Peterk

Crap, sorry about that. I grabbed a few them and moved them to my host.... http://webhome.idirect.com/~peterk/Omaha_Map2.jpg http://webhome.idirect.com/~peterk/Omaha_Map3.jpg http://webhome.idirect.com/~peterk/Omaha_Map4_west.jpg http://webhome.idirect.com/~peterk/Omaha_Map5_east.jpg

I remember back when CMBO first came out, a lot of people wanted to do beach landings. There's an ASL module in playtest right now doing all of Omaha beach that's looking very interesting. The map looks absolutely incredible. http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?t=79067 Most of the scenarios appear to take place a bit inland. Also, interesting that most of the players are saying that the big beach landing itself is a lot of fun to play in spite of the horrendous US dead pile. Looks like they've got the victory conditions just right to make it fun for both sides. I can face all the german MGs and arty...but I don't know if I have the courage to face those Landing craft rules, myself. Took me 13 years to finally learn the night rules. Just in case anyone is interested and hasn't seen it yet.

Another classic from those reviews... "Worked fine with my right hand, but when I came to use my left hand my writing came out looking like the work of a complete imbecile." Thanks for uncovering this (God, how on earth did you uncover this???). Will be checking periodically, and may even order one myself since the reviews are for the most part so favorable. Ha, check the review for the 4 color Bic "The most incredible thing I have ever seen!! It looks like a normal pen but on closer inspection it has 4 different colours!!! In one pen!!! Science has come a long way since bird feather and blood." http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/product/B000J63DX6/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

I took a 2 week vacation to Tanzania a couple of years ago and it seems to have killed my hayfever completely. Can't explain it really, but I guess if your body adjusts to an environment where there is so much more dust and pollen than where you come from, you get desensitized a bit.

Was not terribly pretty http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=000154#000000

Hi Mark, I've only ordered one game via electronic DL so far from them and I believe they sent me an e-mail with a key that I had to enter. I think Campaign Series is shipping with a 300 page printed manual, so might be a good idea to go for the physical delivery. If you go to the AAR section of their site there's a very, very , very nice Operation Sealion play in progress. I haven't bought it yet, but I am teetering by the minute. Will almost certainly grab it fairly soon.

Have you looked at the re-release of John Tiller's Campaign Series? Not 3D really like what you're after but still looks like an interesting package. And there's a gung-ho developper on it who is adding to it and fixing things in impressive fashion. [ September 02, 2007, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: Peterk ]

CMBB could have had a dramatically better AI without any hardware improvements necessary. I mean, deciding if the computer needs to take a flag or not for the win is not rocket science but CMBB doesn`t do it. Not leading attacks with the HQ elements. Preserving HQ elements. Keeping sub units close to their HQs. These are all things that don`t need more powerful processors, but CMBB doesn`t really do them well or at all. I think the will of the programmers to provide a challenging AI is the biggest obstacle not hardware.

Attempting to mathematically solve a game and simply providing an opponent which is capable of delivering a decent challenge are two different cans of worms.

Do a quick search. GJK posted the links about 3-4 weeks ago. To the game, the manual and strategy guide. The strategy guide was actually fun to read even though I haven't played the game yet.

Do you find that it's aged well? I bought a couple of the Mega Campaigns a little while ago and was totally psyched to play them. Ugh, totally clunky and crashes galore. You're tempting me to try it again, but I sort of know it won't do the trick.

But good "game play" is by definition describing something that is enjoyable. It would be silly for me to describe something as having good game play and then saying that I found it boring. They're one and the same or at least very close, no. While I was researching the HttR game, I found a nice discussion where someone was describing a difficult battle where he had trouble taking a bridge objective. AFter several attempts at planning things himself and failing, he finally just tried clicking on the battalion command and setting the bridge as an objective and sat back to watch what the computer would do. He won the game with the computer co-oridnating the attack. Good simulation value - probably. Good AI - almost definitely. Good gameplay? Not really, clicking once, and winning the scenario is not terribly satisfying. Why bother? I don't think the detailed tactical level is the proper one for games such as CMBB either. If I have the option to give detailed tactical orders (shoot at unit X) to a unit in CMBB I really do want them followed even if they are stupid. Otherwise we don't have a game where I matter very much. I mentionned ASL in my last message and also that I was looking for something similar on the computer. It's interesting, but a fellow has developped an almost perfectly faithful version of ASL for PC. Rolls the dice, doesn't let you break the rules, uses the same maps. Problem is...it's boring as hell. I found that if I was not keenly aware of what was going on, If I did not know where good and bad fortune was coming into play, the situation did not draw me in in the slightest. It's based on a game that I play and love. Good gameplay? Not at all....horrible. [ April 03, 2007, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Peterk ]

I think I understand what Jason meant by "game play was and is poor". I tried out the Red Devils Over Arnhem demo after reading this thread. I actually was very enthusiastic...I am looking to find a new computer wargame I can sink my teeth into and was hoping this would lead the way to HTTR or COTA. I read the PDF file that came with the demo carefully and played both demo scenarios. It probably was very valid as a simulator, but I just didn't see the fun in it. It plays as though the game is on rails. I just never felt that my decisions had all that much to do with the outcome and didn't feel terribly involved. I actually even have the exact same comment about CMBB which I also tried playing again recently after a few years away. The TAC AI constantly changing my firing instructions a few seconds after hitting GO did not do wonders to pull me in to the environment. I again felt like an accessory to a game that played as if it was on rails. The only wargame I'm very satisfied with lately is ASL and I'm just dying to find something as satisfactory that isn't as cumbersome (and at places, as silly)...and I'm coming up short. But at least there if I tell my HMG to fire at a broken squad 40 meters away, he will do exactly that instead of targetting something 200 meters away instead. I live and die by my own decisions and that does wonders for immersion.

Can we have another night of the refreshing monkeys party?

I just got sacked in Football Manager. Anyone try Battlefront yet? I've been watching for some good vibes to start happening on their board and they're not.

If you start drawing the CMBB maps you can't go wrong.

I'm going to buy a new ASL rulebook with my share. Let's see.... 22.7 million divided by 30 million = about 80 cents. Hmmmm....can someone (preferably in England) loan me about 100 bucks?

I thought that one got fixed. I still remember playing the Bridge Too Far operation by Wild Bill Wilder on CMBO. First battle was a blast and then I was sitting around for 4-5 battles waiting to get surrounded and to get into some good scraps and it never happened. Bit of a letdown.

That's nothing. When you guys get desperate enough to learn ASL or go back to ASL and suffer through 2-300 pages of rules to get your campaign game fix, then I'll be impressed. Barricades anyone? I'm the Germans.

Probably not. CMBB changes will be kept to a minimum, remember?

Don't tell me you STILL haven't gotten that straightened out?

Don't worry about it. People will do fun, smaller, playable "campaigns" for things which would now be done as operations (or a bit larger) . You ALL seem to have only the "monster" campaigns on your mind. Just wondering....since an operation can have a map that is greater than 2x2, I don't really recall anyone ever complaining that its too easy to overload a sector in a CMBB operation. Probably 'cause no one plays operations or because the front width is less than 2km (or somefink).

Just wondering how you can easily crop a map in the existing editor. Reducing map size in the CMBB editor is going to chop from top down towards the bottom and from right towards the left as far as I can tell. What happens if you want the northeast corner? Not doubting you. Just wondering what the trick is.

You're probably right regarding the monsters, but nothing is written in stone that CMC "campaigns" have to be all that long or be very big. You can easily have 1-2 day campaigns wth a battalion on each side...things that are above the scope of a single CM mission, and they will very likely be just as interesting as the monsters....and much more playable and manageable too. And then victory locations will definitely come into play.

You guys gotta make better wishes. You're wasting birthdays people!