Fester

>>Playing games does not give you the experience and technical understanding to design and/or program them<< WHOOP WHOOP!!! YOU GO GIRL!!! Seriously tho, the best idea Ive seen to date was brought up earlier in this thread (792 messages ago) "Full length movies" Smoke? yeah it could be improved (graphically) but so could a bazillion other little graphical elements of the game. I measure a game's quality by how "Immersed" I get into it. Very few games Ive played offer the Immersion level of Combat Mission. So yeah, the smoke doesnt look like the work of ILM, but it "works" in here. For what its worth, "Pirates" (the old version) is best damn game in world, and it's graphics sucked! I played it for 36 hours straight *wipes a tear* god I loved that game... Anyway. I want my damn full length movie, and if I dont get it, then Steve's an ignoramous -Fester

On the issue of "Cheating" as it pertains to reinforcements arriving on the hill on or about move 10. If you've played the scenario once, you "KNOW" that reinforcements are on the way, and that theyre comming down that particular road. Even if you dont target the hill on move 8 so that arty starts falling when the hellcats arrive, your movements are still going to be cautionary towards move 9 to set up for the hellcat arrival. This knowledge is not cheating, its "information" When playing PBEM Ill ask how we should handle it, a good solution is to hold off on actual artillary targeting until the reinforcements appear. Simply treat this information as something that was covered in the brief "A reinforcement of armor is enroute, ETA ~ 10 minutes." My point is you cant "pretend" that you dont know the information, however, you can deal with it in a sportsmanlike manner. -Fester

Great Idea Rob! I fully second this. Another really cool aspect that could be added to this is in a defensive role, you could have intimate knowledge of the terrain nuances, since youve most likely been parked there awaiting some type of offensive action. However the nme would only be presented with the sketchy information you described. So how bout it BTS? Fester -out

Thanks for the replies guys. I was curious if targetting outside of LOS had any affect, and I should have started my post off with that question I actually do assign target priorities in some circumstances prior to movement, I just didnt know if I was accomplishing anything. Great idea with the laptop BTW, Man! now I can play even while Im driving Fester -out

Have a question regarding the movement of troops and target assignment. I know the Tac AI has been reworked, and this may have already been covered before so please bear with me As it stands now, if I have a SMG squad in the woods, I cannot assign target priorities to them until they can actually see the target (LOS), even tho they may have knowledge of the targets existance. A good example of this is utilization of Panzerfausts by infantry. If there is a Sherman Just outside the treeline, I want to be able to specify that "THE SHERMAN" is their target ("Go Kill that tank!"). Have them take what preparations are necessary to ready their Faust (seems like it takes some time to get it ready to kill a tank) "Then" move to contact and engage. As it is now, I just move the guys close, and leave it up to them to decide if the tank is a priority. Even if the TAC AI is reworked, this still means they are prepping for the attack "After" the movement phase and most likely in full view the enemy. Anyway, thats probably enough to either get a discussion going, or get flame broiled BTW, BTS, this rocks! I just got done installing a bed pan "Into" my computer chair (necessity is the mother of invention) in doing so Ive cut my "Away Time" by 32% Fester

The Squad was led by Abe Simpson

I can confirm a Faust kill in the Beta Demo. I was playing as the Germans in Chance Encounter and in the opening moves of the game I managed to secure an infantry company with 4 Panzerschrecks in the allied woods across from the church. we had whittled eachother down to one tank a piece, mine behind the church his behind a knoll up against the treeline. His tank there was preventing me from launching a counterattack on my right flank and decisively winning the day. There was really no way for my Stug to get to him without taking HUGE risk at getting poked, so we were at a bit of an impass... or so he thought <EG> I manuevered my Schrecks (4 of em!)to within 100m for a perfect rear aspect shot, and let fly with barrage after barrage of fire. Not even a richochet! I rushed a fresh SMG squad to the treeline hoping their fausts would prove more effective. They never fired a shot and the unit was completely lost. The allies launched a viscious counter attack that lasted several minutes. I managed to fend off the attack, and actually came out of it a little bit better than the allies, but I was down to the tattered remains of 2 infantry squads one of which had already panicked, and 3 command units. I let the smoke from the intense fire fight die down, then I crept my SMG squad (I think thats what it was, at any rate, they had Fausts) to within 100m of the sherman, still pounding the piss out of my right flank. Undetected at 100m I rushed the tank in a last ditch attempt to dispatch it. The unit bravely charged in and setup, undetected, 37m directly behind the sherman!!! and then started shooting at an MG1919 that was about 200m away! The tank still had not recognized the threat So I rushed my remaining troops in to handle small arms threats. Now Im taking fire from an assortment of infantry that had scattered durring the counter attack. They didnt possess a lot of fire power, but my guys behind the tank would not use the faust when they were receiving fire. To top it off the tank had seen them! Seeing this I rushed my StuG from behind the church in an all out charge against the Sherman's position. It was crunch time. I figured that if the squad didnt dispatch the tank, it would possibly distract it enough so I could rush in with my StuG and finish it off... except... I wasnt gonna make it. Too much ground to cover, and the turret of the tank was already half way around. Then an amazing thing happened. The remaining troops managed to supress the fire that had been directed at my Faust squad. temporarily unmolested they started to screw something onto the end of their rifles. The tanks turret continued to swivel around to deliever their fate and my StuG was still 100m away with a hill to climb. KA-PING! (turret penetration) and the Sherman was finished. The squad, down to 4 men, was credited with the kill. Fester

>>only 2 allied tanks died... What else I need to do? << Keep in mind that "Luck" is acurately modeled in CM Im pretty new to this game (2 weeks) so I dont have any sage advice like "Put your tank here" but it'd be a good idea tos witch sides and see things from a different perspective. >>We also need this: A meniu option that will say "Move tank until given point is in line of sight". This will eliminate me trying to move stug just an inch forward to get hull down position.<< I think this is the "Hunt" command. At least thats how I use it. When I get to a position that is close to where I want to be, or am expecting enemy contact Ill use "Hunt" to get into my exact position. So far it has worked well. Good Luck Fester

>>Ah, give him a break... he was in the Army<< Rut Roh... I'll hold him down BH, you "Educate" him Fester

Actually he said "INCONTHEEEVABLE!" great movie BTW