Zulu

Hi Wacky, I'm at work so I'm doing this from memory (I'll check details when I get home) but: -delete old driver -unzip the new ones to a temp directory - go to Control Panel/Display - choose Settings/Advanced - then theres a tab that allows u to choose the driver to install. -navigate to the temp location I had to reboot a couple of times because 1st time back to the Control/Panel Display it would not allow me to go any further. Voila! The new drivers work great for me. No problems in CM or IL2. I believe there's a readme file in the zip file.

I was wondering if CMBB will take advantage of the "average" current computers processing power. I remember the debates over a year ago about why CM only shows 3 man squads, had limited inf. movement animations, etc. Then I had a look at GI Combat and said, "Hot damn, Close Combat in 3d" I'm not going to sing praises about my enthusiasm for GI Combat other than to say if sure looks like it will have a place on my hd in addition to CMBB. IMO CC2 still ranks up there with CM as the top ground war-games. This leads to the question that my take on the "average" computer nowadays is probably 566MHz+ with 32 meg ram and a decent video card. Processors are cheap, ram is cheap, storage is cheap. Being that CM had minimum specs of I believe a 166 processor with 32meg ram and an 8 meg video card, nowadays a 166 computer is basically a boat anchor. You would have a hard time giving one away(I've got a Compaq 133 that even the local school didn't want). So will CMBB take advantage of the added processing power? Will it have better inf. animations? More inf being shown? How about random/better armor damage animations showing instead of a drooping muzzle, the turret gets blown off? Maybe a variable game timer. What I mean is that it would have a range of say 30 sec to 2 min. I would use the longer time interval for no contact movements. I would use the 30 sec for some contact movements. Its sometimes frustrating when you have a movement plotted, i.e. a vehicle/squad that comes in contact at the beginning of a turn. The AI, while very good, is not perfect, and this can get the vehicle/squad killed where a shorter time period would allow you to change the path/action and maybe save the unit. Ya I know its micromanaging but it would some add variety to the game. Further, the larger time limit could be locked in to better represent a overall brigade commander. (No micromanaging) Other Thoughts How about getting a tank to aim at a specific point. For example, if I’ve got a T34 that stumbles across a Kingtiger, the T34 has no chance of killing it from the front. However, depending on the distance, the T34 could told to specifically aim at the tracks to disable the tank instead of harmlessly bouncing 3 or 4 shells of the front armor. Once disabled it can be bypassed (effectively killed) The FAQ shows tank platoons available. Will we be able to choose automatic deployment formations? I.e. Wedge, vee, columns? Same for inf. Will the Assault command apply to armor? This would give you a sort of Overwatch armor movement command. How about a shoot at last known position logic? This would be used when the enemy armor pops smoke just at you are ready to shoot. You have already shot or have aimed and are ready to fire but will not because of lost LOS. In the 5 or 10 sec how far can the enemy vehicle have traveled? Shoot 1 shell at last known position and then look for more targets.

The marketplace will decide if WWII RTS games are viable. For what it's worth WWII Online is in late beta testing and is supposed to be out fairly soon. So we will have WWII based on the individual soldier. I know I would like to see CM 7 with true multiplayer functionality. And GI Combat is not dead. This will give us CC in 3D Will they be good? Who knows. Are they a good thing? Yes. Because I'm sure that even BTS will admit that competition is a good thing. The more people we get interested in our niche area, the better.

Diesel subs are very good but only in their own element which is close in to shore and in shallower waters. A carrier battlegroup can stay offshore and launch attacks on most targets. The diesel sub has to snorkel every few days to replenish the batteries. They are pretty easily detectable during this phase. A diesel sub is super quiet only when operating on batteries/electric motors. They are also not all that quiet when running at speed to intercept targets. So unless the battlegroup sails pretty close to them, they have to move fast to intercept the BG, thus they are vulnerable to detection. So I would feel much safer on a carrier with the protecting screen than on a diesel boat.

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Nicknames The Japanese if I remember correctly were the ones that named the P-38 the Fork Tailed Devil. They also called the F4U Corsair the Whistling Death. I think one reason (I have a pretty good book at home but I'm at work now) that the P38 was not accepted in Europe was the high altitude cold weather performance. It was something about they couldn't heat the cockpit properly and the pilots froze their butts off. At + 20k its probably -55 C. Most of the flying in the Pacific was done at lower altitudes plus they don't get the cold weather like Europe. Also, I agree witht the others in regards to the P47 as a great ground attack plane. From what I've read, the P47 was fearsome at this (8 - .50 cal mg's plus rockets, can you say duck ). It could take tremendous punishment and still make it home. I've read stories of it getting back with cylinders shot off, pieces of wing, tail missing etc. was a very tough plane.

I think a few people should back off and reevaluate their posts. Do we really want another flame war erupting here? As far as I could tell this is an open forum. Asking people not to reply unless they have the answer that you want to here is very rude IMHO, plus very limiting. A one way discussion will be very boring. Steve and Charles have made it abundantly clear that the game will be released when it is ready. This is fine with me and I think with the majority of the people here. Fionn gave a firm release date and I can live with that, though I hope its a little sooner. If CM were released as it stands now in the demo form that most of us have, throw in 30 or so scenarios, you would still have a game that if head and shoulders above anything else available in the wargaming genre. Ask yourself how much enjoyment that you have gotten from a FREE! demo. Have you tried CC4 yet? I have, and the CM demo blows CC4 away. When CM is released in final form, it's going to be a rare kind of game, ie. great and virtually bug free, plus containing actual enhancements suggested by this forum (where else has this happened?). Its going to be on my hd for a long long time. So, have patience and like the winemaker said,"someting, something, not before it's time."

Hi Madmatt. You must be getting sick and tired of constantly playing the latest build of CM and taking screenshots, updating the site. etc. Why don't I help you out. Just send me the latest version that you have and I will lighten your workload.

Hi stevo Go into the directory where you installed Combat Mission. There should be a file named(for a PC its got an Internet Explorer logo on it) CM_Demo_Instructions. For a PC you just click on it and it opens in Internet Explorer. It's an HTML file so I would assume this works the same for a Mac. Your questions on how to play will be answered in there. After playing the demo a couple of times, you can place your order with Big Time. The game is only sold online.

Just funning you Phoenix Ya, now I rememember Caddyshack, what a funny movie. 220yards. He pulls out the ole 9 iron. He hit's it. It's in the hole, it's in the hole. The crowd is going crazy. Figured out the smileys too.

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Fresca? Real men drink beer but it's ok to eat quiche . Sorry, I haven't mastered the smily face thingamajigs yet. I'll certainly d/l the gold demo. It will probably be about a month before the full game shows up here considering customs, snail mail etc so the gold demo will keep me busy playing with new features etc.

Maybe someone else can add to this but possibly those are "Hollywood stories". My calcs show that if you assume the speed of sound (I forget what it is exactly) is 850 mph at sea level, that works out to 1146 feet per sec. So for sure tank anti tank rounds would be supersonic, ie they would hit you before you heard them. I think that for artillery rounds, the same might be true. Possibly for long range arty, the round would be slowed to subsonic speeds but my guess is that the incoming speed is fast enough that the rounds sound and detonation would be very close together. My guess is that the hollywood long incoming whistle explosion is just that, hollywood. You would hear rounds passing overhead, but those wouldn't be aimed at you.

The price was $37 + $10 for orders to Canada (in US dinero). However, I believe that this was the preorder price (ie. before demo came out). I think the price is now $45US + $10 S. & H. but believe me, it will be well worth it. Plus Cnd dollar is creaping up so it gets less expensive every day .

Dang, how could I forget Steel Panthers. Ya, I played Empire too. It was fun.

Well, I’m getting a little antsy waiting for the final game, like I think a lot of others are. (Hmm, does Blue Cross cover CM withdrawal ?) For me, I’ve about worn out the demo. I now play it to try different strategies or in a handicap mode. I will deliberately not use units see if I can still beat the computer. I wait in great anticipation for the real deal and this is where this question comes to mind. Which for you were Quantum Leap Computer Games? I’ve been a long time computer gamer (I hate to say this, and I hope the wife never sees this but over these years more than 100 games x $60/ave = A Whole Lot of Dough.) For me the high water marks in gaming have been (my method of judgment is simply the ones that I go back too after they’ve been deleted from the HD for newer games, the ones that I keep and do not take to the used software store even though they don’t get played much, or the ones that I remember with “Oh ya, (Insert Name Here) that was a damn fine game. They would be in no particular order: -Red Baron – probably the most fun FS I ever had -Longbow – defined what a simulation was (got Longbow2 now) -Red Storm Rising – 1st real good modern submarine combat (668i Hunter/Killer is ok) -Harpoon – for me still the best modern naval simulation -Civilization – exploring, building, conquering -Silent Hunter II – finally got a WWII submarine simulation right -Close Combat – it had problems but was it ever fun, especially over the Internet -Railroad Tycoon – who thought trains could be so much fun -Sundog – I think it was only for the Atari, but a great space trading game -Seven Cities of Gold – exploring and conquering -Pirates – exploring and old time sea battles, with sword fights thrown in -FIFA 98 – 1st real good soccer simulation -NHL 98 - 1st real good hockey simulation -Kampegruppe – I forget what system but 1st real good WW2 armor game -M1TP – 1st modern tank simulation (I’ve got M1TP2 now) -Falcon 3 – 1st taste of what a modern fighter simulation should be -Computer Ambush – crude graphics, but it was squad level WW2 combat -Grand Prix 2 – 1st real good racing simulation, and F1 (I’m an F1 junkie) -Dungeon Master (Atari) – the monsters made you jump, puzzles and exploring -Doom – mindless shoot em up, and many wasted hours. J -Pacific Air War –1st real good WW2 aerial combat -Panzer General – fun beer and pretzels war game -Rainbow 6 –1st first person shooter with realism, strategy and good 3-d graphics. (I know I’ve missed a few.) Anyway, IMHO each of the above games/simulations did one thing that stands out and that is they took “it” to the next level. They either started a new genre or made a quantum leap in an existing one to define their niche. The point of this post is that I (and from what I see in here and in other forums and reviews, possibly save one forum with a big mouthed loser) feel that CM hits the above criteria. CM takes it to another level and certainly will define the way war games are produced for the next little while. Take a look at the past year or two’s releases. IAF, F-15, USAF, Falcon 4. Are they all good simulations? Yes. Do they really do anything different than Falcon 3 other than state of the art graphics, sound etc? No. Panzer Elite, a notch better than Panzer Commander, but a quantum leap? No. EAW, Screaming Deamons, Combat FS, state of the art graphics, sound etc. but that much better that PAW? No. CC3, CC4 – slightly better graphics, etc but better that much better that CC? No. Newer helicopter sims, better that Longbow except in graphics? No. Fleet Command sucks compared to Harpoon IMHO (wasn’t impressed with Harpoon2 either) Alpha Centari, Tiberian Sun,AoE, that much different than Civilization? No. Quake2, Quake3, etc, state of the art graphics, sound, but really different from Doom? No. New sports games only take advantage of faster computers and graphic cards, the games themselves are not that much better that the originals. Now on to Combat Mission. Does it make the quantum leap in this genre in my opinion? Yes, and on more than one level. -The 3-D graphics allow you to get down in the trenches to see what it was like the foot soldier or tank commander. No other war game comes close. -Up close, it makes you (at least it does to me) jump when you see the ground shake with the incoming arty rounds. You can really immerse yourself into CM. -replayability out the yingyang. Look how many times you’ve played only 3 scenarios and BTS is giving us a scenario builder plus we’re going to have a zillion scenarios at Wild Bill’s and other sites. -a truly fine AI. Sure its not perfect but it’s miles ahead of anything else that I’ve seen or played against. -a variety of ways to play the game. You can play it down low and dirty or from overhead in the God mode. I tried it with a couple of friends in a sort of hot seat mode where we divided up the Germans in Last Defence into 3 groups and hotseated it. We didn’t let each other see the orders we were giving an only tried to see what our groups were doing in the replay. We sort of faked radio communication to each other about what was happening. It was fun! -PBEM and Internet play. Those damn human opponents can be real sneaky. -war movies. What other game gives you this? What do you guys (or politically correct “people”) think? (I can’t recall any females posting here). I’m interested in seeing your quantum leap games and read on CM.

I use a great little program called Snagit. You can look at it at http://www.techsmith.com/products/snagit/ What I like about Snagit is that you can save and print whatever portion of the screen area you want. They have d/l demo so you can try it out.

I don't think the final game will be that big. look at the demo, you got all that fun in only what 12 meg (I forget the exact size). From what I understand the final game will be under 100 meg. Most games are large because they fill them up with a lot of useless junk, Direct X, demos, videos etc. For me, keep CM lean and mean. Who needs mega installs?

Hehe Foobar, were you naughty in 1999. Is this why Santa gave you CC4 instead of a nice present? CC4 = lump of coal.

Well I was getting CM withdrawal so I rented CC4. Here's my opinion of the game. :-() <- (that's supposed to be a finger in the throat making me gag). It sucks big time. Am I ever glad I only wasted $5 Cnd for renting it. Graphics are only 16 color max - washed out. AI sucks - tanks need constant babying to get em to move Scenario generator is pathetic. This time around you can only create user scenarios with prebuilt complete company's. ie you always have 3 M4's, 1 Priest, 2 M5's etc or Germans always have Panthers, flametrack?, rocket track? etc. You can vary from infantry based to armor mased but no choice of individual units. Plus the map setup and vl's cannot be modified. CC2 was better and CM will be way better. It's easy. So far I've played maybe 8 battles and cleaned up in all of them. The airstrikes and arty are a joke. Airstrike you designate a target, the plane zooms thru in 2 sec and doesn't miss. Arty is same. Once infantry spotted they die. Tanks don't miss. I could go on but IMHO it's a complete waste on money. CC2 was the highwater mark for this series. I checked out the Zone and there were only 11 people there so I think others share my opinion. Come on Feb.2000 and CM rocking on my HD.

Twas the night before Christmas and over there and back, not a Tiger was stirring, not even a track. The tankers hung by their tubes in despair, with hopes that the Yanks soon would be there. The loaders were nestled all cramped in their beds, while visions of burning Ronson’s danced in their heads. When out in the Last Defence there arose such a clatter, The crews sprang to their posts to see what was the matter. And what to wondering eyes should appear, but a platoon of M4’s coming seemingly loaded for bear. The TC’s smiled with experience so rare, They said to their gunners, “AP up and target over there”. More rapid than eagles, the M4’s they came, and they heard the Ami’s calling their tanks by name. On Able! On Baker! On Charlie! On Dog! On Easy! Get Moving! Drink some more grog? The lead TC’s eyes were glazed over, hand holding a bottle, He leaned to his driver and said ‘‘Keep her at full throttle”. A wink of his eye and a twitch of his head, “Germans don’t shoot”, the Platoon Commander said. He spoke not a word, but went pointed behind his back, On the M4’s deck was a huge red sack. And pulling his knife from amongst his gear, He slit open the sack and exposed all the beer. On the other M4’s they repeated the scene, Soon the beer was flowing, if you know what I mean. The guns pointed away, to the north and the south, More beer was passed out, from hand to the mouth. All too soon, the festivities were over, and the beer was all gone, So the troops saddled up, for soon it would be dawn. They waved at each other as they drove out of sight, Not today comrades, but on another day, they would fight! Merry Christmas to all. And good hunting

I certainly would be. I found that in CC2, this was the most fun. The opponent would make a scenario in Battlemaker with no units but only the number of points available per side. You would go in and look at the map and then decide on what units that you wanted. This allowed you to try some different strategies (some wacky ie. buy 6 or M5's and banzaii).

Lol Craig, At least you don't live in Climax, SK (it's a real town guys. So is Moose Jaw!). Run her into Saskatoon (real town ) and like suggested go to the mall and get her somthing nice. Flowers work real well too. Plus you can go to the puter shops on the sly. Look forward to Canucks kicking butt when CM comes out in 2000! That is is the crazies don't screw up the world on Jan 1. We had an idiot take nitroglycerine and detonators on a ferry to Seattle already. I think he was trying a new way to cook the turkey. Peace to all!

Hi kid; If you like the airborne, give the game "The 101st Airborne in Normandy" a try. Its still on my harddrive, though the CM demo gets played 10:1. Patches are available - see the message forum at CDMag. IMHO its pretty good, probably available to buy online. They had an awful distributor and it never made its way up into Canada so I don't know bout the rest of the world.

Like others, I got PE the other day. IMHO it's a mixed bag. Graphics are pretty good on armor to laughable on the troops. In the opening credits, the GE infantry move like they're running at 0.25 g's. The AI has problems. The install is ridiculous. I choose a medium install, and it took about 20 min to install at 440 meg! CM's full install c/w scenario designer promises to be < 100 meg with better graphics, betterAI and a more intuitive user interface. As mentioned PE has a very steep learning curve. Better than Panzer Commander, yes, better than CM, not by a long shot. There's at least 2 patches out already which help but do not solve all problems. Problems that I've had with CM = 0 (Oh, ya I forgot, not enough scenarios ). Is it worth buying, I'd wait until it shows up in the discount bins.