CRourke

Ya, I hear he was a better artist than he was a writer... and I hear he wasn't much of an artist. Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised if the royalties from Mein Kampf are pretty signifigant. While it may not ever make the best seller list, I'm sure its gotten steady sales for decades to students and neo-nazi types. Next I expect someone will want to sue Adolf's estate for damages incurred as a result of the holocaust/ww2. Anyone know if this kind of suit is likely under german law? Chris Chris

I'm by no means a grog, but I can't claim I've ever read an account of a sniper team being involved in a pitched battle. My understanding is that they tend to do their work during lulls in the fighting, and tend to only get off 1-3 shots/30 mins or so, with caution and stealth having priority. And they certainly don't take orders from some Major way up the chain of command on where they should setup and who they should shoot at. As it is, I think sharpshooters (which as someone pointed out earlier are NOT snipers) should be weakened. They're far too useful as scouts, relaying back detailed spotting reports. The "leader sees what any units see" assumption that CM makes is alot more serviciable when those units are part of a regular chain of command. Its a bit harder to believe that some guy 150 meters fwd of your lines will warn you about the SS 44 Rifle Platoon (Veteran) moving up around his position. Of course, this stuff has been all hashed out before... as I remember, BTS only grudgingly included snipers because of these very problems. Chris

I'll agree that a grid overlay would be a neat thing to have, though far from necessary. Personally, what I would really love, would be a way to take a CM map and transform it into a topo map that could be printed out and used as a reference. First, because I think seeing topo lines would help get a quick overview of the terrain, and second because I think it would add to the atmosphere of the game. I think the ultimate way to play CM would be with two people per side. One would be a force commander, who gave the overall orders, but wasn't allowed to see the game. The second would be tactical implementor, who would interpret the commander's orders and enter them into the game. He would then give a verbal report back to the commander on the progress of the turn. The commander would then update his map, give new orders and the cycle would start again. Kinda like using CM for a CPX. Chris

It is a little bit amusing to see so many posts clamoring for the next patch, but no one really seems to be claiming about the critical fixes that "must" be made in it. Why? Because there just aren't that many big flaws. IMHO Charles made a big mistake here. He should have released a game that was up to industry standards, ie full of bugs. Since that doesn't seem to be in his nature, he should have intentionally created a number of bugs just before release. He could write patches in advance to fix these. Then he could have kept us happy for months releasing patches to fix these "bugs". Chris ps in all honesty, I'm kind of annoyed by the foxhole in pine forest exposure bug.. I'll be glad to see that one squashed.

I'd have to agree that high ground pressure should increase drag and lower top speed. The vehicle has to do more work just to lift itself out of the muck its in and climb into the next patch of muck, which is subsequently sinks in (though this is more of a dynamic process). Anyone who has ever tried to ride a bicycle on beach sand with know the feeling. Slugs are one of my favorite silly english units. Nothing like seeing air density measured in "slugs/ft^3" or specific heat as "Calories/Slug*Degree Rankine" to make you want to move to a country that dispensed with this english unit nonsense. Chris "My car gets 30 rods to the hogshead, and thats the way I like it!"

Personally, I love the hetzer. Its got superbly sloped frontal armor, and a tiny tiny sillouette. With the right hull down position, the armor slope is even better relative to incoming fire. I too get very nervous when it comes to buying just one or two ubertanks. Too often, the entire game will be decided by their fates, which in turn can be decided by a bit of bad luck, despite good tactics. Random question that came to mind. Does anyone know if its easier to spot tanks that are sillouetted against the sky? Chris

I wouldn't mind this either.. I think alot of wargamers are statistics geeks at heart and would love to go over all sorts of kill casuality and performance data. What I'd really like to see though would be a way to do a text dump of the final disposition of units after a battle, including kills, location, casualties, state, ammo, etc. This could be handy for meta-campaign type stuff, or possibly allow a third party to create a CM Campaign system (which I think alot of people would like, regardless of whether its realistic). It would also be kind of nice if you could find out what kills your units actually got after a game finished... as it is now, they only get credit for the confirmed kills, which is fine during the game. Afterwards though, it would be kind of nice to know just how many men did that AVRE blow to bits? Medals I could take or leave... leaving that sort of thing up to the computer would be a bit arbritary and difficult to program... does the hmg team that sat in the bunker and got 15 kills deserve a medal more than the inf squad that charged across an open field, took heavy casualties, but managed to take out a fwd observer team? I don't know, and I sure wouldn't know how to code it soe a computer would. Chris

I think the issue is that when you make a quick battle, the only way to get snow covered ground is by choosing "snow" or "heavy snow", which means its in the act of falling from the sky. I think a similiar thing applies to mud and choosing rain. I for one wouldn't mind seeing seperate choices for weather and ground conditions for quick battles. Along the same lines, I really think there should be an "whatever the player wants" option for force quality and force selection in quick battles... Sometimes I have a force in mind I'd like to have for a battle like "A plt of vet pumas supported by a green coy of volksgrenediers" and its frustrating not being able to easily fit that into the quick battle setup. Chris ps the following is just to set off someone's search engine oneday: CM 2 release date, 1.04 patch, Bigtime Software, sales figures, cheats, multiplayer, warez.

These messages fished from the dusty archives always confuse the hell out of me when I first start reading them..... Chris

They probably did carry some sort of sidearm, but my guess is BTS left this out for a couple reasons: 1) its a bit more coding that only really adds pistols in the hands of the unskilled 2) it would encourage players to user morter crews in a most unrealistic manner, ie as a front line combat unit. In real life of course, those pistols are just meant for self defense, but a gamey player might not see it that way Chris

This sorta stuff is always amusing, I just wish it had its own forum so I didn't have to see it here. Chris (who is the match of Alexander, Hannibul, Trtad, Napoleon, Lee, and Rommel, put together) (no really)

Fields of Fire Squad level, realtime weplan/wego WW2 game. Graphics weren't quite up to CM's standard though.

You're not arguing, you're just contradicting me! Chris (Gambolputy)

But couldn't you have played as the british in CC2? Thats pretty much the same as canadian right? Chris (joking)

I think the AI is a bit too aggressive.. it tends to move up assault troops before the support teams have done an adequate job supressing the defenses. And it doesn't know when to quit... how often have you seen seen some poor decimated plt hq making a final suicide charge on your positions? Also, I think the AI is vulnerable to bunching up, especially in maps with somewhat sparse cover. A little artillery can really do massive damage when theres a whole coy in one stand of scattered trees. Not that I mean to know it.. it still does a much better job than most anything else out there, escpecially considering that it isn't scripted. On a related note, has anyone seen the AI do a rear slope type of defense? I've noticed with town DYOs that it tends to setup a bit too far forward, rather than hidden in the town center. Chris

And he knows how to treat a female impersonator. Chris (Python-impaired folks, pls ignore)

What gets me about the reviews is that most of them seem to miss alot of the real depth of the game...the things that make it truly cool.. I guess it comes from them only having played the game a week or so, while some of us have been following its developement for years. But I'm thrilled to see praise, no matter what the source or nature. And I'm relieved that they outscored the games of the close combat series.. I don't think I could have lived with CM drawing the same rating as CC4. Chris ps, bigtime, where are the deadly american rocket tanks?

I'll bet Patton could have beat up Hitler.

I use realistic, because I hate having puffy tanks, but I turn the bases on to make things playable.. I do with you could have realistic tanks and +1 infantry, even though they would clash scale wise. Chris

I'd say try skipping the intro movie.. I think the readme says you should hold down the shift key as the game is loading....

Also, just because CM is a relative hit being sold through battlefront, doesn't mean it would bring the kind of sales a big publisher expects of a "hit". Of course from bigtime's pov, this doesn't matter since they'll probably see a heck of alot more $/copy from independant sales. Chris

Ya, it was my understanding that the tall pines were supposed to represent old growth forest, with very little ground level cover. My vague (12 years ago) memories of europe were that these old forests were pretty common. Chris

As a kid who grew up playing computer wargames and simulations, I can't help but feel a bit jealous of this crop of youngsters.. Sure, their cartoons are lame, their music worse, and their computers lack the sheer character of a C-64, but CM sure beats the pants off of those games of "Fields of Fire" that I used to play. Chris additional trivia: Fields of Fire was also a squad level weplan-wego game. The graphics weren't quite as good though.

Or so I heard on cdmag.com. Congrats, and best wishes on future sales. Chris ps how long til CM2 ships?

I've heard from a friend in the army that you're better off going in after you get some college under your belt (assuming you can get accepted and secure any necessary loans). The education you get will help you secure a better rank and pay when you do join, and uncle sam is more anxious to help you pay off existing college debts than he is to loan you money for future college plans. Take all this with the grains of salt necessary for a "I heard from a friend" story. Chris