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Chelco

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Posts posted by Chelco

    How would you rate the AI??

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    For experienced players, surely the AI is not gonna pass the Turing test.

    For dummies like me, I am very happy with it and consider it among the best in my HD (along with Highway to the Reich and Korsun Pocket).

    Besides the already present low-level tactical behaviours which are very convincing, we wouldn’t expect the AI to create elaborate plans. Check this out:

    A research paper about how to create tactical plans for computer-generated forces

    The paper is a bit old, but my point is that it takes whole research teams to make an AI which can make plans.

    Cheers,

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    End of an era

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by Kobal2:

    @MikeyD : I don't think displaying the exact number of men would be that slowing down...I mean, what takes so much time is the "behind the scenes" calculations, not the display IMHO. And besides, Shogun and Medieval:Total War run smoothly with battles involving a thousand soldiers on each side, each of these soldiers tracked individually (though on a less complete/complex scale than in CM), plus a full 3D map much more detailed/complex than CM ones, so technically those 10 soldiers wouldn't be such a major feat...

    If you look closely at the individual soldiers in the Total War series, they look like they are 2-D sprites. In the CM series each soldier is a 3D model.
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    How do you beat barbarossa on Expert setting?

    in Strategic Command 1

    Posted

    Can I jump in with the following question?

    I am a newbie, green as a St. Patrick's parade.

    I am teething my skills in the Barbarossa campaign; seted it at Beginner and as the Germans. I am really pleased with the feeling of the campaign. I read somewhere that Russia is an easy country to invade, but difficult to conquer. The vastness of the Russian country is a tough enemy!

    I advanced into Russia breaking havoc, destroying many armys and corps. I firmly invaded the Russian country in the center. Three Russian corps are supposedly encircled. My three groups stand now 100 km east of Smolesnk. Still, I couldn't take Smolensk. I failed to take Odessa and the Crimea. I failed to take the north of the country.

    Why the encircled Russian corps still get reinforced up to the 7th level? I have read this simulates air-drops and stuff gathered at the cities. But the main thing you need to reinforce a corp is men.

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    Hi! Just bought SC in retail store. Do I need to patch?

    in Strategic Command 1

    Posted

    Originally posted by Les the Sarge 9-1:

    Chelco, you will have seen several threads that will no doubt have you "worried" about this game from a point of view "it is no longer fun" etc etc etc.

    Keep in mind though, until you can predict EXACTLY what the AI will do, you are not even close to needing to concern yourself with the "hot topic" issues.

    I play most of my games against the AI, and I still enjoy playing.

    Humans will be sooooo more devious, and make moves more demanding of your play skills naturally.

    But DO NOT let anyone tell you the AI is a friggin slug moron.

    It takes a great MANY games before you can actually see what a lot of the hardened game vets consider obvious.

    The manual is a very straight forward in your face obvious read, and you can likely read it twice (likely while while on the throne) and know most of what you need to know.

    The Strategy Guide will point out a few aspects of the game that have little to do with game systems, and more to do with just not losing.

    One thing though that is certain, you won't have regretted your purchase. That much is certain.

    Hi Les,

    The only worries I have now with SC are:

    -I need a less demanding job to play more SC

    -Where do I find such a job?

    Seriously, I think the game is superb. It really puts you in an strategical mindset. I love it.

    I am slowly learning the combat mechanics and I hope to start thinking "the big picture way" soon.

    The game has a very real feel. For instance, it struk me that in the "Barbarossa" campaign you really feel like the vastness of the Russian countryside is your enemy. I am sure more good surprises are to come.

    Regardin the AI: is beating me to pieces. I cannot predict a thing about it. Happy camper here.

    I have to confess that when I started computer-wargaming I did it exclusively with real time games and had a bad opinion about turn-based games. Arguments like: "turn based wargaming is as good as a match of boxing where boxers take turns to punch".

    Eventually I bought my first turn based game: Korsun Pocket (Matrix games). I got so impressed with it that I had to reconsider my original thoughts.

    This is where I got:

    -OODA: observation, orientation, decision, action. The cycle every commander takes in the battlefield.

    -It's very unlikely that in real battlefield two enemy commanders would be performing the same step of the cycle at the same time. If so, the situation will naturally progress into a way where the end of one's commander cycle will trigger the begining of the other comander's one.

    -All good computer wargames will perform (or allow you to do so) the equivalent of the previous cycle (some games better than others) ONE SIDE at a time.This means that even the games that claim are real time are actually turn based. One calculation cycle for the enemy, one for your forces. The difference between the so-called turn based and real time games is how much times the computer interrupts the virtual battlefield's action in terms of virtual battlefield time.

    -The bigger the scale of the battle, the higher the player's rank, the longer the cycle takes and the lesser the times the wargame should interrupt the virtual battlefield's time to make calculations.

    So I am a truly "turn based" converse now.

    Cheers,

    0

    Values for attacker/defender losses?

    in Strategic Command 1

    Posted

    Hello gentlemen,

    I am a complete newbie to this game. I am learning the basics but I want solid foundations.

    Regarding combat, I took this from the manual:

    Readiness = (supply + strength + command rating + combat morale bonus) / 3

    Multiplier = readiness / 10

    Attacker Losses = defender_multiplier * (defend_type_value + defender_experience / 2) -

    attacker_multiplier * attacker_experience / 2

    Defender Losses = attacker_multiplier * (attack_type_value + attacker_experience / 2) -

    (defender_multiplier * (defender_experience / 2 + defender_entrenchment +

    defence_bonuses))

    I am sure it is explained somewhere in the manual, but I cannot find the following parameters explanation and typical values:

    defend_type_value

    attack_type_value

    Would you help me please?

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    What CM does.... Game vs Sim

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by Sarge Saunders:

    Real life doesn't have a nice neat scoring system at the end of the battle. So the real test of how good a "lab" CM is might be how well CM-honed tactics would work in real life WW-II as a hypothetical.

    Hi Sarge,

    We know that certain tactical situations work in CM as in real life: frontal assaults to unsupressed fortified positions, moving tanks in close terrain without infantry support and many other tactical blunders I am an specialist in doing over and over again.

    You mean tactics at a slightly superior level? Like which objectives should be taken by which type of weapon system?

    Cheers,

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    What CM does.... Game vs Sim

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    A simulation of an hypothetical battle in a specified terrain, with a specified tactical approach and a specified confronting forces. I think that if one CM scenario designer makes an scenario very close to a real life battle and if two CM players move their forces in a similar way as it happened in real life, the digital and real life results would be similar. CM is a WWII tactical combat simulator.

    Dorosh is absolutely right in that no commander ever had the amount of control you have over your forces in CM.

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    What CM does.... Game vs Sim

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Nice post John!

    I second your thoughts.

    I have lost the ability to have fun with games that are not realistic. I am leaning now in on to the simulator side. And I am saving a lot of money: how many worthy sims appear per year?

    Another thing that turns me off is a single player experience with fully scripted missions. Cheers,

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    Contour Lines Desparately Needed

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by CMplayer:

    The engine decides 'hit or miss' then it does some animation to make it look nicer. [/QB]

    Off topic question: when you click "go" then the machine takes some time calculating "something". After that it starts the timer and the turn unleashes. Is that "something" all the stuff that's gonna happen during the turn? Sorry for my ignorance.

    [ May 05, 2004, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Chelco ]

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    Contour Lines Desparately Needed

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by Papa Khann:

    We aren't playing the role of a single battlefield commander in CM. If you want to do that, IMHO, you'd really need to find a program with no 3d graphics or movie playbacks. Not to mention no ordering individual units around. No, that game would probably need to use an orders interface with an overhead map, and text messages reporting troop movements and casulties. Doesn't sound like a very fun game to me. Maybe the realism police would eat it up though.

    Papa

    Your first sentence puts everything in place. Once you appreciate this, having some of the tools discussed here may not look so gamey.
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