Vanir Ausf B

One option I have been considering is limiting the time period for my games to those where there are no 'invincible' common vehicles available. That means Spring '42 (May and June in particular), mid '44 (June works best), and Feb-May '45.

Ok, so if the two FH plates are better, why did the Germans not keep using them?

*Ahem* If I may interrupt your grog pissing match for a moment... There are a couple of issues with the game's modeling that I have never received a satisfactory answer to with regard to Stug armor resistance vs. Soviet projectiles. First, why is the actual performance of Soviet AP shot consistently less than the figures given in the unit stats screen. For example, a T-34/76 in June 1944 using blunt-nosed APBC ammo will penetrate 86mm of armor at 100m according to the stats window. Yet, vs. a Stug III with 80mm of front armor, at a range of 50m, the targeting tool gives the chance of penetration as NONE! Secondly, why do the Stugs with appliqué armor resist better than Stugs with solid plates? Put 2 T-34/85s in June '44 firing blunt-nosed APBC up against a Stug IIIF late (front armor 50mm+30mm), and a Stug IIIG middle (front armor 80mm). The earlier Stug IIIF resists better. I was somehow under the impression that solid plate resisted better than two separate plates of equivalent thickness. If this in not so, why did the Germans purposely downgrade the protection of their Stugs later in the war by using solid plate in place of the more effective appliqué? [ April 10, 2003, 12:22 PM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

Make the camera tilt angle sticky so it doesn't reset itself when you change view level. [ April 04, 2003, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

Broken: I agree completely. That would be a major improvement.

I wonder... 1) Since there will be no Russian peasant conscripts in CMAK, will it still have the annoying 'the more waypoints, the longer the command delay' feature? The vast disparity in training and C&C between early war Soviet and German forces that was the justification for this will not be present here (AFAIK, some grog may correct me). 2) Will we be going to a system of 'rarity by availability' or will we stay with 'rarity by price manipulation'? 3) Will we finally get a roster/OOB feature? 4) Will the PBEM setup preceedure be modified to preclude cheating by the game creator? 5) Will we get the Ambush command back? [ April 04, 2003, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

GAHH! I can't believe they didn't fix the late IS-2 model! I thought that would be a gimme given how common a vehicle it is. :mad:

You're it, man. Don't let us down.

I always thought the most telling difference was in the spelling of "armor". That's the real issue here. I think few Americans take offence to the acknowledgement of the Soviet sacrifice, assuming they are aware of it. And American jingoism has no more to do with the Glantz article than American geography skills. Stereotypes are fun to play with, though. [ January 16, 2003, 05:49 AM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

I would be genuinely curious to know if the average Canadian, Frenchman or Brit was significantly more well-informed about the East Front of WW2 than the typical American. The original linked article said nothing of map reading skills. That was brought up later and is a seperate issue than what Glanz was talking about, which was primarily the use of German source material for information on the Russian Front to the exclusion of Soviet material. I don't think one has much to do with the other. In other words, if 100% of Americans could find Iraq on a map, what difference would it make? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if George Bush couldn't find Iraq on a map, but I suspect that somehow everyone who's supposed to get over there will find it sooner or later.

I don't anticipate any problems with OpenGL for PC. There are a lot of current and upcoming games that use it (Doom 3, all Quake 3 engine games, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, ect).

Yea... have you ever heard about what they print in Japanese school books on history, WW2 in particular?</font>

Ah, the old neon-aqua forum. And to think we thought it was pretty cool at the time...

I would bet anything I possess that it has happened many times in real life. I recall one documented instance where an AT gun misses something like 5 or 6 shots in a row at a tank 50m away. It was posted on this forum last year. [ January 15, 2003, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

In a mostly closed society, one tends to lead to the other (even with open societies to some extent). From discussions on this subject a long while back, I recall that there was quite a lot of ignorance. [ January 15, 2003, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

It is my understanding that under the Soviet Union, the contributions of the Western Allies were systematically downplayed in history books. I don't know to what extent that is still true, but it is only fair to point out that ignorance of the other guy's history is hardly something unique to Americans.

Yeah, but the other 13% are Marines Sure we do, although you didn't march very far (from the ships and back). We also remember burning Toronto... [ January 15, 2003, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: Vanir Ausf B ]

Although rare, such things can and did happen in real life. As long as this is rare in the game, there is nothing to fix.

Um, ok.

I have noticed a very bizarre trend over on the Rugged Defense ladder. Looking at the last 40 QBs finished, we see: Axis Wins: 7 Allied Wins: 27 Draws: 6 Much too small of a sample size to draw any conclusions, but very strange nonetheless.

That wouldn't tell you much, because the AI doesn't know how to use units to their full effectiveness. For example, when was the last time you saw the AI use a HQ unit to spot for an on-board mortar?

I disagree. That is guerilla warfare, which is outside the scope of CM. There was certainly quite a lot of deliberate terrorization of civilians on the East front in WW2, but I don't see it in CM, and I don't miss it at all. Do you? What is your point? All this is known, and is why BFC is moving forward with a new engine. Perhaps you just enjoy stating the obvious? Don't worry. That's scheduled for CM4, along with Poland and Norway. Plenty of action there. Michael</font>

I'd bet CM3 will look better than that.

Yes. Never mind the fact that it isn't feasable (how do you abolish all other ladders? Ask politely?) In addition to the problems listed above, once you start playing for money it changes the whole dynamic. Everything gets more serious when money is involved and that's not a good thing IMO.

I would think the explosion in front of the tank would get his attention right quick, binoculars or not.