PanzerLeader

Howard, I've only recently started and don't know yet who to watch out for. Some of the guys out there seem to cheat, they kill me with a single rocket when I have 100 health...But it's all part of the game, isn't it? My online name is Mikael, and I use any server on the "find internet games" menu. I don't stick to anything in paticular. My skill level is between "skilled" and "adept." And I'll be sure to watch out for the Villain!

...Road To Moscow-hopefully February-UbiSoft TOAW Wargame Of The Year Edition-?-Talonsoft

I'm currently having fun online with Unreal Tournament demo...Provides a nice break after a few hours of thoughtful wargaming

Darryl, And what about the Western Front 1940? You could also create a hypothetical invasion of Britain, that would be cool(Sealion.) Maybe you include that in MTO? And is it possible to play the Italian campaign in CM1? I don't see why not. You have the Americans, the Brits, the Germans, and I don't think there are any important terrain features missing...

Personally my favorite ones are: - Operational Art Of War. I especially like the big scenarios that almost let you control the entire war or an entire theater of war. - Western Front and Eastern Front 2. Can't compare them to CM because the scale is much bigger.(try to recreate corps or division level battles real time...) - Combat Mission. Enough praise for it on this forum already - Grand Theft Au...Ouuups!! I'd better shut up

Gosh! The first woman ever in this forum!! Hooray!! [This message has been edited by PanzerLeader (edited 11-28-99).] [This message has been edited by PanzerLeader (edited 11-28-99).]

Fionn, "He" or "they"? Do you mean that you believe MarkEzra? All this puzzles me... [This message has been edited by PanzerLeader (edited 11-27-99).]

Angels_Star, BTS has announced that it would give an updated demo around Christmas, I think. Some problems that were in the original demo should be solved(especially regarding the AI of your own troops.)

Spy Eye, Quote: "You don't need to make custom scenarios like that!!" Hah! If only the editor was acceptable! First there is no map editor, that in itself is a huge problem when you want to design your own scenarios. All right, I know some people are creating maps out there but it is a *very* complicated process. Not everybody can do it. Then the problem with scenarios that last more than a day is that after the first day the computer will only buy the best tanks! That brings us back to the original problem: too many tanks!! There should be some kind of "force pool" editor, in which you could decide what the AI can or cannot buy...

Hey, cc3's gameplay problems can even hurt Joe! It isn't fun to use only tanks and to have a contest about who has the biggest and the more tanks in a battle. Even Joe feels there's something interesting about combining infantry and tanks and AT guns. Then in the next battle if he succeeds to win a total victory by successfully combining his infantry and tanks, he'll have a warm feeling of satisfaction...He won't know exactly how, since he achieved an even better result the day before with his Konigstigers...Then he'll start thinking a bit more while playing. Then he'll download realrare, then he'll play competitions, and...SHAZAM! Joe has become a grognard (and won't buy CC4 hehehe All of my friends who have tried CC3 agree that playing a 15 tigers vs. 15 IS3 battle isn't fun. And while they don't care about historical accuracy they DO care about gameplay. However in both CC3 and CC4 it is not good.

R Cunningham, There's no need to give armor penetration values at the back of the box...Does realism disturb Joe Schmuckatelli? I don't think so. Realism doesn't disturb anyone. Joe Schmuckatelli probably wouldn't care too much if suddenly he realised(after a patch) that he can't kill tanks anymore with his rocket launcher located behind a two store house! He would just notice that something has changed, and since that doesn't affect the fun value of the game then he'll continue playing it...That's just an example. I don't think realism generally affects the fun value. So why not have it? And cc3 had other more obvious problems as well. Gameplay problems. Too many tanks. Even Joe can understand that. And that is unforgivable.

I'm very interested in hearing about the Close combat series' flaws(especially since CC3.) The data errors are quite obvious, but I recall for example somebody saying there were problems with how morale is modelled. Why? Just interested in understanding exactly how a wargame can miserably fail...(except for the weapon data). Spy Eye, I think what makes a series great is when the games of that series improve one after the other because the company listened to the customers. We customers aren't idiots. Some of the people posting in this forum are actually very intelligent and give excellent ideas, advice for CM. A company that doesn't listen to its customers like Atomic is doomed because if they don't deliver what the customers except, then nobody is gonna buy the game. BTW, please do not mix up SS_PanzerLeader and myself, I do not have the honour to be in the Waffen SS

Thanks for the prompt reply, Steve! If you manage to eliminate the problem this is truly the best wargame I've ever played. Cheers!

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before( I don't think so), but in the demo the 20x20m tile edges are really too visible.I can cope with that, but the problem is that sometimes the tile edges get "flashy" and it really hurts the eye in the long run...Am I the only one experiencing this? (The same applies to the screen edges.) [This message has been edited by PanzerLeader (edited 11-21-99).]

StuNZ, Was that the pain of receiving your new phone bill?

YES. Anybody can cheat in many ways already... And it's up to you if you want to change the database and download modified databases or no... Heck, look at what it did for CC3! It literally saved the game! (not that CM needs to be saved in some way, but some excellent mods might make it EVEN better...)

Just curious, how much time did it take you guys to download the demo? I managed it in 2 hours, and watched a film during the time of the download(it was the only way to get my mind off it!

Killmore, How would you model the entire command structure? With 100 players each side, you'd need not only battalion commanders, but also regimental commanders, brigade commanders, maybe even divisional commanders. How would they play? How would they receive information? By emailing all the battalion commanders? Or maybe you do not wish to use the command structure at all...

crossfire, Your purpose should always be to do your best, even in a hopeless situation. In that specific example if I do my best then maybe the Allies will only get to Berlin in June...Or maybe they'll suffer extra casualties on their way...I'd be satisfied with that, and then next time I'll try to do even better, etc. But I'll never be able to win the war! Germany's situation was hopeless! I'll just do my best, even though I know that at the end my troops are going to be defeated anyway.

The strategic or operational progress of the war aren't really the preoccupations of a company or battalion commander, let's face it. A Wehrmacht captain operating in Southern Russia in 1944 probably wouldn't care a lot if he were told that the Russians have started a massive offensive against Army Group Center... Commanders at that specific level, and therefore CM players, are probably more preoccupied with the survival of their battalion in the campaign! Poor performance in any game of this level should have some nasty, important consequences, not on the military situation but rather on you personally(degradation; less confidence from superiors, etc.) As many people have already said, realism is the ultimate goal of any wargame. When I play Operational Art of War with the Germans in 1945 I know that I can't win the war anymore. But I don't care about that! Being able to re-enact the war realistically at any level is already a fascinating enough experience.

Fionn, Not all of his friends died.You forget some important guys: Hals(his best friend), Lindberg(the coward who fought with him from Belgorod onwards), Pferham(the priest),...It would be interesting to know if those soldiers really existed, and if they're alive today. Questioning them would give major evidence that Sajer did fight in the GD (or not). I wonder whether the military historians have already tried to find them. But it's probably very tough, maybe impossible. And just for curiosity, how many men are part of the GD veteran association?

But are those Gross Deutschland veteran lists complete? Are you sure they have the name of every single man who fought in the GD during the war? Some administration papers were perhaps lost, in the confusion and chaos at the end, in May 1945...

Mr Clinton, "The Forgotten Soldier" is (or is supposed to be) a TRUE STORY. Therefore the writer didn't mention those encounters to draw the readers' attention, he did it because it really happened. Maybe not on the WF, but on the EF at least this seemed common practice. The writer of the book participated in many battles and in most of them this happened... Danger to the friendly troops, AI: CC3 deals partly with this: your troops don't get crushed when under friendly tanks...It's quite unrealistic, I agree. But isn't this problem simple after all? I mean, the AI would have to be VERY crap to run over his own troops. And the tanks anyway were not completely blind and they probably could avoid "friendly crushing" by spotting friendly infantry before running over them... I really don't see the problem there.

I just finished "The Forgotten Soldier" and it seems that the Russian tanks used this tactic quite often against dug-in infantry. It must be quite horrible to be buried alive in a foxhole(it takes too much time to get out of the foxhole and the tank's machine gunners would kill the men anyway.) Great book BTW.

Fionn, HAD is Hidden and Dangerous(assuming TLA means initials). About TOAW:yes, the combat engine is very obscure, making it possible for a jeep army to defeat a Tiger company, but overall, providing the scenario is well designed( I mean the scale of the scenario too), the game is fairly realistic. What this game lacks in accuracy is compensated by incredible flexibility(it's tough to design a game that covers everything from 1939 to 1955 and that features companies and corps, from every significant nationality). BTW, the game was designed by Norm Koger who is very renowned in the world of wargames, and Talonsoft have already a lot of experience concerning wargames so it's very risky and probably inaccurate to describe them as a "big company that tries to do wargames." Sorry for being a little bit off-topic here.