Fetchez la Vache
-
Posts
502 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Fetchez la Vache
-
-
20kb/s. My son's birthday party this afternoon has been saved! :-)
Still faster than mail!
-
Oh dear. My son will be disappointed. I just cancelled his birthday party this afternoon because I have something else to do now.
He'll get over it eventually, I'm sure...
:-)
(Incidentally, the main BTC website portal seems to be blocked here in Malaysia now! Thank the Digital Lord for VPNs.)
-
Will AeroGavins be in the base game or will we have to wait for an expansion?
-
pnzrldr, thank you for a very interesting AAR! Modern-era war-games have never appealed much to me before probably because I thought it was a bit too 'clinical'. But I think this AAR (and your side of the story in particular) has kindled enough of an interest that, instead of giving it a miss, I will probably get CMBS. The little insights and details you are giving a modern-era 'n00b' like me are kicking off something. Many thanks.
Now, some more explosions please... :-)
-
I only buy games on steam these days. Combat Mission is the only exception. Works fine. No problems so far. It's nice to have everything in one place.
Ditto, for what it's worth.
I like a nice argument...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnTmBjk-M0c
(how does one embed youtube videos so you can view them in the reading pane? - got it!)
-
A camo scheme like that gives a modeller like me heart palpitations. :-o
-
@ Michael Emrys.
LOL, so you do play some other WWII strategy games... j/k
I gave up on Unity of Command, it made up for lack of AI with tricky time-targets in my mind. HoI3 still keeps me engaged though. I recommend Project Zomboid for a bit of mindless [pun intended] survival fun, heh heh.
On reflection I think what concerns me overall is the possible 'elitism' (in it's 'hubristic' sense), which is possibly why I read your post as I did. The quality bar has been set very high (thankfully) by BFC but I don't think that comes without a price in terms of accessibility. Now if you add a layer of hubris on top of that then I see the potential for a stagnation in the fan-base. This isn't of course all because of the pricing but, personally speaking, I rarely myself noticing the price of a game and thinking "hmmm, I think that's steep" (but of course I bought it anyway) and then it makes me read threads such as this which I would normally not read. As so I am here.
@ Sixxkiller
I think CMx2 is more like buying a Morgan c.f Jaguar, with CM being the former. You can keep the alloy wheels and advertising thanks.
-
Oh, BTW. I recently dragged my 7 and 8yo sons around Bovington Tank Museum TWICE when on holiday.
So I'm doing my bit to train up the next generation of CM players for BFC.
(Now give me CMx1 for OS X for them to play!)
-
I think that is altogether fitting and proper. If there are gamers who are happier playing other games, that is what they should be doing. I don't think BFC's proper mission is to gather in every wargamer on the planet. Tastes vary too much and he who tries to please everybody ends up pleasing no one. I think BFC knows their audience very well and from the sounds of things is happily solvent. As long as they can keep turning out games that are loved by their customer base—of which I am one—what does it matter if Joe Blow living on an island in the middle of the Amazon River prefers something else?
I want BFC to succeed and do well. I think they fully deserve to do so for what they have given in the form of the Combat Mission games. But I can't help but think that for long term success they should try to establish a wider demographic of players buying their products. I'm simply not sure that basing your business on a bunch of (older than average) people who's taste buds only extend to CM games is a good idea. There are quite a lot of Joe Blows out there in the world.
I'm also sorry to say that your post left me feeling you are being slightly dismissive to those that may not play CM exclusively. I also personally thought Steve's reply contained some seeds of condescension by saying that "average" gamers can't cope with CMx2. CM may not be a FPS console game, but it's not that hard to pick up and many people do still possess attention spans of more than 5mins. Is there a faint whiff of elitism creeping in? I sometimes think so when reading posts in threads such as this. So I'll pull out another cliche: Pride comes before the Fall.
Any how. As a relatively rich old 42yo codger (c.f. to when I was 28yo codger), who has bought every CM game and module since day 1, I will continue to keep buying - like yourself. But I still want CMx1 for OS X!
-
I must admit I am beginning to think twice at what I am spending on CM. Although I am sure that hard grogs are happy with the costs, I also think that the price may be off-putting to less dedicated (and younger) CM players who will juggle with other games at the same time. I do wonder if the player base growth is being somewhat stifled as a result.
But as long as BFC stay solvent and keep churning these games out, then it's okay with me.
Especially if they port the old CMx1 games to OS X so my 8yo can play them!
-
Your results are skewed You need to manually UNBUTTON your tanks. The other side is already unbuttoned.
Ah. At least that explains the results. :-)
Interesting, I never realised the starting button-up state was different for the AI and Player sides.
-
Of course, since you took time to set it up! :-)
Played 10 times, 5 as German player and 5 as Russian player . 11 tanks on both sides. Completely 'hands off' - no orders given at all. All tanks buttoned up.
No.____German Losses___Russian Losses___Played As__Winner
1__________11_____________1___________Ger_______Rus
2__________11_____________7___________Ger_______Rus
3__________11_____________1___________Ger_______Rus
4__________11_____________1___________Ger_______Rus
5__________11_____________4___________Ger_______Rus
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6__________11_____________8___________Rus_______Rus
7__________3_____________11___________Rus_______Ger
8__________11_____________6___________Rus_______Rus
9__________3_____________11___________Rus_______Ger
10_________6_____________11___________Rus_______Ger
So, when playing from the German side, the PzIv's lost each time - normally badly. But the story was very different when played from the Russian side! Too small a population sample to be anything but 'interesting' though.
On the other hand, you may have kicked off the inner statistics-nerd in me. :-)
(Although next time a screenshot from Excel - took me longer to format that 'table' than run the tests!)
-
I personally find that PzIV vs. T34/85 at >1000m that:
- PzIV hits faster and more accurately but needs multiple hits to knock out the target
- T34/85 slower to acquire and less hits on target but their impacts are harder
Overall I am finding that 1:1 the T34/85 often comes off worse since once the PzIV starts hitting the Russian crew are too shocked to retaliate. But the PzIV needs to land multiple 3-9 solid hits before the T34/85 is knocked out completely. This takes time and ammo. (Aside: just played the The Passage where I can count 17 penetration decals on a non-knocked out T34/85, albeit many partial-penetrations, dead main gun and 3 panicked crew left inside. However the TacAI was still happily throwing more AP...)
However once you throw another T34/85 into the mix then the PzIV comes off worse. Mainly because the TacAI is too busy throwing AP shells into the first target and ignores the 2nd T34/85 calmly zeroing in and bagging a kill.
Bottom line for me is don't let PzIV's compete with T34/85 at long range. Funnily enough I'm happier using PzIV at shorter ranges where their 75mm can penetrate the T34/85 armour more reliably.
This is only in-game observations mind you and I'm not conducting a shooting range test. But it's enough for me to alter my pattern of duels between these two tanks...
-
Plenty of time left to develop that operational-level strategic overlay. ;-)
And then the FPS co-op version...
-
Then get one of your grandkids to play while you verbally instruct them via radio from your orthopaedic bed. That's how the hardcore grogs play already apparently... ;-)
-
I'm hoping that someone gets around to porting the old CMx1 games to the modern Mac OS. :-)
I want to introduce my young sons to CM - CMx2 is too complicated for them at this stage. I'm sure there's still life in this game with a slightly different demographic from the hardcore grog...
-
Should have dubbed "Jingle Bells" onto the video. ;-)
-
Also, consider: In WW II, a Sherman tank could only have one type of main gun round loaded at a time. Since the primary threat to it would be armor, I think the default round was AP so that the tank could have the quickest possible reaction to an armor contact. So if the tank gets ambished by enemy 20mm, another reason to pop smoke and retreat out of the LOF is to give the loader time to put HE up the spout.
This point peaks my curiosity. I have had the impression from reading a few number of books written by Allied ex-tankers (e.g. Tout, Hill, etc) that the default round in Normandy and beyond was in fact a HE round. It's good for infantry and PAK's and can still give an armoured vehicle a good rattle while the AP round gets fed into the breech for the second pop.
But that's my impression. So I'm not calling either way... but you've got me thinking now. :confused:
(Ouch.)
-
LOL at the Birch-Man Sniper at 28mins in... with his Birch-Gun. :-)
-
This patch has made a significant improvement for me. Even on a reasonably high-end iMac I had a noticeable 'mouse lag' effect. This has entirely disappeared and now I am scrolling around maps with very smoothly. I am very happy.
:-D
-
Short dashing runs en-mass got me close. You need to get up to the embankment below the wall since it's the only cover (since the ditches are death traps). Then 4-5 bazooka shots into the building did the job for me.
But it's depressing to lose men assaulting this without smoke or arty.
-
Captain Shore would have argued that Germany had very few snipers but many sharpshooters. Snipers add the skills of stalking and scouting to sharpshooting.
Just sayin'. :-)
The telescope sight mounted on this rifle, although similar in many ways to the normal German sniper rifle 'scope, is inferior in others, and altogether the composite job is suspect from the point of view of utility and service.To anyone who knows the sniper ropes as they should be known it is almost sacrilegious to talk of an automatic sniper rifle!... ... No - the ideal for the sniper remains the selected hand operated rifle, firing the one true shot which counts for everything - the killer! -
Well, not to be too much of a downer on your theory... this same data was in CMBO, CMBB, and CMAK. All three of them have the unit stats that you say would have made a difference. Yet the issue persisted through all three games and two CMx2 games before being spotted.
Not sure Vomag would have got away with that excuse 70 years ago... :-)
"Vat!?! You've just found you've been making the JgdPzr IV frontal armour from the Kubelwagen cast-offs? Vat is this 'cut-n-paste error' you are talking about? Dummkopf!!!"
*bang*
-
And, Battlefront just got all us Mac users back on board after a long dry spell.
I would love CMx1 to playable on Mac OS X. :'-(
It's still got legs imho...
down load speeds 100kb/s
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
If it helps, my initial 20kb/s speed did not last and the final download was around 4hrs. I was too busy being nerf-gunned by a gang of sugar-fueled 9yo's to notice exactly what speeds I did get up to at the end...
Managed to fit in "Brutal" before bed time. Loved it.