George MC

Silesia, Dawn 25th January 1945: General Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army has turned 90 degrees to the south and cut off German forces fleeing from the disaster at the Vistula. Nothing seems to stand in his way to breach the last major defense line left to the Wehrmacht—the Oder River south of the Silesian capital of Oppeln. Elements of his 9th Mechanized Corps have already overrun a majestic estate. It is Strachwitz’ ancestral home, Groß Stein. The German High Command desperately scrambles to send forces to hold—or blow-- the key bridge at the Oder river town of Krappitz. Strachwitz , still recuperating from a terrible vehicle accident in the fall, has risen from his hospital bed on crutches and assembled a force of volunteers. This is the final scenario in The Panzer Counts Ostfront CMBB series. Map size: 2.9Km x 3Km Total points combined: Approx 11000 combined. Authors: George McEwan and Charlie Meconis Designer’s note: we describe this scenario as “semi-historical” because there is very little solid detailed information on the operations of Strachwitz’s last command in Silesia during the chaotic final months of the war. We have chosen a carefully researched actual battle setting—the fight for Krappitz, Silesia—as a plausible and interesting setting for this last battle in our Strachwitz series Two versions available for testing over at TPG: AI H2H Comments most welcome

Hi Guys Many thanks for that - look forward to your comments I'm off on holiday myself DAF - down to Wales or wherever the sun shines for some rock climbing. Have a good one Cheers fur noo George

Still here on the Ost Front - in fact once all the playtesting is done with Der Graf we'll be starting a new series set on the Ost Front. Charlie and I are still discussing what it's to be Till CMX2 hits the Eastern Front we'll still be doing stuff for CMBB. Cheers fur noo George

Thanks Guys Cheers fur noo George

Strachwitz's Last Blitzkrieg 1944 Latvia, 20th August 1944: After breaking through the Soviet lines south of Dzuktse "Panzer Verbande Strachwitz" under the command of Major General Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds makes a daring attack to break the Soviet encirclement of Army Group North. Map size: 3.6Km x 2.4Km Total points combined: Approx 21 000 combined. Designers Note: This scenario is classed as semi-historical as we have had to make compromises with the map scale and terrain to fit them into a CMBB battle frame. Playing the Battle It is recommend that you play this H2H. It will play out as German Vs Soviet AI only (note due to German OOB it will not play out the other way). If playing against the Soviet AI give the AI a +2 CEB. Before playing please check your side specific brief very carefully - there is critical information contained therein. Authors: George McEwan and Charlie Meconis NOTE: This is a BETA version for testing. You can grab it here at TPG to take for a test run [ October 04, 2007, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: George Mc ]

Strachwitz's Last Blitzkrieg 1944 Latvia, 20th August 1944: After breaking through the Soviet lines south of Dzuktse "Panzer Verbande Strachwitz" under the command of Major General Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds makes a daring attack to break the Soviet encirclement of Army Group North. Map size: 3.6Km x 2.4Km Total points combined: Approx 21 000 combined. Designers Note: This scenario is classed as semi-historical as we have had to make compromises with the map scale and terrain to fit them into a CMBB battle frame. Playing the Battle It is recommend that you play this H2H. It will play out as German Vs Soviet AI only (note due to German OOB it will not play out the other way). If playing against the Soviet AI give the AI a +2 CEB. Before playing please check your side specific brief very carefully - there is critical information contained therein. Authors: George McEwan and Charlie Meconis NOTE: This is a BETA version for testing. You can grab it here at TPG to take for a test run. [ October 04, 2007, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: George Mc ]

Hi Handihoc Cheers for your comments. Yeah I think balancing out the earlier scenarios was a real challenge due to unfamiliarity with the game engine, weapon systems etc. Also there was a concern we might make the Red side to effective. Still I'll go back and take a look at some of the standalones firther down the line and see what tweaks I can make to em. Glad you are enjoying 'Hammertime' though Cheers fur noo George

My fault! I saved it with an older version of the BETA version of 1.04. Now saved 'Hammertime' with 1.04 and uploaded a revised and hopefully 'oddness' free version 3 at CMMODS. Cheers fur noo George

Hi All Now you all have CMSF1.04 can I strongly suggest you delete the older versions you have of 'Hammertime' and download the new version (version 3 for CMSF 1.04) over at CMMODS. Because I saved it with earlier beta versions I suspect there are some odd goings on with it. To be safe I have saved it in the new 1.04 and uploaded a new version. Sorry for any inconvenience. Cheers fur noo George [ October 02, 2007, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: George Mc ]

I've never been called a puppy before - that's sweet He! He! Cheers fur noo George ps Steve the Factory Outlet scenario was Rune's - I'd never be that evil...

Hi Snake_Eye Cheers for that - good effort As long as the tanks appear. I suspect there could be a glitch in one of the AI plans which is why the tanks don't appear but we'll only know if someone else says the same. Still looks like it worked for you this time around. Cheers fur noo george

Hi Snake Eye You are right - if there is only one AI plan. However, I am sure I made two AI plans for this scenario so depending on what chance I set for it using one or other you could get a differant attack. FWIW the tanks should arrive in both AI plans. Let me know how you get on Cheers fur noo George

Nothing mate - I'm afraid it was me. I made the chnages to this under a Beta version of the new patch 1.04. I'm afraid until the new patch is released this scenario will not show up in your folder. We're getting close to a 1.04 patch release date though. My apologies - I should have minded that Cheers fur noo George

The AI strategic behaviour (i.e. how it attacks, direction, style etc), for now, is not conditional i.e. if there are Apaches overhead etc, rather the AI plans are designed by the designer. So whether units come on or not is a design issue rather than a reflection of the en-map situation. Also the Ai will attack depending on the selected desgner produced plan - the likliehood of the AI choosing a plan(if there are multiple plans)is again based on designer selected parameters. Hope this makes sense? Cheers fur noo George

Hi Guys Just seen your comments. I'm curious do the BMPs follow the same route in each game. If I mind there are multiple AI plans for this scenario with one plan being the most common, but ther is another plan. Could be the bug is associated with the other AI plan hence it does not always show. FWIW this was checked out and as far as I am aware both AI plans worked. That's not to say they do now. Just curious. Cheers fur noo George

Many thanks for your comments guys. Two hours is pushing it. It does have the variable time counter going as well so you have a good bit over two hours. Guess time limits in CM scenarios is always an issue. You either have too much or too little I must admit I would like to be able to add more time. We'll see what BFC come up with. Cheers fur noo George

As in that famous Edinburgh saying -"You'll have had your tea?" Meaning I'm not giving you anything to eat cos you should have made your tea (tea = evening meal).See the things you learn eh? Cheers fur noo George

Hi DAF Your spec sounds pretty good. Does the map have lot's of craters, trees or elevation chnages? All that stuff appears to affect the speed of the game. I'm busy with Charlie finishing off the end of the Strachwitz series - that's pretty much taking up the little time I have (full on with work right now). In between I'm doing CMSF stuff but at the moment all my scenario time is on Der Graf Got one scenario that will be ready to test after a few wee changes if you fancy? Be keen to see your new Russian offensive battle? Cheers fur noo George

Hi DAF Each to their own. I know a lot of players don't like large maps and lot's of units. me I prefer large maps with a manageable number of units (battalion tops although i do tend to scale down stuff with casualties etc). I make the sort of scenarios I like to play and if tohers like em also - well superb. If not hey I made it for me Other players prefer small maps, but me I hate being railroaded into a 1km x 1km map with limited avenues of approach Re your calculation - you can send me a copy and I'll compute some tunrs and see how long they take. That looks slow for your PC spec. How much RAM are you using? You can also try and turn off any background stuff (anti-virus software etc) and see if that makes any odds. Cheers fur noo George

:confused:

Hi DAF! I reckon it's a combination - although lot's of units doing stuff appears to give the blue bar creep. In the 3D view I think it's having a graphics card that can't draw all the stuff wuick enough. Sure someone will come along and say - bollocks!" Cheers fur noo George

I've a heap of stuff on my own website (includes mods and scenarios)blowtorchscenarios.com Cheers fur noo George Mc

Hi Itael Thanks for that Possible Spoilers................ # # # # # # # # # # # # I've found the same with this scenario that all goes well for the first part, then you enter the OPFOR kill sack and all hell breaks lose. Then you try and rush and it get seven more challenging. The scenario has turned out a whole lot better than I had imagined. Thanks again for playing it out and for the feedback. Cheers fur noo George Mc

Sorry Knac - you'll have to wait till 1.04 comes out I'm afraid. My bad. I should have minded I was using a beta version of 1.04. Cheers fur noo George

Thanks General Glad you enjoyed it Best of luck next time. Cheers fur noo George