Harold Jones

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>...but the crew survived intact and even took a victory location later... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> This is just wrong. The crew from a knocked out vehicle should not be able to capture a victory location. I think they should go to ground in the best cover they can find and remain there until the scenario ends or they are threatened by enemy forces. A vehicle crew should not be capabable of any sort of offensive action and if for some reason they can do this then they should be treated as green shaken troops. This because they may be vetran tankers but they will be the rawest newbies when it comes to infantry ops. Also, getting your tank shot out from under you is unnerving to say the least.

Fionn, That's why I quit when I was ahead, otherwise I would have been up all night trying to win again.

I played until 3 am. I would have played longer but I accidentally won the first scenario so I decided to rest on my laurels. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Foobar, I'll admit that the classic "l33t R3vI3w" practically requires that the poster have absolutly no first hand experience of the game. However, I don't think the demo will have an opening movie, so I anticipate having to actually load a scenario before I can get enough superficial detail to effectivly "R3vI3w" the game. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 10-28-99).]

I'll play it for five minutes and then post a scathing review slamming it because it sux, and because the rivet pattern on the Panther roadwheels is completely wrong. Then I will flay the game mercilessly as an unplayable hash of spaghetti code desperatly needing major re-working because I can only get a frame rate of a lousy 105fps. Or not, I suspect you won't hear much from me since I'll be way too busy playing to post here or even log on to the Internet. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

haroldj@usa.net

I use a PC for the same reason that I use IE, that's what I have at work. I'm used to 'em both and anything else just seems clunky. I wish Commodore had done a better job with the Amiga, I loved that thing. The day that the games I want to play, or the applications I want to use are released on LINUX first is the day I switch to LINUX. Until then I'll limp along a serf to Microsoft. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

I think that people are confusing the orders phase and the action phase. During the orders phase (if I understand it correctly) you will be able to pan around the map checking LOS and such. For most people this shouldn't cause motion sickness since you can set the camera angle (for example set the view to directly overhead) to avoid a first person view. To eyeball the LOS you pan over to the unit or position and then select the camera angle that represents the unit's viewing level, this should allow even the most sensitive person to use all of the benefits of the 3D view without having to worry about getting sick. During the action phase you just don't watch the movie from the unit perspective. During the replay the 3D stuff is just eye candy since the action has been processed before the movie is generated. In either case you lose nothing by not zooming around the map in first person view.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Basically the ambush drill in their army (presuming ambushes in jungle terrain and at very close range) was to simply turn towards the ambush and charge it tossing as many grenades and firing as rapidly as you possibly could. It was only when you had penetrated the enemy ambush line and were, preferably behind them by a few metres, that you were supposed to go to ground,<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Pretty much standard anti-ambush drill for the American army as well. The idea is to gain fire superiority on the ambusher and to get out of the ambush zone as fast as possible. You can't run away from an ambush without getting slaughtered so the only viable direction is toward the enemy. Of course a smart enemy knows this and will set up their ambush to make this difficult to pull off, but it will work well against the sort of hasty ambushes you will probably see quite often in CM. The other thing to remember is that although this drill is easy to practice it is extremly difficult to execute. I expect that green troops and conscripts will be so shaken by an ambush that they will quite literally melt away. Regulars on up probably stand a good chance of successfully pulling this drill off.

M. Hofbauer said <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>a shaped charge was designed with the warhead cap so that it detonated at the optimum distance. The plasma jet unfocusses rapidly after that optimum distance. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> One of the things about shaped charge weapons (especially man portable ones) is that building the warhead for optimum standoff distance is not always possible due to handling constraints. What happens is that in order to reduce overall length and or weight of the round, the standoff distance provided by the construction of the warhead may be less than the distance needed for maximum penetration. Therefore increasing the distance from the armor the warhead detonates (with sandbags or any other field expedient) may actually improve the performance of the warhead. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 10-21-99).]

While I've been waiting I've mostly been passing the time with TOAW PBEMs. I did get to spend a weekend crawling around on tanks at various Canadian armor museums with some fellow armor buffs. The URL will take you to the AAR for the event. http://www.netwave.ca/~whiskey/forum/2annualpics.html ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Thanks for the answer. I loved the M240, it was reliable as all heck. I don't know that I ever experienced a mechanical malfunction on one. I assume that the m240b has a shoulder stock, adjustable sights, a longer pistol grip and a bipod attached. The M240C which is used on the Bradley is identical to the M240 that is used on tanks except that it is setup for righthand feed instead of lefthand. Other countries know the M240 as the FN MAG. Just to keep this marginally on topic. The M240 has an adjustable gas port that allows the cyclic rate to remain nearly constant as the gas ports get fouled by carbon. It has three progressively larger holes marked one to three. When you notice your rate of fire slowing you can remove the barrel and change to the next larger hole. In theory this will allow you to maintain a cyclic rate of 900 rpm for quite awhile without extensive cleaning of the gun. Of course most people just set it to three at the beginning so they can get the highest rate possible. I don't know what the rate is when the gas port is at maximum but there is a noticable difference in the sound when it fires. ------------------ 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 10-13-99).]

LOS I was under the impression that the M60 was being replaced by a ground mount version of the M240.

This thing piqued my interest so I asked about it on the Heavy Metal Forum. I got several replies that essentially agreed with Fion's, also one of the replies included this quote and source: Combat History of sPzJgAbt 653 by Karl Heinz Münch, publ. by Fedorowicz Publications, ISBN 0921991371 On pp. 371 and 377 there are 3 pictures of the Bergepanther with a Pz IV H turret (with side skirts) bolted to the chassis, so it is not movable. The crew had to fight like an assault gun. An interesting detail is that the Pz IV commanders cupola was subsituted by the old Panther D cupola. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

As far as I know the 60 always had a quick change barrel. What it didn't have was a handle. To change the barrel you hit the release and pointed the gun to the ground and shook the barrel out. Eventually they got around to issuing asbestos mittens to the assistant gunners so that they could just grab the barrel and pull it out.

Mikeman, I believe that you get more VP for prisoners than for KIA. What I wonder, is the incentive to not call in artillery on your own troops once they are captured? Is it the fact that the enemy has to waste resources guarding them, or that you take a bigger global morale hit for having guys die as opposed to being captured or something else?

I get to come in and baby sit our calling card and operator services platform through the roll over. My preperations consist of buying a case or two of soup, getting a 2 month refill on my prescriptions and taking out a hundred or so in cash. I figure most of the problems will be caused by people freaking out about the whole thing. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Here's a something I would like to be doing while I'm waiting for CM. http://personal.sdf.bellsouth.net/sdf/c/b/cbj51/index11.htm ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

Here's a couple of links about night fighting that might be of interest. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/237ACY.htm http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/104-3/fm.htm [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 09-30-99).]

I'm from Iowa. Although thanks to the Army I've also lived in Colorad, Kansas and Germany for varying amounts of time. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>You can't take your stinkin' PDF manual to the throne room when ya gotta take a dump.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Amen! Brother Amen!

I don't think having corpses littering the field of battle will add one iota to the realism or playability of the game. A case might be made that they would add to the atmosphere but not enough to justify the time and resources it would take to implement. Real battlefields are messy chaotic places replete with undescribable sounds, sights and smells. No computer game will ever come close to recreating that atmospere no matter how many cartoon bodies are strewn about and how many gallons of red pixels are splashed on the screen.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Depends on the purpose of the AFV. If it isn't planned to do alot of anti-armor fighting, but is supposed to be an infantry support vehicle, lots of MG ammo would make the M3 an excellent "mobile, armored machine gun nests".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually that is exactly what the infantry wanted tanks for. American doctrine was that tanks were for infantry support and exploitation and that Tank Destroyers were for anti-tank work. Moving ammo around inside tanks like the M3 was relatively easy. Although an important consideration is not how much you carry but how much you have ready to shoot. If your doing all of your shooting out of 200 round boxes you are goin to be spending a lot of time swapping boxes. If you can put a couple thousand rounds linked together into one container you can do a lot more shooting before you have to dig more ammo out.

Disregard this, I re-read the thread and realized that I had missed the point completely. [This message has been edited by Harold Jones (edited 09-20-99).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Seems to me Britain takes MUCH better care of its old vehicle museums than the US.. Damned shortsightedness. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I haven't been to Aberdeen, but I have heard all the horror stories. I agree that what has happened at Aberdeen is a waste. However, not ALL US museums are this bad. I have been to the Patton museum at Ft. Knox and it is wonderful. Most of the vehicles are stored inside and many still run. In fact the museum demonstrates several vehicles every month weather permitting. ------------------ If something cannot be fixed by hitting it or by swearing at it, it wasn't worth saving anyway.