TeAcH

Well, I can see your point. Maybe I read it wrong. I seem to recall reading a reply from Fionn prior to this (who BTW I respect a lot for his contribution to this game and his knowledge of WW2) and intrepreted it then as being sarcastic. Perhaps I just misinterpreted him here. I apologize. TeAcH [This message has been edited by TeAcH (edited 07-17-2000).]

Ahh...I found some of the pics including the 1/6 Stuart http://www.primenet.com/~btn/21stconpix/ TeAcH

I've putting my 21st 12" WW2 collection together and it is coming along quite well. I have 12 in all (3 are SWAT). I am really intersted in these newer 5-6 figures too! Thanks for the info! Question: How are you all finding these 1/2 sale on the 12" figues? -AND- Can you post a link to info on the new line? Thanks TeAcH

Next time Fionn, don't hold back. Tell him just like it is. Don't pull any punches. Even if it makes someone think the answer you gave was a bit rude. Go for it.

I hope this wasnt discussed to death, but... Why isn't each individual 20mm cannon round calculated or accounted for? Maybe it is but I'd like to know how. It seems to me that when a 20mm cannon (or flak) fires at something multiple times in a burst, only one explosion or one deflected round is shown for example. Is each round calculated for penetration, hit, etc? Or just one and the rest are for show? TeAcH

Yeah...prolly right. Oh well, TeAcH

Couldn't sand be added with all the properties applied to open ground? Therefore, BTS creates one new tile, that LOOKS like sand but has the same properties as open ground. The final kicker would be then to add it to the editor and restricted so it could only be used by humans. Wouldn't this work? The AI has no NEW terrain properties to deal with and the editor is precluded from misplacing it. TeAcH

Couldn't sand be added with all the properties applied to open ground? Therefore, created one new tile, that LOOKS like sand but has the same properties of open ground. The final kicker would be then to add it to the editor and restricted so it could only be used by humans. Wouldn't this work? The AI has no NEW terrain properties to deal with and the editor is precluded from misplacing it. TeAcH

I'd really like to see someone develop a Shadows mod. EVERYTHING in this game needs a shadow IMO. Any takers? Is it possible? TeAcH

Have you all seen the engine driving Motorcross Madness 2? It is incredible. Not to slam BTS in ANY way, CM is a beauty, but imagine playing CM2 with the MM2 engine. Whew! Seems like we would see tanks that look like the models on this website. TeAcH

I agree. Seems like the SS troops needs a once over at least. See if all is in order. TeAcH

Thanks for the advice. As scenario designer, I for one appreciate it though I cannot lay claim to the mistake you point out =). As a reminder, Id like to see us all try to place the posts in the relevant forum areas. BTS has set aside a Scenario forum where this post could have been placed. Thanks again Rod TeAcH ------------------ "Ah-ah, I know what you're thinking. Did he fire 6 shots or only 5. Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I've kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum - the most powerful hand gun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky. Well, do ya punk?" [This message has been edited by TeAcH (edited 07-15-2000).]

I hope this isnt asking much, but Id like to know BTS' thoughts on this thread. Thanks TeAcH

Okay. I appreciate the contribution and it is worth noting, however because this issue is somewhat complex and thus the posts are lengthy, I would encourage everyone to read them throughly (not just mine, but the whole thread) because I think someone (or two) touched on this. Navri, Neither of my tanks (and both were Tigers not that it matters) had LOS to the Sherman Firefly before he appeared in the final shooting position as depicted above. The fly was creeping forward very slowly therefore he would be seen for a minute then vanish being replaced by a marker for his last known position. So there was no way to target him and have that targeting remain throughout the whole action phase. And, if memory serves me right, that doesnt seem to work in the game anyway. Your tank keeps a lock only for a few seconds and then leaves it. Nor would that alone accomplish all that a DEFEND command would, IMO. TeAcH [This message has been edited by TeAcH (edited 07-13-2000).]

I think they said they were 2 months out on the TCPIP patch. As far as the 1.03 patch, I dont know. Hopefully by this weekend. TeAcH

Thanks all. And thanks Chris B and Mike for your comments made in rebuttal to those of Matt. Matt, I too totally disagree with you. Not a slam here, but how long have you played the game? You see, this is an obvious problem to me that doesn't happen in EVERY battle, but rears its ugly head in the most inopportune moments such as that described above. Anyone that has played CM for some time has witnessed this. Perhaps you have too but came to some other rationalization. In light of what Ive read thus far under this topic, I agree that an "Ignore Unit" command is not the answer. Now then, what IS the answer? I personally think that a DEFEND ARC similar to the one in Close Combat (yeah, I know but it worked) would suffice. But it would have to be one part of a two part change. Now, for those that are not familiar with how and DEFEND Arc would work, you would designate a direction of focus for the given unit, similar to a ROTATE command, except that instead of a line, you would get a funnel shapped arc. Once a threat appears in that arc, the unit or tank would track and fire. If the target left the arc, then the tank could continue to track it IF it was a threat. I believe, you should also be allowed to set the size or width of the DEFEND arc so you could in essence order the unit to tighten its focus. (Ill post a "what if" picture below). The notion that we have a GOD-like view able to see what a tank commander can't is not a sound argument in this case. Are we the Commander unit? Are we the "A-0" unit? See my point? Some things have to be left to the AI, sure, but not here. So let's say that a DEFEND Arc was available to me in my initial post. See the below picture As you can see, I could tell the AI to face and focus on this direction, just like I can order it to FIRE, MOVE, HIDE, BUTTON, HUNT, etc. So, I do this and face my Tiger in the direction I want him to face. "Hey! You orders aren't to move. They are to stay here and DEFEND in THIS direction." Now then, by ordering the Tiger to remain focused on this area (see above pic), I would be more ready to DEFEND myself against a known threat that THIS Crack Tiger not only saw, but other Crack Tigers saw (they know where they last saw him a few seconds ago at least and a firefly's gun aint too shabby! In other words, they better be ready to kill it as a high priority). But I digress. Continuing then, the crew emerges (as did happen) or it is sighted and outside of the arc. No problem, my Tiger ignores it. What if the crew emerges and is INSIDE the arc? The Tiger could begin to fire at it until it left the arc AND ignore it once a real threat or better target became available. Here is another picture taken later in the battle. A lot of my troops SEE a lot of enemy armor rolling down the main road towards the Tiger ambush. They come to help their beleagured comrades. i want to give them a welcoming party. I move a crack Tiger into position in the middle of the road and angle him to aid in deflecting hits against him. I know my Tiger's armor is adequete in this role and his gun is more than sufficient to pick off enemy armor at this great distance. What happens? As the Tiger sits and waits (Ambush not an option as enemy armor is 600+ meters out), it decides to turn its slow turret all the way around to target crew behind him. What does this mean? Well, it means that my Tiger is far from ready to fire at the real BIG threat coming down the road. What happens in the end? WHAMMO! Tiger dead. Turret hit in the rear or side (cant quite recall). Now, I can hear some of you already. Well, you know it is a crew, but the tank crew doesn't. And they don't want to have unaddressed enemy soldiers behind it...who knows they may have gammon bombs. Well, maybe they have purple elephants in their pockets too. Whatever the case, the Tiger should either have fired off that Neverwegge-thinga-ma-bob or reversed out of the street getting ouf of KNOWN harms way. Respectfully, TeAcH

Yeah, I think we'd all like to see better representations of armor kills (turrets and hulls ripped open and apart, gaping holes, etc). I brought this up in Nov (I think) and BTS said it would consume too much CPU power. TeAcH

I get intermittent lock ups too. Lock ups at res of 1024x768 and 1280x1024 I have DirectX 7a Viper 2(crapola) with latest driver SB Live (liveware 3.0) Cel 466 Abit Bx6 r2.0 motherboard 128 megs RAM [This message has been edited by TeAcH (edited 07-12-2000).]

There is a workaround. My desktop is set at 1024 while my games runs at 1280x1024. How you ask? A little program called QRes. Do a search for QRes in the main forum. You'll find the link. Install it and voila' Enjoy! TeAcH

Hehehe..dunno Col. Interesting. Prolly not though. Thanks for the comments on the scenario. For info, the Luftwaffe pilot was set to green, that explains why he may have targeted a destroyed AFV. I did this to simulate the lack of quality pilots in the Luftwaffe at that time. I also made the chances of a German jabo appearing rare. Again, trying to simulate the decimated condition they were in. In contrast, the American pilot is better as are his chances of arrival. TeAcH [This message has been edited by TeAcH (edited 07-12-2000).]

I got all of the winter mods! They look great!@ Nice nice work. Question: Any word on graphics mods for summer tanks. I know that MDMP is in the works, but are there others doing work on the non-winterized AFV and infantry? TeAcH

Thanks for all the comments, including yours Sten...I think. =P Were you slamming me? I cant tell. Ah...Ive had a long day. Hopefully you werent. TeAcH

Here's the situation as shown in the picture below. My Tiger is in a bad spot. I know that a Firefly is creeping down the road and preparing to turn the corner to kill me. I know the firefly's turret is very fast. My Tiger's turret is very slow. So, in order for me to survive and be as close to on target as soon as the firefly appears to minimize my sluggish traverse, I face may tank right where I know the firefly is going to peer out for its shot. Here's my problem, I also know that my Tiger is going to target bailed out crew in the woods to the left. I don't want this. For if my Tiger does that, and begins to track the crew when the firefly arrives, my very slow turret will not be ready and will take way too long to return on target. What can I do to prevent this? Nothing. Secondly, what prevents my opponent from using this as a gamey tactic against me to ensure a tank kill? Nothing (Fortunately, I am playing a very honorable opponent who would not purposefully do this). So, the turn movies plays. My Tiger turns to face where I know the firefly is going to appear. While the first few secong tick away, my Tiger is just as I want him and in the best possible firing position. A few seconds later, bailed out enemy crews in the trees to the right do just as I feared! My Tiger locks onto them and begins to traverse its slow and mighty turret towards them. NO!! I scream at the monitor. Just as my Tiger gets the turret to shoot at some damn pistol toting, zero freaking threat of a crew, the firefly emerges right on time. The fly quickly swings on target while my Tiger tries forever and day to traverse right...right back where I wanted it to stay! The fly shoots and WHAMMO! You get the idea. See the picture below: Now, here is my thinking. I wouldnt have cared so much if the Tiger had seen a threat to itself and thus followed the same course of action as desribed above. But to "unprepare" itself is just awful. So, wht I think needs to be considered, is an IGNORE UNIT command accesible when you right click on the selected unit (in this case a bailed out tank crew). That way, your tank will not target it. Now, the naysayers are going to say, "Well, you saw the firefly, but your Tiger didn't". My answer is that tanks have radios. And further down the street, I had another Crack Tiger tank who could see the firefly dart in and out towards its firing position just before the aforementioned catastrophy. Why wouldn't that Tiger, or the other Tigers that saw the fly, radio some warning that a firefly was on the road etc, or whatever?" Besides, this Tiger on the preceding turn caught a glimpse of that firefly heading down the road in the direction. A crack tank crew would have said 'Dont turn the turret to fire our MG at some crew, lets wait for that firefly." Q: The Ambush command would work in this instance. Why didnt you use it? A: Would it work? It might work, the crew was fairly close to the firefly. The only other issue then is that there was a Cromwell approaching from the right (off camera). I may want to have the Tiger fire a range. Ambush has a range limitation doesnt it? What if there is a bailed out crew between me and lets say enemy armor in the background along a wide front. If I could tell a tank to ignore a unit (or if the AI could if that is possible though unlikely), then issues such as these could be either avoided or diminished. What are your thoughts gang? And please leave the flames at the door. TeAcH

Initial preview way back when on www.cdmag.com

Just curious, but do you see the jabo's shadowing crashing towards the ground accompanied by the appropriate sounds? Can the jabo crash on the battlefield and perhaps hit something? TeAcH