WWB

No, he is having no problems. To the Volga will bring any system currently in existance to its knees. WWB

Scenarios, by definition, do not have player picked forces. This can be got around to some extent with CMBB. Still, for an excellent 2 player scenario on the CMBB CD that is an attack defend, the public has reccomended "A Morning at the Zoo." WWB

I will skip the RTFM response. I will also note that the instructions are on screen. You need to hit ALT-1 thru 4 to enter crater mode. Alt-5 to exit. Then just click n place. WWB

Hmm, I think cmbb could handle all of Agincourt, albeit in a modified way . . . WWB

No points in operations. As for casualty counts that depends on the casualty setting the desinger put in. And if you wanted a major, methinks you need to clear it in 3. WWB

Eden: Think outside of the box. This concept goes way beyond end game flag rushes for points. Flags might well become semi-moot if one could give more realistic victory conditions. Conditions like "take control of area up to this line on map" for example. Moreover, the ability for a designer to create a battle where both sides can have different and not necessarily mutually exclusive victory conditions. This could even be extended for the multiplayer aspects of the rewrite where 2 commanders from the same side could have separate victory conditions. A few other ancilliary things would be per-side map labels (or even per-player map labels for that matter) as well as triggered events. The one thing I really do not want to see is a scripting based AI. I have seen a few wargames that have such an AI and it aint pretty in the end. You end up with very limited control, yet are forced to attempt to script AI actions for all troops greatly adding in effort of creation. Not to mention it becomes a very predictable opponent. I also conted that the AIs weakness in the attack is not pathfinding but coordination, which is very difficult to script indeed since it requires concept it is not likely aware of. Like establishing fire bases and the like. WWB

Not quite. TRPs are only availiable for a single battle in an operation. So should the designer desire to have TRPs throughout he must give them as reinforcements. WWB

One big thing no one has mentioned: Make victory conditions more flexible. Flags, KO points, bonuses and exit zones are really, really limiting. On the same vein vector based mapping would be so much cooler than tile based it is hardly worth suggesting. And one ease of use issue: make the scenario editor application able to run in a window rather than requiring fullscreen. This makes it easier for one to reference sources while designing battles. WWB

You got a little confusion going on here. Unrestricted and random are quite different things. The first is unfettered by max points per category. The latter is a random choice amongst the five force types. So, your random game saw the computer choosing CA or somefink for your opponent while you recieved a nice infantry only force. Note this is different from division type. If you choose Russian Infantry, or the computer chooses it for you, you do have access to tanks. Same for German Infantry. WWB

One thing I dont see mentioned too often: many people caputured were incapacitated, or casualties in CM terms. Of course, given the treatment of the enemy on the eastern front, many of these wounded never quite made it to the gulag/camp/factory. WWB

Also the smoke plays a factor. I got an op right now that will bring anything short of a GeForce4 or Raedon 9000 to its knees. Muhahaha . . . WWB

Maybe the tanks were IS2s, but there were some in the version I tested. The infantry battle is always key. If you take the hill and that line of trees on the german left away then they dont have nice, hulldown places to shoot at you from. Not to mention the whole flags thing. Also, the SU122s and 152s can do alot of damage to stugs and tigers. Especially the stugs, over 750m or so the stugs can barely dent them. WWB

The AI reacts to the following things generally: 1) Flags 2) Map Edges and their friendliness factors 3) Cover So, if you set them up in decent cover with a flag nearby, it will stay put. WWB

I think the it is a perception thing. Troops tire just about as quickly as when advancing or running for the same amount of time. Only issue is that sneaking troops go pretty slow, so one has to sneak for five turns straight to make the same 40m advance. That said I am also beginning to wonder if the fatigue rate for sneaking troops should be toned down a little. One other thing I have started doing now. Say you have an MG which is taking fire from range as it crosses open ground. It goes to sneaking and is still taking fire. Well, I have now just started doing the logical thing in letting it setup and return fire. At 300m+ damage from anything aside from field artillery type weapons is minimal for troops not moving and it has been working pretty well. WWB

Do you have playbalance set at +25% for the AI or something? I have designed a scenario or three, and there is no way the AI gets extra units save that playbalance setting. WWB

Muhahah. It is quite evil, no? The battle is winnable, basically, the Germans have enough force that should the concentrate anywhere they can overrun the soviets without too much trouble. I would be interested to see some 2 player AARs, I have heard it plays quite well there. Also, if you have comments please do not hesitate to review at the depot, see first link in my sig for details. WWB

Played an interesting QB last night, and it illustrated a way to help balance the StuG, if you are so worried about it. Play an armored ME and set the map to huge. Then the german player can rarely set his stug up in unaliable position. A flank can easily be turned, and a StuG with a turned flank is a dead stug. That and the whole lack of MG/low ammo loadout makes them less of a deal than they actually are. WWB

Actually, not really. The beauty of the internet is that one can link to different sites. So, if we can find someone with the bandwith to host the file storage side someone else can run a site on a different server using a much lower cost hosting scheme to act as a front end. That site would likely need some bandwith but not a massive amount since preview pics are rather small compared to the files they describe. WWB

I just ran this through the ringer using a 76mm, 82mm and 120mm spotter in all wind conditions. Basically it is only an issue when under Strong Wind conditions. Now, I have seen a thing or two stating that smoke was not used for a particular operation due to the wind making it ineffective, so it is not altogether inaccurate. Note that the 120mm will persist through Strong Winds to some extent. If you really want a solid smoke screen under those conditions, I guess you have to go for 152mms for smoke. WWB

Actually, I did propose an idea of making the "Show unit Labels" (Shift-G) command have several levels, kind of like the paths/targets toggle. 1) Everything, like it is now. 2) Everything aside from eliminated units. 3) Just live unit status labels (eg, paniced, pinned, routed, low ammo). Redwolf also had a very good idea--add the Tired and Exhausted labels to the status stuff. WWB

Little trick I thought of failed. So autogen or nothing it is. WWB

1: Alot more than 3 polygons is used per man as it stands now. 2: Using less polygons would make it less detailed, no? WWB

I am going to put your tone down to writing in a second language. Most of the stuff you ask for people would like to see, and some of it will come with the upcoming rewrite. But none of it will be happening to CMBB ever, especially not in a patch. Now, some questions for you: Are you a programmer? Do you write 3d code? Do you know how the cycles are used in CMBB? Exactly how would you code having 10 infantry models instead of three while increasing the details and using the same or fewer resources? WWB PS: you can turn the timer off in TCP, both players must hit alt-p.

I playtested it as the germans and it is very easy to lose if things dont go your way in a few exchanges. Best advice I can give is use some of the softer, cheaper vehicles to locate opposition and then the bigger, meaner ones to neutralize it. T34s are expendable. Also, scouting & screening effectively with your infantry is key. No need to lose nice, heavy assault guns to fausts. WWB

Camp, it cant really be done save for autogenerating the map. I can think of one trick I have not tried yet, which I will try when I get home. But other than that you have either solid buildings or destroyed buildings. WWB