BloodyBucket

Graphics vs. Gameplay... I think that same arguement has been going on for centuries in regards to the female of the species... Will it live up to our high expectations? I am sure it will excede and dissapoint in ways that we can't imagine. See reference to females above.

Welcome aboard. It only gets better.

RMC- I clean and lube my motherboard regularly. Maybe that explains why it runs on my machine.

Aitken- That is prose. If I ever get flamed by you, I hope I have on my asbestos underwear. Shatter- I have no freakin' idea why that is happening. I am impressed by your attention to detail, and the fact that you have designed hundreds of scenarios. I have only played with the "Create Scenario" function. Can you shift positions slightly to see if the situation changes? How about lowering troop quality on the observing side? I think that the only way to find out is by changing variables.

I am impressed that this much consideration is being given by BTS to this issue. My Customer Loyalty Meter is just about pegged to the right. Agree or disagree with the posts, the fact that someone from the production side is listening is deeply gratifying. Thanks. [ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: BloodyBucket ]

The fact that Operation Flashpoint has been mentioned so often in this thread is interesting. I downloaded the demo, and my poor 350 Mhz AMD can barely handle it. It does look like a good game, but the era leaves me a little cold. If they had set it in WWII, that would get my attention. I like first person shooters a lot, but CM is still the main drain on my time. There is something about the scale of the game that just fits what I want in a simulation.

Well now! I can just imagine telling my better half that I need to buy a faster machine so I can spend more of what little free time I have playing CM. The result would be a QB with a Major and violent victory for my wife! I still play lots of games against the AI. Perhaps my play is poor enough that it satisfies me, perhaps I enjoy winning or it could be my habit of letting the AI have a healthy force bonus keeps it challenging. I am just starting to maintain a website for a real world job, the mere thought of doing a CM site is frightful. My helmet is off to you fine folks that do so. The prospects for a future full of CM are good. There are folks who latch on to a game that is years "out of date" and play it forever. Pirates! comes to mind, and my bride will kill time playing Tetris on occasion. I think that for me, burnout in CM is going to be something you do with a Crocodile.

I just finished yet another QB. As usual, it was a great game. That got me thinking... I have seen CM for sale on Ebay. I would never sell my treasured copy, and I was wondering why on earth anyone would. I don't think this game will ever get stale. Aside from CM being such a suberb game on a subject that fascinates me, the QB feature, availability of scenarios on the net, and the newness of mods keep it fresh. There is also the feeling that once you are hooked, you belong to a community. Is anyone getting burned out on this gem? I haven't even spread my play out among all the nations/forces in the game yet, and I think I enjoy it more than the day I first tried to figure out what the funny colored lines were in the demo.

Anyone who runs a website that is obviously a labor of love and then thanks the poor sods like me who benifit from it is allright in my book!

I think it was clever of BTS to divide us into groups of good and evil members based on the odd or even number we have been assigned.

I wonder if the average GI in WWII knew as much about the hardware involved as the folks posting to this forum. I suspect that your interest in what variation of what model tank is trying to kill you is near zero. It is funny, when talking to a infantry veteran I know, I catch myself all the time thinking "that is not technically correct", but I would not dare give voice to the thought. The man was there, I was not, and almost sixty years and the desire to forget unpleasant details would account for much of the "technical errors" of his recollections. I can field strip a Garand with my eyes closed. He can barely lift one now, and can't remember how it comes apart. I am still not a pimple on his tail when it comes real knowledge of that rifle as a combat weapon, and just because I know a lot about Garands I do not look down my nose at the men who used them but couldn't tell one from a Springfield at this date. Most folks reading Ambrose are probably trying to get an insight on what it was like to be there. If they want a hardware book they will buy one. If Ambrose tends to admire the men he has spent so many years interviewing and it shows in his writing, than I understand that. I admire them too, warts and all.

Sounds sort of McNamara like to me. Just count the arms and legs at the end of the battle, divide by four and there is the body count. Wouldn't that be a meeting engagement with no flags?

Ah, this can be explained by the fact that most things contract when cooled, and expand when heated. The air molecules in a winter scenario are closer together and the shell fragments do not have to travel as far to get to the target.

I did a search and found nothing about rain and jamming, and it seems that weapons in squads are immune from jams. Now if I could only get that Bob Marley tune out of my head...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Ok, so change the menu option to "Be A Hero".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> There have been war games that have had this feature. I guess it is kind of in CM in the form of fanatic units, although the ability to ignore morale effects is not quite the same. It seems to happen randomly all the same, just read the "hero's corner" at CMHQ.

One of the problems that was discovered with the M-1 Garand had to do with rain. A constant shower would wash the oil off the weapon leading to failures. The solution was to issue grease that would not wash off. That is the only rain related jamming issue I have heard of. I have never noted increased jamming in the rain, but I haven't looked for it. Extreme cold, dust or sand, dirt and heat could all be environmental factors that effect a weapon's reliability and I have no idea if that is included in CM. I know one thing that might not occur to a non-military weapons user is the degree of abuse that GI weapons and ammo get. I have seen rifles used as pry bars, etc. I have wondered if MGs are the only weapon subject to jams in CM, and if the LMGs within the squads are immune.

Grazing Fire. [ 04-14-2001: Message edited by: BloodyBucket ]

From the Code of Conduct- ARTICLE II "I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist." At this point our Drill Instructor would say, "And the only time you don't have the means to resist is when you're dead!" In the game, however, I think it is appropriate to surrender when you think that further resistance is futile. Since there are no humanitarian (I don't identify with the game that closely!) considerations, when someone surrenders to me I take it as a compliment to his perception of my ability, but I am sometimes suprised at what must look like a hopeless situation from the other side. I have had opponents surrender when I was truly worried about my own situation. Since the game gives you the option to surrender at any time, I think it is ethical to use that option at any time unless there is an agreement otherwise in advance. I would, however, make note of someone who surrenders at the first hint that things are not going thier way, and avoid that situation in the future. A surrender is certainly more satisfactory than a game terminated without resolution or response.

what the heck is an M48 from Vietnam? Did we leave it there?

In the future, all international conflicts will be resolved by winner take all games of Combat Mission. The loser will be sent to the closest Peng thread.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Agreed Tom. Yet, remember that all it takes is a different email address to register. With the plethora of free email that is out there, I've always wondered. Sometimes it seems that members have had conversations with themselves. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That's nonsense. No, it's not. Maybe you're right, but you always post such great and profound things. Why thank you, and you post well yourself, and are quite brilliant all the time. "BloodyBuckets"

Hmmmm... I have had the same thing happen, and usually am just happy to get the damn tank. But to be fair, wouldn't the MG need to have a "Do nothing but cover the tank" command available? I don't think it is possible to model everything, and not everything that goes on in combat is logical or even comprehensible.

I did my own test. I set up two M-1919 MGs in open terrain, and started two Green VG squads towards them. I then turned the game off and tried to go cold turkey on CM for two days. The result? I became a twitching, miserable tactics deprived shell. Conclusions? MG's in CM are very effective in getting me to think about and play this game . Outstanding response to some outstanding ideas by BTS. I want to see what CM2 is like so much my teeth hurt. [ 04-13-2001: Message edited by: BloodyBucket ]

For no rational or logical reason, I have always thought that it is a shame that at the end of a battle, the game does not recognize the units involved, either with a medal (ala CC) or just a "most effective" or "hardest fighting" rating, like in 'Gettysburg". I know you can get the info (More or less)yourself after the battle, but the little kid in me wants some instant gratification.

In the infantry there is a saying "Always remember that tracers work both ways."