Major Tom

Sorry Goanna, it didn't come out the way I wanted it to What I meant, was, that he wasn't exactly a BRITISH commander, of which I was discussing. There were MANY great Australian Commanders Lt. General Sturdee, commander of the 1st Australian Army Lt. General Herring, commander of the II Australian Corps Maj. General Ramsay, commander of the 5th and 11th Division in New Guinea and New Britain. Major General Wotten, commander of the 9th Division Major General Vasey, commander of the 7th Division And so on. Correct about "fortress Tobruk". The only defenders were the 9th Australian Division, 3rd British Armoured Brigade (all of which were previously in full retreat), and a Brigade of the 7th Division along with some other British and Indian Troops. The City wasn't invincible, as seen in 1942 when the 2nd South African Division surrendered. There is much credit deserved towards the Rats of Tobruk.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sergeant Huang: Hi, Major Tom : I have the same CD as you do, what a deal on this CD, you got 4 great games and a manaul. I have save some of my campaign in Clash of steel, do you ?? If yes, we may exchange those movie files, so we can watch how do we conquer the whole Europe and learn some good tactics or strategy. What do you say ?? regards Sarge Huang <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Haven't played COS in, well, probably a year. So, sorry, I don't have any saved scenarios. I used to spend hours just fiddling around, seeing how good a score I could get. If you would like to toss a few over, just check my e-mail address, possibly it might rekindle my interest in the game Also, have you given any thought to editing the game? I have tried to open a few files with a Hex Editor, and I can get to the name designations of the units, but, whenever I save it and run the game it crashes. Any luck on your part?

I think, when the reviews for the finished version of CM are in and the high praise that the game will recieve (Possibly some 100% ratings) the people who have just bought another game with so many bugs it is unplayable will go and order themselves a copy of CM just to get a good working game with infinite replay value. My brother just got the new Lucasarts Star Wars Game, he loves Star Wars, but, was willing to admit it SUCKED and he will take it back. Too many people are sick of buying unplayable games with little replay value. Possibly people who have never showed any interest in wargames will see the review, see that it is totally unbuggy, look at its graphics and attention to detail and will order the sucker. So many people went to see SPR who don't like war movies, solely on the fact that it was a greatly shot movie with a tangible script. CM will be the SPR of computer games. Just wait for the reviews of the game to come out, then sales will increase. We as individuals cannot do anything other than to tell people we know about the game.

The British had MANY good Army and Corps commanders. Most of them weren't given much of a chance by history, or, were in theatres of war that weren't important to the big picture. Lieutenant General Slim, commander of BurCorps and the 14th Army in Burma. Lieutenant General O'Connor, commander of the British Armour in Africa until April 1941. He was probably as good a tank commander as Rommel, unfortunately, in 1941 North Africa was too weak to defend against ANY attack and O'Connor was captured until 1943. Major General Bennett, although he is an Australian Commander. He commanded the 8th Australian Division in Malaya, and managed to temporarily stem the Japanese advance. He escaped to Australia, but, because he didn't surrender with his men he was looked down upon and never given a fighting command. He was the first to defeat the Japanese infiltration tactics. Major General Montgomery. While in France in 1940 he managed to keep his 3rd Division in GREAT order in the retreat to Dunkirk. His force was the best kept unit in the BEF during and after the evacuation. Every British General in the BEF in 1940 Army, Corps and Division. They all acted with great concern for the lives of their troops and retaining their army. Without such good commanders the BEF would have fallen to pieces like the French Army. Lieutenant Freyburg, New Zealand commander of the 2nd NZ Division. He went through the Campaign in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy. Although he was defeated on occasion, it was due to more the situation he was in rather than his competence as a commander. Actually, it depends on what you consider to be a good General. Wether or not they win battles, wether or not they are liked by their men, or even just how they are reflected in history. Personally, I think a better general is one who attains victory, but, not at the uneccessary expense of their own men, and not to gain a name for themselves.

I got... Pacific War War In Russia Carrier Strike Clash of Steel all in one CD. It was probably the best buy of a computer game in my life. COS was always a good fun game. Not too much detail in it, but, it was always fun. Actually defend France in 1940, and win. Take Moscow before the Russian Winter. Repel an Allied landing @ Normandy.

The Greatest Wargame of all time = Pacific War. Released way back in 1995, this game is still on my hard drive. It has a good AI, and has a very accurate OOB (that is, after a fair amount of editing done by the great editors availible). Pacific War II, a graphical and content tweaked version of the original is to be released by Matrix Games sometime in the near future. If the original held up for 5+ years, then, the updated version, with everything the original offered and more, will be on my computer for probably another 5 years.

I think what he is getting at, is, possibly a screenshot of what the scenario builder looks like, what the opening screens look like. We have seen loads of battle scenes, and there really isn't that much left to be seen.

Me fail english? That's unpossible! Goanna, I CHOSE not to add the ASS to carcass as you don't have the mental faculty to handle such words. You may be a century or two older than me, but, I know you are still a child when it comes to notty words.

The war in the Pacific didn't really have as large an impact as that in Europe. Japan knew that it was going to be out fought from the beginning. Wether or not the Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi and Kaga were all knocked out @ midway or a few months later the war was already decided from December 7. Dealing with the invasion of England in 1940, I don't think that it would have been possible for Germany to carry out a successful amphibious invasion. Norway was a success, as, Germany had suprise, a larger navy, and was geographically close to Norway. Attacking Britain one would have to fight through the RAF, RN, then tackle the British Army. By September 1940 when the invasion was planned for, the British Army was fairly well reorganized and refitted. Sure, it didn't compare to it's May 1940 standards in mobility, but, most divisions had 50%+ their artillery establishment, all their small arms (Rifles, LMG, MMG). There were two Armoured Divisions, multiple Armoured and Tank Brigades. Germany didn't have enough transport and sucessfuly land a large enough force to overwealm the British Army. Their forces would have been fed piecmiel into the face of the full British Army. Well, the ground in Dunkirk wasn't suitable for tanks. There was general fear of a counterattack from south or north, or even a combined attempt. The British attack on Arras constituted a force of 2 Tank and 2 Infantry Battalions and threw an SS Division and Rommel's 7th Panzer into total disaray. There could have been greater disasters had the Germans attempted to either invade Britain in 1940, or to attack Dunkirk directly in late May 1940. There is no one single turning point in war. It is really easy saying "well, they shouldn't have done this", but, how many of us in CM have done a move resulting in total disaster? Looking back in the history of that PBEM game you might question when was the turning point? Was it when the 3 StuG's were knocked out? The loss of half of the Infantry? The loss of all the remaining Panzershcrecks?

Hey, SS, are your Shermans in Roseyburg bogged? They seem pretty inactive, or, are they just too afraid of my 2 operating 88mm Guns causing havoc to your poor Rifle Groups?

Well, there won't be anyone to save Willy in our PBEM games you ecological tree hugging ecosloth! I'll club a baby seal for ya' and send down the carcase for food. God knows that Australia has such horrible land, not even suitable for growing cockroaches.

Hell, my first experience on the internet was on a cable modem in Residence @ university. Damn, that thing could download like a mutha! Now I am on an internet line.

I'm an aligator, I'm a mamapapa comm'n for you, I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock'n roll'n b*tch for you, Keep your mouth shut, Just smoke it like a big Monkey Bird, And I'm bust'n up the brians for the world,

I don't know if this works, but, once one of my StuG's was bogged and used the other one to push it out. I think what PROBABLY happened was the tank freed itself. Although it did look like the other tank pushed it out...

Actually, 2 Great Canadians were born on March 22nd. Me, and Willian Shatner That is all I have to add...

Peng, if you want to live in a world of makebelieve where you do not resemble SS's slow playing style you got it. Frankly, SS has sent me 20 or 30 PBEM's in the time it took you to send me the one I already replied to last week. So, in a way, you are beneath SS, resulting in my callculation of you being his equal to be way off. I am sorry. I was wrong to lump you with SS.

My understanding of Hong Kong, is, that it is now a part of Communist China, yet, it is allowed to retain it's capitalist ways. It is just TOO productive to mess with, and the Chinese Government knows this. The communist-domino theory doesn't float very well. China has some precidence in invading or uniting with Taiwan (Just like East and West Germany, or even Austria and Germany). But, NATO will not stand for a completely culturally independent nation falling to a nother hostile regime. Sure, you could say that Vietnam was historically Chinese, but, these cultures split ways HUNDREDS of years ago, and are now totally different. It would be like France trying to unify with Quebec. Plus, after Vietnam fell Communist, how many other nations went under? Cambodia? Well that place was on the verge of collapse with a corrupt dictatorial government. Strangely, the West doesn't realize that having DEMOCRATIC and FREE nations that prosper through Capitalism is the best deterrent to Communism, not dictatorships and repressive goverments. China is slowly getting its act together. First a nation achives financial security, then it is able to achieve freedom. Given time, China will become a democratic nation. Even Nazi Germany would have crumbled well before Hitler's 1000 year deadline.

This being a special drinking weekend I was unable to attend to my PBEM games, let alone turn on my computer for the past 48 hours, due to a constant influx of friends and alcohol. Your turns will be returned soon. I'm not pulling an SS or Peng here so don't worry

OK everyone cool down. Losing or winning a game doesn't represent the charactor of the individual playing. Sometimes things get out of hand, with the fun insults being taken the wrong way by other people. I have taken things the wrong way from other people, all you have to do is make sure it is all in good fun. I have never sent a taunt that was meant to be personal, or even serious, just to unnerve my opponent. Sometimes people forget to add the little happy faces at the end of their sentences. Possibly some of this taunting has gotten out of hand. Just use your judgement on what you would like to hear from your opponent, read back what you write and replace his name with yours, and see how you feel afterwards. Personally, I don't like to knock a guy when he is down. It doesn't feel too good. Also, I really dislike stating who I have beaten in my PBEM games, even Goanna . Telling everyone you beat the snot out of someone (although 90% of my victories were just minor victories anyway) is just rubbing their nose in an already bitter defeat (no offense Elvis, as everyone including me has done this). It might not seem as a direct beotch slap, but, there are always bitter feelings at the end of a disasterous game, 100% directed towards themselves for doing some stupid moves. Any game I lose is purely due to my incompetence and my opponents good playing abilities, but, if they rub it in your face (unless it is VERY good natured) it can become very uneccessarily bitter. [This message has been edited by Major Tom (edited 03-17-2000).]

The games over to you SS_Panzerfaker, lets see if you can deliver your game before Peng can. It is now the battle of the sloths. [This message has been edited by Major Tom (edited 03-17-2000).]

Give me some time to work out my strategy with Berli, then I will go and kick your sorry ass around Reisburg park SS_Panicleader.

Hey, don't worry about it. I was just confused wondering when I posted this message I'm sure people won't get too confused. Just don't go starting fights with people and direct them over to me [This message has been edited by Major Tom (edited 03-17-2000).]

This is Major Tom to major_tom, Can you hear me major_tom?

I managed to squeeze out a Minor Axis victory in Reisburg vs. Germanboy after some bloody hand to hand combat.

I think that the Tac-AI takes care of all this stuff. The better the experience, the better the unit will follow the orders best suited for it. Possibly the orders you have in mind would not be the best due to unforseen accident, and you wouldn't want the AI to ignore a new and presently more important target than one that is less of a threat. I say, let the Tac-AI do what it does best, REACT.