Diceman

Monster tanks like the King Tiger and Jagdtiger were just one of the many signs of Nazi Germany's out of control procurement system. The Jagdtiger was a personal desire of Hitler, and just one example of how Nazi politics wreaked havoc with war production. It's amazing how successful the German Army was in light of the many logistical nightmares it had to overcome just to operate. A quick glance at a listing of German tank/anti tank armament will reveal eighteen different gun chamberings give or take, I'm not 100% sure of which guns did or did not have compatible ammo. Then there were the numerous chassis that had to be dealt with. By late '44 the German Army had to manage supplies for seven different AFV chassis, not counting variants, compared to five basic chassis in the American camp, and three used by the Russians. When you start talking about soft skinned vehicles it gets even worse. It was an out of control system, run by an out of control political party, with an out of control man at the helm. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Nice building mod. Which one is it, and where do you get it? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I have to say it depends. The newer Tamiya stuff is very detailed and has beautiful fit and finish. Anything from TM35126 on should be a nice build. Dragon (DML) is hit and miss. The stuff they produce themselves is nice, but they also sell stuff from other companies under their name. For instance the DML StuG III G kit is not very good, it's based on a Russian Kit. The DML M4A3E8 (don't buy it - serious hull fitting problems and a really bad gun mantle) I bought had some of the same sprues as Tester's M4A1 (looks like a good kit). On the other hand the DML Jagdtiger I have as of yet to build looks like an outstanding kit. You can tell if a DML kit is a DML original if it has photo etch parts included. Academy's newer stuff is also supposed to be very nice. In a nutshell go with Tamiya first, and try to find a review on the other stuff before you buy. You can find all sorts of kits on e-bay. Rollmodels.com has the best prices on the net, but they have slow service. Hope this helps. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

As you've noticed CM just doesn't do a very good job of modeling long range combat. Steve and Charles designed the game based on combat ranges of 800 yards or less. Fortunately the issue is near the top of the list of things to do for CM 2. I fully agree a 37mm gun should have absolutely no chance of hitting a target 1500 meters away unless thee gun mount, i.e. M8 in this case is completely stationary. Here's a quote from "Tank vs Tank": "In 1959 they bought from Britain Centurion tanks with 105mm guns and in November 1960 used them to engage two old German PzKpfw IVs which were dug in to support operations by Syrian patrols at Nukheila. Opening fire at about 1500 meters, the Israelis shot off 89 rounds in 1 1/2 hours...without hitting either PzKpfw IV..." As can be seen from this real world example it's pretty damned hard to hit anything at 1500m no matter how good the gun without proper gunnery training. BTW the Israelis developed an intense program to improve gunnery discipline and techniques after this incident. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Voted, Thanks for the heads up. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeT: give this site a look http://www.mo-money.com/AFV-news/camouflage.html What mod have you got planned? MikeT<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Very nice site. Thank you very much. Unfortunately I don't have the skill or tallent to do CM mods. I needed this information for series of desert war models I'm working on. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Need some good reference material for British desert camouflage. I'm interested in colors and units for the Crusader III, the Sherman, the Valentine, and the Matilda. Anyone know a good book or sight? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

...or you could install AOL just long enough to download Alta-Vista's or Free-I-Net's software to run free internet service, and then cancel AOL. There's really no reason not to have internet access on your P.C. I use a pay service because I don't like the way the free services handle e-mail, but the free ones are just fine for most internet applications including downloading patches and drivers. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mensch: hmmm so was the Puma but its in the game...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, but it is not nearly as difficult to model a turret for an existing chassis, than to build up an entirely new model. The super pershing was included for the same reason: most of the work was already done, so it was an easy add. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mikey D: The skirts were originally designed to disrupt Russian anti-tank rifle rounds before they hit the armor itself. Stopping Bazooka rounds was just a side benefit. Effectiveness against cannon AP rounds was just about negligable.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yea I know. I just needed to get a good idea of how thin the sheet styreen needed to be on the DML StuG I'm building. Thanks Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

There are two complaints to look at before one decides the hull turning tweak is good or bad. Complaint one: My Panther, or whatever got took out by one of those jackrabbit allied fast turreted tanks. The stupid thing just sat their turning its turret when it could have survived if it brought its front armor to bear against the M18, or whatever. Complaint two: My tank took one in the side when it rotated its turret to engage some infantry on my flank. Having ben playing this game in one for or another for over a year, I'd have to say that version 1.1 is the absolute best Tac A.I. to date. The current turret rotation scheme is fantastic. As long as you don't over commit your tanks, your armor is much better off with the current A.I. setup. For me it works great, and frankly I can only see it as a real problem if you're in the habit of outrunning your infantry support. That's the only play method I can think of where you'll loose more tanks with the new A.I than with the old one. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Can anyone tell me the thickness of the sheet metal sideskirts on StuGs? Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I for one find the hull turning tweak to be a real improvement to tank behavior. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Great news! We're that much closer to CM 3 - the Mediterranean. At least CM 2 will have early war vehicles. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Looks like they got the top 40 poll fixed. I got to vote for the first time in four months today. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I'm in, sounds great. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

As far as the clipping thing is concerned: If you have the view set to anything higher than realistic setting, the computer has no choice but to clip the images. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Thanks guys, I was trying to compare the gun power of a PZIII E to a PZIII L. You've been a great help. Chears Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

So the kinetic energy of the 37 mm gun in question is 190096 km's? While a 50mm L/60 with a 2.06 kg round and muzzle velocity of 835 m/s has a kinetic energy of: 718142 km's? or 3.8 times the kinetic energy right? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I used to know how to do this but it's been 20 years since physics class. Can anyone tell me how to calculate kinetic energy of a round? For instance a 3.7 cm KwK L/46.5 gun has a projectile weight of .685 kg, and a muzzle velocity of 745 m/s. What's it's kinetic energy? Also, what was the weight of the AP shell used by the Sherman L40 gun? Thanks in Advance. Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Impresive. Very nice work. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Mega dittos. Best game I've ever owned. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

A couple of months ago I brought up the subject of weathering my PZIIIL I was working on. There was some interest in seeing pictures of the results so I'm mentioning it again. It's done along with a JS_II I built. I finally got a digital camera and have the pictures ready. The JS-II is of special interest because I used a wash called "Heavenly Hues" which is marketed for ceramics. Works wonderfully. If you work on models you should see the results. Just send me an e-mail if you'd like to see them. Cheers Eric ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

O.K. I'm not BTS, but I think it's back in print allong with Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WWII. They're both great books. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Before they fixed the "bug", I used to set up mirrored games of randomly generated maps. That is to say my opponent and I would play two quick battle games, each taking a swat as the allied and axis commander. I almost always won or lost both games. I see little problem with the point system as is, and none for which I can think of a better method than the very thoughtful one in place. P.S. BTS: I'd like to see a method of having mirrored quick battles implemented, pretty please? The old method of saving before selecting a country was functional, but I understand why you took out this "undocumented" and unmonitored feature. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."