MH

Algore wants to win at all costs...even at the perversion of a traditionally orderly electoral process. If with the help of Daily (who certainly knows something about stealing elections!) he assumes power he will be viewed as illegitimate by half the American electorate. As for the Europeans...well, they always hate and sneer at us Yanks - that is until we bail their sorry ass out of wars or economic depressions. OK - flame away.....

Just more field of battle really. Thought it would be nice to be able to slide the unit info-box to the side of the screen and gain a tad bit more view of the battle. A small point to be sure, but every inch helps.

Does anyone really use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen for rotating and elevation changes? From day one I've always used the keyboard/mouse, so these things seem superfluous. I was just wondering if most were like me in this regard, and if so, maybe there should be consideration for freeing up some screen real-estate by being able to remove them. Just an observation.

RE: Pirated Software - warez version et al I'm a Professor of Humanities, and every semester I find myself confronting the philosophical realities of the Post Modern Era. And again...here it is. In The Stranger, Mersault kills an Arab - and yet, in today's moral climate I find about HALF the collage class is unwilling to condemn the act as wrong! We inevitably find ourselves caught in an Alice in Wonderland of morality, where right is wrong, and wrong is right...and - well, what-the-hell.....nothing matters anyway! So here we see people literally stealing the intellectual property of others and rather than all condemning it, we find too many are willing to engage in a sophistic justification. What's probably most sad, is this in an age of unprecedented wealth. Fifty dollars for the cost of a game as entertainment is so incredibly cheep by social standards it is mind boggling. Try to attend a sporting event for less. Not to mention the game is still providing enjoyment long after that football game has receded into the distant past. Not just a generation thing. A colleague of mine uses pirated software himself. Here's a man without any need financially to do so, and yet without any other moral imperative other than a vague and remote fear of "getting caught" he simply shrugs. But "getting caught" and other legalism isn't the answer. I heap on this colleague the scourge of the campus, literally reducing him to a intellectual pariah. Kind of like how sexual harassers were treated as cads or pigs, before we tried to litigate it away with policies and laws, which only resulted in making it MORE OK...as long as they "don't get caught." So the man who treated women poorly was a pig and society shunned him until he reformed, so should the computer industry shun these pirate low-lives. Sorry to be a bore...and an old fashion one at that!

42...Next week (smirk)

Yeah, the closest to doing what you want now is to allow the map to be "quick generated" in the design mode, and then tweak it from there. But asking the quick battle to use a selected map and zones doesn't seem too difficult do. But I could certainly be wrong here...

I don't think there is - but I'll ask anyway: I would love to use a map I created, but have the computer generate the opposing forces (obviously so I don't know exactly what I'm up against). In essence, a "quick battle" but with more precise control of map, set-up zones, objectives, et al. Is there a way to do this? If not, anyone else think this would be a great addition for CM2?

I have just one name - and listen closely. MAHLER! It is all you will need. Get the 6th symphony and play it during a German assault. Your life will never be the same. Thus Spoke a Humanities Professor...

If you are lucky enough to have heavy mortars you can do some serious damage by getting them on-target, but with most of the "knee poppers" you are best going to get some covering fire. Use them to keep the enemy head's down while you maneuver something else to get more fire power on target. Short of this, if they can lay smoke it can be used for the same purpose.

No LeBlaque I don't think you're the oldest perchance....I graduated HS in 76. And as far as a shrine for the rules (candles or otherwise) - it isn't necessary when you are geeky enough to have all the damn things memorized! I don't think I'm unique in this however. If I have one sincere hope, it's that CM will help breath new life into more serious wargaming so a new generation can be bought to the hobby. I think since so many of us grew up with SL (quite literally) and learned the rules over several years as we watched them mature into ASL we forgot how intimidating the end result was. Younger (yea...shall we say less patient?) were just not willing to invest the time into digesting the rules. Maybe CM with its interface will bring in a new generation who over time will learn historical tactics and the hobby better. That's why I actually enjoy seeing posts by people asking things like "What's hull-down?" or "What do I do with a Piat?"

Just curious - How many former/current ASL players are playing Combat Mission these days? My wife bought me my first copy of SL when I was in Grad school in 1982 (does this make me an old man?) and have been a fanatic ever since. I will admit, that CM is the closest the computer has come to creating the tactical feel of SL. I remember playing and always trying to visualize the 3D terrain as I was maneuvering my men, and here I am today effectively doing the same thing, but with the technology pointing the way. I can't help feeling CM could be the first step in a long line of developments not unlike the perfecting that occurred with the maturing of AL to ASL. I do miss the smell of the cardboard though!

Fact is, I get my squads out of the damn HT as soon as I smell gun-fire. Things are nothing more than a death trap in the game. After that, they make good flanking moves to cut off retreating/repossessing enemy troops....assuming you can get them there before they're fried. And to be honest (and this ain't pretty) they make good recon cannon fodder to ferret out emery guns. Waste a HT to save a AFV any day.

Pools of BLOOD?! No really...this is a joke - right?

Definitely the best AI in a war game on the market today. Period. And like most, it does best on the defense where it's choices are more limited...less coordinated. Handicapping it is the only way to go. I suspect what would raise the AI to the next level would be "tactical profiles" the scenario designer could choose to best fit the situation. These profiles would define the tendencies of the AI choices/actions and if selected correctly by the designer could go a long way in improving its tactics. Probably a coding nightmare I'm sure, but short of this, a "thinking" AI is a long way off.

I can't answer precisely, but it doesn't appear to be much...if any protection. I usually stay away from the stuff unless I'm planning on going right on through it. Only way I know to determine the exact number is to set up a quick battle, stick the enemy in the bocage and then open the battle checking the % protection and hit chance. Not much help I know, but historically most troops didn't particularly care to have their ass hanging out while stuck in it.