chrisl

Some of us grew up playing the predecessors of CM using 1/4" and 5/8" cardboard counters on hex-maps that covered many square feet of table in the basement. In some games or scenarios there could be thousands of pieces. The rule books could have a hundred pages (squad leader plus the three gamettes had 144 pp). It could take hours to do half a turn (one side moving), and weeks to finish a game. Finding opponents was major pain, and play by snail mail was a major pain, too. If you had pets (especially cats) you were doomed. And all that was after walking to school uphill both directions and in subzero blowing snow. By comparison, CM is pretty simple. It takes all the rules and puts them in the computer. It takes all the things where a squad has to decide what to do in response to hazards and puts them into the TacAI in a very nice way--once you know how it works it really does follow your orders pretty well, and behave predictably and realistically when the opponent messes up your plans. Try smaller scenarios or quick battles-- 500 pts or less-- you can do a lot of tactical maneuvering in that, and a 1500 pt battle is really just a lot of 500 pt and smaller battles. ------------------ "I HATE THIS GAME, YOU AND THIS SCENARIO" -jd

just testing out the new sig. ------------------ "I HATE THIS GAME, YOU AND THIS SCENARIO" -jd

You really ought to have someone check your sentences for meaning. Extracting punishment from someone usually is taken to mean that you are giving them a good beating, and not the converse. Either that, or you ought to stop counting your chickens before they rip your lips off. I think it's pretty safe to say that you are at this point lipless, and that lips formerly known as yours are now safely in the hands (or wings or claws or beaks or something) of some chickens. btw, One sucky little PIAT team pasted both of those AFVs you lost in that last movie. I think that might be another movie that I save for posterity, to cheer me up on cold winter days, or when elvis' Panthers shrug off the close range shots from my Hellcats. It will go nicely with the one in which you lose 8 AFVs in a single minute. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Ya know, that's a great idea. We should get peoples siblings into the pool for grudge matches-- they'll probably have incredibly abusive taunts to post, given the depth of knowledge about each others' histories. Does anybody know where we can find meeks' sister, so she can complete his topplement right here in the cesspool? And Peng looks and sounds like he must have a couple of sibs who kicked him around a lot. That would be a classic AAR-- Peng vs. Peng. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Even if the random number generator isn't all that great, there are so many calls to it for so many different things that it's unlikely to have an effect detectable at the game level (unless it's really appallingly bad). Someone (I can't remember who) once posted that good tactics is the ability to reduce the effect of bad luck on your plan (or something like that). ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

And it's now all over but the last bit of dying. BTS did somefink to make the Panther armor impenetrable to anything less than 14". Wankers. I hate Rune, except for what he's letting me do to morse (not now bauhaus. Sit down!). ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

No - I don't know if they have 1.12 on the CDs yet. Check to the lower righthand corner of the startup screen-- it should show the version number. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

The horror. I'll set the ceasefire flag until there's contact, and you can spend a battle recovering (and so can I...). Once there's contact though I'll unset it until you start to kill my troops. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Typical scoring also doesn't take into account the different types of battles-- getting a minor or tactical loss as the defender in an assault is probably harder than a minor or tactical win in a meeting engagement. The ladder at CMHQ (that never actually worked properly) was supposed to take some of that into account (attackers points, defenders points, and each of their victory points). ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

But you don't have to suck that big time in a game before you go and confess- and you haven't even confessed it. I hope you got some IR goggles or something in the 3rd battle. You've been playing like they AI.... Surrender now and we won't give you the smallpox blankets. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Always a lawyer...I like to mix a little diplomacy into my CM, and you fell for it. I hardly destroyed the town; what was it-- maybe three or four buildings? If I hadn't foolishly wasted my 8" gun spotter I would have methodically destroyed the town, that was just the best I could do without him. Prepare to be punished again. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

A few suggestions: a) have the basement remodeled while you're in the hospital, adding a bathroom. or get a can or a chamber pot, or even one of those little portable camp toilets( http://www.rei.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=659678&prmenbr=8000 ) or c) move the computer upstairs. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk) [This message has been edited by chrisl (edited 03-10-2001).]

Hey Jake-- I haven't seen jason hanging out in the cesspool (where annoying your opponent is more important than engaging in combat). Anyway, I sent you some comments related to this in email after our last game (btw-- I expect a file from you-- you get to pick the parameters) but I'll add a few here. One witdrawing units vs. fighting to the last photon: I think fighting to the last is actually "gamier"-- few commanders are likely to fight to the last drop in a situation from which they can withdraw and fight another day unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances. Withdrawing crews, out of ammo mortars, AT teams etc.-- I don't think it's gamey at all, especially for the crew and mortar types. If you read accounts from those kinds of guys, they would head back and get a cup of coffee and a new tank, or some more ammo, or whatever. I occasionally use them as "night watchmen" on the edges, if I'm low on real troops, but they don't spot or fight particularly well. BTS designed things to encourage you to save them by sending them back to get resupplied. In ops you don't want to pull such units off the map, but you certainly want to move them out of the line of fire. On surrendering: If I think there's a chance of pulling off a draw or better I won't surrender. If crushing defeat is guaranteed, I'll toss it in. It's like playing hearts-- at the end of a hand, when you know the last 4 tricks are yours (leaving you all but one point), you toss in your cards, and everyone tosses in theres. The waste of time is in playing out the last few turns-- you could be starting a new game where the outcome isn't so certain. Surrendering simply because things aren't going your way is lazy though--I've squeaked out a couple of wins even after I got to turn 15 or so and was ready to surrender or ask for a cease fire. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

SMGs do rock, but I've also seen US 12-man rifle squads beat them to a pulp at close range--sometimes very quickly. I'm playing a large operation right now with british para and glider squads defending-- those guys really rock too. Pretty much vaporizing the advancing troops. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Except in the case here it sounds like they were immobilized with the first shot-- "hit the sprocket" and "let's get out of the tank, we're sittin ducks" ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Oh, why don't you just go back to whatever far outlying excuse for a suburb that you came from. Sure, Senilepee is a nut case, but he probably won't do you any harm if you come across him (except maybe smell bad at you or something). You probably only go into the twin cities for the state fair, and spend all you time there either sucking down all you can drink milk or eating things on a stick (yes, Bauhaus, you can go to the fair, but you have to behave. No touching anything). ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

I think the only way such a feature could work would be as a command similar to rotate to, where it would create a line to a point and bring your tank "hull down with respect to the point at the end of this line". (edit) I realize suddenly the major problem with this-- if you give such an order i.e. "move until you are HD with respect to a point (say a crossroads), and there is no point on that line for which you could be hulldown, your tank will just keep driving until it gets to the crossroads (or gets blown to bits because it's driving foolishly into LOS of 10^4 enemy AT guns). (end edit) I generally find that it's not too much of a problem-- I plot a "Hunt" a bit past where I think hull down is, and then the tank stops at hull down, and leaves a little tail of a hunt order. If I need to back out in the next turn, I change the hunt to a reverse, and drag it back behind the tank, allowing it to reverse without a delay. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk) [This message has been edited by chrisl (edited 03-09-2001).]

I just saw a PSW234/1 take two penetrations without even appearing shocked. It did eventually blow up catastrophically on a subsequent hit. I had a sherman bog and then subsequently immobilize in the first 30 seconds of a scenario recently. It went "sploop" when it bogged, and the "BANG!!!" when it immobilized. Sounded like it blew something. And no, it was not enemy fire. It was a meeting engagement and the enemy were all on the other side of some hills. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Try volunteering to fight one of the other things that first appeared in the last few pages for our entertainment. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

It's not the size of the vehicle, it's the magic in the shell. The Panther is big, and relatively fast and has great front armor, but if you look at the stats it gets its speed by having thin side armor. I've seen a Stuart take out two panthers at a couple hundred meters from the side, and I've seen a PSW234/3 get a Jumbo Sherman from behind. If your priest is that close to the infantry it's pretty likely hosed anyway--it's a lightly armored SP gun-- it should be well back of the infantry, and firing over their heads at the opposing infantry. Don't get it that close and it won't knock itself out. Another public service post from the Cesspool™. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

Some bricks fell on his head or something in the earthquake. He's been hurling troop and tank into the Kondirator™ of my defense, and has been essentially wiped off the map twice so far in our op. And he's the attacker...It's caused him to fall into some sort of depressive funk (and not the Bootsy and George type) and blow all his games (go away Bauhaus, not like that). Wait-- now I recall that he was actually losing well before the quake. Maybe he's just stopped playing exclusively against Hiram and Crawdad, and is being punished horribly for it. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

IIRC, Charles had a reasonable description many ages ago as to why it was hard to do the decelerations properly for active vehicles. He certainly recognizes that it's not done realistically, and it sounded as if he had tried it at some point and decided it was too much of a processor hit. If I can think of a good set of keywords to search on I'll try to find it again. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

All your thread are belong to Peng! ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

glad to be getting out of Pengland so fast... ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)

The easy way to do it is just play with vehicles turned off... ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk)