ChrisPick

Desantnik, Please collect the following evidence for this feature request. 1) Find friend with 4x4 pickup or hummvee 2) Stand in bed of vehicle holding a broom or other 2 handed implement. 3) Ask friend to drive across a field at 30 kph 4) aim implement at a target and see if you get a chance to "fire" at the target before beginning your impromptue fallschirmjaeger training! =) PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! YOUR FUTURE CM PLAYING TIME MAY BE GREATLY REDUCED! This has been a public service announcement for the "Real Panzergrenadiers don't let other Panzergrenadiers shoot mounted" campaign

Streamkeeper, VT is "variable timed" and refers to the fuses in the shells which allowed the easy production of "airbursts" (shells exploding a short distance above the ground, to cause maximum fragmentation effect). They drastically increase the effect of the shells versus infantry in open ground, similar to the artificial airbursts created in woods, by the shells impacting trees above the ground. My favourite FO's are the naval guns (heh heh) or the 300+mm rockets (roll the dice and see which side gets to go home in one piece... Cheers, Chris

Jsherfy, There is no method to save out a map other than as a .cmb/.cmc file (i.e. a whole battle or operation). However, nothing stops you loading that and changing the units/parameters and saving as a new battle/Op. I normally just do maps and save with the default parameters and no units as "CP Son map only" or some other meaningful name, then load it in to do then next. You can also "borrow" the maps from other Ops/battles, and create your own! =) The only fly in the ointment at the moment is the inability to exchange maps between operations and battles (i.e. if you create it as an Op, you can't later use it for a battle, only a different Op...) As to the second and subsequent battles of an operation, the deployment area is dynamically determined based on the friendly map edge, and the ground your forces control, modified by the size of the "no-mans land" selected when the Op was created. So, it will only ever be one large contiguous zone, currently at least. Hope this helps! Chris

Andreas, My latin phrase desk reference (Amo, Amas, Amat and More: Use Latin to your own advantage and to the astonishment of others - Eugene Ehrlich) states: "nemo me impune lacessit" - No-one provokes me with impunity, Motto of Scottish Kings Well, you live and learn! =) Cheers, Chris

30. Just... =) Cheers, Chris

Yup, I have staged some awesome ambushes, wiping out whole platoons in seconds, and busted bunkers to my hearts content! =) Just like "Real Life" though, your target better be surprised or suppresed, or that guy with the tank of gas strapped to his back is in big trouble! Cheers, Chris

The "point spread" solution is already in... You can add +/- points to the axis score when designing the scenario as a balancing tool... Ain't Charles good to us? =) Cheers, Chris -- CM Beta Team --

Eridani, I live in Herndon, Northern VA. I would love to attend such a gathering. =) Cheers, Chris -- CM Beta Team --

You can definately name leaders/snipers etc in the editor. You choose not to have a randomly assigned name, and type in the required detail. Good for those historical scenarios where you happen to know the name of everyone, including the quartermasters pet dog "Foo-Foo the wonder poodle". =) Cheers, Chris --- CM Beta Team --- All normal disclaimers apply. No "wonder poodles" were hurt in the making of this post -- Editted for speeling and Foo-Foo disclaimer -- And again [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 05-24-2000).] [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 05-24-2000).]

This can be caused by having the graphics driver set to zero levels of mip mapping (i.e. Draw every poly-pixel, no matter how far away...). If you like, try setting the driver to auto-generate 1 or more levels of mipmap and see if that helps. YMMV and I am not sure if your driver give this option, but I know it has worked for me with the Nvidia chipsets/drivers. Cheers, Chris

And remember the number of times it does things that it would never do if it knew where your troops are? Those successful ambushes that made you feel all warm inside? Nope, the AI don't cheat, but it certainly ain't dumb... Don't forget the FOW either, just because you never saw the unit that spotted you, doen't mean he didn't spot you! =) And if you play with FOW off, then all bets are off, as just like you, the AI knows where ALL your units are from the word go... Cheers, Chris -- CM Beta team -- (And yes, I did have a really great ambush last night where a single 88mm AT gun, concealed in a wood on the flank of a large battlefield, destroyed 5 churchills over the course of 2 turns, before losing to 14" naval artillery... =) -- Editted for speeling -- And again [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 05-15-2000).] [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 05-15-2000).]

Lorak, Yes, that sounds like an excellent scenario. Some squads may self rally prior to the HQ's arrival (depending on their quality) but that is realistic too. And the Exit VP's are the way to go. You can also restrict the units that could score Exit VP's to the rescuees to "encourage" their survival vs that of the rescuers... Cheers, Chris CM Beta Team -all normal disclaimers apply-

I loved third world war, and all of its siblings (Southern Front, Persian Gulf, and the one about Reindeer land... ) There is an awesome conversion of it for "The Operational Art of War Vol II" (the computer game) which I often play as I can't get a regular board game partner. You can play scenarios of any of the individual games or the whole set at once, just like with the paper and counter originals... Ahh the happy memories of hours spent pushing counters around the maps of europe and the gulf... =) Enjoy! Chris

My understanding is that they are AT rifle grenades. They seem to have a good effect against light armour. Helps a lot of the squad is not under suppresion (like all the other infantry AT stuff...) They are a nice addition, but don't rely on them as your only AT defense! Chris Disclaimer: Beta Tester blah blah blah blah blah Steve will kick my ass if I tell you more blah blah blah...

Pere., Send an email to steve@bigtimesoftware.com with your new details. Steve, the near legendary co-creator of CM, will be happy to hand update your details in near real time! (Seriously, he will correct your address for you!) Cheers, Chris

As a beta tester, I can say that the scenarios I have play tested so far are a good mix of small (<1 company play in 20 mins) to large (battalion size, take a week off to do it justice! =). The common feature is the skill of the designers, the enthusiasm of the testers, and the high quality of the final results. I really think that you will be very happy with the variety of size, content and subject. Chris DISCLAIMER: The above post is my personal opinion. I have not seen the final package, and my comments are in no way the official position of BTS. Which, as you know, probably means the final outcome will be much better... ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com

Basic Statistics: Given the far larger (many orders of magnitude...) population of PC owners, there are of course more stupid PC owners. And more intelligent PC owners, and more genius PC owners (like me...) Chris ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com

Dumbo, Search on "Operation" for more info than you would ever want! =) The basics are that a CM "Campaign" is a single operation that takes place on a large (multiple sq km) contiguous map. So, it simulates a multi battle, maybe multi day push to take a single, or geographically co-located series of objectives. A good example is, you could do Frost's push to capture and hold the North End of the bridge at Arnhem (mulitiple days/battles all on one long map from dropzone to bridge) but you could'nt do all the bridges ala CC2, as the areas are split across a very large, non continuous map. You could of course do one operation for each bridge... Hope this helps! Cheers, Chris DISCLAIMER: The post was generated by a BETA TESTER. It is the intention of the team, that no feelings were hurt in the making of this post. (i.e. no mentions of the day-to-day bliss of multiple CM operations including cool new vehicles like the Churchill Crocodile, or the joy of firing up a DYO battle with the random map generator and gazing in awe at your own newly minted section of Northern France ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com

ROTFLMAO!

BTS, Any chance of a Firepower/range graph for each squad? It seems unfair that tanks get all the exciting graphs and pictures! On second thoughts, since we would like the game before 2002, I withdraw that request... Maybe something that could be produced by others given the data? Cheers, Chris -- Edited for bone headed speling erors [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 02-22-2000).] [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 02-22-2000).]

If money is no object, then for image quality and resolution, a GeForce 256 card may fit the bill. I swapped out a TNT2 ultra for the Hercules 3D prophet DDR, and was stunned by the increase in quality. I thought the TNT2 Ultra was excellent, but the difference is noticeable... Still, it's probably overkill for these games. The TNT2 is a great buy, like the Voodoo cards already mentioned (but with 32 bit colour...) Cheers, Chris ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 01-31-2000).]

Hmm.. As we say in England: Eine was für Eingabe des alten tosh! Es ain't wirklicher Jerry an allen!

All, In the interest of Statistical Research, I will admit my 29 tender years of age. My wife insists that I act like a twelve year old, so may be you can count me as 20.5?? =) Chris -- Edited for 12 year old spelling and grammer [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 01-14-2000).]

All, As another of the anonymous Beta Team, I wade in with Wild Bill, and vote for the PTO. Designing those cave/bunker defenses will be too much to resist! =) Heh heh heh... Chris ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com

Donald, They are an early 'shaped charge' warhead. The power of the shaped charge IS related to its diameter as you suggest, but for the penetration of first generation armour plate, it didn't need to be bigger than the bazooka warhead. Spaced and composite (Chobham) armours were developed to combat the early weapons, leading to an arms race of warhead size versus armour thickness/type. Search on the forum for "Panzerfaust" to find a link to an excellent on-line resource on anti-armour weapons (by M. Hofbauer I believe?) >> Looked it up myself =) --> http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/8172/panzerfaust.htm Cheers, Chris ------------------ Chris Pick chris@chris-and-donna.com [This message has been edited by ChrisPick (edited 11-30-99).]