Holdit

Never mind. TGIF... [This message has been edited by Holdit (edited 10-06-2000).] [This message has been edited by Holdit (edited 10-06-2000).]

Bought two, "sold" another.

I have two for you. Will send them this evening.

British paratroopers trying to break through to the Arnhem bridge from their drop zones suffered serious casualties from at least one German light flak gun used in an anti-personnel role. If I remember correctly, it was on the southern side of the river, firing across at them.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Silesian-jaeger: Yeah, what would the Eastern Front be w/ out castanetts? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm sure the chattering teeth were an adequate substitue.

Mine's a long and not-terribly interesting story that involves my fiancee, a joint email address, and a octogenarian great aunt with a hectic social life and a penchant for telling tall tales.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gunnerdream: "Floating down, through the clouds..."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> "Memories come rushing, Up to meet me now.." There's something about that song that always made my hair stand on end.

Where do you go to get your trunnions rubbed? Is there a secret address?

The subject of the relative point values of US and German tanks reminded me of a big debate that took place in The General (+/- 1989) following the release of Avalon Hill's GI: Anvil of Victory. A gentleman by the name of Jim Collier was most unhappy about the portrayal of some US armour, which he maintained had been reduced to the status of "rolling junk" by the game's new rules. I think he was also unhappy about the differences between the US and German halftracks, if I remember correctly. He made a good case, but the designers gave good answers too (come to think of it, I think he might even have been one of the designers or researchers). Anyway, I was just wondering if he's still active in wargaming, if he's playing Combat Mission and, if he does, what he thinks of it. For that matter, how many of the old Squad Leader/ASL design crew are playing Combat Mission, and what's their assessment? I can't remember names, although 'Bob McNamara' seems to ring a bell.

I've won this one with both sides.

I think it probably ought to be left as it is. The new rules for offroad movement and spotting should kill the the gamey recon use, without penalising players who use jeeps historically.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jeff Heidman: 28, married almost 2 years, 6 month old son.Trying to get him to play CM, but he just drools on the keyboard. Jeff<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If you could get him to drool on your opponent's keyboard, how many points would that be worth? 34 Engaged, living with fiancee, no kids, house on the way, and I have come to love soap operas and ER..because soap time is CM time!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by :USERNAME:: I wouldnt worry about the ceiling being rattled. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That's easy for you to say. You won't be the one that has to replaster the ceiling.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cuchulainn: I have queried this before - to no avail.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I felt fairly gutted when the AI dropped an artillery stonk on my observer and killed him. I just wrote it off as a kind of counter-battery fire. It didn't sting as badly that way. [This message has been edited by Holdit (edited 09-27-2000).]

Just one little change I'd think about: In the unit status area, where the information is given about number of function men and number of casualties, perhaps the red cross could go on a white or cream background. At present it looks a bit like "OK 9 + 1", which would certainly get the mathematics students going... Brilliant job overall though, I love it. Any chance of doing the map/scenario design interfaces next? Please, please, huh, huh?

It's brilliant! More of the same, please.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Clark: I pictured them out in a wild field skipping, twirling, and picking flowers together...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> And then they and the flowers are obliterated by a 105mm mission called in by the spotter they never saw...

Out of curiosity, I conducted a quick experiment with a US v German setup. 1000 points each, and the Americans had 3 Jeeps and 2 Jeep MGs. Off they went at top speed haring into the German position, and they were all destroyed and the crews killed. Once things had settled down again, The US had 1% victory and was down to 88% morale. The German side had 93% morale (-6% for a split squad and -1% for a casualty from US return fire) and 34% victory. Neither side had troops near the single victory flag. Not a bad result for the Germans, and well worth having a few units spotted and plotted. Of course, I'd set up the ambush so as to ensure the destruction of the jeeps in the interests of the experiment (and some fun), but even so, I noticed that by no means all of the German units firing as part of the ambush were spotted (I was playing both sides hotseat). On the basis of this, (admittedly only one test), I'd say that the whole tactic is of dubious value, and will certainly die a death when the new tweaks to spotting and offroad speeds are applied.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Abbott: Wow, can I be the only one who likes the graphics?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No, I think they're as good as they need to be. In fact, when I think about what might be in CM2, graphics don't come into it. I think Schugger sums it up well. The game's the thing.

I've had a lockup during Bucholz Station. The computer thinking progress bar just never got going (totally psyched out by my superior tactics, no doubt). I quit and restarted the game and the same thing happened as soon as I hit the GO button. A few days later I went back to it and got the same result ("Why didn't I finish that one? Oh, now I remember..."), so I deleted the saved file. That's the only lockup I ever had with CM and it was odd that it happened at exactly the same point in a particular scenario, so I suppose it's just one of those things.

There's one problem I see with these gamey tactics, for the perpetrator, I mean. Every loss you take will knock a couple of percent off your overall morale. I haven't checked this (experiment for tonight!), but I would imagine that 5 trucks scrapped would equal 5-10% of morale, depending on the size of the forces involved. And that's before he's even started his attack. I'll check it out on a sample setup and see how the figures look. Something else that occurred to me, both to avoid this kind of thing and also help ambushes: a Do Not Target command to stop counter-productive attacks against certain units/vehicles.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Seanachai: I'm not here to seek PBEMs, I get all I can handle and more in the evil 'Peng, I Take Our Challenge Public' thread (aka Cesspool). I'm just the...er...moderator, or rather caretaker of this thread! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Excuses, excuses... Ok, who's up for it?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh: What does "bump" mean? I don't speak the native tongue.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It adds another new posting to the thread, thus pushing the thread higher up the list. Seanachai, if you bumped it for another challenge, I'll accept it. I've room for one more. Send your runner to me if so.

First I've heard of it. These wouldn't be sound contacts, by any chance?

A British mortar crew member was injured (or was it killed?)when he was firing from a wood and a round detonated against a branch above his head.