chris talpas

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Tom, I wonder which of us will get this baby first? So far CMBO to me and CMBB to you. I hope all is well with you. Chris

Tom, If you can find a PC, I'd be willing to loan you my extra copy of CMBB till your Mac version arrives. Let me know by 11 am tomorrow (Friday). Chris edited to specify day [ October 11, 2002, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: chris talpas ]

In light of the throne speech? Where our fearless leader wants to carve out his legacy through all kinds of new social programs and possible tax increases? You may be waiting a long time. Chris

Well Tom, Call it a persuasive argument to change to a PC Chris (not really fair to kick a guy when he is down)

Tom, In the depths of my heart I was hoping yours would arrive before mine. I'm beginning to worry about the Karmic deficit I'm building up. I do hope yours arrives by Wednesday untouched by Customs. Chris

I was greeted this morning (Monday) with a package at my doorstep. I can report that my two copies of CMBB arrived in Mississauga, Ontario safe and sound. Luckily Canada Customs allowed this package to pass unmolested. My order number was 80675. Now to install the software. Chris

Tom, Perhaps you will get it before me this time. Hopefully we will both see it in the mail tomorrow. Chris

Bobo, By any chance are you using Windows XP with Service Pack 1? I installed the service pack yesterday and have had the same 'unable to connect to IP problem'. When I boot to Win98 and try it, I can play no problem. Chris

I still think Battlefront should consider contracting out the AI for the rewrite. I nominate Strategic Studies Group because: 1) they have a proven AI track record. 2) they know wargames. Chris

Michael, How did you manage to capture the entire Canadian Armed Forces in a single picture? Chris P.S. Love the urban camoflage, makes you nearly indistinguishable from the civies.

These days a couple of hundred megabytes is chump change in terms of hard drive space. I would like to see full movie playback as well. It would be especially instructive to see all the action from your opponent's point of view. Chris (who has 60 Gbytes free looking for a raison d'etre)

Hmm, what are the chances of it getting to Toronto in one day for my birthday on the 21st? Great news BFC! Chris

Put me down for a couple. Chris

Um...one million mega-bytes isn't that much these days. Why, Virtucon's standard desktop computer features 1.5 million mega-bytes. DjB</font>

tom, Just imagine though if you could have downloaded CMBO. No moment by moment status reports from fellow Canucks. No need to worry if Canada Post would deliver it before you went on vacation. Still all in all, it was fun in a masochistic way. Chris

More Stuff: In 1942, Col. Mike Wardell was fighting the DAK at El Alamein when his position was being overrun by enemy troops. In desperation he seized an anti-aircraft weapon ordinarily used for shooting rockets at German planes, and turned the fire on the attacking German infantry. The result was electric, the enemy was demoralized by the devestating impact of the rockets and subsequently withdrew. Wardell was wounded and lost an eye in the action, but never forgot the usefulness of this weapon. Back in England he determined to design a rocket gun specifically for this purpose. The British authorities were convinced however that the war would be over before this weapon could be properly designed and tested. At this point, Lt. Col. Eric Harris, a Canadian, stepped into the fray after having seen a demonstration. Together they approached Canadian officials and much to their surprise (and rather uncharacteristically) Gen. Crerar and Brig. Brownfield, head of all Canadian artillery, supported making this undertaking a wholly Canadian venture. Wardell was formally attached to the Canadian Army. On Sept 15th, 1944, the 1st Canadian Rocket Unit, informally known as Land Service Mattress, was formed. Reference: The Battle of the Scheldt. Whitaker and Whitaker (Also known as Tug of War) pgs 128 & 129. I thought I'd add this info presenting a bit of history of the men behind this weapon. Chris

This device was constructed from an aircraft rocket motor (76.2 mm) attached to a naval 13 kg warhead. Length 1.77 m, weight 30.5 kg, Performance: max speed 335 m/s, max range 7225 m, min range 3565 m (with spoiler). Early versions had 32 barrels, while later versions had 30 barrels. Went into action on 1 November 1944 by the Canadians during the crossing of the Scheldt using a 12 unit battery. 1146 rounds were fired in a 6 hour period. A single land mattress salvo would result in 50% of the rounds falling in an area 215 m long by 219 m wide. Rockets were fired in ripples at a 0.25 s interval. Reference: The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II Chris Bishop Ed. Prospero Books Hope that helps! Chris

Personal Rant: How can the Canadian government allow the official history of the Canadian Army in WW2 to go out of print? The only way to get a hold of this series these days is in libraries or rare book stores. My set cost me over $200. Chris

So, would using squads of these to deny your opponent concealment be considered gamey? Chris

How about this for a solution: If the tank has a hull machine gun (rather common), have this target the infantry to suppress them while the main gun continues to focus on the armour threat. I don't think this is possible right now since tanks only target one thing at a time (correct me if I'm wrong). I wonder how difficult it would be to reprogram tac AI to exhibit this type of behaviour? Chris

Michael, If you get a chance I recommend that you give John English's "Failure in High Command: The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign" a read. [Lt.Col Dr. John English served 35 years with the Queen's Own Rifles and PPCLI. He holds a BA and MA from RMC, an MA from Duke, and a Ph.D. from Queens]. Anyways, his thesis is the at times poor showing by Canadian forces is due not to failure at the company and below level, but rather the inexperience and ineptitude of the high command. Apart from Simmonds, did many other General officers distinguish themselves? Chris

One modder down, 3987 and counting to go....(you didn't really think you had the monopoly, did you?) In all honesty, I wasn't even thinking about you specifically when I asked my question - it should have been obvious the question was directed to nVidia driver owners, which you clearly aren't...guess you're underqualified to do this one, huh? </font>

Actually one group that has generally produced games with superior AI is the boys from down under at Strategic Studies Group (SSG). Although not the simplest to use, their "War Room" AI editor for their Carrier's At War series probably has not seen its match since. Perhaps Steve and Charles might consider subcontracting the strategic AI to these boys for CM2. Edit:I realize this post is about CMBB, but I was thinking further ahead to the game engine rewrite since redoing the StratAI would probably be no mean task Chris [ April 06, 2002, 11:53 PM: Message edited by: chris talpas ]