anoldman

Happily plunked down my hard earned money. Can't wait! --AOM

You could rambo, but don't kill the deer while its all struggling in the net with fear/panic/flight... makes the meat tougher. Instead, wait till it calms down then give it a good stealth kill and muscles will remain nice and loose... erm... and, uh, btw, I also am ready to pre-order as soon as window opens... =) Woop, --AOM

I also feel Outback quality slipped in last few years. My wife thinks our tastes have just matured to Morton's, Palm, etc... That said, I did eat at a 'Texas Roadhouse' chain restaurant last week that was like the outback of yester-year i.e. pretty good. Btw, if anybody lives in Alexandria, VA area let me know and I will clue you in to the best steaks in DC/NoVA... My theory is some MBA type gets in there and shaves a nickle off the quality of some portion of their menu or service. Then he/she does quality tests and no-one really picks up on the nickle cut. He then compounds the savings from 600 outbacks X 365 days over a period of 10 years and touts he just saved the company Y million in profit. Of course the problem is that after enough nickle shavings, if you were to compare first product to 12 nickle shavings you would overwhelmingly pick first product over crappy nickle shaved current product. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me though... Just charge me an extra dollar or two and give me good food. Leave lowest common denominator chow to the fast food joints... My two cents... --AOM

What does 'Yodl' mean? ..a tie? Are your games all by email or do you play mostly TCP connection games? (Grew up in Coeur d' Alene btw... Go Idaho! ...where even the democrats are pro-gun rights...) --AOM

SO… just thought I would see what’s currently playing on other’s computers. I am going through a nostalgia period while I wait for some new games to arrive on the shelves. Anyhoo, mine is below: Finished recently: (pc) S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Great game and I had a lot of fun although fps usually not my ‘thing’. I always seem to enjoy post-apocalyptic stuff... (pc) C&CIII – Didn’t really hold the magic for me anymore. I think I am just getting to old for current ‘frantic’ style rts’s. Was fun to play for awhile though… Currently playing: (pc) War on Folvos – basically a sci-fi remake of Panzer General I but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Having fun with it so far, it is turn based. (pc) UFO: Extraterrestrials – XCOM remake that I am really enjoying, it is also turn based. (ds) Etrians Odyssey – Wizardry remake that is a lot of fun. U actually draw your maps on the ds with your stylus. Definitely a grinder like Wizardry but I am having fun with it. Waiting for: (psp) Dungeons and Dragons: Tactics, looks really good and is turnbased/3.5 rules based so should be good. On the other hand DnD as a cprg seems a hit or miss kind of thing. (psp) Warhammer 40k: Squad Command: Just announced but is turnbased wh40k that supposedly mirrors the tabletop game. (pc) Crysis: will probably need a new computer to play but looks awesome (fps). (pc) Hellgate London: still not certain. Love the idea of Diablo dabbled with some sci-fi but I am not sure that is really what this is. We’ll see though, it is a talented dev team for sure so should be good… (pc) SC2 Weapons and Warfare: Of course... Waffling on: (pc) Lord of the Rings Online: I just don’t know. Being older I just don’t have as much time for regular 4-6 hour sessions every night (Lol, be lucky to get 1hr let alone 2 of uninterrupted gameplay…). On the other hand it seems like reviews are uniform about how good it is. *shrug*, still waffling… So that’s it for me. What about you? --AOM :cool: [ June 20, 2007, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: An Old Man ]

Lol... NM... just saw DD's thread... reading now... =)

**Deleted due to seeing DD's ROLFMAO post below...** --AOM

Well, not sure what I can do to help but feel free to send me the files and what you would like me to test. silvercourage[at]hotmail.com Looks awesome! Definitely like the idea. Woot! --AOM

That... looks... awesome... *drools*... --AOM

Good read! Thanks Terif and JJR! --AOM :cool:

Well... it's not a bad catch... It's no Major-Bug-in-'39-Surrender-Script kind of catch, but it ain't to shabby neither... ...*joke*... --AOM :cool:

Ok, so I admit before you read any further that I lied in the title to get you to read my post. Truth is, it's really not all that 'major'. In my excitement over the possibility of being recognized in one of Hubert's future patches I might have exaggerated the significance of my bug find just a little bit. Ok, here is the offending snippet of the Surrender script... Right there! Bang! :eek: Pow! Bam! oh the horror of it all... ... ... ... ...well erm, you see, "Independence" is spelled wrong... That's it! But hey! Admit it! "An Old Man" recognition will be appearing in a patch notes coming soon to a computer near you... I mean this qualifies as patch quality stuff, right? I mean maybe not an emergency issue of 1.05 or anything but... And me with my old man eyesight all bad and everything... Ok, that's all folks. You may now return to your regularly scheduled message board trolling... Wo0+! --AOM [ September 13, 2006, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: An Old Man ]

Thanks as well to n0kn0ck and R.J. for image assistance... --AOM

You rock Terif! Thanks for clarifying. --AOM

Yep, thanks n0kn0k... Space in between is supposed to be there. File is named "River tiles.jpg" Thanks for trying though. One of the odd bits about it is that it works on other messages boards cut-n-paste as is! Mystery... --AOM

Hmm... Can someone tell me why my image won't display here? I tried other message boards and it displays fine? Same for my URL code? Thanks for any help... --AOM

I was hoping some of you all could clarify a question for me regarding crossing and attacking across rivers. (U = Unit) River Tiles 1.) If U1 attacks U2 will U1 suffer a 50% attacker combat strength loss? 2.) If U2 attacks U1 will U2 suffer a 50% attacker combat strength loss? 3.) If U2 moves into Square 3, will U2 pay an additional action point for crossing a river? 4.) If U3 moves into Square 2, will U3 pay an additional action point for crossing a river? Thanks for clarifying, --AOM *hmm... No image for me? [ September 12, 2006, 06:44 AM: Message edited by: An Old Man ]

I like the timer! A lot! Lol, I do like the timer. Adds pressure. I like 10 min timers for the '39 game. 10 mins can go by quick but it keeps game moving and causes some mistakes to be made. Everyone has a solid opening set of moves down, but as game goes on the plans go to hell and the 'generalship' of the players shines through. That's my piece on timers. --AOM :cool:

Hmm... ack. This is the second time I have heard Blashy say that Sealion is impossible vs. any decent player. I disagree. I consider myself a decent player and have the initial landings of a Sealion on my allied shore that I believe will ultimately be successful. I did not bring the UK Med Navy up to UK I left them in Med, perhaps no decent player would do this? It may in the end cost my axis opponent far more than he gains, but that doesn't mean he can't take the isles. After France, use the german fighters (3) based on the north shore of France in combination with two (maybe 3) subs, and three cruisers. Launch initial flights of infantry corps as amphibs from all three French ports. If Britain comes down to attack amphibs, you begin blasting with the two subs and three cruisers and three aircraft. You are going to win that naval battle over a few turns and U.K. does not have the cash to repair. The risk of the amphib corps means that UK must garrison all 3 UK cities. German corps land and force UK bomber and air to retreat to the north. With losses due to air intercepts and then a corps attack, the UK air is likely pummeled. Next turn (or two) use the 3x air and ground attacks to cut off London, land German HQ's, take London begin to press north... I am not saying it can be done fast, but I believe that it can be done and done against a 'decent' player. Remember that as UK you are also dealing with the Med (Italians) and Spain. You can get stretched to thin with UK resources and caught short. I think it now forces the UK to spend additional monies up front for homeland defense instead of R&D, or Diplo (US). Even then, I think unless UK begins the game bolstering home defenses at the expense of other actions, it will be vulnerable. Finally, I did not say this Sealion was a good decision on behalf of Axis, but I think they *can* take England main after France if they really want to. I would be interested to know how this is impossible. I admit I am not a grognard of WWII or wargames, but if the goal of axis is simply to take the English isles I think they can? Did you mean instead that it is 'impossible' because it will ultimately spell an axis loss against a decent player? I agree with that. But the idea that it is simply impossible I think is incorrect. I could drain all resources for England defense, but then where would that leave me ala Spain or the Med? I agree it may be a long term axis mistake, but I don't think I will be able to stop him from taking England in the short run. --AOM --Definitely not a Grognard, and maybe not a 'decent' player... dang, I thought I was at least decent...

So, awhile back I was playing a PBeM game as the allies and was slowly losing the '39 game as we advanced into, oh, I think it was '42-'43 or so. As I was clicking through my save games to load my opponent's turn, I clicked on my previous turn (to be sent to him for his turn) and as I realized my error and I was about to click cancel, the thought of enigma came into my head and I typed it in as the password. Now before I go any further let me state a few things upfront: First, I am not in the habit of 'cracking' my opponents passwords. I play my games upfront and DO NOT re-play turns as much as I painfully squirm in my seat over a tank unit that I pressed to far or an Eisenhower HQ transport that runs into a German sub in the voyage across the Atlantic. Second, the bottom line is that you can 'cheat' in PBeM a number of ways but after awhile you realize you are only cheating yourself. So with my moral fiber defended I resume my story... it worked! Lol, I laugh even now. The password gained me access to the Axis turn. I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair. I ran around like a crazy man laughing so hard. I now had perfect intelligence of my opponents disposition, albeit, a turn behind. My honor demanded that I surrender to my opponent (played I out I felt he would have won) but asked that we continue to play, and here is my minor guilt, I did not tell him I had 'cracked' his enigma password. I was really curious as to how and if I could leverage this intelligence breakthrough to turn the war around. In the end we only played a few more turns (I think a patch came out), but it was a very exciting experience and it was a lot of fun to have day-old/one-turn-behind intelligence on your opponents disposition of forces. Just thought I would mention. It was an interesting twist for me. The golden egg of intelligence was dropped in my lap on a wrong click and a whim. I wish we could have played it out. Might be a way to re-balance a game if needed in PBeM I guess (send opponent your password while not knowing his). Anyhoo, just thought I would share the story. My opponent will remain anonymous but it was a crazy twist and ultimately was one of the funnest games I had played overall. Enigma re-created on a grand scale. W0o+! --AOM

Part of the fun of the game is the 'what if' scenarios. Are you stating that Spain should not join Axis because: a) Thats not how it actually happened Spain for historic reasons would never have joined c) It so skews the game balance in axis favor as to make the game less fun d) All of the above Just curious as to the 'why?' behind your post. --AOM

Good stuff Terif! Appreciate the insights! --AOM

Male, 35 Arlington, Virginia, USA

One issue with AA is what AA means. I think of bombers flying through bursts, but I also think of AA machineguns blazing away at fighters. I would like some way to equip my forces with increased AA capability vs. tech boosted fighter aircraft. Sort of like ZSU-23-2, and -4's or maybe quad .50's? Some games I have played, Germany invests heavily in Advance Aircraft. One of the challenges of the game for the allies is certainly, where will Germany invest? Subs? Air? Tanks? All three can really influence the war. Problem is that as the Allies, my MPP flow is so restricted that I can only really pick one to 'counter'. Tech investments reward those who invest heavily in an area. Basically, the only counter to advanced air is advanced air. Russians though for example, they have a lot of infantry. I can boost them to counter Hvy Tanks but not fighters, and my Russian tanks get decimated by air. I appreciate that some of the answer is play style. Invest russian costs in Adv. Aircraft and buy planes. I guess my question would be, did they have Anti-Aircraft companies back then? I would certainly love to invest in vehicles with quad mounted .50's or equivalent and attach them to my units. Wasn't Advance Fighters an issue in SC1? Love the game, seems like it would be nice to upgrade ground units to resist fighters a bit more. Maybe that is completely ahistorical though. Maybe it would ruin gameplay to allow ground units increased air-defense upgrades? I don't know. --An Old Man

So... I downloaded ICQ, installed, added 2 pages of ICQ numbers. Very neat! Question: I put everyone under my 'Strategic Command' grouping in ICQ, is there a way to send a message to everyone in a group? i.e. "Hey, anybody up for a game?..." Also, is there an option to have a Strategic Command 'chat room' type place? I appreciate the BF message boards are sort of like that, but I guess I was thinking something a little more real-time where little quick questions, or general discussions could be had? I thought that is what ICQ was? Thanks for helping the ICQ newb. --An Old Man (AOM)