TexasToast

Just got it off Colin's site - great job! Much more there than I had imagined. Thanks for taking what was obviously a lot of time to do this. The combo boxes are sweet also.

I think the two demo scenarios tended to encourage the "_dumbo pattern" of getting the tank question settled and then finishing out the game, so that's how I tended to play. Later on I found that holding the armor back in protected areas where it can support the infantry and avoid opposing armor (particularly if overmatched) works quite well if you can pull it off.

I agree that it seems too easy to contest victory flags with few or even one well-hidden guy. I've done it at least once by accident. It seems like some kind of ratio needs to come into play, i.e., if you are outnumbered 5-1 you can't contest the flag. The variable ending sounds interesting too.

Here's another vote for Dallas, Texas, USA.

I'm also interested in what would be considered gamey. So Fionn, what would be your top ten list of gamey tactics to avoid in a gentlemanly matchup (if there are ten)? Thanks

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Thanks for tracking this down! It's great to hear something other than the flames.

Tried the patch, didn't work. Hi-res grass doesn't show up for me either. I have a new 400Mhz Powerbook with the 8M ATI video, 128M RAM, 50M allocated to CM. Forgot to mention, OS 9.0.4. [This message has been edited by TexasToast (edited 07-31-2000).]

Just to re-state: Give both the troops and vehicle orders at the start. The infantry will get off if they have orders to go elsewhere and the vehicle is stopped. Check the pause value of the troops and the vehicle. If the passenger value is lower, they will get off before it moves, if higher, they will wait till it stops. Like David said, you may need to add a pause to the troops to keep them from jumping off before it moves, or to the vehicle if you want it to wait for the troops to get off before moving.

One thing that helped me on defense was practice vs the AI defending assaults. Play quick battles where you buy your own forces, 500-600 points, let the AI come at you with an assault force. Try different combinations of weapons, etc. At first I got slaughtered but now things are much better. Of course playing a human will be much different, but the AI does fine at supressing fire, using artillery and smoke, and basic things that you need to learn to handle.

It would be neat to take that a step further and really get a paper map. That is, a print function that would put the map in a nice format on a piece of paper. That way I could scheme and plan away from the computer, or use as reference during level 1 play.

I'll be glad to have TCP/IP as another option for this great game. I feel a little sorry for those who are not buying until it is available, they are missing a lot right now!

I certainly will defer to the more knowledgeable opinions of those with real experience. Losing my herioc schreck team so fast just kind of ruined the moment, that's all. Who told them to get out there all by themselves anyway?

It happened to me, so now it's serious. For once I had the ideal AT ambush set up, veteran Panzerschreck team takes out the deadly Wasp as it rolls by. But before they can get finished with the Ja!s and the high fives, the bailed crew single-handedly opens up a can of whoop-a$$ on them, and they are dead in seconds. I know this was discussed before, but I don't think anyone mentioned whether the crew offense/AT team defense equation would change with 1.03. In a related note, I just pulled off a desperation ambush to save a PBEM game, but there was an odd crew related aspect here too. As the German platoon ran up into my building manned by a couple of squads and a couple of crews, the crews seemed to take most of the fire while the squads laid waste to the enemy infantry. Are crews and their inflated "point value" a priority target for infantry also, thus mixing a few in made my ambush more effective? The crews were killed but the rifle squads were relatively unscathed. Anyone else noticed this or was it my imagination? Sorry to beat this dead horse again, but my style of play seems to provide me with a large supply of vehicle crews without much to do. I guess I'm just curious if this was 1.03 material or will it be around for a while.

Just jumped on the dogpile - and kept my vote undiluted by ignoring everything else.

Check out http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/000233.html for one of the discussions on why an invasion scenario may not be that entertaining, therefore no sand.

Really impressive work Col. Now if there were only a cut and paste function between maps in the editor. And the design notes were great too.

Thanks all, sounds unanimous. I'm glad to hear that my fear that I was somehow manipulating the system was unjustified. Back to the front lines....

I have recently been exposed to a very effective tactic versus AT guns that makes me a little uneasy. In a PBEM game I noticed some explosions starting to appear near a halftrack I had hidden from an AT gun behind a building. I surmised that my esteemed opponent was using the gun to try to damage or flush out the HT (that it could not see) with a near miss. By chance, I had a tank with a LOS near the AT gun, but not on it, so I decided to try targeting that spot with area fire and on the next turn - no more gun! Shortly after in an Op vs. the AI, infantry spotted a "Gun?" hidden in the woods. I worked a tank into a location with a LOS near but not on the gun, then area fired with the same success. When I fully identified the gun later, I realized I had knocked out an 88 without it even getting off a shot. I have to say I didn't sleep well that night from guilt from this premeditated "blind" attack (well, I did ponder it a bit before going to sleep anyway). In the same PBEM I just lost an ATG from a near miss from a SPG it couldn't see (this one might have been an accident, I had other units in the area). I'm not sure if this a smart tactic, or a little gamey. Any of you more experienced guys care to comment on this?

There's a "Stalingrad" by Theodor Plivier (1966) that fit's your description of grim, maybe that's the one you had in mind? I did notice that another "Stalingrad" by Anthony Beevor has been released recently.

I am sitting here right now watching the AI target my PzIV at a Platoon HQ and firing the main gun.

chickenhawk, you came to the right place. Combat Mission is THE BEST tactical wargame. It is amazingly realistic. Most of what you see on this forum amounts to haggling over little details that really lie on the fringe and don't impact the quality of the game. Brings up an interesting point, do the posters on the forum here really want the first impressions of a visitor to be a million-and-one little complaints? Anyway, you know that we Mac folks have a somewhat limited selection of good games, which makes this one even more of a godsend. Try the demo, it's a lot of fun, then you will buy the game.

Here's your problem - The Patriot was about the Revolutionary War, so you are backing up about 80 years from the Civil War. Now you are back into the Napoleonic style of warfare with the limitations mentioned above.

Sorry, can't be done. It has been mentioned as a feature request.

Hull down is relative to a specific target. To see if you are hull down, select the target and check the text above your tank. If you are hull down it will say so there. If your target is hull down it will say so above the target.