General Jack Ripper

Yes, as I understand it from various comments made over the past years, that was the plan, a straight-up game engine upgrade.

Well, I really meant to mock the 'car commercial' style of the video, but you're right, why can't we go buy some old tanks? So long as they're completely de-milled there shouldn't be a problem.

Well, for the most part our society has just barely started to emerge from under the "a tornado hit us, god must be angry" shroud.

Combatants are capable of hiding in plain sight, depending on their activity, and the 'Civilian Density' setting of the map in question. If you hold fire, and use only standard move orders, you might be able to simply walk away from an engagement. According to ChrisND (comment made during an old live stream), the planned update for Shock Force (whenever it's made), will update the existing game to the version 3.0 game engine, with all of it's attendant features. Judging by the price of previous engine upgrades, I would say this will probably run in the $40 price range, given that it would basically be a v2.0 and v3.0 upgrade combined. That being said, we probably won't see this until next year at the earliest, if we do end up getting this at all. I hold out hope for a "10 - Year Anniversary Edition".

The world is excited because it's the first one of the year, and it's a big one. I should know, half my family lives in Fort McMurray. They sent me pictures. By the time July rolls around though, you won't even see them in the news, except when they hit some rich suburb of Los Angeles. Wildfires are good for forest ecosystems, they clear out the dead wood and make way for new growth. For a long time, we fought wildfires aggressively, but now the U.S. forestry service is advocating a "let it burn" policy so long as it doesn't threaten human settlement, or grow completely out of control. Environmental studies done at Yellowstone National Park after the 1988 wildfire support this idea. So the question is not 'How do we eliminate wildfires?', but 'How do we keep wildfires, but prevent them from burning down whole towns?'. An addendum: The vast majority of wildfires are caused by direct human activity (campfires, fireworks, negligence, etc.), so a more aggressive education policy, or more effective forestry policing would be a great start.

You've got a good school in your town.

Don't be absurd. Wildfires are common in North America, with or without climate change.

I find the public school system these days is too busy catering to children's "feelings" to teach them history, writing, or critical thinking skills.

Easy financing is available! 0% A.P.R.

That's a good topic, but I don't have that scheduled for quite a long time. Chapter 9 of the FM is 'Patrols and Patrolling' which covers reconnaissance. Here's the list of topics I'm going with: Fundamentals of Tactics (Almost Done) Employing Fires Tactical Movement Protection Command and Control Offensive Operations Defensive Operations Patrols and Patrolling (I'm skipping Chapter 6, because logistical problems are outside the scale of Combat Mission.) So, Chapter One is almost complete, we have just a few more topics to cover. Chapter Two is going to be a short one, and almost entirely spent on the firing range. The FM Chapter boils down to 'use the right weapon for the job'. Chapter Three is also going to be rather short. I'll show off some movement formations, and share some tips on how to avoid fatigue. Chapter Four is still optional for me. A lot of the topics in the Field Manual are not modeled in Combat Mission. (For example, fratricide isn't exactly a huge problem, because there's no real friendly fire, etc.) Chapter Five will be a video illustration of the 'C2 Usage' thread here on the forums, showing how the C2 system works. Top to Bottom, Side to Side. The final three chapters will be entirely focused on tactics, and operations planning. I'm also thinking of making some type of interactive lesson, like a 'choose your own adventure battle plan'. It would have to be really seriously tiny, but I think it could work. It will just take an excessive amount of time to execute, which is why I'm saving it for last. If I can come up with a demonstrable lesson plan, I'll give it a shot. But as a rule of thumb, I'd rather not attempt to teach the abstract, because the best I can do is give a subjective example. I'll keep it on the back burner and see what develops. That is also my fault as well. Sort of.

So this was my outline for Chapter One: We've basically covered Part 1, 2, 3, and 6. As far as Tactical Decision-Making goes, I honestly don't know if I should bother covering it. It is sort of an abstract concept, and not easily demonstrated without writing an entire novel about it. Do you guys really want me to bore you with flow charts? Same as TDM, Individual Leadership is also an abstract concept, and not easily explained either. You could just look at the FM and read the army's definition: 1-15. Leadership at the Infantry platoon and squad level is comprised of three fundamental concepts: leadership by example, authority, and mission command. Leadership by example is simply and most powerfully expressed by the Infantry’s motto: Follow Me! Authority is the power to act. Mission command is the Army’s command philosophy that focuses on leaders telling subordinates what must be accomplished and why. Leaving the how to do it up to the subordinate. Honestly, how do you make a video about that? I don't know! Now, I figure our upcoming maneuver would be a good time to cover Part 7, and I do have an interesting plan to show that off, by showing simultaneously the same maneuver being performed under two entirely different conditions (day and night), so the audience can see the differences. After our next maneuver demonstration, we'll move on to Chapter Two: Employing Fires. That's going to be a lot of fun, because I'm going to shoehorn a ton of heavy on-map weapons into that one. So be patient, the anti-tank guns and howitzers are on the horizon! We'll also cover off-map artillery. Any thoughts?

Now presenting, Combat Mission: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures; Chapter One, Part 5, Section A: The Machinegun. I do apologize for the delay, it is 71% my fault. The next part should come rather quickly though, I'm not doing much voice recording for it. I'll just need to find some sweet graphics. EDIT: I just realized I need to update my thumbnail.

Just trying to find some quiet time to record. We've been very busy here these last couple weeks, getting spring cleaning and some extra work done.

Once I actually take the time to sit down and finish OP Minimise, I'll give this one a spin. Just a bit too drunk at the moment.

The Chieftain's Hatch is a good source of info, regardless of one's opinion about World of Tanks. http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/pc-browser/21/ Nick Moran shares a lot of archival information he digs up with anyone who is interested.

If you want my advice for quick battles: you're better off using the scenario editor to pick the forces for each side. Open up the quick battle map in the editor, pick the forces, then save it as a scenario and play it.

Alrighty, work has now definitely continued. I managed to clear my queue of other projects, and free up over 100GB of stored video. I'll put together another TTP video, and another Road to Montebourg.

... and a clean pair of shorts. For the crew I mean.

If you only have experience with the v3 engine, playing Shock Force will feel a bit frustrating. However, Shock Force still has some unique qualities to it, such as unconventional warfare elements. So I would say it's still worth buying.

There was a bug that prevented AT guns from deploying except after a very long time, but it was fixed in the 3.12 patch. Just give them a couple more turns, I've done some weapons testing recently and everything worked as expected.

I'd be happy to. As far as Op MINIMISE goes: I think I've already failed this mission, I've taken 4 casualties and expended quite a bit of ammo, and with 29 minutes left on the clock I've barely even reached the compound objective. This mission is almost a perfect blend of the need for speed and security outweighing normal tactical considerations. I definitely feel like I'm being punished for fighting "properly", I guess I'm not cut out for 21st Century warfare.

You can get it right here: The map in question is included in MarkEzra's map pack, the download link is still active. Forgiven. It's not so much family commitments as simple time + motivation + other projects = very slow production rate.

Should be sometime next week. I never said I was working to a set schedule.

Just do what I do, browse the entire CMBN category over at the repository, and just download everything that looks interesting.

I'll take a look sometime this weekend.