Soddball

Ayeee! My eyes! Unmodded CM screenshot! My face is melting! My faaceee eeesss meeelltteeenngg!!! *slump*

Combat Mission currently in the lead, with 45% of the votes (105 out of 235). I suspect you chaps have been hard at it

I managed to work out the fix for that problem. Go into Internet Explorer (5.5), click on the tools menu, then Options. Turn off "always dial my default connection" and set it to "Never dial a connection." That fixed it for me.

Would it be possible to have an option in the scenario editor (for CMBB) where you could use left click for one type of terrain, and right click for another - a bit like the palette in paint shop pro. Does anyone else know what I mean?

Hmm? So certain are you? For Eight Hundred Years have BTS written games, and their own counsel will they keep on when to throw a bone. You are reckless!

2 questions, captain wackster: 1) What sounds does it mod? 2) Where the flexible japers is my turn?

I think you touched off a nerve there, Gautrek.

Go to Winzip's webpage and download the trial version of winzip 8.1. You can use this to zip the file that you send, and the recipient can use the same software (assuming they've downloaded it) to uncompress and use the file. It also reduces download times - valuable for those of us on a 56k modem connection.

I am pro-paper and anti-PDF aswell - although it's not as good for the environment, it's easier to sit down and read it away from the PC - which is what I tend to do. Maybe the tutorial part of the manual could be removed and you could have an interactive tutorial map which takes the player through the controls, targetting, moving, hull-down, ambushes etc?

I've found a very handy anti-pillbox weapon is the bazooka. Sneak a bazooka team behind the pillbox, and get them to fire in through the back door. Works a treat.

Do you know whether that was also the case for allied forces?

Personally I'd prefer the current style. You might not be able to update it, but loose-leaf binder ones get caught, torn, damaged etc much too easily - or maybe I just live in a rough neighbourhood It would be nice to have complete unit lists, but something that may be worth considering is including some recommended reading for players interested in the eastern front - or possibly, if the game is planning to target a larger number of people, a potted history of the eastern front?

I thought I lost that one (again)? 58-42 or some such nasty number. Edit - just checked - it was 59-41, Axis minor, with me as allies. [ April 08, 2002, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Soddball ]

Which one? I get my arse whupped nearly as often as your mum, so it's hard for me to put a finger on which game it was. Don't you owe me a turn, anyway? I'd hate to miss out on a whupping from you, too

It's true, Dorosh is gamey. In our PBEM he has invisible troops and stealth tanks. We're only on turn 2, sure, and nothing's happened, but he sucks and it's not fair and, well, damn it all, I think I'll stamp my foot.

He's busily being mashed by my Axis hordes, Seanachai. He's also too busy on the bog to worry about sending turns, after a particularly vicious Vietnamese meal caught his undies unawares You'll have to wait until the bog roll runs out before you get your turn.

Is this the post office that's laying off 15,000 workers over the next 12 months? You people...

Fair point. I didn't know about that one *shame mode*

Xenon, Xenon 2? They were Bitmap Brothers games, weren't they? What about Gods?

When you say 'rival' - are we thinking of the same definition? Look at that wall to the right of the barn! There's also a tractor in it, which doesn't exactly remind me of northern france 1944 - and nor does the slope on the roof of the barn. Wierd. Also, wrong place for this sort of thing. And please don't post subject titles in capitals, it looks daft.

Cani is mostly right. "Spotters" are spotting for offboard arty and don't need line of sight. If they don't have line of sight to their target, the time the rounds take to come in take rather longer - usually about twice as long. Mortars (the units themselves) need direct line of sight to hit the target, or you can use a headquarters unit (Platoon, Company or Battalion HQ) to spot for the mortar. To do this, the mortar must be in the command of the HQ unit (red line linking HQ and mortar). Then you left click the HQ, shift-left-click the mortar (assuming you're on a PC and not a mac), and 'target'. You will then end up with an orange line to the target you've picked. Tank accuracy varies according to weapon. There have been lots of arguments about this here, and generally, the higher the velocity of the weapon, the greater accuracy at long range - so the British 17pdr, American 76mm and German 88mm are very accurate at longer ranges (1km), whereas the British 95mm, American 105mm and German 105mm (which are primarily anti-infantry weapons) are much less accurate. Spotting in a cornfield can be affected by season. Crawling through a field when it's winter (and there is only stubble or soil) isn't going to do you any favours. The manual makes this clear.

I would pick a number of small tanks, and use greyhounds/daimlers to get flank shots on Panthers. That side armour is weedy, and a 37mm gun will do an excellent job. For frontal penetration, I pick pairs of fireflies. I can't emphasise enough the effectiveness of pairs of tanks attacking at the same time. I played a TCP/IP game (one of Rune's) over the weekend, and played as Polish. I lost lots of tanks because they attacked singly - and when I rolled a pair of 75mm Cromwells over the top of a crest, they put down 3 Panzer IV's for no loss, then rolled back down at the end of the turn. My opponent was holding his head in his hands by the end of that one (He also went ape**** when I toasted 3 of his tanks in 30 seconds with PIATs, and that evil maneuvre won me the game).

Game's Review is way out of date. Everybody should email them and complain. They are talking about no TCP/IP and 1.01 patches. Imbeciles!

After all the abuse nashorns et al get, I decided to try my luck with them. I set up a 500pt QB, with regular forces, on a moderately hilly, moderately wooded terrain. For the Allies, I picked a pair of plain M4 Shermans. For the Axis, I picked a single Nashorn. There was only one victory flag, in a clump of trees on a hill on the right hand side of the map. Now in close terrain on a small map, the Shermans should have the advantage, because they have turrets. However, I used my Nashorn how (I think) I'm supposed to - rolling it to a spot, hunting and reversing. Doing this, I got one of the Shermans. The other took me out with a burst of 50cal through a building. So it's not impossible, but it is tough to use them. I will probably pick the Marder/Nashorn vehicle type for future battles because you can have successes - but leaving them in one place is death, every time.

We can only hope. His combat skills and failure to discuss the relevance of the Bren Tripod on tea-making in the early 19th century means he is borderline NotGrog.