David Aitken

I'm sure it's a special feature of the service. It probably reads your mind, and then blocks your access when it thinks you should be doing something more productive. Soon they'll have perfected the Javascripts to display the appropriate message, such as "Ohh-ho-ho no you don't! That's enough PBEMing - go and mow the lawn / feed the cat / try and remember whether you have a family or not. Access will be re-established when your wife / girlfriend / mum says so." ------------------ They lost all of their equipment and had to swim in under machine gun fire. As they struggled in the water, Gardner heard somebody say, "Perhaps we're intruding, this seems to be a private beach."

Giftig wrote: > Anyone had friendly fire vehicle casualties? I can't find the thread, but I remember someone talking about their American vehicular force (maily halftracks I think) practically wiping itself out in the dark. ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

chrisl wrote: > the hamsters and gerbils cut loose with a chorus of "Good Show", "Beautiful Shot" and other complimentary words? It was actually an early form of nose camera. A gerbil would ride on the back of your shell and radio back to you where it was headed. Then it would return on the shockwave of the explosion - they actually had a crew member whose sole purpose was to catch flying gerbils. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

This is partly a map design issue. Ideally a map wouldn't require you to be fighting close to the edge. David [This message has been edited by David Aitken (edited 09-09-2000).]

Units should stop firing if friendlies enter their target area, but that assumes they notice the friendlies. Don't try this at night - your men won't be able to tell who's shooting, and may return fire. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Trucks and jeeps aren't designed to survive a firefight, so crews tend to abandon them if the enemy so much as waves. Keep them out of sight of the enemy at all times. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Don't believe what anyone tells you, the Germans are actually discussing the merits of hamsters versus gerbils. "Ja Franz, ze gerbils are fearsome combatants..." "Look out, Willi! Amis behind you!" ::BLAM:: ::click-clack:: ::BLAM:: "Ja, und as I vas saying, ze hamstertruppen are no match for ze gerbiljägers..." ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

My fan base grows by the minute... ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many." [This message has been edited by David Aitken (edited 09-08-2000).]

There is no capacity for shadows in the CM engine - the only shadows in the game are graphical effects under vehicles. This would effectively be the opposite of flares (ie. dynamic lighting effects) which some people have asked for. Such features might make it into CM2, or might not. In realistic terms, being in shadow might not make you less visible. If you're sitting in a shadow with light ground behind you, you'll be silhouetted, and much more visible than if you were in the light. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

What the Sassenachs don't know (and don't give the game away, just let them make a fool of themselves) is that Israel beat them by at least two thousand years. I prefer Radiohead myself. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Mattias wrote: > the reload time of (last time I saw it) 20 seconds is probably pretty generous. There was a thread about this, but I'll risk contradicting any conclusions that have already been made. I'd have thought the crew member responsible for reloading the AVRE's mortar would be pretty well trained in doing it quickly, so 20 seconds doesn't seem strange. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

The Peng Thread ("Cesspool" be damned, and Minnesota Joe too) is an indispensible part of the Combat Mission experience, if only as home to some artistic gems from yours truly. It is also rather funny in places, but it's not the same these days (what is?). David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

I hear the suggestive names in Captain Pugwash are a myth. If they really were like that, you'd think someone would have noticed. I'm sure there was a scandal at one point, though... ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

I think * is 50% and ** is 75%. This was introduced in 1.05. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Das Boot wrote: > > Rob/1 wrote: > > Good by till CM2 comes out > > That should have been "good buy" Third time lucky - how about "good bye"? Of course, I'm sure CM2 will be a good buy... David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Mannheim Tanker wrote: > happen to know why BTS chose to depict craters this way? Going on the available evidence, it seems that craters in the game aren't generally very deep. Vehicles can pass through them without much trouble, so they can probably be classified as either 'shallow' or 'not so shallow'. The former are regarded as being no different from the terrain they're in (remember that even Open Ground affords some cover), but the latter are deep enough to provide significant cover, and are thus classified separately. I'm not an expert on shell craters, but this seems to be the way the game handles them. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

I've done some testing - it seems that all kinds of vehicles can move through a crater, it just slows them down a bit. They don't get hull down status, but I'm not sure if they afford any extra cover. Infantry certainly treat craters as foxholes. Note: not all craters are regarded as craters - the darker ones only. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

One thing to consider is, while there's only one guy left in your squad, there are also probably a lot of your wounded in there too. This doesn't make any difference in the game, but in reality I'm sure those concerned would be a bit reluctant to torch a house with friendly casualties inside. Also, in reality, your guys are more likely to think there are friendlies in there, than to assume that they've all bought it. For example, a squad goes into a building, and that's the last anyone sees of it. If you tell your guys to torch that building, they don't know what's happened to the squad, so they probably wouldn't do it. However, the reality of war is that a lot of men are killed either for no reason, or by their own side. David ------------------ Major General Maxwell Taylor found himself with several officers but only two or three enlisted men. "Never," he told them, "have so few been commanded by so many."

Minnesota Joe wrote: > You guys gotta come up with an official name for yourselves. I doubt there is any foreseeable possibility of a truce between those aligned with the Army of Peng and those aligned with the Hamster Liberation Front. As such, the denizens of the Peng Thread will never be tarred with the brush that is an all-encompassing title. David ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

Minnesota Joe wrote: > Give me some credit, allready... I'm inclined to string you up from the nearest lamp post, if that's of any consolation to you. =P David ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

As I understand it, an Elite squad will effectively be Elite throughout. A Regular squad may incorporate a mixture of Veterans and Green troops. A Green squad, likewise, will be more or less entirely Green, with maybe one or two guys of higher or lower calibre. So, in other words, I'm not sure it would make a significant difference to account for the loss of a squad's more experienced members. Maybe if CM or its successors ever have 1:1 representation of troops (not something I endorse, and not something we're likely to see in the near future), then this kind of detail will be modelled - but at the moment it's on an entire different level of realism. David ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

Meeks, you twit. In case you hadn't noticed, JOCHEN PEIPER was a reviled stain on our lovely message board - not a cherised figurehead. You're not supposed to pick up where he left off with the off-topic threads. Back into your hole! Back! ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

Meeks, you nutter. Who let you out of your cage tonight? ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

I was just wondering, if "nothing" could survive a direct hit from a 14" shell, would five metres of concrete be classified as "nothing"? David ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT

Jaded wrote: > New players come into this forum every day, and David trying to swat them away with "That's already been discussed." isn't exactly sending a positive message. What is your problem? That is by far the most sensible and useful thing to tell someone who brings up a subject that's already been discussed. They should go and read what's already been said, and if they have anything really new to add (rather than just dragging up the subject for the sake of it), then they are free to speak their mind. And I can assure you, if it weren't me, it would be any number of other people, including Steve, telling you the same thing. > Anyway, 'nuff said. Next time I have a feature suggestion I'll just email it to BTS rather than getting into a brawl here. A brawl... what a joke. David ------------------ There's a splinter in your eye, and it reads REACT