Joachim

So lets's compare it with the biggest software firm: I never noticed improvements in Win98 or Word. Just as you write: Some security patches - but these are bug fixes. Nothing that eased working. If I wanted changes - buy the new product. Nobody gave me VBA for my old Office 5.0. Had to buy it with Office 2000. Did I get a version of Word 6.0 that could correclty read my old .docs written in 2.0? No. Still have my master thesis as a word 2.0 file, but can't print it (it includes formulas). Several research papers in Word 6.0. University upgraded to another Office version - the papers were effectively gone. Type them again (or keep Word 6.0). Did I get a patch to be able to load my old .docs from old versions of Word? No. To compare MS with BFC: Are there any security problems? Viruses entering via PBEM? Somebody found the key to hack PBEMs and thus cheat? Nope. Every critical security problem was fixed immediately (as there never was one) We can request changes now - but just like with MS, we get it in a new version/engine (for which we have to pay). We got 3 patches with user requested changes for free (BB). Just one in CMAK. Anything else we'll have to pay for. The big difference? Nobody (except the Austalian military) uses CM as a critical tool. An upgrade will not loose lots of valuable documents. (At least if those people I PBEM continue their games with me once the new engine is done.) But I agree the problem are the accountants who want to increse return on investment. That is called capitalism. And until recently it worked Gruß Joachim

There is a story of 3 Jagdpanthers wasting a Sherman company from ambush. IIRC somewhere on the edge of a forest. The Jagdpanthers break cover to reposition, then the follow up company arrives. Strength and weakness. Gruß Joachim

They face two problems: a) Keeping customers happy by improving existing games, thus making it more likely the customer might buy again from them. Creating new products the customer can buy. They can only concentrate on one of them. anything they shift to a) will be missed in and vice versa. If they concentrate on a), they will make little money. If they concetrate on they might loose some potential costumers, but can finish the next engine much earlier. Thus having an edge at the competition, thus gaining some more costumers. Add to a) that most of the things they could add are only reqeusted by a minority (I don't care if there are PT34s or whether some StuG gets some skirt) or are rejected by others (I want to reduce the effectiveness of allied guns in CMAK and increase it in CMBB. Others might have different opinions).... or need the new engine. So anything they invest in a) will not yield too much return. To the contrary the less they divert on a) the faster they can achieve and thus make people on this forum happy. So I guess they decided to go for with support limited to this forum. I don't like it, but I'd do the same. After all their resources regarding the amount of programmers are rather limited. Gruß Joachim

The enemy will waste lots of ammo to kill your pinned troops in decent cover. If they run, they are much better targets and will probably die as well . Gruß Joachim </font>

Another 24 hours per day. Gruß Joachim

The enemy will waste lots of ammo to kill your pinned troops in decent cover. If they run, they are much better targets and will probably die as well . If you need the "withdraw" command something went wrong. The reverse does not hold - or "withdraw" would be the most used command. Gruß Joachim

The Germans wouldn't want to waste their tanks like this. OTOH if they hold the ground afterwards they could repair their tanks adn most abandoned tanks would be back in service a few days later. The real tactics relied on radio and solid tactics allowing them to gain an advantage. The T34s are faster - but the Germans knew where to go. And they probably would not attack the T34s directly but try to maneuver so they were in a position where the T34s had to attack them. If the Soviets split their forces, the local odds would shift in favor of the Germans. You can achieve something like this when you take a flag and the AI starts his counterattack. The AI leaves the favorable positions. You can often get flank shots this way. a) if you catch a tank in the flank it often rotates. Rotating tanks don't fire. reverse slope works great vs moving tanks. c) Keyholing works best when the keyhole is at 90° to the enemy's advance path. Gruß Joachim

Some formatting would ease reading. The more people actualy read all of your message the more people might respond. Can't remember when worlds collide, just that it is in the SP pack, so anything is just general help. a) A hull down PzIII with 70mm frontal is almost invulnerable to T34s from 600m. Any PzIV is easily penetrated by T34s. c) PzIII can hardly kill T34s at range. Even up close they lack effect after penetration. d) PzIV can kill T34s at range. e) StuGs with 80mm front are frontally invulnerable and can kill at range f) The AI tends to bunch up his armor. This usually results in local odds. So what do we get from this? If you don't manage to get local odds yourself as keyholing will still have several T34s in your limited sights, you either need something that is invulnerable to the return fire or get even bigger odds. So 1) Spread your armor - but make sure it can mutually support each other (ie you have 2 or more keyhole positions which all have LOS to your intended beaten zone where the enemy is. 2) a)-e) means that you gotta present StuG 80mm or PzIII 70mm fronts to the enemy. Avoid positions where you get flanking fire. The AI tends to fire on the first tank that appears during a turn. It'll stick to targets he can barely kill but has a better chance to hit. If several targets are available when a target is seleted, it'll choose the most expensive one (picking out HQs and such). PzIVs are more expensive than PzIIIs (at the same experience level). But you want to keep your killers. So an ideal firing position is to lead with the PzIIIs. The PzIVs are the overwatch. Once the T34s concentrate their fire on the PzIII (but fail to kill them), the PzIV appear and kill the T34s. Of course this happens at range. the StuGs are for static overwatch - they can remain "up" to protect the PzIIIS on the march while the PzIVs have to remain hidden and only appear once the T34s are committed and target the PzIIIs. You goal is not to occupy some flags, but to destroy the enemy first. Most points are for killing. And once you killed the enemy, you'll get the flags anyway. Shoot&Scoot: Never really works for me. If you don't place the firing position perfectly, your tanks is exposed several seconds to multiple shooters but only fires once. Hunt and reverse in the next turn usually works better for me. Gruß Joachim

You've got too much time... Despite quitting my job I just don't find the time to do everything I want. Glad at least one of my PBEM opponents has a new job and no time to send turns, too. Gruß Joachim

What did the map look like? How many flags? It could have been a feasible solution to retreat your tanks and just leave some tank hunters on board.... if the Soviets had decent ones, that is. You kill a few tanks... he gets some flags. Draw. Breaking an agreement is cheating. Gruß Joachim

Turn 22 left flank is up Gruß Joachim

It depends on whether it is an attack or assualt op. IIRC assault forces you to comb the woods as forward defenders decide the line. Attack stresses forward attackers positions. Gruß Joachim

Close counts with HE. The blast flipping over the PaK, shrapnel hitting the sights etc. But I guess fk is right - the problem is borg spotting. I'd really be interested what happens without borg spotting. BTW... what happens if the T34 and the PaK are alone on the map? (Add a sniper to close the hatches). Gruß Joachim

I id'd 3 problems in this thread: a) Men killed differ Points for prisoners differ (but not htier number) c) Rounding errors ad a) Look at the "Men killed". It explains part of the problem. While the "total casualties" are always the same, the killed differ. IMHO they are calculated after the battle as a random number from the total causalties. IIRC the same problem is in ops - you can have more killed in the last but one battle than in the AAR screen after the op is done. BigDork - please do your test again but check not just the percentage but the killed and the captured, too. Depending on the killed (of both sides) you should get 59% or 60%. ad A bit strange is the prisoners - you get different points for the same number of prisoners? Do they calculate it depending on rank or wpn in the sqd? What were the prisoners? Which unit types and how many? Differing points for the captured is another problem. Please check if the points are always the same for each side. ad c) The 3rd problem is the "40+59=99". A classic in statistics if you have rounding errors. Calculating the points from your friends AAR you get 708 : 1040 or 40.5034325 : 59.4965675 Both rounded down? No, then you would always get 40:59 Or do they calculate internally using just one decimal (cutting the rest)- not exact but works in most calcs. Example: Points total: 1748. 100/1748= 5.7% 608/1748= 34.7% Sum is 40.4% rounded to 40% Same for Allies: 200/1748= 11.4% 799/1748= 45.7% 41/1748= 2.3% Sum is 59.4% or 59% Reminds me of what my old Algebra teacher said during my first term: "Computers make errors when calculating. But they do this amazingly fast." Gruß Joachim

Ok. No powerful secondary wpn that the player can use indepent of the main wpn. Gruß Joachim

Somewhere I read about the Soviet drill. Only one man at a time mans the gun. Loader runs to gun, loads, runs away. Gunner runs to gun, aims, fires, runs away. Loader... Ammo bearer brings new crate, runs away. All others are in foxholes/dug in around the gun. So if a tank hits the gun, max one dies. The big crew is to handle the gun when moved, carry ammo etc. - and to protect it. If you look at the German AT gun plts that come with several btns in CM, you'll notice that there are 3 ATGs and 3 LMGs. CM has no secondary wpns for guns, so the LMGs are extra units. Gruß Joachim

In Lappland they have a special type of lasso to catch reindeer. Using them on planes is a bit unsporting. OTOH Finns are no Brits. Gruß Joachim

The pilots only appear when you play the Finns and capture the plane with a lasso or sumfink. Gruß Joachim

It's always nice to have them. Not just unit data but formation data, too. And of course the rarity. I want it all. Gruß Joachim

All of turn 21 is up now. WarHawk has problems logging in here Had to remember my old Username to get in here after they changet the server. Glad that banging my head on the desk reminded me what it was. Gruß Joachim

If your opponent uses StuGs with 80mm frontal and the period is '42 to '43 you will be in trouble when just dueling it out. - fire and maneuvre if you can't kill thru the frontal armor - use numbers if you loose in 1:1 duels - play other periods where you have low rarity tiger killers (57mm, 85mm, 76mm FlaK - 57mm ATGs - play rarity off (or variable) - never rely on your frontal armor... use every tank like it was a Marder. - If you have no target, you are turret-down. The infantry does the spotting. (the only exception is when you are keyholed and want to interdict traffic)

Maybe he can only kick ass in MEs? There is a certain type of players who bunch up most of their assets giving them local odds. This does not work when on the defense (the opponent has more arty and the flags are spread out). And it does not work on the attack (well placed TRPs or kill zones can ruin the fun). If you've stumbled across that tactic... don't believe everything vets say. Some get "vets" just by beating greens. Gruß Joachim

So you too play with Andreas! :mad: </font>

IMHO "shadow is gone" does not equal downed plane. If the shadow vanishes around the board edge the plane might as well have left the map (depending on sun and flight path). Current PBEM I only found out that I shoot down a plane when my AD's kill stats showed it (A one burst kill ). The shadow did not vanish as it was shot down near or outside the board edges. My opponent still has to trust me that it is gone forever. There's no influence on planes - no radio contact. Thus you don't know if it is still there except if it appears again. If it doesn't comeb ack it might be to scared, to damaged or crashed. All you can do is guess (except when the kill stat says it is gone). And a vanishing shadow is a good base for a guess. Gruß Joachim [ July 27, 2004, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Joachim ]

Deitrich wrote a book!??! :confused: :eek: </font>