Michael Emrys

Re the Germans in North Africa: I'm not sure that formulates the problem precisely. As I see it, the problem was disagreement over strategic goals. Rommel was sent to Libya simply to prevent it from being overrun by the British (plus maybe put his thumb in their eye if the opportunity present itself). That was the OKH plan, and the means they assigned to it were more than adequate. But Rommel exceeded his brief. His plan was to win glory for himself and his army by totally running the British out of the Middle East. Regrettably, from his point of view, the means assigned to him were not nearly adequate to achieve that. Rommel repeatedly exceeded his orders and repeatedly Hitler let him get away with it. It was this disconnect between two competing strategies that led him to overreach his logistical and other support. It was Hitler's job to resolve this dispute over strategic ends and bring Rommel down to earth. That he failed to do so is one more indication of his personal inadequacies as a war leader. Michael

You exaggerate. Through most of the war they were not "massively" outnumbered, at least in terms of what was on the battlefield. They were often marginally outnumbered, but sometimes they were the ones with the numbers on their sides. In terms of total populations arrayed on each side—Allies versus Axis—yes, by the end of 1941 they were outnumbered. But this was the war that they chose to get into, so whose fault was that? Michael

That you would even dream of taking any of Stuka's claims to geniushood seriously only confirms your own lack of judgement. I mean, even for an Oddstralian... Michael

Yeah, I know. The question was rhetorical. I figured he wouldn't understand it anyway. Michael

Why? :confused: Michael

Right. As customers, we also have the right to take our money and leave, but I don't see any mass exoduses happening now or in the near future. BTW, re announced release dates: IIRC they are now in the habit of announcing a firm date about three days in advance, or when stuff is already in the mail. Michael

How about, "You are only marginally less dumb than Stuka, Speedy." Michael

I watched it and said, "The bluffs are only half as far from the waterline as they should be." Once a grog... (But I was impressed that they included the sound of bullets striking the beach obstacles.) Michael

I admit I am baffled. C2 in this game is an enigma that frankly escapes me. Seems to me none of these requests, especially the first one, should have been fulfilled. I could accept an HQ without a radio successfully calling for fire support only if (1) the firing unit was in his chain of command, and (2) it was on the map and was within either sight or sound of him. Michael

The great advantage of the start-stop is that it allows each play to be closely examined in slo-mo replay and carefully analyzed. That way, you don't miss any of the action because you were looking somewhere else. It's like WEGO vs. RT. The former is clearly superior to the latter. Michael

Now where is the fun in that? Did your tribe stop evolving in some pre-verbal state or something? Michael

And you are the one who read a sexual connotation into it. Really, Speedy, you need to get your mind out of the gutter. Michael

Sure there are, but realistically those can only be provisional. They are a small company, and when problems crop up, or somebody has a brainstorm and wants to include something new that takes time to implement, the schedule goes out the window. It doesn't sound like you appreciate the extent to which their projects are ongoing improvisations. Since it appears that none of us have inside information on what is going on within the confines of the company, it really isn't possible to advance that as an argument. So would we all, and based on past performance I am sure that BFC would be only too happy to oblige us. Which means, as soon as it can happen it will. Until then, hang loose. Michael

Personally, I don't have any problem believing that during the war lots of soldiers died from bayonet or other non-firing weapons. It's just that against the background of the enormous number of dead and wounded, "lots" in this case is probably much less than 1%. I would also suggest that a goodly proportion of those were bayonettings of men who had already been taken prisoner. The Japanese, for instance, were very big on that. So, is it worthwhile for BFC to spend the time to code that feature in? Maybe...after about a thousand other things have been taken care of. Michael

Keep in mind that clearing mines is a very slow process. Even marking them is slow. Depending on how extensive and dense a minefield is, clearing a path through it in the time of a CM battle might not be possible. Michael

Disagree. That is too severe a penalty. They should be able to fire, but with much reduced accuracy. This penalty should extend for several seconds after it halts for non-stabilized guns as well. Michael

I was playing against the AI. How can you tell if it surrendered? That sounds likely though as all the enemy units left on the map were, as I wrote, in reduced morale state. Michael

Just to add some fat to the fire, I just finished a QB and was awarded a total victory, including full points for the objective. But get this: I didn't have a single man or piece of equipment in the objective zone. In fact, I think the nearest was a tank that was over 100m away. The enemy had several men within an estimated 10m. I think the decisive factor though was that all his units were in reduced morale state, either broken or panicked. So add that to the file. Michael

Is that supposed to be another one of your sick phallic metaphors? Michael

I always figured you beta testers were raking it in under the table. Now we have proof. Michael

It's somewhat true, but only for some formations and only during the first year of the war. I think that by the summer of '42 that shortage had been pretty well made good. After all, rifles are fairly easy to produce in a hurry. Michael

Er, it's been a while but I believe the dervishes did have some muzzle loaders. Plus, they would have captured some British arms when they too Khartoum. I'm pretty sure Churchill recounts that one of them fired at him and missed. Churchill returned fire and didn't miss. Michael

Presumably. IIRC, production ramped up to six a month before the middle of 1946 and continued to increase slowly after that. Michael

And while your at it, could we get a bottle of chablis and some delicate little sandwiches over here? Smoked salmon with thin slices of cucumber would be nice. Michael

Australian football, like rugby, is just an excuse for un-outed homos to get together and grope each other. If they were playing a real man's sport, they would be spiking each other, like real men. Michael