Justin Hoerter

Thanks, sounds great, I'll give it a look. As you see, my turnaround time is pretty bad!

I've a couple questions for you. Will you be hosting the turn files for viewing? If not, can any of you post a link to a web site that does. I enjoy seeing what tactics others use and my free time is limited, so I make an unreliable PBEM player. I would like to live vicariously though. Good luck with the site.

I spotted mine in one of Fionn's AARs. The sole squad that remained from his first ambush. My girlfriend made the proper ooh's and aah's, but everyone else thought I was nuts.

Very good comments Bullethead. I get the same feel from the game as well. I'd like to see BTS's comments, it'd be interesting to see how they've worked this out. Justin

I understand the abbrevation, just a bit of ribbing . We of course do it all the time, can make for quite a lot of confusion. The alkyl mercury compounds are very nasty, dimethyl being particularly bad do to its small size. It passes through most gloves and skin very rapidly. There have been a few deaths associated with this one (probably microliter quantities involved too). Most chemical accidents in a research lab setting are less severe do to the small quantities used. I've also had the pleasure of working with HF (non-aqueous its a super-acid and also) some other super-acids, as well as phosgene, cyanide, etc... Not to mention the board favorite white phosphorous and its cousins. Like many other fields, you really learn to think ahead . Anyway, sorry for the off-topic posts, but work can be so slow sometimes . J [This message has been edited by Justin Hoerter (edited 02-15-2000).]

Hmm... a little chemist bashing huh... As we speak I'm running NMR's of bis- 1,2-bis[(diperfluorylethyl)phoshpino]ethane diiridium tris-(mu-hydrido) hydride in Antimonypentafluoride (Mmmm, super-acid with the viscosity of molasses). I'm running another sample as well, but I don't have the time to write that one out. Inorganic nomenclature can be a pain! Fionn, shouldn't you be writing C2H5OH? The ethyl radical would be tearing your patients apart! J PS We just got a ampule of dimethyl mercury... Anyone have any medical texts on that one? It's knocked off a few grad. students. Hope I live to see CM's release!

This is the best thread I've seen in a while. Very nice to hear what has changed since the beta demo and the reasons behind it Steve. Also nice to hear the brief AAR from Madmatt. Just can't wait to give it a whirl myself... J

Sorry Fionn, I assumed Steve was not participating in the CMMC forum so I figured this needed to be asked here first. If something turned up that would be useful for CMMC I'd have posted over on the mailer. Steve, good to hear that its on the list. This is something that would make a great update after v1.0 J

Captain Foobar, I've only read through what Fionn's posted concerning the CMMC (CM meta-campaign), so I may be wrong. However, I understand that the GM's will be writin the maps on a per-battle basis. Initially a large number of small maps will be made to create the entire map. From there the GM will create an appropriate map. Essentially a manual version of CM's operation. Justin PS, Will CM have a copy/paste tool in the editor that allows copying a portion from one map to another? This would allow cuts to be made from the grid of maps origianally created and saved to the map being sent to the players.

I have unit bases turned on most of the time, helps a great deal with spotting units. The shift-cominbation is listed in hotkeys as well. J

On the subject of cats... I'd just picked up the British module to ASL and had laid out the new counter sheets to have a look. My sister's cat found it to be the perfect place to relieve herself. I don't believe the English have ever received a more traumatic loss of armor (or in this case armour)... As to ten counter stacks... In Red Barricades, IMO the height of ASL, this was so common and there were so many of them that we had house rules in place to take care of the inevitable tragedies. Yet another abstraction I'm happy to see leave as CM enters the fray. Justin

I understood, from Scott Udell's article at CGO, that units in subsequent battles had very restricted set-up areas. IE, a unit would only be able to move slightly (perhaps 60m). It sounds like this restraint has been relaxed. Is this true? Justin PS I'm questioning what really goes on between the bartenders and bouncers... Sounds like more than idle banter to me.

Hi Bill, As a SL'er, ASL'er, WCSII:Tanks'er, SP'er, etc... I've seen your name crop up before In fact I vaguely remember the fiasco with AH, wasted oppertunity on their part... My confidence in BTS is increased even more knowing that they've nabbed you. I look forward to seeing what you've done with CM. Justin

Can't leave the twenty-somethings underrepresented, 28 here. J

Sorry that I didn't remember it was your post Jason. Anyway, you made a good point J

I'll just have to take a look at that one. I like to wait 'til the whole battle is finished. I'm too damn impatient to wait for the next turn... (Must have it all!) Justin PS So hurry up already

Here and there it comes up as well. I think the following has been said as well. At long ranges when only squad MG's (particularly possible with "Heavy SMG" squads) firing, partial ammo units are used. On the other end of the spectrum, at close ranges multiple rounds can be fired per minute. I swear someone just gave an example of a unit dumping 5 ammo units into another at very close range. So things seem to be scalable. Justin

Hey Matt, You might be thinking of things other than teasing with your privates stapled to your forhead. As to people waiting since spring... I've been watching this one since I saw the first post at bigtimesoftware ('97 ???). I remember seeing something on computer ASL (beyond ASL at the time?? or was that Close Combat's first name?) and the potential release which was some godforsaken ways off. Achtung Spitfire was but a twinkle in the eye as we were all enjoying Over the Reich at the time. Fortunately the medication regimine they have me on has made the years pass quickly. Justin out... and searching for that high-powered staple-gun!

Recall that most of these are 15 minute or so firefights. Two teams close to each other may know of each others locations. But to say that two teams that are a couple hundred meters apart and know of each others ammo status did not happen historically. There are exceptions, but not often. Many of the accounts I've read involve units that have some chance to reorganize. With bazookas, there are plenty of examples of a team hunting multiple vehicles in a town expending several rounds of ammunition, but this is over the course of a day or so. Not within the timescale of a typical firefight. Justin

Ahh.. right, dropped the command modifier. Thanks Moon. Justin

Scavenging is not in. This one has been talked about before, but it can often be difficult to pick up some threads... In any case, I believe the argument was that this was out of the time-scale for CM. Perhaps more importantly, it was stated that it was hard to implement. There are some cases where infantry will pick up another clip off of a fallen soldier, but I think this is abstracted sufficiently with the LOW AMMO status slowing rather than halting a units fire. For bazookas etc... how would the men know another team fell in that location? Their ammunition type is much more uncommon than a rifles (not to mention the added overhead of tracking dropped ammuntion by location). Certainly there are exceptions, but I believe the decision was that this would not be in. If someone knows differently, feel free to correct me. Justin

There is a verbal equivalent in the unit screen (accessed with 'enter'). IIRC: lighting = combat, heart = morale, and the other is for concealment bonus. These come in either +1 or +2 flavors, with the boxed icon being +2. I assume the leader must be in contact in order to convey the bonus(es). As far as actual effects, this may be a bit harder to pin down since there are so many other variables. This has been talked about a little in the past, but I don't recall the heading it had. Justin

The beta demo has this feature in. Often seperate machine guns are tracked as well. IE. the shermans .50cal is tracked independantly of the bow and coax .30cals. This was a feature we whined into existance pre-beta demo Justin

One thing that might be overlooked is CM's ability to playback a turn. This could be quite helpful when discussing some of the more basic tactics. As was mentioned before, tutorial's are problematic in unscripted games like this one. Given all the possible results we've seen in the Beta demo scenarios (Tiger wiping out all hellcats, or succumbing to them instantly). A tutorial would be difficult if your main unit was destroyed... However, a saved game with placed orders and a few recorded movies (particularly nice if they can be strung together) showing the results of charging that mg with and without suppressive fire would be very nice. A couple of references in the manual to these files could help players see how best to handle a situation, particularly when discussion more intricate orders (ie. side by side ambush set-ups utilizing different approaches). This occured to me after watching some of the AAR's posted at combathq.thegamers.net I very much enjoy seeing how another has tackled a given situation. Additionally, when new to a game I sometimes like to watch AI vs AI battles. This can often help give me a feel for what is appropriate and what isn't. I'm not sure if this will make CM v1.0, but I'd like to see the feature eventually.

I imagine this is mostly in, but I'd like a very detailed decription of the various orders. Since many of them carry a reasonable amount of subtlety special attention needs to be made clarifying there differences. For example, many people were unsure of the use of sneak, not to mention setting ambushes properly (as was mentioned above - I personally still have plenty to learn here). Granted, we played with a beta demo with limited documentation. Also of importance is the use of orders in conjunction, ie the myth of mid-turn pauses or helping units to interract with one anther. As a case in point, I have difficulty with the best course of action when making contact in wooded areas. I stick to very short moves or try to overwatch if possible, but the range is terribly short. Since these are the most fundamental way we interact with our units I just want to make sure they receive special attention. There are many manuals out there that make it to print with undocumented commands... Justin