Andreas

*cough* *splutter*Abbot is right*cough* *splutter*. Never thought I'd say that. All the best Andreas

Seriously though, using surplus electricity for transport is a neat idea. Downside is that it will really demand a lot of extra power capacity. To give you the idea - in 2005 EU27 transport energy demand was 372 million tonnes oil equivalent (Mtoe). Net electricity generation was 237 Mtoe. Assuming most transport is oil (>90%), and it is used at 20-25% efficiency, while electricity is used at 100% efficiency in a car, you need to add 30-40% generating capacity. Existing capacity is about 620 GW, so you need about 210+ GW extra. A KW installed sets you back by about €1,500. If I got my math right that's an investment volume of € 315 billion, not including network reinforcements and control infrastructure to ensure that the cars don't all recharge after the evening commute home. You can easily add the same again for that, is my guess. It's an interesting concept, but it ain't cheap. All the best Andreas

Or you could just create a giant kettle heating element and stick it into the Irish Sea to waste all that energy, that'll really piss off the Irish, and they'd want Sellafield back in no time, while you'd finally have a beach to go to to swim without freezing your willy off. Sounds like a win-win to me. All the best Andreas

Haven't come across these guys. But 3,000 MW is not exactly a lot. Still useful. All the best Andreas

The reciprocating gas engines. 45%ish efficiency, rapid start-up. Oswald needs to get out of the turbine box. All the best Andreas

Oswald is making the mistake that he is thinking only turbines for back-up. The Finns have something better (quel surprise...) http://www.wartsila.com Texas has just ordered a bucket-load of them to provide backup for wind. Nuclear is clearly part of the solution - but it should be kept in mind that it is baseload, and can therefore not really supply more than 30/40 percent (informed guessing) of your demand at the most, unless you are interconnected with other regions that want to import your power. So when you read that the French get 80% of their power from nuclear next time, remember that they send a lot of their nuclear surplus to Germany, Italy, the Benelux, and the UK. All the best Andreas

I liked the Yakuza. Nice touch. You can get a copy of the book on Amazon.co.uk, at a paltry UKP 570 + P&P, or go to the École des Mines library in Paris and read it there: http://rocks.ensmp.fr/cgi-bin/koha/opac-MARCdetail.pl?bib=101316 Of course, now that I have divulged this information, the Reptoidyakuza will burn the 2nd hand book store in the UK, and steal the book from the library. Or the other way round. All the best Andreas

The turn length I would not choose again - it was one of the first CMBB scenarios I did (obviously), and the turn length was based on experience from CMBO, which did not translate well. All the best Andreas

Ah... Forgot about those guys. Thanks! All the best Andreas

Neither, they were an infantry or a Churchill tank unit (4th Battalion only). http://www.reenact.com/coldstream_history.htm All the best Andreas

Another question - when getting Windows XP, is it possible to buy the OEM version (which costs less than half than the normal version) and install it? What are the drawbacks of that? Many thanks! All the best Andreas

Wrong All the best Andreas

Jon is right. All the best Andreas

4GB are a given, even though not at Apple's extortionate prices. All the best Andreas

It is mostly going to be used for internet, photos, and light office stuff. My current (XP) laptop has a 5,400rpm drive, and I have an external 7,200 - the difference is noticeable, I find. I want to get it now since we are moving country, so no need to keep the French laptop, and a colleague of mine is going to the US, which means it reduces the price for the MBP by about 30%. I think in terms of processor speed it is going to be plenty fast enough. All the best Andreas

Thanks for that Mark, very helpful! The biggest drive is the 4,200 rpm 300GB - experience with my current laptop would lead me to go for a smaller, but faster drive instead (the smallest is the 200 GB 7,200 rpm, the medium is 250 GB 5,400 rpm). What drive speed does yours have? All the best Andreas

After a few years in the wilderness that is Windows, I am going to treat myself to a Mac (17" Macbook Pro, latest version with the nVidia 8600). What is the current state of affairs regarding running CMBB and CMAK on these? My understanding is: 1) I will need to partition a section of the HDD for a Windows installation - emulators won't do it 2) XP is better than Vista How much HDD space is recommended for this? I am tempted by going for the 200 MB HDD because it is the fastest, but I guess I may end up with too little space? I am using a 250 MB external HDD for storing of pictures to manage space now (my current laptop has a 100MB HDD), and will keep that approach - are 100 + 100 sufficient for an OS X and a XP partition? Anything else I need to be aware of? Many thanks in advance for the help! All the best Andreas

Try 'The Dirt Road' It is a horse-drawn prime mover, and they are pushing a 75mm IG18, light infantry gun. I thought you had played the scenario. All the best Andreas

Here is the picture: And the text on the back: All the best Andreas

Honestly, I have no idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time when I designed it. Thanks. I think I still try to do this in my scenario design, since I find it most enjoyable. Some basic rules (which I try to follow, even though I may not always) for me are: - Don't lie to the player (unless it is historically defensible - but even then it should be used sparingly). So better to give foggy or incomplete info than outright lies. - Use historically accurate forces (the ones in Gefechtsaufklärung are - the force mix is on a picture taking by my grandfather in 1941). - No tricks. It should be up to the competence of a player to win, or not. I still think BFC should have used Gefechtsaufklärung as a demo scenario. All the best Andreas

No. Tell us something we did not already know. All the best Andreas

You need to learn to stay at your place in the line, mate. Thus spoke he. All the best Andreas

ISTR that one of the earlier small infantry division waves was conceived as primarily static defense, with a large load-out of WW I vintage HMGs (not mobile, but still good firepower). All the best Andreas

I think what you are missing is that there were hardly an MG battalions. http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/MGBataillone/Gliederung.htm All the best Andreas

Just see the losses taken from the barrage as a loss of unit cohesion. It would not be realistic to get everyone together in the time of a scenario in any case. Regarding the other, no I don't think you should be able to switch in a 45-60 minute scenario. I don't think it worked like this. Either the guys were told before the action to work as HMGs, or as infantry. A drop off the hat switch is not realistic in my view. My 2 cents on the matter. All the best Andreas