Les the Sarge 9-1b

Oh come on guys. Do I need to ask for someone to send me an email when the usual silliness dies down? The forums are looking good the last few days

Kuni I actually like the look of that map myself. I liked the way the map for the old game Patton Strike Back was done. It was basically just a map image. The units were movement constrained like they always are, but it was in your face obvious. I have looked at the mods for the counters, some look kinda neat, but I have to admit, Hubert did a nice job in the first place. If you compare the original map for Third Reich with the paper mapsheet done for Advanced Third Reich, you get the same result, that asking for the SC map to be drawn a slight bit different entails. But in the end, both would be defacto retro in style ie maps with hexes and uniform terrain design. I find it refreshing though, to hear you guys can "like" a game, even if it is not bells and whistles.

I have some active threads out there in the worlds I wander. I am wondering, how many people here actually give a damn, that SC has a 1970's looking wargame mapboard look. Does it bother you that the game looks so dated? Is anyone here living in fear, that someone will find out they play a game that looks more like a board game than a computer game? Just wondering. [ January 17, 2003, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Les the Sarge 9-1b ]

Everyone knows you can find anything online in some capacity. Mentioning it should not get anyone irritated, showing where might though. I am still wondering if my friend was kidding when he saw someone selling their sister.

I like the notion of a league in a general way. I think grouping players by time zones has merit. It should be remarked though, some of us can be active in the morning to respond to our opposites that are experiencing their evening. I have encountered this effect while chatting online. I never chat with 2 slices of the world just for this reason. When I am asleep I miss a slice of the world due to me being well you know asleep. There is always going to be some of us intrinsically available, but always some just plain not available.

If anyone ever wants to play me they can. I likely suck, and I don't spend much time on moves, because I learn more in 10 frantic games then I do in one dragged out thoughtful one. I play based on feelings, and I rarely bother to get into technical games. No one is going to learn any "Gambit" games off of me, but they will have to accept I sometimes get lucky. The only time I read a manual, is when all my cool moves seem to suck hehe. I learn from my mistakes, and I prefer to make as many as fast as possible. Why wait till SC2 comes out to play the game a dozen times eh.

I ended up at Battlefront while checking out CM. I tried the CM demo but decided it was not my bag (I just don't want the detail that close up really is all). I must have been slumming a bit after that. Probably was involved in comments about CM or just came back to a site I now knew of. Saw the demo one day by accident I guess. Downloaded the demo and thought, "hey looks like A3R". I was not entirely sold on it for a long time (I still want to be able to stack air naval and a ground unit). But I have the game, and it plays fine enough.

To me "patch" means a fix for broken software. "Patch" should never have anything to do with my opinion of balance or whether I think some element such as subs or jets is done wrong. Now I think the term "version" has some merits. I played Third Reich and loved it when it was just Third Reich. And inevitably there were a few wordings that needed fixing. Errata is ancient wargame slang for pacth I suppose. They made 4 editions of Third Reich, but only 2 "versions". The 5th edition is actually version 2 Advanced Third Reich. New better map, new better counter mix, totally new Diplomacy rules. and the manual is essentially not "patched" ie employing errata, it was totally rewritten. When people say they like Third Reich, they are not automatically being clear enough. I no longer like Third Reich per se. I will only play Advanced Third Reich. Me I have not really got any problem with playing SC just as it is. The only reason to "patch" it, is if the game's software doesn't function. The best route to go, if the game design doesn't meet your needs, is to encourage Hubert to speed on the process of making version 2 (and not just asking for yet another tweak of the simulation). Each time Hubert goes in and "tweaks" the game, he risks creating more bugs that will require genuine "patches". The man could end up fiddling with the game for ever (or at least several more months or years). Far better for a game designer, to make the game inherently tweakable by the user with a decent editor in the first place. I wish all wargames were done this way I suppose. To date, it seems all games out there are always "in need" of tweaking by someone. [ January 11, 2003, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: Les the Sarge 9-1b ]

What I know about ladders ratings and such can be summed up as bugger all. But has anyone yet thought of checkingout any sites that do feature this sort of thing yet? This site is one I know of that might be able assist in setting something up for the SC mob. http://www.theblitz.org/index.php Like I said, I know squat about how to make the tournament work right, but a quick email to these guys (or others like them) might be the fastest way to get the bestest answers

Multi dimensional? do you mean as in differing map scales? ie current scale for Europe, but a greatly enlargened scale for Pacific and abstracted scales for some of the worlds dead spots (no tactical merit to map out in detail). If that is what you mean, I think it has merit enough to ponder.

Is that name suposed to be Keegan? an otherwise very well written historian.

What embarasses me, is I liked the game initially, then slagged it about for a while bacause it dropped the ball and wasn't actual A3R. But in looking back, and seeing the game measured against a host of other games on the market, I have to admit, the game has pulled off, what I think a lot of others might have done, but decided flash bang sold better. Hubert mastered the KISS principle in his game too. You CAN make a good game, and not sell out to the flashy graphic scene.

Ok negativity, I have had a large dose of that today, so I want to offer something positive today if it kills me. I want you guys to think hard and offer some comments on what is positive about SC, right now, right here. This version, not version SC2. And for the guys that have been here like forever, hmmm try to avoid the cliche already said to death comments. Leave them for the new guys. Me I want to say thanks Hubert for making a game that is small in file size. I want to say thanks for making the game look like a board game. I want to say thanks for making a game that is obviously not demanding of my computer (no upgrade required). I want to say thanks for not including any features that have nothing to do with running a wargame (such as imbeded films). I like how you have made a game that has not been yet another major purchase. 25 bucks, and your game is the equal of anything else out there.

The only downside of doing global, is that you can't just say, "oh no one would ever need that part of the map". That and well you might have noticed the planet is round heheh (currently in a game of SC the world is square shaped and kinda flat looking hehe). I bring up a valid worry though. I recall watching the game Squad Leader get improved with Cross of Iron. Suddenly armour was awesome. Then with Crescendo of Doom infantry was now awesome. And you had British finally. They finished off with GI Anvil of Victory and an attempt to ratify all the neat developments. But the wheel wobbled a lot. So they remade the whole game as ASL. But that is just it, they had to remake the whole game. It is a great game, but you ain't seen nothing till you look at the expense of buying all of ASL hehe. Anyway. It will be a big task to do global right straight off, but it might also be worth it. Taking to many baby steps, might only force everyone to eventually have to start all over with a really big effort to get it to all fit together as a unified whole. If that isn't a problem, then I guess it isn't much to worry about either.

Bill my comment about the Pacific being a troublesome add on might go on to be a troublesome add on though if it is not done under a unified game though. We all have heard of the numerous tweaks we would like, and while doing all those tweaks, what better time to add the needed concessions to a Pacific setting. I am not sure about the game being able to handle the Pacific, but I would find it better to try with the whole game at once, than hope for it to manage as an outsde option. Off topic, hmm I went out for a couple of hours for some fresh air, and the forums went apparently nuts???? Havent seen that many locks on page one ever before???? As it has been done for me, I would like to extend the same for another. Kuni I hope you hang around. I like a social setting myself in a forum. This forum has it's looney moments, but it went out of its way to make sure I felt welcome. To date, because of encountering cool individuals on forums, I have been sent free of expense to me the cds for Mega Campaign Desert Fox and Mega Campaign WatchTower both for Steel Panthers. I have an indivdual that has a spare Close Combat 2 that he is sending me. No these are not pirate copies either (just so we are clear on that), its the genuine article. These individuals have possibly tired of them and are merely wishing to let me have them, but still it has been a very nice gesture. My copy of SC was a gift as well eh. I would never want a forum to be just a cold factual collection of impersonal threads.

Hmmm was not aware the demo was full function internet and all that, not that it matters now for me I guess. Hmm in favour of buying the game, one comment I can make, that might sound odd coming from me, but oh well I can live with it, the price is 25 bucks eh. Now compare that 25 dollar price with eeeeeeeeevery other game on the shelf out there (no not includng the junk in the bargain bin of course). I have seen games that can be slagged 7 ways to sunday, and they cost 3 times the price in some cases too. Perhaps the most significant thing Battlefront has done, with SC, is show that a game can actually be made without the usual price tag. Not sure if the price has anything to do with SC not possessing a lot of the usual flash, but hey, if it is cheaper due to a lack of a lot of the usual flash, then I say that sure does a lot to support my well known condemnation of the usual flash now doesn't it. [ January 09, 2003, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: Les the Sarge 9-1b ]

Hmmm I must say, I like how changing a thread name can really help things stay on a useful track hehe.

No there is no future for me in politics, I haven't mastered lying yet. I would like to play SC2 in the Pacific, but I have lost track of how many games that were great in Europe, but when the shift to the Pacific was made, the two games were hard to match up (according to a lot of noise from the fans at least). I am unsure if SC would be any different. I think to do SC2, and if the Pacific is to be included, it would be best to model the game as a global simulation right from the start. Otherwise SC risks the same debacle that happened with Rising Sun. Rising Sun had some nice design innovations, but they are likely still having trouble mating the two together (I got bored of the whole process a year or so back while following GW2K). If SC2 is a radical shift in designs, then it would be the right time to alter any characteristics to allow for the very different environment that the Pacific will require. The first most obvious detail will be how invasions are handled. Carriers will be more a dominate design element, and the naval game will have to be expanded upon (that is just to obvious but I said it anyways). HQs will have to function differently, and supply will have to alter. That and the corps as the smallest unit just won't work. Otherwise, marine assaults will just not be possible.

Ok the other thread was locked, I'm not surprised or annoyed though (almost asked for it myself). I won't be concerned ie angry, if this one gets locked as well. But I hope it is not seen as a negative post, it is not meant to be. I have been trying to re evaluate some of my activities. Some I have found to be of questionable worth, to me, personally. That is not an indictment of this or any other forum, or the game(s) contained in them, it's merely me saying I have not been putting a lot of thought into what I have been doing lately. I am indeed a board gamer. I am probably a minority in my preference for board games over computer games. That is just me. Some people have actually gone out of their way to imply I have feelings of superiority because I like board games more. I just like board games more. I also like brunnettes instead of blondes eh. I have pondered the worth of SC, commented on the worth of SC, and watched and observed comments on the worth of SC. I have not always been right. But I feel I have on occasion made valid comments. The fact that SC is not a board game will always be a factor, but it is not the end of the world. I have the game now of course. I am not constrained by the limits of the demo (although as demos go, it was perhaps the first demo of a game I have ever had any real use for). I play it occasionally, I never play any computer game excessively though. I have not always been a big fan of the forum here in the past, but then after some consideration, I have found some of my other forums have not been wholely satisfying recently as well. I will say, that of all the forums I have wandered, since I decided to check out anything other than the one I call home base, this one has put the best effort out, to ask me to stay. Guys if you read any part of this message, read this part, I am saying thanks for the guys that thought to ask me to stay. I am not saying those guys are are better than the rest, just because they asked one grumpy old board gamer to stay either. But they have made the effort, and made me think it is worth hanging around. The forum here has perhaps the most extreme wild cards I have encountered on a routine basis, every family has odd balls. Ok enough said. Please don't fret over making this thread more than it needs to be. I just wanted to make as clear as possible, I have no personal grudge against the forum the game or anything else. [ January 09, 2003, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: Les the Sarge 9-1b ]

Weeeeeeeeeell there has to be at least some point to buying the game doesn't there?

Friends are easy to make, all you have to do is decide you want them eh. Jim Boggs made a friend in me. It was fairly easy to do.

Why is his wife looking for him, did he forget to take out the garbage or something? Hopefully he is busy in front of his computer and not pondering where we are

I am likely the most skeptic person on this forum (ask anyone they will say yes Les is the least likely to say anything nice). The demo give you a good taste in my opinion. It doesn't play long, but it is not a stunted version, The full version gives you more campaigns and more time (the whole war I guess), but the demo is not missing anything. If you like the demo, then you like the game.

Bill I DO have the game, I AM playing it, and you ARE one of the few reasons. For all that, the SC community at least owes you some small measure of thanks I suppose. I don't know if Jim Boggs is JJ and I could care less. Someone named Jim Boggs said he would like me to stay. He sounded genuine. So I am confused by your post just here Bill. As I mentioned plainly for all to see, and knowing that others can occasionally see my postngs elsewhere on pother forums abroad (and see the dates and times when I posted), I was surprised to see Jim Boggs banned not moments after he was able to successfully get me to reconsider perhaps, the SC forum. I am not in love with SC in a few ways (but even our most rabid fans in here want some adhjustments), the fact it is even on my computer at all though is saying alot more for it that a lot of other games. I don't know if I will have a lot of detailed analysis for the forum in the future, I don't get that analytical with computer wargames. I measure a computer wargame by, did it do something hopelessly dumb over and over. Did it make my best moves seem necessary, because otherwise I would not have won. Is the game user friendly to run. Can I run it against another friend hotseat mode. Is it turn based. After that, my analysis is usually done. I don't get to far into the realm of technical details. That sort of stuff just doesn't excite me, I am happy to let another do that and report on their findings. If someone says such and such a side is biased, then back up the comments for analysis. Present them for others of a similar sort (that likes to engage in detailed analysis), and then bring them to the communities attention. If that person has a good track record for accuracy in these matters then I will accept their opinion. Some don't like making decisions based on anothers opinion, me i am not one of those insistent skeptics though. I prefer to make choices based on the opinions of people I trust. You Bill are a die hard A3R player, your opinion matterrs to me.

I don't generally like these "mods" things. Not sure why, must be the air. But hmmm a mod for Combat Mission is not the same to me as neat new counters. I like the images myself. Think I will download them and mess about a bit.