position and say "fire artillery here".
I was skeptical at first but called in the barrages; when we reached the area we found bodies.
Simply by visualising the terrain and drawing on his experience fighting the enemy for 15 years,Truong showed an uncanny ability to predict what they were going to do.
When we set up our command post that night, Truong opened his map, lit a cigarette and outlined his battle plan.
The strip of jungle between our position on the ridges and the river, he explained, made a natural corridor - the route the NVA would most likely take.
He said 'At dawn we will send out one battalion and put it here on our left as a blocking force between the ridge and the river.
Around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning they will make a big enemy contact.
Then I will send another battalion here to our right. They will make contact at about 11 o'clock.
I want you to have your artillery ready to fire into this area in front of us, and then we will attack with our 3rd and 4th battalions down toward the river.
The enemy will then be trapped with the river at his back'"
The battle went exactly to plan, and Schwarzkopf writes "We'd scored a decisive victory!"

(PS-Truong later emigrated to Virginia and died there in Jan 2007)