dieseltaylor
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Posts posted by dieseltaylor
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Ah yes the amount to pay. I suppose £200 would be a reasonable amount. However I do think you would be wasting a lot of your life : ) I can send the money via GAJ's site so we need not share bank details.
I think it also advisable that we agree that I am not convinced by a single photo but need some thing saying how frequent /infrequent that type of fence is. I have established already that for horses that "western" style works but not for cattle, goats or sheep. You therefore need to have some horse connected areas. Finding one stud farm however will not mean that as a percentage of all the boundaries in Sicily it is significant enough.
Here is a photo of what is now current:
and I understand they fence of the valuable woodlands with post and wire.
From an 1853 book I can tell you that they used agave for hedging no doubt with other prickly succulents added going into the 1900's.
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Well thanks for the advice but my children are long gone : )
Thinking about all the helpers that BF attracts it strikes me that perhaps quite a few months ago BF could say to the likes of me or someone:
"For our scenario designers can you gather a guide together about what type of trees, crops, terrrain, buildings etc would be relevant to Sicily at that time. And in the course of that accumulate a database of photos that would be useful."
"And you might get a game! : )"
Now it might be that BF think that to do so would deprive lots of scenarios designers fun in finding these things out themselves. Or possibly they don't give a monkeys.
However the need to feel immersed in the time and place can be undone if something is glaringly wrong. I did see someone designed a Normandy map with a 5 storey building in the middle of a hamlet. It some ways it feels out that CMFI includes the wooden fence. I am told that in Sicily that the stone walls are often very low - more as markers than any attempt to keep stray animals away. I don't know if the design palette reflects this or even if these very low walls are a post-war development - though that seems unlikely.
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Thinking about this problem further it would be interesting to play the AI and then a human, or vice versa, and actually see how bad or good the AI is in comparison : )
Given that humans are rarely equal, and especially if they are new to the game there may be a home for unbalanced - -AI side games. All we need is a reliable database to record scores and comnets on ....?!??!! HUh
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RB
Released May 12 2011
Updated 12 July 2012
I don't frequent the Matrix site so I have no idea how it plays. Perhaps a sense of loyalty keeps us here?
you claim that CMBN is so fundamentally flawed that it should never have seen the light of dayI am always saddened when people misunderstand what has been explicitly not been said. I maintained it was released too early for the reasons outlined.
I very appreciate how much BF is reliant on tens of unpaid enthusiasts who run clubs, make scenarios, run tournaments, and spread the word. I have playtested many scenarios, been involved in many tournaments, nagged GAJ about inventing a PBEMHelper for CMBN, paid to support BF relevant sites,and was a very early adopter of the site in the sig, so I think I have done a fair bit for the player community. Now BF tell us repeatedly that the main players are the solitary guys and for them I have done nothing.
Actually I suppose running tests and digging up information on things that do not seem right probably does help BF get it right for the benefit of all players. I now people laugh at me being upset about reversing speed but hells teeth how fundamental part of a realistic wargame is correct speeds for vehicles? My research on brick and stone structures and penetration took many many hours. You know it gets to the point when you wonder why do it. After all there seem to be many players who don't care if there tank goes backwards at 25mph , 10 times real speed, and has no problem steering.
You have been here over a decade RB but you with 500+ posts I almost feel I may have invested more in BF then you have. Perhaps that is why I feel more let down.
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sburke
I think we have a fundamental difference. I believe CMBN was released earlier than it should have been as the Matrix tactical WW2 armour game was announced in September 2010 it would be released in April 2011.
I was, until this week, unaware that the Matrix launch date was known and assumed that BF had released CMBN half-ready because of cashflow requirements. This would be fine as I have supported BF for years and would not want it to go under. However I am now more of the camp that believe the early launch was to steal/preempt Matrix's offering.
Now there is a lot of claptrap about playing the demo before purchase, the demo arrived with the full game and with the inducement by ordering two months early that you could have a rare Steelbox and a printed manual. Yes I have learned my lesson and will now no longer buy from BF without some extensive play or await for purchasers to reveal more about the game.
Now as you know I think of V2.00 to actually be what CMBN should have been. I am not talking of the scenario tools etc I am only interested in the play side. I may be wrong in my view but we are unlikely to know why BF did launch CMBN when it did with so many things downright wrong - like the porous buildings, the super armour targetting and firing module etc.
What I find interesting is the number of people who talk of "if I had bought CMSF" I would have known what to expect. I always thought things had improved because of the number of patches and modules CMSF had. This made the shock of CMBN being so weird even greater.
Fortunately my view doesn't matter on whether BF deliberately launched prematurely as it is never going to be proved. But you will understand that having forked out a substantial sum plus postage and taxes for the Steelbox edition paying more for the version that will allow me to play the majority of CMBN players will irk me.
However I hope BF continue and improve.
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It does.
As a member of a BF WW2 PBEM club the need for this was appeciated early and GAJ the man to do the job.
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No one thinks it odd to see a fence to nowhere? Maps need to have some logic. And I would pay a lot of money to see a photograph of wooden fence of that type -or in fact any type - in Sicily in that period.
Wood was an important resource and be used for necessary things like houses,boat building and cooking/heating. Fencing would be stone walls or vegetation.
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Good idea. But I would suggest 'vAll' instead of no indication. This way you would know if the designer had things prepared or just forgot to put the indication in.
Good point
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Of course I pre-ordered I wanted the pretty Steelbox : )
Sorry I was not aware that CMx1 was the benchmark for realism, though to be fair firing on the move was much better done and it did have arcs.
BF claimed CMBN was realistic and I can confirm the wallpaper looked about right but I assumed they meant the game mechanics would be true, as far as reasonable, to real life. The armour/vehicle module was not very close.
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noob - currently running no tests as I have hopes/hoped that v2.01 or V2.00 would make all previous testing potentially invalid.
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VAB
I look forward to your new thread : )
You mentioned previously the manual going up weeks before the launch which is true about 17th April so three weeks before launch but also five weeks after it was possible to order the limited edition. I only mention it in case you need to repeat the observation that people could read the manual before purchasing the game.
I think you observation regarding the module being the same bar a few tweaks is ingenuous. Possibly you don't remember the outrage at a Panther steaming down a road but also firing broadside and nailing two Shermans and the resulting threads on firing whilst moving and target acquisition. There was also the ability of vehicles to travel as fast and accurately backwards as forwards which can never be defended as realistic. And finally the ability of tank shells to travel through and kill 4 half tracks in line astern seems to be fantasy. So essentially on the WW2 realism scale the armour module was gobsmacking.
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Yep I never trolled the CMSF forums and have no idea what the game was like apart from someone I know who bought it and eventually gave up given its numerous developments. Given the cycle of improvements in CMSF my expectation was CMBN would be relatively bug free.
I am happy that people buy it and like CMBN. I think you will note my feeling was I had been sold a pup for the reasons outlined previously. If any of you would specifically like to say the original armour model was a good rendition of how armour worked in WW2 please 'fess up. I was astonished that it had got past play-testing. Still water under the bridge now.
Now I could learn to play the game as is and then adjust to play when V2.00 arrives. Having only limited playing time there is not much point in my eyes in learning to master V1.00 as it currently is now when we are a month or so from V2.00.
VAB - I was hoping V2.00 with arc and moveable waypoints would make movement plotting less of a chore, and that the arc would solve some of the anomalies. : (
JonS - I am glad that there is a reward system in place. There are some devoted testers out there.
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It struck me that the answer may be that people like me should get the upgrade for free and those that consider it a trivial amount can pay up. And if you think I am being a tightwad I would point out that I have paid money to CMMODS, Scenario Depot , and GreenAsJade. I also suggested that perhaps BF should give people like GAJ a copy free given what they do for the community.
Do bugfinders get rewards? Like a commercial incentive!
P.S. And I have a monthly payment to Wikipedia for the greater good.
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I am confused. In an earlier post Jason you say:
The Russian fleet was half T-34/76 by 1942The figures provided conclusively prove this was not the case. If your use of English means that you think seeing someone by 8p.m. means by 8:59 p.m. then that might explain some of the confusion.
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I see the subtlety of my argument about missing features not being advertised has been noted.
Lets see pre-order opens March
Demo released May
I would say that BF behaved very commercially then with its limited offer on the boxed set two months ahead of the demo download date.
Rocky:
can not afford to endlessly keep adding features that you consider necessaryI love the accusatory you : ) Like it was a great idea for CMX1 and then I am the sole mad bastard who then gets it included in CMX2 WW2. Even BF said other players called for moveable waypoints and cover arcs.
I understand finance very well , and also the importance of management, and reputation.
In the days of CMx1 I was a very loyal supporter of BF and as a small company I can understand the desire to get a better economic model. I question deeply the decision to charge for the conversion to CMBN2 which if I am honest I regard as the product that should have been released as the finished item.
With Matrix Games and BF both promising the launching of tactical WW2 games I think BF decided to jump early and in my opinion the state of the armour module with tanks with laser sights roaming the battlefield at speed and all the attendant rough edges were signalling it was not a finished product.
Now on reflection it may be impossible, due to the US legal system, for BF to admit that the product was not fully developed when they launched it. However they have now had over a year of purchasers doing the product testing for bugs, and they also have had the time to put in the arc and the waypoints which apparently are desired by players.
I bought the metalbox [oops plastic] early because I like to support BF, or used to. Them charging me for what should have been in the game from the start hurts. I do hope they work out that sometimes goodwill is a better method of keeping customers.
I would very likely have considered buying CMFI if I were given the patch/upgrade to CMBN but making me pay for what I consider is BF putting right what should have been in the proper release [not a marketing driven release] makes me less likely to buy any BF products.
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c3k - I cannot agree with your conclusion. Figure B10 has radius shown for clarity and is talking about suppression. Figure B5 is:
for planning purposes, each mortar HE round is considered to have a circular lethal bursting area -
In my testing I saw prone men regularly hit at much longer ranges. I measured one at 46 meters from the point of impact. In mud.
Ouch!
However I have decided the temperature for the test must be below freezing and he was hit by frozen mud clods! : )
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The fact that you might consider the lack of a feature to be a glaring omission doesn't make it a bug and doesn't mean that you are entitled to have the feature backported for free to your game when it subsequently appears in the game series. Any one who felt that CMBN was 'broken' without things like moveable waypoints or armour only arcs was perfectly entitled to refrain from purchasing the game. When colour TVs came out, people didn't get their old black and whites upgraded free of charge, although we now take it for granted that a TV should be capable of displaying images in colour. Rather, they had to pay a premium for models with the new feature. As with other products, there is a process of evolution involved in the development of CM games. It doesn't happen all at once.
I only wish that BF would also give us the option of upgrading CMSF. Get a grip guys-it's only $10!
Firstly what is the cost in sterling to you? This glib repetiton "its only $10" is irritating as that is not what it is going to cost non-US citizens.
Your TV analogy is hogwash as apart from colour the TV's provide an identical result and I would not be debarred from watching and discussing a program with another viewer because we had "different versions".
It reminds me of Apple altering their plugs ...
We have you buy the short and curlies if you do not pay us £10 you will be destined to find very few players.
As for not buying CMBN because it did not have armour arcs and moveable waypoints I cannot recall these features being mentioned as omitted as part of the marketing and media campaign at the time. Now assuming that they would be included .... well who would have thought otherwise.
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Those figures from the Army tests provided by JK show the sort of dissonance of view that exists between someone saying how wonderful the weapon is to what is actually of importance on the front line.
To provide that data without giving practical information as to the probability of hitting is bizarre. Howeer it is nice to see that the US could produce a very effective gun though it is easy to forget that without the advances in shell design a lot of this would be wasted.
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The 10 or 5 dollar "patch" is not a patch. It won't fix any bugs. Anyone who thinks that is what it is for has no clue what they are talking about.CMx2 Game Engine v2.0 Upgrade features
Thursday, 21 June 2012
These features are part of Combat Mission: Fortress Italy, and will also be included in the 2.0 Upgrade for Battle for Normandy! And we're not talking some measly bug fixes, these are features often requested by the player community. Without further ado:
The fact that CMFI is a standalone game should not hide the fact that BF has included fixes that are evident from comments on the base game. But in CMBN we are not getting a new game. Adding covered arcs and moveable waypoints may actually be seen as making good a glaring omissions.
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wodin - If you think he is a troll then feeding him is not smart.
Alternatively if YOU accept that CMBN needs the $10 patch to majorly improve the game then you can appreciate the logic of the view he is putting.
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One reason to wait for a full CMBN v2.0 is so you won't have to worry about the $10 v2.0 upgrade expense. But really, between now and then you're going to spend $80 just on pizzas and $30 on coca cola. You'll spend double that amount renting bad movies in an attempt to entertain yourself while waiting.
Kind of sad to see the diet there. : ) Are you trying to say something about gamers? Is that for two or three months? And the TV is obviously rubbish too!!
Per person we spend that much [£50] per month on real foods.
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In my tests using ten firing lanes at around 1800m - and given it was Version 1.01 of CMBN - not to be relied upon I was amazed at the difference in spotting times for each tank on tank.
However the point about once a hit was made the next would also be on target I did find slightly unreal. I chose the longer range as the superior German optics should provide for greater hit probability. This I did not see. I have not bothered testing since as without CMBN 2.00 there seems little point in wasting anymore time on it.
So if anyone has information on the quality of US and German gunsights out to 1800metres I would be interested. It should be pointed out that 1800m is not a normal combat range and that it would be rare for a tank to fire at that range as it would reveal its position with small chance of a first round hit.
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Humph! A bigger load of tosh is hard to imagine! I know speakers who like analogies ....
One of the keys to the effectiveness of both the Army and Marine Corps Sherman tanks was a little 6 x 8 inch black box called the Gyrostabilizer that was mounted alongside the .75 mm. Cannon and coaxial .30 caliber machine gun in the 15-ton Turret. The Gyrostabilizer was one of WWII's best-kept secrets. Our five-man crew had clear, urgent instructions that if we ever had to abandon tank, the Gyrostabilizer was the first and most important item to be destroyed. Also, the firing pin in the .75 mm cannon was to be removed and the back plates on all the machine guns were to be dismantled. There was a vital purpose to that little black box. As the tank was underway, often-times over extremely steep and rough terrain, the gyroscope inside the box, spinning in a vertical plane, kept the turret guns steady and level. No matter how much the tank bounced around, up and down, the gunner could stay on his target and fire on the move. The Gyrostabilizer gave us an unprecedented advantage in moving combat. Before its marvelous inception, tanks usually had to fully stop in order for the gunner to come on target. This made the tank a target itself. In my own life I need a Gyrostabilizer for the ups and downs of daily living. It seems there is much rough terrain, both small rocky bumps and great gullies. Right in my own home and family or with close loved ones and friends, I need steadiness.Or in the course of my work there are plenty of rough spots and unexpected challenges. The loss of position, an incompatible boss or coworker puts my attitude to the test. The loss of my job. Or how about sickness, a serious illness or loss of a loved one? All of the above can be very rough terrain. What, or better yet, who gives you and me true stability? Jesus Christ is God's amazing Gyrostabilizer. He can and will keep us level and stable when we trust Him and cast upon Him all of our cares, anxieties and needs daily, for it deeply matters to Him about you and about me.
Apparently a .75mm gun !
Why are maps balanced?
in Combat Mission Fortress Italy
Posted
: )
And what happens to all the scenario designers on the other side? Can you indicate where such useful stuff may be found. ?
I can add the TV series as a source for lots of film of the Sicilian countryside : )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvo_Montalbano