Brent Pollock

Yummmmmm...Valley of Trouble....the hook was driven even deeper into my cheek by two events: 1. dropping a smoke mission on the bunker, which led to a Sherman making it to the rear, blasting the door in. 2. when the [gulp] Panther showed up on the hill....calm down...clam down....think, man, think...sent a Sherman on a fast right hook...2 minutes later, the Panther flank is in sight...no response from the uberkitty...first shot..MISSES (AHHHHHHH)...but still no response...second shot...HITS!!!!!!!!!! HA - try THAT in ASL! [ September 01, 2005, 02:51 PM: Message edited by: Brent Pollock ]

...so...more of a scenario along the lines of scrapping the whole SL/CoI/CoD/GI mish-mash in favour of redoing the whole thing to generate ASL...oh man - it's gonna be great! Along the lines of CMBO "wow" factor, I was mentioning this on the weekend to an ASL chum. I downloaded the CMBO demo, expecting yet another ho-hum, overhead view only click fest along the lines of CC3 or SP that left me feeling that computers still were not the way to play wargames. Egged on by some "come on, Dad" by my son, we opened up the meeting engagement and he watched me run through against the Germans. Stage 1. Hmmm...good view changes. Stage 2. Okay, the command system seems easy enough. Stage 3. Hit GO...watch movie from level 1...cool, but so what...hit GO once or twice more and then...KABOOM...HOLY CRAP...WHAT HIT THAT SHERMAN...AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Stage 4. Never looked back since

...unless we get a Commissar rule

Sorry - nothing showing up in either my CMBB or CMAK folder...nor in the CMAK & CMBB sections of the Proving Grounds.

The "duel" as written in the book, "Enemy at the Gates" is much less cinematic. From memory: (i) Zaitsev and a second sniper go to an area that has reported a lot of sniper hits. (ii) the wait...and wait...and wait...figuring that there's only one or two places he could be hiding. (iii) eventually, the second guy puts himself at risk to draw fire - the German sniper gives away his position and they bag him. It all sounds realistic enough - sniper duty is the epitome of hours of waiting punctuated by brief moments of terror.

Go over to the 5 x 5 wish list thread at the top of the forum and throw it into your "please change this" list.

Okay - knock it off already - I just sent the turn so you can turn your attention to that instead

..but beware that those balance estimates are for 2-player, not 1-player vs AI. 2-player is the way to go anyway.

WWII.1

1. obviously the sound files don't take cover into account (a TC shot in the leg ). 2. You've encountered an oddity in the crewkill scoring system. It seems that crew casualties are not registered until they are forced to abandon the vehicle. So, the PSK gets all the casualties that have been inflicted up to the point of forcing the bail out,and the infantry gets the mop up amount. You can also get incorrect crediting of vehicular kills that seem to be death-clock glitches, although I could be wrong on that one.

Will the "?" value of a HQ unit affect the ability to be spotted by recce? This whole recce issue made my top five "please change" list.

IL-2/Pacific Fighters sends an "unpainted/white painted" file for each aircraft. That's as far as my knowledge goes, because I am "modding-impaired" It also has detailed unit identity graphics. For instance, if you have three flights of four aircraft, they will appear numbered 1 through 12, with the first one even having any special "flight leader" symbols, like the Luftwaffe "<< + -" thing. Each flight has to have the same aircraft type, though, much like CMX1 platoons.

[Apologies if others have already covered these and I don't cite them.] Five top changes: 1. fight the Borg, of course. Relative spotting that also accounts for unit status (e.g. pinned, well rested defender, experience, buttoned, radioless, one man turret, crew casualties, etc.). This should tie in with more realistic command control. Battalion COs can't act willy nilly as platoon leaders. Damage inflicted on higher HQs either increases command delays for subordinates or puts a dent in global morale. Higher level AFV commanders & command vehicle modelling. Daytime friendly fire. 2. QB maps that make some sort of geographic sense or that can randomly modify a human-made map. No orphaned fences/buildings. No lack of water. No heavy stone churches in the middle of the Ukraine, etc.. I am of course, utterly clueless as to how to go about improving this. Perhaps give it some modules to build on (swaths of trees; orchards/fields and farm buildings; tree-lined roads near inhabited areas; Norman walled towns; market areas; swamps/bogs)? 3. Better night effects. Illumination by fires. Dark adaptation blindness. Gunflashes. Trip flares, flare guns & illumination rounds. Blind firelanes. Units lose their bearings and wander off course. Think ASL Chapter E. 4. Scenario stuff: In whatever Operations will morph into, I'd like reinforcements to arrive during the battle, rather than get plopped down at the start. I'd also like to define different entry zones, rather than have to specify Friendly Edges. What I am aiming for is something more akin to the HASL modules in the ASL system. Different VC modes. For instance, recce points for spotting fortifications, heavy weapons, etc., mainly to improve PROBE type battles. A reconnaissance engine that reveals info during set up (front line; fortifications, gun emplacements; foxholes; MG nests, etc.) for Attacks/Battles. Modify the unit purchase engine to permit some randomness. For instance, rather than simply boosting the price of rare units, assign a flat rate for the purchase of a certain type of unit (e.g. ATG, artillery FO, air support, medium AFV platoon, armoured car platoon) and then have the rarity covered by a % chance that it will be the type selected. The Solitaire ASL system is a good example of this. I'd like to use this in scenario design, too, "on turn X, a Veteran medium tank platoon appears here". More terrain types, especially for built up areas (wall heights/robustness, cellars, rooftops, mouseholing, tunnels, trenches into gaps in buildings). 5. General beefing up of "vehicle as solid object" modelling. Improved hull-down/size modelling. Cumulative damage by sufficiently large rounds. Crews can voluntarily abandon then reoccupy (e.g. to scout on foot). Long barrelled weapons have restrictions in close terrain. LOS/LOF blocking. Driving accidents, especially if the driver gets whacked (there seems to be a bit of this already, but the vehicle never gets damaged as a result). Vision port damage & repair. Radio malfs & damage. Top five things not to change: 1. EFOW 2. WEGO 3. ability to do something analogous to the current PBEM. 4. focus on realism instead of arcade. 5. WWII as focus of first release.

...and there doesn't seem to be any accounting for muffling or sound reflection. For instance, next time you're in a built-up area, take notice of how the sound appears to come from the direction of the nearest reflector or open window. I live near the airport, so I experience this one quite a bit; a jet can be out of LOS, and even though I know it is supposed to be on the regular approach path to the east, it can sound as if it is coming from the west as the sound bounces off the buildings. If you're in a heavily wooded area, or in fog/snow, the sound will get muffled. Wind speed and direction should also have an effect. I'd put these higher on my CMX2 wishlist than tracking the movement of the sun/moon throughout the battle. [turn rant mode off]

*BUMP*

I do have a problem with the ease with which I can pick up enemy sound info in CM. It seems to me that you can get details at unrealistic ranges...say, 0.5 km plus...in the middle of a firefight...yet I can have trouble understanding what my kids are yelling at me from somewhere in the house if I have the watertap running?!

I'm guessing that it was an optical illusion, with the "rebounding" PIAT round actually being a Nahverteidigungswaffe round. How is that even possible? HC rounds do not ricochet whatsoever. Shrecks and bazookas are incredibly over modeled in CMBO as well. I remember 180m fantasy shots with shrecks, brewing tanks left and right. They had an insane hit chance ratio which was totally diminished in CMBB, and is probably worse in CMAK. Also, David I your post made me laugh quite a bit. PIATS are ****ty, but yet so awesome. </font>

That's why it's important to purchase/edit in an entire battery, so one gun can be set to face each of N, S, E & W. Obviously not always possible in smaller battles, but air support & the corresponding AA do not tend to be appropriate at smaller point scales anyway.

Good...I was worried.

I also enjoyed the early war focus. I'd add to that that the "single campaign" aspect seemed to be a nice touch.

Dang - those "front hull covered by spare track" bmps don't seem to be improving the survivability any

Captured Panthers

I don't think I played anyone twice...I'd prefer a system that avoided that, possibly by enforcing a mandatory switch with the next lower/upper group...but that could get messy.

Well done everyone, especially the designers - man-o-man, I love driving Pz 38(t)s Seeing as I inflicted more damage but got a lower percentage, I'm guessing that Messrs. Sgt Gold & Walpurgis did not send an entire Pz 38 platoon, one StuG and part of an infantry platoon to their death like I did Those units formed the anvil while the rest came in as the hammer. The anvil group was sent on a high speed left hook through the burning grainfield. The hammer group was only able to rescue the HQ and three infantry teams...at least the anvil took out more than its weight in AFVs, including 2 x T-34. Did anyone else find that the PSWs counted as medium armour in that battle :cool: [ August 17, 2005, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Brent Pollock ]

Love those Maple Leaf decals!