kingtiger

Scott, Yes I will be whipped. your comment is why I argue for limited playback time (3 passes of forward only) and argue against: crunching numbers and writing stuff on paper and playing chess instead of war. Richard Kalajian

Scott, Hi. ______________________________________ kingtiger: "I want less information and you want more." Scott Clinton: I don't think so. I think we both want the same amount of information. Only that which a real commander would have. I just would like to use the PCs vast ablility to organize it instead of taking notes... __________________________________________ Reply: I really want to miss some of the information presented. Example, the game may present three squads moving across the field of battle. I may have a machine gunner drilling them and they are saying, "Medic and heads are bobbing backwards". NOW, during the playback and presentation of this information I may only see this relatively large force moving across the battle field towards a rather poorly protected building and then... I may not take the time to zoom in and see that they are taking a whooping and may soon end up suppressed. Therefore, I will have missed presented information and may withdraw my minimal force from that particular building in an effort to preserve their lives. This is an example where the information was rather clearly presented, but I missed it. I truly do want this to happen. I like it. Therefore, your statement tht i think we want the same amount of information is innacurate. I truly like the idea of missing information and not having to make decisions based on every available piece of information. We clearly differ in our approach to wargaming. You would whoop me one-on-one, but I will still have a ton-o-fun. Ohh and another thing, I really can't comment on what information a real commander would have in making command and control decisions at this level of battle. Please comment on that. My guess (Big Guess) is that CM provides the most realistic quantity and quality of information relative to a real-world commanders knowledge, especially considering 30 minutes of skirmish. Now I'm tapping you for information. How much information did the Commander (don't know who that would have been) have in the end-scene of Private Ryan? Probably a bad example. Sicnerely, Richard Kalajian

Hagen, It sounds like you really want tons of information to use for making the command and control decisions prior to each turn. I am opposed to you in your desire to have that much information for making decisions. I feel if it were present I would not like the game as much. Why? One thing I really dislike about most of the wargames I have played is the incredible amount of useful information presented in order for me to make command and control decisions. If it is presented I need to use it. But, I don't want to have too much information. In CM I like to watch once, twice and maybe three times to see the action take place. I make overall assumptions about the status of each battle area. I then move each unit and target the defenses. Quick and simple. I think that missing information is a valuable part of the game and a very realistic simultaion of real-world battle. If all the information was present, my opponents would use it and whip me every time. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

Scott, Hi. I think I agree on hearing "Medic" yelled from 200M. I strongly disagree on including the Overall Screen to improve the lurning curve as sufficent reason to provide. I had an AXIS total Victory my first time out. I would say that the current amount of information presented and the presentation format / interface is sufficient even for beginning users. I also strongly disagree with spending an hour to view a turn and vote for restrictions on this type of information gathering for PBEM. Why? I really think that missing information is a value-add for the game play. I am really opposed to spending so much time and making decisions based on too much information. I have an opposite view than yours and just thought I would post it. I want less information and you want more. Of course, one-on-one you would smoke me like a fine Cuban cigar. But, I am looking for a realistic simulation not a chess match. Just my opinion. sincerely, Richard Kalajian

Ghost One, Sorry, I misunderstood. I am, however, still opposed to providing more information than is already presented in CM. In fact, for PBEM, I would like to see the playback limited to several forward-only passes only. I think that missing information is a value-add part of the game by enhancing FOW. It really makes number-crunching and attack-ratios and stuff like that less of a part of the game. Imagine the real-world situation: Machine gun team firing on infantry squad. Infantry squad running, machine gun firing. Infantry squad gone. Yelling begins: Machine Gunners: "Yeahh Baby - You Dead" Infantry team near by: "what's up?" Machine Gunners: "We shot that infantry team to pieces over by the tree line" Infantry team: Are yah sure?" Machine Gunners: "Ummhh, I think so" Infantry team: "Come on you morons, tell me, Are they all dead, cuz me and my buddy from Boot camp are heading to that tree-line and I wanna know for sure" Machine Gunners: "I don't know - I think so" Just a real-world example of why I don't like too much information. I want to be unsure in a war game. It is more realistic. Now, back to my non-grognard non-flaming slightly antagonistic opinion of markers and stuff for dead men. Hmmmm. Nahh, I still don't like em. And I like dead bodies all over the place even less. I have an aversion to the markers due to marker use in CC. In CC-series I could never get into the game, clicking on dead bodies and trying to get them to move was pretty irritating, and it really makes the battle field unmanageable, especially for an RTS. I really don't know if that feature could be toggled. Oh and another thing Ghost, I'm not trying to badger you, I just have a viewpoint. And it just happens to be opposite of yours. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

WOW. Awesome! Richard Kalajian

Take Mikester's description above and say the events occured in turns 27-30. Afterwards, I did view the map and every single American platoon was shaken, broken, panicked and beaten down like a nail into wood. I think the Platoon Leaders and Company HQ's were the only remaining soldiers with significant Morale to attack. Richard Kalajian

GhostOne, POINT: The suggestion for the Overall Screen (OS) you made above. COUNTER-POINT: Just a little food for thought on the Overall Screen for unit death reporting. Let's assume you were the commander. Let's assume that reports are fed back through some chain of command back to you. Let's also assume that this is done every 60 seconds. Now let's assume that all the 200+ men and vehicles are accounted for. Let's assume that every platoon and every unit and everyone in the chain of command is able to gather this information every 60 seconds and then feed it up the chain of Command. Let's say that every one of the 200+ soldiers has..... Wait a minute it's already far too unrealistic to expect any one to provide this information especially in the heat of some of the battles I have witnessed. And I say, "If it's unrealistic in war, than it's unrealistic for the CM". Richard Kalajian

Doug, Good call. I have that same Low-Power problem with most every game except Combat Mission. Weird. Richard Kalajian

Scott, I think you are right. I guess, ordering some high speed vehicles to draw fire was common. I just felt at the time that I was being gamey. You are right without a doubt and now I feel better. Richard Kalajian

Doug, They are reinforcements. Good luck with your charge of the city. Richard Kalajian

Charles, We all knew that they didn't retarget all the time. However, some of us war gamers are still mentally frozen within hex based war games and the very simple "If-Then" rules that drive them. With "If-Then" mentalities common misconceptions include: "If I saw a couple units retargeting then it must be based on a simple if-then rule and occur all the time". Richard Kalajian

AI and Turn Calculation is 4 seconds and 3 seconds respectively. System: PIII 540 (450 @ 124 mhz * 3.5 = 540), 32 MB TNT2 Ultra. Richard Kalajian

Preacher, ____________________________________________ You said: re: death charges. My opinion is that the AI is just one teeny tweak short of being solid in this area. I've experienced several of those and think that the AI is trying to do the right thing but coming a bit short. I think: Maybe you are inviting death charges. Maybe the AI knows he is playing the PREACHER and is empowered by momentary divine intervention which escalate his platoons bravery in an attempt to defeat you. ___________________________________________ Also ____________________________________________ you said: Sometimes, however, he fails to soften adequately (could be realistic), or he incorrectly perceives the level of threat. I say: Are you possibly leaving platoon leaders and infantry near the back of the building, not on the front wall of buildings. This would result in the AI not seeing the strength of your defenses and issues a command to take the location(s) in a similar manner to your rush on the Machine Gunner. What would have happened to that infantry platoon taking the building if another squad and platoon leader were inside hiding? _____________________________________________ Sincerely & Jokingly, Richard Kalajian

Scott, How can you possibly say Green troops suck? Just kidding. You must agree that they accurately reflect Green rifle companies ushered to the front for slaughtering. I know under the same circumstances I would perform worse. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian The Non-grumbling Non-Grognard

Scott, I did the same thing with a Stug, but only one Hellcat was up the road and I decided to pull a gamey move and send halftracks scattering all over the place to occupy yhe Hellcat. I was confident the Halftracks would move out more quickly (fast move) and draw attention from the Hellcat fast. But, that is impressive you were able to eventually knock out two. I am confident that two hellcats would have smoked by most finely executed plans. I think you will brew-up my HVAP firing kittens in Multi-player. Thanks for the quick reply. Richard Kalajian

Scott, Thanks for the quick reply. I still can't see where an Overall screen would be useful. On each turn I automatically go to each unit and carefully consider: morale state; ammo; number of men at start; current men in unit; if damaged (vehicles); terrain occupied; current order (hide, run, etc.)... Then I pan with the camera and determine additional information like: what can I see? I do this for every unit. Why? I make it a practice of checking each unit and considering it's targets, movements and condition prior to moving to the next unit. I usually alter something on most units. I guess the need for an overall screen being a non-issue for me is my personal opinion, but i think you are putting too much importance on it's inclusion for this game. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

Renaud, Excellent post. Most useful information. In that brief read you have raised my battle skills another notch. Thanks, Richard Kalajian

Scott, Tell us how you did this. I can't imagine how I would maneuver my Stug into position against two remaining Hellcats. thanks in advance Richard Kalajian

Great points Steve. Scott, I have a question about what you are requesting. ____________________________________________ You said to Steve you wanted an overall screen: Most will, sure after playing for two years like you they will forget about it. But after playing SP for two years I forgot about a lot of things too...etc. _______________________________________ Can you describe for me what you are looking for in this overall screen. I am simply a player of this game and of many others and have no idea what you are even referring to. Please help me out. I would fall in the most category you mention above, but can't imagine a need for any more information or screens. I played Avalon Hills Bookshelf games, SSI's, CC's and West and East Front. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

NCrawler, Very cool story. I HEAR what has happened to people like you and preacher (the bold backward running, machine gun firing, hot-shot, kamikaze, bad-boy, finger-pointing Serman incident) and Fionn (the Sherman bottleneck incident where the Sherman backed down the road directly toward the 88 and then...). I have SEEN things while playing that make me say cool every scenario. Thanks again BTS for creating such an awesome game. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

Fionn, Tell us what a hotseat game is please. Thanks Richard Kalajian

Kai, Hi. You are one of a few to request the click and drag for multi-select of units. I think this is not really all that necessary for this game. Why, you ask? 1) I typically see that option in real-time strategy games. I know it is required for those types of games, like Starcraft ot Age of Wonders. 2) By not having this feature, it requires the user to do a couple things. First, by default it requires you to check the status of the unit. I select units by right-clicking by default because I am likely to need to modify it's movement and I would like to see whether it is targeted or whether it is targeting anything else. Imagine multi-selecting and seeing 15-20 or more LOS markers (colored lines between opposition and selected unit). Once I select a unit by right-clicking, the first thing I look at is kills. Did i miss anything. It forces me to check the progress of the particular unit, i.e., how much further to the specific spot does it have to go. I know, in some RTS games a marker is always at the desired location. 3) This forces the user (you and I) to be precise. In the end it will result in better coordinated attacks and significantly better unit placement. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Richard Kalajian

Dateimörder / Cappy-R, Hi again. Outstanding kill-ratio especially with the armor loss. I too have lost all my big guns / armor as Germans and Americans in both scenarios. It truly is a heart-stopping experience, but as you mentioned definitely not a battle-ending situation. Nice Win. Richard Kalajian

Hello, Someone tell me more about the "nahverteigungswaffe " mentioned by Charles above. Please. Thanks in Advance, Richard Kalajian