John Kettler

snagdad, Glad you enjoyed the book! Now if I can only get people to respond to my original thought! Regards, John Kettler

Jochen, Glad your copy finally arrived. As for CM Borg, his services are futile. You were preassimilated. Regards, John Kettler

I concur! If we're going to have farms, we must have manure piles. I love the graveyard idea also. I bridle at the idea of siting a flak tower near a manure pile, though. Ruin walls (castle modules?) and bombed out buildings would be great too. "Captain, we believe that ruined/intact chateau you see there houses a German OP which has been interdicting movement on our main supply route. Don't expect the Krauts to give it up without a fight, since it commands the entire valley. Expect heavy resistance." Would be thrilled to see armored trains, but we've already made some progress. Just a few minutes ago I discovered that railroad tracks already exist in the tile set, but they're way down at the bottom. They don't seem to come with embankments, though. I think we can build a marshalling yard, sans signal towers, water towers, coaling facilities, of course. There are NO RR bridges either. Naturally, I HAD to fire up the map maker and build a treelined valley upon whose floor ran a paved road and double tracks, with a town in the middle. Evidently, the 9th AF had just visited, leaving the town shattered and burning, the tracks blocked by rubble (need bomb craters, etc. yesterday!), and an entire hillside ablaze. Looked like Hell. In closing, I'd also like to request bridges usable on the diagonal. Sincerely, John Kettler [This message has been edited by John Kettler (edited 08-08-2000).]

Hats off to BTS for factoring thermal effects into AI troop control! I kept trying to move close behind a burning building (hiding from crossfire) with my men during a Quick Battle, but I consistently was prohibited from doing so, though I could move behind it but not close to it. Finally it dawned on me--it was too hot for my men; that's why I couldn't move where I wanted to. Once the light went on, it all made sense...after I got over feeling stunned and amazed, that is. The amount of thought that went into this game is simply incredible. Gratefully, John Kettler

Dear BTS, I know this thread is ancient, but I remembered something which might help. The PAK-40's shield was made of spaced armor and was specifically designed to defeat the Soviet 14.5mm AT rifles. It should, therefore, do quite well against .50 caliber MG fire. Regards, John Kettler

MadDog0606, Considering that I'm running at 640x480 on a 233 MHz, 64 MB iMac w/ 2 MB VRAM, theoretically too little to run the game at all, the game runs great, no crashes, hangups, etc. I can even select high quality smoke without crashing or freezing; I simply don't get the full visual effect. Text displays normally. Drivers were current as of a few months ago. Video board is ATI Rage something or other (original Gen One iMac installation). It's just that if we stop a QB with it being the Axis turn next, for some reason when we come back to the game it shows the Allies as the next player. The manual exit also works normally but for some reason doesn't actually show the "are you sure..." question. We're playing a hotseat, but it sounds as though you are playing a QB by E-mail, using a turn numbering system akin to what I had. Will look into this further. I was just letting the game autosave on exit. Maybe this is the wrong approach. Given that everything else works just fine, I thought it worthwhile to raise the issue here. As for how I phrased my thread title, I thought it was clear, but then I spent over eleven years in military aerospace! Regards, John Kettler

David Aitken, I guess I have the gift of inadvertent humor, since I made two serious posts with real issues and questions in them. I am particularly interested in the answers to the questions I raised in the second post. Sincerely, John Kettler

Would hugely appreciate a response from BTS on my original post in this thread. Many thanks! John Kettler

Am kicking this one upstairs in hope of a response from Steve or Charles. Regards, John Kettler

Thought I'd toss this one back on top of the queue, since I've had no replies whatsoever to either of my questions. Regards, John Kettler

Something's wrong with the game save feature in QB. For one, it seems to be skipping a turn. If it's supposed to be the Axis turn, for some reason it shows the Allies. Also, if you do a manual exit (CMD A or Q), you get a yes/no button choice, but the actual question doesn't show. Anyone else notice these two oddities? Regards, John Kettler

Very funny, David! Chris1, I appreciate your taking the time to set up and run the test. I still don't know the why of the results I got, though, since the Panther was my extreme right flank vehicle and no other AFVs or troops were even close until much later in the game. Nor can I tell you the exact nature of the sign marking the field, said sign being unreadable at 640 x 480, which is all my machine will support. If people can spot daisy chain mines from hundreds of yards out, then maybe we need a code tweak. These mines are roughly 6" x 12" x2", and even several of them linked on a rope (they're track breakers), viewed edge on wouldn't present much to see, if even visible in heat shimmer (scenario was August '44). Thanks for all the feedback. Regards, John Kettler

Thanks, Bill. Will check it out. Black Sabot's played most of the smaller CM scenarios already, so a post release game scenario may well be the way to go for our next fight. Regards, John Kettler

Kingfish and David Aitken, If you'd read my post properly, you'd know I said I didn't have LOS to the minefield. Therefore, even if it were a daisy chain minefield, I still wouldn't have seen it. I'm talking about minefields which appear on their own, without being stepped on or driven over and are not in LOS. Mark IV knows exactly what I'm talking about. Sincerely, John Kettler

marcusm, Check out the Russian Military Zone (www.history.enjoy.ru), with particular attention to the Artillery section. If you can't find it there, E-mail the site operators and they'll be glad to help you. Regards, John Kettler

I don't know how a serious thread was so thoroughly hijacked by humorists, but I thought of some more items I'd like to add to my original idea. But first, let me answer IntelWeenie about telephone poles. They can be a real problem when traversing your turret, especially if the gun tube is long. Bashing the gun barrel against them to knock them down is bad news for precision fire control optics and throws the gun out of boresight. As for high tension towers (an item I'm not even sure existed), they are found in conjunction with swathes cut through forest and brush (the rights of way) and make excellent, though exposed, OPs. * German style forests (tall trees, considerable separation between them, in regular lines w/ no undergrowth) These forests should be able to pass most vehicles. The reason I say this is that I have seen reports in professional military journals describing landing helicopters in clearings, then pulling them into the woods for refueling, rearming and other activities. Believe Harriers also operated that way as well. Seems to me that if there's room in there for a Huey or a Harrier, a vehicle or AFV should also fit, terrain permitting. Question: How is it that something as big as an 88 or 90mm gun can be put in the woods, but an AFV or softskin of the same size can't? Just last night in a QB I fought an American 90mm gun and a 76mm gun emplaced in the woods. If no vehicle or AFV can enter, how is it then that a wheeled gun carriage of considerable size can? The logic here eludes me. * fences, several types * woodpiles * factory smokestacks (w/ provisions for using as OPs) * bare ground * rock formations (sedimentary, igneous, etc.) * cliff facings * road and railroad cuts This is all I have for now. Regards, John Kettler

This has happened to me in Quick Battles under 1.01 and 1.03. I'm going about my attacker business, advancing on the foe and all of a sudden, I see a minefield sign appear in an area in which I have no troops or vehicles now, nor had before. This happened again last night when my unbuttoned Panther (which had no LOS to it) noticed the telltale minefield warning sign in a road below a low crest to its right. While militarily useful to the attacker, I belief self-revealing minefields of this sort are totally counterproductive to the defender and need to be fixed ASAP. Regards, John Kettler

In playing with the Map Editor the other day, I noticed some items missing from the Terrain Tiles which I'd love to see, either as an upgrade or via outside developers. By the way, the burning building, field and forest tiles make truly scary maps! Welcome to hell, Commander! There are also some models which would be nice to see. Here's my list: * orchards * cornfields * individual trees (windbreaks, etc.) * seasonal grass (may already be in) * plowed field * plowed field w/ row crops (cabbage, beets, spuds, flax) * barn with usable loft * grain silo * farm equipment * industrial buildings * power plant * transformer yard * refinery * POL storage * mine shafts w/ related equipment * railroad tracks w/locomotive & rolling stock * narrow gauge mine railroad train & cars * open pit mines * slag heaps * coal piles * construction equipment * telephone poles * high tension towers * fire watchtowers * haystacks w/ code to allow hiding inside * aircraft hangars and revetments * aircraft * ammo dump/POL dump * lumber mill * grist mill * pipeline * tents * craters, range of sizes * streetcars * camouflage nets & supporting code * footpaths & trails Also, maybe it's my unfamiliarity with building terrain, but I keep coming up with roads which don't connect and are way outside of acceptable roadbuilding specifications. I think part of my problem may be that the tiles themselves are not geomorphic, making it hard to seamlessly connect things, but you should see the weird angles and unnatural looking surfaces I've gotten so far. Is there any way to code in self-leveling roads, at least reasonably so? This list is merely intended to get the ball rolling. I'm spoiled already, but there's no harm asking--is there? Regards, John Kettler

Formerly Babra, That wasn't a French 75mm equipped tank destroyer you saw; it was the far more powerful and obscure T-19, mounting a 105mm howitzer. That is a rare AFV. Regards, John Kettler

Bil, Danke! Will go check it out at his site. Regards, John Kettler

I have a rematch pending with Black Sabot, and I was wondering, not counting the below list, what are the best balanced battles vs. a human for PBEM? He's already played: "Drop into Destiny" "All or Nothing" "Shootout at Singling" "South of Sword" "The Sunken Lane" "Villers Bocage" "Night at Cheneaux" "Aachen" Thanks for any and all help. Regards, John Kettler

jdmorse, You made a fatal assumption before offering me your tepid beverage of silencing and your scathing denunciation--that I didn't know there were no basements in CM. I did read those posts. What I was saying about the limitations of driving tanks into houses was based on real world limitations, not those in CM. There is a substantial difference between them. I therefore suggest that you read my posts carefully next time before publicly blasting me in print. I'll gladly admit a mistake when I make one, but here you simply assumed I'd made one and unloaded a broadside on me. Had this been an actual riposte, there'd be a smoldering hole replacing you. Cave! (Latin meaning) John Kettler

Afterword I played the game through until the computer forced my surrender in turn 25. By then I had no functional infantry (best surviving squad remnant Shaken), even crews, and the Panther had long been a meagerly armed (bow MG only) mobile pillbox, having gotten one Sherman kill the turn after arrival, only to lose main gun and coax in the first volleys of artillery fire directed against it immediately afterwards. Needless to say--Allied Total Victory. One man escaped to tell the heroic, futile tale of Hill 209. Twenty-eight (in various stages of disrepair) became prisoners, and some fifty-eight were Gefallen im Krieg. Even allowing for bad luck (remarkably short-lived pillboxes and bunkers, the dug-in mortar crew routed by artillery almost before the game began, the dug-in company HQ dying about the same time as the hill disappeared in a storm of 105mm fire and the lamented degunned Panther), I firmly believe that this scenario heavily favors the U.S., especially given the enfilading dominating terrain and the potency of smoke in that terrain. The U.S. has so much of so many resources that it simply chews up the German defense piecemeal, what with six tanks (at least one a howitzer tank), four FOs and hordes of infantry. I think it would be interesting to tone the U.S. down a bit and/or swap out the existing German mortars for the far bigger bite of an offboard 81mm and/or 120mm mortar battery, with several more TRPs. After all, this is a set-piece defense. Every significant piece of terrain should long since have been indexed and registered, so this is eminently reasonable considering the scenario. I think U.S. smoke supplies need to be considerably reduced. Given the way that CM implements smoke, it's way too powerful at its present scale of issue. Another item which baffles me, in VoT and in the game in general, is the meager Panzerfaust allocation. We've all seen lots of pictures in which half or more of a German squad's members have Panzerfausts, yet in a set-piece defense my squads (HQs have none) have one Panzerfaust each, and some of those the almost pathetic 30m version. What gives? Why is such a common weapon so scarce? Would love to get more feedback from the rest of you on what I've said here. Regards, John Kettler

ScottK, Having played nothing but Quick Battles since I got the full Combat Mission, with only the first patch added by me, and having been on the receiving end of Allied airstrikes, I can absolutely assure you that airpower is in. I have had my forces both bombed and rocketed. Spectacular! I couldn't figure out at first what hit me; then realization dawned, realization confirmed by the telltale shadow streaking across the ground when I repeatedly ran the turn. I believe you'll find it only in QBs in the 1000 point range, though. As I recall, a single plane is some 300 points. By the way, I'd be willing to bet that November is pretty much a nonflyable month. Try June at 1000 points and let us know what happens. Hope this helps. Sincerely, John Kettler [This message has been edited by John Kettler (edited 07-21-2000).] [This message has been edited by John Kettler (edited 07-21-2000).]

Something strange is going on. A post I made here (VoT Play Balance (or Lack Thereof)?) is missing. It was posted here, but now it's gone, yet it still shows up in Search. what gives, please? Regards, John Kettler