David Aitken

Marlow wrote: > You will be a useful distraction on my journey to the Source of the Schloss Peng. What does the source of a castle look like? A quarry?

You're not the only person who has noticed this. Check out the following thread: Prisoner Bug In TCP/IP play BTS haven't said anything on the issue.

Jasper wrote: > And How did Patton win it for the Soviets? Read on. What, who are the Soviets? Was the Second World War not Germany and Japan versus the USA? Geez, next you'll be telling me that Hitler didn't die when Patton personally shot him... Doug Beman wrote: > If the Luftwaffe had had enough ooomph to run patrol flights over S England in May 1944, they might have done more against the Normandy invasion. They did send planes over, but it would have told them little they didn't already know. The south of England was clogged with soldiers and military equipment of every description, but so what? The Germans knew the invasion was coming, but they didn't know where, and simply looking at the preparations wouldn't tell them that. Have you never heard about the fake shipping moored opposite Calais, and the rumours spread that Patton was in charge? That's part of the reason Hitler believed the Normandy invasion was only a feint.

Elijah Meeks wrote: > Granted some of you imbeciles find football boring Not boring – are you suggesting that the average football fan has a quantifiable attention span? It's just exciting, and... not much else. Canned excitement. For people without memories or even a thought in their little heads. > and to you I say, "You're a moron." May I return the compliment. Now sod off back to whatever pole you came from, and this time don't forget to break through the ice and take a nice long bath in the lovely warm water.

I/O Error wrote: > Ah c'mon, somebody laugh. Top marks for effort. Now get lost, I'm pissed off because I spent an hour writing a masterful retort to Jeff Heidman in the Mac thread last night only to find that Steve had locked it. >

YES, GeForce2 cards as a built-to-order option! They may only be MXs, but the value is in breaking ATi's monopoly.

Toys! Shiny things! The smell of new computer hardware! Megahertz! Words with "i" at the beginning! Steve Jobs saying "pretty cool, huh?"! Now, where did I put that four grand... y'know, the one that should always materialise in my pocket after Macworld Expo keynotes...

The Mac versus PC argument will never end, and I don't see any point trying to resolve it here. The issue is far too complex – you can easily come up with rock-solid examples which prove that one is better than the other, from your particular perspective. The only completely unshakable argument you can make is that you, personally, like the way one or the other works, and it does what you want it to do. However, I don't think any informed person can disagree that Apple has been a powerful innovative force in the industry since the very birth of personal computers. Without Apple, the whole industry would have been dictated by IBM and Microsoft, and the computers we're using right now would be some kind of futuristic dream. Criticising Apple and the Mac OS is fair enough, but everyone who uses a modern computer should appreciate the part Apple has played in making computing an enjoyable experience. David

Yes, a battlefield of wrecked armour and the wails of a few pitiful survivors stand witness to the absolute 86-14 drubbing hereby issued to Mr. Babra. While his 5+ platoons of infantry rushed into the welcoming arms of my single 105mm battery and rather more plentiful 81mm mortars, both on and off-board, his armour quickly felt the gaze of my Hetzers and Pumas following it around. Babra started off badly, losing a Sherman V in a catastrophic explosion within the first few seconds of the meeting engagement, and went rapidly downhill. His claim to have neglected artillery due to the weather is clearly fallacious, due to the abundance of 2in mortars at his disposal (at least five, I swear it). Mr. Babra is warmly invited to send me a setup of his choosing (even though the last one was of his choosing too), to see whether he can engineer a victory this time around.

Well, I stay up overnight trying to get some work done before a meeting at 11am, then I trudge into Edinburgh fully expecting to be dismembered and have my bits yelled at and trampled into the ground, then through no shortage of smooth-talking, and cunning utilisation of metaphorical smokescreens, I somehow make it home alive, whereupon I fall asleep for a couple of hours and wake up not quite sure who or where I am – as if things weren't surreal enough, the board has in my absence turned into a playpark for a disturbed young fellow named Manieri. Funny how a bigot should have black and homosexual alter-egos. Someone should do a case study on him (or perhaps introduce him to the joys of plastic explosive). Medic...

Wildman wrote: > Is everyone still playing PBEMs with 1.05 or the new beta patch. It's a good idea not to play important or long-running games with the beta. > Are the two compatible and what other differences does the 1.1b? patch have. You should not use a different version to your opponent, as this may lead to anomalies. To find out what's changed, read the documentation that comes with the patch. David

Exactly. When there's a lot of lead pinging around, a sniper is not going to be presented with a lot of targets. Everyone will already be keeping their heads down.

KiwiJoe wrote: > I think the pause is realistic most of the time, its a really good, simple system. Unfortunitly it has 1 major floor IMO. That is when the turn ends with your little M8 or halftrack in full los of a Panther or some such. Obviously you have no chance of a kill and need to find cover fast. But you are stuck to the spot for 13 secs (reg crew), whilst the panther rips you a new ass. Pretty unrealistic and crappy. I'm not quite sure that makes sense. What happens if your M8 ends up in LOS of a Panther halfway through the turn? You can't issue it orders at all, you've got to just hope it saves itself. So why is there a problem if it happens at the end of a turn? It's only a problem if you insist on giving it orders yourself. If you just leave it to its own devices, it will do what it would have done at any other point. David

rvalle wrote: > What should I buy? If you've got 4500 points to spend, there's nothing specific you should be buying – just make sure you have a well-rounded force. Don't just buy individual units – buy groups of supporting units, such as tanks with tank destroyers, or tanks with recce vehicles, or SP guns with tank destroyers. Visualise the kind of fighting you'll be doing on the given terrain and pick units accordingly. For example, on-board mortars are less useful on hilly or forested terrain, since LOS is limited. Build your force around one or two cores, instead of just buying a generic spread of units. That may not mean anything to you until you're more used to the game. =) > Any suggestions? If he says: > that will give me enough troops to attack three times before I run out of troops. ...then attack once. If you attack three times you'll just fritter away your forces. Make a plan and devote all your forces towards it (of course, secondary attacks can be made as support or a diversion, as long as they benefit the main attack). Don't rush in. Lie low and size up the situation. Send scouts forward to take a look around (remember scouts work best when allowed to just stop and look). But once you reveal your forces, keep moving. If you reveal them and just sit around, they will meet destruction in short order. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and also tends to avoid artillery barrages and flanking maneuvres. And most importantly of all, don't believe you're going to lose, or you will. You have every chance of winning. Have confidence in what you're doing. Don't make assumptions about your opponent – especially the assumption that he's in control. A good commander won't reveal that things are going badly until all is lost, so don't lose heart. Just do your best with what you've got, and persevere until the end. Shandorf wrote: > First 3 words. You are screwed. This, Rich, is an example of an inveterate loser. Goes into battle believing he's doomed and acts accordingly. You'll never win if you think like that. Bad Jeff, that's it, you're sacked from the role of Morale Officer. I think bauhaus would do a better job. David

It very much depends on the specific kind of woods, and the time of year. The most open woods would be controlled and deciduous during winter, whereas the densest would be natural and evergreen. By 'controlled' I mean planted in rows as such: You can see how long LOS is parallel to the trees, and how short it is diagonally. These are deciduous trees, but I wouldn't fancy trying my luck with a grenade: PS. These are Scottish woods, so not dissimilar to what you'd find on the continent. David

Maybe because the spotter's clock is an estimate?

What kind of a movement order are you using? The tank should move if you tell it to Move or Fast Move. If you tell it to Hunt it won't go anywhere, because it's already got a target.

Joe Shaw wrote: > Can we, for Pete's sake (we all know how sensitive Pete is), drop the 2000 US Election? Bah, I wasn't talking about your election! No matter how big it seems to you lot, it is of no interest to me. For the past couple of years all we've heard is "gosh, look at the size of the US's election!", and Bush and Gore have taken turns to be on top, and then at the last minute they got into trouble for liking it too much, but ultimately the election went floppy for Gore and Bush kept a firm hold of it, so now Bush is going to be permanently elect for the next few years while Gore looks elsewhere to have his drooping ego massaged. And thanks to Bill Clinton we all know the difficulties of being elect, especially with all those interns running around.

Hoopenfaust2 wrote: > If you really want realism to this GAME why don't you complain about the wheat field model. CM is more of a simulator than a game. I'm amazed at the number of people who justify deliberate innacuracy or "gaminess" on the basis that it is a "game". BTS seek to make CM as realistic as is feasible. There are obvious plenty of things which haven't gone into the game, because there was a limit to what two guys and a few volunteers could achieve. But everything that has gone in is justifiable and accurate within the constraints of computer power and playability. People like quoting the "flying camera" as evidence that CM cannot be realistic. They forget that this is practically the only concession in order to make the game playable. You don't do this much research and produce a game this accurate, and then go "ah, what the hell, it's only a game, let's throw in cool Hollywood explosions!". The enjoyment you get from CM is knowing that if you achieved something, it is a tangible achievement in real-world terms. Not like "whoa, I sure toasted your @$$ with the BFG!".

Lorak wrote: > Fionn contacted me in an e-mail and ask that I pass this along. Fionn's expulsion from the board was of course a BTS cover-up. As has become plainly obvious, he has been wired into the BTS server and, while maintaining his silence to avoid suspicion, orchestrates a strategic intelligence campaign, constructing psychological profiles of all board members, cataloguing attitudes towards CM and suggestions for the future, conducting a behind-the-scenes subterfuge campaign via e-mail with trusted board veterans, and when things get out of hand, acting as a forward observer and calling in tactical Madmatt strikes on unruly members. Every word posted on the board passes through Fionn's conscious. He has, however, attracted the attention of Interpol due to the mysterious disappearances of "JOCHEN PEIPER" and "CPT_STRANSKY", who are rumoured to have been incarcerated at BTS HQ, for purposes of research leading to the hotly anticipated Historically Accurate Blood And Gore Engine™ tipped for CM2.

Yeah Charles, but you get paid for being scary. Strange as I try to be, no-one has yet given me money for it. =) Give me a few years, I'll work it out...

I currently have my good monitor and speakers hooked up to a Compaq Presario. I'm trying to use my Mac with a godawful Compaq monitor and some naff Sony speakers, but it is hard. I could retreat back to the good kit, but then I've got to use Windoze. I have nowhere to go! David PS. But I'll still cut down Babra's fleeing Englanders before they can make it home in time for a game of cricket, even if I have to do it in 1024x768 @ 60Hz.

Is backspace not to cancel a movement order? I think X is for cancelling a target order.

Mark IV wrote: > Kipling is the worst sort of ugly-Englishman jingo imperialist doggerel ever put to paper... We leave that kind of thing to you lot nowadays. =P > and is not at all a neurotic introspective touchy-feely anachronistic somnambulatory and, dare I say, narcissistic, piece of boring filth like TLR, the release of which sadly approximated that of SPR so closely as to completely eclipse that of the "other" and good war movie, "When Trumpets Fade". Now I understand why war movies are to be found in shops' "action" section instead of "drama". Thrills and spills, eh? > None of which excuses M. PawBOOM for existing, ceasing to exist, or re-existing. But he has certainly shamed the Saxon/Pictish elements of the 'Pool, which, predictably, is rather easy to do. Ha, if I were currently as idle as I usually am, I could have regailed you all with the history of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. (If I hadn't lost the school project where it was all written.) My late Great Uncle trained with them during the Second World War at their headquarters, Stirling Castle, although he was transferred to the Durham Light Infantry before going into action. He fought at El Alamein, but unfortunately he wouldn't talk about his service, partly because it upset him, and partly because it ended when he sustained head injuries in a motorcycle accident and I never knew him as much of a conversationalist. Anyway, I went to Stirling Castle to try and do some research on his service – which was futile, due to his transfer – but this talk of the 91st and 93rd regiments rings a few bells. Croda wrote: > Crappy movie with unbelieveable characters. A poor attempt at making a Hippie PTO Full Metal Jacket on the scale of The Longest Day. It sucked and you just say you like it beacuse you feel smarter for thinking you understood it. I should probably become a film critic then. I don't watch films for a nice understandable story with a beginning, middle and end. I don't care for fiction. I watch films because I think the writers and directors have something to say, and can use sound and images to convey it. The Thin Red Line made a lot of sense to me. Saving Private Ryan was impressive but, like Gladiator, just seemed like a run-of-the-mill story with lots of loud special effects. The character development in TTRL was very appropriate and convincing, not the token effort to be found in most war movies. It takes a real man not to even flinch in the face of Jim Caviezel's monologues... =P

Now that was spooky.