Harold Jones

Yeah, there isn't a whole lot to talk about until they release the gold demo. Mostly I just spin through look for anything new from BTS and move on. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Yes it has been asked many times before and yes they plan on improving the graphics in subsequent releases. As a bonus answer the graphics have been considerably improved since the beta demo, so what you see there does not reflect the improved graphics of the release version. A further proactive answer, the release date has not been announced, BTS will only commit to "When it's ready".

Just testing

One thing to keep in mind about this book is that it reflects the state of allied knowledge in 1944. As far as I know it was not updated post war so some of the information is either missing, incomplete or just plain wrong. It is a nice place to start looking but is not the end all be all of German TO&Es.

36, sad thing is the guy we called "pops" in basic training was only 35.

Been playing Avalon Hill's Submarine by e-mail, Tao2 and have been dinking around with gamebox to make a pbem module for Panzer Blitz. I still play a little UO as well. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

I asked about the Piat a while back on the Tanker's forum and one of the regulars said that the piat had a retaining clip in the launcher that would allow the weapon to be fired below the horizontal.

Time for someone to chime in with a quote from a book that shows that 37mm cannister was not strictly a pacific thing. From Iron Knights The United States 66th Armor Regiment. PP.224 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Lt. Jim Burl, a platoon leader in C Company, used an effective technique to fight through the hedgerows with the paratroopers of the 101st. When a passage through the hedgerow was found or created, the Americans were faced with the problem of dealing with the German troops waiting in ambush on the other side of the hedgerow. Working closely with the men of thc 101st, the tankers found an effective way of countering the ambush. With the paratroopers mounted on its back deck, the Stuart tank would crash through the hedgerow opening with all guns blazing. The 37mm gun of the Stuart would fire canister rounds to the left, the bow machine gun fire to the front and the paratroopers fire to the right. The massive fire-power directed in three directions simultaneously proved to be very effective. Amongst the hedgerows the Stuart light tanks made up for their light armor and gun by having the only tank canister rounds.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm not using this to argue for the inclusion of canister for the Stuart. I just wanted to point out that it was used in Europe by at least one unit. Also, it shows that cannister had uses beyond mowing down human wave attacks. Plus darn it it's time to start establishing my grognard credentials. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I also like to see designer's notes in manuals. Included should be the underlying philosophy of the game and a justification for the major design decisions that were made (ie why features are included or excluded).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ditto, one of the things I really liked about the old Avalon Hill board games was designer's notes section. Granted if you have been following this board for any length of time you will have been exposed to more designer's notes material than can ever be included in the manual, but it would still be a nice addition and might even cut down on the flood of "why is a squad represented by only 3 guys?" posts that are sure to follow release. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>sbg2112 I'd also like to see something ring-bound, or at least capable of being ring-bound (i.e,. shrink-wrapped hole-punched pages so I can put them in my own notebook, if that's what it takes to keep costs down).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yet again someone has read my mind, this would be a great feature and would probably be less expensive than having the thing bound. The only other thing I can think of is a quick reference for all of the commands and controls, this should include the page number or section number where the full description of the control is located. Probably you would want to have two reference pages one for the scenario editor and one for game play. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 12-30-99).] [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 12-30-99).]

If I am playing a game and the game allows me to use the freshly bailed out crew of a vehicle as a combat effective unit, then I would be foolish to not use it to destroy the offending schrek team. The person I am playing against might call it a gamey thing, but to me it is just using all of the tools available for job. Now if my opponent and I had agreed beforehand that crews would be treated as combat inefective and I used the crew as a combat unit then my opponent could rightfully call me on it. Fortunately, it sounds as if CM will handle this issue by making the crews too fragile and or expensive vp wise to use in this manner. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 12-09-99).]

To me gamer's ethics boils down to, don't cheat and treat your opponent with respect. If someone I am playing follows those two simple precepts they stay on my play list. As soon as either is violated I will not play that person again. As far as "gamey" tactics go I believe if the game's mechanics allow something then it is legal and you should expect your opponent to make use of it. If a game allows something cheesy then either the designers correct it or you the player should learn to make nachos.

Looks good but could you kill the scrolling text thing?

Pham, I agree that most of the people who play CM will not have any praise or respect for the hacker who posts the cheat utility, but the thing to remember is that the guy who does this sort of thing will probably be quite delighted with any attention he receives positive or negative. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

The really annoying thing about this sort of hacking is that sooner or later somebody makes a tool to make it easier and then they or one of their friends decides to distribute it on the web. They will do this for several reasons the most common one being the "fame" they get from writing the program. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Well I guess I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness. I ordered a complete game and that's what I want. If it takes another month then so be it, I've waited for almost 2 years now, another month or two makes no difference to me. I'm kidding ship it already ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 12-06-99).] [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 12-06-99).]

MikeO, Thanks that's exactly what I was thinking of.

As near as I can tell from personal observation and pictures, the hole made by an AP round is the same diameter as the round. If it has enough energy to pass completely through the target then the exit hole will also be approximately the same diameter as the round. The flakes (called spall) that fly around inside a tank after a round penetrates are not especially large and because of their irregular shape they lose energy quickly. Of course there is no lack of things in a tank to be cut up by these fragments before they run out of energy, like electrical lines, hydraulic lines and crew members. Also they are extremely hot so if one should happen to penetrate the casing of a round there is a fair chance that the propellent will ignite with all the nasty consequences that entails. I've been told that one of the reasons Shermans got a reputation for burning easily was the crew's habit of piling extra 75mm ammo on the turret floor. Since these rounds didn't have even the marginal protection of the ammo stowage bins they were easely ignited by penetrating hits.

This is a bit off topic. Has anyone seen the obstical course that the Royal Artillery run with 6 pounders. It's something of a traditional event that involves two teams manhandling the guns over a variety of obsticals and then firing several blank rounds at the end. I remember watching this on tv as a kid so I'm a little hazy on the details. The 6 pounders are not the anti-tank version but an older model mounted on old style horse drawn carriages.

There is no way to completely prevent cheating in a pbem tournement. It seems there is always some sad little person who defines himself by his ability to massage the system and "beat" other players. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Foobar, Will I be able to target the ambush location from behind a hill and then creep up until I have LOS to it? Unless that is the case it really doesn't help much. What I want to do is have a tank move up to an elevation change such that only enough of the turret is exposed to fire the main gun without a lot of manual intervention. The way I see it working is like this. After the command is issued the player places a waypoint on the terrain feature he wants the tank to go hull down near. After the waypoint is designated a target point is placed. During the action phase the tank will move towards the waypoint until it has a clear line of fire to the target point. If it reaches the waypoint and still doesn't have a clear line of site then it will stop. This will also solve the orientation problem since the tank will orient on the target. I don't expect that it will be as easy to implement as it was to describe, but that's why I suggested it for CM2. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 11-26-99).]

Foobar, The problem with hunting forward is that if there isn't a target to spot (or your tank fails to spot the enemy) your tank will continue moving until he reaches the waypoint you have selected. The current solution to this is to be very very careful about where you put your waypoint. What I want to do is order a tank to a general area and have it stop when it is hull down. Instead of hunting for the enemy it would hunt for the point where its gun was unmasked.

I would also like to be able to turn off the voices. At least as regards my play style, I really don't derive any benefit from them and actually find them a little annoying after a while.

Actually this is more of a cm2 request. I would really like a "seek hulldown" command for my tanks. The player would issue the command and click on a location and the tank would advance at slow speed until it was hull down or reached the waypoint and then stop.

I'll be around all weekend. haroldj@usa.net ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

I vote no. I really don't want the hassle of making sure my opponent and I are playing the same game. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.