gunnergoz

Doc Brian-- One idea: Pull the arming pin and lob the rounds by hand like the heroes in SPR! With any luck they can lob an 81mm round far enough to avoid their own shrapnel. CM do somfink!

Yeah, but us old farts need games we can play too...sniff, sniff I play occasional RTS stuff like Cossacks or the like, but they can't hold a candle to the entertainment value of CM. Homeworld was indeed brilliant and beautiful, but after a session with it I was drenched with sweat and as worn out as I get at work. Not my idea of fun! Age may have something to do with it but it is also likely a matter of personality and preference. CM has the best balance I've found of playability and strategic challenge since I played the original X-Com (now THERE was a game for it's day). Better yet, CM is about WW2 which is my special pet topic. I just want the industry to have a balance so we can all get our jollies!

AAAARRRRGGGG! HERESY! Quick get the wolfbane! Where's my garland of garlic? Find a Priest quick, we need to exorcise this fellow before he sins again!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Firefly: I think you'll find that by winter the war had moved along a little from Normandy .<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Right, Firefly, by which time the buildings would look less like Norman ones and the regular Magua or other mods would be more appropriate. Of course, if I'd read the original post more carefully, I'd have noticed that the issue was about terrain standards and not necessarily about a Norman snow variant! [ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: gunnergoz ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wolf^: That's right! Damn you really are a mind reader! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I knew you't say that!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nick Carter: Being a machinist myself, I find these posts very interesting, as ultimately it is the machine tool industry and machinists (ok, engineers too!) who won the war. --snip-- <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Wow, Nick, I had no idea that millions of engineers and machinists were killed in WW2! Who was busy designing and making the armaments that they carried into battle? This totally revises the image I had erroneously built in my mind of WW2! In reality, engineers and machinists fought mano-a-mano in the front line while all those drafted soldiers ran the plants and factories. Wooaaa, dude, I'm shaken to the core! :eek:

I don't recall that it even snows much in the Normandy area, even in deep winter. Anyone have some solid info on this?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wolf^: Hey, that idea is stolen from me! I've done that a long ago, altough I never post it here, because I wasn't 100% satisfied with it. Maybe I should post a screenshot if I can find one. [ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Wolf^ ]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Right, Wolf, whatever you say...I'm a mind reader. And I suppose Charles and Steve stole your idea for CMBO?

If you ask me, mortar halftracks have no business being within 100 meters of any enemy! In reality, if the fog were so bad they'd be sent back to the rear for self-preservation.

Hi, guys! Appreciate the comments, one and all. For those who find the bases odd, the intended effect was to totally avoid the "undergrowth" look and to instead go for a "tree shadow" approach. I went very dark for dense trees and lighter for sparse trees. There is absolutely no "white" per se, all you see is the underlying terrain through the "tree shadows"...at least that's what I was aiming for. If you haven't noticed, my site includes some contrasting snaps showing the same terrain with and without trees showing. I wanted you to get the gist of what a straightforward terrain analysis could be done without the decorative shrubbery. The hedge is actually a couple of months old and not entirely integrated into the color palette yet, so that was an astute observation. I'll try to better match it before I post it. BTW, I haven't heard back from Tom of Tom's Combat Mission HQ about hosting these...Are you out there Tom? Still interested? Please contact me. Until I post these for you, hopefully in a couple of days, I'll touch up the hedge.

Hi, guys! Had a bit of time before my 0400 wakeup to post some new terrain snaps to my site at: http://photos.lycos.com/s.asp?r=rlqjer622dt4rf9pb7c82bon4s_239707 They're too big to post here, but here's a teaser: Will be available within a couple of days; for those who are interested, thanks for your kind patience! [ 07-07-2001: Message edited by: gunnergoz ] [ 07-07-2001: Message edited by: gunnergoz ]

Thanks guys, be patient, I'll be back home from work on Sunday and will get to work on a site then.

Ben Galani, I have to ask... With a member number of #38, are you by chance GOD? :eek:

WOW, what a nice bunch of comments! I appreciate them muchly. As to the sources: Magua's trees, buildings, rough, road (straight part); the bush is a highly evolved mod of JuJu's original gem. What's original (i.e. new and unique to this set) is the tree bases, marsh, water, grass, hedge and the brush (given that the brush is highly modded from JuJu's). Thanks very much to Magua and JuJu for the inspiration and creative genius! As to performance: I'm using a 1GHz P-III, 256mb RAM, 32mb Matrox G-400 Max card. I not too long ago ran this from a 400MHz P-II (with the same combination) and it was very adequate. Main difference in the faster processor is in the game turn resolution. Video frame rate is a bit better and movement around the battlefield between turns is a bit smoother...not a revolutionary difference, though, between the processors (surprisingly...sniff, sniff...). I ask that you guys go to my web site again soon. Witnin a few days you'll see more screen snaps under different conditions (with trees, without, maximum terrain differentiation, level-1 and -4 without zoom, etc. Will it work on a Mac? I don't really know. I used to be exclusively a Mac guy but migrated to PC's when Harpoon came out and haven't looked back since. Are the BMP files exchangeable normally? If so, I see no problem. I could also convert to .jpg if someone wanted that as an intermediate step, but it would take some time. Tom of Tom's Combat HQ has graciously offered to host this, but his 2MB file upload limit may pose a problem...I'm looking into the hosting and haven't decided where yet, so be patient please. I'll post news when I have them. Thanks again for making my day, guys...I'll make these available ASAP!

Lewis AKA Username: I'd find your posts and posed questions more interesting if they didn't have an inherent edge to them, even where none is called for. You have strong opinions but your gleeful tendency to put down others wears one out and keeps me (for one) from wanting to tangle with you even when the topic is one I find intruiging. I'm not a wuzz, mind you, I confront people for a living, but I value civility and I see precious little coming from you. Can you see any utility in lightening up a bit?

I'm one of those guys who insists that my CM battlefield look as realistic as I can make it. At the same time, I need clear elevation and terrain differentiation. With that in mind, for some time I've been working on the "ultimate" compromise terrain for CMBO. The snap below is one of several you can see at my photo site: http://photos.lycos.com/PhotoCShare/PhotoAlbum.asp?CG=rlqjer622dt4rf9pb7c82bon4s&AID=239707 (how's that for a mouthful?) And here's one for this thread: If you like the terrain enough, I'll try to find a site to host it. BTW, some trees, buildings, rough and road tiles are Magua's, while the bush is a reworked JuJu mod...thanks to you all!

Thanks much, guys, I'll check 'em out! Happy 4th and thanks to all those before us who made it possible!

Ok, Photopoint is now fee-based, Homestead is now Shutterfly, which is crap (no enlargements that I can find) and I'm at a loss as to where to post photos for this board in a format large enough to make them viewable in detail (preferably full screen, at least 1024x768 and bestter yet 1280x1024.) Any ideas?

I wonder what Rexford has to say about the tensile strength of Russian fir trees vs spruce and aspen? Didn't the Russian trees have greater resiliency due to Stalin's precient inclusion of iron shavings in the mulch? Not to mention the use of chainsaw-defeating nails embedded in tree trunks. All will cause Charles considerable coding problems when he models War In The Oaks.

These titles are more CM conventions than any official or historic designations. The actual German titles for these guns and their equipment can be looked up in various texts and they are long phrases indeed. The only difference of course is the fact that the heavy is simply the light mounted upon a fancy, well-engineered tripod with telescopic sights. It's more accurate and used more as a stand-off weapon.

John Waters- Regarding your test between the veteran PZ IV and elite Tiger, I was wondering if the different turret traverse rates would come into play, especially if they were taking on moving targets that would require some leading of the target. Just a thought...

"I'm a Combat Mission Grog (logo) Have you seen my Ronson?" -or- "Combat Mission Addiction (logo) I heard you sweetie, the house is on fire, but it's just one more turn" -or- "Combat Mission Papa (logo) Where are the kids? Hell, I don't know" -or- "Combat Mission Passion (logo) If you hold that position, I can reach the keyboard"

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Johnson-<THC>-: ummm, wasn't the "burp" gun the MG42?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No, I think most grogs will agree that the reference belongs properly to the German MP-38 and -40 with occasional references to the US M-3 as well by some troops. I don't recall a nickname other than "spandau" ever apllied to the German MG's and even that was about as accurate as "schmeisser" for the SMG's.

the Free Territory of Trieste (try and find THAT on a modern map)

I can't see either vehicle you mention used in it's historic role as a block-buster, except perhaps in some isolated incident. The exorbitant amount of ammo expended would simply not be permitted under field circumstances. There are more economical ways to level buildings (bombers for one) and most of the time it's not necessary if one simply wants to eradicate the defenders. The rubble produced might actually benefit the defenders (remember Monte Cassino) and hinder the attacker's manouverability (St. Lo or Stalingrad). Leveling buildings by firepower was done, certainly, just look at the Soviet films of 203mm tracked howitzers being used in Berlin over open sights...You can bet that flattened the building all right! But that was an example of intensive inner-city fighting that CM doesn't lend itself well to. Historically, the best vehicles for the job if it indeed had to be done, would be the engineer tanks (Churchill spigot for instance) or the soon-to-be-seen sturmpanzer or sturmmorser tiger and the SU-122 and -152.