Darwin

I was on a firecrew in my early 20's. Living in Southern California we have decent brush fires almost yearly. Unfortunately, although my father is a just retired fireman working out of Los Angeles, my work was all with the department of forestry and have no building fire experience. Nor have I fought fire in large forests. Nevertheless, I have fought fires with flames over 40 high. Some trees basically explode at high enough tempuratures when their superheated sap all flows to the top and alights Too bad I've never been to Europe or I might be able to give some insight into this I would assume that on the western front commanders would avoid the risks of creating an out of control wildfire lighting large tracts of the countryside. Although firebreaks are easy to construct (depending of course on terrain) a local commander wishing to employ such tactics would possibly endanger neighboring sectors with such tactics except in very specific situations. Also, as mentioned above, fires in light terrain tend to be a flash bang kind of affair. At it's edge the fire might be intense but it burns quickly and is inhabitable again shortly thereafter. For the most part, fire is a one shot deal. You can only burn **** once. CM isolates one battle. So where in CM the enemy might not be able to push through In reality there would be gaps throughout the buring space and in a short time the area as a whole could be passed through with your ace card spent. Tactically, I can see myraid possibilities for fire. In smaller scale conflicts I assume fire is used extensively offensively and defensively. I also see fire used as a tool, in specific terrain situations, to dislodge dug in enemy at CM's scale in larger conflicts. Strategically also, look at the gulf war... But again, on the western front WWII, wouldn't local commanders generally be at loath to burn down the countyside for, in the long run, so minimal gain? I am under the impression that, although deadly and brutal, some semblance of gentlemanly war was still being upheld in the west and that such a level of ruthlessness was not in effect. Am I wrong on that count insofar as officers are concerned? (I am aware of Dresden and Malmedy, etcetera but consider such acts on the west front as out of place. Always believed in the idea that americans and europeans for the most part are too similar to see as subhuman making horrendous acts difficult for the average joe.) I guess I'm rambling, I, er, agree

Just can't help but chime in here Mrspkr, I relate. I seem to expect people who are into this game and post regularly to have previous knowledge of weapons systems and tactics from WWII. Which is simply not allways the case. Remember the various threads on our relative ages? Some of our board members are under 15 years old. Sure I thought I knew a lot then *chuckle* but... A lot of what I erroneously take to be common knowledge simply isn't to anyone who hasn't had war, especially WWII, as a major interest for 20+ years... So yeah, let us meditate on this huuuuuuuuu

Wait a minute. I must still be asleep here. Lewis just giving information... No sarcastic jabs at the world in general??? Did you not eat your wheaties this morning Lewis?

I must contest as I have been horribly misqouted... ps hey gustav, yer back. I think our first game isn't recuperable... send a file any file at will

The glory of what hypersnap can do isn't even mentioned... With hypersnap you can take a buttload of screenshots automatically numbered sequentially and saved without overwriting previous screenshots. This allows your wannabe aartist more freedom and the opportunity to get more good screens. I highly reccomend it

The latest incarnation on naming pbems is for one person to increase file number by one each time and for the other to return file with same number but with an "x" appended to it's end. you guys are all so passe

I got a nice kill on one of the sherman variants with the 37mm truck mounted gun. I put him in scattered trees with plenty of room to back deeper into trees to hide. as the sherman came into view *plink plink plink* I immobilized him then gun damaged him then routed the crew. My opponent was somewhat pissed

hmmmm, tricky stuff here. Make sure you pay attention to which targets get fired at. I've had units with a slow rate of fire retargeting the whole turn but allways returning to priority target to fire.

What a nice crisp picture you have taken Killmore. I never really checked out the Russian rocket truck that I can't spell. Neat to see how it has 2 rockets on each guide, over and under.

Thanks Bertram, I'll check it out.

Is there an ongoing chat somewhere to get pick up tcp/ip games?

I seem to recall past webmasters leaving TGN unhappily...

I cant help but recall the psycho Russian tank commander in The Beast. Great movie, if you haven't yet, check it out.

Hola Y bienvenidos. Yo vivo en latino america tambien, San Diego Ca...

You guys ever play Chain of Command? In CoC the highest ranked player on a side would get command and be able to assign a chain of command to his subordinates. at the bottom of the chain visiblility was limited to what your units could see but as you went up the command ladder you would get vision of all subordinate teams as well. Take that system change the absolute spotting of subordinate units to a more general info type ie: location, strength, ammo?, threat level. Put it into a massively multiplayer CM and were golden

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gyrene: This feeling of innevitable impending Finn-induced doom has often been described as the same as if the Nazgul were flying over or riding by a group of Hobbits, and the noramlly stout Russian ponies would panic and gun barrels would melt and warp. BTS, fix! Gyrene<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Sgt Capella, a grizzled veteran with the scars of many fights, steps forth and raises O'Christ (a heavily rune inscribed talking bazooka of light tank destroying) to his shoulder. Today however O'Christ is fickle and feeling jealous over his interest of late of bosums and fails to deliver the hits. With a bitter sense of deja vu Capella feels the repeated concussions of explosions in his near vicinity as his intended targets lay into his position with their main guns. Once again Capella is sent to the rear to recuperate from his unfortunate relationship with his wepon of war...

I think the game he describes would be pretty cool but nothing like CM. You would probably want to have a general map with some generic markers to indicate your troops positions as you assume them to be. hmmmm, sounds like a super enhanced board game. Not a bad thing but not at all CM.

You wouldn't by any chance be related to a Rob McKenna would you Colonel?

I went for a search first but with it stalling and me having a cable modem I figured it was bunk... I followed many of the arguments on horses before but don't spend as much time here now days. Their use would be minimal but in the rare situation where they could be employed they would freacking rock. I am thinking operations over hilly wooded terrain especially. I can see the low priority of including horses in the manner I would like to see them. Nevertheless, this is the kind of stuff I want My favorite battles are largely infantry with light support be it a couple armored cars or some inf guns. The inclusion of horses would greatly enhance the game I want to play... Oh, and thanks for the quick response.

What was the conclusion of whether BTS was too include horses in CM2? I am playing a hilly wooded map with an inf gun at my disposal. Pushing this thing around got me to thinking how useful they could be in times like this. I realize their inherent vulnerability but if used carefully I could see them as valuable tool and an extreemely neat feature. So whats the deal???

VT are timed to detonate at a preset level creating airburst for extreme effect vs troops in the open. I am thinking about the graphs someone posted here a ways back showing shrapnel patterns and dissapation of energy from artillery rounds. With the earth itself absorbing most of the energy and shrapnel if a round could be induced to explode prematurely in the air it's area of effect and the concentration of effective shrapnel produced should be much greater... Sound about right?

Excellent post Jason. I am impressed with how clearly and simply you are able to explain these high concepts. Perhaps a nomination for newbie greeter is in order

where to start.... make a plan. Before the shooting starts decide whether you are going to remove the main threats or just avoid them for later. Once your targets are defined use terrain so as to only engage your main target, rather than draw fire from all defensive positions. Smoke can also be used here to silence defensive positions otherwise unavoidable. Consider the pillboxes limited arc of fire and use this to your advantage. Infantry can take a pillbox at pointblank range through the use of grenades or other explosives. either smoke out the pillbox and rush it or approach it from outside it's firing arc. MG bunkers have no chance against your tanks. If you can silence the 88 or get around it, use your tanks to take the bunkers from range. The Panther is often considered the best tank of WW2 combining decent mobility, armor and killing power all into one tough beast. On the other hand the sherman is constantly derided as being a piece of c*** (unfairly so as it performs well for the role it was designed infantry support). Generally at longer ranges rounds from the sherman will fail to penetrate the panther while the panthers rounds will toast a sherman anytime. If possible try to get the panther from multiple angles at close range. Although you can win using brute force and slugging it out, try playing more chesslike. What I mean is in VoT (valley of terror) for example the germans start with only a few weapons that can hurt your tanks at range if you can remove these then your tanks can just sit back and pummel anything that gives your infantry trouble until the panther shows up. Good luck and I hope this has been helpful... editted for spelling [ 06-28-2001: Message edited by: Darwin ]

Hmmm, I believe the Piat was supposed to recock itself automatically and that the projectile did in fact have a catch of some sort to hold it in place until being fired. Also wasn't it actually a spring assisted launch with the propellant igniting upon release? Another plus for the Piat is better pentration than the bazooka.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 109 Gustav: And of course, be sure to try out my Alunimum Skiff mod to take your troops salmon fishing. http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/Mods/Supportvehiclepages/Supportvehiclemods.html [ 04-09-2001: Message edited by: 109 Gustav ]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bwuahahahaha, complete will gillnet slime!!! That is too sweet, A definite must have