Juardis

Both of which are aggravating. Let me preface this by saying I chalk this up to the vagaries of war, not a problem with the game (or maybe, I don't know). I'm hunting my Sherman down a street. My infantry is charging a building with a known enemy squad in it but it shouldn't be too hard to handle and my Sherman is needed a few houses down. As he slowly rolls down the street, a shreck team appears in the top floor of the building I'm assaulting. What happened next is sketchy and I watched it 4 times. But, the shreck team fired then surrendered, or surrendered then fired...I'm still not sure which. Anyway, he knocked out my Sherman. Surrender? I wanted to butcher them I was so pissed! I chalk that up to stupidity, bad luck, and random chance. Meanwhile, across the map I'm assaulting a concrete pill box that's been decimating my forces. I take the pill box, I win the scenario. I've spent the good part of the previous 7 turns working a squad into position to knock it out. Before it gets there though, something bathed the pillbox in smoke. I'm not sure if it was one of my tanks or if it was the pill box itself that popped smoke, but the pill box went from being spotted to being hidden (german icon replaced the pill box). That was good whilst my squad navigated that last 30m or so to maneuver behind it. I finally got to within 7m of the back door. I gave the attack command only to find out my sight was blocked! Dammit! OK, no prob. Crawl another 5m then attack, yeah, that's what I'll do. So next turn what happens? My squad takes small arms fire from a distant HQ unit and turns tail back down in front of the smoking pill box. Meanwhile, the pill box proceeds to light up another of my tanks across the way. Arrrggghhhh!! I can't see it from 7m away yet it can see my tank 250m away?! I WILL KILL that pill box if it's the last thing I do! There, I feel better now ------------------ Jeff Abbott

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy: It may be effective, but IMO it is still gamey. One does not exclude the other, on the contrary. YMMV. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Good point Andreas, I concede it. But there were some that said it was suicide to send in crews and they'd love to play me in a ladder game. I think this test proved they COULD be effective, but you're right, it COULD also be gamey. I don't routinely send crews into battle, but my situation demanded something different than I did, and using crews was the answer. ------------------ Jeff Abbott [This message has been edited by Juardis (edited 08-11-2000).]

In short, it works well. Background: I wanted to know if you guys considered sending crews into a defended building to do an infantry's job was gamey. Most thought it was. My situation was that my infantry was LOW on ammo (as in scrounging clips off the dead and wounded). The only guys with ammo were some MMG units and crews. So I thought I'd send in the crews since they had bullets. What actually happened: I sent in the infantry based on this boards response and they got massacred. Sent 2 squads and an HQ unit. Against 1 known squad. Discovered a shreck team and another squad after the fact. Did that move 3 seperate times. Best result was one of my squads had 2 guys left, the other had 3 guys left, and my HQ was dead (all 3 times). And that was without taking the building since I only managed to reduce the enemy strength. Redid with 3 crews assaulting: Laid down cover fire with the MMG and the one shot my infantry with LOW ammo had. 2 crews made it to the building, one got hung up (too long a command delay). One got killed out right but not before taking out the shreck team and providing intel to me. The other crew killed one squad (albeit it was reduced to begin with) and was engaged with the other when the turn ended. He lost one guy, did NOT break or run, and acquitted himself quite well. Conclusion?: I don't consider using crews on the attack into a building as gamey. If you're smart you can keep them alive. By that I mean keep them in C&C, preferably with a strong fighting and morale HQ, and keep the enemy's heads down with suppression. Once inside a building, pistols are great. Sending them running across an open field is suicide, but sending them across a street into a building to fight isn't. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

I ammend my list. Take out one of the 3 TCP/IP requests and put in number 5 from the previous post (I would LOVE to see my QB map BEFORE I buy units). But I see the flip side to this as well. That is, you have what you have and you fight wherever you meet the enemy, be it good terrain or bad. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

depends on whether 1.04 is the last patch before work begins on CM2. 1. TCP/IP 2. Replay of movies for entire scenario 3. TCP/IP 4. wind (specify direction wind blows then slant your snow/rain in that direction and give a percentage each turn that a fire will spread to the next tile in that direction). 5. follow/convoy command and TCP/IP Most of what you stated (tweaks) is a one hour job (I'm guessing). Seriously, I want them to get CM1 as close to done as possible so that we can get to work on CM2 ASAP. So I would be happy with 1 and 2 above and the tweaks you mentioned. let me edit my statement. By tweaks I mean items 1, 3, and 5 in Claymore's list. ------------------ Jeff Abbott [This message has been edited by Juardis (edited 08-11-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy: [bBTW, this is absolutely not meant personal or condescencding, but I believe you labour under some misconceptions, or maybe it is me not understanding the post. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No offense taken Germanboy. I saved the move before I hit go. I will reload tonight, replot to let the crews go in and see what happens. You guys may be right, it doesn't seem like you should be, but...I have never sent crews to attack before. I've always used them to guard prisoners or as picketts for my flanks. But I'm in a bind and desperate times call for desperate actions . Will report in later. Jeff

just to throw my hat into the ring... I agree with the need for a follow command or a convoy command. You can code it anyway you want (such as having a HQ unit give an additional command or having each vehicle have an additional command). In real life, if you put a bunch of vehicles on a road, the trailing vehicles will not run up the ass of the lead vehicle, will not try to pass the lead vehicle, and will try to maintain some interval. In CM the task is made painful given the delays involved before executing said command, the rate of speed each unit travels (I understand move is the same rate for each vehicle), and what the AI does when a vehicle does run up the ass of a lead vehicle (i.e., reverse, replot around offending unit, then cause all hell to occur behind it). Once in a line on a road, traffic jams should NOT be a problem, period. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

Damn, you should've saved that for a PBEM. Awesome as a double blind PBEM. I played the Germans and scored a tactical victory. He surrendered after 12 turns, but he did a bunch of stupid stuff on the first turn that doomed him (like vacating his fox holes on the perimeter). Even so, it was tense. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

OK guys, tonight I sent 2 squads and an HQ into a building with one known German squad. I moved up my Cromwell to provide additional support even though I suspect an anti-tank team in the vicinity as well. As I said before, both of my squads have LOW ammo. My HQ unit has 5 rounds left. I purposely left my 6 crews out of harms way, although I did order them to lay down cover fire. Result? 2 dead squads, a dead HQ, and an abandoned Cromwell. Turns out there were 2 German squads (not one like I thought - clever bahstahd that AI) AND a shreck team in that building. Without giving any spoilers away as to which scenario this was, I have no choice but to take this particular building. Unfortunately, all my squads with ammo are engaged elsewhere on the map so I have to make do with what I have. Now I'm left with an understrength platoon and 6 crews and one Sherman. Gamey or not, the best strategy was to send in the crews who could at least fire back. And in the process give me the intel I needed to keep my Cromwell alive. My infantry squads did manage to unload some grenades and kill one of the two shreck guys, but it was too little too late for my Cromwell. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

OK, so what do you suggest then. Vehicle crews are soldiers but if you think they should not be allowed to fight, then I have no chance for victory. If I allow them to fight, I have a small chance. Yes, they'll break easier but if I put them in C&C with a strong HQ, that'll increase their chances. If I'm successful in suppressing the enemy, that'll increase their chances even more. And in war I like a small chance for victory much better than no chance for victory. But what I'm hearing is that I should concede the middle of the map and wait until I can get some infantry with ammo in the proper position, which may be never. As for this being discussed before, I'm sure it has. Everything's been discussed before. Might as well put a canned response to every message up here. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by John Kettler: Ski, While lots of us would love to see wind included, the grim reality is that modeling such complex phenomena as wind takes a Cray or massively parallel processor, and even then it's still problematic. Wind modeling is a devastating CPU hit, completely defeating the design goal of making CM run on typical mass market PCs. John Kettler<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, I don't know John. I've been thinking about wind modeling and I have some thoughts. What got me to thinking was in a scenario like Wiltz you hear the wind howling, but the snow falls vertical and the smoke hangs around for awhile. Kind of ruined the ambience a little since I was hearing one thing yet seeing another. If you model wind as a direction (for example, wind blowing towards east), then you slant your snow/rain towards the east, smoke dissipates to the east (and faster than if there were no wind), and fires have an x% chance of spreading east. Put a windsock on the compass rose that's already in the game to show the direction of the wind, if any. You could even model 3 stengths of wind - none, light-medium, and medium-strong, with the effects tuned to the strength (e.g., stronger wind has larger % to spread the fire). If modeled that way, it really shouldn't be that much of a cpu hit yet the payoff would be tremendous. JMO. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

I'm playing against the AI in a canned scenario, but the situation could just as easily be against a human. My problem is that my infantry is low on ammo, as in LOW, they're scrounging around for ammo and taking it off the dead and wounded. Yet I still have 3, maybe 5 squads of enemy soldiers holed up in buildings in front of me. I have some armor support, but I'm not sure I can kill the enemy with what I have, so.... I have plenty of crews with plenty of ammo. (Yes, I was too careless with my armor thus the plethora of crews ). So my plan is to rush the buildings with my crews while providing some sort of suppression with the infantry that is low on ammo and the tanks I have. I might even send in one or two of my infantry units because they do still have grenades (I think, you don't run out of grenades do you?). My questions: 1. Do squads ever run out of grenades? 2. If I were playing against you, would you consider this a gamey tactic? My philosophy is win the battle any way you can and if that means sending crews into battle, then so be it. But others might think differently... ------------------ Jeff Abbott

3d sound support is in THIS version. It works with both my A3D card and my SB Live! What I really want is a sound byte that kicks in whenever guys are crossing a river in an assault boat. Can you guess what it is? . . . Hail Mary, full of grace...Hail Mary, full of grace... In cadence of course ------------------ Jeff Abbott

I like the line of trees idea myself. Wild Bill, I'm not criticizing, I'm just curious as to the inner workings of a master scenario designer. I understand tradeoffs sometimes have to be made. To make up for the lack of tanks and the inability to provide cover fire, I think you... * * * * more * * * spoilers * * * * added reinforcements on the German side of the river. Since I'm not aware of a second wave of assault boats, I can only assume that they show up as if there were enough smoke/cover fire for more troops to make it across alive. At least that's the rationale I've come up with. Without those reinforcements, I'm not really sure I could've taken that side of the river since my initial assault got mauled (I have 4 squads left, at reduced strength of course). And I still haven't taken it after 12 turns, but it is inevitable now unless they get more reinforcements. So, IMO, you have to do one of 2 things. Leave the scenario alone (maybe add a tree line and fix the Sherman in the heavy building), or add more tanks for the allies but forgo the reinforcements on the German side. That would make keeping your initial assault companies alive a top priority. What do you think? ------------------ Jeff Abbott

Bill, I'm in the midst of Nijmegen and I have a few comments (I don't think you designed that one and I'm too lazy to go check). * * * * * possible * * * spoilers * * * below * * * * Based on what I've read, I was lead to believe that there was no problem for the allied tanks to drop smoke on the far bank to provide cover for the river crossing. In CM you don't even have time to load up a shell before they get knocked out. Plus, there's only 3 tanks. Was this done for play balance issues or was the account I read unrealistic? Also, when I get reinforcements theres a sherman stuck in a heavy building (3rd house from the river to the right of and adjacent to the RR tracks). That kinda sucks. But other than that it's a tough little scenario. The Jerries are well placed with lots of firepower. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wild Bill Wilder: Some pretty tense moments lie ahead of you. Which side are you playing...doesn't really matter I guess. Believe me, your opponent is sweating just like you <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, not yet. But soon, very soon I'll be sweating. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

37.833 as of 6AUG00, 38 as of 6OCT00

I don't think there needs to be a tradeoff between improved AI or improved graphics. That is why I suggested that BTS hire another person to work on one or the other. I too am not that concerned about the graphics in CM1. I think they're fine now, especially with MadMatts hi-res mods. But if they weren't fine now, then fewer "mainstream" wargamers would buy the game. Extrapolate that out to 24 months, plus or minus. To reach those same "mainstream" wargamers they're gonna have to advance the graphics (that's assuming of course they want the "mainstream" wargamers). I'm more concerned with additional building types (e.g., factories), additional vertical distance (mountains in Italy for example), more polygons for soldiers, more trees, more eye candy in general. Afterall, the graphics are there to represent the underlying mathematics, and the math seems fine to me. Also, we're not talking CM2 in 6 months (or so I've been led to believe), but maybe more like 18 months. In 18 months, more of what I described is not unreasonable for the hardware that will be available at that time. I'm thinking though that to get to that point in 18 months another programmer/artist needs to be hired. Otherwise, compromises might have to be made (like CM2 in 18 months w/out improved graphics, or CM2 in 30 months w/ improved graphics). ------------------ Jeff Abbott

Nijemegen contains a Sherman in a heavy building as well. Of course, if you play against the AI, you have to play the allies, so it makes it harder for you not having that Sherman available. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

If you can keep them alive that is. They are easily taken out by close assaults. But getting up close and personal with them is tough when they open up from 50m. I had a 10 man para squad become a 1 man cowering squad after 2 bursts from that machine (and that was while it was inside a building). Don't know the costs of those bad boys in a QB, but you can bet I'll be checking them out. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael emrys: Me neither. In fact, last night for the first time I saw a pair of 81mm mortars fire smoke at a Sherman that was attacking one of them. Didn't save them either. Can't recall an AT gun ever firing smoke at anything. Michael<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Play Nijmegen as the Americans. The Germans have plenty of 75mm AT guns. One of them peppered one of my positions with smoke when I fired upon that gun from that position. So AT guns do indeed fire smoke. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

The first 5 I played were 1. Tutorial 2. Aachen (play as the Americans) 3. Bruyeres 4. St. Annes Chappell 5. Wiltz You'll notice that they're all small scenarios. Much more manageable and easier to learn the tactics. So that's what worked for me. Of course, then I played Sherbrooked Fusiliers (Huge)... ------------------ Jeff Abbott

BTS, if the PC Gamer review caused you to sell out of the 2nd batch faster than anticipated, then this review may likely do the same. Here's to selling out the 3rd batch. One word of advice, invest some of that money in upgraded graphics for CM2. That, and lack of TCP/IP, seem to be the number one complaints in these reviews. If you do not update the graphics for CM2, then you will get dinged hard. I can see it now, "much like the first game using the now dated graphics...." Note: I'm not saying the graphics in CM1 are bad, I love them and think they're great. I'm just projecting into the future. ------------------ Jeff Abbott

Havermeyer and I are having a go at "A Second Job" right now. From the initial looks of it, it promises to be bloody ------------------ Jeff Abbott

Playing Nijmegen as Americans, I have a Sherman in a heavy building (showed up w/ reinforcements). I took a screenshot, but have no idea how to put it up. It's a jpeg. How do I show what I'm talking about so that it can get fixed? More importantly, I need that Sherman bad, how do I get it out? I found it quite by accident when I tried to move an infantry into that building and it said "embark" - doh! In case I can't put up a screenie, the tank is in 3rd building back from river to right of RR tracks as you face the Waal river towards the German positions. ------------------ Jeff Abbott