IMHO

Well, Haiduk, I clicked... Pics on Wikimapia fit the map on Wikimapia The problem is all of them do not fit the damage pic you've given here. And there're many more details that do not fit as well.

Not funny, Haiduk On the top picture you have a building curving at 90 degrees. On a "location map" the buildings curve at 45/135 degrees. And if you apply the camera angle to the map you'll see even more discrepancies. At least put some thought into it Sad!

Well, I couldn't offer a better wording. The ill-placed reasoning behind the crisis of the days is to stir up the fighting to try to corner other countries into current sanctions regime. While being a valid total war tactics it somehow leaves Ukrainian side with no recurse to a higher moral ground as the price for this logic is human lives.

Minsk-2 point 2: 50km security zone for guns of 100mm and above... 2.6km for 125mm does not look very much like in line with Minks-2. Trying to catch a tiger by its tail is completely delusional given the current military balance. Just a propaganda operation to corner other countries into pulling other's chestnuts out of fire.

Steve, If I may correct, there're no different interpretations on what should be done in what sequence. Hollande and Merkel - not Putin - told Poroshenko that the sequence is fixed in the Minsk agreement. The reason for no progress was exactly because Poroshenko is caught between a hummer and an anvil. If Poroshenko tries to move on the Minks the way it was signed it would mean that DPR/LPR authorities will all of a sudden gain an official status. For that Poroshenko would be overthrown by his own rightwingers in no time. And rewriting Minks to the lines is not an option for Russia or international mediators. France and Germany have better ways to spend time and energy rather than solving somebody else's problems. Retaking few trenches is only equal to restarting the hostilities. If one is sitting on the FEBA and one's adversary starts to move there's no way to know if it's an all out attack or the guys want to get another couple hundred meters and then stop. So here comes the war again. I hope you would agree that people waging war for years would know it before ordering the move. And however inhumane it may be it could have some cruel reason if Ukraine can win. But it cannot so it's just a morbid and senseless loss of life. How about Iraq/Yugoslavia/Kosovo and violation of international law? The list can go on and on... While your position on the right and wrong sides is morally understandable it may be counterproductive. It's impossible to go back to square one. It's a civil war now that will take decades to heal in the best case. Like it's healing step by step in Moldova and Transnistria. With all due respect to your position...

Well... If you manage to produce a working laser pistol, please don't file for a patent. Call me first to discuss. We shall rule the world, ahahahahahaha!

John, I suggest a new and very rewarding pastime for you. The Russian guy who got a patent for laser revolved - he did it in Russia. You can take out a US patent for a similar design. I believe the forum's public will be eternally gracious if you follow the lead and keep us posted as per the communications with USPTO. Do you like the idea?

John, If you excuse me, I'd rather have fun with underwater alien bases Regards, PS And I liked your site. I actually strongly recommend everyone who actively posts in this thread to visit the website first.

John, You really said that, didn't you? Do you have more information on the second quote? My clandestine underwater contacts once gave me bits of information about this atomic bombings of alien bases as well...

1. Google him in Russian. 2. Believe me good and/or active scientists would never end up at the the Academy of Labor. It's not THAT bad and never was. Sorry, it was meant just to amuse and not to incite an actual fact digging on the the laser revolver.

Nice hoax this laser pistol is Checked the first two people listed. They actually exist(ed) The General guy was in an artillery academy. Actually got PhD but his scientific work is mostly around plain vanilla artillery and pedagogy in military education. The R&D guy is now teaching at an Academy of Labor and Social Relations. In the Soviet union they were teaching labor conditions inspectors (workplace conditions are officially regulated in Russia). That must be proving his scientific credentials in physics except for the fact that he's actually got a patent for the laser pistol. In Russia if one is crazy and persistent enough you can get a patent say for an anti-gravity engine. Technically speaking no prior art exists and nobody would volunteer his indefinite work time to argue with loonies. Bravo, John!

Gosh... I missed laser revolver. Gentlemen, if you excuse me I'd rather switch into read-only mode. But I promise I'll follow the thread - will be waiting for updates on laser revolvers and Robocop-looking soldiers.

1. As we come to HEL as being a question of terminology I believe we all agree to what was available and in what quantities to Soviet military. On the sidelines I'd say it's doubtful 30kW can down real life drones and missiles at real life ranges and weather conditions (900m being an unrealistic range - calculate the number of systems / costs to cover any sensible front-line). Simple argument is that DoD had to go up to 150kW for MTHEL for some reason. I'd guess if 30kW were enough they'd stay with that target. 2. Covered and agreed. 3. -"...woman described a brilliant light which came in through her kitchen window and set her refrigerator on fire" seems to me a rather questionable source. -As far as I know man portable lasers with enough energy output / impulse time to down anything sensible cannot be built at the current level of technology. Man portable means relatively small solid state. AFAIK The current solid state lasers of that size are not capable of that. -Humanitarian reasons for not using Stingray seem strange as well. To choose killing over a risk of blinding for the sake of humanity is a doubtful argument. Especially taking into account that you don't necessarily blind the person who's using targeting equipment. May the problems be more about the dust and the costs or system readiness? -For my personal taste comparing A-12 and F-117 with Soviet optical suppression systems is not quite right. You compare one off unique experimental systems that would have taken years to rebuilt in Soviet case with a fully operational capability systems that had negligible chances to be destroyed. The proper comparison would be the deployment of MTHEL in Iraq or Afghanistan in the real war zones. Finally, I believe we'd better wrap up or limit the discussion as it more and more goes over into the territory of beliefs rather than hard facts

1. If we define HEL as you put here rather than HELs that can actually shoot down something then I agree with you as per availability of tracked HELs to Soviet Union. 2. Episodes of blindness were most probably caused by lasing with target illumination lasers. Back then Soviet Union had less precise lasing sensors so illumination lasers were much more powerful. There were multiple episodes of retina damage in the Soviet Army itself. 3. Having such HELs in Afghanistan seems to me highly unlikely because: -Depending on the model only one or two pieces were built at a tremendous costs. As Afghanistan war was a real war after all loosing the HEL was a real possibility. And since they used solid state lasers the process of growing artificial crystals for them took years. So it would have put put the whole program years behind - too much risk. -All the devices you mentioned were meant not to shoot down anything but to damage advanced optics/targeting. To put it simply you CANNOT EVEN TARGET the main laser if you don't have proper returns from the enemy optics for the targeting laser illumination. And Mujaheddins had no modern tanks, no helicopters, no planes - nothing to test against. -To properly test the devices you need to measure optical parameters at the test target - dwell time, energy output, dissipation. Plus you need very experienced technicians to perform the tests. And again you gonna be putting all these scarce human resources and equipment to the dangers of real war. If the field trials for the HELs were so easy to do we must be having DoD testing its HELs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Heard anything about it?

John, I said "There was no such thing as Soviet HEL". And you somehow miraculously convert it into "Russian HEL" So... 1. Msta-based thing is an experimental device meant for blinding optical sensors. Not high energy enough to be what DoD calls a HEL I guess. 2. MAZ-based laser pictured here is dated to something around 2010. About 20-25 years late to see one in Afghanistan. 3. And even for MAZ thing we're still waiting anxiously for a) adaptive optics, enough energy output to shoot down something not made of wood at a decent range. PS 1. DIA must have been outsourcing its sketches to Hollywood 2. The logic that if Russia has shown a thing now then Soviet Union must have had even better one 25 years ago is hard to beat 3. As far as I understand Almaz-Antey is the only one that's doing HEL development. Talking multiple HEL programs for a country that is not able to produce MRAPs or enough tank upgrade kits...

I can only envy the spookiness of your connections as HEL could not be there. Just because there was no such thing as Soviet HEL. Flying testbeds were built but a HEL technology that could fit both weight limits and desired energy output simply didn't materialise. And no sane person could send these testbeds to Afghanistan for "field trials". To spend millions to build the things just to loose them to a peasant with a Stinger sitting on a mountain around Bagram. Very wise decision.

Biotoxins in Afghanistan... HEL... 8-0 Say, 10'000'000 USD per kill to target poor Kalashnikov-wielding peasants... Now I know why Soviet Union's budget exploded No offence intended!

Oh yeah... The US surely has all Russian GRU personnel fingerprinted so leaving prints would allow local police to look up the name of the poor guy in the database Also take into account that a dead body of Soviet origin could easily be identified by vaccination patterns. Soviet Union used to have a very rigorous policy on kids vaccination and techniques were somewhat different from what is used in the US.

Wow.. How many splendid ideas about ex-Soviet / Russian stuff So to clarify (all in one) 1. SVD is NOT a sniper rifle. It's designated marksman rifle. Sub-MOA accuracy is sacrificed in return for higher ROF. 2. There's no such thing as "OMON Spetznaz". OMON is actually a RIOT POLICE not a special operations unit. OMON was used in Chechnya but not because it was trained for it. The simple truth was there were not enough combat capable troops. What's meant by "OMON Spetznaz" is actually OMSN and/or SOBR. Exact copy of US SWAT in terms of purpose, training and application. Both names relate to the same concept and the difference just in chain of command. Every little local police chief wants his own SWAT if he has enough money to support one. 3. The difference between Alpha (Department 'A') and Vympel (Department 'V') groups is in training and intended purpose. Alpha is like GSG - counter-terrorism, VIP protection, hostage rescue etc. Vympel is more like Delta - sabotage and other special ops. Nonetheless both report to the same Directorate in FSB. 4. There's no special magic about GRU Spetsnaz. It's closest equivalent is US Army Rangers so selection process is rigorous but no "creme de la creme". You cannot have one and still get thousands of men accepted. And it goes on and on

Yeah. It was my mistake of not reading the patch description. After I installed all patches incrementally everything started to go smoothly. Thanks for your help!

So the problem is actually 1.32 patch. With the base version (1.11) everything works fine. Upgrading to the 1.32 creates the problems stated above. I didn't try intermediate patches so cannot say which one specifically ruins the thing.

Some more of it: -"Hide" command does not work. Pressing H key or pressing "Hide" GUI button produces "Pause" command instead. -"Acquire" button is enabled for infantry units outside of vehicles. But pressing it produces "Smoke" command.

Running the game on Win7 (64 bit) + GTX690 at the screen res of 2'560*1440. Have three problems: 1. Clicking "Editor" button on the main screen freezes the game. Music stops and mouse cursor changes from CMSF one into Windows. Running in various compatibility modes does not help. 2. Marine sniper units have black rectangles instead of unit icons. Zooming in or out, panning does not help. So far didn't have this issue with other units but didn't play much with this hardware setup. 3. Status lines showing what unit members are doing are stretched way far to the right instead of showing up in the left corner.

Nah... I'm wrong. You also need data on how nuclear energy output translates into pressure wave in uranium/plutonium alloys. To avoid the fizzle. That's too hardly to be found in wikipedia Modeling itself you can probably do even with commercial tools.

Yeah... Big red dog. That's why I don't like people ready to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives for abstract ideas. I guess even implosion type is doable now. Interference multiplies the calculations but modeling must be within reach for those who can develop efficient EFPs and HEATs. Probably the greatest difficulty lies in obtaining source data on plutonium/uranium alloys behavior under extreme pressure.