gashford

Thanks one and all for your comments, they have been useful. When I posted the question I meant more in lines with advancing to contact using the tank as a cover, I see now that this may not be such a good idea in both real life or the game because of the fire it can attract. Thanks for the secondary answers about LOS and tank hulks, this has answered the question as well just from a different angle. Thanks all. Gashford.

A quick question, about armoured cover given to infantry. In much archived photographs and footage of the second world war in combined armour infantry advances to combat, groups of infantry can be seen, bent, finding cover behind or around an advancing piece or armour. THey are not merely hiding behind the armour using it to block an enemies potential line of sight but are actively seeking cover behind them, often in a column, in one picture I have seen up to ten men cowering about pressed against one another and back of the tank as they advance to combat. In CM, you can try and get men to walk behind the armour as it advances, but does anyone know whether this is as efficient as the portrayl above or does it simply block some line of sight from the enemy? Could there be room for a future 'cover' button for advancing groups around armour or should things be pretty much left alone? Also in most of the pictures that I can recall haviing seen this, the people tend to be Germas seeking cover, was this primarily a German tactic as pioneers of combined armour-infantry tactics or just that I haven't seen many equivalient allied pictures? Any thoughts would be appreciated, particularly in line with CM as I am mostly looking to improve my game. Gashford

You will need to post your email if you want people to take you up on your offer. =)

Lilaen, If you want send me a setup of one of the games in the demo and we can go through it together step by step, I can explain everything that I am doing and you can see the results easily enough. I am no expert or grog, but like you I hd my butt whipped several times by the AI and had someone do this to me and I learnt a lot. My email is gashford@freenetname.co.uk I won't be bothered about who wins in our game, just try to help you see what is going on. The full version is a great game and it would be a pity for you to miss out.

Something to think about for zone creation could be what I have tried to create in a scenerio I have made. A small crossroads in a hamle/town in France has recently been taken by a small Ameican group. There are three roads into the town, so Ihave given the German attackers with the mission to take the town starting zones around these three roads as they enter the map, figuring that given enough time and effort the attacker would decide which was the best place to attack from. The defender has a few small areas to place a mobile advance group in the road on, stationed to see where the attackers are coming from. So a centrak defence with three possible locations the attacker can come from. Thought it might make things a little different. What do you think?

I have played on a LAN and used the PBEM on a shared folder as suggested, it isn't as cumbersome as it may seem when you first think about it, just setup your PBEM folder as a shared folder with full read/write and then away you go. Good fun, but I look forward to true TCP/IP support as well.

Got to agree with the above, pretty naff compared to CM, in fact there is no real comparison other than PC games in WW2. However, comnpared to games like C&C it isn't too bad, just a modern version which ha learnt from a few mistakes fromprevious games and ignored a few others. But I should imagine that the demo pretty much gives you what you are going to get in the ful version so I would save your money.

Can you help me understand something, I spent a few years in infantry roles, never killed a tank, didn't have much to do with them and don't know a lot about them. I am positive this is a quick question to answer so please be gentle. When a tank throws a track why can't it move anymore. Having seen some tanks I am pretty sure that the wheels would still touch the ground if the track wasn't there. I imagine that losing a track in soft terrain (grass, mud etc) would mean the thing would just bog down, but if a tank loses its tracks in metalled roads would it still be able to move, if only very slowly and haphazardly? Be gentle =)

I would have loved to take some 'real' tanks but I let the PC choose sides for both of us, maybe it was just getting me back for something!!

Fionn, thanks I wasn't sure whether they where called Wespes or not, I tried to remember the name but not being that hot on my WW2 vehicles I could not remember, I think there was a W in there somewhere, so thankyou for correcting me. Thanks for letting me know about the KT vs Stuart issue, at least there is a chance then but I don't feel so silly for being defeated so quickly. By about turn 15 if I remember. Hope you all don't mind my silly questions, just trying to learn. Thanks again.

Hello all, Could you help me please, I am trying to get better at the game so eventually I can try to take on some of you guys in PBEM or at least stand a chance against some friends of mine this side of the Atlantic (UK). Recently in a QB in a medium map, 40 turns, 1500 points where both sides where decided by the PC from any units, I ended up facing a King Tiger, a few groups of men and three HTs and a gun of some sort. Faced against this illustrious German side stood a host of men of varying types two Wespes (?) and five stuarts. I was slaughtered, I could not get over the central hill near the King Tiger, shells bounced off all over the place as it gaily flattened all my armour and proceeded to chew up the men, the HTs made a mess of my remaiing men and in the end I had to surrender, I did not fancy the chances of a wespe and a handful of men against a KT on a prominent hill in the distance. My serious question is this, would there be a way to take down the KT on a prominent hill with five stuarts. I understand the turret traverse of the KT is fairly slow, would a group of stuarts be able to take a KT out from behind it, assuming I survived the 300-400 metre rush to get behind it? Or was I dead in teh water before the game started facing such an enemy? Thanks for any advic you can offer on how to take out such foe as a KT with stuarts...

Allies, generally always unless I am testing a game I have edited. Remember Rogue Trooper in 2000AD, the Southerners had all the bad kit and the Norts had all the best, so I was drawn to the Southerners because they where the underdogs. Same for the games I play, always play the ones with the least toys and the worst kit, victory is so much sweeter that way!! =)

Hello and welcome to the board. I have all four of the Close Combat games and have thoroughly enjoyed each one, played them to death and look forward to the release of CC5 Omaha Beach towards the end of the year. I think though that something has gone wrong somewhere. CM and CC while similar games - WW2 tactical wargames - are worlds apart in what lies underneath them. CC made huge leaps in the AI with the panic of men being shown on the RTS frontend quite well, you could flank and actually gain a benefit from suppresive fire etc... however it is the engine underneath CM which make them very different games aimed (it would seem) at very differing markets. I do not claim to be an expert, I have been truly amazed at some of the answers to technical questions from the people on this board, it is my opinion that many history teachers and WW2 'experts' would do well to lurk on this board (any out there?). I think both are great games, however I think that the technical depth of CM will make it a significantly different game with different appeals for sometime. As has been said before though, I imagine by CM5 we will look back nostalically at CM and give a little chuckle at the game. In the future as processors get faster, programming becomes better etc,... I shoudl imagine the line between CC and CM will blur. Personally I would like an RTS in 3d which will allow me to stop game play at any time and reissue orders, leaving everyone to get on with it unti I pause the game again. Hence I love bith CC and CM games because both have a bit of each.

Just a few things I have found in this. I have been designing a battle for a little while now and have found that the victory flag location is imperative for the AI to know what to do. The intention is for an American defense against German assault of a small hamlet in a forest/farming mix. After designing the game I found that if I played the Americans the German AI forces did not attack the hamlet (the objective for the battle) but milled about not really making much of anything. Switching across to test the American AI response to the game the Americans just got up and left the hamlet, presumably prefering the countryside and went for a nice walk. I added one Victory flag in the centre of the town and repeated the process, the German AI launched a viscious set of attacks and American AI in defence later held out for hell or high water against my German efforts. Although this doesn't answer ever possibility I think that the Victory Flags are required if you want to cox the AI to attack or defend a region on the map. Hope this helps in some small way? ------------------ Well, I thought if I owned the bullet with my name on it I wouldn't get shot, because I'm not going to shoot myself. Mores the pity....

A quick question for the WW2 historians among you and a request for information? After the French surrender to the German forces what happened to the French Army, did they continue to fight as Partisans or did they stop fighting all together? Did the Germans intern the remaining forces anywhere and after the success of the D-Day landing would have became public knowledge did they begin to fight again? Where there any major 'post surrender' victories for the French Forces. I understand that the French Navy was badly mauled by the Royal Navy after they surrendered somewhere but I cannot remember the name of the place. ANy information on this would be gratefully recieved, I am not too interested in Partisan efforts of the war in this question but primarily the French Armed Forces. Thanks for any replies, links to websites etc.... ------------------ Well, I thought if I owned the bullet with my name on it I wouldn't get shot, because I'm not going to shoot myself. Mores the pity....

Feel free to send a setup to me, I am not the best in the world, not the worst either, feel free to chat away during the game in the emails and ask questions, we can trade info about setups etc and try and learn from the games against each other rather than take it as a life and detah game if you want. email a setup to gashford@freenetname.co.uk I can pretty much reply once a day, sometimes more, sometimes a little less as my mum is ill at the moment, but I'll do my best. ------------------ Well, I thought if I owned the bullet with my name on it I wouldn't get shot, because I'm not going to shoot myself. Mores the pity....

A while ago cruising through some Shogun sites I came across some advice that suggested that you shoul dalways fight thinking how can I keep as many as my men alive in this. A constant problem to real life commanders I suppose having (only been the grun on the ground in real life) is to wonder how they can achieve objectives whilst keeping as many men alive as they can. I am just curious how do you plan your games, please don't just disgaurd this as a gamey chat, it could be very interesting to see the replies and helpful to us newbies to the game. I tend to try and play the games as realistically as I could in real life, maximise damage to the enemy while keeping as many as my people alive and uninjured as possible, no suicide missions or anything like that. Consequently my games are very slow and tend to go right to the end of the rounds allowed with me only being halfway through the mission and normally gaining a slight tactical victory. How about yourselves? Please give as much detail as you can without giving away everything, do you use actual tactics from WW2 resources, perhaps you use modern tatcics which should have learnt from old mistakes or you just go for it, Command and Conquer tank rush! Thanks for any time spent on this. ------------------ Well, I thought if I owned the bullet with my name on it I wouldn't get shot, because I'm not going to shoot myself. Mores the pity....

Here's a few for you. Your wife brings in breakfast and reminds you that you have to get to work today. Your dog doesn't wet itself, you do. Your dreams are plagued with stylised people running from Tigers and the buildings go clear when you enter them. +++++++++++++++++++

Just a word to the guy thinking about reinstalling wndows, be sure that you have ALL the drivers for your equipment on disk, cd or something before doing it. So far in four years of PCing I have lost two modems by forgetting to keep the drivers and not making a note of the type and model... no generic drivers worked either. Thought I would give you all a chuckle at my expense! Laugh while you can... one day it will happen to you too...

Thanks for the heads up =)

But the only REAL Marines are the ones of Her Majesty RM Commandos, the RM standing for REAL MARINES? =)

A little of topic here, but in the US is a vet someone that has simply served in the armed forces, whether they have seen combat or not. In teh UK a vet is generally a survivor of the WW2... just curious?

I hope that this doesn't go down like lead ballon, and I don't want to scare our friend at all. I served for only 2.5 years in the Royal Marines and did not see active duty, the Gulf came and went and we didn't get to go. One consideration that I think ought to be weighed up above all the grant offers, hohaah (or however you spell it), bravado and friendships that you will undoubtably form in any armed force is to consider why you are there. In the armed forces you are taught to kill other human beings, whether in defence of your country, ideal or whatever, you may well be called upon to take the life of another human. Now that may not go down well with some people, but it is an honest consideration that must be thoroughly thought through, I believe before joining up. When the Gulf broke out the colour of some people I knew went from healthy to very pale and phrases like, 'I joint to learn a trade not kill or die', where heard from quite a few earlier brave souls. Friends of mine where sent to various hot spots about the world and saw active duty, some stayed a couple left after they realised what they had really gotten into after the Recruiting Office movies and talks of comradeship, great skills, member of elite forces etc.... and had actually taken life. Please take what I am saying in the light it is given, I am not saying the forces are a bad thing, they are a necersary part of modern life (unfortunatly) and don't forget that these words are coming from an ex service member in for the 22 but medically discharged after 2.5. Just think it through carefully, it could save you trouble in the future, if you decide to join up best of luck, if you don't best of luck. I know I sound like an old grandad warning his grandson not to pull the pot handles on the stove, just think it through, which you are obviously doing because you have written and asked, so all credit to you for that. (Don't flame me to bad). =)

I should not worry too much about the physical side of things, I saw guys carrying their own body weight in the RM, it was more a mental thing than a physical one. But think real hard before joining up for money reasons, after all you could get killed for it, or see the friends you make killed over it. Check with your local authorities as you can get grants and money, as suggested before. Also don't forget the civilian authorities - Police, Ambulance, Fire Service - these may be run different in the US than in ENgland so I am not sure how relevant they may be. Mind you if the films we see here in the UK are anything to go by, being a Covert Ops guy a million miles behind enemy lines might be more favourable than being a cop, they must have nerves of steel to deal with the drive bys, gang shootings, not to mention aliens, predators, volcano and the huge amount of 'ex navy seals turned fugitive', that are out there. =) Most of all good luck, I enjoyed my time in the forces, and still can bore most of my friends with stories, although I am starting to repeat some now but it took ten years!

Just my five pennies worth on the subject. I think that running down the edge of a map shouldn't be considered gamey at all. The idea of a battle is to out think and defeat the enemy or gain the objective with a minimum amount of casualties to yourself (at least I always imagine it is). Consequently IF I flank around the side of the map, to use best available cover etc... and my enemy has not seen this, should I be considered gamey, IMHO I don't think I should, I have just out witted the enemy commander/player. Imagine in a ral combat that a hill has to be taken, and there is a direct route or an indirect one, upon using the indirect route you recieve a communication from the enemy accusing you of not playing fair because you have come from a direction you did not expect... Perhaps I am missing the point on border hugging and flanking, in which case please correct me, but isn't a flank the best way of attack? Perhaps the problem is not with the flank/border hug, but with the defender for not thinking an attack would come from that area? If my memory serves me right (hah fat chance) wasn't the conflict for Stalingrad ended in a very wide flanking move by the Soviets, which encircled the enemy? Perhaps German high comand should have written to Stalin and accused him of map hugging? Just my opinion, but please if I have miunderstood zone hugging and flanking let me know... nicely. =)