Bil Hardenberger

The Fifteenth Minute The 15th minute was more of the same. me pulling off the Orchards objectve and ND's troops trying to kill as many as possible. But at the end of the turn, these babies show up, a Semovente 75. WIth a 75mm gun and plenty of AP and HEAT ammo, I am hoping this guy can help defend against the Shermans that ND will be getting. Finally I receive a platoon of 3 Pz-IIIM's and two Platoons of Herr Goring's finest infantry. I will hold most of the tanks in reserve until I can see where ND deploys his reinforcements. I will also mount one infantry platoon on the trucks and use them as a mobile reserve to be sent in at the right moment.

Well, by doing that you are then using the largest texture across the entire map, even in the distance where the detail in the larger maps is not needed. The purpose of the Mipmaps is to use less and less graphic resources whenever possible without sacrificing the visual quality of the rendered map, model, etc. Bil

Steve, Mip Mapping is the answer.. it's such a simple solution I am really surprised it hasn't been adopted yet in CM. Of course I say simple without really knowing what would need to go into the programming side to wedge the code for them into CM's graphic engine. That's Phil's job. http://archive.gamedev.net/archive/reference/articles/article1233.html Bil

The Fourteenth Minute Not much unique action to report this turn.. more exchange of fire on the hill, more of my guys buy the farm. There will be a reckoning in Rome after this battle I have no doubt. In case you were wondering, here is a close up of the Italian tank crewman. Looks tough, no? I know I haven't mentioned these guys, but I have had a German Luftwaffe FO team from the beginning (but they have had nothing to target with)... I have quietly placed them on a hill overlooking the Hill and Villa objectives. I should receive my artillery and first batch of German reinforcements next turn, so they are scouting out the area and picking targets, or they should be... "Hey Jurgen! Stop watching the second string die on The Orchard and look for a target on the objectives will ya? Damned wing nuts."

oops, wrong thread.

Silkwraith, you already have another thread discussing this.. can you please take this discussion there? Bil

It could be my video card that is the culprit here, and not the game. Check ND's AAR thread.. he might have some images that do not show the degradation mine shows. Bil

Lucky Thirteen My first thought as my R-35 took it's sweet time to pass through the gap was, "where the frack did he come from!"... then my heart was in my throat as I saw the US team hurl their demo charge (white arrow indicates the charge and the direction from whence it came... then I thought, "whew, it landed behind the tank (I thought pretty far)"... then OH SH*T as the massive explosion seemed to lift the tank slightly and it was knocked out. I watched in horror as my other R-35 started to climb the hill only to get hit in the side from ND's other gun (blue circle marks its position)... it penetrated though did not knock out the tank.. but the crew does bail. Pussy. There was some good news this turn though... I do suceed in knocking out ND's right most gun (on my left)... that makes me feel somewhat better. Still.. the cost to my infantry on this hill has been high.. too high. Now that their main job is complete (KO at least one gun) I will start to pull them off the hill next turn.

I think he's talking about the fact that some terrain items don't draw at farther distances and textures do not blend as they go into the far background of a map.

The Twelfth Minute ND seems to have far superior firepower than I do on my left.. I continue to take a pounding while I think having little impact on his forces. I will stick it out a little longer.. I still want to kill at least one gun before pulling off the hill. On my right, the first R-35 seems to have gotten through the passage in one piece, and the enemy team is nowhere to be seen so I give the orders as outlined in this image.. the neutered R-35 will go to the right and take up a position on the hill there, I will probably dismount it when it gets there so I can get eyes on the rear edge of the map to watch for his reinforcements which should arrive in a few turns. The fully functioning R-35 I will move to the left moving at full speed and take the enemy positions under fire from a different direction in order to stretch his fire out a bit. Fingers crossed.

The Eleventh Minute Despite having multiple units firing on it, including 2 mortars, 2 HMG teams, several squads, and one tank, ND's gun survives the turn, but at least it goes to ground. My forward squad has taken a beating from ND's other gun and now a mortar team. I think I am going to have to pull off this position in a few minutes and reorganize. On my right, the crippled R-35 is getting ready to make a dash through the passage across the gully, while the other R-35 places suppression fire down on the enemy team's last known location.

The Tenth Minute The R-35 that got hit and lost it's guns last turn panicked and got hit again, this time getting immobilized. ND has much better visibility on this hill than I expected... ...and this is the culprit. I will be putting some mortar fire down on this gun as soon as possible. It and what seems to be a second gun are really giving me some problems and causing a lot of casualties. It now has my full attention and is target number one for me. At the end of the turn I get a very clear picture of what ND has on the Hill objective. As soon as my reinforcements arrive with my artillery I will be placing some fire on these foxholes. Right now my main goal is to try to knock out both guns and cause as much harm as possible. Once the first string arrives I will then start thinking how best to tackle this position. On my right my R-35 pair continues to stalk the enemy team holed up in that patch of woods. My area fire has bagged one casualty, but I have completely lost sight of the rest of the team now.

The Ninth Minute As I advance to the wall I start to take fire from ND's main defensive line. Most I cannot spot yet, like the gun that fired and hit my lead R-35. No casualties, but this hit did take out the gun so this tank is now useless. Would be nice to be able to switch crews around so I could move this crew to a functioning tank, alas, that is not a feature. Also my infantry is starting to take some casualties from fire coming from the Villa. Hard to find any covered routes on this map. As I move to the wall, my infantry starts to engage the enemy entrenchments, but the incoming fire is much stronger than I expected.

Canada Guy, Yep.

The Eighth Minute On my left I pushed one tank to the edge of the hill to try and get some firepower onto the villa and the Hill objectives. Unfortunately it took several hits from an HMG and panicked. If these R-35s panic from MG fire I can't really rely on them to instill fear into the digital brains of ND's forces. My infantry, supported by two R-35s, the mortars, and the HMG teams keeps pushing. They arrive at the recently enemy held wall this turn, but I will continue to push them onto the Orchard objective and up to the furthest wall overlooking the Hill and Villa objectives. Here is the view from the wall that overlooks both of the remaining objectives. I do not think these troops can realistically take these objectives in the time I have left before our reinforcements arrive, but I want to attrit the US force some while trying to not lose too much of my own. On my right I am going to try something very risky.. I would like to flush out the enemy team that I spotted a few turns ago (and which took out the TC from one of my R-35s) and then rush through the ford that lies in the trees and that could give me control of the approach to flank the villa. Unfortunately these tanks can't see very well.. and one of them, the right most tank in this image, has lost it's TC. I will use it to try to draw fire from the US team.. hopefully the other tank will be able to spot it. Perhaps I should bring an infantry squad back to help with this maneuver... nah.

Mostly regular to green, leadership edges to poor, with a few that are in the good column. I'm sure I'll end up killing the good ones pretty quick. I am finding that the troops themselves are not the problem when it comes to wielding the Italian's in battle. It is their poor equipment and inflexible formations. I probably lost more individuals than Normal Dude did when taking out his screen... it was sheer numbers that allowed that to happen. Bil

The Seventh Minute I will let the images tell the story... first they break: Then they die...

The Sixth Minute I continue to push... Abnormal Dude does not move his forward line off their present position and it costs him. From what I can see there are several U.S. casualties from my tightening sack and his forward line looks like it might be pinned in place. Next turn if they don't pull back further I will be pushing even closer. I will say this, these Americans have great firepower even for a small formation like this as I am taking as many casualties as I am giving. That is worrisome.

The Fifth Minute I had some frustration this turn. Despite my superior numbers and my superior firepower it looks like he was able to withdraw his entire forward line without loss. Here they are entering their new position. Wasn't enough to keep them out of range of my canister though.. ever wonder what it must have been like to be on the receiving end of canister, well here you go. And here is the view from my side. Next turn I am pushing hard forward and will try to bag them.

The Fourth Minute The situation is starting to become clear... on the Hill objective I am starting to see some entrenchments as the US infantry there start to snipe at my infantry on the hill. The range is too far for either of us to cause any harm, but if he unloads with an MG that could quickly change. Normal Dude's forward element seems very far forward to me... I am at certain points very close to his units which are starting to present themselves (four enemy units are shown in this image). I do still have a Platoon off the screen to the right in this image ready to close the door behind them. Now I understand how vulnerable the R-35 TC is, as it takes a casualty from an enemy team in the woodline. The problem now is that this tank is useless... and the others if I keep buttoned, which I most likely will do, can't spot to save their lives... which will matter, believe me.

The Third Minute My armor continues to leap frog forward on my right.. notice how exposed the TCs are in this image.. I have yet to be taught the lesson I think you all can see coming. On my left my infantry has uncovered another enemy team. My plan is to pin it with one platoon while advancing against it with another. My support (mortars and HMG teams) are indicated by the green circles, they will provide fire support as necessary and advance behind the infantry, close enough to support but not close enough to get decisively engaged. My plan is to advance as quickly as possible, never letting up the pressure with my infantry. I do not want to let his forward detachment escape.

RCMP, thanks, all of the arrows, etc. are simple additions made in Photoshop. I am going to upload a few turns tonight. I have to try to catch Abnormal Dude. He has told me he posted up to turn 6, and I'll try to get there by tomorrow evening so we can continue. Bil

This is not possible in most cases. What I will try to do is include an overview map every few turns to help keep you oriented on what is going on where. Bil

The Second Minute At the end of the last turn I had spotted an unidentified infantry (see the new icon?, this represents an unidentified infantry unit). My lead tank I ordered to stop and Fire Briefly at this units location. Notice that 21 seconds remain on the Target Briefly clock. On my right side my tanks will continue to provide suppression fire on anything they see on The Orchard objective and to move down and scout the treeline straight ahead. On my left a Bersaglieri squad advances into a treeline to take up an overwatch position over the objective. On my left I am starting to form my assault on the Orchard objective with a three sided assault. Hopefully I can catch whatever U.S. unit is there before they can un-ass the area. Stay tuned it will get very exciting very soon. Bil

The First Minute Not a lot of action this first turn, I will give more description of the action in the second turn. I wanted to start by showing the make up of a Bersaglieri Squad. In this image you can see that a Bersaglieri Squad is made up of a 5 man HQ element and a 10 man squad. This 10 man squad is not able to break down into teams. In the first minute I stupidly drove a truck full of infantry right into the sights of the American's damned HMG located in the villa. The result was several holes in the truck, and one casualty from the squad. First blood to Abnormal Dude. This image shows my team scampering out of the truck and seeking safety. I should have stopped them behind the bend a little further back.. but I was curious if Normal Dude's troops could reach out this far.. well, I got my answer didn't I? Good news is that the truck is still drivable. Finally I wanted to show a comparison between a texture with and without the shader in the game. Look at the detail of the truck in the top image, and then the lack of it in the bottom. Frame-rate difference is negligible.. in fact in these screen captures the Shader On image had a slightly faster frame-rate, but your mileage may vary.