Strat

I haven't bought CMBB because I am under the impression that it has the same AI quality as CMBO which has mediocre AI quality. Does CMBB have a different or improved AI? Haven't posted here in months. Strat

Very good. I tried to get this effect in my last scenario, "Clervaux" posted at http://www.dragonlair.net/combatmission/ , Keith "Admiral Keth" Miller's, Tom "The Big Dog" Oliver's and Craig Harvey's, Combat Mission Scenario Depot. What I did was create a light snow with fog at dawn which gave it a muddy snow appearance.

I have two scenarios that are battalion size. One is 40 turns the other 65. Need testers. If not, tell me why. :confused: I need feed back. Thanks, Strat [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Strat ]</p>

The same problem occurs with mounted guns. Why doesn't the A/I take advantage of deploying mounted guns. I designed a scenario that had 75mm Infantry guns mounted behind trucks. After turn 25 or so I decided to surrender so I could check the troops remaining on the map. Four trucks with 75mm Infantry guns in tow where in their initial start positions. They did not move. The A/I must not be sophisticated enough to be able to deploy guns. It also tends to suicide charge a first contact with everything it has. Is the new version of the game going to have better A/I? Probably not, I would assume. Probaly not until BTS redesigns the game engine. Even then it may not be adequate except for learning the basics of the game.

I have two large battles against a/i. These are too large for PBEM. One is the 2nd Panzer Division attack on Noville and the 2nd Panzer Division attack on Clervaux. Both are about battalion size. Player feedback needed. I have submitted other battles to scenario websites in the past and they were only tested by me. These are, The Sanatorium - Regiment size, Probable Encounter - Battalion size, and Road to Marnach - Company size. Feed back needed. Send your requests and I will send the files. I am working on a mini battle pack for TCP/IP play. These are about platoon to company size. I should have 10 mini battles finished in a few weeks. :cool: [ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Strat ]</p>

In alot of wargames the fighting force has chuck wagons or supply wagons/trucks to disperse ammo to units that are low. But this would be impractacle in a game like CM were the timing is in seconds. When a unit is low on ammo it still has some. If the unit were to stop laying down suppression fire to get an ammo distribution from another fresh unit, this could lead to quick forfieture of the position, i.e. enemy overrun. What I do in the low ammo situation is move the low ammo units back and advance the fresh units to the vacated position, Schnell!!!!

I have tried time and time again to make a battle where the AI has a chance. To no avaial the AI always chooses a route to self destruction. If it is not doing a suicide charge toward the flag it is doing some other suicide strategy. Once it starts a strategy it doesn't deviate. The programmer should make the game somewhat more challenging for the private gamer and design the AI with enough intellegence so scenarios can be tested. The current AI is useless. Two cents, Strat

An MG cannot be fired like a rifle. Aiming one consists of point and spray bullets. The assaulting squad you refer to was spread out. You can concentrate fire in an area for suppression but as for mowing down a squad like cutting the front lawn, it doesn't happen. I don't know what factors are in the game for causing a squad to go into a pinned state but if they were rested and regulars or veterans they would push the position to prevent being slaughtered. Strat

Hiding a gun or tank is done best when it is amongst trees. The enemy at long range aren't likely to spot it as easily. Hiding it is basically adding camoflage such as covering it with branches or a camo netting. When a prime target gets in range blast it. I did this once with a 155 mm Howitzer knocking out a JagdTiger at 1000m. Nice kill. [This message has been edited by Strat (edited 03-29-2001).] [This message has been edited by Strat (edited 03-29-2001).]

I was working on a scenario and was testing it. I accidently overwrote it with a saved game. Now I can't load it back into the scenario editor. Is there anyway to fix this or do I have to redo the scenario from scratch? Strat

I have seen numerous posts pertaining to an online game called WWIIOnLine. I have visited thier website and there appears to be alot of effort going into the games development. The current state of the Internet will make this game unplayable because of packet loss and connection problems. In my experience with realtime online games, most of the time, the connection is bad. By bad, I mean performing an action then waiting from 1 seconds to more than 5 seconds to see the results. As an example, if your character is being fired at by enemy soldiers and you decide to run for some nearby cover, your client will show your character running and ducking under cover while the server has your character still standing in the original location because of a bad connection and informs you that your character has died. The enemy will have seen you 1 to 5 seconds before the server sends the packet about thier location to your client. It can't be syncronized because the process will take to long for a realtime situation. In my opinion WWIIOnLine is a good effort and will probably have its group of regular diehards but as far as playability I have my doubts. Strat

I moved a platoon up the side of the map, very close to the edge, because that was the only safe route. The platoon got crowded at the destination and two squads moved off the map edge. Are these squads gone from the game? Is this a bug? I didn't instruct them to move of the map. The AI did it. Strat

It appears, from this sampling of the CM population, that the majority of players are of the age mid 20's to early 30's. I am 45. Best take a median age because this one will be a spike in the data. Strat

Tyco Army set, early 60's. Had two sets of plastic soldiers. One set was Army vs Germans and the other set was Marines vs Japanese. Both sets had there own unique armor and infantry, plastic tanks and soldiers. At 7 or 8 years old, I got extreme enjoyment from setting up battles in the dirt then kicking everything down. Ha. Strat

I saw SPR and the movie sucked. Totally unrealistic. Strat

Probably a bad sector in your FAT. Hate to say it but you will need to reformat your C: drive. A back up won't work because the fat is messed up. Save your importatnt data on your D: drive before reformatting. Strat

In a game I am presently in, a Stug III advances high enough up a slope in the road to get a top turret penetration hit on a Sherman (105). The Stug III reverse back down the slope were the allies pop smoke all around it. There is another Sherman on the right but the Stug is protected by a small ridge. Since the smoke was there, I decided to advance the Stug forward into a group of trees to attack an M8 and two MG halftracks. The group of trees offered protection on the right flank. I knew if I advanced without the smoke the Sherman would challenge the Stug. Anyway, I started my advanced. I used hunt instead of fast advance. The smoke, screening my right flank, all of a sudden cleared and the stug was halfway to its destinantion. The first shot from the Sherman was high. Instead of advancing toward the trees, the Stug commander decided to challenge the Sherman. The Sherman got off three missed shots before the Stug could turn to it. The Stug got off two shots, then the Sherman knocked it out. Why did the TC stop instead of moving to the protection of the woods where I directed it?

Aww! I thought it said MythIII. I'd like to see another sequel to that one. It said MystIII. Thats a Sierra game isn't it? Anything put out knowadays by Serria is full of bugs and sucks. Strat

Will TCP/IP be really that good? How long will a 30 or 40 turn game last, several hours? Maybe too long for one sitting. A save game feature for TCP/IP would be good otherwise PBEM will be best. Strat

I have had the game for a few months, created a few scenarios and played some scenarios. How do I get a PBEM game? Is there a page at this site with people that are waiting for a PBEM game. Strat

The neural network is the only fuzzy logic I have worked with. It involves taking sample data cases, thousands, of known inputs with a corresponding output or outputs. Each case contains a number of variables, (nodes), defining an input and one or more variables, (nodes), defining an output. The input variables are wieghted across all of the individual cases, non-linearly or using multiple layers. This produces a generalized or fuzzy output. If the network is large, with each data set containing 50 or more variables (nodes) and thousands of samples cases, it takes weeks or months on a fast computer to learn the model. Real time learning is not practical using the neural network technique but it appears to be the best approach to A/I. After learning the model the calculations are very fast. It depends on the resolution though. Very high resolution A/I would be impractical with todays technology. Maybe when the terra hertz machines come out one day, maybe. CM's A/I is ok. When attacking it does tend to charge the flag, taking the shortest route. When defending it can be overrun, easily. It appears to react either slowly or caustiously in most situations. Strat

I created a huge scenario involving one Panzer regiment and one US infantry regiment. It is quite a challenge playing the US side with full FOW. Although the Panzer regiment cost more than the US regiment, about double, the Panzer regiment, historically, had higher costing units. If the battles were of equal cost the US would have twice as much, causing a scenario imbalance. Two US regiments against one Panzer regiment. Strat

The reasons for war are numerous. Some reasons for an aggressor: 1. Economic and resource deficiencies - I don't have enough, I want what you have. 2. Territorial disputes - Thats my land, get off. 3. Religious differences - My religion is better than yours so you will worship the way I do. 4. Political differences - My way of living is better than yours so you will live my way. Strat

What about bicycles. As I recall there were SS PZGR units (Mot) that used bicycles in the Ardennes Offensive. Strat

There was only one known photograph of confederate soldiers on the march. Which means to me that the towns they passed through brought a sense of fear to the townsfolk. As for a specific town, unknown, but every town they went through I am sure they acquired whatever they could. Probably not in the high profile way that the union soldiers pillaged. Strat