Erwin

I still love the way that you (Fuser) pioneered the really beat-up, battle-worn look. But, B. has got the lighting/shadows worked out so the model looks good close up - the details "pop".

LLF: I also love the idea of "historically accurate" sims. But, due to game limitations, I now think them to be practically impossible. One HAS to put all sorts of ahistoric abstractions to sim things that were possible in RL that are simply not available/possible in a game. Consequently, I don't think that getting hung up on trying to make every detail as "accurate" as possible is really worth it. "Close enuff" is "good enuff" in a game. And that means you can get the scenario released a lot sooner. (Talking about you here, LLF!)

Thank you. A beautiful addition and the detail is great. (Finally, CM2 vehicles can look as good as CM1 from level 4 and above lol.) Are you really going to redo every vehicle and gun like Aris did? Otherwise, they don't mix too well.

And designers can create that (esp in a campaign) by costing you a lot of points for friendly losses. I wish they did more of that, so that one doesn't necessarily have to lose big cos one wants to save one's troops from slaughter. (You'll need em for the next battle.) I heard that 5% casualties was considered very high. But, am unclear if that would be a figure for the parent formation/corps or just for the combat formation. Since there were about 10 support guys for every combat soldier, 5% casualties of a parent formation of (say) 5,000 would be a huge % for the approx 500 combat troops who would suffer nearly all the casualties. Anyone know how the casualty % is/was calculated?

I have to admit I haven't played a persistent online game ever. (My god, pay a monthly fee!!!?) America's Army was my only online experience and it burned me out fairly quickly.

I agree. Having played 5 or 6+ campaigns now vs the AI where force and ammo preservation was important I found my first H2H PBEM to be a shock as suddenly one has to change tactics to the "fight to the last man" concept. I found this new style of play to be unsettling to say the least, as there really isn't opportunity to even give buddy aid etc. Will stick to campaigns vs the AI I think...

Lovely. And thank god for daylight scenarios. Am sick of night battles. Have to fiddle with my nVidia controls every time to make it like an overcast day just so I can see anything. Then put it all back the way it was before for work or any other game. Why no in-game brightness controls?

Well... the "..." was just an example. The point I was happy to learn is that one can use easy to remember words and simply add multiple, easy to remember, symbols to get a very tough to crack password, as opposed to those monstrosities using random numbers and symbols that are often recommended, but very hard to remember.

Playing "A Bloody Ride" campaign (Axis vs AI) and the first scenario is great so far. I will report later.

Ranger: You misunderstand, I don't dispute the criticisms, but the reviewer fails to understand/acknowledge the intent of the game which to attempt a fairly "realistic-feeling" game that requires a lot of patience and thought to play well. That is virtually the opposite of 99% of other entertainment games out there.

Hoffnung is an attrition campaign - esp when it comes to the tanks. I'd be interested to see if you can lose less armor to bogging/immobilization than to enemy fire.

I think you've shown that a well-modded CM1 looks at least as good and maybe better than CM2 at level 4 and above...

Why are we surprised that a mainstream review doesn't understand this very niche game system when it's obvious what 99% of the market plays, and that is the mainstream review bread and butter thru advertising.

I have also seen a FAST moving Schreck pause when seeing a tank, and killing it, before continuing to FAST move to its original destination. Lovely when that happens.

Supposedly, according to the article I read, the the use of "..." before and after the easy word makes it hard to crack.

Doncha just love the rationalizations... And the rationalization for being able to dismount from a transport across otherwise impassible bocage? And... and... oh never mind...

As far as I can see the ONLY mods left to do are Axis: 75mm L/46 PaK 76mm L/52 Pak All the 88mm guns and the only vehicle left is the SPW 251/3 (HQ halftrack) (Unless I missed a d/l somewhere.)

I read that something like "...word..." is a harder to crack password than (say) "4$67as9g%l"

Don;t wnat to go over all the old discussion on excessive boggings etc since I understand that BF is looking at the issue re the problem in the line between road and offroad where most of the problems seem to occur... The real issue is that this is a game and it's hard to have fun when your equipment doesn't work - esp campaigns where one can suffer 20%-25% losses each battle thru immobilizations and not taking part in battle.

...And there really is no other game series out there that comes close (even AP), so no real comparisons based on the reasons why we have been playing this thing for what...? 12 years now... Quote: "It may even be boring or frustrating for the typical PC gamer..." Well yes, obviously considering the typical computer game these days and who their market is. The discussion following the article pretty mch pointed out the same flaws in the article and the less than great quality of The Wargamer reviews in general.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/starving-bandaged-bin-laden-offers-us-one-last-cha,166/ With thanks to WeBoB for illuminating this amazing discovery: Osama Bin Laden, like many a terrorist mastermind - Saddam Hussein for example - has employed doubles over the years, and I have it on good authority from my sources within the intelligence community that the man who died in Pakistan was one of these. This is one of the reasons why no definitive proof of the identity of Seal Team Six's most high-profile kill has been, or will be, released. An awful mistake was made in Abbotabad, and several high-level bureaucrats in Washington have very red faces at the moment. Acting on dubious intel received from the proprietor of Hamed's Bollywood Universe Video and Snack Bar, who noticed a suspicious amount of 'adult films' being rented by a reclusive bearded local man, the full resources of America's formidable Just Vengeance Department were deployed, killing a retired CIA asset, Tim Osman, who, it is true, bears an astonishing resemblance to Bin Laden, and in fact worked as a stunt double for the well-known Jihadist in several action films. Tim Osman was co-producer on several of these films, and visited the US in the 1980's with a shopping list of props for one of these Arabic-language blockbusters - entitled 'Body Bags IV'. The Pentagon was pleased to provide him with some surplus equipment, in return for some input into the script. Tim Osman also met with several high-ranking government figures during his trip, and at least one was offered a cameo role in two planned sequel films, 'Body Bags' V and VI. The REAL OBL continues to reside in Tokelau, safe and sound, but is retired from the movie and terrorism business, and spends his time hobby farming and writing a tell-all book about his romances with several well-known female celebrities, including Madonna and Katy Perry. Osama's farm is about 5 miles inland from Nukulakia, on Fakaofu Island of the Tokelau Group. We were chatting via Skype last weekend, and he expressed his regret at Tim Osman's death, but remembers that Osman and his CIA backers stiffed him on Royalty payments several times. Unfortunately, because of this dispute, no more 'Body Bags' films were made after IV, but a rough script outline for 'Body Bags V' can be found here: http://whatreallyhappened...LES/bin_laden_osman.html As you can see, it would have been a classic espionage thriller, with all the elements of a Tom Clancy novel.

never used any of em, and oppos with whom I shared passwords never did either. I think it's just you...

Just started... loving the interesting challenges of the first scenario...

Looking forward to this. Loved the Joker 3 scenario. Wish you'd use that map for other scenarios as well.

Fabulous work... as always. Thanks Aris.