Strider

Yep, it sounds like Close Combat 1, which was in Normandy. I think 2 was Operation Market Garden. Can't remember what 3 was, and never got 4. And yeah, another old timer is back.

I remember two 'great' board crashes Can't remember what my member # was originally, but after the 1st crash it was #1, then after the second crash, it became the current one. Point being, tho I don't post that much, I've been around a long time. And I don't recall there being the volume of posts, and the number of members, especially older ones, when any of the CM1x games were released that have occurred over SF concerning 'disappointments'. True, each CM release has had it's critics, with a handful of posters far too agressive, but so far, none of the SF posts (that I've read) aren't (yet) as bad as some of the CM1x were. For the record, I have to side with most of the basic disappoints concerning the WEGO side of play. I have 4 PBEM buddies, 2 of whom we've been playing for 5+ years, that make use of the editor and ability to choose our own units, which issue seems to be one of the more major ones...

I too am having a hard time getting a pilot in range. I was working on one, and the beggar went and got himself killed. Speaking for myself, I have no problem deleting a pilot if I need to. See, if we had our tourney pilot roster, this wouldn't be an issue and you (Sixx) could work them over any way your...er, guess I best be careful of my description of your mental process , so then; excellant brain process could devise

During the first game I played with the update applied, it was a 2 vs 2 bot game. My wingie bot drew shooter cards all 6 turns. The very first turn, he drew 3 and shot down one of the enemy's wingies. About 1/2 way in, he shot down the other, and damaged the two leaders to the point where the last was killed on turn 6. Now he drew at least one shooter card every turn, and during one turn, my wingie drew 3 shooter cards. I played 10+ more games and this type of situation didn't occur again, but my perception was that the frequency of wingies' shooter cards weren't any different then before the patch. I still feel that wingies have way too much influence over the game. Like Stalin, I feel that wingies shouldn't even be able to shoot at an enemy leader who is being tailed by your leader, and that an enemy leader who is being advantaged, shouldn't have to deal so much with the wingie. I think the skills that wingies can buy that influence his leader's abilities and the ones that influence the enemy's is ok. I just think their in-game attacks need adjusting. (?????) At mid and especially high level, my perception is the game is way too lethal on pilots. Meaning, to me, it is too easy to shoot down planes, or be shot down I'd get a lot more satisfaction from shooting down a plane if it was tougher to do. You've made adjustments based on arnaments, so would it be possible to make adjustments on the airframe factors by increasing them?????

I like the idea of the Wingman Deck...might just be what we need. And the soluation the devs came up with just shows how their brains ain't quite wired in a normal way That's a good thing, not a negative remark

Stalin, it's -8 gmt. I can make the tourney. Not really familiar enough with anyone to ask for a team member, but I don't mind who it is.

Acknowldging receipt of email and (obviously this post. Looking forward to the brawl.

"Lurker"...yeah but I've had 3-12 CM games going since the Alpha demo. You seem good-natured, so I'll just enjoy the noise you make

Are we suppose to receive any type of confirmation that you've received our request to sign up?

A seperate player's plane roster for use with tournments only, such as the current tourny announced, so that any medals earned can be assosiated with them. They could only be used for tournments. If needed, they could have their points reset or set per tourny.

Time usually playing: various between 10am - 8pm Time Zone: PST Usual Time Spent playing: 10min to 1 hour Best Day to Play, Sat or Sun: Either Favorite plane in DIF: P38 Would join squadron: Yes DIF Employee You Wish to Play Most: Any

Low to mid exp level...that's my perception also. Things seem to be ok and are just a very nice challenge...it's the higher levels that are frustrating. Fred19 uses 5000+, but my highest are a bit over 1000 and I am expirencing the wingman unbalance. I understand the comments about nothing has changed, but I'm just now reaching these levels which would be what accounts for my comments and perceptions on what's occuring. I'm just saying that my perception is that the wingman are "too much" of a deciding factor at these higher levels, unless something like increasing the Airframe factor could be implemented. As my comment earlier, I agree with the observation that planes are being shot down too easy, and Ace status currently has no effect on the game. Another possible adjustment could be making the IMS/OTS 2+ damage cards as a lower percentage of being drawn (?????) It's difficult to shoot down planes at the beginning levels, and no one seems to have issues with this. I sure don't. I'm just advocating that the higher levels be something similar to this.

I think the comment about the wingmen having to do similar moves as the leader would go a long way in resolving this. It's not our (or at least my) wingman who are able to do, even half, of the moves available to the bot wingman. And that is a good point, of the game being too easy to shoot down planes. I wouldn't mind that aspect getting adjusted (by increasing Airframes ???) and relying on 'hits' more for scoring. Making it less likely to shoot down planes, would make acheiving Ace status a nice factor. If the Airframe factors were increased, then it's possible that the current (and future) wingman abilites could remain as designed. (?????)

hmmm...After my previous post, I went online and flew a 2vs2 figher bot game. The 1st turn, the Randy wingman gets 6 points of damage, and the leader finishes me off. By the 3rd turn, my wingman was dead (not just shot down, but dead-dead). My bot allies shared the same fate. My pilots never even got a chance to fire a single shot. The bot leader got to shoot one time, to no effect. This was not fun, just very frustrating. My leader has 1066 expirence points, Natural Pilot, Zoom Climb, Evasive, Marksman, Redline, and High Performance. He started this turn with 31 available points to spend, which he didn't use. My wingman "had" Natural Pilot, Spoil Aim, Distract Leader, Distract Wingman, Anticipation, and Teamwork. I don't know what the bots had.

That's my perception, also. I feel I'm being forced to go after the wingies first. If my leader has decent 'attack' cards, I'll use my wingman to distract his leader, but my leader will go for the wingman. It just doesn't "feel" right. True, at lower expirence levels, the wingmen are 'balanced', but at the higher levels with multiple draws and such, you can't afford to ignore them and concentrate on the leaders, where it seems you should be concentrating. It seems (to me) that the wingman's role should be to assist the leader and not be near the factor they are (at higher levels) on aggressivness. Maybe even something such as them having to play a Manuver card before they can play each IMS/OTS type of card, would bring them back towards balancing???? Also, take away the ability for wingman to "Draw an Extra Card". (???)

I wouldn't miss not being able to purchase the IMS2:D card. I've never purchased it anyway. Feel the same way. Besides it seems a jinx card when my Leader draws it, as is.

"THE BIG ONE" lol...well that got my attention. Hopefully none of my 300+ computers at work will go down early in the mornings, since I may be a bit late getting to them, after not having enough sleep for my old bones

Thanks for more campaigns...I think I've been through all the current ones on both sides. Against the AI (except the Singapore tourney) that is.

My worthy Japanse opponent, Eickmann succeeded in defeating me. Score was 8-10, his favor. The first day did me in. My wingie went down on the first turn from an IMS:Destroy and my leader couldn't get into any defensive positions, and was downed on the next turn. The last 2 days went pretty good for the Brits (no bombers got through), but I was never able to recover from the first day.

Thinking about it a bit more... I get the impression that players using the bots as a trainer is quite a factor in making some changes. Giving less XP when playing bots can work to a certain extent, but those players who have a lot of time to play, may not be as affected by it as others. I'd like to see two seperate player's pilots, (similar to online and local), to human-only and bot-only sets. Even combining the local to the bot-only set, or making the bot-only set local-only. On the Main Page of DIF's site, unless I'm missing it somewhere, I can't tell the difference on the ratings, if they were earned playing humans or bots. I can with the campaigns...My preference would be that the ratings (excpet for the campaigns) should apply only to human vs human. I agree that the reliance and influnce the bots are having on the game should be reduced. [ December 03, 2005, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: Strider ]

I have similar thoughts, lakespeed. Some of us are a bit gun-shy about playing other humans. It can take a while to find at least a handful of core players that you count on. I got bit during the beta-phase online, and am still a bit leary. I've been playing a lot of campaign and some online fighter/escort, and lurking on the few comments I see. Every once in a while, I'll make a comment to see what response I receive. But even more of a factor is time. I have four grandkids on the weekends and the Battleaxe full time A lot of time it is difficult to commit for more than a short time. I'd enjoy finding an opponent to play the campaigns. Can't say I've had any issues with changes that have already been implemented, and I wouldn't want the devs to back off on taking the game where they want it to go. At least currently, I like the idea of restricting the amount of skills, as long as the bots get restricted also And for the time being, the bots are my primary opponents. I know they're not an optimum(sp) opponent, but you can learn quite a bit of tactics from them, and they do keep the frustration level up a lot of the times, which isn't really a bad thing.

Thanks. Your summary is correct on what happened. I'm having a slight problem reproducing this type of bug

I can help on a couple of your questions: No, you can't use your own pilots in Campaigns...for now...but we don't yet know just where Campaigns may end up. They've already made a change for the most recent Campaign. Lobby games: This is somehting that is still evolving. For the time being, just sound off and see what response you get. Sometimes there are very helpful people and sometimes very quiet people

I played a 2vs2 bot fighter game. My U.S. bot wing, shot down one of the bad guy's leaders. The bad guy's wingie took took over an put the U.S. bot leader at a disadvantage. The other bad guy wing was at a different altitude. My wing was at the same as the battle that just took place. I was able to play a Half Loop against the bad guy and received two bursts, but did not get him off my buddy. I then played Maneuver and this did get him off my buddy. Question is, why didn't the Half Loop get him off, and/or give me the bursts that would have been due? Would the same type of situation occur if I had played one (or two) Maneuver cards, and then played the Half Loop?

I just tried 2vs2 fighter game with bots, and 'watched' when and why the AI was drawing cards. This is with my U.S. pilots who are getting on up in levels, and I think I do see the "illusion" The AI did seem to play cards per his abilities such as Quick Reflexes and such. Each time I saw a card drawn aginst the U.S. bot, I checked the screen showing the abilities, and (for the most part) each time I was able to confirm the draw was legal.