Hawkeye

OH AWESOME!!! I'm in a Peng thread! This is . . . this is . . . AWESOME!! Hawkeye ------------------ Check it out: I have a signature now--just like REAL members. Hah!

I, too, am interested in a quick way to find tcp/ip opponents. I tried the chat room at CMHQ, but my school firewall blocks that port unfortunately. Any ideas? Alternately, I'll accept any challenges sent my way. I'm usually available for at least one game a day. I'll play you sometime bluemx. Hawkeye ------------------ Check it out. I have a signature now--just like REAL members. Hah!

Perhaps I left out a few details. It was not one, but several barrages of artillery that were coming in. I myself am a great endorser of smoke, but the gun emplacements were so wide and far flung it would've required the use of too much artillery to effectively conceal my advance. I did actually have one "screen" setup, but it didn't preserve very man of my men. Furthermore, I had no clue where most of the guns were--not even sound contacts.

You know, having played the TacAI for most of my CM career, I've noticed from studying the tactics of other players online that they employ Indirect Fire much more often and with greater effectiveness than I do. I'm the kind of guy who, when given the chance to purchase his troops, maxes out his points on infantry. There's something enormously satisfying to me about purchasing a company, or better yet, a battalion of men. I mean sure, I'll usually get a couple of 81 FO's and maybe some 105's, but infantry are my workhorse. Fionn Kelly, on the other hand (at least according to the AAR's I've viewed), ADORES artillery. Thus, it has only recently occurred to me the potentially (very) large differences in style that one might see between Combat Mission commanders. I, like I said, love infantry, and, therefore, I look at all other units as a means to support them. Last night, however, I played my first 5000 point game against the TacAI (+1 xp bonus). I was the Americans attacking a randomly generated German-occupied town on a large map. I have to admit, it was a learning experience. I had a pair of rifle companies initiate the advance first with some light armor helping at point and some shermans watching the flanks. The result was this. Around turn 3 or so the first artillery barrage arrived. Around turn 5 both companies were reduced to about half, most of which had some nifty red exclamation points in their status boxes. Meanwhile, my light armor had been annihilated by hidden flak positions and I'd lost about half of my platoon of Shermans to hidden 88's. What was most frustrating, however, was that my infantry were effectively useless now--they were either too reduced in size or in morale by indirect fire. And they had never gotten a shot off. So I guess my question is this. After having witnessed the potency of a strong indirect fire defense (or even offense potentially) and the minimal risk that is involved in its use, I am inclined to believe the most effective commanders will spend their points on artillery rather than infantry or even vehichles. I wanted, however, to consult the CM message board grogs before I began overhauling my tactics to a less direct-fire oriented style of play. I guess what I'm really wondering is whether the direct-fire oriented commander can still oust his indirect-fire oriented opponent by anything but sheer luck. Essentially, which is better? I appreciate your comments. I hope I'm not too far off in my appraisal of things here. Hawkeye

Has anyone ever wished for an "abandon" command like I have? I mean, I often find myself (while defending) wishing that I could just tell my crews to abandon that AT gun because I know the arty strike will be arriving within minutes. Furthermore, I'd like to tell my men sometimes to just ditch that heavy MG or mortar because they're going to die if they stay within enemy LOS trying to lug that thing outta there. FURTHERMORE, I'd like my crews to be able to reman this equipment! I played a game last night in which all 6 men in my .50 cal crew were wasted by HE fire because they were trying to carry the gun across open terrain. If there were only some way I could've told them "Get the hell outta here! Forget the gun!"--but alas, dutiful men that they were, they lugged that thing down to the very last man who, in turn, was imobilized and then finally VAPORIZED. It's just not necessary! Those men don't have to die! I don't like casualties! Even crew casualties! I don't like being responsible for unnecessary deaths! Hawkeye

I prefer +200% forces and +3 experience against the AI in ALL scenarios. I am especially fond of doing so when defending with conscripted Volkssturm. Oh, and I always win too. Hawkeye

Wouldn't it be great to review an entire battle without having to click "join multiplayer" "load e-mail" 30 times? Any chance for the future? Hawkeye

Why do I never hear anything about this unit? I've had some really great experiences with it (apart from the risk of mortar fire). The 150mm cannon is a one-way ticket to ROUTED! status. Does anyone know how frequently/effectively these were used historically perchance? Hawkeye

Isn't it cool when you two shells hit a tank (or other AFV) simultaneously? It doesn't happen very often, but I had two pak 75's tear into a TD the other day at the exact same moment and it had to be the biggest explosion I've ever seen (in Combat Mission, at least). I dunno if that was just a coincidence or some special bit of coding. -Hawkeye

You know, the text file format of the PBEM games is really quite irritating. I mean, first of all, you and your opponent usually don't use the same format when you play. And second of all you usually have to navigate your hard drive everytime you save the file or send it. Wouldn't it be a lot more convenient if the game automatically named the files in their own directory and they had their own EXTENSION so that you could just double clik on them? After many a PBEM game, that's the way I feel about it. Hawkeye

And from 500 meters! Alright so it's not THAT amazing but it sure did put some spirt back into me. A couple of panthers and some pillboxes had occupied this one hill the entire battle. My shermans were camped out behind some trees and terrain after they saw what the 88mm pillbox and the 75's on the panthers were doing to their armor (A few burning hulks were currently smoking on the hill ridge above to remind them). I sent a platoon of stuarts along the right flank to draw their fire and pushed the shermans back over the hill for another go at it and when the panthers started grinding their turrets back towards the shermans one of the stuarts got a side turret penetration from 500 meters! I was a little bit flustered to see one of those beasts go down. Maybe I won't be so timid about pitting light tanks against german armor in the next battle? Hawkeye

Ahhhh... so he's Hawk huh? Guess he's not MAN enough to have an "eye" appended to the end of his name! I piss on your smilies Hawk! You inadequate HALF of my glorious name! HAWKEYE

OOOoooo!! A new operation! GOODY. (Send a copy my way pls) Hawkeye

I too am a little bit concerned about the "waiting on your slow arse opponent while playing tcp/ip" issue. But I've also noticed that I continue to move and plan faster the more I play CM (much to my delight! I'm so professional now!) I guess what peeves me is that I can play an entire game in 30 minutes which would take 30 DAYS against another person. Well the AI just isn't challenging and I want the best of both worlds dammit! TCP/IP vs. a fast opponent still won't be as fast as against the AI, but it will be a helluva step up. I send well over 10-15 turns a day and I STILL get frustrated at the snail's pace. It'll be quite a time committment to sit down and play some tcp/ip with someone, but I think I could find the time =). Hawkeye

I just read through 4 threads on the full representation issue. It seems people feel pretty strongly about it. I think we'd all like the game to be a perfect photorealistic recreation of WWII if the programmers had the time and our CPU's had the horsepower. I'd love to see individual shell casings, detailed hand to hand combat, all the differents weapons, thousands of soldiers on screen, etc. etc. But of course, like everyone else, I'm not ready to exchange gameplay for eyecandy. Surely no one wishes the game looked plainer? That's all I'm trying to say! Sorry I didn't do a search before I appended that afterthought, btw. Hawkeye