kipanderson

Pzman, Thanks… That was exactly the information I was after. I knew that the old M series mobile chips had a clock speed about 2/3 that of the P4s for the same useable processing power when running something like CM. It is indeed a 2.4 GHz C2D powered dell laptop I have my eye on.. now I have a way of comparing it to my current 3.4 GHz P4 desktop. Thanks again… All the best, Kip.

Pzman hi, Thanks for the hints… It is the Dells with the nVidia Go 8600Ms that I am thinking about… When it comes to the main processors I do not really know how to rate them relative to the old P4, single processor chips. In terms of their real useable speeds, processing power. Thanks again… All the best, Kip.

Hi, Apologies for asking what many others will have asked but long experience has taught me to “always” ask here before buying a new PC . What is the view of how the Intel Core 2 Duo Processors and nVidia Go 8000 series graphics cards run CMX2? I fully understand that there are no guarantees… but what is the general view. There are now so many different kinds of processor that I am nervous of ending up with a laptop that struggles with CMX2. I have in the past got great advise from here on new laptops and CM hence am back to ask again . Thanks, All the best, Kip.

Normal Dude…hi, Thanks for the mapstor.com resource . As someone who is familiar with the Soviet Military Series topographical maps I am truly stunned by the quality of their service, price and ease of use. Just bought and downloaded 45 very high quality, fully digitised maps from around Belgorod and Kursk for just $4…. I hope the powers that be will forgive me pushing this site so hard but with a long line of CMX2 games coming this is by far the best such resource for scenario designers. Thanks… All the best, Kip. PS. Do not have time to do proper beta test but look forward to downloading the game when you publish. Cheers…

Hi, Congratulations…. Great stuff…. Very cunning map making . I look forward to it… All the best, Kip.

Hi, Great cartoon shot… Made me laugh . Thanks… All the best, Kip.

Hi, “the contemporary setting will indeed move into the temperate zone” Great stuff… Detail does not matter… what we are clearly going to get is NATO v Russia in a contemporary setting… hopefully… Fulda Gap 2009 and will do just fine . There is a God after all…. All very good fun, All the best, Kip. PS. BTW… CMSF does a very nice Battle for Ukraine 2008… with the toys coming in the Marines module, plus some very fine Russian mods out there you would be surprised how accurately NATO v Russia, but in the summer of southern Ukraine… can be simulated already. Will post some scenarios and campaigns and such in time.

Steve, “This is a decision that has only been reinforced over the years, not weakened. It matters not to us that some people refuse to understand our reasons.” Stop equivocating….just tell us what you really think…. All the best, Kip.

Hi, “To bad, my danish is a little bit rusty” Too true… spent all of my summer holidays as child on as farm outside Aarhus until the age of fifteen… bliss full… rural Denmark of sixties was the perfect playground for a child… Anyway… have forgotten all the my Danish.. . Good to see Danes too enjoy CM… . All the best, Kip.

Steve, “For me it was Panzer Blitz and Panzer Leader, both of which I loved to play.” I am shocked… you must be as old as you look… Maybe even as old as me… . All good fun, All the best, Kip. PS. For me Squad Leader replaced Panzer Leader… BTW…it is those great SPI operational games I would love to see you have a go at developing in PC form…

Hi, “I know Dorosh said something a while back about maps becoming maybe "geomorphic" like in "Squad Leader". That would suit me perfectly - i.e. lots of small maps that slot together to create one big one in lots of various ways. Sounds like a good plan to me.” I had not heard that one before… but I too think it sounds good. The map editor is one of the glories of CMX2… is flexibility is shocking… but with the flexibility comes hard work. Tweaking existing maps can totally change them to the extent that they are unrecognizable… which of course is the aim when making a new map. Copy and paste in the map editor would be my first wish, but geomorphic/Squad Leader style sounds good too if easier to implement. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I think the future is incredibly bright. We all differ but after many years of fun with CMX1 I suddenly found I could no longer cope with Absolute Spotting… never played another game of CMX1. Then after a pause of two or three years along comes CMSF. After a difficult start CMSF and CMX2 generally is now all I had hoped for. CMSF plays smoothly and easily without anything that breaks the immersion. I think of it as CMX1 with more detail. Importantly all the features many missed are now in CMX2 or on the way. The popup orders menu made an enormous difference and improvements to QBs and more choices for human v human play are also in line. Steve says no one can guarantee being able to update previous versions of CMX2 with new features but this may well be the case. We all just have to wait a while. All the features of CMX2 Steve talked about a couple of years ago have come to pass or have been confirmed as on the way in later games. We have a temperate setting for modern warfare on the way, a Normandy game and an Eastern Front game after that. Every box is ticked . However… this may not be the place to lobby.. and CM will always be my favourite as Squad Leader once was, but I would love to see Battlefront try their hand at an operational game. Many operational games have come close, but to my mind none have quite hit the spot the way CM has in tactical gaming/ tactical simulations. By “operational” I do mean the lower end of the operational scale. The western definition of “having the right battalion, in the right place at the right time”. If hexes were there 1 mile or 1 km per hex. Or played over a 1:50,000 topographical map. Battalion manoeuvre units as the default. WEGO or pause-able RT. I can but dream…… Steve I am not asking for any commitment and future versions of CMX2 would be my favourite first anyway…. but have you ever considered having a go at a traditionally scaled operational game? Or does it just not appeal? We all have are likes and dislikes… All the best, Kip.

Hi, From Steve… “Having a Modern setting in a temperate environment is one of those conditional "yes" answers.” This is huge news… well news to me anyway . What it means is that my much loved “high-intensity warfare between enemies in the same ball park” is a near certainty. Having said that we may get NATO 2009 against some semi-developing nation in the Balkans … lets hope not… . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Great to hear all this. I think myself very lucky because the direction of travel of CM has been spot on what I hoped for. The same scope and scale as CMX1 just more detail there. 1:1 representation was a huge challenge and Battlefront has pulled it off wonderfully. The future for CM fans is bright. On top of more modules for CMSF and Normandy there is the tantalizing prospect of and return to the Eastern Front as the third game. Things do not get any better… . Congratulations all round…. All the best, Kip. PS as forums are very much about lobbying… the “big” feature I wish for to make it in to CMSF rather than a later game is artillery delivered smoke. The realism of CMSF does take a hit without it… now… where are my books on the Korsun Pocket ’44 .

Hi, I agree that I too would love to see the Yom Kippur War in a module. It would have to be in a reduced version with only the most “famous” AFVs of each side modelled. All that is needed is in the Syrian mix already. CMSF is a wonder of a simulation, just look at the gap between it any other attempt at the modern era. CM is the only PC game I play because it is moving military history. But in my view CMSF is much under used in its present setting. Still hugely good fun…. but not used to its full potential. After the Brit module… end with bang… Yom Kippur War… . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, “CM series the best wargames in the history” I agree…. I am open-minded in that I try a lot of other wargames in the expectation that one day, surely… someone else will at least come close. The only game to come close… and a much underrated game it is too, is the Take Command series… {commercial link removed by admin} But in my view nothing else does come close. If you compare CMSF with Steel Beasts there is no contest. Those of us who are keen on tactical wargames are hugely lucky that Battlefront produce tactical wargames and not Space Lobsters…. All good fun, All the best, Kip. [ March 21, 2008, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: Moon ]

Adam , hi, This is an extremely difficult call to make… the main manufacturer of say tanks… may be able to separate labour cost and materials/supplies but of course his suppliers all have a big chunk of labour costs in the prices they charge… and so on… I have done a lot of work on defence costs… and the “real cost” of defence equipment. This will not answer your question… but this is the approach I have taken. The real cost to anything is the “highest valued alternative forgone”. A good way to look at it is what percentage of real GDP a batch of say 5000 latest model tanks would cost compared to the percentage of GDP such a number of tanks would cost in say Russia. Or more interestingly what a batch of 5000 M1SEPs would cost as a percentage of GDP compared to what a batch of 5000 Shermans cost as a percentage of GDP in WWII. I will save you the full rant on the subject but I can tell you that when you compare the cost of say T90s and M1s in terms of the percentage of GDP to the US and Russia a batch of 1000 would cost less for the US because their economy is so much larger. However… if you compare the cost of a T90 to the cost of a M1 relative to real wages they are roughly the same. The real output per head in Russia is currently about 30% of the figure for the US… GDP at parity purchasing power… and the cost of a T90 is also close to 30% of the figure for an M1. Consider that Russia’s population is about 140 million, call the US figure 300 million…. Then you can say that 1400 T90s would cost Russia about the same as 3000 M1s would cost the US as a percentage of their respective GDPs. BTW… the real cost of land warfare military equipment today is less than it was in WWII. Aircraft on the other hand do cost more real terms today than they did in WWII. All good fun and interesting stuff, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Great mod… Quite a few of us are thinking the same way… shame to waste CMSF “just” on the Middle East. I have come down on doing the Battle For The Ukraine 2008 with Russia coming to aid of the ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine and NATO coming the aid of Ukraine… But no matter we are all after the same… high-intensity warfare between major nations/blocks. East v West. I think the camo Syrian AFVs ship with in CMSF is fine for Russia… but look forward to using your Russian uniforms… they look great. The Russian voice mod I have in there already adds a lot. All a lot of fun… CMSF really is stunner… never thought it would quite so good… All the best, Kip.

Hi, Thanks for the help in finding the mod… I do now have it… Thanks again… All the best, Kip.

Hi, I thought I saw that someone had been cunning enough to do a low horizon mod? Do I recall correctly and can anyone direct me to it…? I did do a search but got nowhere. Thanks, All the best, Kip.

Hi, T95 is real...will be out next year... That is in the Real World.... ... not scheduled for CMSF as not operational in active units for a year or two yet. All the best, Kip.

Kevin Kinscherff, hi, Got a bounce back when I emailed you on the address you have in your profile… email me on kip@su76.com if you wish. All the best, Kip.

Ukraine… Hi, Thanks for all the offers of help in providing ideas and mods. I will be taking up the offers as although I realise it is easy to get carried away I think this one will run. Just to get one thing out of the way. I agree with others that Battlefront suddenly turning around and saying they will do the Yom Kippur War is unlikely and I am not holding my breath. But it is not impossible. Steve and co are more open minded than some may think. Because it is real, and is the only true, WWII type combined arms/mechanised clash in the post war period they may give it a go. But let’s put together a Ukraine mod anyway… The back story is about as credible as one can do given that happily from a real world perspective there is currently no stand off between NATO and Russia or the like. But if there were to be one some form of clash over an ex-Soviet republic is my best bet. As I explained above Russia also has the technology and money. It is also all far more evenly matched than some may believe. But to truly see this you have to build geographically realistic terrain and setup scenarios that use this terrain realistically. Although, of course, realism is in the eye of the beholder . Let me illustrate what I mean. You need a map some 3km by 3km as a near minimum. The objective, say for a NATO attack, is set right in the middle. You need such a big map so that there are no “safe flanks”. Remember in the real world there is no safe map edge to hug. If you then select Republican Guards with equipment set to Excellent you would be shocked just how difficult any NATO attack would find things. There is a lesson from history in this. Go back 64 years to February ’44. The newly formed Panther battalion from Gross Deutschland, 60 Panthers strong… was used to try and force a gap in the Soviet ring around the Korsun Pocket. On the first morning of the attack 15 Panthers were lost in exchange for 14 T34s. They tried again on the next morning by the end of which there were only 15 Panthers left. This is as reported by the germens themselves. Why such a poor result? They were attacking into “village Russia” over the undulating hills of the Ukraine. The humble Soviet Model ’42 76.2mm gun can penetrate the side armour of a Panther at over 1000m even with a 45 degree strike. If you imagine such terrain, where in the real world there is no “map edge” you will understand how difficult and how slow the progress of the German attack must have been. Set up a Model ’42 gun behind a building in one village and it can have a near perfect view of a Panther’s flank as a lead Panther comes into view attacking a neighbouring settlement say some 1000m -1500m away. I modelled this with CMBB and there was a perfect match up with history. A credit to Battlefront. Now imagine not Model ’42 guns but AT14, AT13 and AT4C Russian ATGMs in a similar setting. All will get the picture . The match off between late model T72s/T90s and M1s is very similar to Panthers v T34/85s. Also… lots of artillery on both sides. We are really talking the German summer ’42 operation into the Ukraine but with US, Brits and Ukrainians, yes… Red v Red too… on one side the Russians on the other. The scenario potentials huge…. a modern Stalingrad… say in Rostov… a series of scenarios taking NATO further east to Rostov through the blazing southern Ukraine summer… This is going to be fun… . Will be in contact with those who offered to help… All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Thanks to the skills of all at Battlefront CMSF is now at full power… a joy to use and a simulation of such high quality if dealing with historical events it would be a form of military history… as CMBB and CMAK are. So… the question is what to do with this simulation? I too enjoy the shipped setting with its echoes of Iraqi and Afghanistan mixed in with conventional warfare. But like many it is the clash of mechanised armies close to being in the “same ball-park” in terms of technology that is my first love. With the stunning map/terrain provided in CMSF thanks to Dan and friends, and the equipment available in CMSF now and in the pipeline, I am coming round to the view that a NATO v Russia clash in south-eastern Ukraine may be the best setting to produce what I am after. What do others think? What inspired this is a careful examination of the equipment that is allocated under different settings in CMSF….and…. the fact that the map editor so well reproduces the Ukraine. 3rd Shock Army Advance into NATO’s flank 200km NW of Rostov. NATO held town burns in the distance. The only mods needed are faces, hands, voices for the Syrians and then buildings and lower and greener horizons. Long grass, brush some of the tree and bush types all work just fine for the South Ukraine in the summer. When it comes to the equipment if you choose Republican Guards mechanised and tank units set to the “Excellent” equipment option and then add a Special Forces AT platoon or two you do get late ‘90s developed, currently operational Russian equipment. With the coming T90 and BMP3 even more so. I constructed a “proof of concept” scenario. 2km by 2km CMSF map built from a real topographical map using tall grass, wheat/crops and a careful selection of trees/bushes/brush and buildings. A mechanized battalion on each side with lots of support. Dug in defensive positions and so on. I do not have a very powerful PC, 3.4 GHz single core Intel but with 2GB of RAM. But all worked very smoothly… no problems. A back-story could go along these lines… “Then the Ukrainian crisis erupts. Extreme Ukrainian nationalists reassured by NATO declarations made in the early ‘90s to protect their new found independence overreact to unrest amongst the ethnic Russians in south eastern Ukraine. Russia feels compelled to intervene on behalf of the Russians living in the region. In the west the cry of “Poland ’38” and “Munich” goes up and NATO, however reluctantly, feels it must intervene on behalf of the Ukrainians.” Remember… Russia of 2008 has both the technology and the money. They do not currently choose to spend it on defence… not on anything at the moment… but if they did they could be up and running militarily. Anyway…. all will get the point. I hope others here will chip in… what ideas have others got to try and produce a match-up and setting that is more OPFORs in character than CMSF currently is but, of course, using the tools that come with CMSF. Given where we are now I am surprised that Battlefront is not interested in a Yom Kippur War module… but they are not. 90% of the Syrian army units are there, the terrain is there, and I would have thought Israelis ’73 army was no more work than Brits 2008. The Yom Kippur War happened, it is the only real armoured clash on a WWII scale using then contemporary NATO/Soviet equipment. I think it would sell way more than any other module. Some would no doubt buy CMSF just for the module. I am quick to lobby, did for Fulda Gap ‘80s for years , but from where we are now I really am puzzled Battlefront are not interested in the Yom Kippur War. If they are happy to build a British Expeditionary force 2008… why not Israelis ’73? They must have their reasons… All very good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, I certainly agree with the sentiment that had CMSF been released in its 107 version is would have made every bit as much of a splash in all the right ways that the three CMX1 games did. No point replay the reasons why it was released too early but all at Battlefront will have been aware of it and only released it so early for reasons they could not avoid. Happily… all is now well and wargame wise the future is very bright. Normandy next then off the Eastern Front and with added features such as CoOp/live team play to come. Wargaming couldn’t get any better… . All the best, Kip.