Commissar

This was one amazing hit. Not only did this SMG squad take out a Panther G with one grenade, they did it at night while it rained. That was one hell of a lob. I had to watch it three or four times in disbelief. It was a neat QB all around. I had T34 M43's taking out Panther Gs with frontal turret shots. Of course at 50m, even the old 76mm is gonna have a decent chance of taking out German glamour cats [ December 08, 2002, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: Commissar ]

In the QB in question, the tank wasn't even immoblized. The grenade was tossed, it scored a hit on the tank and immediately the Panther was declared knocked out--not even a short period of time in which the Panther was declared immobilzed.

I understand that CMBB abstracts a whole lot. The SMG squad however really wasn't close to the tank. It they were really next to the tank that would make sense, but in this case the squad was about 40-50 meters out.

Is the Soviet RPG grenade represented in the game with any sort of special grenade image in the unit info area of the interface (when a leg unit is clicked on)? I just played a QB and actually had one of my Soviet SMG squads lob over a ordinary looking grenade that knocked out a Panther G. It wasn't one of those grenade bundles or anything, just a single grenade. The Panther was already buttoned up as well. Can't say I've ever seen this happen in all my CMBB games unless it was an anti-tank grenade or grenade bundle. Is this a bug? One time glitch? Pure Luck?

I don't think Sierra has been an "industry leader" for quite some time. The difference between BFC and bigger dev houses like EA is 1) BFC actually cares about what customers think especially when they make a valid argument 2) BFC actually cares about what product they create rather than just getting it out the door.

BTW Andrew, do you plan on ever doing some vehicles in CMBB? You did such a great job on uniforms AND vehicles in CMBO, it would be a shame not to see your vehicles in CMBB.

Initially, perhaps. By 1944, definitely not. By late 1943, the Red Army was giving the Germans various painful lessons in combined arms operations that would even surpass the German's early Blitzkrieg. With time, experience, and a Stalin that finally realized that it was in his best interest to let his generals do what they needed to do, the Red Army became a much more sophisticated organization that resembled little of the mess Stalin had created in 1941. The fact the Germans were constantly suckered by Soviet maskirovka operations helped out tremendously as well. It is myth the Russians always grossly outnumbered the Germans all along the front. Many instances in which the Germans were badly outnumbered resulted from Russians maskirovka operations that got the Germans to move their reserves to where the decisive battle wasn't going to be. Hitler's delusions of military genius also helped out as well. I am guessing you are playing against the computer in the victories you mentioned. Try playing against a human opponent. I guarantee you it's a much different story than playing a rather predictiable computer AI. Also, I play the Russians all the time in QBs and get major or total victories all the time. Even when the computer is using Tigers or Panthers, I pretty much wipe the floor with the computer opponent. It's really not a big deal again because the computer is so predictable and doesn't handle its assest correctly or in a smart way. Strong equipment never makes up for lousy tactics or strategy. Play against a human opponent that knows how to use the Russian forces appropriately and you'll be singing a different tune. [ November 27, 2002, 12:20 PM: Message edited by: Commissar ]

Cultural taste and dietary issues aside, I have seen photos of attractive women in Soviet service. But there's a lot of stereotyping in your comment, which is hardly complimentary upon your outlook and/or erudition. </font>

Finally, field SS officers wearing camo. BTW, Andrew your commie buddies are waiting for their new uniforms too

Concerning space, what was the barrier/s that prevented you guys from simply using 2 CDs instead of just one? There are many games that require 2 or more CDs for installation purposes. Was it cost? Bulk? Didn't want to raise the price of CMBB? Just curious.

From my experience playing the Russians, it is a pain to get my men close enough and in cover to hit the enemy. However when I do, my leg units can really do a number on the opposing side. Now if only my '45 Soviet infantry would be modeled with captured panzerfausts I'd be one happy fake-commie.

CMMOS reminds me why I thank God for broadband. Man, downloading all those rulesets and mods over a dial-up has to be murder!!

Making a backup copy of CMBB is pretty easy. You just need to copy the winrar file. The copy protection on CMBB is rather weak, something that BFC admitted to IIRC. I have a DVD-ROM and a CDR drive on my system. The DVD-ROM has the CMBB disk and has remained there since I got the game. It is almost as if BFC has taken a part of my computer over by adverse possession. The only time I take it out is when I need both drives to copy an entire disk.

Basically had the same question. Even if rust does occur quickly on tanks of the era, the average short life span of a tank during the War would seem to make the opportunity for that kind of junkyard look not all that common, especially for Soviet armor.

[ November 13, 2002, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Commissar ]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/reviews/0,10867,2897501,00.html ". . . But G.I. Combat has none of Close Combat's innovation or bold design . . . G.I. Combat's biggest shortcoming is that it has very little gameplay. Instead, it has a heap of confusion. Once you place your units for a battle and press the start button, you're on a confusing ride to the end of the time limit. You can give your squads and vehicles orders, but the game plays in relentless real time, and it doesn't give you enough information about what your men are doing, where they're going, or even what they are. The selection of orders you can give is limited, and they often get overridden by the tactical AI for reasons that aren't always clear. You can't always tell when a unit can see another unit. You can't easily tell when someone is under fire. Sometimes, you won't even be able to find a unit or squad. Once the firing starts, men start shouting and tracers dot the landscape. Sometimes something burns or gives off smoke. People die often. Tanks blow up. If you give enough movement orders, it's possible you might eventually grab a victory location. It might realistically model the chaos and confusion of a real-world skirmish, but it's hardly playable. G.I. Combat's interface is partly to blame. You can select only one vehicle or squad at a time, and your orders consist of a few broad instructions. The awkward camera control conspires with the awkward unit interaction to make it even harder to tell what's going on. If pausing didn't completely lock you out of the game, you might have had a chance to consider your situation better and occasionally find your men among the pixelated foliage. Instead, you just hang on and wait for the scenario to end. . . . . . .. .Unfortunately, there's not much reason to play the missions, much less replay them. Freedom Games may be able to address some of G.I. Combat's problems with diligent patching. But in the meantime, there's really no reason to be playing this instead of the far superior Combat Mission, which inspired it. " --OUCH! Is anybody really surprised by this review though? I didn't think so. The criticisms remind me of what BTS mentioned were the challanges of making a good tactical 3d wargame when they were working on CMBO. Looks like GIC team met the same challanges and flopped pretty hard. [ November 13, 2002, 06:06 PM: Message edited by: Commissar ]

For the sake of others that may be interested: Is this the US version or the European "WaffenGrenadier" version?

I've seen this happen as well, but not all that often. Just twice.

Hmm, looks like it's time to play the German side.

Looks like someone has been playing with their industrial size scanner and ripping out forest trees again

Actually, was there any advantage/disadvantage of having the spoke wheels or the non-spoked wheels?

If the game is not your cup of tea, then it's not your cup of tea. Perfectly fine to not like the game. If you find that your old tactics don't work, then what needs to change is your tactics, not the game. If you were arguing that the modeling of the guns is incorrect due to this or that then you would have something for the developers to consider revising. Nobody's perfect after all. However, if one is basically arguing that the game should be patched because the extra realism is bumming you out then you have bought the wrong game. To use one of BFC's analogies, There is no sense complaining that the apple you bought doesn't taste like an orange. If you wanted an orange then you should have bought that instead of an apple. I'll admit that the new modeling and the more accurate lethality of MGs in general gave me mighty headaches and significatly increased the time it took me to achieve my objectives, but once you get used to the added realism and change your tactics accordingly, there is no reason you can't trounce the AI as often as you did in CMBO, unless you are just unlucky or putting the screws to yourself. It just might take you longer, that's all. If you still don't like CMBB, no problem. Buy yourself a game that's more to your taste and sell CMBB.

Never could get why some are really into the rusted, decrepit look. Considering the average life span of any tank was not all that long, it is hard to imagine a lot of rust even having a chance to form. [ October 30, 2002, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: Commissar ]

I think they would if they knew themselves. It's all relative anyhow as one person's 5 star game would be another's 2 star game.

Try DX10. It'll probably take that long for CM3 to come out