Thomm

Finally a ISOMETRIC World War II Real Time Tactical Game !! Check out "Sudden Strike": http://www.cdv.de Does not look realistic, but might be fun - who knows ?! Screenshots: http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen1_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen2_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen3_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen4_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen5_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen6_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen7_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen8_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen9_1.jpg http://www.cdv.de/spiele/suddenstrike/bilder/screen10_1.jpg

Dear Steve ! You said that the knees do touch the ground. With all respect, but I do not think this is possible with the current 90 degrees (or so they appear) joint angles. But: I can very well be true that the knee touches the ground (I realized this when I considered only the front leg/foot and the knee) but if so, the FOOT of the kneeling leg would penetrate the ground. So maybe you should rotate this foot or bend the kneeling leg a little bit. Actually very easy to find out yourself, if you do not mind to "go on your knee" for the sake of the game . In any case I keep insisting that the current kneeling posture looks artificial and too much like a Yoga exercise ! Too many right angles ! But it seems that we have identified the problem, namely the back foot ! Regards, Thomm [This message has been edited by Thomm (edited 10-12-99).]

Excellent job on those faces !! Thanks, BTS ! Next issue: The guys are not really kneeling, but in a (rather tense) position on the tip of their toes ! Maybe you could bend the knee a little bit until it touches the ground ?! Just a thought ... Regards, Thomm

Please post screen-shots as soon as possible !!

If you increase the magnification factor, they will certainly do the Moon-Walk ! I do not think that can be avoided !

In the new screenshots the tank drivers would have their heads sheared of by the gun barrel if the turret turned ! Maybe you should consider to lower them at least ! Thomm

Dear BTS ! Of course the pictures are great ... But could you nevertheless consider a different texture for the faces of the soldiers which would make them look less like mice or somebody who just got his teeth kicked in ! Should be a minor adjustment ! Regards, Thomm

High, everyone ! I live in Vienna, Austria. Great historical city, but hard to find places open after 5 a.m. !

As for the toy soldiers ... Built a diorama from plaster once. Soon got bored of it and thought of a way to dispose it ! That was when my Grand-Dad (he was flown out of Stalingrad with appendicitis, yes, you can call that "luck") suggested to make a nuclear explosion ! And there we went: With a critical mass of terpentine we blasted away that thing ! I still remember the ball of flames rising three meters in the air ! Should have taken a picture ! Also made for some great damage assessment ! Regards, Thomm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>"Fionn and Martin are the exceptions because all they needed to do was patch"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Did Fionn get the "STURMTIGER" patch in time ????!?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Anyway those had such thin armour they weren't all that much of a threat.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <font size=+2>200 mm frontal armour is ... THIN ?!?</font>

Especially for you, CoolColJ: Body littered battlefield from "Shogun, Total War": 5000 infantry with individual AI in real-time ? I don't know ... Regards, Thomm

"Uh, if you were a Sherman tank commander, what would you do?" Well, take a look at these ... Regards, Thomm

Doug, you seem to be right ! I wonder what that tank will be worth in city fighting without HE shells (coming back to the question of the effectivity of AP and MG fire on infantry in buildings): One tank cannot be everywhere and there are Bazookas around ... Regards, Thomm

Dear Steve ! Moon keeps thinking that he is hit by HE shells from Fionns tank, whereas Fionn writes that he has only AP and smoke left ! Shouldn't there be a clearly distinguishable difference (different blast size) ? And: Can AP shells really harm infantry ? Regards, Thomm

Hey Fionn, how dare you reduce my immersion factor deliberately ?!

For smoke I would like to see slowly expanding semi-transparent hexagonal prisms ! Of course this would add 6+2*6=18 triangles to the list, but I think it would add a lot of what-you-see-is-what-you-get. If this is not possible then maybe a different, non-mushroom-type cloud could be selected to distinguish smoke rounds from burning vehicles ! Regards, Thomm PS.: Please lower vehicles on snow and mud !!!

Thanks, Steve ! For some reason this is what I wanted to hear !!! Regards, Thomm "I can see clearly now !"

As you indicate it would be very easy to argue that a body lying in the snow does not sink as deep as somebody walking ! Thus, that problem could be solved easily ! You do simulate ground pressure after all, don't you ! I think it would *really* enhance the immersion factor and be well worth the effort ! And since all of the sudden vehicle shadows appeared magically all over the screen-shots I do not take a no for a no anymore ! Regards, Thomm

Dear Steve ! As you bring up the tile topic again, I have a very innocent question: Can the user edit individual 2x2 subgrids or can (s)he only place pre-fabricated 20x20 tiles ?! Regards, Thomm

Dear Dar ! For the sprite look of WW II, check out the Panzer Elite Public Beta. You will have to agree that the sprite approach has its disadvantages, especially close-ups and the limited number of facings of the objects (like eight or such). Sprites in Myth look nice, though, but the price you have to pay is an almost fixed camera position. As a side note: To check out the possibility to move freely in space, even with the action paused, check out the Homeworld Demo ! It is very impressive to zoom and pan at 1280 x 1024 resolution with 10 "frozen" explosions on screen at the same time. Very, *very* nice. I expect similar effects in terms of spatial depth from Combat Mission. Another side note: The B17-II demo uses very clever textures to get an incredible spatial effect with an flat texture. Check out http://www.combatsim.com/htm/sept99/jpg2/17-bombs.jpg . I have never seen anything that comes close to this ! Ingenious ! Great to see creativity at work !! Regards, Thomm

I always found those abbreviations *extremely* annoying, because they interrupt the flow of reading. As if one cannot write "as far as I am concerned" in a matter of seconds ! I second abbreviations for technical terms (I try to avoid them), but for everyday English, no thank you ! Back to the subject: I could contribute 2D graphics, see http://volc.ctimes.net/gallery/artlara641.jpg and http://volc.ctimes.net/gallery/artlara642.jpg as trivial examples. Regards, Thomm

Gruess Dich, Moon ! What is your impression: Can/Do tanks hide from air-attacks in the woods ? Does the tac AI even try ? And ... were the tanks not painted white in winter ? If so, are they "white" for the plane pilot AI or as colourful as we see them in the current AAR ?! Regards, Thomm

Dear BTS ! Did you consider to visualize snow and mud by simply lowering vehicles and soldiers a little bit below the level of the terrain surface (until they would hit solid ground). This would mean that the observer would instantly realize how deep a vehicle is stuck in the snow and reconsider his orders accordingly. This would also help in distinguishing deep and very deep snow fields. Maybe just a few centimeters would already give a nice visual effect ! With Z-buffers and such I do not think it would have any impact on the frame rate, would it ? Regards, Thomm

For lack of technology knowledge I declare myself unable to comment ... But could you not just outline the terrain polygons ?!?!?!? Regards, Thomm