jmbunnelle

Immer, I'll try for more of a side-view using the same types of colors and see what I come up with. Jim

Carl, Well, the fortifications I modified from PG2, which someone previously modified from Talonsoft's WF or EF. The marsh image is borrowed from my own terrain mods for TOAW. And the factories I designed. Jim [ August 20, 2002, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: jmbunnelle ]

Immer, The notion of including landmarks to represent capitals sounds great but it won't work, as all city hexes in the game access the same image on the bitmap, either standard or capital. Therefore, you'd have an Eiffel Tower in every capital city on the map. I finished a test run last night on the city image instead of the factory. It looks mediocre. If you try to include more than a couple of buildings, it turns into a big mass. I'm still tinkering with it but I'll post a screenshot here later and you can tell me what you think. I'll work on the marsh a little. Any suggestions? More brown perhaps? Jim

Not that I've noticed.

Straha, That's a very good idea, I'll give it a shot tonight. Squeezing a city into that hex is hard, I'm sure that's why Hubert opted for the factory instead. Jim

Yes, I'd love to see this as well. I understand the idea behind the time-weather abstraction but this does not allow for any surprises, such as an unexpectedly warm winter, etc. That addition alone would make a huge difference. As for modding it, sorry, but unfortunately it can't be done. Unless, of course, you want to load up a new bitmap every season to replace the last one, which I doubt people would go for.

Ah yes, the infamous Bunny Blitz of '39. I remember it well . . .

Hey everyone, First off, I just finished version 1.2 of my Force-Specific Units mod, which features the Minor powers (see Polish forces in last screenshot) and smaller cruisers (people had trouble distinguishing between my battleships and cruisers). PLEASE NOTE: the Minor powers do not have all of the later tech levels done because they are never utilized by the game and are only included in the bitmap to keep things kosher with the code, according to Hubert (I'm paraphrasing ). Sorry, I haven't had time to finish the other requests, like darkening the tint of the German counters. That's next. Get the new version here: JBUNNELLE'S FORCE-SPECIFIC ICONS vers 1.2 Also, just finished revamping the cities, forests, mountains, fortifications, swamps, and oil resource icons. I left the mining and anchor icons alone, as I believe they are fine as is. I ditched the oil well altogether but placed a big puddle in front of the barrels in case you can't figure it out. I didn't touch the underlying map at all because, well, I like it and think it's highly functional. JBUNNELLE'S TERRAIN MOD Here are some screenshots: Let me know what you think. Jim [ August 19, 2002, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: jmbunnelle ]

That's what I thought. So I only modded the infantry and the initial armor and plane icons. My only concern is that people may use them in the editor, if that's possible. Haven't had time to mess around with it much myself. Norse, if you have it on hand, could you do me a favor and email me the default "hex_sprites.bmp" and "light_hex_sprites.bmp" files? I'm modding something at work and accidentally erased over them. Email is jbunnelle@berry.edu [ August 19, 2002, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: jmbunnelle ]

In your games with SC, what is the highest level you have seen the Minors achieve? I'm getting towards the end of their tech icons and I can't justify putting in a huge amount of modding work in the later tech levels if no one will ever see them anyway. I've yet to see any Minor, Allied or Axis, reach beyond the second tech level in anything. Has anyone else? If so, which countries and when? Also, is Spain more likely to enter the war with the Allies or the Axis? I've yet to have Spain join either side voluntarily.

I second Willard's comments. Hubert's level of assistance is above and beyond.

Hey, How do you take an in-game screenshot in SC?

I disagree, I think Combat Mission is as far from RTS eye-candy as you can get. If it's considered that way now, it's because of the excellent hi-res mods that have been released over the last few years. I think the 60-second turn idea is absolutely brilliant and prevents the game from becoming an unmanageable nightmare. I have no doubt that RTS companies will start ripping this off before long.

Aloid, I already have a darker, alternate background for the German "counters" (sorry, makes no sense in this context but it's habit) that I'm using for the next release. I know some people don't like the infantry look but, for me, the military symbols look out of place in this context and don't work as well as in, say, Operational Art of War. Just my preference. I'm all for cutting and pasting from several modded bitmaps and making a set of markers that you enjoy playing with. I think that's what many are doing. I just meant, if someone's going to make major changes and actually release it to the public or post it for download, that they please run it by me first. People have been great about doing this so far, I just thought it best if I said it outright.

Hey guys, If anyone has any plans on modding my units mod, please contact me first and tell me what you're planning on doing with it. Call me crazy, but I'm still very protective of it! I'm also constantly tweaking it and I don't really want multiple versions drifting about that don't reflect my most recent changes. I don't mean to be an ass about it so please don't take it the wrong way! I just put a lot of work and time into it. That being said, I'm working up a website now where I will always post the most recent version. I also plan on hosting variations on the mod done by others, so email me if you're interested. Several of you already have done so. Thanks for all the encouragement! It's really motivating. JBunnelle

Mincks, All games get repetitive, that's impossible to avoid. I agree that Strat Comm isn't perfect but your rating reflects how little time you've spent actually playing the game. No, it's not Advanced Third Reich or Totaler Krieg but it isn't trying to be either. It's obvious from your comments about big, strong tanks conquering all that you're used to playing RTS's like Sudden Strike and such. These games aren't necessarily bad but they're not strategically sufficient for Avalon Hill junkies like myself. Anyway, it's a game, don't get so bent out of shape. There are better ways to say that it's not for you besides calling it "so gay".

No, I suspect each end-user would simply access their own "unit_sprites.bmp" file.

Aloid's right, you've got to hit the technology right from the start. I've played the other strategy titles you mention and this game is quite unlike any of them, with the exception of Panzer General, its 5-star elite status for experienced units being somewhat analogous. Have you beat the game on the easier levels? If not, stop playing it at +2. You'll find that the fellow addicts posting here are playing at all levels of difficulty. Be careful and don't end up a pitiful, habitually-late, stimulant-riddled, twitchy-eyed freak like the rest of us.

ITS HARD BUT IT CAN BE DONE JUST KEEP TRYING YOU WILL GET THE HANG OF IT EVENTUALLY I PROMISE REALLY

Immer, It's not the number that's the problem but the dimensions of the square. I can make the number smaller but in order to expand things like aircraft, the square would have to be more of a rectangle. Smaller numbers would work for infantry and the more box-shaped tanks, but when you start getting into the huge 88mm cannons on the heavy tanks, you run into the same problem. Not wide enough. Jim

Although I, for one, love the default map and find it highly functional, I may toy around with the textures of the map (not the shape) for my next project. I know what you mean about PG2, but due to the shifting colors of the map when nations are conquered, that would be impractical and would look bad as well. It's also a totally different scale.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was already going to differentiate between the cruisers and battleships on the next version, as I'm always making the same mistake! Thanks. A Finnish Fokker it is. I'm almost finished with the Spanish CR32, Savoia Marchetti 81 and Bf-109D. I'll try to work on the Polish fighters tonight. As far as using smaller numbers, I haven't experimented with this at all. I'll give it a go. Jim

I think it should be modified a bit, their willingness and ability to hold-out should drop more quickly after encirclement.

glezmez, Sorry, infantry can't change because they're only allotted two slots on the bitmap, one for corps and one for army. Green troops and elite, anti-tank troops have to share the same image. Perhaps Hubert can change this and expand the original bitmap but I have no idea how big of a pain in the ass that would be. As for the images in my initial icons post, the only ones I changed were the infantry and the Bf109 Emil. I opted to work with uniforms that reflected each nationality as opposed to the generic, infantry-aiming image from before. It would basically have been the same for each force, just a color change. The end result felt too much like a boardgame, like the Axis & Allies infantry pieces; not that that's bad, it just wasn't what I wanted. So I thought, if I'm putting this much effort into doing each vehicle/plane, why have generic infantry? As for the 109E, I may yet change it back to the initial version, as it had a more yellow nose and is probably easier for people to identify. Again, I did not play test this much beyond looking to see if the icon was clear and distinguishable. I'm just now finishing up my first game. I did notice some weird things, such as a jet sound accompanying the tech level 4 Mustangs. I can't really get around that, as I don't want any jet icons apart from the tech level 5 ones. If more people request the old infantry, I will consider replacing them. This is a work in progress and will constantly be updated and modified. I really appreciate your input, keep it coming. Jim

"Borrow?" Well, I could "steal" them.