deanco

After reading this article, it really puts a new spin on all those 'I must have this or that improvement' threads. I realized that, good idea or not, sometimes BTS just had to say no. It gives a good feeling for the amount of work that went into this game, that's for sure. Super interesting. DeanCo--

Man, that sounds like me talking. I've been saying the exact same thing (wego as the wave of the future, sales breaking out of the wargame niche) on this board and to anybody who will listen for a couple months now. Cool. DeanCo--

1. Ability to remap the keyboard. 2. A 'Toggle View State' button, which would save your preferences for viewing the map and recall them with 1 button. 3,4,5...the weapon tweaks, other good ideas posted here. I did a search on "ergonom" here and found 1 post, totally unrelated to ergonomic considerations. This issue (enduser ease of use) is the only minor complaint I can find with this game, which has gotta be one of the greatest games ever made. Thanks for listening, BTS. DeanCo--

Thanks all, and this thread goes to the top where it belongs. DeanCo--

You da man, I was wondering what excuse i could use for my next defeat, and this may just be the thing i need! sept 1 1953 ......you have an extreme tendancy to lose at CM...aside from changing your birthdate, there is nothing to be done... I like the concept! DeanCo--

I vote for a roster. Organized by type, infantry, armor, artillery, support, crews, etc. With different colored type to indicate the morale and 'moving' 'taking cover' etc. after the name. A double click takes you to that unit on the map and selects the unit. See Urban Assault. That would really be an enormous help to all those people who are coming to CM from RTS, 4X, Civ-likes, etc. due to the good reviews. These people will appreciate a roster too, I am confident. DeanCo--

A roster may or may not be "relevant" but I'm sure that some players would find it useful. I don't see what is wrong with what has proved to be (by the number of posters that have agreed with John) a percieved need or minor fault with the game. Just because the issue was beaten to death a year or two ago doesn't mean it's set it stone for all time. I think Steve and Charles are listening here. From what I've read they seem to be open to suggestions such as this one. In the end they will decide what is "relevant" or not to the game, it's their success story here, not ours. DeanCo--

Hi John, I personally agree with you about the roster. For new players it would be a blessing to see your whole list at a glance, preferably with different colored type to know easily if they were moving, firing, hiding etc. It would make it easier to not forget anybody, that's for sure. The plus and minus keys are just too laborious, especially later when you have a bunch of crews running around. Not to mention that the + and - keys also cycle through all spotted enemy units too... And I also feel that the keyboard ergonomy could have been done better. Sure, a lot of commands are available, but they're all Shift + something. What's wrong with the function keys? Why can't we simply remap the keys to whatever we want? Since I have a French keyboard some of the defaults are not the greatest, like Alt Gr + ) to zoom the camera. To BTS's credit though, the key combos actually do make the functions work, as opposed to some games where you have to use the American counterparts. Other than that minor niggle, however, I think BTS have made an almost perfect game. Anyway, just to let you know I think you have a couple valid points. DeanCo--

I too didn't get why everybody moved in straight lines when you bandboxed. Now I like it that way, they stay in formation. DeanCo--

Interesting about the bazooka/jeep rush. It's not such a hot strategy really. I tried it a few times against the computer(without knowing what I was doing, of course, but it seemed like a good strategy). result: tacatacatac: jeep dies. tacatacatac : bazooka pinned. tacatacatac : bazooka dead or broken. OK, a couple times he gets a shot off, but he doesn't aim too good with that big MG bearing down on him. All by himself he ain't gonna get the job done. They need infantry or something to take the heat off of 'em so they can fire, I found out. Then they can be deadly. Nothing more satisfying for me than taking a tank out with a bazooka. No wait... with a regular squad, from behind, is even better. DeanCo--

Oh God, where do I start...anyway, I'm a total video game addict, and here are a few of my favorites : For the Atari 1040 : Flight Simulator (my first game) Captive M1 Tank Platoon Railroad Tycoon Civilization (I just want to meet Sid Meier and shake his hand...this man is a god to me) Red October (thats not the name but another Meier classic, a sub hunt game) Silent Hunter Microprose Golf probably some more but my memory is hazy... Then I got a PC, mainly for : Warcraft II Command and Conquer Later : Diablo (not 2, too derivative) Need for Speed 3 Rally Championship 2000 (the CM of driving games IMHO) Total Annihilation (for me, RTS is C&C -> TA -> AOE2) Caesar 3 Age of Empires 2 Need for Speed 5 Jagged Alliance 2 (what a great game!!!) Half-Life!! How could I forget Half-Life! If I've forgotten any, I'll edit my message later. Of course, ALL I play now is CM, and it has kinda ruined me for other games... if only CM weren't so GOOD! To finish, I'm a great believer in video game therapy for people who think too much, neurosis, etc. If you're planning your attack or whatever, you don't have time to think about the unpaid rent, or your colleague who hates you at work, or why your last girlfriend dumped you, etc etc etc. Note that video games don't SOLVE the problem, they just put it on hold, which, from an existential POV, is the same as solving it, if you follow me. Thanks to your suggestions I'm gonna look for Syndicate Wars again. It came out when I bought my PC but my 486 wouldn't run it. Also X-Com, somehow I missed this one. Later all! DeanCo-- [This message has been edited by deanco (edited 08-05-2000).]

pffftt... Man, I've seen some behavior on the Half-Life servers that made me ashamed to be a guy. Really purile, stupid, uncalled-for stuff. My take is, hey, we're all here to play the game, right? So...let's play. DeanCo--

The guy done shot his wad with the superlatives, didn't he? The last game I saw so many good reviews in a row like that was for Half-Life... 'nuff said. God... it's so great when a really good game comes out, isn't it? BTW you can rate CM or write your own review while you're there at AV. Bye. DeanCo--

Although I'm not German, I stand guilty of 'Teuton' my own horn! It's called The Battle for Prime Time and it has Mexican rebels, a charismatic peasant leader, a CNN network executive intent on advancing his career no matter what the cost, a rebel martyr, weird victory conditions, and lots of explosions. If you all enjoy it, I'll do Part 2. Later! DeanCo--

46 and still rocking!! For how long, though, is anybody's guess... DeanCo...

Woah there, Disaster, I never said Civ (THE Civilization, not a Civ-like) was a bad game. On the contrary, it's one of my Grand Masterpieces, along with Railroad Tycoon, M1 Tank Platoon, (really, my most fun days were on the Atari 1040) and Total Annihilation. And of course CM. I lost a sexy girlfriend over Civ I, at least I think I did... she musta split when the Greeks and Romans both decided to gang up on me.. at any rate, she's gone now... DeanCo--

Killer idea. I was making a kind of "deathmatch" map where I wanted the players to pick their own forces...this would allow that. Great. DeanCo--

Ahhh...It's great to hear someone say independantly what I've been saying for a while. CM is one kickass, deep, game. Period. It's got the cool, fun factor mixed in with a game you could play for 2 years and still not know all the nuances. Go to a Civ-like or RTS forum, most people are complaining about depth of gameplay. They learn the tank rush, or whatever, and thats about it. This game is what they want, they just don't know it yet. Heh...I'm glad I'm seeing this 'live', so to speak. I am following this whole thing avidly. DeanCo--

What I've heard is there are some people in the business that consider warez to be a positive influence on sales by building name recognition and creating a 'buzz' before release. Others say its 50-50, they neither gain nor lose money, once again by the same criteria. At any rate, if they actively pursue the warez sites, they WILL lose money, because the cost involved in doing so is usually more than the sales lost. They also calculate lost revenue in terms of real sales lost, that is to say, how many people who have the warez version would have a snowball's chance in hell of buying the game if the free version didn't exist. So they calculate only a certain percentage of the total number of pirate versions circulating as actual lost sales. This is for their books, or whatever. Anyway, this might be BS, it might not, it's just what I've heard from various sources on the net. If someone knows better I'll be glad to listen. DeanCo--

Oh man...home made CM comic books!! Too cool!! Me too, I'm gonna make one and call it "Sgt. Rock"... what's that you say? Already done? OK, picky picky picky... "Ghost Tank" then...What? Pffft... creativity was never my strong point... DeanCo--

Been there, done that. I love writing reviews about games I love, they are so simple to write...just start gushing incoherently and THE REST IS HISTORY!! DeanCo--

Start playing, and start losing. Then read the Instructions that came with the demo twice. Play again, and look really closely at your guys, and what they do, and look especially at their morale. Run the movie several times for each turn, from different points of view. Keep playing, keep losing. You'll get the hang of it soon. Take a look at the capabilities of the individual units. This is not Command and Conquer, there is no way to tell by looking at the unit how tough it is. Hit Enter and read about it. Play some more. Try to notice as much as you can what is happening on the battlefield when the movie plays. Your first few games will take a really long time, this is normal. Stick with it, it will pay off big if you do. Above all, have fun. Me, I come from the same non-wargame background as you. For a newbie, there is a whole lot to discover about this game, which normally should keep you (and I) interested and entertained for a good long time. Read this forum. Good luck. DeanCo-- [This message has been edited by deanco (edited 08-01-2000).]

Hmmm...this success story kinda reminds me of another company who put out a game called Doom in sorta the same manner. Both had a groundbreaking, kickass game and both bypassed the 'majors' when it came time to put it out. Y'all deserve every last bit of the success to come. Congrats! DeanCo--

hi Greg, I did a search with Yahoo and it kicked out : http://www.s3.com/ try there first. DeanCo-- ohhh...hey....I'm a member!! [This message has been edited by deanco (edited 07-31-2000).]

thanks you guys... dalem : no, it was not a generic tank. I'm tellin' ya, that Sherman was so close to the "AV" I could smell the exhaust fumes. Right up on it's butt! You can imagine my dismay when it wouldn't shoot! (oh well, I got to yell at my monitor.) I dunno...I'm new to all this military stuff...maybe they just didn't see it (the dummies!)...I suppose weirder stuff has happened in real life...maybe it was a Panther "RV" instead(recreational vehicule) and the Sherman didn't want to violate the Geneva Convention...who knows! DeanCo--