Soddball

I wouldn't mind if the turns going out "now and then" included me. Face facts, Goodale - your arse is mine. Surrender our game, and that'll be one less to worry about. There's only a few turns to go, during which my reserve Veteran PanzerGrenadiere company, fresh from limbering-and-lubing-up exercises, will rout your feeble scrabbling Russkies clean back to Moscow. Save yourself the ignominy and free up a slot.

Did anyone hear anything? I heard some sort of feeble mewling whine that went "Soddball, I'm sorry for being so sucky at everything and using weasely excuses, I am your wife now." Or sumfink.

LOL...nice touch...I didn't say I didn't accept some friendly looses but it seems to me that if that happens every single battle and not only scattered casualities (once I lost 150 men-that's almost half of my menpower- and several Panzers due to my Stukas)I will ask myself whay sould I buy planes? What would be MY advantage for the points I spent? Cause I certainly won't give my money for a plane who kills 100 Germans and 100 Russians. </font>

Amusingly, he asked to be in the 'fastest Axis vehicle' and I didn't want to disappoint him. I think he probably meant tank or armoured vehicle, but a Kubelwagen was the fastest by far.

I'm running CM:BB on a 17" Iiyama TFT at 1280x1024, and it looks fab. Get one - definilobob.

Are you really surprised? He hasn't sent a turn since the Bee Gees stopped touring. I mock you all for not being able to go and enjoy the War and Peace show. :mad:

Prinz Eugen has now been a no-turn-sending monkey for four weeks. Under the Soddball's rulez he juzt made up his game is cancelled. I hate cancelling games from feeble jessies. :mad: MasterGoodale has, since his last vestiges of hope left him, stopped sending turns again. It was remarkable how furiously turns turned up for a week, whilst he thought he might have a chance at victory. So, I've written a little piece for you all to enjoy. It goes like this: MG had chosen a 3,000 point allied assault set in 1944. That gave him a fat 4,500 points of kit to buy. The map was a pretty standard QB countryside one, with uneven hills, patches of woodland and scattered trees, no roads or buildings. As is the game's wont, it was far too long and the flags I had to defend were stretched out. I therefore abandoned the westernmost flags (2 large and one small, about 700 points worth), leaving only a single mg to cover them, and concentrated my defence on the remainder of the battlefield. My plan was to use two layers of defence. The outer would pare away recon units and light armour, and the inner would deal with heavier units and larger concentrations of infantry. I put together three 'fire brigades', which each consisted (roughly) of a pair of StuGs, an assault halftrack, and a platoon of Panzergrenadiere. The outer layer consists of machine guns with interlocking fields of fire, and 50mm AT guns. The 50mm AT guns have a fast turn rate, good accuracy, and are cheap enough to buy plenty of. They will be ideal to pick off any fast recon vehicles. The machine guns will separate armour and infantry, and if ol' Goodale tries a halftrack rush then the AT guns can paste the tracks whilst the infantry are mown down by MGs. The inner layer consists of heavier guns, some light (20mm) FlaK guns in case of air attack, and two companies of Panzergrenadiere. They are as best I can to ensure that they can support each other in an emergency. I also have a pair of 75mm AT guns, which I strap on to some trucks, in case of a surprise attack, and some mortar halftracks. Every plan relies on being able to second-guess the actions of your opponent. With MasterGoodale, this was an insane, some might say suicidal mistake. Bear in mind, though, that our game started back in January and I had no idea what to expect. The first few turns were peaceful, perhaps even soothing. I remained in position, used a couple of tank hunter teams to sneak forward as scouts, and that was all. On turn 6, all hell broke loose. Three T-34s crashed out of scattered trees right by the eastern edge of the map, and proceeded to blast holes in one of my mortar halftracks. Fearing an all-out assault, I diverted a fire brigade to the eastern flank, and was rewarded by the thundering boom as a T-34 fired all its ammo at once, thanks to some 75mm AP. The remaining T-34s backed off rapidly. A turn later, two of my 50mm AT guns were forced into action by the appearance of yet more T-34s on my far west flank, close to the unguarded flags. Fortunately, the 50mm AT guns come loaded up with Tungsten, which rapidly re-educated Goodale in the use of unsupported tanks. That's three T-34s down in sixty seconds, and still they came. In the end, there were four knocked-out T-34s on the battlefield, for no loss. There was a wide, open, rolling section of ground in the centre of my defence, and no cover for AT guns. Instead, I placed a 50mm AT gun off to one side, so that it covered the open section of ground from about 300m. I stationed an HMG alongside. I doubted that Goodale would come bombing through here - there was no cover for infantry and any armor would be hammered - so I defended it lightly. Imagine my surprise at the sudden appearance on turn 11 of Ghengis Goodale's Mongrel Horde, yammering through the open plains with wild abandon. A company of infantry poured over the ground, supported by two MG carriers. I fixed covered arcs and waited. At 250m the AT gun let rip two shots. The first blew one MG carrier to pieces, routing the nearby infantry and killing the units inside. The second knocked out the second MG carrier. The distressed infantry were cut to shreds by the HMG, and fled to a distant patch of woods. Undeterred by this senseless slaughter, Goodale now pushed the heavy units into play. Some SU-152s, supported by KVs and T-34s, rumbled ominously towards my front lines, avoiding the carnage in the centre and pushing for a break on the eastern flank. I unlimbered my 75mm AT guns, and moved a fire brigade to a flanking position. I was astonished, then, to see his tanks moving across the map on a diagonal, away from my eastern flank towards the unguarded western flags, exposing their side armour to my loving embrace. I was so shocked, that I completely forgot to un-hide my AT guns and Stugs for an entire turn. Fortunately, his tanks were already buttoned and, moving casually along, they learned the lesson that frontal armour is thicker for a reason. At this point, I was forced to check my setup to see whether I was actually playing the AI instead, but was pleased to find out that this wasn't the case. I can, however, confirm that The AI's attack technique is based exclusively on MasterGoodale. Exciting stuff, eh?! A simultaneous strike down the eastern edge of the map by infantry cut down a Company HQ who was on recon. The rapid fire and swift movement meant SMG squads, so, using the StuG and a platoon of PzGrenadiere which remained behind after pasting the T-34s, I set covered arcs and waited. A banshee wail shattered the still morning air as the SMG squads thundered out from amongst the trees. They had a mere 80m of open ground to race across to engage my dug-in infantry. They never even came close. As 75mm HE routed one platoon, the second platoon tried to hide amongst the grass, but to no avail. Most squads were killed, and the remained fled back into the woods. By now, tanks and infantry worth around 1,200 points had been killed or routed. I assumed that this must be some sort of diversion from the main attack but, as I was to discover, it was the main attack. By now, it was turn 15, and things seemed to lull for seven or eight turns. I suspected that Goodale was manoeuvering for another savage onslaught on the population figures of Leningrad, and prepared my defences. I rotated out the infantry units and tanks which were in place with the fresh units from my fire brigades, and the tired, low-ammo units became fire brigades instead. Two final infantry lunges were carried out - one on an eastern flank,the other which took control of the largely unprotected flags and killed the machine gun there. I was unable to defend against this, but it was expected. Goodale, naturally, treated it as though he had taken the Reichstag. The eastern infantry lunge managed to dodge through a gap in my outer defensive lines, only to run into a 150mm gun. The two platoons now lie on the battlefield, scattered into tiny pieces. By now, it was turn 21, Goodale had been promising me 'hot death' in his emails for about 5 turns, so I had the funniest feeling some big artillery was on the way. I got the feeling that this artillery should have turned up around 20 turns ago. Nevertheless, Goodale promised me a splodicon thrill, and that was what I got. Rocket after rocket thundered down, causing huge explosions right across my defensive area. Sadly for Goodale, nothing seems to have gone right. He destroyed a 20mm Flak cannon and pinned a large number of infantry, but, since my infantry were all veteran or crack, and since his attack took so long to materialise, little was gained. However, Goodale, having failed to crack my eastern flank, decided to try to sneak along the back of the map. I could see his units preparing themselves, sneaking very deliberately to assault the back of my lines. I began to sense the desperation of my opponent. Three major infantry assaults had all been routed or annihilated, and all his armour had been destroyed - around 2,000 points worth by now. He had scraped together some support units and a few squads of infantry and had prepared an all-out attack. It might have worked, had he not prepared it in full view of one of my platoons, allowing me time to shift infantry and armour to cover the area. His assault seemed to be going so well. Even the 75mm HE from the StuG and the infantry gun failed to deter his first SMG platoon, which was able to reach the safety of the woods. He hadn't anticipated the infantry platoon waiting for him in the woods, nor the assault halftracks on the other side. And that's where we are. I am just preparing to clean up Goodale's remaining forces. I should inform you that with at least six turns to go (we could go into extra time, although please, I hope not), the game is far from over. I anticipate MasterGoodale should be able to drag this one out until Christmas. However, before the excitement palls, I felt that I should share this one with you. Hope you enjoyed the show. To follow: Goodale gets creamed in Africa, Sicily, Italy and Crete. [ July 16, 2003, 12:58 PM: Message edited by: Soddball ]

Neither. The ugly bastid on the left is Simon Elwen, and the deformed monkey on the right is a chum from uni. I was taking the photo. Little note to Goodale. As expected, you have stopped sending turns cos you are receiving an arse whooping. Get it on. To everyone else: argahrgahrhgarha.

Do what? which picture?

Much more irritating "bug" - I can 'shift-click' to select an extra unit in the map preview screen as Axis, but not as Allies. Anyone else found this?

Tee hee! Little do you know, Snogrot. My accountant is very thorough and poor Mr Tax Man has his grubby paws about a million miles from all my cash. :mad:

I fear that it is your suckage which is at stake, and nothing else, Mike_the_Suckage. :mad: Anyone else had trouble winning as the Germans on Kneiber Dam? Thought not.

Grr. sometimes I hate self employment. Like today, when it's 10:15pm and I've only just finished and I start again at 7:30am for a 12-hour day. Yeesh. :mad: :mad: Turn out to Snarker, that gamey love slut, who is whining because he's had it so easy the last 20 turns and has just started losing infantry. Then, sometimes I think of all the sad sack wage monkeys that you are and it makes me giggle.

Just an angry GRAHAHRAHGRAGHRH to put this back where it belongs - nearly at the top, below my ultra-lovely FAQ thread. :mad: Snarker blows cheese-helmeted goats. :mad: :mad:

To paraphrase a favorite movie of mine: How tall are you boy? 6 foot I didn't know that stacked suckage that tall. So, yes, as amazing as it sounds, you are an incredible stack of suckage, Soddy </font>

How peculiar. Did you lose identical units or did you play it differently?

My turns all bounced back last night. What a stack of suckage. :mad: :mad: :mad: Mike_the_wino is still a wanker. :mad:

MasterGoodale has been on the harsh end of Soddball's Stick of Punishment today. His last-ditch infantry rush met the wrong end of some 75mm HE, and is just about to run into some happy jolly PanzerGrenadiere who, having been seated in their warm cosy foxholes for 30 turns, are fresh, fully-ammoed, and 'in the zone'. TWO maggot points for Goodale! :mad: :mad: Mike_the_wino has sent me the wrong turn, in an attempt to avoid having to finish playing this scenario. He is a girly wuss and gets one maggot point. :mad: Snarker is a spiteful turd who deserves to be wrapped in chicken wire and dumped in a deep pit. He might also be winning, but that's not why I'm annoyed. Oh no. No maggot points for Snarker. Wallybob pasted one of my tanks, and now shall burn in hell for all eternity. :mad:

Duh. You need to pick the region successfully. Hard to believe it may be, but the Uberfinn Horde failed to make it to Kazakhstan. [ July 12, 2003, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: Soddball ]

You Nonce. He means the up-to-date version of Cheery Waffles, not an old-game version of it. :mad: Duh. GAHRAHRAHRHHGARHAGRAGHRHAHRHARGARGAGRHHHGGHAHGARARAHGRARAHGRA!!!!! WHERE ARE MY TURNS, MAGGOTS!?!?!? :mad: :mad: If I don't get turns soon, I'm going to churn out scenarios that make Cheery Waffles look like a Sunday picnic. :mad: :mad:

One final point. I just extended the testing map to see what the longest range ID'ing occurs at. The Maximum Range at which this identification occurs is 2,470m. It occurs with all units in trucks at that range. The truck is identified as a "Truck?", and the unit onboard becomes either an Infantry Squad?, Mortar?, Machine Gun?, Spotter? or whatever. [ July 11, 2003, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: Soddball ]

Originally posted by Moon: Well, pardon me if I investigate around the subject, rather than simply sticking to a single issue. If you're struggling, perhaps Steve or Dan would like to pop their heads in and discuss it. The reason that you don't see what I say is because you haven't looked at the test scenario. Have a look at mine, because it is very different in style from what you have there and is both more thorough and more scientific. IMAGE SNIPPED FOR BANDWIDTH So, in fact, you can confirm that spotters on trucks are correctly identified at 2km range as spotters. We both agree that this occurs. Where we disagree is that you consider it perfectly acceptable, whereas I consider it unrealistic, even risible, that identification could occur so precisely at such a range. On to my other point, which you also seem to be struggling with: I assume that you don't mean that units in CM can 'hide' in vehicles, because as we both know they can't. That is assuming that the house had a cellar. You're comparing apples and oranges. The test scenario you have run shows quite clearly that there is a problem, and yet as soon as I broaden the issue to include other, relevant topics, you seem to get confused. I'm not doing this for some kind of perverse pleasure, I'm doing it because I believe that there is an issue here with unit spotting and identification. You seem to assume that there is no issue. Whilst I appreciate that the burden is on me to provide the evidence, I would be interested to learn on exactly what basis BFC decided that accurate identification of a unit on the back of a truck was historical, and why they felt that it would be possible to accurately identify a radio spotter, but not to accurately identify an infantry squad. You can quite clearly see from Keke's posted picture that the 'spotters' look an awful lot like regular infantry. Their equipment is not twenty feet high, twelve feet wide, and painted bright orange. They are not staggering under the weight of hundreds of pounds of machinery. Let me summarise, to try to make matters clearer. I believe that my initial observation has led to a series of other observations, all related to spotting and unit identification. These include: 1a) Unrealistic observation of certain units on the back of trucks - specifically at long ranges (2km). 1b) Support units can be identified much too easily at long ranges (2km) when on trucks. These support units include machine guns and mortars, and radio artillery spotters. Artillery spotters without radios are not affected because you can't get them in a vehicle. There is no logic here. How do I tell the difference at 2km between a split squad, one of whom is carrying an LMG-42, and a HMG-42 unit? Obviously, I can't. 1c) When compared to how easy it is to identify units in jeeps - which are also wide open and uncovered - the jeep is a far better means of hiding the identity of a unit than a truck. The logic of this is unclear. 2) Unrealistic spotting of units inside halftracks at long ranges (2km). I am not referring to when a unit appears in the halftrack. Run my test scenario, and whilst playing as Germans, view the unit properties for the halftracks. You will see "Infantry Sounds?" listed as the cargo. Unless the halftracks have recently had their armour plate replaced by chicken wire, I fail to see how it is possible to spot enemy units inside them. These are some of the issues which I have raised, and I hope that they are now clearer to you. [ July 11, 2003, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Soddball ]

Something that might help is remembering that you don't need to 'destroy' the enemy squad. Squads have 'morale' levels. You can use Machine Guns or Mortars to Area Fire near them, which, after a couple of turns, will pin or even rout them. Routed or Broken troops are useless for several turns, and Pinned troops are more interested in keeping their heads down that in combat.

I thought I sent it to your hotmail address. Well, for the hard of thinking such as you, I have sent it again. :mad:

Ahh grr. :mad: I had your mum.