Gpig

Heya WarHawk. I realize you must be wondering if it's all worth it. Putting together all that work and getting few responses. But please do continue. I'm checking our MZO twice daily. Looking for your updates. Most entertaining. I won't blame you if you streamline things a bit, if you're looking to lighten your load. I'll still be a big fan of your AAR. I'm sure others are reading it as well. They just don't post. Good luck! Gpig

A little "Winston Chruchill" unit. (Regular, With a +4 command and morale bonus!!!) Stockpiles of cheeses. (with automatic 300pt flags) Little radios and grammaphones. Individual footprints of all units, so you can track the enemy into the woods.

Yes, I like small battles and I have no problem running my units close to the edge of a map. But I don't make a "practice" out of it. The Defender places his units near the edge, so why can't the attacker. I played a medium sized battle (Battalion assault) against my friend and he accused me of "edge hugging." Well, I was flagergasted. The map was a esentially a "horseshoe" of hills that I had to attack into. The open end of the horseshoe was facing me. I KNEW my opponent would have defenders dug in on top of those hills to my left and right. How else was I going to dislodge them unless I attaced up those hills on my left and right. He wanted me just to march right up the middle, into certain slaughter. Nothin' doin', I say! Bigger maps, smaller forces. That's my motto. Gpig

Mine? Followed by some grenades? Was your Kanga immobilized, first? Gpig

So . . . I just need to hang in there for another 23 years, and then . . . BFC should have a pretty freakin' awesome game, by then. (Not that it ain't already . . .) Gpig

Nope. Gpig

Heh heh. I think you may have indirectly provided the "reason" for your preference for smaller games. Sounds like "life," and you are usually married to it for same. Gpig P.S. That is the single most important reason that I LOVE small games 500 - 1000 pts. If I were to play larger games, I'd soon be single.

Things have come a long way, baby. Being an animator myself, I'm dying to see more fluid and life-like animations. But I'm satisfied with where the game sits right now. The level of animation works perfectly with the "simulation" aspect of CM. The thing is, adding all that eyecandy comes with a cost. Maybe the "skookum" animations would only kick in if the camera was down at level 1. I wonder if that would make any difference? Speaking from experience, it takes a LOT of work to pull off realistic animation. And if it takes away from a quality gaming experience, it doesn't matter in the end. Like at Pixar, it's STORY first, THEN animation. So for BFC (as it's always been), game mechanics first, THEN the eyecandy. All that being said, I can't wait to see what comes down the pipe, next. Gpig

I'm most definitly interested. I did half of the maps for CC2 for CMBO. That was fun. I never got to play Close Combat 3, so I'd LOVE to play it in CMBB. Thanks, Gpig

Hi Pvt Ryan. That DEMO for CMBB is pretty cool. Some here found it boring (and I can understand thier POV), but I liked it. The 14.5mm Anti Tank Guns are actually AT Rifles. The best use of them is to kept them hidden until the Panzers are passing or already gone past. The enemy armor is most vulnurable from sides and rear shots. That's when my AT Rifles really became a pain for the Germans. The other AT guns (47mm) are fairly good, but you need to check the penetration stats for the gun versus the armor protection of the tank. Try to hold off till you can see the whites of their eyes, type thing. Wait till they get closer. That demo scenario doesn't have any T-34s in it, but it does have a couple of KV-1's. Which are pretty good, as far as armor goes. Thick front armor and a good gun. They are slow and inaccurate, but they can do a number on the Panzers. Keep them far out, hulldown and shoot and scoot them. Have fun. Gpig EDIT: Durn it all, Sergei. Beat me to it. Heh heh.

Hi Pvt Ryan. That DEMO for CMBB is pretty cool. Some here found it boring (and I can understand thier POV), but I liked it. The 14.5mm Anti Tank Guns are actually AT Rifles. The best use of them is to kept them hidden until the Panzers are passing or already gone past. The enemy armor is most vulnurable from sides and rear shots. That's when my AT Rifles really became a pain for the Germans. The other AT guns (47mm) are fairly good, but you need to check the penetration stats for the gun versus the armor protection of the tank. Try to hold off till you can see the whites of their eyes, type thing. Wait till they get closer. That demo scenario doesn't have any T-34s in it, but it does have a couple of KV-1's. Which are pretty good, as far as armor goes. Thick front armor and a good gun. They are slow and inaccurate, but they can do a number on the Panzers. Keep them far out, hulldown and shoot and scoot them. Have fun. Gpig EDIT: Durn it all, Sergei. Beat me to it. Heh heh.

Two moments stick out for me . . . Once, during a PBEM battle in the CMBO tourny "100 minutes!" I ambushed my opponents embarked U.K. infantry (4 halftracks worth) with a reinforced Heer platoon, and a Pz MkIV. My troops were all hiding behind Bocage and the surprise was complete. I felt genuinely horrifed after watching that movie. The other was an Italian defence versus commonweath troops in North Africa (CMAK). I had a company of green/regular italian infantry with a platoon of 47mm AT guns. Also a couple of armored cars and one of the Italian 75mm assault guns. The terrain was fairly hilly and despite there being not much cover, my hilltop positions could mutually support each other. When the Brits attacked, I realized to my horror that leading the charge was a THICK Churchill tank. I had only one weapon in my arsenal that could take it out, and that was an HC round from my 75mm armed assault gun. When the time came, I buttoned up that beast of a tank with my 47mm guns (p-zing! T-zing!), then gave the "shoot and scoot" order to my m13. But for good measure, I ran out one of my scout cars on a FAST move to distract the Churchill gunner. The m13 gunner put a HC round through the lower front hull and immobilized the Churchill. Then the next turn, the crew abandoned her. Shwew. After that, the brits lost heart and withdrew. Love this game. LOVE it! Gpig

I'd LOVE to see more realistic animation (being an animator, myself). Can't you just see the troopers jumping walls. Lobbing grenades. Tank commanders swaying in the cupola as the tank descends a river bank. Atmosphere, baby! Gpig

I love it! Of course, the "low-tech" version of this system was used with early CMBO "Rumbles." I partook in the 2nd Team Rumble and it was a blast. We did all you described above, but we (all the players) recieved only one file from the game master (Gordon Molek) twice a week. And we did NOT send files, just written orders. (Gordon entered ALL the written orders for all the units for both sides, in his single copy of the scenario - then sent us the movie files to watch.) One of your notes about the ADVANCED rumble system you describe is; quote This is the ONLY problem I see with what you propose. How will you limit players from "walking" around the battlefield? Will they be limited to a locked camera (like Franko's True Combat Rules)? Or are you proposing that the new engine limits what the player sees to LOS only? Very interesting . . . and you are right, It would be a total HOOT! Gpig

You can sort of get the feel for LRDG trucks with the White Scout Car. This is little baby has a .30 cal and a .50 cal with plenty of ammo. SPOILER!!!! They are featured rather nicely in the TUTORIAL scenario on the CMAK disk. Another nice tid-bit about them is that you can load em up with a half squad of troopers. Give those troopers some demo charges (and other goodies) and up their experience level and you've got a fair representation of the special teams involved. They can jump out anywhere and dole out the damage. I sure liked using them in THAT scenario. Gpig

Yup. That there is the problem. Hmmm, interesting that I've never noticed it before. Must not be a very BIG problem. heh. Thanks, Redwolf Gpig Redwolf wrote:

Oh yeah! It's amazing! I was recently hovering over my Greyhound, and at that moment a Tiger tank brewed it up. I heard a bunch of crewmen yell out in anguish and pain. But one guy REALLY caught my attention . . . " . . .it's burning! No NO NOOOO AHHHHHHH!!!" Left me thining about war in general. How terrifying it must be. Yikes! Amazing stuff. Gpig

Was playing one of the scenarios on the disk and spotted a german 8-Rad AC. The next turn it reversed behind a hill, but I could still spot it. In fact, the following 4 turns it was in and out of LOS, even though it was completely behind a large hill. I had no units with LOS to it. Anyone else experience this? (I was playing with Extreme Fog of War.) Gpig.

Sweet! Was playing Reisberg and checking out the G.I. squads . . . M3 Grease gun! Yeah! 'Course, it's not as effective as the Thompson SMG, but it's nice to have it in there. I have NOT heard the sound for it yet. Anyone else? (Is it just the same as the thompson sound?) I love the sound of the Sten SMG. And the BAR and BREN guns. Too much fun! MAke them (BFC) stop!!!

Thanks, Kingfish. That's funny about the Italian Symbol (I forget what it's called.) An axe surrounded by a bundle of sticks/wood. Strange, indeed. Hard to see in the dessert. Gpig

Just played two battles, last night - and I love it! But I was hoping we could have a central place for people to post their questions/potential bug reports. These very questions may have already been asked/posted, but that is why I was hoping to combine them all. Kind of like a FAQ list. I'll start . . . Question: I was playing a scenario in Italy and noticed a couple of my G.I. Platoon HQ's had 10 (count 'em) TEN, men! I guess I'm just looking for confirmation/explanation from smart-type folks about this. Minor thingy: I noticed that in the weapons rack for some G.I. squads, the graphic for the Springfield rifle is just another M-1 Garand. I'm assuming that these graphics will be updated in a patch? Thanks, Gpig [ December 05, 2003, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Gpig ]

I agree. It's all so good! The "give 'em hell," line is great! I was playing the American scenario "a walk in the sun." And I have a question . . . ***SPOILER*** . . . . . . . The G.I.'s have a 10 man platoon HQ unit!? Am I seeing things? 10 men HQ's are much appreciated, don't get me wrong. But pretty strange, I thought. Gpig

I do not like the smaller type. I'm always leaning forward, nowadays. Hurts my neck. (I think I read a post of Madmat's that said he'd change it back if people did not like it. Said it didn't matter to him either way. I think it's in the "I thought I noticed somthing different" thread.) Gpig

SWEET! I must say, BFC is improving it's look with every issue. Very professional looking package! Can't wait to try it out. Thank you, B.F.C.! Gpig

Love the CMAK Demo. Basically, a platoon of Shermans will convert any town to rubble in no time. I've just been buttoning them up, bringing them up to the ridge line just enough to see the tops of the buildings, and then letting loose. BOOM! Gpig (Pixar animator) P.S. I think Charles is the BFC Animator on staff. As it stands now, the animation perfectly serves the "simulation" factor of the CM games. I say this because as soon as you add life-like animations, you'll want to see every man in the squad. Then THAT will open a can of worms up.