Nathman

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Terence: If you want to hate the news business, go ahead and hate them, but hate them for an actual reason, not because you don't know what you are talking about. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You're right, Terence, I didn't know what I was talking about - thank you for setting me straight. I thought that the poll was like the presidential election type polls and not an on-line poll. I didn't read the initial post correctly - my bad. I still hate the american news media because of their biases and xenophobic outlook. Give me the BBC any day!

CNN can kiss my ass. What difference does it make what the poll results are? Asking an uninformed public to voice their opinion on something like this is indicative of the way the media tries to make news instead of report it. Very few people out there have the necessary information to make a judgement regarding whether or not the captain of the ship should be held responsible, and I'm sure a court of inquiry will get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, CNN will release it's poll results and treat them as if they are sacred. I really beginning to despise the american press.

Speaking of the new Harpoon, does anyone have any solid status of it? Somewhere I read where the company that was going to publish it was bought up and sorta left things up in the air a bit. If it doesn't get released, I will be one upset camper.

I got hooked on the V for Victory games. They taught me a lot of the history behind Market Garden and Velikiye Luki. Oh, and my all time favorite (before CM), Harpoon. [This message has been edited by Nathman (edited 01-06-2001).]

Thanks, Lorak, for the reply. I understand what you are saying, and it makes sense. However, on the huge scenarios where several companies are involved, it seems like there would be cases where ToT could have been used. It's not so much of a realism issue for me as it is the desire to see the effects of multiple artillery shells all hitting the same area at the same time. The result would have to be incredibly devestating!

I did a perfunctory search on this, but didn't find what I was looking for. My question is in regards to the american practice of using "time on target" barrages and why this isn't modeled in CM? And could it be? (not being a programmer, it seems like it wouldn't be a big deal - just have one FO for all the available artillery and the timing of the seperate artillery units would be the same)

Wow, that was a powerful statement by BTS (Steve). Sorry you are sick of it. Just thought a little lively dialogue on the subject wasn't too much of a big deal. I guess I should've done a search on "search vs no search" before I posted on this thread. My bad. Didn't mean to upset anyone. ps... This is a great game!

Sounds good to me! You've won me over. I too, will be bothered by peoples stupidity and make it known. Let us go forth together and vanquish the foe known as "stupidity" and chastise all who would dare post a topic which does not conform to your standard of "non-stupidityness"! Ok, just having a little fun. Do whatever makes you happy, as will I.

Bastables, I guess we have a fundamental disagreement when it comes to voicing opinions and bringing up issues. I don't know whether the person who started this post is a newcomer or not - that's not the issue as far as I am concerned. The issue to me is that there are a lot of newcomers all the time and they should be encouraged to use this forum, and if they ask a question that has already been asked, then it's your problem if it bugs you - not theirs. My question is: Why is anyone bothered that someone brings up a point that has been previously brought up? Does it make reading this forum less enjoyable? If you read the topic and it's regarding a dead horse that's already been beat to death, why is it so hard to skip it? If someone makes what is obviously a misstament of fact because that person hasn't played the game enough to know better, should that person be castigated? If you can explain to me why I should be bothered by these sort of posts, then I will gladly take up your cause and roundly criticize the next fool who should dare bring up an unsubstantiated opinion or throw out a question that has been answered a million times already. Give me a reason to be get upset over this!

Ok, so this topic has been hashed and re-hashed. So what? There are a lot of newcomers to this game all the time and they are experiencing exactly the same questions and problems that we all have in the past and want to talk about them. Maybe they will shed new light on something that has been overlooked. Point is, they could do a search and probably find everything they want to know or they can post a topic like this one and engage in a lively dialogue. I'd prefer the latter. If people are bothered that the same topic has been brought up a half dozen times, then my advice to you is: don't read them and let the newcomers experess themselves.

As someone who plays wargames and flight sims almost exclusively, there are times when I want to play something completely different just to clear my head and relax. The game that does this for me (and has for the last eight months) is Sierra PGA Championship Golf. I'm not a sports person or a golfer, but this game is the greatest. To swing the club you actually move the mouse instead of clicking it like most golf games - makes all the difference. If not that, then Rogue Spear.

More like devine intervention, but like they say: sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

I gotta share this with my fellow CM'ers (my girlfriend doesn't exactly qualify). In an Ardennes scenario that shall remain un-named, I was playing the americans and was taking a beating by a german mechanized force and it didn't look good. I managed to knock out most of their armour, but in the process lost all of mine. Well, in desperation I targeted a Mark IV with an 81mm mortar, knowing full well that the life expectancy of that crew would be measured in seconds, but I still had to do it. Anyway, the third mortar round barely left the tube when sure enough, the crew was almost obliterated and the mortar knocked out. Now here's the cool part: The tank turned it's attention to another target and I was only half-way paying attention when all of the sudden the Mark IV disintegrated in a spectacular explosion. What the heck happened? Unbelievably, the last mortar round made a direct top hit five seconds after that very same tank knocked the mortar out! That turned the tide of the battle and once again the world was safe for democracy. God I love this game!

The manpower required to keep BB's in service is another factor which the navy looked at when deciding to mothball them, especially in a climate where the recruiting goals are tough to meet. Now if we would re-instate the draft....

Trooper, as to your comment about the "historically incorrect river assualt by the americans", I am curious as to what you consider to be incorrect about it. As I can only get historical information from books and eyewitness accouts, I can assure you that the assualt did take place. From "It Never Snows in September - The German View of MARKET-GARDEN and The Battle of Arnhem, September 1944" by Robert Kershaw. "At 1500 an intensive bombardment by the 40 sherman tanks and 100 artillery barrels and aircraft focused German attention to a sector well to the west of the railway bridge, opposite the power station. Twenty-six canvas and woodend constructed assault boats were launched into the fast flowing river; they contained Major Julian A Cooks's 3rd Battalion of the 504 (US) Paarachute Infantry Regiment. The men within paddled frantically to reach the opposite bank. The Germans, observing from the northern bank, were taken completely by surprise." And later he goes on to say. "Before long a fierce response to this daring incursion had been thrown together. Some boats began to sink amid huge geysers spurting from the water." "Incredibly, almost half the boats reached the north bank, the survivors returning to pick up the second and subsequent waves. American paratroopers spilled ashore, exhausted, dizzy from the gyrations, some vomiting with the fear and tension of the frightening experience that they had just barely survived. Devoid of unit organisation and incensed, they closed with their tormentors. Many of the defenders were 15 year old teenagers, or 60 year old previous exemptions from service. They were totally unprepared to meet these enraged paratrooper veterans rushing at them. Having engaged in a slaughter while holding the upper hand, the outposts were now mercilessly extinguished, with no quarter asked or given." He then goes on to say how the local german commander began to send fighting patrols against the americans who now held the Waal dyke road and later enemy (british) tanks were noticed on th Nijmegen bridge. Bottom line: the river assualt did take place and secured the northern end of the bridge while the British made an armoured assualt across it. It was a cooridinated effort and to say that it was historically incorrect has no basis in fact, unless, of course, you get your history from movie inlays, which appears to be the case. The saddest chapter of this sacrifice made by the paratroopers is that the british tanks stopped after crossing the bridge. In the words of the 10 SS Panzer Division commander, Colonel Heinz Harmel, "Why did they not drive on to Elst instead of staying in Lent? At this instant there were no German armoured forces available to block Elst. It was a lost chance." According to the author, "The allies had certainly missed an opportunity. They might possibly have pushed a battle group into Arnhem itself." (BTW, the author is British and lives in Hampshire - my old stomping grounds) Revisionist history does a disservice to the veterans of engagements such as this one and serves no purpose. I highly recommend the book I have cited as it brings a different perspective to Cornelius Ryan's "A Bridge Too Far", and is certainly more authoritative than a movie inlay.

"It Never Snows in September" by Robert Kershaw is an excellent book describing the German view of Operation Market Garden - a good companion to "A Bridge too Far". It includes maps I have never seen before and is a wealth of information.

Jarmo, thanks for that bit of info - I wasn't aware of that. Maybe I can condition myself to ignore the lines and consider getting a Sony since that seems to be the choice of most everyone that has written in. I'm drooling at the prospect of going from my 17" to a 21". Maybe I'll make it a Thanksgiving present instead!

Thanks for the responses. I've heard that the Viewsonic 21" is a good monitor - anyone out there have it? I'm one of those strange people who doesn't like the horizontal wire lines in the Sony monitors, so even though I know they are excellent, I don't think it will be an option for me.

I'd like to get the party line on whether or not any of you with 21 inch monitors think it is worth the price, and if so, which make and model to you recommend? Thanks. (My Christmas present to myself )

This game is a great value, and anyone out there who complains that BTS is making too much money from it shouldn't have bought it in the first place - no one forced you to buy it, so quit your bitchin.

Interesting responses, but I must admit that I am surprised that so far no one has beat 183 meters. I knew it was an exceptional shot (first shot, by the way), but now I am appreciating it even more! Makes me wish I would have saved the game prior to that turn so I could watch it over and over again (especially when the inevitable happens and I miss a 25 meter shot with my last round against the rear of a tiger - it's happened before)

Last night one of my zooks knocked out a stug III at 183 meters - unbelievable. I had to replay the turn several times just to figure out where the shot came from. It made me wonder what the record is for a zook kill. Can anyone beat 183?

*Not much of a spoiler* I was playing Big Red Omaha, and after hitting the beach my naval FO called in a 14" fire mission to try to take out some pillboxes. Good idea? Well, after getting my somewhat shot-up boys together for an assault, I hear the first round coming in and thought to myself "great, the timing couldn't be better". Only problem was that it landed dead square on the beach in the middle of my troops. If you've never seen what a 14" shell can do to men in exposed ground, let's just say that I lost over 120 men in the blink of an eye. The dead were literally strewn across the beach. Needless to say that on that day, the D-Day landings were not successful! Moral of the story: 14" shells are bad news.

Splinty, thank you for saying what you did. Col Deadmarsh, you have the freedom to write whatever you want, but just be aware that there are sure to be plenty of veterans like Splinty and myself who take exception to your analysis of modern day warfare. Mentioning that there's no more "romance" in war nowdays reminds me of reading about the buildup to WW I when the europe was filled with "romantic" notions of war. There's nothing romantic about it, and if playing this game gives you that impression, then it's giving you the wrong impression. [This message has been edited by Nathman (edited 10-23-2000).]

I'm not partial to a particular time length, however, I would love to see an option to continue a scenario after the prescribed time length has been reached. It isn't often that the inevitable result isn't reached by the end of the scenario, but there have been a few occasions where I would have loved to have been able to continue the scenario for a couple of turns. In order to keep everyone happy, the score would not be affected by the extended time. This is a little off topic, but Wild Bill, maybe this is something you could bring up to the boys at BTS as well as the expansion pack idea.