Seanachai

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lorak: And Seanachai, I love your sig quote. Lorak<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Why thank you, sir. This bit of info always struck my imagination. I imagine the Fionn has a feeling for this quote (although, in his case, he's probably been more concerned about the tunneling beneath his feet...) ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ol' Blood & Guts: 11. When you find yourself trying to rotate the view in a POTD. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thank the gods, I thought I was the only one trying to do this. I'd go over to the CMHQ and read an article or example, and start cursing because my attempts to move the mouse around wasn't shifting the view! 16. When you get the urge to set up a MG42 bunker in your front yard for the mailma..err, uh...never mind. Don't do it, sir! Not only are many of them able to return a higher rate of fire, but they are the people who will be bringing you your game! ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

Double post. I think this one was actually my fault... [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-22-2000).]

Sigh, double post. [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-22-2000).]

I played a game of VoT (SPOILER?) where my Panther had whacked the last of the Shermans, then charged down into Plomville where a whopping infantry slug-out was taking place. My few Germans were in the houses (or in the rubble of them), with squads and heavy weapons trying to suppress them while multiple squads charged the buildings. The Panther rolled into town and started shooting everyone up, and the Allied FOs dropped so much smoke that the entire area, from the slopes of the German hill to the road T, the whole village, and the upper slopes of hill 198 where one dense mass of smoke for several turns, with more coming all the time. I had to turn smoke off with the hotkeys just to try and issue orders (what I could, as no one could see or do anything!). ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pak40: Hey, Seanachai Is that book that you're reading (about Geilenkirchen) about the 82 or 87 Division? I think I read thaat one.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> 84th (the Railsplitters), and Brit 43rd (Wessex Division) made the attack. Apparently Eisenhower wanted the Brits to take the town/salient out, and lent them a newly arrived American Division when they said they couldn't do it with only one division (which is all they had available). Title of the book is: Assault on Germnay: the Battle for Geilenkirchen by Ken Ford. Interesting thing about the 84th is that apparently it had a normal genesis, but shortly before it shipped overseas it received a large influx of guys who'd been part of a specialized training program (the soldiers involved had IQs of 120 or better). The specialist training program was shut down by Congress for funding reasons, and these high IQ types were given rifles and dumped into normal combat infantry divisions. Apparently all these college educated soldiers were somewhat miffed with the Army, as any of them would have qualified for OTS, but volunteered for this 'specialized' training program, and ended up carrying M1s through the mud of the German/Netherlands border fighting. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

Oops, forgot the On Topic part. Currently 'between positions' (which is why so many of my posts are on vampire time), but for previous 10 years Shipping/Receiving. Remember, without me and those like me, none of you would ever receive your copies of CM...(finally got my signature straightened out...now the bloody double posting...) ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stenmur: Remember, Mines are only good if you remember where you left them. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> On the couch, of course. Slipcovers are for old women... ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads.

Lord, another double post. It seems to have something to do with my stupid ISP dropping me... Sorrry. [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-20-2000).]

Whoops, I made a serious error in my previous post. The 'suddenly missing Church Steeples' incident happened to an American FO in the town of St. Lo during the Hedgerows battles after the push off from the beaches. Guess I shouldn't be reading several books at once! ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

My favourite Willy & Joe cartoon (and forgive me if I swap names on this one, it's been a while since I saw it), had the two of them curled up in a bunker at night, one squinting along the barrel of a .45 taking aim at a rat less than 2 feet away, and the other holding a flashlight on it saying: "Careful, Willy, they charge when wounded." ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WWIIRulz: Speaking of church towers being #1 target spots, I remember reading in Stephen Ambrose's D-Day, how all the Allied artillery spotters would call in artillery right away on church towers even if they knew nobody was up there because it was most likely that an Axis FO would be up there. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm reading a book on the battle for Geilenkirchen in Germany, and there's an anecdote in there about a Brit Artillery spotter deciding that the steeple on this village church was in good enough shape to use for fire control, and went to round up his team. When they got back the Germans had hit the area with artillery fire and had shot both steeples off the church. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: Probably because none of us really think of this as a highly critical feature, and therefore never use it. Please keep in mind that the reason you guys are all playing around with this setting is because you only have two sceanrios to play with, and only one of which is new. I personally have *NEVER* changed the setting in a real game. There is no need. The scenarios are balanced and therefore why mess around with the settings? Even a proportional system would totally undo the balancing. Also keep in mind that a modest increase (125%) usually doesn't exhibt wildly strange forces. But you guys are hungry for new ways to play the same old same old, so you're pushing things to the limits. I think that once you have the full game you won't care about this issue one way or the other Steve<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Too true, but I have to say, part of the charm of this game is the ability to 'replay' scenarios, and have them still be challenging. There are several games that I've played, especially on a tactical level, that have small replay value (unless you got your arse kicked the first time, or are trying for a 'better' final result, etc.), becaue once you know the 'trick', you know how best to proceed. And usually the attempts to make the replay more challenging involve the game giving the AI 'unrealistic' (read: cheat) advantages. I would love for replay to involve giving the AI more strength, as opposed to annoying things like better chances to kill, better intel about the enemy, etc. And I agree that this isn't necessarily a top priority change in the game, but I would dearly love to see a 'balanced, but somewhat random' augmentation of forces implemented at some point, so that beloved scenarios/battles against the AI could be replayed from the viewpoint of: Ha! I'll give you an even stronger force, and still strike you sharply about the head, my lad, and drive you back whimpering to your Mother! -Seanachai, recent arrival, trying to work up the spit to play a PBEM game. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

Sorry, for some reason my software keeps double posting. I'll look into this! [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-18-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Moon: Here's one lesson which I have learned painfully over and over while playing CM (and still often am doing wrong): you tanks are NOT recon vehicles. Do not put them into overview of a large area of the map, no matter how tempting. Restrict their field of view to a narrow arc, so that they cannot be engaged by more than one enemy target at once. Use your other assets to be the eyes for your tanks, and keep your armor out of view until you have identified the target. That is especially true with the vulnerable Shermans...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> This game is entertaining on so many levels, I sometimes don't know where to begin. This sort of tactical/historical learning curve thing is one of the game's most intriguing aspects. Many people with a surface exposure to military history/wargaming, regard tanks as battlefield kings, invincible killing machines that only other, even 'higher rep' tanks can kill. This is, of course, lunacy. The truth is, depending on the circumstances, tanks are very expensive targets. When used properly, they can decimate the opposition. When used arogantly, they make for quite a cheery weenie roast. And this game models that wonderfully. In CE I've usually had much more trouble keeping my Stugs alive than my Shermans. In fact, in a couple of games as the Germans, it's been up to half-shattered infantry squads to knock out arrogant Shermans, that, in the later stages of the game, have come within reach. I remember one game in which my Panzerschrecks were either dead, or out of rockets, my Assault Guns were dead, or immobilized in a useless position (to this day, I don't know if that immobilized Stug caught an early artillery round, hit mud, or threw a track for reasons insufficiently explored, but the bloody thing was within feet of its jumping off point, and sitting there helpless), and the last Sherman came up to within 60 MMs! of the Church, and I had three badly shot-up, morale challenged infantry units there, all still with panzerfausts, and all targeted on that arrogant Sherman, who was sitting there blasting the daylights out of everything in sight. And I was literally sitting in front of the computer (probably scaring the fecal matter out of the neighbours) chanting "Get UP, Goddamnit! Fire! He's Right There! Kill Him, Kill Him! Oh for the love the great Moltke himself, get on your bloody feet and take him out!". And finally one squad rose to it's shaky knees, aimed, and put a rocket right into the swine, and torched him as well. It was a sublime moment. Let me finish this somewhat pointless text (in that it provides no help to the original question, although that has been adequately addressed here already), by making a point that I wanted to make to another poster on the games AI: The beauty of CM, and the reason it is so worth having, is not because once you get your act together you can usually beat the AI, but for those moments even during a game when you are victorious in which everything narrows down to feverish, nail-biting intensity as you use everything you've got and it all comes together, whether you win or lose IN THAT MOMENT, rather than how you do in the game overall. After all, let's face it. The Allies won in Europe, won in most every battle against a flagging and nearing exhaustion Germany, and there was never any real chance they wouldn't win. "Combat Mission" nicely models the fact that the journey, rather than the destination, is all the point of play. Or, to misquote Shakespeare: "The plays the thing, in which I'll catch the conscience of the king..." Gods, aren't I a long-winded and pontificating bastard? But I do truly love this game! ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Barbarossa: I was playing VOT as the Germans and had 3 squads along the north edge of the map hold up in a wooden building when US artillery spotting rounds began to fall. I immediately gave my 3 squads orders sprint out of the building and directly away from the area where a few rounds had hit when the very next turn the AI had somehow "knew" exactly where I was going to withdraw to and had zeroed in on my squads, decimating them. How could the AI have possibly known that I was going to leave and in which direction and at what speed? Was this just a coincidence or I am missing something? I searched on this item and only found a discussion back in November on AI retarget times, not AI retargeting locations. Barbarossa<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, of course the US forces have 4 artillery spotters on map during the game, able to adjust fire as needed. And if placed on the height the US controls at the beginning, they have a pretty good field of view. Their ability to adjust fire so quickly is a little problematic, not sure about that facet of it. Also, I suppose they could have gone for a 'wide target' command. I called in artillery on German positions during the game I played, and found them quite able to pulverize a fairly significant area (sometimes, I'm sure, inadvertently as they sprayed an area). More detail on how far and fast your troops moved, how quick artillery responded, etc., might make it easier for the (many) more knowledgeable people on this board or BTS to respond more satisfactorily. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Barbarossa: I was playing VOT as the Germans and had 3 squads along the north edge of the map hold up in a wooden building when US artillery spotting rounds began to fall. I immediately gave my 3 squads orders sprint out of the building and directly away from the area where a few rounds had hit when the very next turn the AI had somehow "knew" exactly where I was going to withdraw to and had zeroed in on my squads, decimating them. How could the AI have possibly known that I was going to leave and in which direction and at what speed? Was this just a coincidence or I am missing something? I searched on this item and only found a discussion back in November on AI retarget times, not AI retargeting locations. Barbarossa<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, of course the US forces have 4 artillery spotters on map during the game, able to adjust fire as needed. And if placed on the height the US controls at the beginning, they have a pretty good field of view. Their ability to adjust fire so quickly is a little problematic, not sure about that facet of it. Also, I suppose they could have gone for a 'wide target' command. I called in artillery on German positions during the game I played, and found them quite able to pulverize a fairly significant area (sometimes, I'm sure, inadvertently as they sprayed an area). More detail on how far and fast your troops moved, how quick artillery responded, etc., might make it easier for the (many) more knowledgeable people on this board or BTS to respond more satisfactorily. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wolfe: Reading over in: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/004397.html I counted a total of 7 ricochets off the front of my Panther from Shermans moving up, taking 1 shot, and popping smoke before my Panther could wheel its turret around and return fire. That's one nasty AI. And one tough tank. In another game, I had 4 shots from 'Zook teams at ~50m bounce off the frontal armor of the Panther without doing any damage. Unlucky? Or is this supposed to happen? [This message has been edited by Wolfe (edited 05-16-2000).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> When I played VoT (as the Allies), I had the good fortune to have aready taken control of the victory condition hill where the Panther comes in. While the Panther was busy trying to blast my infantry already on the hill, I drove a Sherman suddenly up over the brink of the hill, at the same time that I got 2 bazooka teams into the woods on the hill within @100-120 mm from the Panther. The Sherman fired, and immobilized the Panther, one of the bazooka teams fired, and hit the frontal armor of the Panther, achieving nothing, but the other bazooka team, who had a bit more of a flank shot managed to pierce the turret. All of this at fairly short range. Panthers seem fairly tough, and I was glad not to have to engage this one at any longer distances! ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wolfe: Reading over in: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/004397.html I counted a total of 7 ricochets off the front of my Panther from Shermans moving up, taking 1 shot, and popping smoke before my Panther could wheel its turret around and return fire. That's one nasty AI. And one tough tank. In another game, I had 4 shots from 'Zook teams at ~50m bounce off the frontal armor of the Panther without doing any damage. Unlucky? Or is this supposed to happen? [This message has been edited by Wolfe (edited 05-16-2000).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> When I played VoT (as the Allies), I had the good fortune to have aready taken control of the victory condition hill where the Panther comes in. While the Panther was busy trying to blast my infantry already on the hill, I drove a Sherman suddenly up over the brink of the hill, at the same time that I got 2 bazooka teams into the woods on the hill within @100-120 mm from the Panther. The Sherman fired, and immobilized the Panther, one of the bazooka teams fired, and hit the frontal armor of the Panther, achieving nothing, but the other bazooka team, who had a bit more of a flank shot managed to pierce the turret. All of this at fairly short range. Panthers seem fairly tough, and I was glad not to have to engage this one at any longer distances! ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

Oops, double post [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-16-2000).]

When I first picked up the Demo of CM, I didn't have much hope for the AI, as this is one of the most difficult areas of programming, and where games normally fall down. I have to say, I've been very impressed with the AI so far. It doesn't seem as strong on attack, but still does a very reputable job. Also, I didn't expect the AI to play as well as a human, and I don't think anyone who isn't wilfully naive could expect it either. I mean, really, it's taken a supercomputer programmed with expert chess knowledge to match a human grandmaster (and still not do better than 'match' the human player). Even in games where I've beaten the AI, there have been a number of times and sections of the battle where I was working hard to keep things together. I've also seen some extremely clever behaviour and tactics from the AI, to the point where I began to wonder if the AI was rigged (as it is in so many games, where it's the only way the game could even give a human player a run). In fact, what pleases me most about this game is that the AI isn't artificially boosted, and doesn't have any advantages the human player doesn't have. Your suggestion that BTS 'tinker' with the engine to give the AI special advantages strikes me as wrong-headed. Also, I've played some scenarios over, and even with knowledge of what I was facing and how to meet it, the AI still sometimes caught me flat-footed. Not to mention that some of my most significant victories could have gone completely differently without a few luck factors. For example, in VoT (POSSIBLE SPOILER, although there's already been enough discussion of the scenario here, that I doubt it): One of my reinforcement Sherman's on it's first turn on map managed to put a shell right through the slit on the concrete pillbox with the 75mm gun. If I hadn't managed that, I'm sure the game could have gone quite a bit differently. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Username:: Not saying it isnt fun. I want the game for fast, fun, challenging firefights without waiting for an oponant to email me back. I aint getting it. Too bad. Lewis<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hmm, and I don't mean this be insulting, but perhaps you've picked up the wrong sort of game. Perhaps you'd be happier with an FPS. This game is exactly what I was looking for: a thoughtful, well-executed game that brought balance to laying out tactics and unit direction with more realistic execution and interaction. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-16-2000).]

Oh, and Inside Mac Games has launched a new site, Macgamefiles.com, and they've got it as their lead Demo and one of their 'hot' downloads (64 downloads when I checked, and the site's only been up a day or two. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads [This message has been edited by Seanachai (edited 05-15-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: Thanks! Just curious - what sites are you seeing it mentioned on? Charles<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> 'Inside Mac Games' magazine's site has a nice blurb on it, as they have had on this game right along (it's where I found out about it, originally). ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads

"This will be my only post in this thread, so don't expect a discussion on my part. I don't 'bash' gays, nor will I condone their deviant (a fact, even if all 6 billion people on Earth felt otherwise) behavior." Well, you don't seem to have been able to live up to this line, preacher. How many 'deviants' died in the camps, eh? For all your 'god of love' piety, how many would you have stood up for? I'm sure I'm dangerously close to being booted off this board (if not already gone) by replying to this, but I can't shut out the voice in my head saying: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." And now, unlike yourself, I will cease any further remarks on this topic. Please notice the absence of any smilies, my loving friend... ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads