DigDug

"University Professor"? Ya, sure. If you really are one, you aren't a good one. A good professor strips away emotion and opinion from his legitimate arguments, and ponders the facts and motivations for subjects like Nazi Germany. You clearly have no interest in acting "professor-like", as all I've seen from you is pure over- generalistic name calling. Let me teach you something perfesser. The Nazis rose to power not out of some vile flaw in the Germanic people's character or ethics, or an inherent hate of Jews or any other ethnic group. The Nazis rose to power in the vacuum of utter desperation, in a country that had been ravaged in WWI in many different ways; economically, socially, and politically. Post-war Germany in the 1920's-1930's was a destitute, isolated, and scorned country. Hitler used the total desperation of his countrymen to carry out his own twisted agenda, and very systematically turned them into pawns to perform his evil bidding. He promised them economic fortune, national resurgence of pride and interational stature, and their "rightful" place in Europe. He soothed their fears, instilled hope where there previously was none, and made the German people feel proud to BE German people. Hitler was the sole evil force behind the Nazis...his orchestration of the Nazi party was simultaneously brilliant, masterful, and hideously evil. Of course, he had a few equally evil men at the highest ranks to help him accomplish his goals, but used them like high-powered chess pieces nontheless. In those circumstance, ANY people, country, county, city, whatever...is susceptible to carrying out even more atrocious actions than the Nazi party did. This is not a German issue, it is a HUMAN issue, and we are all vulnerable to being gripped by this same evil provided the circumstances are in place. Unfortunately, the Germans have to live with it on their record, and be subjected to the kinds of irrational and opinionated dribble that you've poured all over this board. So perfesser, don't get all bent out of shape and claim that you're being required to "fall in line" (thereby drawing a not-so-subtle analogy to Facism). Nothing could be further from the truth. This board and its members always encourage good, rational discussion. You've only made one mistake, as I see it: You don't know what the F*** you're talking about. [This message has been edited by DigDug (edited 08-25-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Darwin: The ability to be calm when under high stress is not an attribute shared by the majority of humans. Perhaps there is more involved in the equation than LOS, distance and target size. You said you knew the panther was on the other side of the building from your sherman, was the Sherman also aware of it being there? How was global morale doing at the time? Was your Sherman in question under fire or did it have LOS to more enemy units than just the Panther? Had your sherman been fired upon yet during the game? I have found the game to be a most satisfying simulation. Not at all like the CC games IMO though I did enjoy CC1 and CC2.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> And I absolutely agree...this is the best damn wargame ever made, as far as I'm concerned. Definitely the most fun to play! And hell no, would I want to do it myself. I would be scared stiff, and like Fionn said would probably be ******* myself silly. However, this is a "veteran" Sherman team, and global morale was very good as I remember. I know for certain that the Sherman was not taking any other fire...the area had been swept, and that Panther was the last. But even if it WERE raw recruits, low morale, scared plum outta ****, and all thumbs, missing at 15 meters TWICE? Guys, think about the size of that target in the sight at that range. Really, imagine how hard it would be to aim on something like that. You'd certainly have 10 degrees lateral and vertical leeway to hit SOMETHING...ANYTHING. It's practically point blank. I should also mention that on the first shot, they aimed the gun for a good 10-15 seconds. Once it was leveled at the target, there was quite a delay while I was screaming, "SHOOT THE SONNUFFABEYATCH!!" I could easily understand a shot that does little damage, or maybe even the first shot completely missing the mammoth Panther filling up the gun sight because of nerves. But two shots in a row with no hit at all? Unreal. That Sherman crew deserved to die for that level of "duh", and that's why I made the quip about being reminded of CC4...cause that kind of stuff ALWAYS happened in CC4. Apparently, you guys think I'm bitching about the game. I say again, I AM NOT. Just relaying the most frustrating, hair-pulling, and maddening occurence I've ever seen so far. Something that was so ridiculous, that it's just plain inconceivable to me that anyone, green or elite, could miss like that. That's all. I DO love CM, in a bigtime way.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Preacher: Tough luck there. However, one instance does not a sufficient statistical sample make It's amazing what can happen... Preacher <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, now I didn't say this was the only instance. This is just one example of several experiences like this. Granted, I only VERY recently started playing the full version. But I've played the demo missions ad nauseum, and saw the same type of situation happen several times. Yup, **** happens. But it just seems to me that the odds of a "veteran" tank gunner missing a target as big as a Panther TWICE from <15 meters is a little odd. Think about it in real life, and how big a target that is. How the hell can you totally miss twice? LOL. The expression "broad side of a barn" comes to mind. I know, it's just a game, not real life. No simulation is perfect, that's WHY it's a "simulation". I'm just saying it's frustrating to have something that incredibly crappy happen.

Despite the great strides made in this game, I'm wondering if for the next patch (hehe), the distance algorithms shouldn't (couldn't) be tweaked some. I mean, two Shermans vs. one Panther. All settings at "normal" no advantage for either team. Distance=long freakin ways, all the way across medium map. Panther misses every shot, this was expected. My "veteran" Shermans hit on each of their shots, scratch one Panther (one track hit, next knocked it out). Not a single miss, even the Sherman that was moving while firing. Next confrontation, same battle. One Sherman vs. one Panther. Distance=extremely close...approx 15 meters. I knew the Panther was there, behind a building. Sent my Sherman around the other side, caught the Panther with his turret the wrong way. My "veteran" Sherman fires 2 shots, and FREAKIN MISSES both! Practically point blank range, right up the Panther's butt and not even a hit. By this time, the Panther's swung it's master blaster around, and BOOM! Dead Sherm. Talk about frustrating. Not bitching here, I really love this game. But that to me felt way too much like CC4. Was enough to make me instantly quit the scenario, the game, and shutdown Windows in pure anger. But I'm already jonesin again. LOL

Not sure if this will help the winter explosions or not, but I found that many of the graphics imrpoved DRAMATICALLY when I updraged my Voodoo3 drivers to version 1.05 (the latest WQHL version). Smoke looks much better, explosions too. Maybe cause the Z-buffer is working properly (finally) in these latest drivers? If you have a V3 card, get the drivers...CM seems to thrive on em.

Hopefully, CM will run on my new notebook that's on order, scheduled for delivery in 3 weeks. It's a HP Omnibook 6000, with a P3 750, 128MB RAM, ATI 8MB card, 6X DVD, 15" screen. I will post here as soon as I get the notebook and play-test CM on it. I'm thinking it's gonna work great, but we'll see... BTW...do major airlines let folks use laptops inflight? It's just takeoff and landing that you have to shut them off, correct?

"* Reinforcements in an operation are no longer sometimes placed in impassable terrain." Unfortunately, I don't think that one's fixed. I just installed the game last night, installed the 1.03 patch, replaced the 1.02 exe with the new (so yes, I'm sure I'm running V1.03). In "A Walk through Paris", my second round of reinforcements placed 2 Sherms smack-dab in the middle of the "courtyard" at the beginning edge of the map. No way out. Those two tanks, which I really could have used, spent they're entire time bumping the inside walls of the courtyard. Arrrrrrrrrrrgggg. Other than that minor (which proved to be major...I lost, dammit) annoyance, this game ROCKS! Course, I've only played the 2 demo missions (to death), and the first full version mission. But lordy, I'm hooked.

Eeverything about this game, including BTS's active role on this forum, has "Labor of Love" written all over it. We are the beneficiaries of their love of wargames. I know I speak for a whole lotta sleepless zombies mumbling "Sherman this..." and "Stug that...", when I say I am very grateful for it. SALUTE BTS!

Anybody else experienced problems with the 1.05 WQHL drivers? I recently tried installing them, and thank GAWD I had imaged my HDD just a coupla days before. The new drivers COMPLETELY hosed my system. Note that I have never experienced any problem with upgrading V32000 drivers before this time. After I "upgraded" my system would no longer run the desktop higher than 800x600, and no 3D graphics would run at all (Glide or Direct3D). I am using DirectX 7.0a. Finally had to just restore my HDD image. Again, I'm so glad that I've gotten into this backup routine...the upgrade path is full of mortar craters. Maybe I got a bad download. I'm gonna download the thing again, and give it another go. Of course, I'm gonna image that HDD right before I try it.

I've already ordered the game, but downloaded the demo last night just to see. I haven't slept in about 20 hours. This damn game sucks! I hate it. Whoever made this evil, sinister creation should be shot. It's going to be the end of me. I already spend too much time on the computer...now this?! When the HELL am I ever going to sleep, pay attention to my wife, eat, shower, take a crap? My life's over. CM has control now. I'm possessed.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aszurom: look, I think pretty much everybody knows that the cold war was actually a cover so we could maintain the budget to develop starwars technology. Why? Because after 1947, we knew the martians were coming to steal our women and we needed Nikolai Tesla particle cannons to shoot down their UFOs. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> (taking up the flag of our usual American egocentrism, and ignoring the fact that this is an international forum, I'll say something here...heheh) Hehehe...right on the money, Azurom, right on the money. On a serious note, yes indeed these are more dangerous times than the Cold War era. There are many, many nukes that have somehow been misplaced. Not to mention a serious rash of "security leaks" at some of the Nation's top weapons research labs (Los Alamos, NM is the ONE that's getting mass media attention). Is the world safe from nukes now that the Cold War is over? Hah. Far from it...we're in it deeper than ever before. And as for being "down with O.P.P. (lol)", one day these leaders playing John Wayne with our National security is gonna get us in a heap 'o trouble. Wish we'd mind our own freakin bidness.

Heeeeyaa! Onward, postman!!!! Get the lead out, and get my game to me!! That's a direct order, oh man of uniform!

Hi... I don't even have the full version yet, but feel like I should say something here. There is this exact type of issue with another game, Red Baron 3D, and Voodoo3 cards. In RB3D, texture tiles will "corrupt" over time, usually when many textures are being loaded/unloaded off the card (there's a lot of explosions, smoke, etc.) The only solution for the problem in RB3D, and one that works rock-solid, is to select the setting for "Limit Texture Memory to 2MB". AFter this choice is made, the graphics never corrupt. This problem does not occur with Voodoo2's, only Voodoo3's. When the graphics do corrupt, entire tiles turn all black sometimes, sometimes white, and sometimes a shimmering "psychadelic" mutli-colored effect. Sounds VERY similar to the problem you describe. Only in RB3D, it's occurs much more frequently, on the order of every 10-15 minutes (as soon as some action starts, with explosions and whatnot). Sounds like it's not that big a problem in CM. Just thought I'd pass it along...

BTW, In your best estimation, how long will it take for me to actually recieve the game? Battlefront sent me an e-mail saying it would be shipped in "1-2 Business Days". Any truth to that, or is that just a standard reply to the reality that it's gonna take weeks? Thanks again.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Talorc: DigDug - If you liked CC you will love CM even more! CM has the same real time excitment as CC, but much better control etc. You can finally tell if you have a commanding hill position for starters.. Best bit is that infantry is actually useful, and a serious threat to Tanks at close ranges. No more driving to Moscow and back with the same couple of tanks...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> GREAT! Ya, most times, CC felt like I was just moving tanks...only using infantry to touch victory locations and clean up very minor enemy positions. Thanks for all the comments guys. I think I WILL go get the demo while I wait. Just can't stand reading all the accolades and not being able to run to the software store to play TONIGHT. As for system specs, I'm hoping my machine will be able to run the best possible graphics. It's an Athlon 700, Voodoo3, 256MB RAM, and SB Live sound. Is that enough to run everything balls-to-the-wall maxed? I can OC the chip some more if I need too.