ChrisB

>Most of the "annoyances" and "bugs" listed seem to be things that have been around since before v1.1, so at the time of what may be the final patches release, it just seemed an odd time to be finally mentioning them. I did report 1 and 2 to Madmatt, as well as pointing them out on this board*, as have other people, several times since the release. 3 was mentioned on the board with the release of beta v. 22 IIRC and was fixed in the beta afterwards. Suffice to say that it was a chock that 2 and 3 was reintroduced (finally?) for the "final" release, they were _not_ in the last beta. >Also, while not mandatory, it did seem that there is enough reference there to assume that Chris did take part in the beta process. I tried the betas, yes. As for part of the process, hmmm, nahh. >I'm just curious... I should have probably kept my mouth shut... Probably, but I accept what you say as an apology of sorts. I probably should have kept my mouth shut too, since I probably will be ignored by the powers that be. *In fact I have been bitching about 1 since the release of CM 1.0.

Madmatt wrote: >As this is an official release you no longer need to email me with your bug reports. Just use the Forum as before for bug sightings, comments and reports (if any). Ok, here goes: 1. Combat mission always switches to 640x480 resolution on my computer. Do not give me the ‘delete your prefs’ cause it does not work. Maybe this is because I have 2 screens on my computer, but it seems CM is unable to detect legal resolutions on my computer (something every other program in existence does correctly) and defaults to 640x480. It can be argued wheter this is a bug or just damn stupid program behaviour but... 2. Combat mission messes up my desktop. A direct followup of the above, and this time there can be no doubt that this is buggy behaviour. This happened in version 1.0, was fixed for 1.01, reappeared for version ?.?? etc and this bug has been leapfrogging the versions, gone one version, back the next. Both this and 1. above are consequences of unneccessary (ok, they could be neccessary, but happens even if they are not) resolution switching. 3. QB force computer force selection is bad again. For instance selecting an armoured force will result in a force at least 50% consisting of pure infantry, not a force consisting of 100% armor with the odd AT team thrown in. This cropped up in one of the 1.1 betas and is now back. 4. Nuisance bug. When clicking on the map the input is not taken from the click position, but from the current mouse position. Or in programming terms getMouse(clickX,clickY) instead of the correct clickX:=lastEvent.where.x clickY:=lastEvent.where.y Or in practical terms select a unit, press ‘M’, click on desired position ‘A’, immediately move mouse towards position ‘B’ (to select another unit or something), order for unit will be processed as not moving towards ‘A’, but somewhere between ‘A’ and ‘B’. Because of the nature of this bug, it probably is more obvious with fast/impatient players and slow computers. 5. Minor nuisance bug. The kill list is updated to reflect the end of turn status. A click on a unit’s kill list before the end of a turn might reveal kills that have not yet been made. [This message has been edited by ChrisB (edited 01-11-2001).]

What this discussion ignores, or rather bypasses is that seating capacity<>passenger capacity (or seating capacity is not passenger capacity). Speaking as someone who has traveled 24 man in a 12-seater truck (+3 NCOs up front) (cannot remember what brand): You have the floor, add combat packs and you get seating for some more people. You can probably fit more people into the "seat" area. And there is always non-seat area that can be used to sit on. Ok this was a truck, but it is amazing how many people you can put into a vehicle if the option is walking long distances. So the question is more what is a reasonable combat zone capacity vesus emergency capacity, but I bet you it is more than the number of seats. You will probably have to go back and ask someone who was there (WWII) to find out the truth. Geez, kids today needs so much elbow room.

I do not know about combined arms, but I used to play _armored_ QB in 1.0x and you would get an all armored force, with the occassional mortar/anti-tank thrown in. Now twice I have started armored QBs in 1.1b with me as the brits. I got in the first game (500 pts attack) 1 Humber, 1 Halftrack, 1 Daimler and 2 or 3 british platoons infantry (3 squads, leader, piat, mortar). Second try (500? pts attack) 1 Sherman II, 1 Daimler, 1 Humber 3 platoons infantry. What the h**l is going on? [This message has been edited by ChrisB (edited 12-07-2000).]

>Hey all, I downloaded the file for the Mac, and I got a cm_public.sea.bin, it expanded to cm_public.sea, but nothing else! .sea is a self-extracting archive, ie a program that expands itself. Try double-clicking on it. If that does not work, because Finder says it cannot run it, try changing the file type to APPL somehow. If that does not work, download again and/or try expanding with mindexpander (less problems than unstuffit)

Just bumping this. It should not be hidden on page 3 or 4.

>ChrisB - I am not sure if I understood your post right so I might be a little off, but Nope, seems you got it right. > - the 1% import duty includes "a game manual, the cover box, additional advertising, the CD and plastic CD cover". Surprise! (Me, that is) > - according to our customs office, the 1% should be standardised within all EU countries (since January 99). I doubt this, I am sure my own country will get an excemption, or at least will avoid the issue as long as possible. Either way I would not want to be one of the first ones trying to prove this to the all-mighty customs office, or the ignorant evil post office. I HAVE paid more than 1% on imports since that date.

>For Germany (and hence for all EC states), the customs duty for game CDs is (I doublechecked this) 1 %. That's 45 cents for Combat Mission. Certainly not too much. Maybe for Germany, but not for all EU states. That 1% only works if Germany is the first import country. But if someone in Germany imported the games and then reexported them within the EU.... But then of course the manual would defeat the 1% customs tag. Talking about loopholes, they have recently passed a law where re-exporters now have to pay local taxes if they re-export significant amounts (>$40,000) So amazon.co.uk is no longer an option for books. --- Censured comment about **** deleted. ---

>The difference I feel with Combat Mission is not the price, which I feel is comparable with many American games. what I feel our distinguished singaporean gentleman has failed to calculate into the final cost is the shipment. What big companies do for europe is send the master to europe and duplicate it there. This results in an "UK" version which for just about all sense is identical with the US version. However to any other european country , shipment is within the EU, and there are no import dues. Takes $30 or so off the cost.

How do I delete my post? [This message has been edited by ChrisB (edited 11-05-99).]

First game ever, played Americans on Last Defense. Horribly mauled. Got the reinforcements. Ran the infantry down the slope and moved the Hellcats forward. Resolution. After ten seconds all three hellcats were ablaze. Entire force retreated from the village. Major axis win. Third game, first Reisberg game. Americans. All shermans burning within a few seconds, did not even spot the 88mms. Engaged the enemy on the front while 3 squads slipped around the enemys left flank. One squad got delayed, another got badly shot up, but the third one managed to walk right into a german mortar position and kill the jerries. Then walked right into the 88mm in the street destroying it and finally thrashed one german squad in the central objective, while the german company HQ positioned there ran away. Meanwhile the delayed squad got cut up by Volksgrenadiers coming up from the german edge of the map. The "heroic" squad beat off attacks from 2 german squads, only to fall prey to the returning german company HQ. When my reinforcements arrived they were rushed into that area and clinched victory. Several posthumous DSCs to the "heroic" squad. US victory.

I dont know why this thread is into piracy. I do not condone it, but I would like to restate what I see as the initial point. Combat mission looks like a nice game, and I would like to buy it. At $45+$18 S/H+an estimated $16 import tax=$79. A pretty hefty price for a game. Personally, I will not buy it, for this reason. When every other game retails for less than $50 I currently do not see any reason to pay this much for this title. And since every retail copy includes a $20-$30 (or more) take for the retail store and distirubutor, I wonder why the game is not cheaper. Of course if some retail store buys it from BF and lets me buy it for a reasonable price, or if I somehow can co-buy it with a friend, I will get it. I have a friend who has preordered it (and has probed me to buy a copy to be his opponent) Is it possible for him to add a copy intended for me to his order, or are all placed orders locked? (That would bring it down to $69 or so)

My experience after several playings of Last defense is that the entire game is resolved during the hellcat entry turn. Bit of an anticlimax. First time I played this (as US player) I moved the hellcats of the hill. Bad move.All Hellcats burning within seconds. Force in town routing across the stream. Second time I did not move the Hellcats at all, took out all moving german AFVs. Played as the germans and won barely, but again all AFVs burned within 2 seconds of Hellcat arrival. Next time I tried positioning the 2 AFVs on the hill on the right of the wheatfield as seen from the german start. Behind some trees even. Not much luck. One hellcat tagged by the Tiger. Another Hellcat brought down by a massive effort of 105 shells, saved for this purpose. Last StuG hidden behind the house by the wheatfield. Hellcat moves on hill, gets off two shots to the StuGs one. StuG burns. Yet another narrow win for the desperate germans. This scenario is a real challenge for the germans. Against non-AI opposition...Ouch..I think. Next time I will try rushing the Tiger to the Hellcat entry hill. Dont know if it is possible. Good game, bad interface. What, no menus??? What, I cannot reassign keys??? I pray it is not so in final release.