eichenbaum

Oorlogs Museum in Overloon, the Netherlands! It's near the border of Germany. They have a variety of tanks (KV-1 in good condition!), warplanes and a lot of other WWII stuf such as bunkers, guns, cars, uniforms, propaganda etc... The ssite of this museum was a battlefield in WWII, the liberation of the Netherlands. Their website : http://www.oorlogsmuseum.nl (but they don't show a lot of pictures on it) If you come I can show you around . . . The Battle of Overloon 26 September to 16 October 1944 For more than four years, the village of Overloon escaped the consequences of the Second World War. The inhabitants had of course seen German soldiers in their streets, but there had been no acts of war at all. However, on 26 September 1944, the frontline reached this village in the swampy Peel. The narrow strip of land between Eindhoven and Arnhem that had been liberated during Operation Market Garden was being extended slowly but surely. The Germans had entrenched themselves in order to halt the allies. The adversaries bombarded each other's position for the first four days. On 30 September, the allies launched their attack with the help of the 7th American Tank Squadron that had been specially drafted in for the purpose. This was the start of one of the fiercest battles that took place in Western Europe. The American Sherman Tanks tried to breach the German defences but time and again, they were prevented by German mines, field artillery and Panther and Tiger tanks. On 8 October, the exhausted Americans retreated from the battlefield to be relieved by the 11th British Tank Division and the 3rd British Infantry Division under the command of Major General J.C. Whistler. . . Eichenbaum [ July 14, 2003, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Thanks Kernow. The 1st mission can't be too difficult to play. I don't want to scare off players from playing the whole operation. As you advance to the main port city Sevastopol, it will get more and more difficult. In every mission the player has the choice to achieve all objectives that are given in the mission briefing. That's the real challenge but not necessary. The system you pointed to me can't be checked. A player can cheat by saying he did achieve a major victory while the truth is something else. With access codes I can behold the players movements on the map. No access code, no movement. The parameter 'Battle-Window-Size' will be diferent in other grids on the map. If the distance (Window-Size) is decreased, it will be more difficult to get the code. Eichenbaum [ July 14, 2003, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Hallo Maus, Yes indeed, you could win the mission by only taking one objective. You have won if you receive the access code. It's up to you if you want to get all of the objectives and/or finish the last battle. Receiving an access code can be done by conquering enough ground. And no, I can't send you the sequel yet. The next missions are in development and in the testing zone. The releases are planned on the 29th of July! So keep tracking the eichenbaum website if you want to get them soon. Note : Don't lose the access code or else you won't be able to play the next missions. Met vriendelijke groet,

Coe, You'll see a large set-up zone in the 2nd battle. That's a typical CM calculation of the zones. It has to do with the parameters 'battle window size'. This 'window size' creates a constant view of a pre-defined distance. The side effects of this 'window size' : From the 2nd battle on, the map will be divided in almost 2 equal parts. Often you'll gain ground you didn't clear from enemy activity. Eichenbaum [ July 13, 2003, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

MARKL Some testing have been done on a PIII 450MHz ~ 32MB RIVA-TNT ~ 256MB PC133 RAM. That's a minimum! The movements of the camera are a bit slow if you use the full or extreme coverage of terrain elements. Bringing down the coverage of trees and terrain elements will result in a better performance. With all the processors you'll encounter long 'AI-thinking'. These maps are 3 * 3 km and filled with units. As you proceed with the mission the time for 'thinking' will increase. Processors with more clock-speed will be faster in the process. If players don't like to wait for the AI's turns they can always pick smaller scenarios. I always think about the tactics when I have to wait for the AI. Good planning does take a lot of time. Eichenbaum

JaegerMeister, You have been fighting an heavy battle. Advancing trough the landscape of Sevastopol is not easy. While you're talking about playing the battle as realistic as possible, the outcome of the battle seams realistic to me, yes? You have lost a lot of men and material but still managed to reach the objectives. Von Manstein would be proud. Breaking trough the enemy's line of defence is a victory on its own. The Russians built their strongholds on natural barriers and 'hills with a nice view'. Yes, It took al long time for the placement of the guns. As I looked trough the eyes of the Russians, I found a lot of nice spots. If you were playing against me, instead of the AI, I would use the same LOS. This way the battle may be tough but as realistic as possible. Operation Störfang is not for dummy's who are playing CM for the first time. I want to force the players to use all of their tactics they know (or need to gain). Any one has the choice to drop out of the battle when they've received the access code. It's your decision to continue with the 4th. I didn't want to leave an empty space for those who reached their objectives and still want to advance on enemy ground. It wouldn't be realistic, no? I will use all the AAR's for the release of the final version of A1 and the other info for designing other missions. And finally : Yes, I am a sadist! Eichenbaum

Hi U all! Just got home... after a 9 hour drive from Limoges (France) I'm back in the Netherlands... Found all the great AAR's, comments , e-mails and more... GREAT !!! THANKS !!! I'll look into all of them and will reply as soon as possible... Eichenbaum

I did encounter accurancy improvements when changing command : A 45mm PAK gun tried to knock a PzIII and only hit the front armour 8 times (Ricochet). While switching command, from a Veteran Lt. to a Green Colonel, the Colonel shouted something in Russian (I couldn't understand). The first shot after this "direct order?" was a turret penetration, knocking the PzIII out. Scenario : CMBB Scenario "Blitzkrieg" 1941 Eichenbaum

I do prefer the mission names in their orginal language. The names you prefer do sound at bit too American (unless you play the Allied side in CMBO only). It's almost you're saying "Desert Storm" or "Iraqui Freedom" The name Polishiskovko sounds good to me, you could leave the "v1.05" out. Eichenbaum

<center>..:: CMAK - More possibility's with buildings ? ::..</center> While modelling maps for CMBB scenarios, questions have been bothering me for a while. They're about the buildings in CMxx... : </font> 1) Combat Mission Afrika Korps will have a lot of 'Italian like' buildings. European buildings do often have cellars beneath. In CMBB I couldn't find any compartments below ground level, only the sewers that lead from one heavy building to another (if parameter is set). . Will CMAK or future CMxx versions have cellars beneath buildings ? . In a typical European village or city you can find cover beneath ground level in case of bombardments by artillery or air. If the building gets hit and collapses, most of the cellars remain intact because of the good quality of European buildings. . .</font>2) Will CMAK or future CMxx versions makes it possible for infantry to use explosives for moving between 2 buildings ? . Never I saw infantry use any kind of explosives to move from one heavy building to another when attached to another in a building block in CMBB. . In almost any building you could make a passage to another by simply throwing a grenade. This was common used when the streets were too dangerous to enter or speed was necessary, moving from top levels to others 'by walking trough walls'. . .</font>3) Will CMAK or future CMxx versions have more types of buildings ? . There are a lot of heavy stone buildings to be found in Europe, such as castles and cloisters. Think about Monte Casino in Italy. If you want to play CMAK and you picked the battle of Monte Casino then you should expect a nice castle-like cloister on the top of a very big hill. . (Looked at the screenshots of CMAK, I didn't saw any. :eek: ... :confused: ... ... )</font> At Eichenbaum's were building Operation Störfang * (Crimea 1942) and do miss these kind of buildings. Walls are way too tiny and there's a shortage of heavy-type buildings and bunkers. ( And no, it is not the solution to just MOD the graphics, 3d models and parameters are not the same!) * : Forum Topic : Operation Störfang is on this bulletin board also. With kind regards, Eichenbaum

Umm isn't there already this option? If ure all on LAN, just use TCP/IP.</font>

Yes, I know Monty. There're a lot of tricks possible with replaying battles and turns. (Such as picking a day with nice weather by re-starting the setup untill you have the weather of satistaction). But I can't see any other way to save the scenes when playing a human vs. AI battle. That's why a camera or another PC is an option, capture the live pictures and do your own directors cuts Eichenbaum

Oh... yes JuJu that would be nice Made a scenario (Swartzekätze) with a factory as hangar. A real hanger looks a lot better I think. Eichenbaum

If you have a camera or another computer, you could capture the movies and place them in 1. It's an idea I was thinking about to lately. With some video-editing software you could create your own small war-movie Tip: If you play against AI, save your turn every time before clicking on the 'GO' button. If you name those files after the battle's turn, you always can recall the movies for playing. Eichenbaum [ July 06, 2003, 05:49 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Imagine you're a bunch of cookies getting baked in the oven. How do you feel ? A tank does in most cases not offer many space for it's crew. Filled with grenades and equipment it's not a nice place to stay. Esp. when a flametrower or molotov cocktails make it awefull hot in there.... Eichenbaum

Yes, great idea. Build in a function for pushing or towing. Once I had a Puma (PSW) immobilized. It's tires got blown up by a T-70 Tank. I had made a curved advance, around the enemy (1 km drive) and the Puma came out behind the enemy's line of defence, it was standing in the middle of the enemy's territory. In the next set-up I noticed that the Puma was abandoned, while all the crew came out alive and well. Because of a coming night-fall I hoped that they would repair the Puma over night and bring it back to me in the morning. But my enemy knew about this, he saw the red tubes that written 'A-B-A-N-D-O-N-E-D' above this vehicle.. Just a few hundreds metres away stood a SüdKampf TowTruck hidden in the trees. That time I wished the TowTruck could drive to my Puma, hook it on, and bring it back to the save zone behind my line-of-assault!. I tried... and tried... but no... !@#$%^* Eichenbaum

Playing by LAN is an idea to. You could ask your friends to bring their PC with them and play on seperate screens. This way it would be faster then 'Hotseat'. I think they should build in a nice play-by-LAN interface Eichenbaum

The Eichbaum forum is up and running again! If you like you can post your messages about Operation Störfang there or start a new topic : http://www.eichenbaum.org/headquarters.html Don't forget to sign in if you don't have an account yet. Eichenbaum ps. Are all the Americanos in bed with an hangover after celebrating 4th of July ?

Wie Bitte ? How did he ever turned to beef?

WANTED : A PHP or CGI programmer who can build interactivity in Flash ! At Eichenbaum's were need a programmer who can build scripts to interact with Macromedia Flash. This has to do everything with Operation Störfang. Examples are : Saving information in a database, returning information from a database to Flash etc. If you're the one (or you know somebody) and willing to help us out, please contact me at my e-mail address : eichenbaum@eichenbaum.org Eichenbaum [ July 04, 2003, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

I need some advanced players who like to test the next up-coming scenarios for Operation Storfang before they are released on the internet. Detailed AAR's and ideas are very useful for creating and finishing missions. So if you think you're the right person you can contact me by e-mail, we can discuss the details in private. Eichenbaum

Does Steve limit your access to the outside world? Hopefully there are some G5’s coming your way though. </font>

Very good work Jaegermeister! It's nice to read you have much fun playing Mission Swartzekätze. That's the reason I'm occupied with this, to see people enjoy the art of war. I wondered when you would write again. Now I see you were very busy with the battle these days. Are you interrested in testing the up-comming missions of Operation Störfang ? If yes, we can discuss the details by e-mail. It's like you wrote, we don't want to spoil the fun for new players. Eichenbaum ps. How did you destroy the bunkers with your Pioneers ?

nevermind... sorry [ July 03, 2003, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Had 40 men of Russian Recon with their nose pressed on Pz38(t) tanks (1941) and still they didn't recognize those tanks. They gave me a PzII description. Untill a F22 76.2mm gun spotted those and gave me the full report. No, I have never gained any more advantage with Recon then other kind of infantery. Eichenbaum