Col Deadmarsh

When you purchase an arty battery, that player should expect it to route/destroy at least 1 1/2 platoons if not 2 whole ones. Otherwise, buying arty isn't worth the risk. As of now, it's completely overpriced and not worth taking. With more tubes, it's also causing less firing missions which makes it even less useful because the shells are being used up in less turns. The bonus one gets for more shells falling in the area is next to none. Chances are, the target has already broken or whatever but you've used up quite a lot of shells in one firing mission to accomplish this. Arty prices need to be adjusted for patch 1.02.

I'd like to see an option to use the old way of scrolling around the battlefield using the "shift key" to move laterally. Having to put the mouse arrow at the bottom is more tedious in my opinion and is one of the only things I haven't been able to appreciate in CMBB.

I honestly don't think there's a lot that's gamey in this game. For instance, let's take the beleif that jeep rushes are gamey because it is an unrealistic move on the part of one player (putting the jeep crew in extreme jeopardy) to gain insight into his opponent's forces: where they are, how strong they are, and what they're doing. Jeeps are used because they are fast and cheap. The enemy though should be able to counter this tactic by employing MG's and light AT guns around the flanks. You ever notice no one ever tries this up the middle of the map? That's where the flags are and thus, the opposition. The player figures he'll never be able to get the scout through so he goes up the sides. The smart player though will always cover his flanks to prevent his weakness from being overly exploited. I honestly don't see why some people call this gamey. If you want 20 pts to quickly disappear from your roster, send up one of those jeeps on a suicide mission and see if it's worth it.

So if they got them, why aren't they modeled in CMBB?

I have a PZB39 German Anti-Tank Rifle team who won't shoot on my opponent's T-34. Now, I understand that the gun's shell can't go through the armor of a Russian tank like that but can't it shoot at the tracks to try to immobilize it? Or is the 7.9 cm shell useless against that too?

CM Outpost was the best. Nice looking site with plenty of mods to choose from. Why is it now defunct?

Nope.

Being the perfectionist that I am, I only play PBEM so I can have all the time I want to plan out my moves.

Steve, thanks for answering those questions. And for the record, it was a Ferdinand, not a KT. I just have one more question about my last game before I go... Does driving laterally across a steep slope increase your chances of bogging more than driving straight up or down a slope? By the way, since you mentioned that all bogging is abstract (no specific instances like thrown tracks), I'm lobbying for you to consider the idea of decreasing the immobilizations that occur from bogging and instead increase the time it takes for that tank to unbog. At least then, the player has a chance to use that tank later on in the battle instead of being out X number of points.

That's interesting...and yet just as disturbing. Does anyone have any theories on why the Allies seem to be stronger?

Steve, I'm wondering why there isn't more information to the player on how to avoid bogging, especially since it's been coded to reflect the Russian terrain (although you haven't actually said this, I'm assuming it because of tanks now bogging on dry terrain when they didn't in CMBO.) So why all the dark secrets? I can't imagine that it could be taken advantage of in a gamey way so why not let us know... I'm particulary interested in solutions to my old example where I had a heavy tank that I wanted to move from one side of a steep slope to another. My Questions: 1. Should I have taken my heavy tank, reversed back down and "moved" in a straight path towards the new point? 2. Did my moving the tank "fast" across the steep slope result in a thrown track (since it was dry ground) and thus give me no chance to un-bog it? 3. What are the things I need to keep in mind to prevent bogging when moving tanks off-road (other than avoiding the givens like soft ground and scattered trees? I have to say, I'm still upset by this new way of figuring out bogging in CMBB. It not only throws more luck into the equation when you make the choice to buy a tank, but it alters the tactics you use when you move that tank. For instance, no longer can we confidently move out tanks into some scattered trees on a normal, dry day to seek ambush cover. Now, you have to think twice about whether or not your tank might bog in those trees. A complete change of tactics, don't you think? By the way, I'm still patiently waiting for a reply on why you guys decided to make this change (higher bogging/imobilization rate) in CMBB.

Bingo. Bbaker, you've summed up my entire points perfectly. I do indeed look at the game as a complicated form of chess and since one can rely on one's one skills to win a game of chess, I want the same from CMBB. I admit that some of the luck that factors into the game doesn't supercede my skill, (i.e.--the success of arty misions, infantry skirmises, etc.) These are random factors I actually like and can easily welcome into the game. So I'm not against luck as a by-product of the realism of the game. I'm just opposed to the kind where it plays too important a part--like frequent tank immobilization. Steve, you seem to think that I put all my eggs in one basket because I took a heavy tank. That didn't use to be the case in CMBO. Remember that game? Where you could take a tank, drive it over dry terrain and not have it bog down and become immobile. So why now is all this bogging on dry ground realistic? What other proof now do you have to validate this change in the code? I'm serious here. Did you come upon some books that said otherwise? It may seem like I'm overreacting but I really believe the game has become more reliant on luck. You've now made it a serious risk for a ladder player (someone who plays to win) to take any heavy tank in any condition. This entirely changes the game in my opinion for that kind of player. Why even take a heavy tank if it's such a liability on anything more unstable than a dirt road? That's what it's come to. Christ, you give us all these beautiful tanks in CMBB and then penalize us more now for using them. I just think you limit the dimensionality of play when you penalize someone for taking heavy tanks with what seems a gross exaggeration of bogging/immobilization. Can I ask that you consider Scipio's plan for keeping the bogging and cutting back on the immobilizations on dry ground for the next patch? [ January 09, 2003, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]

The title to this thread might be a bit of an overstatement but the fact is, luck seems to play a more important part in CMBB due to the fact that tank bogging has become more prevalent than it was in CMBO. Frankly, I hate this new aspect of the game because CMBB becomes less like chess and more like craps. If I'm a player who's adept at using tanks, my skill carried over from CMBO is now not as valuable because tanks (on maps which are anything less than heavy trees) aren't as reliable as they once were. I recently played a game where I had given orders to a heavy tank to crest a hill in the beginning of the game. Before it crested the hill, the tank bogged on dry, open ground on a slope. The tank never saw the enemy and was rendered useless for the rest of the game. I'm guessng the tank threw a track--I mean, how else would it bog on dry ground? But if this isn't completely 100% accurate, is it worth sacrificing the skill of purchasing the right units and using those units effectively just to have a random luck factor decide whether or not your 200 point tank gets to see any action or not? I'm guessing that by and large, the two factions of CMBB, the historical nuts and the QB/Ladder players, are at odds with this question. As a ladder player myself and someone who is much more eager to put my skills up against another, I'm not in favor of adding any more luck to this game than is currently involved. I'd like to be able to set conditions to dry, order my tanks, and know that my skill will mostly decide whether or not I win the game against my opponent.

I have a tank that has just bogged in open ground on a dry day if you can believe that. Anyway, what's the best way to unbog it? Change the fast move order to a regular move order and go forward, or cancel all move orders and stay still, or reverse?

Did the phrase "killing Nazis" appear anywhere in the review?

So that feature is in every QB? I thought it was just for games with the "casulity option" turned on...

You only play the AI? You're a strange man, Emrys...

...and don't come back until you have pics of cute Russian girls.

That would be pretty cool...

Sniper, the least you could've done is post some nice pics of Russian women...

Yeah, but how could he get sick of CM after 6 months. I just don't understand that...

No kidding. What's all this hubbub about the Soviet AT rifle? Isn't the Russian Heavy Anti-Tank rifle the same caliber (14.5) as the German one? Is all the fuss because of all the German half-tracks/vehicles it has to shoot at?

Go ahead and buy the bundle, but be warned...you probably will have a hard time playing CMBO if you start on CMBB first. I have CMBO PBEM games going on right now that I just want to finish so I can retire the game and move on. Maybe you should put CMBB away for a few months and just play CMBO. Enjoy that for awhile and then delve into CMBB.

No, I mean that it's fluctuating up to 120% in the same year and location. If it were for different years, then sure, that would make sense. But someone can simply re-start a setup until they get the desired percentages they want based on other parameters set up and their basic likes/strengths in units. [ December 07, 2002, 12:05 AM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]

Okay...just to prove to you that I'm not the most laziest person in the world, I just ran a few tests. I'm seeing differences as much as 120% in some cases. In my opinion, no unit should fluctuate more than 10% in price. How much you wanna bet people are using this to their advantage? Looks like we have a new way to cherry pick in CMBB... [ December 06, 2002, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: Colonel_Deadmarsh ]