Kevin Peltz

For the time period represented by CM, the Allied air forces had it pretty much their own way in NW Europe.I think poor weather was more of a hindrance to them then the Luftwaffe. I personally would not use air support to balance a scenario- but I agree that watching the fireworks would be an awful lot of fun though...

The Hafthohlladung was used more on the Eastern Front, as I was told by a few people on this board quite some time ago when I mentioned it before. I think they started showing up there in mid '42. I would assume that other, marginally safer methods (Panzerfaust, Panzerschreck)rendered them relatively obsolete by the time of the Normandy invasion. Seems there was a problem supplying the magnets as well, too (I read that someplace, don't ask me where- was a millenia ago...)

The question of rubble blocking LOS exists somewhere else on the forum- it does still block LOS to some degree.

Hmmm, my wife has been cool to me lately, too...

I would never play any game of this type with anything less than full fog of war- it wouldn't feel right, sort of like kissing your sister...

I have downloaded the entire graphics mod into the demo- it adds just that little bit extra, I think. Waiting for the real thing to try the sound mods.

You can download a free program off the net called FRAPS that you can use to measure framerate. http://www.fraps.com/

Maybe the road hasn't been used for awhile? The pillbox was probably the special antiaircraft variant...

tanq_tonic: Sorry, I did not read your earlier posts- too much to read as it is I guess. I had no luck with the G200 (with 16 megs SDRAM onboard). Frame rate was around 10 fps, and no amount of changing drivers helped- as a matter of fact, the newer drivers made things worse, getting artifacts and all sorts of odd things going on. My brother gave me his old Voodoo 3 2000 with 16 megs on board to replace it. I mounted a fan on it, and overclocked it by about 33% using Powerstrip. I also got the latest driver set from 3Dfx and installed them. I get all the transparencies in the game now, plus I usually run it at 1152 x 864 resolution. I am averaging 28-33 fps, but in certain situations it can be as high as 65. This is on a home built machine with an AMD K6-2 500 mhz CPU and 160 megs of PC100 RAM. Sorry for the bad news, I was pretty choked when I found out the G200 didn't work out for me...

Weren't most Tigers organized into heavy battalions and used as Korps or higher assets, as opposed to being designated to a particular Division? I know there were exceptions, such as 1st LSSAH and Das Reich, but generally...?

Ghost- It could be the Matrox board. I had a G200, and it wouldn't do transparency effects at all, period. I never even realized what I was missing until I got a 3Dfx board to replace it. The G400 is supposed to be a couple of steps up from a 200, but...?

You said that you were up against the Achilles in one instance- the Achilles mounted the 17 pdr, something to beware of no matter what German tank you are in. The tight battle area you mentioned would nullify many advantages German armour/firepower would have had. The best distance (if available) to fight Allied armour at would be in the 1200-1500m band. This range allows the Germans to outreach their opponents, utilize their generally superior optics, and maximize their armour protection. At 800m, things become much more even. It then boils down to maneuvering, hiding, and hull-down. As an aside, the US Army apparently did an analysis after the war of both Allied and Axis records, and determined that 70% of tank vs. tank combat occurred at 800m or less range.

From what I remember from other discussions, you have hit it right...a chance depending on the conditions as set up by the scenario designer- the chances of getting stuck are magnified while trying to move vehicles through light woods, when it is wet or muddy, too.

I recommend going to: http://www.gamesofwar.de/ and check the TACTICS section- some interesting stuff in there...

Well, I outgrew being young and adolescent, but for some reason big gazongas still fascinate me...

...but they get no defensive benefits for going prone because they can't get close enough to the ground...

It's in the CMHQ Annex under "Final Vehicle List"

The I- and VC were the most common, but I have seen the odd pix of a IIC (cast hull welded to chassis), but I can't find any numbers for how many anywhere. I found that the Brits converted something like 600 M4 chassis, (they even gave 160 to the Americans apparently) but no figures on which ones were converted. [This message has been edited by Kevin Peltz (edited 06-17-2000).]

With the atrocious federal mail service here in BC, I will probably be the last person on the PLANET to get the game. Or , maybe my brother will be, as he only lives up the road a bit. I am not even going to start worrying about it until Canada Day at least...

Oxcart: What you saw in the Gold Demo is what the real deal will be like. The data is locked but the colour tiles can be revamped. I played CC and it wasn't for me, CM is. But this is an apples and oranges thing- I don't think it is fair to compare the games. To each his own. You will either like CM or you won't, but that doesn't make anyone less of a person if they don't. I think it is a good thing that there are still enough of this genre around that people have a choice. I don't like realtime games simply because I am either not fast enough, or clever enough to play them well. This is my fault, not the game's. Can't do flight sims for the same reason. CM gives me the time to think over what I am doing. I may still get it wrong, but at least it was premeditated!

That's spelled tautology- if you want to nitpick, at least try to spell it right. Or, should I say that another way?

M1: It was found that the spinning of HEAT rounds caused the plasma-jet effect to dissipate instead of focusing on a tiny spot on the armour plate, causing loss of penetration. It is also easier to manufacture APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) ammo if rifling does not need to be taken into account. With the sabot, there is more than enough room for the addition of fins to be added to the penetrator. (I believe that the 120mm gun on the Abrams fires a 40mm penetrator, once the sabot has flown clear...

Moon has some interesting articles on his website re German tactical deployments, etc. One segment on fortifications notes that the Germans tried to stay within the bunkers/pillboxes on defense, even though they may have been surrounded or bypassed. The idea with this was to slow up the attackers with "islands" of resistance, and to provide assistance in the event of a German counterattack (also SOP in a situation where a fixed line has been pierced, also in the same articles). With this in mind, I would think that if the crews were to leave the bunkers at all, it would be because they were panicked- not to serve in a different tactical development...

I think dropping big hurt on a single unit, if the opportunity presents itself,is better than chipping away at a few. If you can hurt it enough, it loses combat effectiveness and you can "forget" (well, not literally) about it and dwell on other things.

You want to be careful around foxholes and craters, too- the same thing will happen and half your squad could wind up in the open with their pants around their ankles...