Thomm

Urgent Request: Please change the dark egde on the side of the gun mantlet of the T26 by an arc as it is apparent on the scale model. There is no need to emphasize the polygon nature of the gun mantlet with a *texture* that is aligned to the polygon edges! Regards, Thomm

I think that the mechanism of cutting off individual units and the associated effect on the supply level works pretty well. Furthermore, the fact that the initial setup on maps depends on the strategic movements adds a lot of variance on the map level (Attack, defend, meeting engagements from different directions) and, thereby, replayability. One major difference between CC and CM is that in CC you can finish battles in 15 minutes and a day of fighting in about 3 to 4 hours. This makes an strategical layer feasible. I am just playing a Campaign in CC4 and seen from a healthy distance of a few years it is a fun little game! Regards, Thomm

Requesting Permission to SOD OFF!

Almighty! The houses have a shadow now!?

Wait a second! Aren't they stuck somewhere between "requirements" and "architecture"?!

I find it hard to believe that the speed of the vehicle perpendicular to the line of fire does not influence the hit probability in a negative way, since this would mean that a tank running straight at a gun would be as easy to hit as a tank running across its field of view. No way!

I agree. I would suggest the following test: move a group of vehicles down a road with a few wiggles and kinks, but following a general direction. Make the surrounding terrain dangerous in terms of bogging down, because this is when the vehicles should stay on the road in the first place. Now give some vehicles a Move order from one end of the road to the other, with a slight offset depending on the starting position. Maybe the vehicles will move in a column, anyway? (I cannot do the test myself, because a friend has my CD.) Regards, Thomm

In an ideal world, the convoy formation would be a result of the pathfinding algorithm. If the roads are favored over open ground and the road is reasonably straight than it should suffice to set one desired endpoint per vehicle to make the convoy move in unison. Regards, Thomm

I forgot to mention how much I loved it when soldiers took cover behind wrecks in Close Combat ... still a really cool game engine, in my humble opinion! Regards, Thomm

A remarkably original thought! Expanding on the proposal, the handling would be similar to mounting a tank. The "attached" squad would move behind the tank and get a cover benefit. As it takes fire from one flank it would be able to "rotate" around the tank until, again, it is shadowed from the most severe threat. Movement of the squad should be tied to the tank, that is, if you want the squad to stop and shoot or take cover, stop the tank or cut the bond between tank and infantry. As soon as the infantry is panicking it can decouple just as it disembarks right now. It sure is a workaround, but it should model infantry following a tank with much less programming effort than infantry looking for cover and coincidentially ending up behind a tank as the result of their independent tactical decision. It would sure add to the atmosphere of combined arms attacks. It would be especially useful for using a tank as a shield in city fighting. I am not so sure if the impact is the same in a large scale assault over open ground (=higher probability of flanking fire). VERY nice idea, lassner! Regards, Thomm

Joke. Right?</font>

I have read your sentence five times now and still cannot figure out what you mean! That's quite cool!

Ha! The "always wanted to know but never dared to ask" question! I will give it a shot: lack of hydraulic pressure and/or electricity combined with unability to kick in a manual backup system?!

From http://140.116.5.2/~chungho/antonio.htm

There is something I do not understand: If the bullets ricochet from the street surface in the first place, why should it not, subsequently, ricochet also from a steel plate (tank belly), which is parallel to the street surface? Does ricocheting consistently alter the path of the bullet such that after the event the bullets trajectory is "steeper" than before?! If yes, doesn't this consume an enormous amount of kinetic energy? Regards, Thomm

Photorealistic?! [ March 18, 2002, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Rollstoy ]

You guys would love the Operation Flashpoint editor! Only recently I tried: - Sea Battle: your speedboat against three enemy ones. - Air to Sea: AH1 against a fleet of six speedboats ... do not hang around too long! And no gamey TOWs, of course! - Invasion: Your .50 cal against incoming speedboats! ...

This is the best clan name since "Legions of Peng".

These articles would constitute nice chapters in a CM manual!

Beautiful! Looks sort of handpainted, by the way!?

So suddenly our listeners have 1 degree directional resolution?? Before we had what? 45 degrees? Since you insist that it was possible in real life ... do you have any proof??? We have seen plenty of evidence that three or four listening posts were employed! Where is the historical support for two posts achieving the same? And, by the way: are you SURE that you do not mistake sound spotting with flash spotting, were accuracies of 1 degree should indeed be possible?!?! Regards, Thomm

Very correct! A true challenge for the Über-Listening-Post! Regards, Thomm

To give an impression, here is the solution after a transformation of the coordinate frame to achieve x1=0, y1=0, y2=0. There are two solutions, one of which is: x = dr13**2*x2**3 + dr12**3*dr13*x3 - x2**3*y3**2 + dr12*dr13*x2*(dr13**2 - x2*x3 - x3**2 - y3**2) + Sqrt(dr12**2*(dr12**2 - x2**2)*y3**2*(dr12**2 - 2*dr12*dr13 + dr13**2 - x2**2 + 2*x2*x3 - x3**2 - y3**2)* (-dr13**2 + x3**2 + y3**2)) + dr12**2*(x3**3 - dr13**2*(x2 + x3) + x2*y3**2 + x3*y3**2))/ (2.*(dr13**2*x2**2 - 2*dr12*dr13*x2*x3 - x2**2*y3**2 + dr12**2*(x3**2 + y3**2)))) y = dr12**4*dr13*y3**2 - dr12**2*dr13*x2**2*y3**2 + dr13*x2*Sqrt(dr12**2*(dr12**2 - x2**2)*y3**2* (dr12**2 - 2*dr12*dr13 + dr13**2 - x2**2 + 2*x2*x3 - x3**2 - y3**2)* (-dr13**2 + x3**2 + y3**2)) + dr12**3*y3**2* (-dr13**2 - x2*x3 + x3**2 + y3**2) + dr12*(dr13**2*x2**2*y3**2 + x2**3*x3*y3**2 - x2**2*y3**2*(x3**2 + y3**2) - x3*Sqrt(dr12**2*(dr12**2 - x2**2)*y3**2* (dr12**2 - 2*dr12*dr13 + dr13**2 - x2**2 + 2*x2*x3 - x3**2 - y3**2)* (-dr13**2 + x3**2 + y3**2))))/ (2.*dr12*y3*(dr13**2*x2**2 - 2*dr12*dr13*x2*x3 - x2**2*y3**2 + dr12**2*(x3**2 + y3**2)))) The other solution is of similar complexity. Regards, Thomm

I do not understand your post, tero! To many points mixed up. If you claim that two listening posts (without any direction finding) can locate a sound source purely by measuring a sound delay, then you are, unfortunately, wrong. Re-reading your post I see that you mention direction finding! How is this supposed to work? Does it not contradict to your 45 degree perception statement?! Regards, Thomm [ February 18, 2002, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: Rollstoy ]

My God, redwolf, you are the man! Finally the *true* solution. I had an eerie feeling (because there was no abs() or if() function involved) about the two line segments, but did not bother to dive into it deeper. Now that you stated the real solution it seems almost ... trivial, and at the same time so much harder to find the actual solution. Too sad that basic stuff like the definition of a hyperbola is so easily forgotten! Auf jeden Fall: Glueckwunsch! Thomm