Lawyer

My father and his brother were National Guard before the war with the 29th Division, and thus were called into active duty with the 29th. By luck of the draw, his company was not part of the disastrous D-Day experience of the 29th at Omaha Beach, but my my mother's uncle Maj. John Sauers (my father's good friend) was killed coming onto the beach. He is mentioned on p. 259 of Ambrose's D-Day book. (Ambrose says he was killed in the landing craft, but the official letter says he was killed crossing the beach.) My father arrived in the ETO after the combat. He stayed in the army and was killed in a military plane crash in Japan going to Korea from the Phillipines when that war broke out. I never knew him. But our family was honored when a National Guard post started by my father in Portsmouth, VA was named for him in 1959.

My father and his brother were National Guard before the war with the 29th Division, and thus were called into active duty with the 29th. By luck of the draw, his company was not part of the disastrous D-Day experience of the 29th at Omaha Beach, but my my mother's uncle Maj. John Sauers (my father's good friend) was killed coming onto the beach. He is mentioned on p. 259 of Ambrose's D-Day book. (Ambrose says he was killed in the landing craft, but the official letter says he was killed crossing the beach.) My father arrived in the ETO after the combat. He stayed in the army and was killed in a military plane crash in Japan going to Korea from the Phillipines when that war broke out. I never knew him. But our family was honored when a National Guard post started by my father in Portsmouth, VA was named for him in 1959.

Nice work, thanks. Your sub-folder suggestion is good. And it doesn't affect skies in Italy, right??

Yes, game intro music is very important to immersion and enjoyment. I would like an in-game music and sound effects level control added. It's no fun to constantly exit CM to readjust sound levels from Musicmatch. Most of us are in and out of CM during the day, so it would be nice to know that when we return, all is normal.

Many thanks, von Lucke!! The full version is superb. Much, much better than the version on the Afrika Korps site. I did notice one brief glitch at 2:24 playing time, however. Is it in the download file, or did I screw up the file conversion? Pcelt, I use the free CDex file converter at http://www.cdex.n3.net/. Pay attention to where the final file goes by default. After converting, I found it in My Documents/My Music/MP3 folder. Then rename it 00005010.WAV and copy it to CMAK.

Many thanks, von Lucke!! The full version is superb. Much, much better than the version on the Afrika Korps site. I did notice one brief glitch at 2:24 playing time, however. Is it in the download file, or did I screw up the file conversion? Pcelt, I use the free CDex file converter at http://www.cdex.n3.net/. Pay attention to where the final file goes by default. After converting, I found it in My Documents/My Music/MP3 folder. Then rename it 00005010.WAV and copy it to CMAK.

Well, yes, I know the feeling well, having spent ages with my old 56k modem. If you start it before bedtime, it will be done by morning. That always worked for me on downloads larger than yours. And uploads should be about the same. Otherwise, tell us where you got the song. One of us would be glad to put it up for you. Matt, you guys need to go for period feel. Remember the Germans listening to music in their pillbox prior to getting wasted in the "Guns of Navarone"? That's why we need Lili Marlene by VonLucke. It's a great recording.

Well, yes, I know the feeling well, having spent ages with my old 56k modem. If you start it before bedtime, it will be done by morning. That always worked for me on downloads larger than yours. And uploads should be about the same. Otherwise, tell us where you got the song. One of us would be glad to put it up for you. Matt, you guys need to go for period feel. Remember the Germans listening to music in their pillbox prior to getting wasted in the "Guns of Navarone"? That's why we need Lili Marlene by VonLucke. It's a great recording.

So is it written, so is it done </font>

Excellent choice! Also excellent sound recording quality, which is very important. No more hissy German marches. BUT, you really must post the whole song so it doesn't end abruptly. I was just getting in the mood when it suddenly ended. A person would need to rush into a game before the music ended. True music lovers like to savor the experience. Many thanks, and hoping for an upgrade to the complete version...

Excellent choice! Also excellent sound recording quality, which is very important. No more hissy German marches. BUT, you really must post the whole song so it doesn't end abruptly. I was just getting in the mood when it suddenly ended. A person would need to rush into a game before the music ended. True music lovers like to savor the experience. Many thanks, and hoping for an upgrade to the complete version...

BRILLIANT! IT WORKED!! The other half was somehow hidden and appeared when I clicked on the top half and scrolled down. Thank goodness for you guys who know about web stuff. I never would have guessed the second half was hidden. Many thanks!

I've got MS Internet Explorer 6.0.2800 updated just a month ago. I had this problem last year too. Weird. Everything else on Scenario Depot and other sites shows fine.

Not me. I just tried adjusting the browser screen font size, but it doesn't affect the index font. I've got a lot of screen to show the whole alphabet. I'm running 1280x1024. I can't figure it out.

Scenario Depot is great in all respects, but I have one vexing problem when browsing for new battles. The alphabetical battle index for both CMBB and CMAK only goes from "A" to "M". I don't know what happened to the rest of the alphabet, but the other letters don't display so I can't click on them to browse for battles. I have a large screen, so it's not a matter of scrolling to see the rest. Anybody know how to fix this?

You don't think I perform legal editing for free, do you? I've already sent young Andrew a bill. After all, it is Christmas and I need to get in the proper Holiday Spirit. BTW, why don't you ask Andrew to make up some nice pale blue helmets for all your Canuckian Peace Keeping Forces to wear? Then they'll look just peachy riding around the desert in your white UN AFV mods. If they can't be warriors, they might as well look spiffy. Hehehe....

Many thanks, Andrew. I make a practice of staying updated with all your uniform mods. The details are amazing. I thought it would be interesting to see what type of guy puts so much time into making CM uniforms, so I checked out your website. Very nice. Now I have zero art talent, but I did notice that the first sentence in the "About" section says: "Fox Arts is a small Web design studio run Andrew Fox." I'm guessing that you run the studio rather than vice versa, so you may want to add "by". Lawyers notice details, ya know? Merry Christmas!

Irish need not apply. Nobody here can handle that much failure. BTW, do you speak German? Well, you should learn if you want to have a chat down at the bierstuben, err pub...

Well, well, well... It took a couple of days, but I see the really top-notch Losing Experts are finally starting to appear. No JasonC posts here, that's for sure. The "Format C:" suggestion was good in the sense that it would be automatic and merciless in consigning one to Windows Hell forever, even against the AI. I like it. But I worry that it would also erase the losing game file that is the very evidence of defeat. No evidence = no crime. As a Fine Legal Mind, I appreciate that a person should be convicted and sentenced to death based upon circumstantial evidence, but only a creep like Saddam metes out death with zero evidence. And I don't think he makes games for BTS, although it's very possible he works for Microsoft. The Sticky Thread idea has some merit. But as Dr. Strangelove would surely point out, no Doomsday Machine is going to be credible if it depends upon human whim to trigger it. Especially if the human in question is the target of public humiliation and derision. BTS would need to program an automatic trigger that immediately links to the CM forum and posts the Loser's identity and final statistics. Kinda like the final 18th hole in Putt-Putt golf where the ball goes straight to Zit-Boy in the little shack once it is sunk. No second tries... But as always, our resident expert Seanachai has come up with the best idea for punishing losers. When it comes to losing big-time, he truly walks the walk while he endlessly talks the talk. And as always, he has overstated the premise, and made it much too long and complicated. Here's the simple and most effective way to implement his idea: Immediately upon losing a game, a full-screen smiling picture of Seanachai pops up with the simple proclamation: "I want to be your friend"... Shudder! Very Grim. Very Scary. No Redemption. The Perfect Humiliation. And for those who like nation-specific mods, a loser playing the Commonwealth side could have a full-screen picture of Mace appear saying in his best Rolf Harris voice: "I'm tired of playing with myself; will you play with me?" ARRRRGGGGHHHHH...... And of course, we have quite a large collection of losers from those no-name islands floating around Australia that seek some glimmer of recognition from its reflected glow. Maybe they've tired of insisting that Mel Gibson is really one of theirs, so they'll have time to contribute a loser mod. I'm currently out of touch with the collection of British gits playing CM, but I'm sure there are some who are fit candidates to induce shame of Churchillian proportions in a similar manner. And if they can't, then Andreas will be happy, as usual, to out-English the English and do it for them. Do we have any suitable German or Italian losers playing CM?? It seems they all cleaned up their act and became polite and friendly after the war. It must come from winning the peace. Or perhaps they're mellow from taking their gub'ment-mandated six weeks of vacation, eh? [ December 22, 2003, 10:04 AM: Message edited by: Lawyer ]

ROFL *high fives* Hey, now he's attacking Mace in the "What is the Appropriate Punishment" forum. Kitty </font>

I've been watching the serious grogs debate technical, tactical, stategic, and historical issues here on the forum for over three years now. Enough already!! It's time we consider the fundamentally important issue of losing and the appropriate punishment for it in CMAK. After all, losing happens more often than winning if you consider draws, and "Loser" is a term that can fairly be attributed to all of us at one time or another, especially in CM. Winning is its own reward in CM. Nothing extra is needed to enhance that warm glow of victory which comes from thrashing the AI or human (subhuman Cesspool) opponent. But losing in CM is such a wimpy affair. In CMBO, there was that silly taps tune to annoy you. In CMBB, it's just a neutral display of ugly statistics. And now we have CMAK, yet still no suitable game ending for losers. If you're not playing PBEM against some jerk who will give you personalized gloating and insults for losing, then you are SOL. Something more is needed to really drive home the point that you as a player simulating WWII warfare have failed! The losers in WWII didn't get off easy, so neither should the losing side in CM if we are to take seriously the game's claim for being realistic. My favorite punishment for losing was in the original "Panzer General" game. It was particularly effective for losing as the German commander (and let's face it, most of us have enjoyed playing the Bad Boy Germans). While some dirge music played in the background, a heavily-accented Col. Klink voice invited you into his office to express his "disappointment". Sometimes he gave you another chance to do better. Other times, you were sent to the Eastern Front. I always thought the effect could have been heightened by the sound of hobnail boots marching out to the parade ground, followed by a single volley of shots. As Vince Lombardi said, Losing = Death. There were no fancy graphics in the "Panzer General" briefing for losers. They weren't needed. Cued by the music and words of admonishment, your imagination worked perfectly to drive home the reality of failure in warfare. Anyone who's seen the fate of Robert Vaughn at the end of "The Bridge at Remagen" knows what to envision. Now being a loyal and somewhat productive member of the CM community, I suggested this type of punishment for failure in CM to BTS before CMBO was completed. They said they were open to suggestions back then, but nonetheless politely refused my suggestion as not being in harmony with their vision of the game. Well sure, I'll admit that BTS knows a lot about making a realistic tactical war game, but what do they know that we don't about the sad effects of losing, eh?? I mean, as regular CM players who don't have much else going, I believe we have in this community a vast encyclopedic knowledge of losing that's just waiting to be tapped. Yes, some even understand losing to the point of ulitimate, soul-crushing defeat... Kinda like being a clone of Seanachai or Mace... If you're reading this far, I think you might even be qualified yourself to help us out here. So what do you think the appropriate punishment for losing in CM should be? Can somebody come up with a suitable losing mod? After all, losing is important. It deserves to handled better. I just know we have the experts in the CM community to get the job done right. We can't expect the winners at BTS to ever understand, but we can expect some brilliant contributions from the whiners here in the CM forum. Everyone should do what they do best, right? Let's have some suggestions for punishing CM losers from those who understand it best. ---------------------------------- Edited to add Mace as a specific example of the Ultimate Loser. [ December 20, 2003, 06:07 PM: Message edited by: Lawyer ]

That's why soldiers train and have officers that give them orders. That's why there are little red heart icons on leaders in CM. That's why there should be a "!" tag for orders. </font>

Thanks. Now I seem to remember that Skorzeny was sent to Hungary to do a coup when they were considering changing sides. Is that right? So the Hungarians never actually changed sides. Well, I guess that makes it easier for CM purposes. To have a good QB, do you recommend early or late war Hungarian forces vs. the Soviets?

I want to play a QB (pre-set map or random) using Hungarian forces. But I'm wondering whether to go early war when Hungary was a German ally or late war when Hungary switched sides. Can anybody tell me when and where Hungary was fighting against who?? When were they fighting the Russians? Germans? Vice versa? Anybody else? What pairing makes the most sense to play a good game? It's hard to figure out when countries switch sides. But it makes a difference in CMBB when setting up a scenario. Thanks for any help...

Yes, I agree that scripting should be permitted to make interesting scenarios. It's the only way to get a realistic battle going with the AI. Does anybody know why this is not included in CMAK?