Binglesh

Same here. Ask away - I have a lot of reference material. Bing

1) Don't agree on the premise that all WW2 wargames have predetermined the outcome. I am fairly certain you have never played SPWAW Steel Panthers World At War), if you had I don't really think you would be saying this. 2) Modern can indeed model historic. Starting with the Israeli-Arab wars - there are several, many are available - there would be Desert Storm, Chechyna, the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, the wars in the southern part of Africa, and a BEEG one: Falklands, which has been exhaustively modeled in paper Harpoon - the outcome is anything but predetermined. I think that in historical terms (if there is such a way of thinking) the British were pretty lucky but that is strictly a personal viewpoint. 3) MajorH: I did up a nice blue mat for TacOPs4 background, thus not having to kill desktop icons when I play and it is working just fine.Problem solved. Bing

Thank you, Major. The .zip contains just one item, the TacOps4.exe file - I assume this will replace the standard issue .exe file. Excellent service, I think the response and issue of the patched .exe file may have set a new land speed record. Maybe we should give Guiness a call? Bing

I'm running 1280 X 1024 X 32 on both Win98SE and WinXP Home - playing TacOps on the WinXP system, the graphics look pretty good with Visiontek GeF4 and the Samsung 19" SyncMaster Dynaflat, using a KVM so its easy to compare systems. I'm sure I will get used to not being able to maximize the window - I have other apps like this, but they let the user drag corners and borders to fill the window. Will come up with a solid color background one way or another. Not to worry, not a serious complaint. Bing

You're right, Trooper - to a gamer who is used to hiding a Panzer behind a tree, modern seems to lack tactics. What the gamer doesn't realize is that a lock first of all might not hold - could be broken for all kinds of reasons. And second, just because I fire a missile doesn't automatically mean you are dead. Far from it, especially with AT missile defense systems such as Arena and maybe some day Drozd will be resurrected. There will be others, I am sure. Bing

I supose my active service time had something to do with an affinity for modern warfare. "Charlie Battery, 75th AAA Missile battalion, Waldorf, Maryland, SIR!" - Nike-Ajax which when I mustered out in 1958, was about to become Hercules equipped. Radar fascinated me then and still does. Our definition of a poltergeist was " ..the thing that lives in the ACQ .." (ACQ = Acquisition radar, one of three for the Nike installations.)We were obsolete then and we knew it, the Nike installaitons are now long gone, though I used to see a mobile Nike-Ajax parked by the Illinois Nat'l Guard suburban Chicago ordnance depot. I suppose that too is long gone . I know what you mean about wargaamers being mostly interested in WW2 - aside from flight sims it seems practically nothing but WW2. Why flight sims are different I don't know, but they are. I've been a Steel Panther for some time - beta tester for the Watchtower (Guadacanal)Mega Campaign add-on and such. Starting with modern Soviet and U.S. OOB's for WAW done by another player, I have been improving and correcting the OOB's and tryng to get someone - anyone - interested in helping me playtest. Did have one volunteer, who went the way most of them do after precisely one-half turn of a test scenario - on his behalf I will say he didn't use the old father-in-law-in-hospital routine, but he hasn't reported for work either. The deeper I get into modern, the more I like it. Now that I have the time(retired)to do the research for modern I enjoy it all the more. I also fiddle with paper Harpoon, computer H3, BCT (never figured it out) and recently acquired JOhn Tiller's "Fulda Gap" - I had S&T Issue 82 at one time, the mag and rules survived but somehow the map and counters disappeared. Fascinating what-for with Fulda Gap - glad it never happened - but great possibilities for wargamers. The test scenario I am currently working up for MOWAW (MOdern WAW) is nominally set just north of the gap, though I have no idea of the actual terrain. I've got a company each of M1A2's and Bradley infantry facing a company each of Guards T-90's and Guards mechanized (BMP-4's mind you). A-10's, Su-17's, Su-25's, Su-24's and gobs of artillery and anti-tank. Different game than TacOps, not really in direct competition. MOWAW is a shooter on a wide scale, with provision for C&C, limited ammo, 2d icons and such, the basic SPWAW game continues to be absolutely free for the download - which happens to be about 400 Megs - there are fanatics who have done the d/l over 28K dialup. I look forward to TacOps, even if I can't get full screen. I don't know why I shouldn't be able to get full screen, but I guess that is the way it is. MS Train Sim we have a registry hack to get close to full screen for the route editor, can't find a reg entry for TacOPs that would do this, though I might be looking in the wrong place (??). Some hack, some don't - I accept the risks and haven't yet blown out the OS. I don't see where the units can be edited in TacOPs either, which will keep me involved with MOWAW because a lot of the fun is in this kind of creativity. Not easy in WAW, but it can be very satisfying. TacOPs strikes me as the kind of game where the users want to play and get at it with the least amount of fuss - that's fine and I don't mean to imply TacOps is beer and pretzels either. Surely it is not. I will play both. Nice to be here, seems to be a polite and courteous bunch on this forum. Hope we can keep it that way. Binglesh aka Bing

It's Here! TacOps4 delivered this morning,in the wilds of northern Lower P. of Michigan (we are trolls, we come from under the bridge)- Gaylord, MI. Way to go, Major H and everyone concerned. Very decent price considering today's game market - released on schedule, shipped promptly via Priority Mail. Pinch me: Is this Septemeber 2002? All kidding aside, great job on production end of the business. See ya later, after I crunch a few nasties. Binglesh aka Bing

Major, that is great news. A game publisher that delivers on time. Amazing. Well done, sir. Bing

Thanks for posting on the news page - do the orders go out in sequence they are received, meaning my late pre-order would be at the bottom of the list? Not complaining, just asking for the record - I am really looking forward to having TacOps 4 on my machine. Thanks again, Binglesh aka Bing

I won't let any black cats cross my path tomorrow - the news of the shipping is very good news indeed. Thank you for your prompt reply, sir. Binglesh aka Bing

Pre-order in for several days. Any word on when TacOps 4 is going to ship????? Have cable ISP, will gladly download. Bing