WWB

Ampulets are working as designed. WWB

When they said out of space, they really, really meant out of space. There was no room. WWB

Bumped 'cos too many people are having internet orgasims about getting the game. But now you can play the battles. WWB

I got a few on there too, and would appreciate any comments as well. WWB

How does one become elite? Mainly by extended combat experience. Meaning they have good instincts for when it is a good idea to hold em, fold em, walk away and run. You dont make it that long without self preservational instincts. As for tanks as pillboxes, only Tigers in 42-early 43 or KVs in 41 are tough enough to take that kind of abuse. Even then, someone is going pour a maltov down the crew air intake and otherwise make life unpleasant for the guys in the pillbox. WWB

Actually, dont even preview the files if using outlook, outlook express or Eudora using the IE rendering engine. Unless you are fully patched to the IE August 6 Security rollup or better yet SP1. They all play on a little MIME exploit in IE to automatically pop a picture then deliver nasty payload. WWB

I am unfamilliar with the CDV version, but here are 2 Other pieces of advice: 1) Clear out your Temp folders. 2) Copy the CMBB install file to your hard disk and then try. This has fixed a few weird install issues. WWB

I have been playing CMBB for a bit now, and you are alot better off with a stopped unit getting shot at and returning fire (if it sees something--rare on EFOW) than just blithley walking through the hail of bullets somme style. Remember, you are only talking about half a turn on average, not to mention with EFOW on stopped and pinned units will often disappear. Remember that even open ground provides some cover. One reason you will end up using this order more is due to the fatigue modeling in CMBB. You cant run or advance everwhere without fatigueing your men way too quickly. Run under fire is suicide, and when units are just moving they will not return fire. As for the multiple waypoint time hit, I find it to be wonderful and refreshing. It really inhibits the micromanagement that one often saw in CM. WWB

Marc, Look in the operations. You have scheduled (non-conditional) and then battalion/regimental/divisional (conditional--arrive when force ratios reach a certain point). WWB

Hm, I feel so misunderstood I do not literally recommend buying a BX motherboard in the fall of 2002. What I do recommend is buying a top vendor motherboard with whatever the currently top non-server intel chipset is, and then put in a pretty slow CPU for starters and whatever graphics card you can effort. The point here is that ever since I observe you have trouble upgrading AMD systems with new graphics cards, with sound cards, USB and literally every other interface. The range of available CPUs for a given AMD motherboard is always much less than for intel chipsets. I can put a 1.3 GHz CPU (not overclocked) into my 1998 board and I expect that the 2002 top-line intel board will at the end of its lifespam take a much faster CPU than a 2002 AMD board. Note that all this is the fault of the motherboard chipsets and motherboard manufraturers, not of AMD CPUs. AMD CPUs in turn typically (not always) produce a lot more heat and AMD has a non-impressiove history of selling big charges of CPUs which did not work at all or not reliably. No, if you buy a top intel motherboard with a slow intel CPU right now, you get the least bang for the bug right now. But the system is fine for CMBB and reliablity and upgradablity (especially the reliablity of an upgraded system) will be much better. If you insist of things like perfect IDE chipsets (with proper error handling and very reliable driver for many operating systems), ECC memory and similar reliablity issues you won't be disappointed either. Man, I can't believe I go on a crusade about this. But fact is, there are many unreliable PCs out there and a lot of folks who buy a new card and can't run it, and it's not pretty.</font>

You cant do that much with operations. But like CMBO, you can have conditional reinforcements (EG, BN, regimental or divisional) which show when certain force ratios are hit. In addition, any reinforcement can be assigned a chance of appearing, which is simply per-battle and not cumiculative. Now, for QBs, things are a bit different. Now that you can import maps and forces, you can structure a scenario so that some forces should be bought additionally. WWB

If you play any FPS type games, avoid the flat screen Refresh rate is 60hz max, giving one interesting effecs when you end up with 80+ FPS. Actually, if you already own a monitor you are happy with, why buy a new one? WWB

I would not call the demo scenarios representative. There were two of them, rather similar in structure by one author. There are 60 or so battles & ops on the CD, by a number of authors. Have no fear, most will work nicely on your celeron. They did on my slightly faster celeron. The main arbitrator of ingame scrolling speed in CM is the video card and RAM anyhow, not the processor. That just comes into play when calculating turns. WWB

Got a good machine?</font>

One suggestion from someone who has seen the promised land: Make a large town map. And add alot of big rocket spotters. Set it up as attack defend, and watch them unleash hell. WWB

IRL crews are not chained to their weapons, but due to engine restrictions infantry type weapons like HMGs are. The alternative would make HMG teams fragile like mortars. I will take more dead HMG crews over more KOed HMGs. WWB

Hehe. Wont flame ya on that Redwolf. I love the BX chipset, having been using it for the past 4 years or so. Solid as all can be. But it is now a dead line for all intents and purposes. Getting one now makes no sense from an upgradabeability standpoint. The world has gone P4/K7 and DDR/Rambus and that chipset will not cut it for that. Also, I would avoid Celerons (and Durons) unless you are really pressed for cash. They are hamstrung chips and cheap for good reason. Especially considering how cheap Athalons are now, there is no reason to stay with the budget line. WWB

Who needs a case for a CD that lives in the drive? WWB

You are a very brave man if you can run or walk to within 100m of the enemy position. I usually use move to contact until, well, contact. Then start using advance after that. Assault might get used at the very end. WWB

Looks like a fine machine overall. The VIA issue is weird. Some people get it, some people dont and it has subsided somewhat recently. If they are builing these boxes, they probably have got it working. I choose to preempt the problem. Regarding OS, most shops will upgrade or back-rev it if you talk to them. Did they happen to mention which Mobo? For the record, specs on the PC I just picked up. Well, parts really: Asus A7V8X Mobo Athalon XP 2000+ 512mb DDR 40 GB HDD GeForce TI4400 w/ 128mb VRAM Plus cannabalized DVD, CDRW WWB

I actually just bought my new box, so I am more current than usual on the subject. 1) Sound: I would go with a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Avaliable for $70 or so and none of the nasty driver/mobo bus issues that SBs have with VIA motherboards. Which is a very important consideration should you choose an Athalon. 2) Video: GeForce2s are a dead line, they are not DirectX 8 cards. Which is actually starting to matter as people take advantage of pixel shaders. Best bang for the buck option as it stands now for a fully featured card are GeForce TI 4200s. $150 or so with 64mb VRAM. Raedons are nice, but they will not do fog in CM. 3) Do not get SDRAM, and get as much as you can afford. If you go with a high-end P4 then RDRAM might be worth it. 4) OS: 2000 Pro is the best of the bunch, but a bit pricey. If you do not need to hook up to a VPN or some other work-type things, than XP Home is a viable alternative. Installing 98 or ME is a waste of time IMHO. 5) The fastest P4s are clearly faster at this point. But to get one, paired with RDRAM will cost you alot more. Athalons provide alot more bang for the buck at this point in time. Stability-wise and reputations aside, both chips are now solid and mature. WWB

Yes if something is real close and real dangerous. But definitely not at range. WWB

I am sure all patchable bugs will be taken care of in good time. WWB

Olde English 800. WWB

Yes, winter mods can be done. None are on the cd mainly because of space reasons as I understand things--there aint a spare MB to be had. Plus, we needed something to keep the modders busy for the next few months. WWB