Other Means

CMAK came out in 2003? What...where... 2003?

Good point, well done BFC & Hunting Tank. Personally I would prefer AK just to play British but the Ostfront has so many possibilities who can complain.

What a superb idea. Tell me when you want my money. I'll buy this and look forward to a AK one, hint hint.

*shakes head to clear sound of horn blowing* We're know you know what you're doing. I personally would have preferred WWII but understand the reasons for Modern Era. So I've got over it. I'm sure 99% of people here are, or will become, the same. <font face="-2" color="#555555">Can I say I think it should be called Combat Mission: Bush Wars? No? OK.</font>

I think it's a bit more complex than that. Tanks with long range optics spot things at, umm, long range a lot better but things outside their immediate field of vision they spot less well. This simulates the narrowed field of vision of binos. Some German tanks have both wide FOV optics and long range optics to get round this. As ever, all this is in the unit detail and available from Falks site: http://cmak.jemian.com/

I ask myself if BFC will ever release the code as "public domain"? And I answer myself "no".

It certainly would have been divided. If they'd announced CM: Normandy (with other NWE modules to follow) the ETO lot would have grumbled a bit but probably still bought it. I think this division is slightly different though. The US gung-ho crowd (Abbott, DaleM et al) think it's great. The modern military fanboyz (Flamingpicky) and the ex-servicepeople are excited. But if you don't fit into that category, or if you find the prospect of playing an aggressive USA invading yet another Muslim country to 'spread liberative freedom because God told me to, oh and to get some WMDs', then your immediate reaction is 'yuk'. Maybe it'll be great. Maybe the demo will wow the nonbelievers. Maybe they'll just wait for the WW2 release, though. </font>

Sorry oppos - few RL issues recently. Turns monday.

Strangely aroused.

Replace "computer game" with "fish". Still don't feel bad?

Disappointed? Put me down somewhere between gutted and really bloody pig sick.

What a horrible mix of emotions this sentence must bring about. Yes, you get to gut him, but he has to be in your home. Yes, he's leaving a pile of entrails to analyze, but all your liquor is gone and the property value is plummeting. It's almost a quandry. BFS5 </font>

Are you clearing the decks *crosses fingers* oh please oh please.

I'm pretty sure this isn't the case and that a unit will be more likely to fire at an enemy within the covered arc. Yup. Preeety sure.

I think if there was just a delay in an area fire order being carried out. This would partially get around the God problem by simulating the intel to fire into that particular area coming over the command net. Which means that units in C&C can area fire, those not can't. Unless they've got their own intel, e.g. they saw a unit go into the woods or got a sound contact etc, then they could area fire with no delay. To sum up; Units who have seen or heard a unit within the last n minutes of an area can fire within x meters of them, in or out of LOS. Units in C&C can get orders over the command net within y seconds to area fire, dependant on strength of C&C, unit experiance etc. Units not in C&C cannot get area fire commands. My half a pfennig anyway.

As if you need one.

I for one appreciate the 3 hour effort.

Damn, and I've got it too. </font>

Damn, and I've got it too.

BTW, J Ruddy, your sig intrigues me - what's that about then?

I think in a broad sense, that may be true but I have a good friend who was a Karl Gustaf #2 for years and he was most definitely trained to load, hold for Karl G#1 to fire then run like hell. Keeping in mind that a lone isolated tank or other armoured vehicle would be rare game for tank hunters, in a normal combat situation they'd only have a few seconds after firing before all hell would break loose on their position. </font>

As the Lobsters have a motile stage before becoming the armoured crustations we all recognise and abhor, it MUST be supported. The 3 levels of the SLoD caste should also be represented, not just in their infantry but in their flying stage, as they have completely different attacks. The Workers acid goo drops, the Queens HVAP egg launcher and the Drones dreaded barbed penis attack. I won't buy it if they're not in.

This really breaks down to 2 different things, what you as the player sees, and the orders your units need to have. For the units, I reckon you need to give orders such as; "Move to here, keep yourselves under cover" or "Make best speed to here". I think that would better approach reality and remove having command delays for following a gully, keeping in cover etc. The AI seems to be able to do this sort of plotting as is, as evidenced by the waypoints it can give to units; e.g one of the shortcuts I used to use playing massive battles in CMBB was to give my T34s "fast" orders and make sure they went through a patch of tall pines, the AI would then plot the quickest path, saving me command delay and boredom. So a solution here may be a "Move to here under cover" order (etc), the AI lays out a suggested path, using waypoints with a certain "give" and you can accept as is or change it. Opens a can of worms with the "give" but it may be worth looking at. ISTM that it would also scale gracefully for bigger battles. Seeing things from each soldiers perspective starts to get a bit messy I think, as his mates may be fully exposed to fire at the same time, also it seems to be against the design philosophy of CM. The other point is what we as a player sees. There've been many suggestions for LOS helpers, but the best I've heard is clicking the map at a position and everything in LOS is shaded. Also, I don't think there's need for gridded terrain with contour lines, the lines would give more information. Edit; sorry if I'm rambling, my temp is 102 but falling.

I think Steve mentioned that each guy would have individual morale, so it's reasonably safe to assume (oo ooh) that each can break and run. If so, I'd imagine they couldn't be further controlled by the player. Whether they then try to re-join their units will be interesting to find out.

Yes, we know our plaice. </font>