M Hofbauer

no ****? where ya been - WRZ, SFT, B.K., BAM, KITZ, Katterbach, Vilseck ? Rock of da Marne, baybee !

keep going, you're actually getting quite good at this.

(SouthPark Voice) "oh, so this is what Prokhorovka really was like!" (/SouthPark Voice) ok thanks copper, those two links of yours in combination really closed the day on a bright babelfish note : ) it starts out with the title "Selection of battle near Prokhorovka (Germany)" then, there are some real good catchy alternate titles for the game: "Forward, into the glory of Reich!" ...sounds like a good seller, tho personally I prefer... "To shayze, Russian tanks! " better. Taken from those immortal words, the credo of the russian armor branch carried as a motto in their seal to this very day: "To shayze, Russian tanks! They go full speed, they vomit distance." I also learnt a new favorite word, can you spot it within thwe phrase "rapidly zakhlebnuvshayasya counterattack of Russian infantry" ? ... Apart from the cheap yet enormous, never ceasing joys of online translation, the AAR indeed looks rather ... disappointing-frightening, I agree with the previous posters. apart from the sly "gather and overwhelm" approach from the old Command&Conquer school of military tactics, please also note how in the final screen we can see (I assume) the force after battle, which consists of one Tiger and four captured T-34s, plus one captured gun. it seems captured guns and tanks are ToWs tiberium sources after all. oh well, I guess its just a game. yes, thats it, it's a game.

Now it so happened that the cell phone generation with their play-station-expertise and history-channel-knowledge of WW II eventually reached the shores of the CM boards... But now lets take a look back, more than 60 years ago... Somewhere in the Ardennes in late 1944. Light snow has fallen. It is cold, and evening dawn sets in. Freezing in his foxhole, hungry and cold, with the occasional crack of a german sniper rifle and under the constant threat of screaming minnies incoming at any time, Private Sammy decides it was time to do something about his situation. He looked up from playing snake on his Nokia PRC, and with a firm resolve browsed through his address book until he found the entry for his buddy Cpl. Filth who was over in the other foxhole. With the push of a button connection was established. Sammy: "yo pick up the phone..uh I mean radio...c'mon filth...pick up the phone already" Pvt Sammy could hear the crazy frog ring tone blaring all the way over from Cpl Filth's foxhole. finally..."*click* yo wazzup" “Ay, FINALLY Filth-man, this is Sammy here. Whaddaya say we got ourselves some Pizza?” Cpl Filth: “Yo, sorry man, I wuz listening to some latest Marlene Spears on ma M42 ipod (personal listening and entertainment device)...yo man, wazzup? whats that sh*t you’re talking about getting’ some Pizza? wazzup about them germans in the treeline over there?” Pvt. Sammy: “naw man, no way man, they aint getting no pizza ordering from me. They got themselves their own radios to get their pizza.” Cpl Filth: “damn right bro but I was thinkin ‘bout was pimpin their freakin emplacement an all that.” Pvt Sammy:”yo you da man you got that right... awright here goes...cya filth...” Pvt Sammy calls up the division frontline pizza supply clerk. adp: “buongiorno, ‘ello. Dis is antonios divisional pizza. how can we help you?” Pvt Sammy: “headquarters and headquarters troop 1/4 cavalry private sammy talking. I would like to order two 10-inch pizzas for the watch in sector C, one quattro stagioni and one of your friday specials” adp: “will be delivered at once. anything with that?” Sammy: “yeah, how about some 105mm arty down on the enemy emplacement 500 yards in front of our position” adp: “okay-dokay, you want VT fuzes with that?” Sammy: “anything, man. bring it on, brother” adp: “very well, your order will be delivered in ten minutes. thank you for your order” ... meanwhile, over in the german trenchline. Schütze Hans was frustrated. „Herr Unteroffizier, meine radio iz not workink !“ Uffz Franz: “propably zis is only interfeerence from ze weather. I told you to get yourzelf eine german Siemens radio, not ze cheap motorola radio.” Hans: “but ze Siemens has no camera bilt in, you zee? anyhow I am hungry, and I haf to zet up ein date with meine dentist for next week. can I bitte use your radio?” Franz: “zorry, but meine prepaid card iz emptee and I haf alreddy uzed up all of meine free SMS for zis deployment.” Hans: “wot about zee radios from Wolfgang or Günther?” Franz: “on Wolfgangs radio ze batteries are emptee. and remember that Günthers old C-net radio which he had built into his Kubelwagen went up in flames when ze british devil paratroopers deestroyed itt in Arnheim zree months agoh. And vee haf gotten only an Ersatzradio carved from wood.” Hans (rolling eyes): “wot has zis great army come to? no personal radios - we will lose zis war !” Franz: “vell you better... - wait ! - wot is this sound ?!? I think I hear somefink incoming….. and I smell something - it smells like… anchovies with garlic and tomatoes ...?” [ August 29, 2006, 04:22 AM: Message edited by: M Hofbauer ]

*g* you still dont get it do you? n.b.: no name calling, unless you started it: that finger points back at yourself. [ August 29, 2006, 12:33 AM: Message edited by: M Hofbauer ]

Sammy_Beavis_Jnr, your latest post not only reaffirms my perception that you have a flawed understanding about the use of radios in WW II, but it deepens my concern about your historical awareness. what I mean is that the example you bring up is a crack unit of the US Army performing a special key mission in June 1944. ironically, even in your example the radio was eventually actually not used, but that is beside the issue. what I would like you to cite instead would be more examples where radiomen in line infantry platoons (or combat units of ToW size and composition) in the Polish Army of 1939 or - take your pick - Red Army of 1941 played a "huge factor for artillery, airsrikes and re-inforcements and other combat issues". I am looking forward to those examples. n.b.: dont get me wrong. Ive been to Omaha and stood in the bunkers of Pte. du Hoc, and Ive seen copies of the original radio transcripts of the 1st ID landing on Omaha.

not the way I read it.

what I suggest is that you have a skewed perception of the role and character of radio use in "WW II" .

or... "Nebelkerzen sind AUS. Ham wir nich, führ'n wir nich, kriegen wir nich." or... отсутствие имеющегося дыма or somefink.

yet it will be only the big items that you get to tag along, not the small arms. where'd you get THAT idea? and I believe you should be hit on the head repeatedly with a Nerf ball that has your statement above scribbled onto it.

well thats influx of RTS gamers for you. on the bright side, with the new board demographics anybody that can tell a Panther A from a Panther D is now considered a grog.

:confused: inert replica weapon for theater & film studio purposes ? </font>

where'd you get that idea from? discovery/history channel? you want gliders to land away from a battle, not on the battlefield.

bridges in tactical battles are overrated IMO. most of the stuff you would encounter would be creeks that you'ld ford. muddy, swampy terrain is a much bigger issue there, tho its not a question of total weight but ground pressure.

The only thing that this hybrid got going for it is the looks. Seen it, looks cool. I mean, come on, why does is every CM player with a full set of brains afraid to use the Pz IV, and if so, avoids going hull down like a vampire avoids garlic? right - the turret. and you don't remedy that by putting the 5cm turret onto a Panther hull. (even though the turret front of the Panther got shortchanged in CMBB) he's german. well, from northern germany, anyways, IIRC, so I guess by southern german standards he's indeed dutch-flemish-frisian-whatever

:confused: inert replica weapon for theater & film studio purposes ?

bleh. anything below Ratte is just bleh.

we...depends.... if it is the rivet that holds the gun in place I'm sure you'le be interested in having it fixed, too... otherwise the StuG could only be used for Tiberium harvesting, y'know

well just like Blitzkrieg according to Moon was coined by the invasion of france 1940.* hmmm guess its quite a bummer when a term that you invented and chose to delimitate yourself from the scum suddenly turns out to be worn by the very scum...so that you're lumped together into the same pile again... otherwise.. what I'm reading is...you guessed it RMC... Im getting negative vibes here... "late war monster tanks"..."Most of the most common units used during the war are in, plus some that have been pretty rare but have a very high “coolness” factor."...."There is a lot of cool stuff in the game"..."TOW doesn’t do everything 100% realistic"..."In short: this game ROCKS"..."For the hardcore grognards, the message is slightly different. It goes like this: shut up and enjoy the game." hmmm... hmmmmm... the waves... the waves... btw wonder what a US/UK campaign is supposed to be - do I get to select from a mixed force pool that has both US and UK items in it? :confused: *n.b.: this is so obviously wrong that it is not covered under the grog-gag-order

my question again: when using unfamiliar equipment, is the effectiveness penalty the same for first and all subsequent shots? if so, shouldnt it be much much larger for the first shot and then quickly get smaller ?

I am wondering, I guess the *first* shot fired (incl. loading, traverse, sighting etc.) from unknown equipment should take *really* long, already the next and all subsequent shots much faster. Its not like he hast to figure out all the buttons and wheels anew for each shot. I guess AT guns tend to dislike catching fire.

please put the above into its own thread labeled "Answer" thank you.

(well, actually to tell you the truth I really rather have it the way Megakill describes above...I think... it's just that...that... that Tarquelne turns out to be right after all... )

Madmatt said (quote) "as you become attached to various units and even individual soldiers. At the completion of each campaign battle, depending on your performance you are award various points to apply toward the skill advancement, promotion and on occasion awards to all of the surviving units. Captured equipment and vehicles can even be carried forward into subsequent battles." (end quote) I ask you, then, pray beg what is an infantryman's equipment if not primarily his weapon? are we expected to collect enemy helmets, water canteens and underpants to carry them over to the next battle? OR is this yet another sign that this game is geared almost exclusively to the tank fetishists? harumph. gnashteeth. Tarq's right. drat and doubledrat.

are they unwilling to enter areas with casualties? the later cc'as modeled this, if you placed the squad in the "remains", the blood pool of another squads leftovers, their morale would drop quite a bit. bntw, talking about morale, routing etc. - will there be surrenders? say, a soldier surrounded by enemies... well, you get the idea, we have it in CM too. edit: to include moon's post