rlh1138

Just another thought on using 'save' and replaying a game from a certain spot forward. I play chess with my computer. I like to load famous game positions, (or even some of my old ones), and play them again with different tactics. I never thought of that as 'cheating myself'. I've been thinking of it as 'learning' or 'trying to get better'. In CM, at certain points I realize I'm about to make a crucial decision, (sometimes I don't realize it!), like - expose my armor - commit my reserves now, etc. I'll save, and then play out the game. Then, whether I've done well, or done poorly, I go back to that point and make another decision, then play it out again. I've really learned a lot that way - or so it seems to me. One of the things I like most is setting up defences - and seeing how that plays out. I save those, before starting the game, all the time. Then I go back to the saved game, change my forward defense to a closed defence, or whatever it is I'm working on, and let the AI attack me again. Lots of fun from my point of view, and helping me get better. So.. not commenting on 'cheats', but the original post on saving, not to disagree, cause I think folks here were posting what works for them - but I wonder what you all think of using 'save' as I do. Does that seem like cheating??

newlife, I had fun with that scenario, applying some of the things from the earlier part of this thread. I'd never used wire before - now I'm a beliver. I moved most of the line back, giving the first ridge line away, but defending the second heavily from the reverse slope. I brought the AP mines in, almost to the barrels of my troops. I use Zooks as sort of 'tank snipers' and early warning devices, so I had them well forward along obvious paths of entry for armor, and well hidden. I also, after studying the map and flag placement, moved a lot of defenders from the left flank to use other places. I know those German AI commanders, and was willing to bet they'd come center and center right. I did well, final score 17 to 77, with a greater than 5 to 1 KIA ratio in my favor. Thanks for the great map.

Just to disagree a bit, with the post about not using minefields in QB. I do all the time (now I'm talking AP only) esp. right in front of my reverse slope defences - and, after studying the terrain, along routes I'm fairly certain the AI is going to use to approach the flags. I find they work well in pinning/slowing troops down, decreasing morale, etc. as I bring my artillery in, have MGs opening up, etc. I'm pretty sure they've made the diffence for me in hanging on in some QB when the AI had 125%+ and more advantages.Also, recently I had a QB where I couldn't spare the troops to cover a particular route on my flank (that probably wasn't going to be used, but...) So.. I put a minefield there and monitored for explosions. Nobody came thru, but it gave me great piece of mind. Anyway, that's my experience so far.

Just taking an opportunity to educate myself here - Mr. Hedges and Mr. Fishlips(?) - in reading your exchanges (and thank you both for steering yourselves away from a certain tone) I read the following: 'Most EULAs are vaguely patterned after the case Lessig was talking about; their key point is that you can only have one copy of a software program (plus a backup, maybe) at a time. But you are generally free to do what you want to do with the program...sell it, lend it, give it away. These are the same rights you have when you buy a book. Of course, you don't have the right to make identical copies of a book and sell them, lend them out,or give them away. And you can't do that with software, either. So it would seem that if you made an image of the CMBO CD on your hard drive, you would have two copies of the program (and you wouldn't have made the copy for backup purposes), so you would be violating the user agreement' In reading that I wondered, and am hoping to get your opinion on, ... If I buy a book, do I or do I not have the right to make a copy (or 12), to read in the bathtub so as not to get the orginal wet, or to put under my bed, just cause I want to. And so on. I would have thought I did, as long as it was for me - That is, nobody else would even know about it - 'cause I wasn't going to lend them, or sell them, or even show them to anybody? And, by extension, if I got a new CD burner and just wanted to burn 12 copys of CM, cause it's my favorite game and just looking at them sitting there pleases me - am I violating something. (Besides common sense) Thanks for any thoughts -

I've also been using this technique on defense, but lately have been trying it for meeting engagements, and last night, attack. I'll buy 3-5 81mm and use the Co. CO as the spotter. When the terrain allows me to find a suitable position for them it's very effective. As my advancing troops encounter the first dug in enemy, I use the 81s for supression and even driving troops out of their foxholes. I've killed open top vehicles, as posted here. However, I've also had some terrain where I spent the whole game trying to get this slow moving group into a decent position. But there is nothing like targeting 2 or 3 mortars at the same time on that pesky MG position that is holding up the advance!

Well, I played that one a few times myself before I began winning. It's a good learning battle actually. Try playing it as the Germans, you might be suprised how well the Amis do. After I got to where I could win being either side, (and reading some of the training stuff here and on related websites really helped), I felt at least I was out of the 'rank beginner' stage. Find the small scenario by Wild Bill called 'Combat'. Something like only 8 turns, but a lot of things to practice in those 8. Then write another cool AAR -

Great AAR! I haven't seen this idea before, if you thought this up, congratulations. Best AAR I've read yet.

Derfel, Thanks for the info. I'd not seen that thread. This did occur after a TCP/IP 'break' and we both had to reload the game, so looks like I've seen that bug. If Matt is right about it being elusive, hopefully I'll never see it again.

Just was playing 'Tin Tanks' TCP/IP with a friend. He says he'd modified it a bit regarding the reinforcements. Anyway, about turn 13, after we'd both gotten some tank reinforcments, we were each moving those tanks up to the battle going on. Suddenly my 4 jagpanthers became 3 jags and a firefly! My friend says one of his Shermans became a PanzerIV!! Anybody seen or heard of this one? I don't recall reading about this, but don't see all the posts. It made for a mad minute - but ruined the game of course. Known bug/behaviour?

This has been working for me - but I play QB, usually ME, around 1200 pts, against the AI. I use them almost as scouts. I put one with each platoon, and let them take the lead. I move them from cover to cover, always ending on hide. When I sense it's about time I'm going to make contact - I try and hide them at the edge (not too close) of a woods, looking across open ground. If they draw fire early, I put them to ground and have the troops leap frog by them. Then, try and move them up when the action is somewhere else. Maybe I've been lucky, but this has been working OK. The AI is pretty predictable. Don't know how this would work against a person.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Rommel22, let me know when that scenario gets done. I've already learned from reading this book that the Pak40 was used pretty effectively as a anti personnel weapon, I'd been thinking of it as anti tank only. Chilling descriptions of some tank engagements vs. his gun crew, and 'human wave' assualts from Soviet navel troops outside Sevastapol (sp). Good book so far.

Just got this book, 'In Deadly Combat', by Herr Bidermann, thought some of the historian/grogs on here might give me the current take on this guy, re: accuracy, correctness, etc. Or point me to places on the 'net where I might that sort of stuff and read for myself. Just started it, but already ran into an interesting comment in the Introduction (Dennis Showalter) about German squads, after '41, being built around the MG-42, with the others in the squad being mainly ammo bearers and protectors of the gun crew. Kind of relates to an earlier thread around here about the importance of those guns, etc. Thought this book might have been discussed already, but the search engine still doesn't seem to do anything. Any comments, etc. appreciated.

I'll try it also, as I like smaller maps and fewer turns than some of the other scenarios. Thanks

Let's see - Steve locked a thread (that maybe was people learning how to debate a topic, or maybe was people just talking about the difficulty of debating/discussing using email, or maybe was just people chatting purposlessly), but anyway, locked it because it was, '..a misdirection of energy that could be better spent elswhere'. Thanks Steve, I always wanted a big brother. Got to save that bandwidth ya know. And also, thanks for jumping in on the 'Tiger' thread to let us all know that it was mostly, if not all, Tiger's fault - and that you didn't find the 'flame' all that big a deal. And the line about inviting anybody else to leave who might be of a similiar disposition to... what? Tiger? I didn't really get that part, but I knew I'd better not mess with you. (No smiley intended) To drop the sarcasm - I think (just my opinion about your behavior on your board) you need to be 'above the fray' so to speak, esp. in areas that have so much gray. (You did note that at least some posters felt Tiger had been treated poorly, right?) I guess I hold you (as BTS) to a higher standard, the voice of bringing together rather than taking sides. Perhaps unfair of me. Just wanted to give some feedback on how that all looked and sounded to a regular reader/lurker, and a fan of the game. (Sometimes called a 'customer') Oh, if I have to resign from the board, because my thinking isn't PC, can I still order CM2?

Cause I don't know any other way.

I second those thanks. And Kingfish - how did you know that? Is it in the manual? I feel like I should try again to find mine.

Or another way to ask - how long will my anti personnel mines be active or effective? Do they 'run out' after awhile? Anybody know how many 'bangs' for my buck? I've tried to watch in a battle, and I think they stop after awhile, but can't be sure. Can't find my manual, please don't even suggest a search on this new forum. (But if you know of a thread - I'll go read ) Thanks for any info -

Oh, I thought those boy models WERE the Forward Observer site. I kept waiting for the next update rlh1138

OK, thanks for the info from all. Seems like I was rocketed for the first time. I'll have to play the German side more often and try buying some. rlh1138

OK, so I have to parade my ignorance - Just to be clear, I'm not a groggy or even particularly knowledgable about WWII. (Tho I just finished 'Stalingrad' by Beevor. Glad I missed that) Anyway, I've been playing a lot of QB, practicing things I read about here. I'm playing Allied, defending against a German attack on a small map. I'm holding my own, (reverse slope defense is deadly), when I hear this sort of high pitched humming, jet engine like sound and big explosions start appearing deep behind my lines. Not too many, 3 or 4 each time, and very widely spaced. First time I've seen anything like this. Stukas?? No, I wouldn't think so. ME262 with bombs?? So.. anybody have any experience with that? And - a related question - I thought maybe I could save the game, then open the saved game in the senario editor and find the German OOB. But there seems to be some rules about what the editor will open. I also tried to open a scenario I'd downloaded and played, cause I loved the map and wanted to see if I could use it. Again, couldn't open the scenario. Anybody know what you can open or not? (In the editor) Thanks for any help rlh1138

There have been a lot of threads on this BB about tanks and the targets they chose. Many similiar to yours. Most of them seemed to stop when the last patch (1.12 I think) came out. Whether that was because the patch fixed things, or folks just realized it wasn't going to change, I'm not sure. I think the patch made some improvements in this area, and most folks were then mostly satisfied. But as I said, I kind of lost track of that topic. At any rate - make sure you are using that patch. I don't think you should have to hide targets from your tanks with smoke so that they will target other tanks rather than infantry, but that advice might work, however impractical it might be. It may also have been that the infantry in question had bazookas or schrecks, as I believe there is a 'threat' analysis in the game that might have made your tank target something that seemed of lessor importance than it actually was. Good luck - in the end there are some minor aspects of the game that are frustrating, but they are pretty minor. Wait till you've had that tank commander do some really good stuff, (which they will), and you'll forget about their occaisional 'mistake' rlh1138

Just a comment - somebody writes in with that great feeling you get when you finally get that fast, new computer you've been wanting - just feeling good and kind of kidding around - and within 3-4 posts we've got a mildly negative little pissy match going. '...you're not right', '... I didn't say exactly that..', etc. etc. How about this - maybe I like this guy's choice of CPU or video card, or maybe I don't. But I actually keep my opinion of that to myself and write back something along the lines of, '.. hey, sounds like you are ready for some bigtime fun, have a ball..' or whatever. What's with some of us??? Regards to all rlh1138

Those guys gave you good advise, here's a variation I've played and lost none, sometimes one StG. Have all the Stugs, (I think it's three?) on the road hidden out of sight. Have them turned to the left, targeting the area just in front of the church, a bit up hill actually. Infantry as suggested, but hide everybody and wait. The Amis will come to you. The Shermans will roll down the hill toward the church, and your Stugs will all be firing at once at each one. (Have them lined up in a row firing over each other, not line abreast) When they are all dead, use the infantry tactics given, or wait and have the Amis attack you without their tank support. Good training to see what happens to them. I've played this a lot, lost it many times, but really learned a lot from it. Good luck Ray

So where would I find it???

Me too, if you would be so kind. Thx,