Juha Keratar

I have to say, it's good to see a lot of new fellow überfinns on the boards now that CMBB is out. Pelatkaa perkele minunkin puolesta, kun ite ei pysty. Kone ei riitä, siinä olisi aika hyvä syy päivittää. -Juha

I really like Wolf's grass. Nice looking, shows elevations well, and lores - which is very important for us with slow computer. IIRC Wolf was working on a hires version of the grass mod, don't know if he finished it. -Lunael

And old joke here in Lapland is that German tourists should be asked "Rauchen Sie Marlboro oder Rovaniemi?" -Lunael

I'd rather see a remake of another Dani Bunten's game, Global Conquest. It was (and still is) a great grand scale strategy game, with a system much like CM's. There really hasn't been a good Empire-style game out for some time. -Lunael

Parabellum: Gods! You shouldn't have mentioned that 21-year old Glenfarclas. I really haven't tasted many single malts (more than average drinker, I think though) but that stuff was godsend. And I know absolutely no place near me where I can get it - nearest I know is on the southern coast of Finland. Mike: Unless I'm completely mistaken he is referring to "Tuntematon sotilas", (Unknown Soldier in English), a classic Finnish book by Väinö Linna. It's set in the Continuation War. Won't translate that though. For myself, I'll probably have to drink myself unconscious to escape having to live with a computer that won't run CMBB... -Lunael

IIRC all textures in CMBB are hires, which increases the size when comparing with CMBO demo. -Lunael

Actually, I disagree. My own experiences (I was trained as a platoon leader when I served my year in Finnish army) are that leading even a platoon can be extremely chaotic. Getting people do what you want wasn't an easy chore, when the platoon was in contact and "bullets" were flying the air. And this without real bullets and shrapnel flying and people dying. On platoon level though CM does fine job, as there is a clear effect and benefit in keeping your squads in HQ contact. Upwards from that, in company level for example, the player has things way too well in his hands. In a way it cannot be helped, it comes with CM being a game (you have to make a compromise between playability, fun and modeling of battlefield realities), and part with the fact that spotting model is absolute, not relative. But on the battlefield the units are too well under player's command. It's unrealistically easy to organize actions, giving orders to every single unit, and change plans within a moment. In a word, CM force is a way too flexible. But as I said, it's a game. I could live with bigger command delays, that would alleviate this "problem" somewhat, but other than that I can't really come up with a good way of modelling commanding during combat. Hopefully I made some sense. -Lunael

Just a few thoughts from a demo player. Remember, whenever thinking about how "realistic" the game is, and what should be changed, that SC is a somewhat abstracted game to start with, and some compromises probably have to be made. Naturally I'd like to see Finland that can stand on it's own against early Russian assault for a time, or effectively attack with Germany if it comes to that, on its own small front, but if this cannot be achieved by reasonable changes in patches, so be it. There's always a danger that instead on underpowered, Finns would become overly strong. Having a HQ (is it even possible to have one, as unlike Germany and Italy Finland doesn't accumulate MPP?) could be exactly this, if it allowed Finns to attack to the Urals. Probably not good either. Just my two cents. And please, do keep the flames down, I've seen a few Finn-flamewars in general forum in the year and a half I've been lurking and posting here - they ain't pretty. -Lunael

This is good to know. Tournaments organized here have been one of the brightest things about this community, and after last month's small troubles I got a little afraid for their future... Keep up the good work. I'm starting to think that bowing out of RoW II was a big mistake, as Nordic CM Champhionships were my best CM experience so far, hands down. -Lunael

A game where actual realworld tactics work. Turn mechanics that avoid pretty much all the problems of the normal "wego" games. 3D enviroment that is way more than just a visual gimmick. Active online community full of ideas, opponents and discussion. -Lunael

Amazing job, kump. -Lunael

I think someone asked about finnish CM tournament? I actually organize one at the moment, on Pelit-magazine's WWW-board. It has already started, though. -Lunael

It is possible to cheat during setup? I don't think I want to know how. What I would like is somekind of "honor-PBEM" system, for playing against those opponents you _know_ won't cheat, a system with less PBEM-files thrown around. If on player could plot his turn, watch the replay immediately, plot the second turn and send the file to his opponent, who would watch the previous turn, plot his second turn, watch the second turn, plot the third turn... etc. duration of PBEM games could be cut down somewhat. -Lunael

First player gives orders to his units, saves the game, sends the save to his friend, who gives orders and processes the turn? We actually have 16 player game going on at the moment, which I'm organizing. 11 player US force (1 regiment commander, two battalion commanders, six company commanders and two tank platoons) attacks 5 player German force (one battalion commander, 3 company commanders, one tank platoon). Naturally the pace is really slow when you cycle the savegames this way, especially now when it's summer, but hopefully players enjoy it. Both sides have a private WWW forum where commanders give orders to their subordinates, and I'm really on my toes as soon enough there will be intense fighting... -Lunael

Well, I trust that CMBB will realistically model every aspect of überfinn combat prowess. And if it doesn't we'll model it perfectly anyway by playing the game only against you foreigners. But back to the topic: does the theatre affect anything else besides map? Units one can buy definitely, I don't expect to see Finnish troops in other theatres than arctic (after all, Germany lost there ), but what else? Weather? I assume that certain axis allies won't be found on all fronts, but any ideas which ones will be where? Also, the german unit selections in arctic area should realistically be somewhat limited, to the troops operating in Lapland. -Lunael Cure : Cut

Kump: No problem with the picture sizes, as they are what they are for a good reason. Besides, bigger pictures usually are available at the sites hosting the mods. Having practically free broadband connection (10 Mbit) and a modest amount of free space on internet kind of dulls one to realities. -Lunael

Excellent, that catalogue is really a useful resource. Definitely the place I point newbies looking for good mods to from now on. The pictures in the catalogue could be a tad bigger though, something to consider for (hopefully) upcoming catalogues for allied equipment perhaps? Or is it an issue with available disk space? -Lunael

Thanks for the clarification Steve. That I won't find name "SS" from the game is such a trivial thing that it can easily be overlooked, especially when I perfectly understand the reasons for the difference. My initial fear, though I didn't really believe it would be true, was that there would have been bigger differences in content. -Lunael

Just a clarification please: the differences between US CMBB and UK CMBB, when it comes to SS and stuff, are in manual, packaging etc. only? Or is there an actual difference in what is in the game, ie. SS omitted entirely? :confused: This definitely interests me, as I'm under the CDV distribution... -Lunael

Manual in Finnish too? Interesting, to say the least. Now if only my computer would run the game. -Lunael

Thanks Diceman, but there's a little distance problem here. Anyway, playing CMBO certainly isn't as bad as one might think with this old rig. Bigger scenarios are little slow to run, but I don't play big scenarios anyway. The scale I enjoy, battalion of infantry with max of company armor, runs ok. Of course, I can't be too liberal with modding the game. I've been keeping my eyes open for used computers, and here in Finland it's pretty easy to find something like 800 MHz machine cheap. I trust I'll be playing CMBB next winter. -Lunael

166 MHz AMD, 32 Mb memory, 12 Mb Voodoo 2 as 3D-card, and the results shown on 14" Panasync. And yes, it won't run CMBB, and I won't be updating my hardware anytime soon. -Lunael

I don't want to hijack the thread or anything, but if seeing the elevations is important to you, but can't stand the grid mods, do try the Wolf's grass and snow mods. They show differences very well, and still remain pleasing to the eye. -Lunael

I perhaps acted with too much haste. After thinking about the time commitment this tourney would take, I'll bow out at this point. Sorry about the hassle, Treeburst. -Lunael

Actually, in January 2001 when I visited Viipuri (don't know the english spelling) in Russia, right over the Finnish border, I saw pirated copies of CM on sale there... -Lunael