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Bertram

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Posts posted by Bertram

  1. I agree that some maps have a rather small setup area for the attacker. It leads to the danger of exploits - especially in PBEM. You can fairly easily guess where the attacker has to deploy, and drop some prep arty on the spot(s). Easily overcome by a "houserule" not to use first turn artillery though.

    Other solutions are picking a small battle, and a large map, or opening the map in the battle editor and changing the setup area....

  2. Simmox and me played a QB by Email, and just tried to set up a second one. Both times the attacker got to set up in the centre of the map, at the village/victory location, and the defender got to set up at the map edge, without any victory locations.

    We played the first one, and it was a nice excersize in attacking for me, but pretty hopeless for the defender.

    Both times the defending player set the QB up, and picked the map. Germans were attacker in the first one, defender in the second one.

    Maps were:

    Asslt Med Village QB 006

    Attk Med Hills QB 055

    Only thing I can think of is that the attacker needs to set up the battle, for the setup area's to be appointed properly. Is that the case? We are going to try that now...

    Bertram

  3. I am currently playing a quick battle against Simmox. Not quite sure, as he did the selecting, but it seems I am supposed to be the (German) attacker (at least that is what the "briefing" tells me). The system gave me a 1981 point force (I went with the suggestion).

    Then I was able to set up on half of the map, including the central village (the victory location), while Simmox had to set up at the map edge. He has several foxholes there - but I have no need to attack them. Somehow the attacker and defender map positions got reversed??

    The map is Asslt Med Village 006

  4. Played a couple more battles. I am in the game!!!

    On the German side......

    As a -2 leader :(.

    More to the point: I had a AT gun and a light MG deployed near each other. During a turn some infantry and a light tank came into view. The AT gun turned towards the infantry, the MG kept hammering away at the tank. It ended badly... So, first I second the "target armor only" command for the AT guns. Second: I am wondering if WW2 MG's really opened up on each tank they saw as soon as they saw them, even in preference to infantry targets. They can't hurt the tank, but can hurt the infantry. The tank without the infantry is more crippled then an MG can ever hurt it directly. And getting the attention of the tankcrew, by plinging on their hull, does not seem healthy...

  5. Pushing the 49,99 boundary? I remember paying 100 $ for a game 20 years ago, and those dollars were quite a bit more expensive (in time it cost me to earn them) then they are today.

    As to the manual and printing: printing isnt entirely free, but it is almost. The cost is in the putting together of the manual, the proofreading, the formatting, etc. This is regardless of the format it is delivered in. The actual cost of putting the resulting file on paper is just a dollar, a dollar 50, if you have a run of more then 1500 (the size of the run, regarding value for money depends a bit on paper used, print method and cover used). It might be even less now, my dad had a publishing bussiness, but he stopped about ten years ago.

    Costs go up for handling, warehousing, shipping and wholesale discounts (for books the regular bookstores want a discount of about 40% of the recommended price - of course depending on how famous you are as writer).

    So the same price for the game, regardless of it being download or physical isnt that strange - the actual difference in cost for the publisher is actually small (in the order of 2-4 dollar I would guess, depending on the size of the run) as long as S&H is covered seperate.

  6. My mortars don"t always show in contact and then cannot shoot. What do I need to do to maintain contact and firing capability? I agree, the mortars are very accurate in direct fire mode. Thoughts?

    The section HQ (or weapons platoon HQ for the US side) needs to be in contact with the mortar crews (mortar crews have no radio, so it needs to be within viewing or yelling distance). The section HQ is the flag that lights up when you select the mortar crew...

    Then the section HQ needs to be in contact with the compagny HQ - green dot in the left lower side of the details picture. And the calling HQ needs to be in contact with the compagny commander as well. All those HQ's have radio's (at least thus far) so they will be in contact unless one of them is cowering or destroyed.

    If the section HQ (or weapons platoon HQ) is lost, you can send the Compagny HQ to the mortar crew - it can order them directly. It is no use to put one of the other platoon HQ's next to the mortar crews.. they will just ignore them. (And for larger battles they will ignore the Compagny HQ's from other Compagnies as well I guess).

    As German in "the Bocage" it is very easy to have the section HQ move a bit, and lose contact with one or both of the mortar crews. Very frustrating tuill you figure it out :).

  7. The German mirror is hanging now for about 15 minutes, the Filefactory download site did work - at 50 kB/sec for a download time af 4 to 5 hours. Seems I have to wait for the steel box to arrive :(.

    To hasty: the German Mirror of Worth Playing started after all - and it ges a whopping 300 kB speed. Just 30 minutes left....

  8. If they start hearing words they shouldn't, then that's doing them harm.

    Now that is actually the point where the difference lies I think... In Europe we seem to think that hearing swear words doesnt do irreplacable harm to kids. Not even when on film or TV (or in games) (which for some reason seems to be worse then hearing it in real life). And I got to admit that I never has seen any evidence to the contrary (I am psychologist, but also European, so I could be biased - though almost all our professional literature is from the US... ).

  9. One of the coolest things with tanks was making a hasty hull down position.... needed are a brick road (which were plenty in Germany where the Dutch army trained then) and good brakes on a tank. A bit of speed, locking the brakes - the road surface would stay intact under the tank, sliding along with the tank. The road in front would pile up: impromptu brick pile and hull down position.

    There was an engineer section traveling behind the trainings excercises to mend roads, fences and hurt feelings :). Of course this was when the Germans still expected to see the Red Army come visiting any day, so they were a bit more accommodating then they would be now.

  10. Circumference maybe, not diameter

    I don't agree you can see quite clearly that the tank I brought to a halt by the trees and it is not a lack of vision, you can see the tank straining against the resistance.

    Actually the correct term is Momentum

    The German speaking chap is talking about Durchmesser, which I would translate as diameter, but I could be wrong, it could be circumference. The Oak actually was 65 cm, not 75 cm (according to the commentator) - I didn't catch that correct the first time. He also states that trees this large should be viewed individually, as the root system will be the problem, the tank can hang on those, depending on how they are formed.

    You might not agree, I just translate what the commentator tells. Of course the commentator could be just talking nonsense, after all, it is a test of the Bundeswehr, not generally a reliable source of information about tanks and so on.

  11. I don't think so, take a look at the video that is posted above. The Leo 1 goes fine through trees (saplings really) that are about 100mm or less in diameter. Most of what it is cruising through are just young pines but see the problem it has when it crashes into the creek bed. Also have a look at 2:20 which I would call a small tree and then at 3:30 at a medium tree and see the drama the tank has. Again at 4:30 on see the trouble it has with scattered light timber and again at 10:00 in the thicker forest with still quite small trees.

    Tank hates trees at the best of times, no chance in a mature hardwood forest.

    The chap talking in German in the background is saying those are 32 cm (320 mm) in diameter. not really saplings anymore.... What you call a medium tree, they call a 75 cm diameter oak.

    Comment at 4:30 is that the view of the Panzercrew is occasionally blocked by the falling treecrowns, but is not otherwise slowed down. Only if the tree's fall in a way that the crowns lock together they might withstand the Panzer, and it has to take an other route.

    At 9:00: the combination of a 38 degree slope with 30 cm tree's does stop the Panzer, as the track start to slip, and even a slight sideways movement can detrack it.

    At 10:00 minutes: dense trees of about 5 to 31 cm diameter and a 5 to 12 degree slope does not slow the Panzer down, it has to stop occasionally because the falling branches and leaves obscure the vision of the crew.

    Of course this is a Leopard I, stronger engine, better transmission and tracks then anything available in WW2.

  12. No commanbd delays, those have disappeared completely.

    Unit out of communication will spot slower (they will not get the info other units have), will have lower morale, will not benefit from modifiers from the next higher leader, will rally /recover slower, will be less willing (due to the previous points) to move under fire or attack, will be slower (or unable) to call in artillery, will be slower (or unable) to report enemies THEY have spotted to other units..... I might have forgot some things....

    Changes to morale are not large, but they add up (based on CMSF observations), and all other things being equal, the player that keeps his units in C&C will have a definite advantage.

  13. What scenario fails depends on the player. There are a number of well thought out scenario's out there (for CMSF obviously) that I dont like, but others are enthousiast about. I usually play a scenario once, don't save to go back, and see what happens. If the scenario is a "puzzle" scenario, with one good move, you need to make (you need to rush a unit to the extreme right flank on turn one, so you can use artillery there, otherwise you lose, or you need to rush your tanks to hill A at once, so you can intercept the enemy, otherwise you loose) I usually don't like them. Others play them a number of times, trying diffent solutions, and love to puzzle out the right move to make.

    For me those scenario's are a fail, for others they are a nice puzzle....

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