Robert Olesen

I have been playing around a bit with the interface, mostly based on DeanCos excellent work, and started wondering how to substitute the AMMO text with a graphical icon. Then it hit me: There are bullets in the frame of the combat mission page of battlefront.com. So, I risked copyright infringements (apologies Madmatt, but this is in a good cause ) and grabbed the bullet frame, cleaned out the text of one of them (to the best of my ability, which is quite unimpressive in this area), resized it and used it with DeanCos grog mod. I think it looks really , but I'm sure it can be improved. It might e.g. be better to use another bullet or shell pic instead of this one. You're welcome to a copy if you like. Please email me at robert.olesen@get2net.dk if you are interested. I would post it here, but I don't have a website. I also did a few changes to the patch DeanCo released recently - I toned down the bright yellow of "Abandoned", "Eliminated" and "Knocked Out" somewhat. You're welcome to that as well (though you could easily do it yourself using Windows Paint - that is what I used).

Hah! Former Danes would be more precise. For the uninformed: Norway was a Danish province for ca. 400 years until 1814, when Denmark went bankrupt. The Norwegians tried for independence under a democratic constitution (inspired by a Danish imported "king"), but lost in a war to the Swedes, who took control. Norway became independent in 1905, and once again imported a Danish prince to be king (Haakon). Btw, the constitution from 1814 is still functioning - it is the second oldest functioning democratic constitution in the world. And no, you don't get a prize for guessing which is the oldest .

Denmark, Nothern Zealand, Helsinge (Ramløse to be exact). I tnink I can handle one more PBEM - have been considering a small-to-medium QB with someone in the same time zone. Interested?

Well, I'm pretty new to this game myself, but I have already learned one very important lesson: LOS is all-important. There's no point in planning an avenue of advance if it is in plain LOS of the enemy positions (unless you plan to use smoke). There's also no point in placing your (machine)gun in a position that does not have LOS to the enemy positions. And there's no point in advancing a support tank to a position where it can't see anything useful. LOS is tricky in this game. It is not always easy to see how good LOS is from one position to another. And there is no way you can check LOS from any position on the map to any other, other than by using Ctrl-Click to select the position and then the "1" view position to see what it would look like from there. This is helpful, but not easy and it can take a lot of time to scout out the map.

Thanks, but the last version does not really have a "health"bar as such. It's more like a "damage"bar, except that it isn't really a "bar". It's a reddish tint that expands over the text and increases in intensity. It does not look healthy at all (and it's not supposed to). I don't think I can post images here (don't have an url where I can stick them), that would have made the explanation clearer.

Sorry, that should have been bloodied, not blodded. How

Based on constructive feedback from DeanCo, I have updated the morale and readiness displays. The worsened condition is now shown by an overlay of red colour, extending as the condition worsens. It looks a bit like the text has been blodded. Really IMO.

I have made a Mod to DeanCos Grog Mod . Feel free to get it by emailing me at robert.olesen@get2net.dk Before you rush to the keyboard, here's a short rundown. There are actually three ModMods: 1. I have changed the unit experience ratings to stars, from 1 for conscript to 6 for elite. 2. I have added a bar beneath the morale texts, expanding as the condition worsens. 3. I have added a bar beneath the unit readiness/fatigue texts, expanding as the condition worsens. I'm really happy with the first, but have a feeling that the other two can be improved. Anyway, tell me (email please) if you want them and also which of them you want.

Yes, I did a search and found out that it can be done (awkwardly) but it would be so much better to simply be able to load a map into the QB generator. I did note to my satisfaction that Wild Bill stated in a thread that he liked this suggestion (made by someone else around July) so much that he would add it to a suggestion list (an official one, I think).

That's tempting. I haven't looked at that one either, but I have managed to foul up the German attack in Trois Ponts rather well (recommend it). I'm game provided you can accept that 1. I'm easy meat: I just got the game 1-2 weeks ago (we all have to start somewhere ). 2. I haven't played a PBEM game of CM before, so you should get things going. 3. I can't guarantee a turn a day, but I'll go as fast as possible. 4. I would like to defend (this ought to be the German side in this case). Send me a private email if you accept (in my profile).

OK Deanco, I see the problem with the healthbars. But the stars should fit on top of the new background you made in the Grog mod. Just a small hint Thanks anyway. It's your time after all.

The amount of work you put into this is amazing. A couple of things (just so that you won't be bored ): 1. I liked the health bars - they are gone in the Grog version. Any chance of adding them? How about a thin line beneath the text, going green to yellow to red (for morale) as well as possibly changing length? The fatigue status could use the same colours, as the text will differentiate between the two status bars. 2. And the stars for unit quality, that are an optional part of the healthbar mod, are gone too. I like these as well. The only thing is that I think they should all go left to right, not be centered, but that is a minor detail. Thanks a lot for some great work

Oh boy, You guys have me ROFLMAO

Good question. Perhaps they can be pushed free using another armored vehicle? I have seen knocked out vehicles being pushed to the side by other passing vehicles.

Yessir. Will do, then Oh btw, what does Martin do (in relation to CM)? I know about Steve, Charles, Matt and you, but I have never heard of a "Martin" in this context.

Thanks, Kwazydog. Yes, I know it is a good idea What I would also like to know if is this forum (and the others?) is the best way to make sure that my good ideas (of which I have had several already) will get the attention of Steve and Charles. Or perhaps I should use a direct email. I would hate to see my ideas fade into oblivion.

Bump - I would like to have a reply on my question to BTS. Perhaps this is not a good place to get a reply?

Which is why it would be a good idea to be able to load a map instead of creating one when setting up a quick battle. In fact, this is an excellent idea - Big Time Software, are you listening? I could do it in the original Steel Panthers, why not in CM?

You are right in principle, except that for me it reliably does not work. When I bring up the game again it simply does not display / refresh. I have to bring up the task list and kill it. Thank BTS for the Autosave! Anybody else have this problem? I'm using Win98. It's probably some setup fluke on my machine. And, while I'm at it - I wish they had not programmed the Esc key to minimise the game. I have now hit it twice to dismiss a menu or something similar with unexpected results, and I really don't need Esc to do what Alt-Tab already does. Perhaps there's hope that I won't repeat that mistake again

Hi Eric, Just a note: Out of curiosity I clicked on the link in your reply. It turned out to have a size of around 1M - rather large for one page and for a 56K connection. It does look nice, but I would advice you to split it up. Is there a patch in the works? Or is that just a rumour?

I did a search in this forum (not the others) e.g. on "road" and "movement", but didn't find a lot of discussion about it.

I have encountered two "problems", forcing me to spend time managing trivial details. It is quite possible that some of this work could be automated. 1. I would like to be able to restrict a movement path to roads, esp. for vehicles. Plotting a waypoint path along roads for one vehicle is manageable, but plotting the movement of 10 vehicles (or even 4) along a twisting road in a column is a p.i.t.a. 2. I have noticed that I cannot set waypoints for a group of units / formation by using Ctrl+Click. If I have more than one unit selected and issue a Move order, than a Ctrl+Click works just like a simple mouse click, terminating the movement order. There does not seem to be a way to set a waypoint for a group of units.

This post contains some minor spoilers for the Troispont scenario by Eric Antonsen, esp. if you play the Americans. I picked it up along with som other Bulge scenarios after reading the thread http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/011169.html My main point is that this game actually teaches me something about combat. I'm playing Axis and got a company+ of Panzergrenadiers in halftracs that basically have to cross the map, which is full of woods, twisting roads and wet ground, in addition to the river ofc. I'm now a bit over 1/3 through and have made a pretty mess of it, because I have no idea how to manage these troops effectively. The halftracks get stuck in traffic jams, they bog down in the mud, one got blown to pieces by a direct mortar hit and a couple have fallen prey to bazookas. Keeping platoons together is a nightmare. To play this scenario effectively I think I have to learn how to use the firepower and mobility of these units effectively. When to mount, when to dismount, when to wait and when to simply move through (if possible). Pretty good stuff!

Madmatt, I'm not a native English speaker, but I do have some experience with the language. I have never encountered the word "Whiping" before. Is that supposed to be "Whining" or "Whipping"?

Well, I certainly managed to download it just a couple of hours ago I like it very much - graphical representations are much better than textual, once you know what they represent. I didn't like the other ("HiVis") interface change so much, mainly because of the shadowed "thick" font, this one is much more useful to me.