Longshot

I dont know if you have all fixed your white transparency problem, but the new 27.42 drivers worked great on mine. I have a Geforce DDR card and had the same trouble as everyone else with the white letters in the meuns just disappering with Windows XP. I have just been working around it by escaping out to the desktop and returning to fix it. I finally got tired of that and tried the new Nvidia drivers on guru3d.com for XP. I have used them now for a couple of days and they work just fine for me. The white looks good and at last the menus look normal.

I downloaded and installed the new 1.22 patch when it came out on the 15th. Do I need to download and install it again to get the changes that were made about the bogging and crashes to desktop? I haven't had any trouble with the new patch but I am playing several armor games right now that I would really like to not get messed up with a bunch of bog results.

Oh sure crow about another easy win Vimes! Just wait till the snow is scattered with dead Axis boys in our email game.

Just wondering about the many email games I have running now. Will the new version 1.1 be compatible with the games I have going now? What I mean is will both me and my opponent have to be running the same version? Are the changes radical enough that there would be differences in combat outcomes? As I type this I'm thinking the answer to all these questions is yes. Just want to verify my admittedly muddled thoughts.

In a book I recently read, it said that the US 3rd Army hated their 57mm AT guns. The book, which was a series of recollections by veterans, stated that the 57 was useless for anything, except the role of ambusher at very close range from the flank. In a sidebar it states that most of them were officially "lost" in France shortly after the breakout.

If those are planes you are using in our email game, they must be B-52s. That last bombardment looked like an "Arc-Light" strike form up close.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a really good book I saw in the local Barnes and Noble store here. I could'nt remember the authors name though so wasn't much help finding it. I was in there again today and found it along with another book by the same author about the same subject. The two books are: Patton:Operation Cobra and Beyond by Micheal and Gladys Green and Patton's Tank Drive,D-Day to Victory by Micheal Green Both books are filled with after action photos,personal stories and anecdotes by tankers in the US 3rd Army. It has many pictures of shot-up Panthers,Tigers and Stugs in Normandy and beyond, many taken shortly after the actions took place. It also has lots of pictures of shot up Shermans as you can imagine also. I was particularly interested to read that many tankers were not impressed with the Shermans 76mm gun. One report has a very upset US tanker saying that the 76 would not penetrate almost any German tanks beyond 800 meters. One report tells of a tank commander who bounced 8 shells of a Panther at what he called short range and then had the Panther put a shell completely through the tank from front to back. He than said they calmly bailed out of the tank. Sounds like he was living right to me. He goes on to say "the resulting pile of scrap metal would make a great tank, all it needs is a gun." If you get a chance you might want to check one or both of these books out at your local store. The many pictures had a lot of incidental things about them too. Things like, every German tank and some form of brush or branches attached to them for camouflage, most Allied tanks had sandbags and extra tracks and logs attached to their fronts and sides for extra armor. One picture showed a M10 tank destroyer with several long logs attached to the sides for protection, looked funny and very desperate. I would recommend these books highly. All the pictures are in black and white and of reasonable quality. Most were taken shortly after the battles and show the tanks and other vehicles as they lay.

On the other hand in a recent email game I was in my Sherman 76 popped over the top of a ridge just as a Tiger VI and and Jagdpanther came over another ridge off to their side at about 600 meters range. I had ugly visions of my precious reserve Sherman platoon going out in a blaze of glory. I ordered them to kick it into high gear and run for a flank hoping to outrun those slow turrets. As it turned out the Sherman bounced 3 shots off the jagdpanther before knocking it out at the range of 580 meters with standard AP. I assumed they had used tungsten but none was expended. The Sherman even took an 88 to the turret front which bounced off (much to my opponents chagrin). The lucky Sherman crew then engaged the Tiger and knocked it out with 3 rounds none of which were tungsten. The Tiger was knocked out at range of 620 meters. The point is the standard 76AP is capable even at long ranges of penetrating many targets. Now I'll agree if it was two Panthers on that ridge it might have turned out different.A tank crew seeing a Jagdpanther and Tiger on that hill at long ranges might be inclined to think, "better safe then sorry" and load T as soon as possible. I know I was crapping my drawers when I saw those ugly things out there.

Yes I followed the instructions to do the clean install. I have noticed that it only seems to occur after prolonged play. When it happened I was useing alt-tab to switch to the desktop several times to load several email games I was playing. Maybe after constant switching to the desktop and back to the game it messed up the refresh rate or something. Just a thought. I have played several turns since then but not as many one after the other as I was a couple of days ago. Perhaps I just need to not switch back and forth so much with the alt-tab key.

I heard somewhere that the Tank Destroyers were open-topped because the larger 76mm gun would not fit in a standard Sherman turret. The breach was to big or something. May just be my memory playing tricks on me as I get older though

I downloaded the new 6.31 Detonater drivers for my Geforce 256 DDR card and there seems to be a minor problem with the game now. When I start a scenario or load an email file to start a turn, the screen comes up and flickers badly. You can see everything but it jumps on around. If you alt-tab or esc. to desktop and come right back to game then everything looks fine after that. I Have'nt noticed any problems during game play but I have only had the drivers loaded for one day. It's not a big problem and alt-tabing fixes it, just wanted to let you know that there may be some problems with these new drivers.

Already signed up. Great site. I am already in 5 matches (some of which will end quickly I think). The loser posts results right? So I guess I will be posting soon. Anyway everybody get on its a blast! neal

No, not that smart Mike, sorry. I will try to find it next time I am in there and get more info. neal

I was kicking around in the local "Barnes and Noble" bookstore here in the history section and I found an interesting book on Pattons armored units and their drive to Germany. It was called "Pattons Tank Drive", I believe and while it was a little weak on detailed maps and info it had some great pictures of knocked out Panthers,Tigers and several Shermans around Normandy and beyond. Just thought the info was interesting. It included several actual battle reports sent back to headquarters about tank losses and talked about the problems Allied tankers had with the German tanks as a whole.

I have just created a scenario based on one that was included in the Deluxe ASL game Hedgerow Hell. It recreates the american attack on Les Foulons in France shortly after D-Day. I have tested it several times by myself but need some outside suggestions for possible play balance. It is a small scenario but supplies a tough challenge for the americans. In real life they got their tails handed to them. Maybe some of you can do better? Longshot