Eridani

Fionn- Billcarey and I are currently a good deal into creating a scenarios and operations page for Combat Mission... there really is no sense in having two pages that do the same thing... As soon as we go live I'll send you the URL and you can check out what we have so far. (should be sometime before the new year)... that way you could focus on the meta-campaign (a great Idea btw) and we'll handle Scenarios and Operations archiving, reviews, and the rest. -EridanMan

I'll play any game as the Americans, all you German commanders come'ere and get slaughtered (well, maybe, we'll see) scott.cragg@erols.com

I myself have found schrecks to be nearly useless... now, I know that its probably luck of the draw, but after playing CE as both the Americans and the germans, I have scored 5 kills with zooks and a grand total of *0* kills with shrecks (Even though I use them the same)... in fact, I have NEVER had a schrek kill an enemy tank... Zooks aren't all that great, but they work (occassionally)... More than I can say than for schrecks... what can I say, I guess they just don't like me. hehehe (oh, and I've only had a screck only ever nail one of my tanks... but it really pissed me off... the loss of that tank (and subsiquent crew) was a full fifth of my casualties that battle... (25 American casualties, 220 German Casualties, a good battle nonetheless) God you know you've played a game too much when you can CONSISTANTLY score numbers like that. I need to start playing you all more, anyone wanna pbem? scott.c@coolmail.net I'm americans in CE

Compassion- Interesting... the grapevine (fine. theregister) has been saying that intel can't get the yields up on the new Coppermines, same cache problem that AMD had with its k6-3's... I've also heard that from a few other sources (most notable cnet news)... Athlon is still a FAR better processor than the PIII (let alone the celeron, but I do have to admit that its a good deal for the price (hey, I'm running a 450 300A at home on one of my computers myself)... no way an 800 mhz celeron will touch a 800-850 Athlon, but pricewise it'll probably be half the price. Thanks for the inside info btw, I'll keep it in mind. -EridanMan

David- .18 micron, not .16 (hazards of posting after a 7 hour plane flight) ummm check - theregister.co.uk anandtech.com tomshardware.com there are pleny of others, all of them say that the Athlon is clearly faster than the PIII even at equiviolent clock speeds. The ONLY benchmarks that the PIII beats the Athlon is intel's own Specific SIMD benchmarks (weighted heavily to make the Intel chip win), and even there, the PIII only wins by a sliver of a margin. Intel wants people to think their ahead, thus they are "releasing" chips they cannot produce (the PIII 800 for exanple)... -EridanMan

Yeah, Intel ANNOUNCED the 800mhz today... just like they announced the 733mhz a month and a half ago, but good luck finding one. Intel is trying to win a symbolic victory by making the highest-mhz (not the fastest, the Athlon 750 is still faster than the PIII 800) processor at the turn of the century. The truth is Yields on the PIII suck horribly. They can barely produce 700mhz parts, let alone 800, and as a reseller I'll tell you that 733's are STILL hard to come by (and expensive as hell). The point is basically that intel is lying. Or more specifically, just because they announce it doesn't mean it exists. The .16 micron Athlons are hitting *1.4* ghz when overclocked... and that's right now, the current fab process... AMD is just sitting on the Athlon 1ghz right now, trying to milk profits from the lower end chips before upping the bar. I don't necessarely agree or like this strategy, but its business and I definately do understand it. Intel is playing catch-up and that scares them. Their lead now depends on their ability to maintain the illusion of being the fasted processor maker on the market, even when this is clearly not the case(think about it, why else would anyone buy from them??? they make a slower product and charge more for it. The only way they can keep that up is if they prevent the public from realizing the full potential of thier other option). That is all this announcement is, smoke and mirrors so the public doesn't know that Intel has fallen well behind the power curve. sorry if this post makes little sense (grammatically), a seven hour plane flight and four hours jet-lag will do that to you (its 3:30EST right now) -EridanMan

Fionn- I just thought I would chime in here, seeing as this is kinda my field. With your Super-7 board, the only low-price alternatives you have are either the k6-2 or k6-3. The difference is, the k6-3 has integrated on-die cache (which significantly speeds up business applications and some games)... both are weak FPU (the key element for 3d gaming)... for COMBAT MISSION- if you want to stay cheap, go with the k6-II, not -3, the -3's are not up to the same speeds as the -IIs (yield problems w/the onboard cache), and the extra cache isn't going to help you in a 3d-intensive game like CM. My honest suggestion, however, is scrap the motherboard altogether and purchase the Asus K7M board (the best Slot A board out right now) and upgrade to an Athlon 500-600. the Athlon FPU core is FAR superior to the PIII, (and leaves the poor little k6 in the dust), its cheaper than the equivolently clocked PIII, and all around is a far better investment. Yes this will be more expensive, but in the long run it will provide you with a clean upgrade path to the 1-1.4ghz Athlons released next year, and give you far more satisfaction at this point.

billcarey and I are about %50 done developing CM Scenario's and Operations Homepage- Its going to be an archive site for DYO and DIY maps, plus a discussion board (what people think would make cool scenarios) and a review board where you all can review scenarios and reply to them (they're going to be the same style bbs as this page uses)... we hope to go live as soon as we get the BBS installed, although we can't do much until the game ships (review the demo scenarios maybe??? )

Fionn, that challenge go to ADSL subscribers too??? I mean, we ONLY top off at around 50-75kbps when downloading. (Cable modems in my county suck, they are almost 100 a month for half-duplex lines)... I pay 50 a month for a 640kbps dedicated line (not shared like cable)...

q2 '00 I mean, I'm still not used to that whole new-decade thing

First of all, don't get a PIII, your wasteing your money on a processors that is A- More expensive and B- Slower than the AMD Athlon. There is simply nothing that the PIII has that the Athlon doesn't... Don't be an In-Hell lemming. In terms of video cards, I use a Viper V770, its fine, I need a better processors (still putzing around at 300mhz on the original k6), but I'm waiting for the Athlon 1 (ghz) which officially will be out q2 '99 (but with intel being petty and releasing an 800mhz part that doesn't exist next week, AMD will probably push that up, they have the 1ghz part right now) my $.02 worth

I found out about this game two weeks ago... I preordered last week... That is a HUGE accomplishment btw... I'm someone who hasn't played computer games in years... the last game I played regularly was MOOII when it came out. But, I mean, this game simply rocks. I haven't been this addicted to a computer game in a LONG time...

BTS or Fionn- I have a 2 AMD 350s, one with a Viper V770 3d card (riva TNT2). Both computers seem to play the game at the same speed. Does CM support Direct3d? I love the viper, fast as ****, the only problem I've had with it is software compatability(like this). any suggestions? -Scott

I use Half-Squads for spotting and recon- no sense going and putting a while squad at risk , especially since a split squad can see twice. (I'm not talking gamey recon of running guys into the heart of the enemy formation until they die, I just mean forward recon, sneaking through woods to search for enemy stugs ect. )

It'd be kinda fun to play around with... It's be REALLY unfair though... one thing I heard no-one mention is gyro-scopicly stabalized turrets... the M1A1 can fire with great accuracy while moving at 50 mph.... I still think it would be fun to play around with... maybe a "modern" patch or addon that would give you a light selection of tanks up through modern times (T 72, T 80, m60, M1A1, M2 Bradley whatever others you can think of)... Maybe not even a free-patch, more of an addon.... I'd buy it but first I want to get my hands on the game... I'm drooling over here... 2 weeks ago I didn't know combat mission existed, now I'm checking the site way too many times a day to see if just MAYBE its shipped arrgh... Hat's of to BTS, I haven't been this into a computer game... well, ever

Today while I was studying for an exam I got kinda a funny thought that might be fun to do as a patch for the later CM games. I think It might be kinda cool to include a few modern tanks in with the mix of WWII stuff. This is not intended at ALL to be realistic, just so you could do some of those what-if battles I know you all have dreamed about,(or maybe its just me, I'm kinda weird that way). Just imagine though, seeing how much damage an M1A1 Abrams could do to a tank column of 20 King Tigers or something like that... Or plinking a halftrack with a 105mm self-propelled howitzer... Of course none of these would be in any of the included scenarios... but they'd be an option if some do-it-yourselfers wanted to have a little fun. *shrugs* just a little though

Will we be able to set the TRP during the setup phase of the mission? (I don't see why not, if the men have time to dig a foxhole, I'm sure they have tome to set their mortar)

I'm not saying that the muzzle blast would effect anyone 20 meters away... but when your 5 meters from the muzzle being fired AT. I know that in civil war re-enactments (I have friend who does that), when they fire the cannon blanks, they need to have people clear of a 45 degree cone out to about a range or 15 meters, inside that cone, (they say, I have not experienced this myself), the force is easily enough to knock you out, and I'm sure (after watching these things shoot) that it would EASILY kill a man at less than 10 meters. Think about it, that concussion is strong enough to send a five-pound shell at 700 fps... that's a lotta force, enough to ruin some poor sucker's day.

I missed the previous post while I was writing mine. I propose a simple cross or marker like that to appear when a SQUAD dies (not each individual man, that is easy to see when you check the unit status). I don't think that would clutter the end screen at all. Maybe when you clicked on the cross it would give you unit name and time of death, but even that would be unnescessary. The markers could be the same type of marks used when a vehical or person goes out of site (the little crosses and stars). I personally think that it would help my play to know where my men fell (in a charge for instance, to try to determine where the person that killed them, this is especially important in situations where a squad was surprised in the woods, there have been several times I sent a squad into the woods, checked back on it a turn later at it was just simply gone, it would have been very nice to know WHERE it died (and of course it had died the turn before and I had been busy elsewhere)) either way, please at least re-consider -thanks

With All Due Respect to BTS and your amazing creation, I have to agree with the idea that there be SOME kinda of death marker, if not for the realism, then for gameplay (a little cross would do fine)... I am currently involved in a pbem game where I would have REALLY liked to know where a few of my guys fell, but unfortunately I was occupied at the time and forgot to look during that turn, and alas totally missed what happened to this squad. In combat, if someone dies, his commander would at least radio that he is down and the location he fell. He would also leave a tell-tail sign of where he fell for his comrads to find (i.e, his body)... Either way, there would be some way for his people to know where he was down, and possible where to rescue him. Death markers would be much more realistic. It seems that the majority opinion on this board is that some sort of death marker would help the game significantly. I personally do not care if that marker is a 3d dead person lying on the ground or a simple cross (or even a little x). I'm not presuming at all to design your game for you, I have little Idea of how hard it would be (I'm a student programmer)... all I ask is that you listen to what seems to be the majority consensus and give us something, anything to let us know where our men fell. Thank You -Scott

Ok, A little more technical question- I have a Diamond Viper V770 that CM does not appear to be using (the game runs just quickly on this machine as it does on my other one which does not have a 3d card)... I know for most games you have set them to use the V770's D3d, is there any way to do that with CM? Just wondering, I wasted too much money on this card (CM is the only 3d game I play), I'd like to get at least a little benefit from it thanks oh, fyi BTS, my friend has a new Gateway (don't have the specs, I'll try to get them, but I know it has a Voodoo3), I downloaded the game on his computer, but it crashes as soon as the game enters 3d mode. I assume its a driver conflict of some kind, If you want I can get the driver versions for you (I don't have them on hand)

Hehe, Imagine Pacific FOs for the Americans, forget 105 mm howitzers, they'd call in the 16" Battleship pop-guns... Boom

Hey, BG was a good game, dont' dis it Hehehe, I know what you mean though

Makes sense, thanks

The FAQ has a little segment about implementing full squad graphics (showing all 10 members of a squad instead of just 3)... they say the reason that this is not done is because it would require a 1ghz processor... Well, seeing as AMD is sitting on their 1ghz Athlon right now and is shipping to hardware testers, this may not be all that far off. (and yes there are a few of us mad souls who will burn a deep hole in our wallet to be one of the first to 1ghz) Is moving to full-squad graphics on the docket or is its just something planned for the indefinate future (if at all)... I only ask because I'm a stickler for realizism and I think it would be cool to see the whole squad. I'd also like to say that I love the Game (I don't think I made this clear in my other post)... Its quite simply completely unmatched in any regard by anything else on the market. My thanks To Big Time Software, I've only had the demo two weeks but I'm drooling for the full game (and passing the demo out to everyone I can).