MikeT

Oh now, behave. Mike

For those that have never heard of it. I find this site this morning. http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzer.htm It is a great source of info about WWII Panzers and has extensive coverage of many Panzer aces such as Wittman. MikeT

Howard, the Stug was very effective, esp in defense. The low profile made it both had to spot and to hit. When it has produced with a long barrelled 75 it had almost the same hitting power as a standard tank. Michael Wittman, the famous tanker, got most of his kills in the Stug. It is where he started. There was a great story about his on History Channel a few months ago. It seems that his tactics with a Stug carried over with him when he "graduated" to normal tanks. He was reported to treat a tank like a stug. He turned the tank to a threat instead of turning the turret. Of course two factors added in this tactic. Turning the body meant that you kept the heaviest armor at the threat and the turrets were slow to turn. Mike

I was just over at Fionn's site to get a look at the nighttime shots. One thing I noticed is that the game really needs dynamic lighting for night battles. Imagine during the battle while you watch troops move you also see the flicker of of the light and its affects on the surround terrain. Dynamic lighting would also work great with weapons fire. You would see muzzle flashes at night. The game could also use the to good advantage is flares were added. Opinions. MikeT

I just posted the fog pic and info about the game to a Wermacht reenactors mailing list I belong to. (BTW, I dont reenact myself but it is interesting reading. The info these guys have is nearly endless). I am interested in their observations about the game and thought the fog pic would get their attention. MikeT

Fionn, that scene makes me shiver just looking at it. Very nice. MikeT

Count in this Texan and I want to purchase a family pew for new scenarios. Mike

I agree and my apologies. I should have asked if non-US types celebrate the same day. So far the record, lets not forget all vets on both sides that fought the hard fight to defend their country, their families. Even those "on the wrong side" fought with honor and courage. Mike

Gentlemen, tomorrow is the 11-11-11, November 11th; Veterans day. Please try to remember at 11AM all the GIs in all our wars that didn't make it home. Mike Thompson

I have been thinking about the editor that will be included with the game. I understand that we can make our own maps so my question is how much freedom will we have? Can we make our own buildings or are buildings limited to pre-design cookie stampings? Is there a maximum size to any map? Are hills with steep sides possible? Mike Thompson

Wow, do I agree Personally I do not really feel that leaving dead bodies or modified pics of a dead body or even a cross creates problems. I am number crunching on a PIII 500 and have power to spare. Why not make it an option for us gamers, if we want a clean environment then let us select that all bodies and maybe even vehicles be removed. If we want a gritty warts and all approach let us pick that as well, the bodies stay and the vehicles stay. I wouldn't also mind seeing a real affect of a weapons stick on a vehicle. Right now the vehicle either burns, sits there, or maybe has the turret askew. I have seen in the old Squadron books vehicles literally blown apart by internal explosions. Pure eye candy I admit but it does create the atmosphere. That is the function of any well done game, suspension of disbelief. I have a real problem with a trend of cleaning up war. War is nor will it ever be clean. The one thing I would like to see is a tone down of the burning fire noise. I had several last night, 5 vehicles and maybe 4 buildings, moving around the battlefield the noise of the fire does override the senses. Mike Thompson old Squad Leader fan and now a CM fan. You guys have a great product here exactly what I wanted, please don't "clean" it up.

Last night I finally finished a game, been working on it for a long time now. Germans got a minor tac victory, yeah. Now during the game an incident came up and I decided to solve it by ordering my halftrack to run over a MMG position, thinking that the vehicle could/might crush the unit. Thing is what happen is that the American unit went prone and then got up and moved to a nearby position. Now did the vehicle actually crush the unit? An examination of the MMG unit didn't show any losses and he setup position nearby and continued firing at my troops. I got the idea from some old combat footage of the Russian front. There was a very unusual scene which seemed to have been taken through the drivers hatch of a T34. A German 37mm ATG was setup and firing. Suddenly from one side another T34 arrived a literally ran over the ATG and crew. You could even seen a body being flipped upwards/around by the tracks. Look cool and tragic at the same time, cool because this kind of realism is rarely shown. I used to do a great deal of Squad Leader and did an equally great deal of reading in those days. I do know that on the Russian front such attacks were not uncommon, it was a brutal no holds fight. So my question is do we want to have overruns, literally? Mike Thompson

I am playing a game right now and something stuck me. The game allows for splitting a inf unit how about the idea of combining infantry units, say units that have taken hits and are reduced. This would mean instead of giving commands to several small units you could combine them into a few larger units, reducing battlefield clutter. Opinions? Mike Thompson

fair enough, I placed an order a few minutes ago for the game. Now I just have to wait, wait, wait, tick tick tick. Damn over a month to go. How about an extra battle or two? Mike

Next obvious question is when will the game shp? Mike

OK, I am sold on the game. I like the demo and have been looking around where I can get a copy. Problem is that nobody in the local stores have ever heard of it, neither has ChipsN'Bits (my usual mail order site). Is this a sold by publisher only game? Mike Thompson

Steve, any chance some of these SL conversion could be fought with the demo? Only a few extra battles might be interesting. Mike

Well, so far I am having a great time with the demo and will get the game when it arrives, I had planned on Panzer Elite but CM changed my mind. I do have some questions about the game. I read in the FAQ that the editor will allow creating original maps. Has anyone considered turning the old Squad Leader maps and battles into CM maps and battles? Will the editor permit making custom buildings, hills, etc. Or is the editor limiting you to rubber stamping stock buildings at a location? Will the editor permit creating your own units (creating vehicles or modifying exiting vehicles)? Has anyone figure out how to "fiddle" with the demo to turn night into day, crate fog, rain, or other environmental affects? Providing sales are good enough has anyone said what the sequel might be? Russia is the obvious choice HOWEVER the early war in Poland and France could also be interesting. The only bad thing about the Russian battles is that the database of vehicles is huge. The evolution of vehicles in that 4 years was probably the greatest in military history. Where is a list of the hot keys in the game? Is there a key that cycles through your units so that you do not have to search for them manually? Mike Thompson