Peter Cairns

This has been discussed elsewhere, but as it seems to be a popular topic for a future CMx2 game I thought I'd start a seperate thread. I went for a scenario where, with China growing in strength and economic links with Taiwan becoming more important, there was an attempt at "peaceful" reunification ( ie both sides were cheating), which lead firstly to a coup come civil war, and then Chinese military invovement prior to a US military response. Most if not all regional powers decide to treat it as a civil war and deny the use of there territory for direct military use, a bit like Turkey and Saudi in OIF. I like this scenario for a number of reasons. 1) It's not your straight nasty "Yellow Devils" scenario so it's a bit different. 2) It's a bit ambiguious, as in depending on your view either side can be seen as right, and I think thats more realistic. I prefer it when we slide in to war because politicians on both side cock Up, rather than a sort of James Bond Villian. 3) The Civil War element would create some interesting start scenarios with first Taiwan on Taiwan and then Taiwan v Chinese, (which means T-85(11)'s v M-60's etc). before the M1A2's arrive. 4) Any scenario which has the US defending Taiwan against a Chinese attack is a non starter, because they wouldn't get across the Straits. Having the Chinese in situ with the US having to rely almost totally on only carrier airpower and what it can get on to the beaches, makes it far more balanced. OK thoughts people. Peter.

Well In a way your right Sergei, but I tend to think that discussing the security aspects of things like this is a lot different from the pitched battles that erupted during the US Presidential elections. Then you couldn't make a point or take a balanced view without being called either a Facist or Commie by someone. Peter.

Speedy, It's not politics it's conjecture, it doesn't get to be "Politic" till someone starts to say what is right or wrong, who is good or bad. Speculating on the effects of a Hamas victory, is fine, as long as people don't make it political. Peter.

Steve, To cross over to another thread, Do you know what percentage of the batteries being used by forces in Iraq,.... ARE MADE IN CHINA..... Peter,

I think there has been a middle east peace process in name only since well before the "Road Map" was announced. My best guess is that this really clears the way for Israel to continue down the road of imposing a "Two State" solution as it has with Gaza and the "Barrier" with the Palestinians just watching on. No ideal, or indeed fair, but it is a solution of sorts which in it's way will be better than another 40 years of occupation. Peter.

Rother, I'd go with F=MA, Force=Mass x Acceleration. Now from this point of view a 5.56 bullet weighs about 5 grams, so at a muzzle velocity of 1000m/s then we get 1000 x 0.005 =5kn ( I think). Now if a M-16 with sight and ammo weighs 5kg, then you get 5kn = 1m's x 5Kg, so the recoil shouldn't be that bad. The fact that you don't go back a meter is to do with the fact that the gun has a recoil mechanism ( the big spring that works the ammo feed) and that you have 100kg or so of body mass braced behind the but plate. The diffficult bit is how that energy produced a more pronounced effect on an unbraced 600kg Mouse at the other end, and that must be to do with hoe the energy gets dispersed over a smaller area, which is a bit beyond me... Peter.

I stillhave a worry about all this electricity on a man. I know that a JSTARs can detect a car ignition at something like 25 miles, so at some point a guy carrying lots of batteries etc, is going to show up on screens somewhere. If i've got my right hand( or left hand) motor rule like, moving a wire in a magnetic field creates a current in the wire. Thats how a metal detecor works, it creates a magnetic field and when it passes over a metal object it creates a current that sets off a buzzer. (If always wondered why they don't put a magnet detector in every tenth mine to deter mine detection). Now if a person generating a magnetic field moves by by a wire he should in effect create a current, which if linked to an IED, could be a way to take out US troops but not your own, who don't have anything elec tronic... Peter.

Steve, Any word yet on the issue of movie playback, will playback even be in now that we have "Real time",game play. Peter.

With things like factories that can take damage but which are mostly empty, will you be able to look through them and see things on the other side.... It could be that an abstraction of that in CMBB could be why you could hit a tank which appeared total hidden, as it was assumed that you could sometimes see through parts of factories. Peter.

flamingknives, If I have got it right (and it might be very wrong) then Boyles law ( another great SCOTTISH scientist) states that P=VT,(Pressure = Volume times Temperature). Now on a moon like Titan, where we have very low temperatures and a dense gas, such as Methane, then the ground pressure could be quite high for even small gravity. I think gravity will sort of determine the "volume" although it depends on the gas. If we were talking air ( mostly Nitrogen, and some Oxygen), then even those at that gravity would be low pressure, but I am not sure about the weight of the gas involved. I am pretty sure that with similiar gravity to earth it is the temperature that is pushing up the pressure on Venus. odd thing iif it was just about gravity and heat, how is it that time and again the surface pressure we find have turned out to be very different from the predictions. I remember that when the Viking lander sent back it's results the pressure was something like 20% of what NASA expected. Peter.

This is starting to remind me of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", what about... "Your Mother Smells of Elderberries". Peter.

I saw a design a while back for a plan to put air filled pipes under roads. As cars drove along the pipes would be compressed to pump air into micro turbines that would create power for street lights etc. It might be possible to use the system in the torch (flashlight), in other ways, if you put one in an M-16 or the bars of a backpack frame, then in theory troops could recharge as they walked. Another possible might be in shock absorber. I 'd think that a Stryker going across rough terrain could with eight magnets bouncing up and down might create a fair bit of power, and I doubt you'd here the rattle over the sound of the engine. Peter.

I wonder how far you could throw grenades om Mars, the Moon and some of the smaller moons.... Petr.

I have to say I hate this idea, Why would you want to pretend the AI was a "real" person, other than because you don't have any real friends to play with, its sad really. Still as long as you can turn it off, put it in. When I used to play board games, we used to have a laugh and a joke, but nothing like this, and when I was playing a test or solo game, I didn't jump up and shout at myself.... Peter.

Wicky, Thanks for that it was a while since I read it, but the issue is, if possible would a component system not be better, ie building it wall by wall rather than having them pre determined, as it would give more flexibility in design. Even if we could just do it for levels, ie in the shops and home sexample, have Retail commercial for the ground floor, and residential for the three floors above that. Different buildings gives us horizontal diversity, but not vertical. Peter.

Mace, True, but then we could all buy T-72 instead of CM:SF and save all this time and waiting. Come to think of it we could all just keep playing CMBO, or close combat or two paddle ping pong, hell lets throw out our computers and play domino's Peter.

Steve, Any plans to limit Player to Player Chat ( though if they have broadband with free calls they can always talk while playing). In the above example 3rd platoon potentially wouldn't know it was going to get it's support cut till it happened, but if players can chat, then it might be warned. If possible could a system be designed for CoPlay, that built in delays when you want to talk, or even go cut off from time to time ( like when the MG42 on the ridge cuts your radio operator in half)... Peter.

Now the obvious answer is yes of course there should numbskull, so I'll explain myself. A building is aseries of walls plus a roof and floor, so wouldn't it be in some ways better if you got those instead. Some buildings have Glass on one wall, and others have shops on the ground floor and homes above, some industrial buildings have wooden floors, some concrete and others steel, same with different roofing materials. So the issue is should the game have pre set buildings or preset building components. Now obviously there is the whole issue of internal walls etc, which will probably have to be abstract, but the internal "density" could be set as a figure ( from "open" to "heavy") or it could be calculated by adding roof, floor and wall values, ec. Thought please people... Peter.

Steve, Well I have to say Iam a bit underwhelmed, it's not that these are'nt good things to have in, but well they have been so talked about since CM1 that i'd sort of come to expect these higher level changes to be in there. Any ideas yet as to the UI for the map editor, I always though that the terrain pallet in CM was a bit cluncky and uninspired. Peter.

So lets get this right, If you wanted the same power, recoil would knock you off your feet, so less power would be needed. What about some kind of recoil device as in artillery, or won't that work either. I don't see escape velocity being an issue, but the hugely increased range and effectiveness of AA fire wmight well be, It's dangerous enough flying in a combat zone as it is. Another issue would be deliberately putting things in to orbit in the hope that they hit things. I'd hate to be brought down only to discover it was by small arms ammo fired by my own me on the other side of a moonlet... Peter.

I saw an advert in the paper for a set of tyres for a Porche, Maybe I should buy them and build my new car around that.... Peter.

Does that mean that without the need for rounds to be shaped you could use flat noesed cylinder rounds, that woulf blow people clean off their feet? Peter.

Oh well if we only have to worry for a thousand years or so, I'll go and order a reactor for my backyard.... Peter.

Thanks, Steiner, I pretty much suspected that ranges would go up, but I am still in the dark about recoil, I never quite go the hang of the difference between mass and weight. As to guns in general, there is the issue of whether a round will fire in a vacumn, and indeed what happens when you fire a gun in a methane rich atmosphere like Titan. I suppose you could have a fuel air cartridge, like a car cylinder which when ignited exploded, that way it would carry it's own air. Then again compressed air guns might work too. In part what I am thinking about is this, is there enough variety in enviroments to make the game worth while. You could have Venus scenarios, where you could only stay out of vehicles for a short while, though why you would go in the first place might rule it out. Certainly Mercury and the Moon would let you have darkside battles, but it would be abit like playing on a black and white screen. Light is a problem with most of the moons as well, because if you take away the artifical colours often used, in reality most of them are a dull grey, like constantly fighting at dawn or dusk, which might look pretty boring even if it was realistic... Having said that with recent photographs show that there are some really wierd terrain types which could be fun.... Peter.

For me the question is If we are stupid enough to destroy the climate by burning all the oil with no thought for the long term consequences, what makes anyone think we will wise up and not build commercial nuclear ships with no thought for the long term waste issues. I mean the fact that few countries have done a good job with existing nuclear waste hasn't stopped us planning to build more and more civil reactors. Oh in todays Guardian ( you can get it on like, just search guardianunlimited uk) there is an article that says if China had two cars for every three people like the US it would need 99mB of oil a day..... World output is 84.... Peter.