Peterk

Hi Guys, Has anyone else had this problem? I let the installation routine for another game update my Direct X drivers from 6 to 7a, figuring that it might fix the one niggling problem I've had with my card since I've owned it (it freezes up for a second or two every so often, with the hard-drive light on). Now, CM will barely run, all of the smoke and fire effects are totally screwed up, the game runs much slower than it was before and I can't seem to get CM to catch the 1024x768 resolution which I was able to use fine before. My dilemna is that if I go to the 3dfx website, they've only produced updated drivers up til directX version 6 so it doesn't seem like I will ever be able to get card drivers to match the latest directX version. I'm also having a hell of a hard time getting my hands on the old DirectX 6 files again. Doesn anyone know of a site 9hacker or otherwise) that keeps legacy versions of those drivers around? p.

It's a German destroy mission guys. You just have to try and get as many of the Brits as possible. The bridge doesn't have too much to do with it. p.

You can also do your "operation" so that it is 2 seperate custome built scenarios. I've played a few campaign games this way and they are great fun even if the units don't carry over from one to the other. Check out Any Port After A Storm for an example. p.

You're looking for a setting in which you will get mostly draws against the computer so experiment a little bit. I use +1 experience and +25% troops and I have trouble getting onto the victory side in everything I play like this (about 25 scenarios so far). GIve it a shot.

If you have the time, play Stoumont. There are two versions of it around and I believe that it is based on a ASL Kampfgruppe Peiper campaign. It's long, nervewracking and you will come to hate a certain little Sanitarium building. p.

You have to make the map big enough so that the appearance of the bridge will be triggered by the attacker's advance. There's no way for a designer to explicitly control how the "map-window" scrolls forward. p.

I've been using the following file-naming system for a while and it works pretty well except for the fact that I always lose. I like to describe what it is that I'm doing during the turn, so I can go back later and look at points of interest. If it's a movie, I like to describe, in text, the highlights of the movie. CM allows something like 256 charcters in a filename so there's no point to being concise and minimal. A typical exchange would go something like.... Sneaking_platoon_through_west_forests_hoping for_surprise To which my opponent would reply with something like... game1 And then i watch the movie and name the file... artillery_barrage_on__my_hidden_units_in_forest_howd_he_know_they_were_there and so on.

I don't know...it depends really. If I thought i had the guys 60 feet in front of me well supressed and I saw some fresh enemy troops moving in the open 100m away, I would divert my attention to try and catch them. Night actions are supposed to be chaotic. You'll see lots of things happening you won't like. PArt of the fun. p.

In my tradition of congratualting the designers of scenarios I really enjoy, I'd like to tip my hat to the creator of Nan Beach. Some people were disappointed that there were no beach tiles or no Omaha Beach scenarios in the game. Treat yourself to this one. The terrain is picture perfect - (if you collect the Time Life WWII books, you'll recognize the beach as being the one that's on the cover of the Second Front volume) - and the game is fast and fluid and illustrates to a large degree what most landings were like (tough outer shell, soft defenses beyond). You'll experience the full gamut of emotions from total despair as your troopies get ripped to shreds as they land and your engineers are unable to do their job, to elation as the remnants of the assault start to manage to move slowly inland and get closer to their objective. I suggest a +1 and +25% boost to the Axis for a good challenge. I better stop talking now. http://wargames.freehosting.net/cmbits.htm p.

I'll play this one too. Send it over to peterk@dsuper.net. p.

Hey Griffin, I can think of one operation you don't seem to be enjoying too much. Don't worry...it'll be on the top of your favorites list by the time we finish (in about 5 months or so). p.

I tend to give the AI a bit of a boost in manpower and experience to make them behave more aggressively (+1 experience/ +25% forces) and to compensate for the forces that will not be used effectively by the AI. The thing is - can you be 100% sure that no-one got by you? If I remember correctly, there is quite a bit of forest along the exit map-side and it might be possible that the computer snuck a few units through a blind spot unless you spread your forces extrememly thin. It wouldn't have to get too much through in order to get the draw. p.

Of course it's not gamey! At the beginning of the war, the Germans used to disguise unarmored unarmed vehicles up as tanks and drive them into battle. Stuka crews were instructed (by Rommel himself) to keep diving even after they had run out of bombs and ammo just to scare the hell out of the poor fellows on the ground. Go for it.

I'm just wondering if Mr. Peng ever wanders out of the stinking pits of threads that bear his name. I haven't read anything by him for ages in the "normal" part of this forum and a quick scan in even this thread doesn't turn up his presence. Is he still alive?!? I'm only asking because I have a bucketful of fugitive smilies who want to know if the coast is clear yet.

I just spent the last 3 weeks or so working through the battles in this 6 missions mini campaign and wanted to say that it was excellent. There are some real nailbiters in there. It also functions really well as training scenarios as they introduce you to a wide variety of situations and terrain. There's some city battles, open country fighting, infantry only, infantry supported by armor - even a very nasty little commando mission in the dead of night. I fought through these giving the computer a slight advantage (+25% and +1 skill) and only squeezed out an overall victory on the very last scenario. p. [This message has been edited by Peterk (edited 01-14-2001).]

Don't do it. They're history. They don't come back. p.

I have used the withdraw command with experienced men and have noticed that the squads sometimes start the next turn in good order and without the indication that they have already been broken. Do some tests, you'll find that the withdraw command can be quite effective in doing what you're trying to do. p.

Play some of the larger operations (Carentan is a good one although it is by now means ideal tank country). You have maps ranging from 2-4 kilometers in length and you can do quite a bit behind the scenes. p.

Great post. I second that proposal. Get that guy to review CM! p.

Isn't a lot of that supposed information false though? I've had enemy tanks that I've supposedly immobilized suddenly pick up and scoot away. I've had tanks that have supposedly suffered a gun hit suddenly blast me right in the kisser as I creep closer to it. I have a feeling that all you're getting is what your guys think happened and what they think they're up against. There's no guarantee that it's accurate. And that's good fog-of-war implementation. Not knowing anything at all via an ultra-extreme setting is actually less of a fog of war. p.

I don't know - I'm finding that I'm getting quality information only after the sides have been in fairly close contact with much shooting already. It definitely isn't coming soon enough for me to alter my initial attack/defense plan. It might affect my decision as to whether I should abort an attack or keep plugging away at something that seems stalemated. p.

It's an excellent question. I tend to never move anyone off the map during an operation. I says in the manual that a unit moved off in an operation battle will not return, so I always assumed that it meant you shouldn't move crews off as well, but I've never done any experiments to verify it. I usually have a little safe area near my rear lines, but still on the map, where I send all my bashed up units and bailed out crews. If it's not safe for them to move I just hide them in place and hope they get the chance to move to safety. p.

Looks like you've got the hang of it but maybe you want to bump up the setting to make it more challenging. I've been playing at +25% and +1 level for the computer and have got something like 10 draws in a row. Makes it much harder to get those wins. p.

A building somewhere in France.... Sgt. Johnson: OK men. We just got our orders from General Rob and it seems to be in code again so listen up! Giles and Peterson you know the drill, translation duty. Pay attention! OK....Let's see. It says "Hold yur positun at all casts. Enimee resitunce estimayted to be week. Yu gys ar crak. They ar grin. yu cant luse. do not ritrit. Repit. du nut ritrit." Giles! What's he saying?!? Private Giles: He says to get the hell out of here sir! Krauts coming from all directions. No hope of holding on. Sgt Johnson: Peterson! What do you think? Private Peterson: Giles is right sir! Sgt Johnson: All right. We're heading back! Fall in men. Let's beat it!

Ummm...you had more green guys than he had crack guys? How do you really know that the other guy was crack? You can't trust fog-of-war. p.