buckshyesh

It's here! It's here! It's here!

"you may zoom out and observe the action once from a "blimp" level view" -- Is that some kind of a crack on the weight I've gained recently, due to long hours in front of my screen? Alright! I'll start doing pushups and situps during orders processing...

Max, I just downloaded the auto parameter file. It a thing of beauty! Please note that I was checking out some of your calcs, and found that some of your month modifiers refer to cell "L21" instead of "L22", such as the formulae in cells "v40-42". B

Just started playing tonight, and it took me a few tries to get the initial buying system right. Actually, my PC is weak, so I have to tone down the Core Force to a Recon Company with no morters and 1 Pz IVe. Then I cut all the auxiliary force calculations in half (rounding up by 5 if necessary). After all that work, I ended up with a ton of infantry assaulting a heavily damaged town over flat ground without trees in clear weather. Dropped a lot of smoke, but got chewed up anyway. I should have backed off, taken a loss, and gotten a new assignment! After playing CM for so long, it's win win win each and every battle. No thought about tomorrow. This new system will be fun (I hope).

Sgt Steiner? Isn't that the HQ unit in ASL with the negative command bonuses?

What didn't I post that wasn't confusing?

Really? I couldn't find it in the manual.

Does anyone know if there's any advantage to surrounding enemy troops, other than its limiting their ability to maneuver? In ASL, I think I remember that when a squad was fired on from opposite sides (?), their chance of surrendering went way up. Also in real life, as a squad takes fire from more angles, it has more difficulty finding cover.

When PBEMing a scenario (not QB), should I use the default setup locations? Or is that only expected if the briefing says to use defaults?

And that straight line you see actually represents a trench system which includes zigzags, mud, other people and equipment.

I don't think it's the shells from late in the turn (see my opening post), it's the fact that the clock stops at 60 seconds and waits for the current round of shells to fall and pop smoke. During that time, the existing smokers are getting depleted of their smoke. Then at the beginning of the next turn, we have little more than one volley's worth of smoke shells on the ground making smoke. And if it's small cal. then, that ain't much, and it's gone soon too. I think it's got to do with the fact that the shells on the ground at the 60-second mark are getting depleted as we wait for the last volley to fall and smoke. Meanwhile, our troops are running in place and painting targets on their chests. Michael's solution, although not ideal, seems to be the best response if BFC cannot remedy in this version.

The wind was strong. But the wind does not cause the timing issue I mentioned above. It just exacerbates the problem. With no or light wind, I would have had heavy smoke at the end of turns and little smoke at the beginning of the turns. If this is un-patchable, then I'll learn to live with it.

I'm not sure if this has been addressed. Did a search and found nothing. Here's what happened: Playing Soviets: Turn 5: I had the 82mm F.O. call for smoke. Turn 7: Smoke shells started falling at about 23 seconds into the turn. At the end of the turn, the clock hung at 60 seconds while all the shells began emitting their smoke. Had GREAT cover! Turn 8: (Early) ALL the smoke from turn 7 dispersed. New shells were falling but not emitting smoke yet. (Mid) Human Wave began and comrades were cut to pieces. (Late) Great cover again. Turn 9: Same thing. What's happening is that the smoke shells from early in the turn are "aging" as the clock sits at 60 seconds and waits for the last smoke shells to fall and pop smoke. Then on the next turn, you end up with just 4-6 fresh shells as you wait for the next volley to fall and pop, which is longer than the lifespan of some of the small calliber smoke shell. I think this kind of occured in CMBO, but not so dramatically. Anyone else notice this problem?

Really nice! I'd use it.

[/qb]

I can see why people would question whether a whole squad could get taken out by one round of cannister. But I think the game is abstracting the fact that the shot is dealing enough of its gruesome damage to the squad to kill some and require the full attention of remaining unscathed/sane soldiers to life-saving and evac for the remainder of the battle.

Shouldn't a properly laid out trench be zigzagged to avoid enfilading fire along the whole length of the trench? Is that included in the cover bonus calculation?</font>

Thanks for the info!

How do I uninstall the demo from my pc? There is no "uninstall" option on the Start Menu, and it doesn't show up in the list of programs in the "Add/Remove Programs" utility. I've been told that just deleting the folder with the program is not a good idea. I would ask the same thing re. the full program, but I won't need to uninstall CMBB until CM2 comes out.

This is awesome! Give this man the TRICK OF THE MONTH AWARD!!

I guess what I'm looking for is a more lasting benefit or result of a battle. When you leave that AAR, you have absolutely NOTHING to show for it. What do people think of the stats idea? Does BFC have a plan for keeping stats in CM2?

I think it would be much more interesting if, after a big win, CM brought up a special after action area where you were allowed to machine-gun characters from the Tony Hawk games. LOL! I was prepared for wise cracks like that. BTW there's a secret health pack hidden behind the church in the Cemetery Hill scenario!

I can't imagine this would be popular with most members of this forum since CM has no shortage of competitive aspects already. Just my $.02</font>

Something that has always bothered me about CM is the anti-climatic feeling I get at the end of a battle. I play my heart out for 2 hours, bear the screams of agony and the shouts of triumph, and at the end I get the first 3 notes of Taps and a page of data. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE this game! Been playing for 2 years. I just wish I could get more of a sense of achievement when I score a big victory or even squeak out a close call. Here's an idea I got while watching my brother-in-law playing Tony Hawk 3. As he completed tasks and got high scores, he was able to "unlock" new tricks, levels and skaters. Wouldn't it be cool if we had some rare units that could only be accessed if we beat some scenarios or had a certain win-loss ratio. Or someone could design a great mod and a tough scenario. And that mod would only be available once you beat that scenario. It would also be nice if CM collected your stats for you. Would any of these ideas enhance CM's interest for you?

Instead of having rarity expressed through cost increases, couldn't the rare items on the list of available equipment each have a very good chance of being grayed out. So when you go to purchase, you'll have your regular squads and tanks, and then some of the rare units will be available and some won't. And when you purchase a rare unit, the game could calculate whether or not another one would be available. Is this even do-able?