Sgt Joch

not to reopen a can of worms, but is there any new development, good or bad, on the PBEM front?

The other advantage I see to including suicide bombers is that it will make the US player a bit more cautious, since he will never know in any scenario if his forces are going to run into one, something which is very realistic in the middle east.

It is certainly open to debate whether suicide bombers would participate in the opening phase of a US invasion of Syria, but I would rather they were included and leave it up to individual players and scenario designers to decide whether they want to use them or not. I think they will have very little impact in CMSF, remote controlled bombs however are a different story.

Suicide/terror bombings against civilians, although anathema to western/liberal thinking is usually carried out for political/military reasons and have a long history. Under classic marxist guerilla theory, terror campaigns against civilians are supposed to force the State to employ increasingly repressive methods against the population which will force the population to rally to the insurgents either out of conviction or out of fear or intimidation. Additionally in multi ethnic/religious communities, terror bombings also have the objective of driving a wedge between different ethnic/religious groups. Iraq, of course, springs immediately to mind, but the same thing happened in Northern Ireland for decades. The classic example of a successful guerilla/terror bombing campaign is, of course, Vietnam, where the Vietcong throughly undermined support for South Vietnam through terror and intimidation. Sucide bombing is a newer development, but it is essentially a practical development. World/regional military powers, such as the US or Israel, have airplanes/missiles to deliver their bombs, which poor/insurgent forces do not have. The suicide bomber is basically a bomb delivery system. There is usually a whole insurgent unit supporting the bomber, from the bomb maker, usually the most valuable member of the team, to various handlers who will check out the attack route and send the "bomb" on its way. Suicide attacks are also not new, the 1968 Tet offensive was essentially a suicide mission which wiped out the Vietcong cadres but scored a political victory, which was the ultimate aim. Furthermore, civilians, whether we like it or not, have always been military targets. In WW2, the US, UK and Canada carried out bombing campaigns in Germany to kill german civilians. In the pacific, the US carried out unrestricted submarine warfare against civilian merchant shipping. During the cold war, the entire military strategy of the US was based on wiping out the Soviet population with nuclear weapons. Of course, western powers have now renounced attacks on civilians as a valid military strategy, but we will see if that holds up the next time they have their back against the wall as in WW2 or the Cold War. We can rail againt suicide/terror bombings all we want as being "uncivilized" or "unmilitary", but they are a fact of life to ground military operations in 2007.

Sounds like the Kamikaze Highlanders from Monty Python..

We already have basically the same thing in CMx1, when you send a infantry half squad ahead to reconnoiter the enemy position, its usually, for all practical intent, a suicide mission with a high probability the whole unit will get wasted. Properly using or defending against operatives, martyrs or IEDs will add an interesting wrinkle to CMx2, as in real life.

I think this explains why the "Surge" was limited to 21,500, They knew "Robby the Robot" was on its way...

this looks weird, but interesting... robot gives snipers owl eyes ..is this something which might eventually appear in CMSF?

I would also buy any CMx2 Eastern front games/modules. (I'm sure that statement will be a major factor in Battlefront's decision. )

Mein Gott!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Very nice! About the 4th shot, is that a casualty on the ground? I thought they were not going to be shown in CMSF.

It's unfortunate, since the eastern front is also my favorite WW2 theater and I have been playing CMBB almost daily since 2002. But is the problem the setting or the complexity of the game? IL-2 has been very successful and it started out purely as a eastern front air war simulator.

I have been following this debate with interest. Even though I don't agree with most of the things he posts, it's nice to get the point of view of Syria, so I hope Lone Syrian comes back.

Based on my experience, put them on the 1st floor and give them a hide command. You will lose about 50%, but they will be OK in 1-2 turns. If they are on the second floor, they will be eliminated.

It may be a silly question coming from a non-cesspool denizen, but why are there two Peng challenge threads going on at the same time? Is there an "official" thread and a "rogue" thread that has been taken over by aliens? ..or is this one the signs of the Apocalypse?

My concern is not really on CMSF, since we could easily assume that 2 of the 9 syrians went AWOL. But I seem to recall from CMAK that some U.S. HQ squads had 10 men. I presume the UI can be modified when we get to CM:Normandy to accomodate that.

It may be a minor point, but I thought the whole point of rewriting the CMx1 engine was due to its inflexibility, but now it seems the CMx2 engine can't handle a simple thing like a 9 man HQ. :confused: Could you explain what the problem is Steve, if possible?

Very nice photos. I had not realized there was so much flat, arid desert along the Syrian border.

Glad you enjoyed it. Here's another report from C.J.Chivers about the boys from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. "Marines get the news from an Iraqi Host: Rumsfeld's Out. "Who's Rumsfeld?"

Finally had a chance to look at it, looks very impressive. Are the mountains in the background 3d ? They look like the 2d bitmaps in CMx1.

that's okay, we know you have more important things on your mind, such as getting CMSF out BEFORE CHRISTMAS! :mad: Now, about those two minute turns...

that is good news. How can you see the resolution for Turn 16 if you haven't done the orders for Turn 16 yet? </font>

Maybe we are not talking about the same thing. here is an actual example from an ongoing PBEM game. My opponent sends me a PBM file, he has already done the playback/move for turn 16: -(I see the playback for turn 16, save)+(I do the move for turn 16, save)+(we skip over my opponent's playback for turn 17)+( I do the playback/move for turn 17, save)+ I send the PBM file back to my opponent. So, in one sitting, I see two playbacks and do two moves. Of course, you have to trust your opponent, but that is a small price to pay for being able to play games 3x as fast. If we had the option to do two minute turns, that would be even better.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to increase turn length. The TacAI has a pretty simple job to do, i.e.: 1. move forward/sit and wait until it spots an enemy; 2. shoot at it until it's dead. The TacAI already has limited initiative, it will hunker down/ back up/ sneak away if confronted by a stronger force; it will move forward after killing an enemy, if given a hunt command. It's very limited, but enough for a 2-3 minute turn until the player can intervene. A longer turn length would also limit the player's god-like command and control, which is a plus in my book. So I am all in favour of adjustable turn length. If nothing else, it will generate endless forum threads on "realistic/non-gamey turn lengths" and will create "Time Grogs", which should be good for a laugh.

regular PBEM goes like this, i.e.: 1. playback, send turn; 2. move, send turn; 3. playback & move, send turn. PBEM trusted mode goes like this, i.e.: 1. playback + move + playback & move, send turn. hence, 3 x times as fast. Steve, are you saying the 3 steps would be cut down to two in CMx2 ?, i.e: 1. playback & move, send turn; 2. playback & move, send turn. assuming PBEM is in, of course. I also have a question about turn length which I understand it is now at 1 minute. With the new RT engine, will it be possible for players to set 2 or 3 minute turns? If the TacAI is much improved over CMx1, I could see players using longer turns to speed PBEM games along (assuming it's in, of course ).