Wolfe

I don't know if it was tweaked any for CMBB, but the KV's still engage a target, shoot, turn the hull towards the target, stop turning, shoot, then start turning again ... rinse, recycle, repeat ... until they're square or almost square to the target. Seems to be the same as CMBO, but I haven't played enough to be completely sure. - Chris [ September 06, 2002, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Have been trying my hand at creating a new interface for CMBB. Which is kinda tough for someone with no artistic talent to begin with. I wanted to brighten many of the icons containing text and darken the background so the info would stick out a bit better. Surprisingly I think it's turned out pretty well (albeit incomplete). I don't know if anyone would like something like this, but it's available for download for your perusal. Be aware that it is incomplete and may look a bit odd when combined with the rest of the menu graphics. If anyone has any inclination to finish doing the menu buttons, feel free. I tried, but ran into that no-talent thing and gave up. Some screens (120KB each): AFV Infantry Download (61KB) at: Dark Green CMBB Interface Enjoy. - Chris [ September 06, 2002, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Another thing I think might give away too much info. When you kill an enemy AT gun it disappears from active LOS and is replaced by its marker. But what is obviously a crew instantly appears next to it every time (atleast I think it does). Does the gun crew go through the same kind of LOS check that all enemy units go through or is it just automatically shown? I'd rather not see this if none of my units would normally have spotted the crew. - Chris

As one who likes to play games against the AI as well as human, I'd rather Detailed Armor Hits not be disabled for Extreme FOW, atleast not permanently. You can currently turn them off (though it's a gentleman's agreement) for PBEM with Shift-D. Would be nice if BTS could add another setting for QB setup option (and at the scenario launch screen) to choose whether Detailed hits are on for E-FOW. Absent that I'd rather things stay as they are. Good points on the other ones, especially instantly IDing command tanks. - Chris

[Edit]Need to read posts more carefully. Pvt Ryan beat me to it.[/Edit] I had a crew that was bailing out of a PzIII that was still taking fire. One of the subsequent penetrations killed another crew member before they got out! :cool: Of course, it was my tanker who bought it so maybe it wasn't so great after all. - Chris [ September 03, 2002, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Personally I like the new tank shell a lot more than the previous streak of light. It *could* use a bright orange color on the rear of the shell so it's a bit easier to see (representing a tracer), but I prefer the rest of the shell remain dark, like mortars and grenades. And I love the new tracers. Really well done! The scrolling/rotating took a few seconds to get used to but now that I'm more comfortable with it I like the idea a lot. Though I do agree it would be nice to have a 'tweener' view level between 3 and 4. Would be nice to be able to customize the game a bit (choose what the screen does when you're on the edge: scroll, rotate, or combo. And set the Alt-combo to do the other.). I do miss the shockwave a bit because you could guesstimate the shell size with it, but it's loss isn't that big a deal IMO. I really like the dust cloud that appears after a building collapses instead. Much better than the slow moving shockwave-like dust dome. And personally I prefer the newer text. The landmarks look especially nice. The one deficiency I see with bases is they're almost completely hidden by the foxhole graphic. The only real complaint I have about the interface is I have difficulty seeing what type of ground the unit sits on. I find myself hunting for the graphic and the text on it is tiny. But I imagine it'll be modded at some point. My $0.02. - Chris

Thanks Barley! You rock. That slow-down was hideous. I just knew my Radeon 8500 didn't suck that bad! - Chris

Dunno if fog works on the 9700 with CM, but given the number of architectural changes in the chip, it may be a possibility. But one bug that does currently exist with the drivers: it can't do any FSAA with 16-bit games like CM. Only 32-bit. This will hopefully be fixed with newer drivers, but currently it doesn't work. - Chris

Famous last words. </font>

I'd prefer it that the marsh hexes be as unpallatable as possible. They're supposed to be a major obstacle, I believe, so I'd rather their values not change, especially when I'm playing the Allies. Inherent (minimum) defensive values for mountains and cities is a very good idea, though. As is having some defensive value for river hexes. - Chris

Yes, I'd love to see some more options to tweak in the editor along these lines. Would be nice to be able to make some different campaigns. No thanks. The game is balanced around the existing resources/cities. Being able to change them would make for a large number of very unbalanced scenarios, IMO. Flexibility is one thing, but being able to fundamentally change the game? Nah. Diplomacy is an extremely complex set of love/hate relationships between different countries/peoples. I'd rather not see any active diplomacy in SC (this version or any other). It makes a game much too complicated, IMO. Besides, retrofitting it onto SC would only be very superficial, usually boiling down to who can bribe who to join them. Let the game engine take care of it. I think it works very well as is. Now that's interesting. I'd like to be able to surrender a major if the situation seems hopeless and get something out of it. I'd also like to be able to surrender the whole war. Some fights are over by a certain point and you just want to see the final score. Would be nice. I agree that subs could be looked at, but the only thing I'm afraid of is some of the changes to how they play would change the game so much that their values would need to be re-adjusted and the game re-balanced. Which could be too much work. It may have to wait for a newer version of SC. As Hubert has explained before, this isn't possible with the current engine. It's already at its maximum (due to some memory limit). The map is as big as it's going to get. Sounds good. But how often would this really have happened? Would semi-intact divisions really change their corps command structure and join together? Yeah, but didn't Germany draw men from just about anywhere they could? And by the time it became truly critical, the war was essentially lost anyway, so I don't know it would be all that useful to show in the game. Now that's a very interesting idea, but probably best reserved for a new version of SC. My $0.02. - Chris

Interview with Moon at Warfare HQ - Chris

Really?!? I thought both movies had completely original soundtracks. And the horn thing has to be from the 2nd movie, Conan the Destroyer. The first one had the big snake. A snippet of Polovtsian Dances can be heard here: 1812/Jarvi/DG (though not the snippet most are probably thinking of for use CMBB). It also has a wonderful choral version of the 1812 and a very good Marche Slave. I get the feeling Madmatt has already picked out something for CMBB, we'll just have to wait to see what it is. One of the best game themes I've ever heard is the one from Age of Rifles. Really excellent. - Chris

This post links to all the pics I know of: CMBB FAQ - Chris

If an HQ is more than 10 hexes from a friendly city of size 10, it's supply will be 5. Within 10 hexes, the supply is 10. Terrain and intervening enemy-owned hexes do play a role, however. If you're more than 4 hexes from a friendly city of size 5, your supply is 5. If within 4 hexes, it's 8. At first I thought that HQs might form a supply chain (e.g. string a number of them within 'X' hexes of each other and they will all be at supply level 10 from beginning to end), but that doesn't appear to be the case. - Chris

For any CMBB pics you may have missed, see this post: CMBB FAQ - Chris

But that *IS* how it works currently. And personally I'm not sure I want a number of smaller ships wandering around the seas. They're already too crowded as is. Maybe in a future game where the hex size is smaller and the oceans larger. Also, there's nothing except lack of MPPs to keep you from upgrading a 4 or 5 cruiser to level 10, which kinda defeats the purpose of creating a mini-cruiser. - Chris

Yeah it does. It's just the camo pattern used. The same often happens with the PzIV/70V tank barrel in CMBO at certain angles. - Chris [ August 21, 2002, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

It's a Hungarian tank. See Tanks! BTW I hadn't noticed before, but, that's the Turan II. - Chris

IGN screenies. Mostly old; one new. New CMBB Pics New Turan II Pic - Chris [ August 21, 2002, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

The only one that seems to be new is this Turan: Turan II - Chris [ August 21, 2002, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

So how about moving the exposed Corps back behind the marshes, move the Army 2 spaces closer to the capital, but still along the coast. And give them default entrenchment values of 2? This would make for decent defensive positions and help both with supply. Just a thought. - Chris

Ooops. Yep, you're right. I just tried as the US taking Spain with England already out of the war. Minors go to England, not their conqueror. Even if England itself is out of the game. Yikes! :eek: :eek: :eek: - Chris

That's a good point. The same is true for Canada. Their MPPs go to waste once England is gone. I'd like to see Canada's MPPs diverted to the US (or USSR if USA is not yet at war). Canada did send some vehicles to Russia through lend-lease after all. A major who liberates a [Edit]major[/Edit] will get the MPPs from the cities, mines, and oil wells it takes. But if another ally frees a city later (not the capital), the ally who liberated the capital gets all the MPPs. You need to be careful who takes the capitals. So if England takes Palermo before Italy is liberated, it gets the MPPs from that city. If the US then takes Rome and liberates Italy, all the MPP production (including Palermo) goes to the US. And if England then takes Venice, the US still gets the MPPs because they freed Italy. But you're right about minors, unfortunately. [Edit:] Edited to correct the above. - Chris [ August 19, 2002, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

And another one: Beyond some war readiness value the US and USSR seem to start a countdown to declaring war. I'm not sure what the threshold number is, but you only have a few turns once it begins to advance. - Chris