David Aitken

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Egglayer wrote: Anyone care to make themselves useful for a change and provide a link to that thread? Maybe Aitken could do a search? (since he seems to have VIP access to the engine).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I can find threads if I already know where they are. I don't know where this one is, and I wouldn't tell you even if I did, because I've resigned. You can, however, approximate the thread by placing an infinite number of newbies in a room with an infinite number of CM map editors and asking them to test the effectiveness of AT weapons against infantry.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Mark I Mother wrote: (fortnight, to you metrics)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Britain uses the imperial system, you twit. I'm not sure what you think fortnight has to do with the metric system. It derives from a good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon word meaning, surprisingly enough, fourteen nights. Oh, and since when did you measure the size of time anyway?

Just got The British Army Handbook 1939-1945 (Lt Col George Forty) which has a couple of nice pictures of the Challenger. The first confirms the tank's high profile. I have highlighted the second – notice the lip to protect the turret ring. BTS's model appears to be missing some of the hull superstructure, which raises the large turret even higher.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>PawBroon wrote: Does that mean we are no more under the threat of having to cope with Threads dealing with paved roads and lack of 6 liners in downtown Glasgow?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It wasn't Glasgow, in the UK we say town centre not downtown, and I've no idea what a 6 liner is, but otherwise, yeah. Unless you stray onto my CM web page, where there is a link to the thread in question.

The next time I see someone on this forum accusing another of comparing apples to oranges, there is going to be fruit juice spilt on the carpet. BTS could probably encapsulate the spirit of the discussions surrounding the game by calling their next release CM3: Apples and Oranges (settle which is best once and for all!)...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Hiram wrote: I now play Baldur's Gate II as a break from life. Am I playing life wrong?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> My approach to life is to pick one or two things and do them properly. I intend to kill off CM, as the last computer game I play, because spending my free time immersing myself in an alternative world means that I don't have time to sort out my real-world affairs, and I end up lying awake at night trying to sort things out in my head which I should have done instead of playing games. I reckon that if I concentrate on the things that really matter, instead of trying to escape from them, they won't trouble me so much. I like to think about the world of a hundred years ago, when people didn't have television or computers – they didn't have a means to escape into other worlds, so the majority of what they saw and thought about was part of their own world, and immediately appropriate to them. I feel the same way about books and photographs – I prefer not to read fiction, and I recently sold my super-expensive digital camera, because I'm not sure I care to concern myself with anything which is not part of the immediate world around me. If I want something, I'll look for it myself in the real world, I won't rely on someone else's world to fill the gap. That's the theory anyway. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I do wish to be like you David insasmuch as I could use the search engine better.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The key to the search engine is to know the thread you're looking for and the people in it. In other words, it doesn't work, but it still has its uses. Unfortunately, in the digital world, a non-functioning artefact cannot receive a new lease of life as a bludgeon, and equally it escapes the threat of being bludgeoned itself. I hate computers, really I do.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I didn't say I was leaving the primordial pool, just the game.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Just to continue Mar Lo's convenient analogy, is that like using pornography instead? You are weak willed. Or you would be, if your idea had any mileage in it at all. I used to try and revive Bungie's Marathon by turning the display size down to 50%, low resolution, 8-bit colour, as used to be the most my 16MHz computer could cope with, playing it like that for an hour or two, and then turning everything back up to maximum. Very effective for a few minutes, but then you're back to normal. My motto is, you can never have too much of a good thing. If you have to abstain for a while in order to revive your interest, either it's wrong, or you're doing it wrong. That's why I have nothing and do nothing, and CM and this forum are my next victims. Don't you wish you could be like me?

Hooray! PL is finally buggering off! We knew he couldn't hack it forever. How long has he disgraced us with his presence, four months? Less?

lcm, it's nothing to do with the command. Whatever order you give, until the command delay is over and the unit starts moving, it does what the hell it likes. Therefore if it was hiding, before the 'crawl' order comes into effect it will sit up and fire at will, and then get back down and crawl after 8 or 13 seconds or whatever.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Mark IV wrote: The (t), of course, indicates that the vehicle was completely manufactured of tungsten*.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Those wacky Germans. I learned here a few months ago that the Tiger II was fashioned by Göring himself out of solid concrete. I'll bet the Russian AT mine designers were having panic attacks about getting their magnetic weapons to stick. Their solution has endured to this day and is widely available by its German name, Blu-TaK, or Blümmentritt Tank-Kannone.

Presumably they bought a Carden-Loyd, liked what they saw, and copied the design. The Illustrated Directory Of Tanks Of The World (David Miller/Christopher Foss) says "plagiarised". I think it's the Russians who bought various tanks from around the world and copied the best one. They ended up making the best job of the American Christie chassis, what we (the British) had and didn't make such a good job of). The Germans, on the other hand, took various armour doctrines from around the world and copied the best one (British), and used it to beat us at our own game. I'm 4/5ths of the way through Guderian's Achtung Panzer just now.

The Tiger II / Royal Tiger has two different appearances depending on the turret. I haven't yet made a point of checking whether the Porsche turret is modelled visually, but I think it's in the code. It is more rounded and prettier than the boxy Henschel, but not as good in terms of protection.

The original Krupp engine was replaced by a Maybach. I can't imagine any part of the tank was British, but it did copy some features of the Carden-Loyd light tanks. The chassis was used for sIG 33 SPGs, PzBefw Is, Panzerjäger Is and maybe others. Their career as the PanzerWurstWagen came to a sudden halt on September 11th 1942 when a convoy was ambushed by Hurricane fighter-bombers on a rhubarb mission and Hitler demanded a more secure method of bringing him his dinner.

Oh, and it's an initial variant (model A), with four roadwheels and a rear idler in contact with the ground. Later models have a longer chassis and more powerful engine.

You don't know what a PzKpfw I is, even when it has two handsome young chaps with silly hats on sitting on it with a look in their eyes which just screams "look at my shiny new PzKpfw I, which is armed with two MG34 machineguns, has 7-13mm armour and a maximum speed of 23mph, and later in the war was adapted as a chassis for command tanks and artillery pieces"? You, you, anti-grog! Get back to the Peng Thread, I'm sure they'll welcome you back after your daring exploits.

Millennium has two n's you twat! Call yourself a pretend Briton? [Edited because I thought of two things to say!] [ 09-09-2001: Message edited by: David Aitken ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Fairbairn-Sykes Trench Knife wrote: i'm sure you'll all agree that Hitler Youth groups were a great way to meet young men with similar interests...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Are you sure that's the Hitler Youth? It looks more like one of Thomas Hamilton's boys' clubs.

Am I hallucinating or is there a miniature rifleman with a Lee-Enfield riding on the back of that PIAT round?

To paraphrase the Bungie webmaster of old: The bad news is that, yes, we are waiting to release the game until your pubic hair turns grey and falls out. The good news is that this will be much sooner than you think.

I'll just dump these here and make off... Night NIGHT FIGHTING Did starshells make it? Are star shells and bridge demolition simulated? Night and illumination Lighting -other than fuses & flares Night combat revisited (long) illuminating rounds for night fights night time visability Flares at Night

I don't know if PawBroon has got the final file yet (his ISP said he was a failure and refused to deliver it), but I kicked his French backside all the way down the Chunnel, either west or east depending on whether you consider himself or the troops he was commanding. 'Twas mutiny, according to rune, in which case PB is in for a spot of bother back at HQ for disobeying orders and allowing his forces to be obliterated. Something tells me the score was 80-20, but I can't be sure, so I'll leave it up to my esteemed (or at least steamed) opponent to contradict me if he sees fit. That leaves Lawyer as my only opponent, if you discount the frozen games of Messrs. Biermann, Day, Hirschi and Meeks. I shall not be embarking upon any new games, as in three weeks (if I survive that long) I shall be leaving the country, and possibly not touching any computer game for a long time. The only reason I feel inclined to keep the computer itself is that it cost me a lot of money and I can probably use it for computer-type stuff. Combat Mission, however, falls into the game category and therefore becomes forbidden fruit because. I may also have to proceed without the benefit of loud music, which is roughly on a par with being forced to listen to nothing but Britney Spears and the Spice Girls. If I survive until my relocation, I shall most certainly be dead within another three weeks. There are, however, certain tradeoffs involved which may ease the transition, such as BEING SURROUNDED BY 18-YEAR-OLD GIRLS, but I have yet to warm to such human customs as would enable me to take full advantage of the situation. I would blame you lot for the fine mess you've gotten us into, but I know you're only puppets of the CIA and other such organisations who prey on pathetic loners for their own pernicious ends. For example, I can identify MarkIV as the man on the grassy knoll. You know no better, and if Bill Gates ever accidentally mails me the rights to Planet Earth, I may see fit to free you from your slavery. Right after I've knocked this ball of rock off its axis and into the Sun where it belongs. As you were.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Some guys who really know how to relax after a hard day's fighting in Bosnia.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Everett my dear chap, would you like to identify the white substance covering the persons pictured? You don't have to tell us if you think we wouldn't want to know.

PROOF! As if we needed it... Rimmel22 (and arguably most of the pixel pushing community here) can understand pictures, but not text!

Panzer Leader has had plenty of time to reflect on just how he managed to lose so many troops to the few units I had on the battlefield. I started off with two companies of regular infantry with three extra PIATs and three 3in mortars each, four marksmen and seven Cromwells. Rolling through the hills came the PL Sturm Panzer Divisionen. Within five minutes my Cromwells were burning, but he had lost four assault guns, a MkIV, a Wirbelwind (brought Wirbelwinds to a rainy scenario, gamey so-and-so!!), and a few troops. Then, disappointed with having suffered so little, he marched his troops in parade ground formation, FOs leading, straight towards the VLs. A mere company of my troops was largely responsible for inflicting 33% casualties on his force. After eventually breaking through, he endeavoured to enhance the effect by calling in 150mm and 300mm rockets in the general area of his own troops. The remnants of my first company at this stage were readying to leave the map. Rather than send my remaining company in to face roughly 10:1 odds, I withdrew them also, and PL was faced with the difficult task of manuevring the other 66% of his Panzer division onto the VLs while I waited for my 3in mortars to saunter off the map. PL rightly acknowledged that this battle was reflective of real war – everything happened towards the beginning and the end was an anticlimax. My initial pre-emptive strike failed, but tanks to PL's imaginative tactics I had little choice but to blow up some more of his stuff before I withdrew. He never had the chance to use the bulk of his assault force. Scatterbrain addendum: It should be noted that in the second picture above, the biggest crater is from PL's own rickets. The final score: only a tactical victory, 68-32. [ 08-29-2001: Message edited by: David Aitken ]

Good heavens, the lice are really coming out of the woodwork now. What did someone do, pour whisky onto them? Two of them, of the NZer and Phillies Sedai variety, can be found in the General forum discussing theology or something similarly more horrifying than even the taxonomic definition of a Bren gun.