Melchett

Might want to re-phrase this a bit -- the hypothesis doesn't state "if you purge, you will lose". This is like hypothesizing "chopping off a healthy limb is not a good idea", and subsequently concluding "I chopped off my arm and I'm still alive, so the hypothesis is false". If you're going to invoke the Scientific Method, it's vital to play by the rules. In this case, the critical step that was skipped is the one after you've got the hypothesis (purge weakens army) and you've come up with an experiment (fight a war). The next step is to ask yourself "does the experiment truly test the hypothesis?". In this case, no. The western powers fell into this same trap after World War One. Because they had won the war, they told themselves "because we won, our hypotheses about the supremacy of fixed defenses are thus proven correct." The Germans, of course, had a different opinion... [ October 18, 2002, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: Melchett ]

The effect is even better if you play Spike Jone's "Der Fuehrer's Face" while you look :eek: The fact that there are two of him can only lead to a bitter debate about the Nazi cloning program. Looks like he was the prototype for Dr. Schabb's mutants in "Castle Wolfenstein" [ October 18, 2002, 12:57 PM: Message edited by: Melchett ]

Actually, Battlefront plans to publish all of these threads in the manual for Strategic Command 2. They will appear as an appendix to the Designer Notes

Trying to remember a line from the movie version of "The Cheap Detective". The mistress of a fanatical Nazi agent is speaking: "Last night he made me play a game called Stuka. I had to be Poland. All night long I kept waking up to the sound of bombers overhead."

Why did Stalin attack Finland? Some say it was to regain Russian territory lost when Finland became independent in 1917. Some say it was to gain a protective zone around Leningrad and a stronger naval position in the Gulf of Finland. In fact, it was to silence that gosh-darned dog in Petsamo who kept barking all night.

For a nice OOB layout of the DAK on 23-October-1942 (Alamein), check out: http://freeport-tech.com/wwii/011_germany/42-oob/42-10-23/corps_dak.html Clicking on any of the divisional units leads to higher levels of unit detail. Note that this display shows only the DAK component of the combined German-Italian army. To explore the OOBs of all armies at Alamein, start here and click to your heart's content: http://freeport-tech.com/wwii/500_eto/42-10-43_north-africa.html [ October 17, 2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Melchett ]

Or, in the unpretentious form... "He that washes an ass's head loses both his lye and his labour." Jeff has been proven wrong by the power of the obscure Italian proverb :eek:

Just my two cents: Ancient Truism: If I use a "helpful suggestion" as a container for a snide inflammatory remark, I shouldn't play the wounded innocent when I get nailed. Example of helpful: "Let my troops go first Francois, they're fully rested." Example of prepare to get nailed: "Let my troops go first Francois. They're fully rested and besides it's a genetic fact that you Frenchmen are spineless cowards." That said, I agree with EB that it would great (albeit programmatically difficult) to split commands among individual nations. Inter-team friction and tangled command structures add realistic zest and shouting to any simulation.

Bazookas? Mines? Bah! Anyone who's ever read "Sgt. Rock" comics knows how to knock out a Tiger tank. You stand proud and upright with cigar-butt clenched in your teeth, glaring steely-eyed at the monster as it thunders towards you. When it is 50 feet away, you raise your pistol, shout "this one's for Freddy and Charley and Lil' Angelo!", and fire a single shot directly into the driver's periscope. The shot miraculously ricochets into the ammo rack and the Tiger goes up in a big "Foof!". Simple and foolproof... repeat on the next Tiger until the Germans surrender.

The hindrance I've found in re-creating the historical timeline is that the computer AI doesn't always behave like its real-life historical counterparts, e.g., France doesn't always sit passively behind the Maginot line waiting for Germany to strike. However, this has the advantage of making the "what if?" scenarios more realistic. A lot of "what ifs", especially those dealing with the eastern front, are based on the unrealistic assumption that one side must repeat all of its historical blunders while the other side makes no mistakes whatsoever.

I'm trying to suppress the "significant figure twitch" that I get when I see industrial production figures like "one hundred five thousand... two hundred fifty... and ONE" or "two million... three hundred eighty two thousand... three hundred TEN... and ONE"

My first "not so abstract as Risk or Ploy" boardgame was TacticsII in the mid 70's, followed by Panzerblitz (my first "based on a true story" game). Over time, I ended up buying almost every boardgame in Avalon Hill's catalog and became expert at the art of picking up a single counter from a board without knocking over all of the 6-high stacks surrounding it. At one point in 1983 I had 2 months of free time and I actually played Avalon Hill's "The Longest Day" SOLITAIRE for 50 turns (this was the one with a board nearly 5x5 feet and thousands of counters, designed to be played "optimally" by 5 to 9 players). Nowadays they have medication to control these sorts of things.

Offhand, If I recall the divisional numbers correctly, I believe that in the roughly eight weeks between D-day and the Cobra breakout, the toothless old men faced by the Allied Expeditionary Force included the doddering octagenarians of: Five SS Panzer divisions (1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th, 12th) Three Wehrmacht Panzer divisons (2nd, 21st, and the elite Panzer Lehr) One SS Panzergrenadier division (17th) Two elite parachute divisons (3rd, 5th) Four front-line infantry divisions (91st, 352nd, 353rd, 77th) All of whom surrendered without firing a shot when the Allies offered them free dentures and afternoon naps.

*Shields his eyes and fumbles for the sunglasses to cut the blinding white glare of the Sun shining forth from Battlefront's ass* And yah, I agree, but there's no way Hubert's gonna have my firstborn, even if his real name is Rumplestiltskin

OK, I won't tell. :eek: