guachi

Makes sense it would be identified as a Stuart as the M8 HMC was built on the hull of one. Jason

Unfortunately, those firepower charts are a bit inaccurate. I found out that squad weapon allotment for German Panzergrenadier and Motorized Infantry changed from the time I did those charts to the release of the game. The changes were a swap out of a MP44 for a K98, I believe. And v1.04 change the FP ratings for some weapons as well. Jason

Are the pics and the database in the same directory? Jason

Great pics, Matt! Now that you mention it, I think I remember you writng earlier that you were trying to get a camera while in Germany. Jason ps do you have a neck?

And you would know this because....? Jason

Tiger, I really like the work you've been doing. Actually, the same goes for all the mod makers. In making my unit database, I was excited to see the feedback I got. Of course, it inevitably included people with ideas on things to change/add. This is both a good/bad thing. In can be bad because some of the stuff is a little nit-picky. On the other hand, I would FAR rather have nit-picky comments than none at all. Feedback of any kind means that somebody actually cares enough about what you are doing to take the time to write you. And since there is no pay, feedack is the only kind payment we get. So I want to say that your textures look great. Jason

The guns and arty don't load because I don't have the info in yet. Before adding new info, I wanted to get the layout of the infantry and vehicles set first. The screen has one layer of formatting for each type of unit. Right now, with only two layers, it is easier to change things than it would be with four. About the pics - the pics are almost turning into more problems than they are worth. I have received half a dozen reports on pic problems but none like yours. Are you getting an error message that says "picture not found"? Are you running Excel 97 or 2000? I'll have to check on another computer and see if I can get it running there. Jason

I'm guessing when you say you have to scan pics that you don't have a digital camera? For some reason I just assume that you DID have a digital camera. Now my whole worldview (what's the German world for this?) is shot. Jason

Why do people keep saying the AI in the Ardennes offensive was good? It WASN'T. It didn't keep divisions together, it moved around too much on the defense, made unwise attacks, and failed to concentrate its forces on the offensive. One of the scenarios in Ardennes Offensive wsa called 'Cutting off the Bulge' or something like that. It was supposed to be a defensive scenario for the Germans as the Americans reduced the tip of the Bulge. The Americans (AI) passively sat on the offensive and didn't move forces for a concentrated attack. By the end of the scenario, I, as Germans, had more territory than when I started. My second time through the full game as Germans, I had eliminated the ENTIRE Allied Army for no losses on my side and everyone of my units was at full strength. The CM AI may not have the best coordination and may be a bit passive, but I feel challenged. Something I can't say for any other wargame I have played. Jason

MG42s may have a lot of ammo, but Vickers MGs have almost 50% more! In a recent QB vs the AI I had my lone Vickers actually RUN OUT of ammo. Good thing that barrel is water cooled. Jason

I have completed final touch-up on the latest version. It should be avaialable at Col. Klotz's wbsite in a day or so at http://asl2cm.cjb.net Here is the 'readme' of what is new/changed. --------- New additions to v1.10: - Pictures now open up from within Excel. A user (Mike Ratay) wrote the macro for me and it is a great addition. Thanks Mike! - Changed colors (again) to softer pastels. The dark colors were still too dark when printed. - Consolidated sheets from ten to five - Added a Firepower (for infantry) or Armor Pentration (for vehicles) chart. When displaying for vehicles, the numbers are pentration values for AP (if available) or HE at 0 degrees - Added a unit availabilty display. The numbers and colors were taken straight from ASL with a few added by me. The numbers range from 0.9 (so common you could trip over them) to 1.6 (so rare they only made a few) - Expanded firepower numbers for infantry. Now the numbers include the firepower by weapons within the squad as well as a total of squad firepower. - Getting the pictures to work: The new macro looks for the pictures in the SAME directory as the Excel file is in - no matter what that directory is. This likely means you will have to copy the Excel file into the directory where the pictures are (or vice-versa) - Known problems Some of the HQ pictures are now too large and bleed into the firepower chart below. The Excel file doesn't work at all with Lotus 1-2-3 and barely works with Excel 95/5.0. The database is best viewed with Excel 97 or 2000. There is a free Excel viewer available from Microsoft and it is available at: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/xlviewer.htm The nifty unit selection sheet and the pictures don't show up, but the sheets with the raw numbers display fine. I haven't added any new units so only vehicles and infantry are still available. The database isn't updated to v1.04 of Combat Mission. Features: This isn't just an ordinary database with rows and columns of numbers, it has a snazzy unit seleciton menu that easily allows the user to select units by type (vehicles, infantry, guns, etc.) and nationality (American, British, German). Information for the selected unit is displayed in an easy to read manner and also includes a picture of the unit selected. The other sheets contain the raw data but are also formatted attractively. They have been pre-formatted for printing with page added at logical spots so that the information is printed in a sensible manner. Headers and page numbers have also been added as the entire database is about 20 pages when printed. Acknowledgements: I've received great feedback from users who have suggested a mulitude of enhancements. I'd like to single out four - Robert Hall for giving me extremely valuable input at the very beginning. Chris Hare for combing through my numbers to make sure they were accurate. Mike Ratay for writing the spiffy VBA macro that allowed the pics to open from within Excel. Col. Klotz for generously hosting my database. There have been over 1,000 hits on the database file, so I hope everyone has found it useful. -------- Jason [This message has been edited by guachi (edited 08-21-2000).]

Yep, was Czech. I was just reading up on the Bren a few hours ago. The Bren was a development of the excellent Czech ZB vz.26 light machine-gun. Jason

I think he is saying in his second choice that a 'hull down' status should be indicated DURING playback to let the player know if a tank is in hull down status or not (to a particular target that is shooting at the tank or being shot by the tank). Jason

I was in a Suncoast video about six months ago talking to an employee who was a crewman on M1 tanks. I remember asking him about turret traverse speeds and he gave me some blindingly fast number. I then asked him about hand cranking the turret and he mentioned he had to do that a few times but that it wasn't easy at all. He even said that on an incline it was virtually impossible to keep the turret from swinging around and pointing downhill. Not exactly relevant to the discussion, but I thought it was interesting. Jason

The rarity charts are in my database and I am just finishing up some odds and ends before sending it off the Col. Klotz. The charts are straight from ASL so if you are familiar with the numbers/colors they used you will have no problem with how I present them. I don't have all the numbers for every vehicle and infantry, so some entries are blank. I have Chamberlain & Doyle's Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two so I can add production numbers for German vehicles. I hvae no numbers for Allied vehicles so if anybody could point me to a source I would be delighted. In addition, I also need production numbers for all the field guns, AA guns, AT guns, mortars, etc. For infantry, I think I will just list jow many divisions of that type were available on the Western Front. Jason

But can the men run with all that ammo? Jason

YES!! You found the thread! I have some stuff written on paper on how best to go about getting a feature changed. The most recent example of this (and there are many) is the discussion on the armor on a Tiger. An example of how NOT to do this is the priceless running with MG thread. I was trying to find this thread as I was going to insert it as a link to show how not to behave. Lindan, would you be so kind as to send this link off to Colin? It should suffice as answer to the question of why HMG42s can't run. Jason

Why not send this question and your answer off to Colin at cm4mac.tripod.com? He has a FAQ workshop setup. Better to do something constructive than just bitch about it. Jason

Another choice for those having problems viewing the database: 5. Go to http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/xlviewer.htm and get a free Excel 97 viewer. Update: I just dl'ed the viewing program. The main sheet with the cool selectable interface doesn't work. But the other sheets with the raw numbers on them show up fine. Jason [This message has been edited by guachi (edited 08-19-2000).]

I figured somebody would run into a problem like this. Obviously you read the 'notes' sheet or you wouldn't be getting ANY pictures. There are several solutions: 1. Don't bother with the pics at all. 2. Change the program that you have 'associated' with .jpgs to something else like a dedicated imaging program. 3. Change the properties of Explorer to NOT open up new Windows every time a link is clicked on. 4. Do nothing because the problem is fixed. A user wrote a macro that loads the pics and displays them from WITHIN Excel. He (Mike Ratay - THANKS MIKE) also sent me the code so I could tweak it if necessary. I recommend number four. I was actually going to go buy a Visual Basic book this weekend and see if I could do this myself, but there is no need now. I can spend the weekend working on the CM V1.04 changes. I think that the pic handling changes are worthy enough of a new database version even though some of the new features I added aren't yet complete and 1.04 makes parts of the database no longer accurate. I'll get the file off to the Col. tomorrow for posting. In the meantime, anyone who wants the new version if they were having trouble with the pics or for whatever other reason, drop me an e-mail. I am also working on a 95/5.0 version, but some of the features don't feel like working right. Jason

Lorak, I believe I made the suggestion you referred to in this thread http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/008950.html I believe the idea is a good one because it doesn't unduly clutter up the screen, provides USEFUL battlefield information, and is (possibly) not difficult to code. The one, two, and three man squads are already in. All that is needed is a four man squad (and five man for the Sturmgruppe - but that can be left out as five men are only necessary for one squad type). Jason

The site isn't mine so I can't take credit for that. I finally went there yesterday to take a look at how he posted my files. He did a great job with screen shots and a text write up tht made me blush. Oh, and with the addition from Mike Ratay (unsolicited, which makes it even cooler) the pics now open up INSIDE the Excel spreadsheet and not in a separate program. And rudimentary rarity charts are added (just like the ones in ASL) as well as Firepower (for infantry) and armor penetration charts (for vehicles) as well as a revamping of the color scheme to softer colors and a consolidation of the sheets to use fewer of them. The database SHOULD be printer friendly. Not necessarily the screen where the individual units pop up as I can't imagine somebody would want to print out one page per unit. The OTHER sheets are printer friendly, though. I added page breaks all over the place so the information would print nicely. If you don't want to print all that color just turn all the background to white and it prints quickly and nicely. And best of all, it's FREE! Jason Oh, I'm also half way through adding average ammo loadouts for vehicles ('X' AP shells, 'Y' HE shells, 'Z' smoke shells)

Ahem.. May I humbly suggest my unit database? It doesn't have ALL the units in yet (just vehicles and infantry - 150 or so units). It has in game stats as well as a pic of the unit as taken from within CM. If I can manage it, I would also like to add actual pics in a way that doesn't violate any copyrights. The database is in Excel and is available for download from - http://asl2cm.cjb.net Col. Klotz has been kind enough to host it for me. Jason

SEE!! See what I mean!? Easier than getting laid. And you can even do it with multiple 'partners' and the others don't even mind! Man, getting a PBEM game going is like walking into a bar and asking a total stranger if they want to sleep with you. (I guess; I've never done it) And the best part is - your PBEM opponent will call you in the morning (for a rematch)! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Got what I needed. Thanks.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Indeed. Jason

Trying to usurp me as head searchonaut?!? Do I senses a coup coming on? Time for a purge in the ranks!! Jason