citizen

I've been reading this board daily looking for any info on when your tweaked sound mods will be released. Can you give us a progress report? Maybe one of the beta testers can tell us about the secret of "CoolColJ's secret sound sweetner combo." Can you please give us a clue as to when they'll be ready or at least give us some demo sounds. I can't stand it!! Can you tell I'm interested? Matt

That's quite a kill list and still 58 kill-capable rounds left. Or is it 63? With that crew I wouldn't be suprised if the remaining 5 smoke rounds could score some kills. citizen

I've been playing SM Antietam at home and TOAW (Operation Barbarossa) at work. Didn't get CC4. First one of the series I didn't bother getting. CM Demo saved me from that. citizen

My vote would be for a SHOCKED crew status in any vehicles that crash in the smoke. I'm doubting they would be thinking of firing in the moments after impact. Note that friendly fire could take place if a tank just fired into that vehicle in front of it. citizen

srare-- Big Time Software has gone about their business in a non-traditional way. They have abandoned the following traditions most game companies honor: 1. Promising a specific release date, then missing it by two months. 2. Promising the game will be "realistic," then watching the grognards cringe at the innaccuracies. 3. Taking suggestions from loyal fans, then chucking them out the window. 4. Releasing unfinished products, then patching it up over the next few months to bring it up to basically no more than a beta version. 5. Selling through game stores, then wondering why wargames usually lose money. I'm sure there are more, but on to more important things... like not worrying about when this and that will happen. citizen

"Only three?" That's about 3 times as many demo scenarios as other companies give us. And look how much we have played them. Also, these are Beta demos. We'll get another when the game goes Gold, for a total of 4 demo scenarios. citizen

First, right-click on the link to the AAR movie. Save it somewhere like your desktop. Then open up the CM Beta demo. Go to Load Email and grab that file. The password the author is using will be found at the website where the AAR resides. Type in his password and then you get to see one turn at a time. citizen

The forum is nice and all... But don't spend another moment on it if that means we must wait another day for CM! It's perfectly functional now and we will survive. I thought the year 100 was fun and am sad to see it gone. citizen

Oh, you better believe it. Most of the people in the "heavy" weapons teams are ammo carriers. MG and Mortar teams will also lose ammo when teammates drop. By the way, I think you meant it was a Panzerschreck team. citizen

My guess (and after a bit of looking around) is that it takes 30 posts to be a member. It certainly isn't by time as there are some newbies with a lot to say who are already members. I've lurked for 6 months and just started posting 2 months ago. citizen

Yikes ! I better move to Europe quick so I don't get it until Feb 15th. Actually, I'm guessing our Euro brothers will be waiting an extra week for it. OUCH citizen

Like to see in manual (if not already): 1. A guide to what units can take Victory Locations and guard prisoners and how close they need to be. 2. A guide to the hitorical rarity of vehicles and units printed. I think scenario descriptions should just be in with the scenario briefings. citizen

1. MMG and HMG teams shouldn't keep up with the riflemen. Those MG teams do best when they are back a ways from the action and can lay down suppressive fire. Place them somewhere so they have a good line of sight to the location that is going to be assaulted. But keep them back a couple hundred meters, so they don't get any effective firing thrown back at them. They will fire and keep the enemy heads down, so the assault can get close enough to deal some real damage. 2. It is often a good idea to use Level One view when trying to place troops in houses. Note that it is not necessary to have all 3 soldiers depicted inside the walls to get the benefit. Just click on the unit and it will tell you what terrain it occupies. There's another thing that may be happening here... You may be trying to cram too many guys into a house, so they step on each other's toes and then try to move around. Also, if a unit is under fire it may not go just where you want it to. citizen

Real Time may be fine for games that are smaller in scope and 10 times less historically accurate. If you use processing power for real time, you have to sacrifice a bunch of other stuff. CM already has "full view of all units," very easy controls, and plenty of action. By the way, you can use the search function to find lots of posts on this debate, both the pros and cons. citizen

Good stuff all around. Here's my comments: Graphics: Do both sides have to have the same mods to be compatible? I assume yes. I would suggest that you leave the mods to another page with another host. That way, everyone who shows up at CMHQ won't have to worry about who's running with what mods. To even have them at the CMHQ will invite lots of confusion with the organized/competitive play. Ladder: Yes, the CMHQ should be the host and the chess system is good. Custom scenarios and maps: I'd say save this one for a couple months as it will take a few months to get through the ones included in the gold release. Meta-Campaign: Very interested. I would be willing to participate at any level. I have experience with the TacOps Command Post Exercise campaigns, so I could even GM if needed. I can't decide what I'd like to do most as it's all very tempting. I haven't done the Regimental commander or General thing. That sounds good. But I want to play, too. I like the idea of a Reg Cmd on one flank getting a field command on another flank (if the player wants to). My vote is for maximum possible FoW. Perhaps everyone takes on a in-game code name to keep their annonimity. No emailing someone with whom you shouldn't have direct contact! A few other misc suggestions: A> Average 20 turns per battle. It'd be nice to get through one a month. Unpopular but necessary. B> Smallish maps (GM's decide based on real world terrain in area and unit density) C> To start things off (and for the first try), each side should be limited to 15 total players or it will be too much, too soon. If EVERYONE joins now, there won't be anyone fill in when the inevitable dropouts happen. And there should be 1 GM for every 10 players. Perhaps a dedicated GM for each side and 1 overall Judge (using my model of 30 players and 3 GM's). citizen I can make a map or two. Don't know HTML, though.

Hmm... The Operational maps have shrunk over the last few months. I recall (and a search confirms) that sizes like 8000 meters (by something) used to be the Op size and 3km x 5km was the max size of the battle maps. I guess I'll have to wait for CM2 for that. I'll definately be making custom scenarios with fighting in bad weather to get "Recon Mission" like I was hoping. CM's versatility rules! citizen (Who once got Keith Z of Atomic to seriously consider including a 1km x 1km CC map).

Strat- Actually, the operation maps can be up around 6k x 12k or something like that. Each battle map can be up to 3k x 5k. So you can have an operation that incorporates several large battles on one huge map. You just get to fight on up to 3k x 5k of the op map at a time. citizen

I've ordered. Now if only a brave soul would start up a thread titled, "Who hasn't ordered?" That way we could browbeat the responders into ordering. citizen

LAN is "Local Area Network." Hook 2-8 (typically) computers together physically with yer buddies at your house and you get to play and chat while you're at it. Call it a party if you wish. All computers on the LAN need a network card and the proper connector cables/chords. If you plan on doing it, set the LAN up the night before as it can take a while to get everyone's computer on the same wavelength. citizen

The US Mortar teams in Last Defense are fairly easy to manage as they have great line of sight being up on the hill AND the enemy vehicles are fairly channeled; forced to move around the central woods. I find that targeting individual units doesn't work that well. I prefer to wait until a platoon of infantry has parked itself in some scattered trees, then I rain it down on them with Area Fire. If I target a specific unit and it moves out of the treeline, I miss the treebursts on the rest of his stationary platoon and attached MG, HQ, and AT team. citizen

Go ahead and make your 6k x 12k map. That will be the Operation map. Then you'll be able to play on battle maps up to 3k x 5k at a time. There will only be Victory Locations on the "far end" of the Op. map, so you can't really settle the whole affair on one map in one battle. To keep the unit density high and the fighting intense, go with 30 turns per battle and send in a company of reinforcements after each battle. citizen

It's impossible to not prepare a bit even if you are trying to play it real. In Last Defense I moved my tanks and HTs in a thrust toward the town and considered the hill a spot to watch out for as the Mortars were active up there. I never traced LoS to the middle of the road on top of the hill, yet I kept my vehicles out of the open. I had to manuever to get a shot on the Hellcats. Funny thing was... Since I had played the same opponent as US the first time I got a message with the email on turn 10: "You hear a massive rumbling from on top of the hill headed your way..." Once the random battle generator and points battles show up, we won't have to worry as much. citizen

My Fast Foward works when replaying PBEM movies... only when the movie is Paused. Works normally during solo play. citizen

The detailed hit text said ricochet, not shattered shell. There was just one shell that went zipping off after the bounce. I would NOT add ricocheted shell trajectories to any sort of bug list. Not worth it. I wouldn't even call it a bug. I agree that a ricocheted shell is not going to do anything and shouldn't need to be tracked accurately. citizen

I had that happen, too. What I also thought was funny about the ricochet I had was that the shell went in different directions as I watched the replay from different angles. citizen