Daveman

It's definitely a gamble if/when you'll get air support. An opponent of mine reported that he heard his air support overhead one turn, but that they didn't do anything and never returned. I've never used them myself, but was on the receiving end once against the AI... It only made one pass, but dropped its bombs (I seem to recall seeing three bursts) right in the heart of a village. Took out a few buildings, killing my Company CO, a spotter, and three on-board mortars... effectively all of my support that game. I don't even know how he spotted them. The CO and spotter were hunkered down in a building, while the mortars were in some nearby woods. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

I'm no tech genius, but some basic system information would be a big help. OK, saw your specs in the Tech forum. I'm stumped. Perhaps the full version with latest patch will work OK. Good luck. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast [This message has been edited by Daveman (edited 09-11-2000).]

Has anyone else noticed how random the skills of their officers are? In recent games I've had veteran officers with as few as one or two bonuses, while at the same time I've had Volksturm COs with at least +1 in each category. I suppose in any army there's the possibility for knuckleheads to be in charge... but couldn't officer quality somehow be linked to the quality/type of troops they're leading? I hate seeing an elite airborne platoon being led around by a CO who's only +1 stealth (presumably learned from hiding under his desk). ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KLilly: Last person that tried to get the US to go metric was Jimmy Carter, and look how far that got him.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> In the early-mid 90's there was some pressure, at least for state transportation departments, to convert to metric. I think it took the form of Federal money being held back if you didn't convert by a certain date. When the Republicans won back all those seats in Congress they nixed the whole deal. In Delaware (where I work) we were pretty far along in the process... we had installed metric "milepost" signs on new routes, renumbered exits, etc. but hadn't changed more important signs like speed limits and guide signs. I gather our bridge/road design engineers converted all the way and still work up plans in metric. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

#$%#@! Thanks for the update... I assume you're getting some sort of returned email message? Looks like I'll be on the phone with them again tonight... ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

I'm experiencing some difficulties with my ISP. As near as I can tell, my emails from yesterday went out, but any sent to me last night (after 8:00 est) are probably lost. Hopefully I'll be back tonight or tomorrow... I'll be sure to send a notice when I am. Thanks! ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

**Carefully unbuttons and sticks his head out the hatch** I realize this wouldn't always be the case, but when a "Gun Hit" is scored why shouldn't I be able to see a blasted/bent/drooping barrel? Internal damage to the gun wouldn't be seen, but I don't think it's a stretch to believe that "Gun Hits" are most often external damage. As for a non-brew kills, the crew always bails... would I not be able to see them scurrying out? At long range, if the tank is in cover perhaps not, but at the typical ranges in this game if I can see the tank I should be able to see the crew... it's not like they're being sneaky. **quickly slams the hatch back down** ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

I'd say that either: a. You accidentally selected something other than Meeting Engagement... but then you'd probably have noticed the victory locations weren't evenly distributed. b. Your opponent went with lower-quality, cheaper units and was able to buy lots more than you did... not sure if the savings would have been enough for the disparity you're talking about, but it would explain how easily you're taking them down. c. He's cheating. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

King, Email games are completely "wego"... each player submits their turns, then both watch the "Action phase" before submitting new turns. Many of those anxious for TCP/IP want to play without the hassle and delay of email, and/or want timed turns. In your case, where you have two dedicated players and the time to play hours at a time, TCP/IP or LAN would be ideal. I still think email would work for you right now... and you wouldn't have to keep swapping seats at your computer. The delay needed to get emails off the network and load them up would be next to nothing. Of course, you admin might notice the traffic, but then I assume he'll see it playing on LAN anyway. As clumsy as email is, it's great for those who can play for awhile each day w/o making a big commitment. My opponents and I have pretty much kept to 2-3 turns a day (I usually check in the morning, twice at night) and having 3 or so games going on at once ensures I almost always have a turn waiting to watch/submit. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Just kidding... I should have added a few choice smileys to my post. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Silly question... why not play email? I'd think that'd be perfect for an "office solution" where one might have to actually stop for a moment and do some work. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Geez, sounds like they'll have to add FireAI to the game just to handle all that. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jsoh: Reading Arrow's post makes clear exactly my lack of knowledge: I have no idea what an M5 Stuat or a Panther G is and don't understand the significance of what he is saying. Reading the board is of very little help to me because I don't know the basics that most do about wargaming. Jsoh<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Jsoh - David and Goliath is a pretty good analogy for the M5 Stuart and Panther G. The M5 is a "light tank" intended mostly for scouting. It's fast, but has relatively light armor and a not-too-powerful gun. The Panther (G is just the model, a number of improvements were made) on the other hand is regarded as one of the best German tanks of the war. Heavy armor, powerful main gun, etc. Usually, one would never think that a M5 would have a chance against a Panther. The catch here is that, while tanks like the Panther have heavy armor, most of that is concentrated in the front... the sides are much lighter (A very important lesson for a newbie). The gun on the M5 can't penetrate the front armor of a Panther, but can penetrate the sides (up close anyway). If handled correctly (and with a lot of luck) the M5 can zip around so fast the Panther will have a hard time hitting it. In addition, the heavy turret of the Panther may not even be able to rotate fast enough to keep the M5 in it's sights. If the M5 survives to get close and to the side or rear of the Panther, the Panther's toast. On paper, German tanks have all the edge, but it's little things like this that people often forget (and that make the game so interesting). That you enjoy the game is a good sign. Play around and experiment... you'll get a good idea of what works and what doesn't with experience. This board is a good source of information too. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

In an email game my opponent had a Greyhound in a fairly sheltered position that was an annoyance. I saw that I could sneak some infantry up to it and take it out, so I did. When I got there the Greyhound had moved out, but a full platoon was there instead. My platoon CO got creamed and a squad was all but wiped out. The lesson... just because you see one unit in a location that seems quiet otherwise doesn't mean that's the only unit there. Recon first!! ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Softening up/suppression is exactly what artillery and mortars are for. Try it and see... it can make a big difference. Lower quality troops will sometimes just split from a position when shelled. I prefer mortars to artillery. In my experience, artillery does seem to inflict more casualities, but mortars don't do too badly and seem to suppress just as well. Besides, off-board mortars respond faster, cost less, and can sustain fire much longer. On-board mortars can be a little tricky to use, but in a good position, with an officer nearby to spot for them they can bring down some decent firepower awfully quick. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

I understand what you're saying, but the kind of expectations you're in search of are precisely what this game tries to keep hidden from the player. How much firepower are you firing? What is the target's exposure? What is the quality of the target and of your unit? Are the enemy units "in command", and does their leader have bonuses in morale and/or combat? All of this plus a fair amount of random chance factor in. My best advice to you is to do what I've done (and still am)... play the game, experiment and observe what happens. I've had what I thought were perfectly planned attacks crumble, and seen outnumbered, weary defenders hold off many times their number. It's part of the magic of this game. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jeff Heidman: Are you kidding? They got stomped on by a bunch of freaking overgrown gerbils armed with sticks! Jeff Heidman<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Are you putting down the fighting prowess of gerbils and other hamster-like folk? ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Like a lot of things in CM, the firepower rating is an abstraction. Selecting a unit and hitting "enter" will pull up all sorts of detailed stats for the unit. Doing so with infantry will show how much "firepower" the squad will throw out at various ranges. Depending on range and type of unit this can be anywhere from 300ish to <10. With vehicles the "Blast FP" shows how much "firepower" an HE shell or burst will do. 100ish "firepower" is pretty typical for infantry fighting at 100m or so. At that range, you're doing more suppression than killing. Small arms fire really doesn't kill much unless you're up real close (50m or so)... then squads can drop like flies. That doesn't mean it's a waste of bullets, as suppression is very important. It prevents or impairs the target from doing whatever it's trying to do, lets you maneuver other units in for the kill, etc. Exposure is simply a measure of how well covered the target is. Standing in the open is 100% exposure, 20% is pretty well covered. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Peter - I was beginning to think you were just faking me out I think the randomness factor really hits you in QBs like we're playing. On relatively small QB maps it seems to me battles are often decided in the first 10 turns or so, but with the default 30 turn limit who's to say the fighter-bomber won't show up until later? I don't know how if this is modelled, but perhaps your fighter-bomber made it's first pass as you described, and is now circling around to strike? That takes awhile... and since each turn is only a minute you may yet see it again. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast [This message has been edited by Daveman (edited 08-30-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by guachi: The ONLY thing I don't like about infantry forces is that they have NO points for vehicles or armor. Jason<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Try out Mechanized. I've only played that setup once, but was able to buy plenty of infantry and support, plus a few vehicles (jeeps in my case... I was playing Airborne). ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

May I put in a request for "nahverteidigungswaffe"? Or would that be too large a file to easily download? ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

OK, here's my attempt at a simple explanation, for a Windows PC anyway. 1. Go to this page: http://www.battlefront.com/products/worldwar/cm/index.html And click on "Windows" in the line that reads "Download the 1.05 patch here" 2. A window should pop up, asking if and where you want to save "cm105.exe" on your hard drive. I download any files like this to a directory I call "c:\temp" or "c:\dloads". Just make a note of where the patch is saved to. 3. Once the patch is downloaded, use windows explorer to open the location the patch was saved to... you should see a file called "cm105.exe". Doubleclick this file. 4. A new window will pop up... this is the program used to extract, or unpack the files contained in the patch. As I noted above, this step is usually automatic, but you'll have to do it yourself. Somewhere in this window you can choose where you want the files to be extracted to. I'd put them in the same directory you saved cm105.exe. Once you've picked a location, click "finish", and the files will be extracted. 5. Using windows explorer again, open the location the files were extracted to. There should now be a new directory. I don't recall what the default name is but it's something obvious ("1.05 patch" or something). Open up that directory. 6. You should now see a few files and a directory. One of the files should be called "readme". Doubleclick it to get detailed instructions on what to do. IIRC, all you have to do is copy one file over to where CM is installed. I truly hope this helps. I don't think I could have explained this any clearer, though I realize it may sound confusing to you. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

Jeff isn't complaining about CM being patched, but in the way the patch program works. They're usually pretty simple one-click programs that do all the work for you. As I noted above CM patches require you to extract the files and copy them yourself. It's really not hard to do, but may be confusing for a computer newbie as yourself. I just tried making a step-by-step explanation to enter here for you but I can't do it without it sounding too complicated... I guess technical writers must have some talent after all ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast

You should definitely grab the latest patch (1.05). It not only makes a few improvements, but is also needed for you to be compatible with others in PBEM games... all players have to be using the same version. Downloading a patch isn't too big a deal, but CM patches are slightly more involved. With a lot of games, you simply download a program that self-installs the updated files. The CM patch contains compressed files that you have to extract and copy over yourself. Double-click on the patch file (CM105.exe I think it's called) to run the program. You then pick a directory to extract the files to (a temporary directory is a good idea) and hit "finish". You then go to the directory you specified and copy those files to your CM directory. IIRC, there's only file you have to copy over if you're upgrading from 1.03 to 1.05... check the readme file to be sure. Reading over the above it sounds a lot more complicated than it really is... don't worry

I definitely agree on the pros and cons of going into a map blind, but agree this would be a nice option. As a small addition, I would suggest that the force composition from which players purchase units be more open. As it is, this value (Combined Arms, Mechanized, etc.)has to be set at startup. I'd prefer to have each player choose this in secret before entering the purchase screen, or even have a random setting. ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast