Wolfe

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by John Kettler: The worst one I found was that the illos were swapped for the German 37mm flak and the 2cm Flakvierling.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hmmm. Sure about that, John? Bishop's Encyclopedia has the exact same drawings shown with their respective FlaK30, FlaK38, and 37mm FlaK18/36/37 entries (pp. 166-167). They match up with what the Hogg book has on pp. 99-100 and 107. Are both wrong? And the Handbook on German Military Forces (US War Dept) has pics (pp. 344-348) of: * A Flak30 mounted on an HT (Fig 53), which appears to have the same barrel as shown in the FlaK30 in in Hogg's book. * 3 FlaK38's (Figs 54, 55, 56) which have the same barrel (and even same carriage in Fig 55) as the Hogg Flakvierling 38 drawing on pg. 100. Though the Hogg book does title the single barreled FlaK38 "20mm Flakvierling 38" without showing the Quad FlaK itself. * And pics of a FlaK36 and FlaK18 (Figs 58, 59) whose barrels look, again, exactly the same as the FlaK37 Hogg/Bishop drawings. So unless they all screwed up I don't think they got the pics mixed up; though the relative sizes of the guns are obviously off. Am I missing something here? - Chris

There's also a good glossary over at: Wargamer Weapons Data - Chris

Thanks for the info! So the 28/20mm sPzB41 and 42/28mm lePaK41 were produced in sufficient quantity to maybe make it into CM2. Cool. But with so few produced I would guess the 75/55mm PaK41 may not make it in. Oh well. - Chris

FWIW, this hardback edition was published by Barnes and Noble "by arrangement with Amber Books Ltd". A paperback edition from a different publisher looks like it's going to be released next month: Twentieth Century Artillery - Chris

Yep. A very handy reference. Hopefully we'll get to see some taper bore guns in action for CM2. Over 1000m/s MV. Yum! Do you know if they were widely used during the war, John? - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Danzig: Wow. There's some pretty incredible news on the Voodoo front. Apparently the old 3dfx team just released new drivers today!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks for the heads-up! Tried 'em. They have some new settings, but they screw up the V5 Launcher so that it doesn't work anymore. And I'm not sure these things hold settings very well either. 2xFSAA doesn't seem to come up (no apparent FSAA at all) whether using the Launcher or just by starting the game. 4x works as it's supposed to, though. Weird. For those interested in trying these drivers, don't enable Pixel Blending; this gives you the lovely whited-out text you normally get when setting the card to 'Fastest Performance'. And Auto Mip-Map locks up the system in larger scenarios. I've gone back to the 1.04 drivers. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Maximus wrote: Maybe this is just a case of the generally poor image quality of Voodoo cards in general.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Riiiight. Troll somewhere else, Max. It got old a long time ago. - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maniac: What are Drivers and do I need to get new ones or what?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I use the V5 1.04 Beta drivers because they seem to be the most compatible, but I'm still running DirectX 7.0a; I haven't bothered with DX8 yet. If you're using DX8, then get the WHQL certified drivers found on the 3dfx page. But unless you're having problems with a particular game, then leave things alone. There's no need to upgrade if you're not having problems. Though you might want to download the drivers and save them on your hard drive just in case you do need an upgrade. That website may not hang around forever. And yes, the Voodoo 5500 is the same as the Voodoo 5. - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Panzer76: The on board gfx card on the nForce MB will be nowhere NEAR as powerfull as GeForce 3. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep. I thought I had read a preview that said the nForce (with integrated GeForce2 MX) performs almost exactly the same as its desktop MX counterpart. But unfortunately I can't find the link. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Who needs FSAA anyway, this is just for marketing hype! Instead of playing a game @ 800x600 and FSAA x2, just play it at 1024x768 etc. If you have high resolution, then you don't need FSAA since the high resoultion fixes the "problems" FSAA are supposed to do, the jaggies.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Now this is just silly. 4xFSAA on the V5 is a *HUGE* improvement. Not only do objects seem more '3D' because object edges are straighter and don't "crawl" across the screen, but the amount of pixel popping and texture shimmer is reduced by a couple orders of magnitude! Turning FSAA completely off in CM is almost nauseating. The difference is really enormous. I don't know how I stood it before. Turning things up to 1600x1200 doesn't even come close to the image quality you get with the V5 at 1024x768 w/ 4xFSAA (or even at 800x600x16x4). Believe me, I tried. That said, I don't think I'd recommend a V5 now not only because of the driver situation, but newer games do have some probs with the card which may not be easily fixable. It took me a while to find a decent driver set that didn't make Serious Sam look like a pastel nightmare. Soldier Of Fortune completely locks my system 2 seconds into the game; nothing I've tried helps. And other even newer games will likely continue to have similar probs. I now run CM at 1280x960x16 w/ 2xFSAA. On larger maps 1024x768x16 4xFSAA stuttered a bit. CM isn't as good looking now, but it's decently faster. Unfortunately the V5 isn't quite as powerful as I would like (maybe I was hoping for too much). But it's still very good with CM. The next card I buy will have to have great FSAA or I won't buy it. It really makes that much of a difference. I was hoping the GF3 would be able to run CM at 1280x960 in 4xFSAA (or Quincunx) using a 64-tap anisotropic filter. Unfortunately, the state of its current drivers are such that you apparently can't use any drivers above 6.x or so with CM without getting some really annoying artifacts. Hopefully NVidia will be able to fix this and deliver a faster, cheaper version of the GF3 sometime the beginning of next year. Or if they improve the FSAA in their next product, I may even hold out for that one. If I had to buy right now I'd probably go for the GF2 GTS (64MB version) for good bang without breaking the bank. The MXs are a little slow. 64MB version 'cause of all the hi-res mods you'll be using. Of course if the Kyro drivers can get themselves sorted out and ATI bothers to support fog tables, well, then the choices get a bit harder. - Chris [ 08-22-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GenSplatton: Hmm, I fully spelled out Rifle everywhere. I just looked. I don't see Rif44 anywhere!?!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> On the German page the first platoon is simply called "Rifle Platoon", whereas the Rif45 below it is called "Rifle 45 Platoon". Like I said, picking nits. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Wolfe originally wrote: "Both PzGren and PzGren Pioneer Plts come in two varieties: Motorized and Armored." GenSplatton responded: True. That was a conscience decision. The amount of equipment that comes with an Armored platoon, well, it was just to much. To list all the extra additional weapons would be huge.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I agree about the extraneous weapons, but PzGren(Mot) and PzGren(Armr) are two different squad types, and can be bought in platoon sizes. You only have the Motorized version listed. i.e.: <font face="Courier"> Squad Type............Men...40m..100m..250m..500m...Weapons PzGren (Mot)...........10...236...149....79....41...5Rif,2MP44,1SMG,2LMG PzGren (Armr)...........8...223...139....73....39...3Rif,2MP44,1SMG,2LMG PzGren Pioneer (Mot)....8...152....92....47....23...5Rif,1MP44,1SMG,1LMG PzGren Pioneer (Armr)..11...245...152....81....42...6Rif,1MP44,2SMG,2LMG </font> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Hmm, are they like Sturmgruppe in that they can only be bought in company size? Or are they a"later" unit? I'll have to reasearch them.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep, the Escort squads can only be bought as part of a Company. - Chris [ 08-20-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GenSplatton: hop on over and check out the firepower tables on my page and give me your HONEST opinion.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ok, you asked for it. I think it would look nice to have a larger separation between the main infantry categories. A bar ({HR} in HTML) between the Sturmgruppe info and the Waffen SS header, for example, would help make things a bit more orderly IMO. The first German Rifle platoon is Rifle 44. You listed the individual platoons as Rif44, but not the header. Yes, I'm picking nits. The number of Fausts that come with each Plt is kinda random. Saying that you get 2 or 3 or 4 isn't always necessarily accurate. Also, the type of Faust you get depends on the time of year. Jun44~Aug44 you get PF-30. Sep44-Jan45 is PF-60. Feb45 onward is PF-100. So since the German Rifle 45's are available starting in Jan45, they will get PF-60 when playing the QB in Jan. But they get PF-100 for the other months they're available. Both PzGren and PzGren Pioneer Plts come in two varieties: Motorized and Armored. Their squad makeup and firepower is dramatically different. You only list the Motorized Plts. Same goes for the SS side. Like their Heer counterparts, the SS gets Rifle-45 troops as well. You forgot the Escort squads. SS Escort as well. And it would be nice to have Bn and Co HQ FP numbers. The Ger Rif44 Bn actually has more FP at 40m than the regular 9-man squad does! Still a nice job. Thanks for the effort! - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Olle Petersson: * Why all 20mm guns have the same muzzle velocity in the game, and which that really should have some different MV. As noted I think the given data is for FlaK38, while some vehicles should have a KwK38 with lower MV.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually I think the data may be for the KwK version. Hogg's 20th Century Artillery, Bishop's Encyclopedia, and the Handbook on German Military Forces all give the muzzle velocity for the FlaK38 as 900m/s. In the game it's 780m/s. Though the Handbook does list the MV for different shells: 2950ft/s (900m/s) for HE, 3250ft/s (990m/s) for AP40, and 2625ft/s (800m/s; which is close to the 780 listed in CM) for AP. But I still think the 780m/s listed in CM is for the KwK gun. Also, Intro to Weapons Data lists the "L/50" version of the gun with a 780m/s MV. Hopefully this'll be looked at for CM2. The PzIC had the KwK30 and various PzII tanks had either the KwK30 or KwK38. So the difference in ROF between those two guns will also be an important distinction in CM2. BTW, were some of the PzII models that started out with the KwK30 "upgunned" with the KwK38 without changing the tank's model number? - Chris [ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OstFront6: Yep, make sure to post reviews for sure, especially the "new!" battles and operations. The guy doing this site needs to go into the CM hall of fame!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hey! Thanks for the review of Hilltop 128. I hadn't given much thought to whether my battles should be played as attacker or defender when going against the AI. I was mostly concerned with whether the game was simply functional vs. the AI. I've now fixed that oversight. Thanks. BTW, 9 for a slightly modified computer generated map? Being a bit generous, aren't we? <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Admiral Keth wrote: I am glad that everyone is finding The Scenario Depot a valuable resource.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep. The new editor roxors! - Chris

Probably because most used to be stored at the now defunct CMHQ Depot. You can DL the archive along with much of Rune's stuff here: CMHQ ftp All mine are listed and linked to on Keith's site. I don't know that David Aitken's are listed, but you can go to his site for them: David's CM Page. Moon has his own site as well, though his are usually mirrored on other pages too. Manx's Combat Missions has a large selection. And don't forget Desert Fox Desert Rats I'm probably leaving out a number of good sites. - Chris [ 08-05-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Juardis: I thought you had to use hypersnap in order to get the FSAA effects to show. Something about the way printscreen takes the image from a buffer in the vid card but in a V5 that buffer is prior to combining all the signals into the final glorious FSAA shot.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No, I think that's the 22-bit filter. And I'm not sure that even Hypersnap captures the 22-bit filter now. IIRC, 3dfx changed the High Quality Filter on the V5 and none of the screenshot utils can now properly capture the image. But the filter isn't used when 4xFSAA is on anyway; 3dfx said they turned off the filter in the drivers when 4x is on because 4xFSAA accomplishes essentially the same thing color-wise. Taken with Printscreen on a V5: http://users.erols.com/chare/gifs/PanthG-noFSAA.jpg http://users.erols.com/chare/gifs/PanthG-4xFSAA.jpg - Chris [ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

For Voodoo 3, 4, or 5, just hit Printscreen. For the Voodoo 1 or 2, you'd have to use Hypersnap. Though I never got Hypersnap to work with my old Voodoo 2. - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vanir Ausf B: No, if you manually targeted the infantry in front of your tank it would swing the turret back around so it could use the coax MG.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep. The coax only fires when told to fire MG at a target. With the MG fire order, it'll fire both coax and (if possible) bow, expending twice the MG ammo (naturally). But when told to target with the main gun, it won't use the coax (so long as the main gun still has ammo) because the coax can't be used while operating the main gun. The game combines the main gun with the bow whenever given a Target Main Gun command, rotating the hull between shots until the bow can also be brought to bear on the target (also trying to get the maximum armor facing the enemy). If no fire command has been given, the coax and bow are free to engage targets within their arc. Also, when the TacAI switches targets, the MGs may independently open up (though the coax will only fire if the main gun hasn't yet found another target). When firing two MGs simultaneously at the same target, you only seem to get one tracer stream, but you certainly do get all the different MG sounds. Also, I have seen a tank change the bow MGs' target away from the primary target if it's being assaulted by nearby infantry; even though the gun is still engaging the primary. The Flexible MG will behave similarly to the bow, but is much more likely to change to a secondary target than the bow. But the Flex normally doesn't carry much ammo and can't fire while buttoned (though the Hetzer and some StuGs can fire while buttoned with their Remote Flexible). BTW, if you have a tank that has a smallish amount of HE (like a Panther), but a good amount of MG ammo, don't be afraid to use MG only on infantry. It does a very good job of supression and killing and saves the HE. - Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>By the way, there is a nice site dedicated to the German 88: click here<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Nice site. Does anyone have any recommendations on books that cover the development of various WWI and WWII guns? Especially one that covers tank guns of all nationalities. I know of Wargamer Intro to Weapons Data, but was looking for a good book (other than Hogg's 20th Century Artillery, which I have). Thanks. - Chris

My vote goes to Shannon Routley. - Chris

As Slapdragon says, beware of the differences in the Shermans. In CM the M4, M4 Croc, M4A1, and M4A3 all have only 85% armor strength. The M4's weakened upper hull will generally not shed shots from the PzIV gun. But the M4A3(75)w has 100% armor strength and has a good chance of bouncing shots (its armor is also thicker, though less sloped). At medium ranges, this does make a difference. At extreme ranges (2000m), the 85% UH armor is less relevant. With weak turret armor both tanks are very similarly matched, but the PzIV has better accuracy because of its higher muzzle velocity, which would seem to favor the PzIV. Though at 2000m the PzIV's paper-thin turret armor becomes more of a liability than the Sherman's turret. One thing that would help both tanks is if they could stay obliqued longer, and not always square off after each shot. I've seen a highly obliqued French M4A2 shed a shot from a Tiger off of its upper hull at ~900m. Unfortunately, CM will usually keep turning the tank hulls until they're perfectly facing each other. Something I've whined about for a while now. BTW, hull down isn't necessarily always the best position. When hull down, the weak turret will take the majority of hits. When fully exposed, its the upper hull that's hit most. Of course, when hull down, you're less likely to be hit at all. The choice between more exposed but stronger armor and less exposed but weaker armor isn't always easy to make. - Chris

BTW, the Forty book doesn't have anything but tanks in it (Panzer I, II, etc.; no HTs or other vehicles at all). From the reviews on the Amazon site, the Chamberlain book looks more comprehensive. - Chris

True, Bishop is mostly an overview. For any real in-depth info, you mostly have to buy multiple books specializing in a certain tank or country's AFVs. Which can certainly get pricey. Which is why I like the Bishop book so much; it covers most things and is very inexpensive if you find it in the bargain bin. I have Forty's German Tanks of WWII, and like it a lot. I don't have Chamberlain's book, so can't really compare the two. There are also a good number of good online resources that are free. But sometimes with free websites, you get what you pay for. Achtung Panzer Greaves Panzer Page Hanomag Sdkfz 251 JagdTiger (mostly pics) Maple Leaf Up Onwar Panzer IV Universe Panzer Diesel Red Steel Russian Military Zone Shadow's Folly Tanks Head - Chris [ 07-28-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Some more book suggestions are on the Combat Mission Library page: http://www.siteonsound.com/ Chris Bishop's Encyclopedia of Weapons of WWII has most everything. It's the hard-bound big red book and can often be found at Barnes & Noble in the discount bin for half-price ($12.50). Good book (though not as in-depth as Jentz or Chamberlain) for very little money. - Chris [ 07-28-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Just trying to answer my own question, I think it's the T-34B M1941. Looks like it has the longer F-34 gun and I think you can just see the edge of the single large top hatch on the turret in both pics. The dual hatch "Mickey Mouse" ears were added with the 'C' variant, I believe. I *think* these are all the variants: T-34/76A M1940 L-11 gun T-34/76B M1941 F-34 gun T-34/76C M1942 Larger turret and dual hatches T-34/76D M1943 Hex turret; wider mantlet T-34/76E M???? Commander's cupola; all-welded T-34/76F M???? Cast turret T-34/85 M1943 85mm D5T gun T-34/85 M1944 85mm ZiS S-53 gun Hope that's right. Does anyone know the Model years for the E and F variants? - Chris [ 07-28-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by killmore: Yes - I bought Russian book about WWII Soviet equipment - It has a black and white picture in it. 4 Maxims mounted on a truck<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually, I was asking if you had taken any pics of one. Thanks for all the pictures! BTW, do you know which version of the T-34 that is? - Chris [ 07-28-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Pre-Game Bombardment - Chris