Mark IV

"Lack of colored lighting"? What the hell is that about? Anyway, I'm in. I put 1,000,000 hours playing time because I was afraid they wouldn't believe the truth.

"While Hasbro's forthcoming Squad Leader may bear the title of the board game, Combat Mission is very true to its spirit, and thus it manages to be one of the best wargames ever made for the computer." 'Nuff said!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jabberwock: Well I personally would like to limit how many smoke rounds can be fired.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Me, too.

Thanks all, for the tips on camera positioning. As for the building collapse being an abstraction, I don't really agree. When I have units in a building, they are relatively unscathed until the precise moment of the collapse. At that instant they usually suffer major casualties. Same with fires. I don't care if the building is falling apart a piece at a time. There is a precise moment in game terms when the building collapses, casualties are incurred, and the enemy is no longer able to use the upper story. After that happens, I am done with that building. Area fire mission accomplished. If the building falls down and enemy units are visible, the AFV should retarget on the more attractive target- the units themselves.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TeAcH: Simply making a structure an independant and selectable target type would fix it... Im not a programmer<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Me either, but I play one at trade shows (laff track- not really). I have learned that "simply" is an unfortunate choice of words when dealing with programmers and more specifically, programs. Unintended consequences, etc.... Your solution is obviously preferred and superior. I only offer the timed deal as a workable compromise, and though there is no guarantee that a building would be leveled in 30 or 45 seconds, it would be mighty inhospitable. I could see problems with fuzziness, if the building catches fire instead of collapsing-keep shooting, or no? And what happens when you area-fire a patch of woods? Presumably the unit would keep firing til the end of the turn, as it does now, since the forest won't collapse... no help with the ammo-conservation, recon-by-fire role. Then there's area fire by MGs and flamethowers... Instant totally-consuming catastrophic fires are another issue that has been raised before. Granting that what we see is a representation, and survivors are those who made it out before the fire spread, it still seems that all occupants of a large stone buiding are forced outside within one minute's time (usually, far less) to pirouette crazily amid enemy MGs. Minor little things in the endless quest for perfection.

DISCLAIMER: This is the greatest war game ever made, and will remain so for some time even if no one "fixes" anything. If you're lurking here and wondering about ordering it, do so IMMEDIATELY, and there are many here who will take your copy if you don't like it. That said, I could not agree more about Area Fire- it is an area that could use some attention. I have suggested timed AF, perhaps in quarter-minute increments, as a compromise to more AI-intensive solutions, such as recognizing an inanimate target as no longer worth targeting. For targeting the building I find the 5 view best- you don't get the snap-to-object effect nearly so much, and can target just a hair into the building (past the front wall). In the "iron man" (1st view only) scenarios this snap-to is a bit of a pain, though I understand that this was not how the game was meant to played. In fact, I sometimes wish for a "4.5" view- a direct overhead that was even more zoomed in. Handy in forests, too. It would also be interesting to be able to target a specific story of a building with area fire.

oops [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-31-2000).]

Working on it. I've been diagramming some of the previous evening's engagements on the white board, for interested parties. I'm also burning a demo CD, and no, no freebs. One guy is very interested (plays Fighting Steel or some such) and the others will follow... TCP/IP will help.

Upgrade your current card drivers first (it pays to check). I'm still using the P2-300, 128Mb RAM, with the Voodoo 3-3000, which is a 16Mb card, and the smoke is fine and no crashes or lockups (though there are very infrequent clashes with Outlook Express). I did need to upgrade to the latest driver set. Those that came with the card had the "blocky" smoke effect. I would sure investigate this before spending the buck$$ for a new video card. Cambes is pretty big and I have seen it stutter when there is a lot of smoke and action, but nothing serious. I occasionally see combat resolutions over a minute but that is quite rare. The longest wait seems to be "Starting 3D graphics..." when opening a fresh PBEM.

Assuming you have a PC with some form of Windows, press Print Screen. Then open Paint (usually under Accessories), and paste (or Ctrl-V). This will make a large bitmap file. If you have any "real" graphics apps it would be best to convert the file to a JPEG, which will make it 10 times smaller, and more suitable for sending or posting. [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-31-2000).]

Send me a setup when you get the whole disk and get acclimated, Marine. Quick Battle or one of the scenarios- I haven't played many of those on the CD, preferring to keep them totally blind. Let me know and I'll tell you which ones I have played.

That's the highest body count I've ever seen for a single squad. This must be the Yalu river scenario? As a polite aside, if you resized that-there screen shot down a little (say, 3x4"), it wouldn't expand the board off my monitor and into my Molson Ice.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bullethead: So, did you see this vision? If so, then you are truly blessed<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Oh... I thought that was Elizabeth Hurley (saints all look the same in mid-wargasm). Quite a vision, at any rate. Those cannon-cockers are livin' right!

I used to run the demo on ThinkPad 380Z (P2-300); ran great. FWIW I think IBM gives the most laptop for the money. Toshiba's great, but $$$. I hate my 466MHz Dell Latitude; we bought about 8 of them and most have had problems. It has NT so no CM (can't blame the latter on Dell, of course).

Indeed. There just never seems to be enough CENSOREDmm ammo to go 'round. Ah, well. Back to turreted things I understand. Come to think of it, there's never enough of them to go around, either.

Roger that, Marine. You're in good company here and several of your ilk have been terrifying the masses (as I'm sure they'll soon mention). We masses do, however, shoot back. Let us know when you've got it installed- you're gonna love it.

When the Gold was released, I dug out the camo-covered version of FM 71-2, "The Tank and Mechanized Infantry Battalion Task Force", circa 1977, that stuck to my fingers when I left HHC 3AD some centuries ago (tanks were horse-drawn then). Amazing how helpful this still is, provided one adjusts the ranges for WWII era systems (and no ATGMS!). It has cool fold-out pages with terrain and battle drawings, and was prepared by the experts for the guys who would have to do the real thing. If you can lay your hands on a copy of this, or others of its ilk, it will repay you many-fold. [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-29-2000).]

My little chrysanthemum is gone today and I have some time... Send set-up to markfour@mindspring.com. I'm Pacific Time, prefer Germans, but really don't care... full FOW and a smaller game is all I ask!

Aye, though I DID (in the interest of science) have an LOS to the location from several locations (all the rest were over 100m). Personally I would have trouble spotting an elk at that distance under those conditions, so the minefield was a bit of a stretch.

So would that be an informed Yes, or a No?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Aitken: Beforehand, the only people discussing it would be those who are so interested that they want to be involved...Once the game is released... the fan base will increase dramatically... at this stage, people who are more interested in gaming than discussing will appear on the boards<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> In between were all us "beta babies" who showed up when there was a demo to play (that's when many of us first heard of Combat Mission). That was the beginning of the end, I tell you... The board is fine. The game has spread its wings and found a life of its own, and it really doesn't belong to anybody anymore, and neither does the board ('cept BTS, natch). Beats hell out of Usenet. With all the new blood, the ranks of my constituent idiots are swelling. Brothers and sisters! Feel the power!

I saw almost exactly the same thing recently. Spotting (nearest?) unit was a Regular rifle 44 squad, at 95m in dawn/dusk conditions, and the sign reads Achtung Minen! Panzer! It is not a daisy chain, near as I can tell, just the sign in the open. Unless FOW means my guys mistook some kind of terrain feature for a minefield, this seems like a pretty eagle-eyed spot under the conditions. If anyone would like a screen shot I can send it. [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-29-2000).]

I may have made some remarks about the artillery in the past which could be construed as slighting. I should like to clarify now. Arty has just Delivered Me From Evil (evil as personified by the increasingly hated Seanachai) in an otherwise lopsided gun battle between the youthful innocents of SS Hitlerjugend, and a horde of Churchill's thugs, leavened no doubt by a soft core of Canadians. They were infesting a tree line, we had a few buildings, and we were lookin' a tad weak. Really screwed, in fact. Finally the most beautiful display of CENSOREDmm pyrotechnics have begun to bloom within the British ranks. Treebursts, massive craters, and cries of "the bahstids!" are SO sweet. I have never been quite so fond of artillery as I am at this moment. Once in a great while, I am reminded that the artillery deserves their RVs and lawn chairs, and can truly be a magic wand of fireballs (love that phrase). I can just hear my little polygons cheering. Please keep it coming. Sincerely, Mark IV Representing Idiots since 1999