CRourke

May '99... I remember being worried that CM would be released after I returned back to college from that summer... which reminds me, crud, CM is being sent to my address back home.... so much for my early ordering advantage. I too remember checking up on the progress of computer squad leader on the bigtime homepage (before the msg board was up). I still wouldn't mind a computer version of ASL, but I'm even happier with what the project morphed into. Chris

When I'm not down at school (Va Tech), I'm from arlington too. Chris

WWI is one of the more obvious examples when the scales were once againt tilted in favor of defense.... The late medeival period would be another good example of such a time, just before the developement and widespread use of artillery. But combat didn't really become linear (battle 'lines') until WWI, so its not exactly the same as a static defense. Chris

"It's only a flesh wound"

And the hauptsturmfuhrer said those bayonets I rigged up for the 88's would be useless. Chris

Just to add in my gripe.. I too d/l ed the cc4 demo (thank god for DSL) and woooh, what a stinker. I used to wonder why the americans were so lax in getting upgunned shermans or better yet, fireflys, but now I see that we had the secret rocket tank on our side. Come to think of it, the big tank in Command and Conquer (the other CC) shoots rockets too, but without the pinpoint accuracy. The only thing I don't understand is why either army in ww2 bothered with infantry.. as far as I can see, their only use was to reload rockets... that and die horribly 10 seconds after being spotted by the enemy tanks. Ah, but I forget.. infantry was the only force capable of maneuvering easily through dense terrain, such as urban areas, forests, fields, roacds, bridges, etc. I think we all remember the seen in Patton were George C Scott personally tries to sort out a traffic jam, but all the tanks just keep spinning in circles. Maybe he wasn't setting enough waypoints. Chris ------------------ "Darling take me by the hand, gonna see a punk rawk band"?

I have to agree here.. it seems that under very limited circumstances, a unit shouldn't stick to their run order all that stringently. In particular, I'm thinking of when they encounter threats at extremely short ranges, in particular if that threat was only just spotted... I've had squads come suddenly on enemy squads in the woods and decide that the best course of action was to run right through the enemy, forcing them to waste an excess amount of bullets riddling my mens corpses. Just a tiny nitpick, but tiny is really the only size of nits we have to pick on in the demo. Chris

I think it would be more of the "time to send your monitor to the repair shop" feeling. Especially if it was grainy. Chris

My take on this is that the Marines probably aren't looking for a 100% acurate simulation of combat. Instead, they want a computer program that can teach officer canidates the basics of fire and maneuver in a simple and engaging way. An adaption of the CC series is well suited for this. Yes, it has alot lacking in the realism department, but it has an easily grasped interface. As long as it rewards use of basic marine tactics, it should work fine in its role as a training tool. This is similiar to the Marine Doom modification.. no it wasn't realistic, but it still could be used to teach teamwork. An adaptation of CM, on the other hand, would be a good way to test the validity of current tactical doctrine. It certainly could have the necessary realism to be used in this role. In this role, it would probably be used at a level somewhat higher than officer canidates. Just my two cents. Chris

The dateline is pretty much fixed, so crossing it multiple times shouldn't be too difficult. I myself would like to be in the eastern hemisphere just on the other side of the dateline for the very first entry into the year 2000. After the new year, I'd have 23 hours to sober up, cross to the far side, get drunk again, and celebrate the new year all over again. As for repeatedly crossing the point exactly opposite the sun, I think that would require an extremely fast jet. I believe you need to maintain on the order of Mach 2 for that sort of thing. I know that the SR-71 can fly fast enough you can watch the sun rise in the west. Chris

It seems to me that "cover" would have differnent values depending on the status of the unit... A pinned unit would gain more protection (which is exactly why they decided to pin themselves). True, they would still be in the LOS of the enemy, and the enemy would be free to lob shells at their location after they had revealed themself. But thats only realistic. "Sir, the germans who fired on us from the foxholes.. they're gone.." "They must have vanished.. cease fire." As for the broader shellhole issue, I imagine it will be a long time before the cm series has the resolution to properly model a shellhole in 3-D. They're just too much variety in their shape and size. Chris

>wounder if that will improve my memory ? Hope your not mortally woundered. Sorry, couldn't resist. Chris

>other cases they are just very bad assed infantry with lots of toys < Protractors, slide rules, and t-squares? Chris ps does the geneva convention ban the use of differential equations against the enemy?

A good friend pointed out to me that if y2k is going to be a huge cataclysm, those of us in the US will get a good warning as Japan and Asia will cross into 2000 well before us. I already have the stockpile of firearms (I'm an american, dont ya know..).. I think I'll limit the rest of the preparation to tp and milk.. and only because all the other idiots are going to empty the store shelves of it. I volunteer with a rescue squad, and I'm really torn between spending new years eve in an alcoholic haze, and running calls. Should definitely be a wacky night. Chris

Frightening.. I've probably read 80%-90% of the messages on this board (last few months school has gotten in the way). Figuring the average message is probably equal to at least a half page of a novel, thats an awful lot of good books I could have read. Not that I regret it, I've probably learned more here about WW2 history, tactics, and game design that I could have picked up from any book. (or any 10 800 page books?) Chris

Another late reply.. I've been off the internet for awhile. Anyway, my name was among the MIA's. If the list hasn't yet been sent, readding "Rourke" to the americans would be great. Thanks, Chris

Looks great.. then again, every other screenshot I've seen before was gorgeous to. If anyone out there doesn't think so and want to complain, then I assign you 4 hail marys and 2 games of the the TOAW Korea 50-51 scenario in "3-D" mode. My only minor quibble is that trees look sort of bright for nighttime... You can sort of see in the light in the leaves. Forests at night should look dark and evil. If the existing graphics could just be darkened, and maybe have a little of the color washed out, I think they'ed look alot better. Chris Hail Mary, Full of Grace.........

My understanding of the CM engine is that it depends on calculating the results of a combat turn first, then displaying it. In other words, it sits down and decided just what the heck happens in the next minute, and then it gets around to the work of actually displaying it. This keeps them from having to compromise between cpu cycles given to realistic execution or flashy graphics. But it should also prevent any continuous run.. though I imagine with a good cpu the pauses would be minimized. I'm sure Charles or Steve would know better though. Chris

Then again if you compare CM to say, Kampfgruppe or Field's of Fire (15+ year old games), you can't help but wonder what we'll be playing in another 15 years. My guess is Command & Conquer 9, or Quake XII, because large companies will have grown so powerful that they can actually pass laws mandating that you play their games. Its my vision of a dark future. (Did I mention Outpost 6 and Deer Hunter 15?) Chris

I still would like to see a straight port of ASL.. not that what BTS is doing isn't immeasurably better, but ASL sort of had a neat, and totally unrealistic chess like feel to it. At the very least, when CM2 comes out, I want to make a "Commisar's House" scenario. I seem to remember last year, CM was heading for a winter/spring release.... under AH's wing of course. And I thought I could never wait that long. I guess I'm learning to be patient. No wait, I'm not patient in the least about this.. I want it now now now. Well, I guess I'm learning to deal with my frustration. Ya, thats the ticket. Chris ps I don't mean to suggest that I want CM released before its ready.. I have plenty of faith in BTS to get the job done right.

If only they'd hurry up and perferct human cloning.....

It seems to me that many static weapons (that is, weapons that haven't moved since before the scenario began) should get fire bonuses. Given time, an MG crew would be able to place their weapon in the perfect spot, with little dead ground, with the longest possible lanes of grazing fire. An AT gun might be bore sighted, or at the least the crew would have gotten a better idea to the range to where the enemy might appear. Any static bonus though should be directly tied to the troop quality. Obviously a green mg crew won't be able to do much more, no matter how long they have to set up. I suppose a green AT gun crew might get more of a bonus, since its the elite guys who probably know the range and angle well enough without a few hours beforehand to figure it out. Chris

Boy, this really is a vampire of a thread.. anyone have an oaken stake? I think 90% of the folks out there feel that the inclusion of WP would be awfully nice, but its not a make or break when it comes to realism or to whether or not we buy the game. Its like exotic vehicles.. sure, they got used at one time or another, but I think the west front can be adequately simulated without WP (or without Pershings). Consider it for a follow up patch, and for the love of god, lock this thread. Chris

In windoze its pretty easy.. I found tcp/ip to be alot more stable than ipx anyway. You just bind tcp/ip to the network adapter just like you would ipx. You usually have to make up some ip addresses for the machines, and a subnet mask, but thats about it. Chris

Just to throw in a few of my own cents.. I've always been partial to the Longest Day.. ya, so its a bit holywood.. but I thought it was a much better treatment of the book it was based on than a Bridge Too Far... I really didn't think aBTF did a good job of getting the story in the book across, though I guess that wouldn't be a problem if you've read the book. I liked a Midnight Clear.. but wow, talk about depressing, even for a war movie. I loved Cross of Iron... maybe not always the best portrayal of how it was, but a darn good flick. The Thin Red Line: I still don't understand this one. I like war movies. I like philosophical movies. I like historical movies. And yet I HATED a historical philosophical war movie. My advice to the director would be, if you can't get us to care about the characters (or even learn their names) when they're alive, then don't expect us to care when they die. I liked Stalingrad, but I wouldn't say its the Das Boot of the ETO. And of course, SPR was incredible. Los, those training films you mentioned all sound really intriguing.. Since I live in DC I should check for them at the library of congress.. I hear they have a "pretty good" selection of media there. As for the vietnam movie thing.. didn't they make flight of the intruder into a movie? How about BAT 21? Obviously, vietnam didn't get same attention from hollywood that ww2 did. I think the only film made during the war was "The Green Berret's". It didn't really become on OK movie subject until the early 80's or so.. so you can imagine that they haven't gotten around yet to portraying tankers and what not. Actually, whats a good ww2 movie on armored forces?? Chris