risc

It doesn't really matter since when I get CM I can just myself get the video of MG42 the sound and put it into CM. I don't think I will be in trouble for that. There are a plenty of sounds on the web to go around. You can even get the CC3 sounds which I think it's pretty close, unless I'm mistaken. Peter

Well since we are talking about Close Combat. I remember when CC1 came out. I really fell in love with it. At that time which I believe was around 1996 there wasn't anything better as WW2 wargame in 'real-time' department (flame me). It was really magical for me to see those soldiers run around yelling and screaming while mortar shells were falling from the sky. The chaos was there the AI was good (not the best but it was good) and it looked pretty from my point of view. As I played it for a while I realized the campaign was very small and narrow focused. I wanted so much more and so I started hacking around. Then I was contacted by a great guy John Anderson (the AI designer of CC1). John was an miracle for me because he answered every question I had for CC1. Since I was in the mood at that time to learn Visual C++ 4 I thought it would be a great idea to make an editor for CC1. After few months I made about 4 programs for CC1. This icluded Map Editor, true LOS generator as well as Scenario Designer and Campaign history reporter. Without John Anderson & Matthew Hills these programs would never happen. Later on I started work on sprite editor with help of Steve Mariotti (graphics developer for Atomic) and Mark Clouden. During this time I became beta tester for Atomic. From all the CC games I would say CC1 was the wargame. Not too fancy grahics but depth as well as good game play was there. CC2 started to turn more into graphics and due to that tank AI suffered (we all remember tanks dancing around). CC3 was better for tanks AI but over all it was again going towards 'real-time' strategy with more pretty graphics and game play suffered even more. Well when CC4 testing stared and when I saw where it was headed I couldn't take it anymore and left testing. It no longer was CC wargame it was Command and Conquer with WW2 icons. After my work on CC1 I realized that Keith didn't really appreciate what I and others have done for it and so I simply wasn't interested in supporting CC2 and on. It's a shame because CC engine had a great potential and if executed right for CC2 and CC3 could have been much better games (can't comment on CC4 since I didn't really played it). I still love CC1 and still support it on my web site. IF anyone is interested I'm still offering my editors for CC1. webhome.idirect.com/~risc72 then go click on "Close Combat" link. Peter PS: During the CC2 and CC3 John Anderson and Steve Mariotti left Atomic.

Everybody talks about ASL. Damn I have missed this phenomena so I'm looking forward to some conversions Peter

Just got an idea, for a campaign that I would like to create in CM I guess I could use the CC1 campaign including the maps or at least I will try. Some CC2 battles & maps would be cool to recreate as well... Peter PS: Damn I messed up a bit the title oh well. [This message has been edited by risc (edited 11-09-99).]

I would have to agree with Richard. I think it makes sense to unhide a unit automatically when that unit is in hide mode and I give it a target order. I think it its logical and makes sense. I see my self running into trouble because of this unless it is really forced into my head (I try not doing that). risc

I'm really sorry if that this is not CM related and I hope Charles and Steve will forgive me. I mention this stuff here because I know there is a lot of wargamers here and maybe somebody enjoys operational wargames and as well TAO by SSG. For anyone who is interested I have setup my web site as well as TAO page. webhome.idirect.com/~risc72/ follow the "TAO" button link. I'm done with TAOEdit and would like to say that it will be available next weekend on my site. I still need to wrtie documenation. Peter PS: I'm sorry again posting off topic.

First game: Last Defense vs Allies Turn 12, M18s show up and clean me up, pretty badly. After that my infantry pretty much lost interest in fighting. Major Allied Victory. Second game: Reisberg vs Allies One hell of a fight. Lost both 88s but Allies lost 3 Shermans and lot of infantry platoons. The pressure was very high in this scenario. The key to the success was for me to place my infantry a lots of different places which caused allies a lot of casualties. Third game: Last Defence vs Allies Stayed calm until M18s showed up. This time my Tiger was at least 800m evey, and it brought some fruit. It poped all M18s like a coke cans whithout any damage. All the M18 shells either bounced off or broke on impact without any damage on Tiger. I had until that time kept the Stugs behind which now together with Tiger went on offensive. I still however managed to upp off only Axis minor victory. Lost some HT as well as one Stug and some infantry. I think I like to play the Last Defense more than Reisberg. Peter

johnnymo, you think Fionn is smoking something different than we are ? Peter

Oh, I'm looking forward to Red Thunder for sure ! I hope it will be just as good as The Ardennes Offensive by SSG. Peter

Richard, What wargame were you talking about ? I'm interested. Peter

Richard, Silicon Graphics has 3D software called Alias which used to cost 30,000 US and it used to have copy protection tied to CPU serial number never mind the HD and that's not the full story either. And guess what it was cracked and I have seen it on the net. The cracks used be sold for like 7000 US...I don't want to get into more details. Remeber, ANY security system developed by humans can be broken by humans Peter

I don't believe this could be possible, of course BS can correct me if I'm wrong. I believe CM will be maybe around 200 - 300MB maybe less maybe more. If you don't have cable than it will take forever. Now imagine if more people with speed like 33K or 56k modems will try to download it, it will be a mess. You also need a good server to handle a lot of ftp connections, meaning more resources from BS. You also have to think about security. Somebody buys CM then gets login/password from BS to access a site...somebody downloads it and gives this login/password to somebody else... I don't think it's gonna happen, too much hassle. risc

Interesting, so far I only played this battle for 2 times. Once I got my b*tt handed to me, the second time I managed minor victory. I learned how to use the Tiger correctly. I have lost in my last battle one stug due to some experimenting and a HT. Hopefully next time I will do even better. risc PS: Looking forward to read your AAR

CM will be like HPS wargames, they too have 3 leves of fog of War. I pretty much welcome this addition. Peter

I think I found the solution to those damn M18s. In my last game I stayed away from them (I mean my armor) about 900 - 1000m. They were able to get my Stugs but not my Tiger. They were destroyed one by one by the Tiger...pretty satisfying I can tall you. Then I got over confident and moved my Tiger close where it got killed from side by Bazooka. That was so stupid of me to move like that, I felt like hitting my head with a baseball stick ! Also due to some assaults which costed me dearly I ended up with minor loss. I controled 47% of the battlefield and Allies 53%, though they had 20 men more casualites. I have lost 4 vehicles 3 armor and 1 HT. Allies lost 3 vehicles - 3 M18s. This was so far my 3rd go for this scenario and my best score so far. I don't think I have ever had som much fun in a demo, any demo. The damn 105mm artillery is not really that much effective, or at least I didn't notice yet. In my previous games it did destroyed 2 M18s though. 81mm mortars on the other hand are a bit more successful as I noticed. Let's try it again, shall we ? Peter PS: I think this is the best way to learn.

Hi Charles, I guess you are right, I wasn't aweare of earlier version of Stug IIIG. My sources were www.panzerlehr.com (no longer on-line) HPS wargames and encyclopedia, a couple of my games like Panzer Elite etc...but the issue was that I was looking at the data of the later version. When you say T. Jentz that's pretty much enough for me I have 2 of his books called Panzer Truppen...they are the best WW2 technical & panzer tactics books I have ever seen... Charles, can you maybe post more information about the earlier version of IIIG ? Thanks... risc

yeah guys, I figured out it's the C&C stuff...pretty neat ! Peter

My only grippe is that it killed my Tiger from 890m as well as both Stugs ....I have never really fought a lot of battles befor with M18 so I don't know how things should go...don't know mych about M18s but it definitely hurts that in CM most of the time the M18s will ripp my armor to pieces... Peter

I would like to know which IIIG model is used in CM. I believe that the armor values for this assault gun are bit incorrect. All my sources say that the front Hull armor should be at least 80mm and the turret front should be as well at least 80mm thick. This is what I have for Assault III 40G (which is the IIIG) these values (mm): Hull Front : 85mm Side : 30mm Rear : 51mm Top : 20mm Turret Front : 82mm Side : 31mm Rear : 51mm The gun was either 75mm L/43 or L48. Could it be that the CM verions is an earlier version of Stug IIIG , which I'm not aweare off... Anyone else can verify this ? Peter

How do I call for artillery in a scenario ? I didn't find any info on how to do it in the manual that came with CM demo... How do mortars work ? Thanks... Peter

I'm very very impressed with CM. Altough I'm living in North America for 9 years now I find no words to properly describe my feelings about CM. It is everything I was looking for and then some ! Didn't read the documentation that came with it yet and I guess due to that I got creamed by the AI twice I would definitey say that with CM the new revolution in wargaming has begun. Hopefully with Road to Moscow it will get even stronger. Of course I still love my hexes and won't let them go either... I have absolutely no problems at all running CM. Here is my system: P3 450 (overclocked to 504) with Asus P2B motherboard 256MB of RAM Diamond Viper 770 TNT2 Ultra (Detonator 3.53 driver) SB Live ! (Liveware 3.0 software) Windows 98 SE The game runs smooth as silk. Sounds are great, the graphics detail is amazing, seeing my Tiger rotate the turret as well as see the tracks moving is a very satisfying feeling ! I few questions about the demo: 1) The maps unsed in the demo are pretty small the final version will have bigger maps right ? 2) When I issue all the orders to my units and hit "GO" button for like 4 - 5 seconds nothing happens on the battlefield, after that all the units execute my orders...is this intentional ? 3) Will there be a list of all the sound files to which unit they belong ? I would like to replace some (the are all great just would like to try some different) I think winter cammo won't be a problem all th texures are in bmp format so all a person gotta do (if he is good artist) is to load them up in photoshop and do whatever he wants with them....I find the Tiger's textures to be a bit too blue... Navigation of the 3D battlefield is pretty easy. You don't need to use most of the naviagion arrows. Just moving the mouse pointer to different corners of the screen will do, at this point it's a second nature. All I can say is I'm looking forward to this weekend and I'm glad I preordered CM. Can't wait for the final release, whenever that might be. I'm already dreaming about Eastern Front, when will you guys accept preorder ? Thanks again for a such a great game ! Peter [This message has been edited by risc (edited 10-29-99).]

risc72@idirect.com

What's going on ? I'm in my full gear...my panther's engine is running, the whole column behind me is noisy...the engines are so loud you can't hear a thing. Headphones on my head....waiting for move out order ! Damn HQ, I hope that we weren't cut off... Peter

I like HPS wargames very much. I own Panthers in the Shadows as well as Tigers on the Prowl 2 and some extra campaigns for each. I wouldn't compare HPS wargames to CM as I think they are a bit different games, though I didn't play yet CM and so can't really speak about it yet. I like different games for a bit different reasons and I believe Close Combat 1, The Ardennes Offensive, HPS games contribute to my free time well spend. I hope that CM can be added to my all the time play list. Also definitely looking forward to Tigers on the Prowl 3 as well as Panthers in the Shadows 2 which will be wargames based on POA2. Peter

Alright, PanzerShark...you are bored, well let me ask you this: Is your Sherman/Panther ready for tomorrow ? I did you clean it ? Is the oil changed, did you do tire rotation ? IS your uniform washed drycleaned ? Is your Bar/Mg 42 cleaned as well ? Peter PS: busy cleaning my Panther, dman it might need a new paint due from the last Shermans engagement. Come to think of if I might as well change the oil...let's see which one should I put in Mobil, Castrol GTX yeah man that should be alright....ehhhrm how many liters do I need...? Geeez it doesn't say in my tank manual !