PiggDogg

Monkey, Good story as to why one should never give up. You were fortunate that your opponent was not as astute & lucky as he could have been. Also, you should publish the name of your "most worthy" opponent so that his reputation can preceed him. :mad: This way the rest of us can gain the benefit of such reputation. Cheers, Richard

"When CM2 is done" is good enough for me. I plan to be around when CM2 is released. If it comes out in Q1, Q2, or Q10 of 2002, that is OK. :eek: I'd rather have it finished correctly than to have an unfinished product. Heck, I'm still having an absolute ball with CM. I'm patient. Cheers, Richard :cool: :cool:

This is the busiest wargaming board on the net because CM is the best computer wargame. (Yes, sucking up here, but it is true.) As I have said before & in my humble opinion (& opinions are like noses, everyone has one), CM is by no means perfect, but it is better than any other wargame, game, program, etc. for the computer. Also, it is fun, fun, fun for us weird people. Cheers, Richard

Strange, very strange. :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: Cheers, Richard

JasonC, thanks again for the thesis. It was well thought out & presented. You are certainly one of the grogiest of the grogs. Everyone, the short & very simple anti-arty rule is: "if you are going to be hit by arty of 105 mm or larger, run away or you will die." :eek: :eek: Sometimes, the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) rule is the most useful. Cheers, Richard

Bruce Robert, Good post. Thanks. Cheers, Richard

Herder, Good to meet you. You have stumbled upon the best computer wargame ever. CM is not perfect, but it is the best available & I can speak from experience. I have played wargames since 1958-60 with Avalon Hill's Tactics II & the original retangular unit version of AH's Gettysburg. :eek: :eek: Boy, I am some old. Well, somewhat old. The net result of this post is: "Get CMBO. You will enjoy it." Cheers, Richard :cool:

Combat General, It is possible that you are an expert upon just starting to play CMBO. Congratulations. However, may I suggest that you play some human players via pbem & tcp/ip. Besides the Opponents Wanted board here at BTS, you may wish to go Band Of Brothers' challenge board. A small possibility may exist that you might learn something. If you wish, I would be pleased to play you pbem: 1500 pt, meeting engagement, computer choose troops, random everything else. I always am pleased to learn things. I learn all the time. Cheers, Richard e-mail: richardcuccia@home.com

Michael, I'm not real big on wheatfields. They do block line of sight. Infantry for sure (& you say tanks) can hide in wheatfields. Hiding in wheatfields is certainly true and is useful. However, for infantry, wheatfields do not provide any substantial protection from fire especially compared to CM's better cover. In contrast to wheatfields, the better cover (woods, tall pines, buildings, especially heavy buildings) provides that wonderful strong fire protection that allows infantry to live while, hopefully, inflicting pain on the enemy. Indeed, if possible, I try to base my defenses and firing positions around heavy buildings. Much fire is required to damage infantry in such buildings. :eek: Actually, I have never tried to hide vehicles in wheatfields, but I have learned something & will use this fact. Thanks. I may now become somewhat bigger on wheatfields. Cheers, Richard

Rifle, Where was your spotter? If he was in a wheatfield or in the open, my guess would be that everyone on earth would be able to see the spotter. Generally, I put spotters in woods, tall pines, & buildings. Also, I usually crawl them for the last 20 or so meters just to help their hiding state. As Slapdragon stated, the AI targeting will (once the target is identified more precisely than just infantry) give preference to flamethrowers, spotters, mortars, guns, & AT teams. For some unbeknownst reason, it seems to me (I may be wrong, but I have no way to prove it other than by experience) that flamethrowers are the biggest bullet magnets. :eek: :eek: Also, the target's exposure will draw AI directed fire. Cheers, Richard

Cogust & Guys, Thanks for the information on the Archers. One thing for sure, I doubt if I would ever buy one in a human choose troops game. Although in one computer choose troops game with a line of sight of about 80 meters, I was given two Archers. At 80 meters, one Archer knocked out a Panther that was unfortunate enough to stumble forward. I did win that game. Cheers, Richard

Question: With an Archer (or for that matter, the M4A1 US 81 mm mortar halftrack whose gun/tube is also rear facing), when you order it to rotate, what faces in the direction of the ordered rotation? Does the rearward facing gun face in the ordered direction or does the driver/front face in the ordered direction? :confused: :confused: Also, if one gives such units a hunt order (if they accept such orders & strangely, the M4A1 does accept a hunt order) do they back toward the hunt or do they go foward toward the hunt. :confused: Duh? Cheers, Richard :cool:

Tom, With your dissortation, you must be a doctor. L0l. ICM 1947, You were born in 1947? Damn, you are some old. You must be 54 years old. Some ancientd. I was born in 1948, so I'm 'NOT' as old as you. By the way, you may want to support your whole forearm with a cushion with a stiff board under the cushion. I cannot use a mouse without my forearm fully supported. It must be old age. Cheers, Richard :cool: :cool:

At moderate ranges (100 to 300 meters) small mortars (most especially 2 inchers) are great killers of German guns. Invariably, the 2 inchers will kill German guns. As I have mentioned before, I think that the 2 inchers have magnetic shells that are drawn to the metal in the German gun barrels. :eek: :eek: :eek: So use 2 inchers to kill German guns. Cheers, Richard

You just can't have an east front game of Combat Mission without rail guns. :eek: They are, ... well, ... just necessary. You just need those 20 meter deep moon craters to hide in & protect you from future incoming 5000 pound shells. You know, lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. :eek: So BTS, we need railguns. No, not the kind of rail guns in Quake. But we need the kind of rail guns that the Germans used on the eastern front & at the Dutch fortresses. You just can't have Combat Mission In The East without rail guns. Cheers, Richard

Buff, I have seen things such as this happen on occasion. With move or run commands, units will try to execute & complete the commands unless severely disrupted by enemy fire. With the sneak command, units will stop & return fire upon taking most any fire. As far as slowing to a walk after having been given a run command & after having taken substantial fire, I don't know exactly the reason for this. Obviously, it is something in the AI process. I do know that units taking fire while running & while in any terrain are extremely exposed/vulnerable especially when the fire is point blank short (less than 100 &, especially, 40 meters & less). I have seen whole 10 man squads die within literally one or two seconds while running on pavement in the point blank fire of three or so squads. :eek: :eek: Somewhat likely in your situation, your guys got somewhat disrupted by the 10 meter point blank fire &, like good obedient troops, they are trying to complete your (as it turns out, uninformed) orders sending them into point fire. You are lucky that your opponent did not have 3 or so full strength squads shooting at point blank range. If that had been the case, you would have probably suffered crippling casualties. So you might consider yourself lucky. Cheers, Richard

Ouch. Upon looking at the chart (thanks a lot, Redwolf), I did not realize that the schrecks were so accurate at 100 meters, & even so accurate at out to 150 meters. :eek: :eek: Basically, reg & vet schreks hit at 50%+ at 100 meters. Very scary for Allied tankers. Even zooks are near 50% at 100 meters. Also, very scary for Kraut tankers. Cheers, Richard :cool: :cool:

Galatine, Hit "shift V" to make vehicles disappear when moving your grunts so the grunts don't embark. For the playback, just make sure that you hit the 'shift v' again to make the vehicles reappear. On an occasion or two, I have forgotten to hit the 'shift v' to make the vehicles reappear. How confusing. How embarrassing. How "Duh"!!! Cheers, Richard

Here is a closely related question. Do engineers spot anti-tank mines when they walk over them or spend time adjacent to those AT mines? :confused: I have found that generally engineers do not spot AT mines even when walking over or spending time adjacent to the mines. Cheers, Richard

Vanir, Good points. You mention a hodge-podge of different units types as being less realistic than, I assume, a more homogeneous human choose force. Actually, my opinion (& yes, it is only and opinion) is that a hodge-podge is generally more historically accurate. Other than an attacker at the beginning of an important or major offensive where the attacker is plumped up for the offensive, units on an active battle front would suffer from attrition and, to a lesser extent, wear & tear. The subsequent erraticness of repair & replacement pools would 'probably' produce some substantial hodge-podge within units. You mention that computer choose forces sometimes end up with rather unbalanced forces. Actually, 'generally', but not all of the time, I have found that the computer has a generally devilishly nasty way of giving each player just barely enough of what he needs to counter his opponent. You are of course correct for the time that the damn computer ( lol) gave me an army of attacking flamethrower infantry in medium woods. :eek: I got my head handed to me in that one. Hey, I'll 'cherry pick' with the best of them. Gimme my Hetzers, Jumbos, paras, hull down JpzIV/70s, & nuclear arty. No regular line units for me. Gimme those uber troopers, Allied & Axis. Cheers, Richard

Scipio, I have no facts on which to base my opinion, but I 'feel' (& only feel) that rockets are not too inaccurate in CM. Rocket dispersion feels about right. That is, if they hit anything, it is an accident. This is sort of like the Brown Bess musket of the Napoleanic era where the saying was to the effect of the following: "A target person was never killed by the Brown Bess user who aiming at him (the target person)". You get the idea. Cheers, Richard :cool:

Vanir, My opinions are only opinions (& opinions are like noses, everyone [well, at least most people] has one): Please understand, I can choose troops with the best of them & I enjoy doing so because I love playing CM any way that I can. However, I prefer computer choose troop games (CCG) as compared to human choose troops games (HCG) because CCGs seem to have a more realistic feel. Yes, I know that many will say that HCGs are more realisitic. I respectfully disagree. Generally (this means, most of the time), in CCGs everyone gets run of mill units (which, at the time of the game, seems like one is getting unmitigated crappe) & each player must improvise & make do with what he has gotten. In real life, a commander has whatever survived the last battle plus whatever came out of the repair & replacement pools. In HCGs, excellent players & myself (& I'm not claiming that I am excellent) pick the best buy for the cost troops. I feel that this is less realistic than the CCGs where everyone gets crappe. This is just an opinion and nothing more. Indeed, if you or anyone else wishes, I would be pleased to play y'all in a 1500 or so point pbem ME, CCG or HCG, rated on Band Of Brothers BAR or not. (Hey, I'm easy, at least that is what my wife says. ) Yep, my guys will bite your guys kneecaps. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Cheers, Richard (richardcuccia@home.com)

Favorite is different from best buy for the money. Some of my less obvious favorites are: "Ignore" the obvious ones: cats (panthers & tigers), but I do love 'em. No so obvious: Chaffee - fast as hell & can kill any krauts from the side or rear. Jumbo - many shells bounce off (you get to shoot a second time) & can kill. PZ IV/70 - see Jumbo. JgPz IV - see Jumbo. Stuart - fast as hell & can kill most krauts from the side or rear. M-8 Greyhounds - See Stuarts. German 20 mm Armored Cars - Can kill US 50 cal Halftracks & Allied A/Cs & beat up Allied inf. German 75 mm Armored Cars - Can beat up Allied inf & effective against Allied A/Cs & 1/2tracks. Big Arty & Mortars (especially US) 105 mm & larger - kills enemy grunts by the car loads. Para/Fallshirm/Gerbirgs Inf - better than run of the mill grunts. :eek: :eek: :eek: Happy Thanksgiving Day to all. Cheers, Richard :cool:

Most of the trouble with human choose troops games (as opposed to computer choose troops) is the following: all paratrooper/fallshrims, all Hetzer, all Jumbo, all uber tank, all nuclear arty armies. :eek: Oh, ... I forgot the all gerbil trooper (yeah, I know, gebirgsjager) armies. In a 1500 pt game between excellent CM players, has anyone ever seen puny 81 mm spotters?? (Yeah, I know, it has happened once. ) In such games, everyone has 105 mm or 120 mm arty helping their reinforced company. Indeed, I have used 155 mm arty in 1500 pt games. Some cool to see my opponent's platoons melt into slag. :eek: I can buy the best troops with the best of 'em. Human troops choose games are an exercise in force buying optimization. Computer choose games gives everyone crappe. You just gotta make do with what you got. Computer choose games 'feel' more realistic. Cheers, Richard :cool:

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Nutball: Please give me reasons to start playing Combat Mission again... <hr></blockquote> Answer: You will have fun & enjoy it. Cheers, Richard