Lucky_Strike

Modding builds moobs, it’s a posture thing; and of course a few should read as a couple of moobs. I do like that we may have introduced a new word to our Gaelic friends and neighbours

Yes, they are going for silly money at the moment. I was lucky and got them last year when they did a reprint. You could try emailing the publishers - they have a PayPal email address on their how to order web page http://www.autumngale.com/order/ but I can't see any other contact details, might be worth a punt even if only to register interest. I'd imagine they only need to print a few thousand copies to justify a reprint at this price point, there is obviously demand judging by the fact that people are willing to pay over the odds for a copy. Also worth keeping a search bookmarked on eBay - if you're prepared to wait you might bag a bargain - I recently got hold of a Wilhelm Thieke title for well under the usual silly-money asking prices.

Haha - that description probably applies to nearly all of us on here, though perhaps with a few moobs thrown in to the mix!

Yes, really like what Panzerwrecks are doing, have been following them from the start and always try to buy from them to support their efforts. If you liked Endkampf then I can recommend a couple of other books published by Luftfahrtverlag-Start 1. To the Gates of Moscow with the 3rd Panzer Division by Axel Urbanke & Dr Hermann Türk - massive tome, really well done. 2. Als Panzermann in Afrika und Italien 1942-45 - Tiger fest! Both are expensive and may even be out of print but they are fantastic quality and superbly put together. Then if you are interested in Market Garden and the German defensive operations in North West Europe in Autumn 1944 these two published by De Zwaardvisch will keep you busy for a while: 1. Kampfgruppe Walther and Panzerbrigade 107 - mega detailed, excellent quality 2. Autumn Gale (Herbststurm) - huge and important Again both are expensive and hard to get, but worth tracking down. If you just want something serious to read without too many pictures then you could look to titles by Wilhelm Thieke, Between the Oder and the Elbe and The Caucasus and the Oil are two that spring to mind, they’re published by J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing so the quality is a bit suburban but the content still make them worthwhile. They are again quite pricey but can be had for discounts if you hunt around. Happy New Year Reading!

Haha. You certainly a-muse Excellent work. Especially love the first narrow path, it reminds me of the very narrow paths between hedgerows that I’ve seen in so many period photos: Some still exist - tunnel vision ... Visually these are also good under bocage because they represent smaller areas than the normal grass tiles so are less stretched and smeared, they can make very convincing dirt banks.

Thanks for update. I’ve seen this on non M1 Macs, I think it’s an issue OpenGL or something in the game engine.

Unabashed self-promo Available here: and on the CM mod warehouse IV: https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cmbn-other/cmbn-lucky_strikes-hedgerow-hell-or-how-not-to-be-seen/

Yes, the OP’s video is a good introduction to the bocage, I believe someone posted a link to it earlier this year, but it certainly bears watching again, demonstrating some very valid points and helping those unfamiliar with such countryside to better understand it. Would certainly have served the Allies well in ‘44. There are a lot of Allied reports and appraisals of the fighting in the bocage which were written after the event, many of which do point to a lack of preparedness and awareness about the nature of the bocage country. Here are a couple of interesting short reads which quote some such reports: https://www.bradford-delong.com/2014/06/liveblogging-world-war-ii-june-19-1944-the-bocage.html http://www.lonesentry.com/normandy_lessons/index.html Great videos @umlaut - I spent quite a bit of time trying to recreate various types of sunken track and lanes. Have to agree that there is a lack of tile for the narrowest type, sadly it’s not really possible to recreate it accurately with existing textures. I don’t think there’s a way to mod something either as it would probably require delving deep into the 3D models and mechanics of the game.

Thank you sir for taking the leap! I’ve heard that in various reviews. No particular scenario, maybe just open up the map editor and change the weather conditions to see what it looks like. In the past some weather effects have just not appeared or look a bit feeble, would just be good to know that mist and fog at least appear and look reasonably convincing. One of the reasons why I have a dedicated CM Windows PC is because I found the Radeon cards that Apple was using, or rather the drivers I suppose, didn’t do a good job of fog and mist. I have a 27inch iMac at the moment and it’s discrete GPU does a fairly decent job except strangely with snow, but as it’s my work Mac I’m not too worried. However, at some point I will have to upgrade and Apple’s new silicon is probably going to be my only option when the time comes. Would be nice if it can still play CM even if it’s just for testing my mods.

Thanks for these quotes, most interesting, I recall the first one from somewhere, I’ll have to go trawling through my library now! The Nazis were convinced they could hold out in the Zoo tower, apparently they had a year’s worth of supplies in there ready for a siege. Quite rightly the Soviets never took the bait, but rather offered surrender terms to the commander after they had taken the rest of the city, undoubtedly saving many lives in the process. Their influence would definitely be a must for any historic scenario featuring the first attempts to cross the Moltke Bridge. But how do they model direct fire over open sights? I’d like to see them even if they are only scenery.

Walls about 2.4m thick, roof 1.5m thick apparently

Thanks for all this and for taking a punt! Do the M1s have a performance mode when running of mains? What is fog/mist effect like?

Yes, the Flaktürme seem to have had plenty of steel-shuttered windows perhaps because of the extra facilities they housed. At the height of the Battle for Berlin the Zoo tower was said to have sheltered about 30000 people in a space meant for 8000. The towers were each equipped with a water source/well, but with that amount of souls they would have exhausted their supplies in no time, and God knows what the sanitary conditions were like. One of the Berlin towers, the shuttered windows seem to be on fours levels. That item being lifted up is one of the massive armoured ammunition elevators covers. Armoured shutters on one of the control towers Inside one of the towers, the window and armoured shutter. The towers bristled with other smaller calibre AA which also looked like it could provide fire directed at ground targets: Dual 37mm on a lower platform of the Zoo tower, the control tower in the background. One of the many quad 20mm mounts, again with control tower in the distance. For our German speaking colleagues there are a few others titles: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Flaktürme.html?id=g6JzAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y There are few others on that page as well.

Hehe, well nothing's perfect! I think M. Falaise's sons are a tough audience, but if less crappy is enough to get the playing I'll take that! Merry Christmas to yourself!

I recall reading, but not sure where, that the Berlin towers, along with those in Hamburg and Vienna, were very rarely hit during the bombing raids, though some hits were recorded. The towers were built to provide mutual support/cover and with each tower able to put up something in the order of 1000 various calibre rounds per minute over a 10km area it's likely the allied bombers just went round them. After all only the Hamburg towers protected what the Allies were really after - industry and logistics - the Berlin and Vienna towers mostly covered the government centres. Of course by the time the Soviet forces entered Berlin much of the city was already ruined, but the towers were very much in operation. Not sure why the Soviets had trouble lobbing shells onto the upper decks, maybe they couldn't get close enough to achieve the correct trajectory. Also, sensibly, they just avoided them, the towers were impregnable to their largest calibre bunker busters so assaulting them would have been incredibly costly. A few more images: The Zoo tower - given it's about 40m tall and surrounded by parkland we can see it has a relatively clear field of fire. Post-war it was used by convalescing British troops. The twin 12.8cm guns still in place. Twin 12.8cm post war again, here the guns are practically level resting on the parapet. I'm sure I read somewhere that this was how they were fired at ground targets, only a low railing being removed from the top of the parapet, and their repercussion being felt through the whole building. Poor Hitler Youth crew member. The gun barrels are level here and a railing can be seen on the parapet. Apparently the 12.8cm Flak 40 could be depressed to -3 degrees. They didn't have any direct sights since they were putting up general fire under instruction from a separate control tower equipped with range finding and spotlights etc. They must have just fired over open sights at ground targets. I'm sure that once they'd been ranged-in the amount of fire that they could put out must have been pretty horrifying.

Hah, I’ll take less crappy as a compliment. Now if we can just get all the rest of the games up to this standard ... Joyeux Noël mon ami!

Sounds very promising, thanks for the update. Not sure how one can measure FPS on a Mac, but if game play is smooth that should be good enough. Will be interested to see whether atmospheric effects - rain, fog, snow - work.

For sure they couldn't fire at targets too close, but they could depress the guns enough to fire on targets within the range of CM maps. The Zoo flak tower's 12.8cm guns were used to assist in the defence of the Moltke Bridge, the Government district and approaches to the Reichstag about 2-3km away. The Soviets wisely never bothered to assault the towers since even their massive 230mm howitzers could do little damage. However this in turn restricted some of the Soviet operations to dusk and night time. I guess we may not see them in game, but as off map direct-fire support for the defenders? Interesting prospect.

Have to say that crops were a particular bugbear of mine - they probably took the longest to make of all the doodads, large textures with the need for lots of different versions of the same thing, and yet still trying to make them look natural, flax being by far the hardest. Have you tried the stubble versions - these would probably be appropriate for the Low Countries in September. Do they burn stubble in the Netherlands? That might be another possible crop doodad. So far I'm thinking potatoes, stubble, maybe sprouts or cabbage, some sort of beet.

12.8 cm Flakzwilling 40/2 will do that - dual 12.8 cm Flak 40 capable of firing 20 rounds per minute. Yikes!!

Flak Towers please... Or is it this? And/or this ? All three me thinks

Oooh exciting ... 1. You should be able to do a second install - IIRC one can have up to four activations. I have the game activated on both Mac and PC at the same time, whilst in the past I had up to three activations running at once. If you’ve run out of activations then you can usually contact support who will somehow magically grant more, assuming the older installations are no longer active (eg linked to Mac/PC you no longer own or use for game). 2. I would go BF version first, see if the actual game installer works as that will also need to run under the Rosetta 2 emulation. If that doesn’t work then try Steam - does the Steam version run on Mac? (I know nothing about Steam BTW). If you get it working we want lots of stats and videos testing everything please

Has to be one of the cutest tanks ever (that’s just a bit weird calling a tank cute ...) never the less Just put one on my list to Santa ... These guys could perhaps build one for me ...

Works in CMFB as well ... Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gruber_-_Schumann-Heink_-_Stille_Nacht.ogg Merry Christmas!

For sure - it's hard to keep creating new stuff in a vacuum, folks will just drift away from it without some acknowledgement of their efforts.