Mid to late April 2000. Wake up, turn on computer and check in at Gonegold.com to see whats new. There is a patch for a game called combat mission. Which I vaguely remember hearing about 6 months before, but its graphics did not look very good and the description of the game did not sound all that great. Plus how could anyone pull of a 3D WW2 Tactical simulator properly?
Anyways the list of fixes for 1.03 was long and detailed, then I relized that these Combat Mission creators were serious about their game. So I downloaded the VOT/CE demo and checked out the forums for the first time. Played 2 quick games as the Americans against the Germans at VOT, then I ordered the game. Then went back to VOT and played until I killed every german on the map. As soon as the full game showed up it diddn't leave my hard drive for 2 years.