Conscript Bagger

So are trucks, but they're in CMBO.</font>

Hey Bucket, if your modem chokes on the thing I could send it on a Zip disk.

The way that I understand it (and it could be completely wrong, so take this with your preferred amount of salt), the program looks at the target at the moment of shooting and one of the things it assesses is the target's speed. I would imagine the degree of speed affects the shot, but the direction does not, since it is being considered only at the instant the gunner pulls the trigger. So a fast-moving target is a fast-moving target, no matter what direction he's going. The numbers are crunched, the program decides whether a hit or a miss has occurred, and then we see it in the movie. Of course, that's only for AP shots. Guns firing HE do not lead their targets, as others have said.

Hmm, World War II as a bottleneck event in feline evolution... I like it!

Hi Robert, and welcome! Two possibilities here - either nobody will bother to answer your question, or you'll get a ton of responses saying "*yawn* this is old news." Mainly because it is. Anyway, this was argued over long and hard when the game was first released (often because of the scenario you mentioned) and there were changes to tank behavior in a couple of patches, but I think the consensus is that the current behavior is as good as we'll get with the CM program. Put very simply, your tanks are like babies - if an enemy is out of sight, he's out of mind, and their attention will shift to some other bright shiny object.

Isn't this exactly what you can do in a combined arms QB now? As I understand it, with rarity off, CMBB will have a comparable points scale (based on unit capability). This seems obvious, so I must be misunderstanding your question...?

Interesting to see that German medical troops are armed in Scipio's TOE. Dunno about other Allies, but if memory serves, American medics were not supposed to be carrying weapons (though doubtless some did) during WWII. I've read several accounts over the years of how both sides in NW Europe took care to avoid firing on the enemy's medical personnel (when they ID'd them as such), so it's surprising that the Germans were arming their guys. Granted, it's the pragmatic thing to do in modern war. [ May 03, 2002, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: Offwhite ]

My armor is always dead long before it's within range of an HQ unit, so I haven't shared your frustration. Do you notice a difference in tank-rushing behavior between attacking and defending scenarios? I'm wondering if it's related to how (AI-controlled) lone HQ's bravely charge into the teeth of the defense.

Are you disagreeing with the frequency with which they close assault, or their success rate? The latter is a programming issue; the former is a result of players driving their tanks too close to enemy infantry. I'm guessing it's bad tactics more than bad programming.

The crew should clear the jam automatically within a turn or two. I haven't heard of anyone permanently losing a jammed gun.

It would appear to be deliberate:

Makes sense. I guess I was thinking only of the "below ground level" aspect of being dug in, not the sangar/bunker/head log/other cover part.

Should it be obvious why this is an effective tactic? I'm missing something... :confused:

Steve (IIRC) has said that time spent in their efforts to provide frequent updates and responses to the board in the months leading up to CMBO delayed the game itself by several weeks. I think most people here would rather get CMBB sooner than be subjected to a stream of teasers and wait until '03 for the game.

Agree on the sniper possibility - those shots are hard to hear in the midst of a battle, or even over your engine noise.

Well, let me be the first to say Welcome, and be sure to say hi over in the main forum as well - that's where the really talkative crowd hangs out.

IIRC, word on the street is that HQ units will be able to direct mortar vehicles' fire in CMBB - which will be critical with ATR teams running around.

The info I've seen indicates that they used the same round, at the same muzzle velocity (2800 fps). Why did it penetrate when fired from the BAR but not when fired from the M1?

You know, whatever those other people might say about you, you do have an inimitable way with words! As my lit prof once said, "A realist will call a spade a spade, but a naturalist calls it a damn dirty shovel."

Oh dear, only a year and our captain is repeating himself? We need CMBB stat!

Oh good, I'm here early enough to grab a good seat before the grogs show up. My immediate reaction is that your grandfather's opinion is (understandably) skewed since he's talking about his own branch of service. I'd hardly expect him to say "my bunch were okay, but we got kicked around worse than the Italians" or something.

I'd only welcome a jump map if it didn't take up any of the screen space currently used for other information (or the battlefield view). There's room where the BTS logo currently resides at either end of the CMBO info bar, but that "unused" space might be reduced in CMBB for all I know. Anyway, something like the map in Age of Kings would be fine, but anything occupying a larger percentage of the screen would be annoying. And a full-screen map that required a keystroke to access would be no different from what you get by hitting "8" now. In the meantime, I'll happily continue to use shift-C, shift-T, 4, 8, and ctrl-click.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the Meyer picture so neatly obscures the KV with that dust cloud? Not that a nation at war would ever doctor a photo...

Rommel - if that's the same AC (and they do look pretty similar), then something surely happened in between the two pictures, as the car's side hatch is closed in your pic and open in the eBay pic. As for fraud, I'm more inclined to cut the guy a little slack and say it's a mistaken caption. Who knows what kind of operation he runs; he may not have even posted the pic himself. I'd e-mail him before e-mailing eBay; if it was a mistake, he can correct it, and if it's truly fraud, he knows he's been busted.