Henri

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I'm curious since in many ways the two games play in a similar fashion. I played TacOps for about 2 years (1995-97), and still tell people it's the best modern military game out there.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Although some of its limitations (graphics, only two height levels, no morale effects) have been criticized by some, TacOps is no doubt the best modern battle simulator available, and is being used by some military for training purposes. TacOps has some innovative features that have not yet made their way into other wargames, like standard operating procedures and multiple scripted tactics by the PO. Many of us are hoping that some of those features (especially the SOP) will be found in the next version of Combat Mission. Anyone interested in WW2 tgactical combat HAS to buy , steal or trade in order to get this game.It's not quite Squad Leader, but it pretty close, and maybe better in some ways.

I'm enjoying this discussion and learning a lot, but I have a comment or two. Hey guys, Combat Mission is first and foremost a game, not a simulation .It appears that the editor allows the scenario designer the a wide choice of options for troop quality. So what if a designer wants to give a Volkstrum unit an elite performace? Or US paratroopers a conscript performance? All of those probably happened at least once...It is to the designers' credit that the game can also be used as a pretty good simulation , but one should not have unrealistic expectations. Speaking of US performance, I remember when the US module of Squad Leader came out and was greeted with hoots of anger from players who were outraged at the ease with which US units would break. Don Greenwood and other designers had to write a long article in The General to prove that the performance of US soldiers was as modeled in the game.I still have the article at home. In short, the argument was that since the US had such overwhelming air control and artillery support (there were exceptions), the standard procedure when met by strong resistance was to back off and blast the German positions with air and artillery, then to mop up with infantry . This doesn't make very good John Wayne movies, and it doesn't make very interesting wargames... One thing that is difficult to model is incompetence of higher command; for instance, the Canadians generally fought well and generally had excellent commanders at lower levels (all Canadians who went into combat in Europe were volunteers; some conscripts were sent to England, but none were sent into combat), but the higher level commanders were among the most atrocious of the whole war (probably due in part to inexperience and in part because many were there through political connections). For example, it took a number of disasters before General Keller was sacked, although his removal had been previously recommended all the way up to Montgomery, who didn't bother to hide his contempt for the Canadian generals. I am not sure how one could model this in Combat Mission . No player is purposely going to send his reinforcements up the wrong road, then wait for two days before realizing that he is in the wrong place. Henri

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>By the way Henri, how do you like TOAW? Do you feel it's igo ugo turn based nature is modified enough to give you a sense of manouver at the operational level?.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It's kind of a love-hate relationship: most scenarios are too big and are too much like slugging matches, maneuver is not well modeled nor encouraged by the game and so on.But it has no competition for large-scale operational warfare. Putting in the ability to transfer command to the PO would be a gret progress; in many scenarios, bu the time I have given orders to half my units, I have forgotten which orders I have given to the first. Anyway, in recent times, I have been to busy playing Combat Mission, Age of Kings, Shogun, Warlords Battlecry, SWAT3 and a few others to play any TOAW... Henri

SPOILER!...... . . . . .. . . . . . . . I'm now on turn 34 with All or Nothing scenario and so far I'm lusing some engineers around the bridge area due to some British armor, Tiger is on the way so I hope together with my 88 I can keep the Allies under control. I can't believe I have lost JagPz IV (imobilized) due to running too long on rail trucks... ________________ You shuld have left it where it is: if the British come across the stone bridge, they HAVE to cross the railroad bridge, and that Panzer can sit there with a perfect position. I'll post an AAR at the war-historical usenet forum today on what happened to me as the British at that bridge (I had already lost two tanks there in my previous AAR) Henri

Ca va bien? Ca fait longue temps que tu as ecrive un article au Games Domain concernant le manque de manouvre dans les jeux de guerre. Est ce que CM a vous donner ce que tu as chercher? (tranlation: he asks about my Games Domain article some timeago regretting the lack of the role of maneuver in computer wargames) ----------------- CM does give a fair amount of leeway for maneuver in some scenarios; for a game of its scale, it`s about as good as one could expect. A good example is the Wittman scenario (Villers-bocage), where the key to winning the scenario is to forego the historical movement, and to do it in an optimum manner that is not obvious. Il est encore trop tot pour un jugement definitif sur Combat Mission. _______________ 've enjoyed your AAR's on csipgs-h. It'd be great if you'd post a couple over on the "scenario-talk" board, along with the usual "spoiler" note. _________________ Yes, especially if I can`t get this newsgroup on my home cable modem setup and have to post them from work. I promise I`ll post one here eventually. I noted that some people post pictures here; is it accepted and how does one do it? Can they be compressed with JPG? BTW, how does one put a quote from another message into a reply here with the original author`s name shown? Henri

I want the battle. Not the AAR ! __________________________ Welcome to the club! WhenI asked about it last week on the historical game usenet forum, Fionn said that it is coming. Henri

Spoiler............ ...................... . . . . ... Well, I sent Wittmann to the left as you suggested, and with a bit of luck to help won it with two tanks left.I wrote an AAR on the war-historical forum last week describing the details. Henri

Peter, oops, I though it was you who had discussed my AAR on the war-historical forum, but now I remember that instead it was you who told me how to win the Wittmann scenario . For All or Nothing, I recommend playing the British; someone copmplained on this forum that when he played the Germans, the British lacked initiative. Ihaven`t tried the Germans myself in this scenario. God, with all those CM scenarios and my new Cable modem allowing me to spend hours surfing these forums, and me thinking of maybe starting to play online games, it is beginning to sound as if my job may be getting in the way of my life. Oh no , my wife is calling me to go upstairs to fix a door Henri

Be careful: pause ONLY pauses at the beginning of a turn, for 15 seconds for each pause order. If you order a pause in the middle of a move, it will be executed at the beginning. Henri

It`s in the archives on the Thegamers Combat Mission site. Henri

Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? __________________________ Gawd, I`m ashamed to be a Canadian in the same country as this ignoramus . This is almost enough to justify Quebec secession... For cryin' out loud, a few weeks ago, I flew from Toronto to Glasgow on an Air Canada Airbus . Apparently Mr. Sinclair thinks that Airbus airplanes are made by Boeing I guess Sinclair is hoping to be invited to some US late night show, since Canadian TV dropped him about 40 years ago Henri

I was just playing the scenario "All or Nothing" and I did some calculating. With such a large scale operation, the computer's orders phase and the game's loading phase (the blue status bar in the main control console) took just under 3 minutes to load (per turn). Sounds to me like the store took you for a sucker and sold you a 50 MHz computer . Or maybe you are in software mode . Plus there's a minute for the action phase (thus equalling five minutes). With 75 turns, each equalling four minutes a piece (nevermind the time that I spend to actually issue orders) I would spend roughly 300 minutes (or 5 hours) playing just this one scenario. Five hours . I have been playing this scenario for over en hours, and I am not finished yet If you take longer to plot your moves, the time the computer takes will seem shorter Henri

The safest beef in the world, according ot the UK government... Just makes you mad, doesn't it? ______________________________ Not unless you are a British cow It sounds like some of the posters on this thread have been eating some of that mad cow Henri

What it does? It uses crews to assault the AT team that killed their vechile! It's happened several times already. ___________________ Here`s how it goes: `Hans, look, there`s that bastard with the Panzerschreck who just knocked out our Panzer And he`s all alone his tube isn`t loaded and there are three of us What should we do `

There is a detailed AAR from Fionn on Thegamers site describing his game with Bill playing this scenario my comments on Fionn`s brilliant play was posted Friday on the war-historical usenet forum. Some may not want to read that before they play the scenario Henri

Nice going, Peter, I haven`t tried that one myself. BTW, I finally got across the bridge in my All or Nothing game, and finaly nailed that bushwacking JahdPanzer I`ll post a further AAR on that tomorrow on the historical forum. I`ll have to do it from work, because I just got a new cable modem and my newserver doesn`t carry the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical newsgroup, which I have to get from the server at the office. I tried a half-dozen free newservers, and NONE of them carry that newsgroup. I wonder why ...Anyway I emailed my cable modem company and requested that they add it. maybe I`ll have to start posting my AARs here... Henri

You would need to divide that firepower by the number of figures in a squad to make an accurate comparison. Imagine three German Rambos in a squad each toting an MG42 HMG on their hip and with 50 units of ammo. ____________________ That is not realistic: as I understand it, a German infantry squad had one MG42 only and one submachinegun, the rest of the squad being equipped with rifles. The squad you describe would have to have most of its men servicing the guns and ammo, and would not be a very flexible fighting unit. Henri

Have you fought any battles or operations that you just had to play again? Have any of the battles you've fought earned a "repeat" status? ___________________ The one I have replayed the most is the Wittmann scenario Villers-Bocage-Tigers! Knowing anything about that battle is actually a hindrance, and I kept getting beat (as those who read the usenet historical forum are probably aware :rolleyes , until Peter made a suggestion on how he won, and yes, I finally did win it as the Germans . Of course as has been much discussed, it would be a lot easier if one`s Tigers didn`t spend their time shooting at routed vehicle crews . Henri

FOR THE SCENARIOS YOU HAVE PLAYED WHICH SIDE DO YOU RECOMMEND FOR THE PLAYER? For Allor Nothing, play the British.

I would say that it depends; in a game with no unknown reinforcements and known forces, yes it might be gamey. On the other hand, using one`s knowledge of forces is quite legitimate and can make the difference between a good and a poor player. for instance, if you have broken two platoons and you don`t see anybody around, the knowledge that a company has three platoons and that there is probably another unseen platoon nearby can be very useful. In the same manner, let us say that you have just knocked out two enemy squads and a platoon HQ. You should be aware that there is now an enemy squad somewhere without a platoon commander that will therefore be a bit slow on reaction and should break more easily tha in would if the commander were available. You should alsobe aware that the platoon commander may be replaced by the Cmpany commander, if he is in the vicinity. In sum, one should use the information that would be available in a real battle and not articificially obtained, but all is fair in love and war. Henri

Actually, whats a good ww2 movie on armored forces?? ----------------- Battle of the Bulge with Robert Shaw as the kickass German tank commander was not so bad, although some grognards thought it had too many unrealistic things like the shell from a tiger took 1/100th of a second too long to cover one kilometer... Henri

The problem is not only tanks around acorner; in my battle yesterday, a jahdPanzer had just destroyed two of my tanks and was sitting at the end of the railroad in plain view 1 km away as it was engaged by the two tanks folowing behind. After firing a couple of shots, both of my tanks suddently traversed and began to shoot at an infantry squad 1/4 mile away! Had to change my shorts again... Henri

just testing my password.

..by onewho has never played yet. If you have been reading reports of CMX games (multi-player wargames like TacOps with referees), you will notice that the most frequent (almost universal) mistake admitted to by players is underestimating the importance of recon. In a fog-of-war situation, if you don't know what the hell is going on, you have to depend on luck to make the right moves, and as Napoleon might have put it, luck is a lady who likes to be courted with restraint. So although I have never seen the game beyond Fionn and Martin's AAR, my advice for you is to recon, recon, recon, before you commit your forces. Hednri

Well, I started way back in 1967, with Blitzkrieg and Gettysburg, which I believe were the first board wargames. My all-time favorite was The Russian Campaign. I then played innumerable ones, and since computer games started, I believe that I have not missed very many (if any), especially over the past few years when my game machine shifted from Mac to PC. Offhand, my opinion of the best computer wargames are (in no particular order) East/West Front, Computer East Front, Pacific War, Tigers on the Prowl II, Mig Alley, Pz General series, Steel Panthers series, TacOps, SP2WW2, and I am probably forgetting a half-dozen others. Henri