Diceman

Thanks for all the replies. I'll especially keep in mind the mud suggestion. I've got an Easy Eight (DML) I'm also working on, and I'll finish her up factory fresh before applying mud to the suspension and lower hull. The PZIII is going to be an Afirka Corps model. I'll definitely try out the pastels in an effort to give it a dusted look. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Where are the hamsters? I don't think I got to see all the hamsters. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I have a Tamiya PZIII L that is finished except for weathering. The vehicle will definitely need dull-coated but I'm not really sure if if I should dull-coat it before or after the weathering process. I know we have several modelers on this forum, and if you could give me some advise, I'd appreciate it. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Major Tom: A better way in measuring rarity, would be to restrict the actual choice or number of vehicles allowed on the field.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Very good idea. I'm envisioning a variation of the point limitations already in place. Currently, based on which type of engagement is selected, a certain % of points are, armor, support, artillery, infantry, vehicle. To reflect rarity certain vehicles could have a limitation where they may constitute only a certain % of total points purchased. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Snake Eyes: Great idea. Welcome to the ranks of 10,000 others with the same thought. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Only 10,000?

Four most frequently during playbacks, but I will often use 1, 2, and/or 3 when plotting. I'll use 7 or 8 to get a bird's eye measurement of where I can be the fastest with the mostest. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Quote from Basebal351: They could be VETERAN soldiers when put into a situation suitable for them at the time (ie. not getting overrun by the Germans ), but would often give up without a SINGLE shot fired. This happened to late war Germans as well. Their morale was so bad they would surrender at the SIGN of an enemy vehicle. Even CONSCRIPT troops will fight to the last man in Combat Mission. I believe that these differences go BEYOND a troops' experience, or their morale UNDER FIRE. Russians would surrender by the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, because they didn't believe they could win, or didn't want to fight for Stalin's Red Army. How do you model some squads or platoons giving up without a fight, or hardly resisting at all?? I don't know. But, I'm sure BTS could come up with some ideas. End Quote. I think they already have but I also think you're onto something here. All you have to do when building a scenario is edit the troop moral as "broken"; however, it would be good to be able to start units out as "OK" but suffer the same moral penalties as a previously broken unit. This would allow a designer to model troops with extremely poor moral, but are otherwise militarily competent without worrying about them not staying put when the scenario starts. Other than that I'm with Chupacabra. There isn't a WWII army I can think of that didn't have wildly different quality units. The field gun and artillery units of the Italians were generally respected soldiers for instance. On the other hand, the much respected German Army had its share of poor divisions also. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I finally got around to building the D-Day Scenario I promised. It depicts the entire 116th's efforts to open-up the Vierville and Les Moulins draws. Yes it's absolutely huge. I've spent a great deal of time developing my rendition of this great battle, and I think it's ready for playtesting. If you'd like to check this one out, send me an e-mail. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Playing a quick battle. My opponent had a Sherman hiding behind a building. My Tiger couldn't easily do a flanking maneuver to get the Sherman so I decided to blow the building up. After a few shots from the Tiger, the building collapses exposing the Sherman. The Sherman took off like a dog with it's tail between it's legs toward another building to hide behind. Well it found cover from the Tiger, only to expose itself to a flank shot from a hidden SdKfz 251/9. The halftrack took the Sherman out first shot. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Revisiting this issue: I'd like to see something done to make it possible to blow holes in lines of barbed wire. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

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

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scipio: Some wishes: a)I'm missing several (only for example German) vehicles like: PzIII (Flamethrower)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Second StuH42

Several weeks eh? That'll be just in time for Christmas. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Reuter: Look I like this game but it is not very realistic because the designers certainly never saw the landscape in northern France,Belgium and Holland.Except for the Belgian Ardennes it is as flat as a kitchen table and you can have a LOS of 2km an even more. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You can make the maps as realistic as you want them to be. I think it would be interesting to play a game with an accurate map with the open terrain the Brit's, Poles, and Canadians had to deal with in Normandy. Unfortunately I've never been there, nor have I seen good pictures to help me do it myself. Having said that open terrain scenarios may not catch many peoples interest. Play balance will loose to reality on the eastern side of Normandy. Not much fun unless you're the Germans. Who you gonna get to play the Allies? I'd play it just to get a historic feel of what Montgomery was up against, but I suspect I'm the exception to the rule. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

My Greyhound is playing ring-around-the-rosey with a Jagdpanther. Is that close? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Perhaps the ability to display multiple texture sets for an individual tank type can be toggled on and off, so those with the ram can do it while the game is still playable for those without? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Granted: I can still count on units out of contact to do exactly what I as a commander want them to do - until they start getting shot at, which is how CM models the effects of being out of contact. This is very good, but it would be more realistic for there to be a chance that directions were completely ignored by out of contact units. Frankly I'd have to play test this gaming hypothesis of mine before I decided it was a good or bad thing as far as game play is concerned; however, in my military experience, we always had our share of troops that required constant and direct supervision. Getting back on topic: do we have any armor people out there that know the commands to tell a tank to point its gun in a certain direction? Found formation names, such as column, staggered column, wedge, echelon left, but what about commands for individual tanks? ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Yes but the impact to my ability to launch a coordinated attack is minimal. I can still count on units out of contact to do exactly what I as a commander want them to do. If timing is crucial I only need to delay my in control units enough to match the delay of the out of control units. Highly self motivated bunch of troops one is under command of in this game. A truly minor niggle, but to better model the challenges of command, a system whereby troops may fail to take desired action when not being directly led should be considered. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

You also have to consider range. In open country German armor rules. At the closer ranges...well you've seen it for yourself. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tanaka: It's here that our opinion diverge... For me I'm the platoon commander, the company commander, the brigade commander and not the crew, tank commander or the squad/team commander. ( I think that there are other games for that matter ) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> A legitimate point of view, but personally, the command and control limitations are insufficient for me to discount my control of the individual team, squad, tank. I'd like to see additional penalties for units out of contact with their CO but one would have to be careful not to damage game playability, or the "fun" factor. Being slightly grogish, I'd like to see moral checks or some other such penalty for units out of contact with its CQ. For instance a squad out of contact would have to make a moral check before executing a movement plot. It would have to make another one before deliberately putting itself in harms way. Moral check failures would cause the unit to head toward the last known location of its CQ. If the unit couldn't find the CQ it would head toward a predesignated rallying point. This would really make command and control more critical to the game, and move more toward the level of command you suggested, which in my opinion may be a good thing. Don't know if the idea is worth BETA testing or not. I wonder what other people think. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tanaka: Hi, "Currently tank's turrets return to the front whenever they loose a target..." This isn't 100% true ,or 60% ... For a wile the tank "remembers" the direction of the last target<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, and this is good, but my suggestion bellow would enhance realism and add the ability to use the real world armor tactic of giving tanks turret facing commands. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tanaka: "...I should be able to command my tank turret to return to front, front right quarter, right, right rear quarter, rear, etc. I think this would greatly enhance armor's capabilities" If it was YOUR tank, yes you should, but as it is your CREW's tank you can't... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The tank platoon commander makes such decisions not the individual tank commanders, and since I am the tank crew, the tank commander, the platoon commander, the company commander, and the brigade commander all in one while playing this fine game your rebuttal is "non value added." It does however remind me of a point: tanks need command and control limitations similar to infantry. This will be especially important to simulate the lack of coordination between Russian tanks on the eastern front in CM2. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Bumping my own topic due to the resent discussion on the ability to save a QB before the map is seen. I'd love to see the ability to insert pre-made maps into a QB. BTS please don't kill the ability to save QB's before unit selection until we can add pre-made maps to QBs for "mirrored" game play. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

Currently tank's turrets return to the front whenever they loose a target. Having the turret return to a pre-designated direction is not a bad thing, but how about some choices on the direction? There are names for this, but unfortunately I don't know them; but, I should be able to command my tank turret to return to front, front right quarter, right, right rear quarter, rear, etc. I think this would greatly enhance armor's capabilities. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

I use this "Feature" quite a bit. It's great for creating "mirrored" games. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."

wwb_99: Good point. I think this will be even more important for CM 2 where the lack of radios in Russian armor hurt them badly. Here's hoping Steve and Charles take a serious look at this. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman."