maxm2

Ah, I miss Pawbroon's "Mods & Modders" site, abandoned apparently in 9/02: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pawbroon/ He had how-to articles and reviews and quite a bit of good humor, like a pic of someone trying to do a "print screen" by putting the monitor in a copy machine.... Not to mention my fabulous cartoons. Gotta get another site. It's hard being cyberstreet person.... --Max

Thank you, sir. I guess I can live with that....

Didn't see this among subject lines...did I miss it? Problem being the one reported by at least six of us with varying machines and configurations about crashing to desktop when tank crews are clicked on in citadel battle. Would really like to play as Germans, but want to be able to move tank crews without obliterating the universe! --Max

Thank you Tiger!!!!! Besides the game crashing with the crew bug, my biggest disappointment was the look of the Russian tanks, and I was wistfully wondering if anyone would mod 'em soon. And you did. Thanks again to you and the modding community that's swinging into gear. --Max

For you guys who may not have downloaded CMBB and are used to having agonizingly slow downloads, just wanted to mention my new favorite download program:GetRight. It's not a new program, but I have tried several and this is the absolute best. It has features that allowed me to download CMBB in just about 3.5 hours on a 56k modem with speeds consistently around 3k to 4.5k per second. I also got kicked off the net (I suspect it had something to do with Windows asking me for the 60th time if I wanted their crucial new update...)with 4% of the demo left to go, and there was no problem with resuming where I left off when I discovered what happened. I'm sure all you broadbanders downloaded CMBB in six seconds, but for us techno turtles, I think my download speed was pretty damn good. I own no stock in GetRight, but I think they have a good product: http://www.getright.com/ --Max

BTS: Sending the saved game file with the message below separately. I am experiencing a gamestopper bug: Same problem as below: in the Citadel battle when playing as German, game crashes back to desktop when I click on a tank crew. Win98se Gateway PII 400 with 128k RAM (yeah, it's underpowered, but every other part of the game runs fine, no slow-down, no other problems--except weird graphics (blocky white) on river). My PIV 2.2Ghz 512K RAM etc. is in the mail, but meanwhile.... Great game otherwise, of course, but I don't think I can avoid clicking on those little black suited rascals once in a while. --Max Molinaro Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan: quote: Originally posted by highlife: I just came across a possible bug. Playing "Citadel Schwerpunkt" as germans against AI. When I try to click on any tank crews the game freezes and I have to ctrl- alt-del or esc to exit the game. If I ctrl-alt-del I get an "unhandled error exception" message. This happened with both a dead crew and one with survivors. Running WinXP Home. I was just going to report the same thing. When I click on my German tank crew the game crashes to the desktop. Win98SE Just experienced the same problem...only booted out completely! Had to restart game.

I think it would help to be specific also. I spent so much time reading the forum and playing the demo before CM came out that I haven't used the manual much, but when I have it has been very adequate. It is one of the few game manuals I have that has a decent index.

Thanks for all the information and advice. I too have seen units "sneak" past each other without firing while I tore my hair out while cursing about the great opportunity my "sneakers" were missing. As to some of the suggestions (all of which I thank you for): Why not just plaster the other side of the ridge with arty? No line of sight and all the arty I had insisted on it, the morons. Why not hit "near" the enemy units who are maybe 20 meters away from top of the ridge? Tried it--but we're in the snow and it takes forever to move anywhere, and I had to keep my troops who were going to charge following the barrage close by, and the barrage killed or demoralized several of my guys waiting in poor cover. The enemy, meanwhile, were all entrenched and seemed relatively untouched by what did hit them. Why not sneak a spotter up? No cover at all at the top of the ridge--it's a nice, wide, road from map side to map side. Anyone who poked a nose up got hit by every enemy unit within a hundred meters. Why not cover the ridge top with smoke and then go over? That's probably the best option (had I known that none of the others would work and saved my arty for smoke use); drawback is that as soon as one emerges from the smoke you're in the same fix: lots of entrenched enemy with good fields of fire--they don't take much time to swing their zooks and mgs around. I'm down to 11% morale(!), so this one ought to be over soon. Then my gaming pard is going to switch places and take a shot at it. If he once again waxes me, I'll ask him to write a brief essay about conquering the reverse slope defense, heh-heh! --Max

"A sneaking unit moves until it is fired on and then stops. They don't withdraw (unless the incoming fire convinces them to)." Thanks for the info. I guess I haven't sneaked my guys enough...they get tired. "They also won't shoot themselves." I thought that was due to the Prozac I put in their rations. "Sounds like Rich is employing a nice reverse slope defense." "Nice" is a very relative term.....

In one game where I'm trying to cross a ridge with the enemy entrenched on the other side,(Hi Rich!) I'm going crazy because there is no way I can figure out to have anyone peek over the ridge without getting nailed by the ten bajillion enemy units waiting to instantly spot and destroy any unit that crawls or creeps into LOS. Then, while doing a search trying to find out about the coming "advance to contact" command in CMBB, I saw someone comment that a unit "sneaking" advances until spotted or fired on and then withdraws---can that be right? Might I use sneak to peek over the edge of my Ridge From Hell? --Max

I think it's a gorgeous mod--love the detail on the sides--and I actually liked the original coloring, realistic or not. --Max

Thanks for all the additional good advice, guys. And Echo, Ubermenschen have no use for amusing concepts of "right" "wrong" "Geneva Conventions" and other antiquated Ami ideas. With the tactics of all my new-found friends, you will taste hot Krupp steel, schweinhundt. Tastes like chicken, I hear.... : ) --Max

Thank you all for your very helpful suggestions, and the discussions of armor tactics (gotta read more about that Israeli attack). I really appreciate everyone's feedback, and my opponents can be sure I will be trying them out. And--I can be sure they will come up with a counter tactic. And so it goes.... --Max "There is no answer. There never was an answer. There's never going to be an answer. THAT'S the answer!" --Stein

Dear System Administrator: I am on my lunch break. Honest. Okay, with that out of the way, one of my loyal opponents (Hi Rich!) often uses the tactic in meeting engagements and assaults of massing almost all his tanks together, waiting for his infantry to pinpoint AT defenses, and then sending the whole flock of tanks forward. Given at least seven or eight tanks, nothing I've come up with can stop the armored horde. If I mass my own armor in one spot, a wrong guess about where the enemy tanks will show up means I'm dead. If I set up flanking positions on either side of the map, assuming a careful advance on my opponent's part on only one side and some LOS shelter from my flankers on the other side of the map (or distracting troops), I'm dead. Individual AT guns and teams don't even have a chance to get off a second shot when facing six or seven or more tanks---they're targeted and eliminated almost instantly. Two questions: 1. Any suggestions? 2. Is the mass attack typical of combined arms operations in WWII, and if so, how was it stopped in the real world? --Max

When I was 11 or 12, my brother and I used to light our plastic model ships and planes on fire (don't try this one at home, kids). Now that was way cool. Being a more mature 55 now, I contented myself on my first map (Belgian city of Ghent) with placing, in the forest across from one of the rivers flanking the town, a circle of track with small buildings all around labeled "King's Choo-choo," since there was a king of Belgum. I figured he could use it as the Royale Modele Trainse for his amusement. Despite my thoughtfullness, he never showed in any of our battles. Go figure. --Max