Pvt. Ryan

AFAIK, regular mines are only spotted when your troops walk or drive into them. Daisy chain mines can be spotted from a distance. Some people claim that they can spot regular anti tank and anti personnel mines before they reach them, but I don't think BTS has given a definitive answer on this.

I like the road with the strip of grass down the middle. I was able to view the pictures by right clicking on the broken picture links and copying and pasting the urls into the address line. After viewing the pictures that way I reloaded the thread and the pictures appeared.

Here is Manx's Combat Missions. I don't know if that is the one you wanted.

I can't really explain how a batch file works, but it is basically a DOS program that loads certain files into CM. Some people find them a bit daunting to set up, but they are very easy to use once you get them set up. The mod makers include very detailed instructions. You don't have to use the batch files though. You can just choose one version of a vehicle and install just those files in the BMP folder. I have never used the mod manager, so I can't comment on it.

I think the new "run" command will simulate this. Running troops will not fire as much, if at all. They will just try to get to their destination. There will also be a new "assault" command where troops will advance quickly while using available cover and firing automatic weapons.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stalin's Organ: they were psychopathic schizophrenics. They worked themselves up into a FURY where they would just fight whoever was nearby - they were incapable of telling friend from foe, and ignored minor wounds - they kept fighting with major ones too, but it's hard to ignore, say, a missing arm.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Oh, you mean Maximus? He's already included in CM. (Just a joke Max!) It's my fault for spelling berserk wrong.

Late again.

The models are animated. The tracks move, turrets turn, guns elevate, soldiers move pretty realistically, etc. Although wheels do not turn, tracked vehicles move their tracks independently while turning. The graphics files are just bitmaps, so the mods are just altered versions of the bmp files. You download, unzip and paste the files into the game's BMP folder. That's all there is to it. Since you can only have one version of a mod at any one time, some of the mod authors created batch file systems to easily switch among different versions of a particular vehicle or group of vehicles, such as US, British, Free French, Canadian or Polish versions of the Sherman tank. Some mods have options, such as vehicles with or without stars, with or without aerial recognition panels, or different unit symbols. Which ones you use are totally up to you. Usually you will be given a default option such as "4034" and an option such as "4034 with star." If you wanted to used the optional file you would delete 4034 and rename the other file so it is called 4034. CM only recognizes the number of the file, not any of the descriptions afterwards. The mods in no way affect gameplay, they just affect the appearance of the game. And you can say "damn." WOOT! [ 06-18-2001: Message edited by: Pvt. Ryan ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Commissar: are there any plans for a "Berserker" morale state? In the heat of combat, you dont know what one man might do when compared to the next. We've all probably heard stories/myths/accounts of a soldier or two turning the scales of battle by an act of sacrificial heroism.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I think this is already modeled through fanaticism. There is a chance that a unit will go "beserk" but the player doesn't know if or when it happens; the fighting effectiveness of that unit is increased. At least that's my understanding of how it works. CM can't model individual soldiers going beserk because CM doesn't model individual soldiers. It would have to be at least a squad going beserk. You know, if you say the word "beserk" enough times it starts to sound pretty silly.

Is the AI smart enough to use smoke to screen planned attacks? Does the AI even have a plan? It seems to me that the AI's plan is to move towards objectives and destroy anything in its path, or defend the objectives and destroy anything that comes its way. The AI is even a gamey bastard because I have seen it rush the objectives in the last few turns. I am currently playing an operation with 11 battles. I am on the offense and the AI is on defense. I have made a good deal of progress, so the AI seems to have switched over to the offensive to take back lost ground. At the end of every battle the AI has rushed me with everything it had left.

I think AlanCE wins the Lurker Award hands down. Alan, CM2 is based on the same engine as CMBO. BTS will start working on the new engine after CM2 (CMB2B). The new engine is commonly referred to as CMII, which can get confusing.

Desert Fox's site is up again for anyone wanting to check out the mods he has. http://www.geocities.com/desertfox1891/

Go to Manx's Combat Missions site for a list of almost every available mod. It doesn't have the mods just released in the past few days, but it has links to most of what is available.

There was a thread on this not too long ago, but I thought mines were only spotted when units stumbled onto them, except for daisy chain mines which are easily spotted. The manual is unclear on mine spotting.

Dan knows he can't possibly give each element of the game as much attention as the modding community can, so he has no intention of trying to produce graphics that match the level of artistry to which we have grown accustomed. However, BTS must put a certain amount of work into the graphics because not everyone who will buy CMB2B is a modslut. I would bet the majority of CM players never installed a single mod, and I'm sure plenty don't even care (look away, Max). Besides the incredible gameplay that CM offers, one of the reasons this game has held our attention for so long has been its evolution from the "raw" graphics and sounds released with 1.0 to the work of art we know and love. The constant trickle of ever improving mods has been like receiving a new piece of CM every day. Hopefully BTS will enlist the help of the talented mod community, but even if they don't I'm sure the stock graphics will be an improvement over CMBO, and we have months of modding to which we can look forward.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: No chance of farming out vehicle skins to some of the talented fellers I keep seeing on here for "winterizing"? I'm sure Marco had no other plans for the summer....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> From the article: "Fans supplied a fantastic number of graphical and sound "mods" for Combat Mission. We were amazed at the level of talent and dedication out there. So we're tapping into that in a more "official" capacity for Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin. As you mentioned, one fan has redone our in-game interface art. Others will contribute shortly, as development continues."

I knew it wasn't the BT-7 because of the number of wheels (after I did some research) but the turret on the KV-1 that I saw looked different, so I didn't know what it was, which is why I edited my post to remove my guess.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Panzer Leader: I want horsemen in there, not damn horse supply wagons, but Cossak SMG weilding Panji riding Cavalry.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Like this?

You actually met that particular woman? That's cool. Whenever I see war photos I always wonder what happened to those people. I think I saw a preview of a new show on the History Channel that does just that.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Not everyone is an iggerant 'Merican, though....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I didn't mean to offend anyone, but I think there are fewer people (playing CM) that are familiar with the cyrillic alphabet than there are familiar with the (whatever the heck we call it) alphabet. What is the English alphabet called anyways? Latin? Times New Roman? Man I am really making myself look stupid here. [ 06-15-2001: Message edited by: Pvt. Ryan ]

I was talking about the vehicle Dan was referring to in the banner on the GameSpot article. I looked at a site with pictures of most Soviet tanks, and I couldn't match it up with any of them. Soviet Union Factbook That's also where I got the photo. (I edited my previous post, so that's where gunnergoz got the quote before I edited it.) [ 06-15-2001: Message edited by: Pvt. Ryan ]

Except for the numbers I couldn't tell if the words were backwards or forwards. [ 06-15-2001: Message edited by: Pvt. Ryan ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KwazyDog: No Russian text can be done unfortunately as it will be back to front on the other side of the vehicle, something what will look odd even if it is in Russian Dan<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Like most of us would even know the difference. Oh, and I didn't mean to insult the graphics. I know they aren't done yet. Everything looks great so far. [ 06-15-2001: Message edited by: Pvt. Ryan ]

OK, I get it. I used to call them roads made of logs. Thanks.

Kitty was working on a Tiger I mod until she got distracted by a ball of string. I hope she decides to finish it someday.