Paul Harrington

Pedantic I know, but since when was CMAK a strategy game? Paul

Hi Bill I've seen the various discussions on particular rules, but I'm interested in whether a totally different game would have a market. I suppose you are exactly the sort of person I'd like to ask - 'would you buy a more sophisticated strategic sim of WW2?'. I expect the answer for many will be 'it depends', but perhaps these people could explain where the limit might lie in making such a decision? Paul [ August 27, 2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: Paul Harrington ]

Hi all Firstly, I should say that having played the demo of SC I think its not really my cup of tea. I've always been more into realistic simulations (one of the many reasons why I like CM so much) and the many compromises SC makes at the expense of realism to keep the game simple just get on my nerves too much. I suppose I was hoping for something closer to Third Reich. Now I realise that there are clearly lots of you out there who see things quite differently, valuing the simplicity, playability and speed of SC very hightly. My question is - how many of you would buy a more serious, realistic strategic sim of WWII if it were available? I'm not talking of SC with tweaked rules for production, etc btw. I'd also be interested to hear what sort of features would be important to such a sim. To those about to burn me at the stake for such 'heresy', please don't take this as a criticism of SC - its obvious that it has struck a chord with a sizeable number of gamers. I'd just like to know if this group (or maybe a different set) would like a game on the same scale but with a different emphasis. Paul [ August 27, 2002, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Paul Harrington ]

Thx for the replies everyone. Sorry if my post came across as if I wasn't prepeared to fight a tank once my armour had gone. It was more that the outcome of the armour battle seemed to overshadow the infantry one, even tho the infantry took most of the time. I think the answer is to firstly pick my own troops, or to play larger battles as the force mix in a 500 pointer (as I was playing) is much more sensitive to odd choices from the computer. Thx again Paul

I'm relatively new to CM, and at the moment I'm trying to learn the basics by playing quick battles aginst the AI. I played a QB last night where I was defending as the US and was given a single M10 and a scout car (along with an infantry platton and several high calibre machine guns and mortars), and the attacking German had a Panzer IV/70 TD. I was given not one zook or other AT weapon, and although my infantry tactics worked a treat the M10 lost the duel with the Panzer IV/70. Being without armour and no AT weapons was obviously then a major problem. Is it normal for the force selection to be so unrealistic (no zooks)? Although I really enjoyed the infantry battle it was totally overshadowed by the tank duel which was rather a lottery. Should I just switch to choosing my own troops or is this sort of force mix reasonable? Paul

Is it just my lack of experience, or is the Son scenario rather difficult for the US side to win? I have had a couple of attempts, but I have been walked over each time. Any tips? Thx Paul

I got mine 9 days ago, and it took about 17-18 days (I think) from ordering. Paul

I have recently downloaded the Demo and tried out both Chance Encounter and Valley of Trouble, both playing the US side. I enjoyed them immensely, especially VOT which I won convincingly first try, although I felt it was a real struggle. 2 attempts at CE made me take it very carefully, more like a game of chess. I was so impressed I got a friend to drop by and try it out too, so he tried the German side of VOT to keep it simple. He won by a country mile, but he did virtually nothing! He accepted the default start positions, and I would say for ¾ of the game he made no extra orders because we were very short of time. Even then the AI seemed very inept which surprised me after seeing many comments here saying how good the AI was. Is this a common experience? Are the more recent patches of the full release significantly better at attacking with the AI? I really hope so because I placed my order 1 hour after downloading the demo (can’t wait!). Paul