Col Deadmarsh

If halftracks weren't used to scout, what were they used for? These armies already had trucks and gun tractors to tow guns and maybe halftracks were employed in the same way, but this couldn't have been their only use. I can't imagine that a commander would send out a slow, expensive tank to scout with when he had access to faster, less-expensive HT's.

I too want more ammo or a slower ROF for infantry in future editions of this game. I have no facts or anything to back this opinion up nor do I care to do any research on the matter. I simply think infantry burns through ammo too quickly and the unit's combat strength is severely reduced after that--SMG's especially because of their high ROF. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have an entire squad burn through their ammo on one other enemy squad. This defeats whatever future plans you had for that unit because thier depleted ammo supply now means they can only fire back in defense. I've had units run out in just a few turns and I find this ridiculous. BTS, please change this aspect of the game!

1. So, arty spotters who have to lay cable can only move "slow" while the ones with radios can move fast? Is this right? 2. Where does this cable stretch from and exactly was it used?

1. So, arty spotters who have to lay cable can only move "slow" while the ones with radios can move fast? Is this right? 2. Where does this cable stretch from and exactly was it used?

As I'm looking over the lay of the land before I begin a new battle, I was thinking of various strategies to use and then realized that I would probably forget them once the battle started. That tree line which has the perfect reverse slope would all but disappear from my mind once the battle began. If only I could make battle plans that would help me remember days later when I get my PBEM turn back that I was gonna send that recon unit up to that perfect reverse slope when I scouted it out during my setup. I thought it would be great if I could make simple lines and notations on the map that would remind me later on what I wanted to do. The "strategic overlay" would be just that and could be made to disappear with one click of a button. Think of the possibilities...kind of like using a simple graphics editor to draw up your plans before and during the battle, just as some use editors to make AAR's presently. Opinions welcome...

I think it's naive to think that all people fall into one of the two groups. I play for a ladder and play to win, but I don't use every means to acheive victory if it means doing something completely unrealistic--like putting boats on top of hills to attract fire. Maybe a couple of you can justify this behavior, but I'm sure the players who do this aren't doing it for the same reason. They're doing it to exploit the game engine's weaknesses. While I have yet to see any boats used as ammo magnets or someone surrounding a victory location with a wall of fire, I frown upon stuff like this because it takes away from the reaslism of the game...and I'm a ladder player.

Does anybody ever play with unrestricted forces in their games? My theory is it all comes down to tree coverage as to what units people select playing under this option. Most people playing unrestricted forces in a medium trees or < than setting would have 70%-80% of their forces be made up of armor. Anything less and their opponent would be given the upper hand. Of course maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you can win in this setting if you know how to use smokescreens and mass amounts of infantry. If the parameters are set to "heavy trees", that would involve a different strategy altogether. Now I would think that no more than 30%-40% of one's forces would include armor. But maybe you can take more and somehow get away with a victory. Flame vehicles and a few infantry maybe? What are your thoughts on the unrestricted setting and can it be used successfully in a QB setting? How does it affect ladder players? [ July 27, 2003, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]

People actually do this???? Even I would walk away from the battle if I saw my opponent try anything like that. As far as Edge Hugging goes, I think people who complain about this are in the wrong. If your opponent sends an infantry squad advancing forward while hugging the edge of the map, you should be prepared for that kind of flanking manuever. Besides, if they panic due to your fire, half will be lost due to them running off the map, no? If you have gaping holes in your perimeter, that's your fault--not the opposition's.

I've noticed this after 2 PBEM games... Now maybe I'm just imagining things too but I had Russian squads panic and break in single turns by mg fire coming from 300 meters away. I had a regular russian Company HQ panic in my current game because of some light fire around them while my German counterparts seemed to stand their ground until they were killed. Like I said, I have only 2 games of experience with CMBB, but this is my initial impression of playing both sides once. My German soldiers in the other game seemed to hold against incoming fire a good deal better. What's everyone's else experience?

When you buy German infantry, is there more of a chance your leaders will have morale bonuses? And is it less with the Russians? I wasn't sure if the game modeled this even though the German soldiers were better trained in real life.

hold the shift key down & the rotate stops & a pan starts. i believe this feature is the same as BO :confused: ? </font>

Thanks guys. Now where would I download these scenarios?

Can anyone recommend pre-made scenarios that are equal in points/forces and would be good for ladder play? Equality is the key here. I'm interested in playing something which might have a bridge or something in it that I wouldn't ever see in the usual Quick Battles.

Again, I'd like to request that each of the map makers make a comment as to the strength of each side on the map they made. (Hell, maybe this kind of rating should come with each map as it would greatly benefit PBEM ladder players.) I know that some people like to play for fun, but I'm not one of them. If I'm going to invest a large amount of time in a game, I need to know each side's strength. So please, can each mapper make a comment as to who has the advantage on each map. A few of us are about to start up some battles and this info is much needed. P.S.--Can't wait to try these out...

Tanks, I'm not seeing the hi-res summer/spring treebases on cmmmods.com The hi-res scattered tree bases are there for summer but not the hi-res spring/summer tree bases for the other trees. Can you help me find this...? [ July 18, 2003, 12:23 PM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]

I can appreciate CMBB a lot more now. I remember denouncing it when it first came out, saying that it took the fun out of the game. I have a different opinion now and really like the changes that were made in regards to suppression and things like that. I do though wish BTS would go back to the old way of scrolling. It's annoying when you want to scroll laterally and have to put the cursor at the very top of the screen to do so. I much prefer to just hold down the SHIFT key. I also think that there is still a big problem with infantry panicing too early, hitting the ground on a crawl, and becoming exausted too soon. Other than that, I love the game...moreso than CMBO.

Thanks Juju. I went to cmmods.com and found the ones by Tanks A Lot but I only found hi-res fall and winter tree bases. Did he do ones for Spring and Summer too and where might they be? Thanks.

Can you recommend one of these for PBEM play where both sides are even... If none of these are even, can you give us a rundown on who has the advantage on each map so two players can play two different maps, each taking a stronger and weaker side for each game... By the way, I'd like this pack as well please. blueshift822@hotmail.com [ July 18, 2003, 04:12 AM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]

Thanks. I just bit the bullet and re-installed. Then I made copies of both the BMP folder and the WAV folder so this doesn't happen again...

I copied over DD's mods into the BMP folder without first making a backup of the folder. I thought I could find the backup on the CD if I didn't like the mod but it's just showing the EXE file in Explorer. Anyhow, I'm not too keen on the new look and want to go back to the original BMP's for now. Does Win XP have an Undo command for something like this?

What's a good one out there and where can I find it?

Is that the only mod site there is? It would be nice to see what I'm downloading before I download it...

I did a search and found a thread back in January on this issue which seemed to state that vehicles didn't offer any kind of advantage at all to infantry hiding behind it (although one poster disagreed.) Has the opinion on this changed? Has anyone found that infantry hiding behind "dead" vehicles receive an advantage of some kind?

Is this the only CM mod site out there now? I can't even pull up the mod graphic on a DSL modem it's so slow. What happened to the great mod sites like CM Outpost and others which were clean, functional, and were on a decent server with an owner who knows how to optimize HTML graphics?

I already volunteered to proofread for CMBB but they said no. I don't have a Masters in English but I have better spelling and grammatical skills than the guy who proofread this book. Oh yeah, and I also know the difference between a table of contents and an index. The manual should only get a high grade for BTS including so much information in it, not for it's presentation.