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Aha! Now I'm starting to see the research and rationale. OTOH adding a few garden gnomes into that scenario won't lessen the realism any further, so why not [ December 23, 2003, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

Whew, xmas preperations done, now time to sit down and fire up a CMAK QB with a wee dram to the side, what could be better :cool: Alexoscar, I use Photoimpact which I believe is very similar to Photoshop. Under the Format menu there is an option to change the data type, which I alter to 8 bit optimised. It's relatively straightforward, the time consuming part is moving the .bmp files around. The file size reduces to around one third of what it was before, which is where the big jump in performance kicks in. Tanksalot - damn you found me out Yes, I get my thrills spending hours editing and uploading files to mislead strangers - what could be more fun ?! For the framrate display hotkey, just consult a CMAK CDV insert Another idea I had was the cunning use of the MkI eyeball which, for example, shows me that I now can handle settings greater than sparse trees and rotate the map about ten times faster. I'm not sure if altering the data type is what you class as 'reducing colours', but if it is, then unfortunately either you remember incorrectly, or Mr Dog was talking through his doggy derrière The only other explanation I can think of is that all these new trees and my increased sense of speed could actually be due to the wife putting narcotic additives in the mince pies this year. On that note, Merry Christmas to all, the office party starts in under 12 hours time, and I doubt I'll be posting much for a while after that

After a brief discussion in the lo-res doo-dad thread, I have spent a few hours changing some of the CMAK stock terrain graphics from 24 bit to 8 bit optimised. After testing I have seen a major increase in framerate on my 800mhz PC with 32MB graphics card, and best of all there is no discernable loss of image quality . Italian maps with trees are the major winners, but all maps are faster. This first mod focuses on the things which previously had really seemed to slow things down - trees, doo-dads, smoke, dust, and shellholes. I plan on releasing a companion terrain base mod very shortly, which should boost things once again. I would very much welcome feedback on the mod, in the hope that other systems have seen such an increase as my own. It is available now at CMMODS.

I'm happy to turn this into my little christmas project while the turkey digests, but to get me away to a good start I would very much appreciate the appropriate .bmp numbers which I should be working on. If anyone knows them already and can take the time to post the doodad .bmp numbers (plus any others that could be worthwhile downgrading) it would be very helpful

Thanks. I was thinking of downgrading the image quality from 24 bit to 8 bit rather than resizing the BMPs, would I be going about it the wrong way if I did?

Interesting post - and thanks for the icons Mark

FWIW I can't log in either. I disabled my pop-up blocker and still no joy. I also have anti-spyware software running which doesn't give me any warnings about the site, but if it is somehow stopping me getting in there, then I'm not sure I want to visit anyway

A question/plea for a lo-res doodad mod similar to the one produced for CMBB. It makes a big difference for us lo-end users, and I'm hoping that the genius who made the last one catches this, or that someone can explain to me how I may do it myself. Thanks

This stuff is quite funny after a few liquid refreshments, here's a more festive offering: Silent night, tedious night, All is calm, boring as sh*te, Round yon PBEM opponent so riled, Opens a turn file slender yet wild, And is slathered in heavenly TNT, Slathered in heavenly TNT. Noisy night, hellish night, Opponents quake at the sight, Venom streams from keyboards afar, Limbs flying off, sing alleluia, TNT the saviour is born, TNT the saviour is born. Exploding night, violent night, Son of a bitch, that was a fright, Radiant blasts from thy bloody great gun, Vaporised enemies, oh what such fun, TNT lord of the earth ( 3x ) :mad: :mad: :mad:

God save our TNT, Long live our TNT, God save TNT, Make it uproarious, Foe bound and glorious, Terribly slaughterous, God save TNT :mad: :mad: [ December 20, 2003, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

Fair comment, and apologies, if you construe my posts as sanctimonius. However I have a relative who died in the Beda Fomm battle, and ask for your forbearance if I get very focussed on a mis-representation (to be polite ) of the action. FWIW an honest admission will resolve it all for me, and I hope that even if/when this doesn't happen, a few people might have taken the trouble to have a look at the real story.

Fair comment, and apologies, if you construe my posts as sanctimonius. However I have a relative who died in the Beda Fomm battle, and ask for your forbearance if I get very focussed on a mis-representation (to be polite ) of the action. FWIW an honest admission will resolve it all for me, and I hope that even if/when this doesn't happen, a few people might have taken the trouble to have a look at the real story.

Ok thanks, now we are getting somewhere. I must admit I laughed when I read that you thought that the Rifle Brigade might be an Australian outfit. It is probably the most famous outfit in the British army, and thinking of Digger Sharpe at Waterloo armed with his trusty boomerang being led into battle behind the Regimental digeree-doo just cracked me up. My previous post did not focus on the fighting on the 5th at all. Please re-read it if you think it did. I found my copy of the 7th Armoured Division history this evening and checked that to see if there are any disagreements with my other three books, and there aren't. Your RTR website clearly states that 1 RTR re-equipped after Compass was over. Your French website is useless to me as I can't read French, and unfortunately I'm not even sure what you are tying to suggest it proves. Mr Lippman's site has the wrong units listed (for example saying it was 1 Btn KRRC) and looks amateur to me. He says the Italians attempted 'a short hook East' to try to outflank Combeforce. Think on this, if you are facing South, and try a 'short hook East' which direction are you attacking from? Look at the map, the attack does not come from the East, it comes from the West and is heading East, trying to take the Pimple and then bypass Combeforce to the South. The only possible way they could attack from the East would be to break through 4th Armoured and then turn around behind them for another go back at them. The Italians took the Pimple a few times attacking it from the West, but never got further than that. If the Italians had attacked out of the East (i.e. heading West) from their column they would have got very wet indeed. Finally the mythical Free French marines. I still am unable to find any trace of them at all, however if they did exist you might have provided a clue as to their location. To protect the flank of the retreating 10th Army the Regia Aeronautica dropped thermos-flask shaped mines to blow off the tracks of any pursuers across country. If your Free French Marines existed, then they were obviously a long way away from Beda Fomm taking pot shots at these mines scattered over the countryside between Mechilli and Antelat. An object lesson here is to use written and published accounts of battles rather than a couple of websites. I'm suprised you didn't even find a map of the battle though, Google turned one up for me immediately, and I'm sure you would have realised you were labouring under a lot of misconceptions just by looking at that. So if you admit that you have the wrong nation, attacking in the wrong direction, and with the wrong equipment and decide to request BFC withdraw the 'Historical' tag in the next patch because of honest mistakes, then that is very worthy and will be very much appreciated. If you persist in defending this fantasy re-writing of history and insulting the memory of those who were there, then I will insist on continuing this argument. However, this is supposed to be the season of goodwill and I'm sure we've both got better things to do

Ok thanks, now we are getting somewhere. I must admit I laughed when I read that you thought that the Rifle Brigade might be an Australian outfit. It is probably the most famous outfit in the British army, and thinking of Digger Sharpe at Waterloo armed with his trusty boomerang being led into battle behind the Regimental digeree-doo just cracked me up. My previous post did not focus on the fighting on the 5th at all. Please re-read it if you think it did. I found my copy of the 7th Armoured Division history this evening and checked that to see if there are any disagreements with my other three books, and there aren't. Your RTR website clearly states that 1 RTR re-equipped after Compass was over. Your French website is useless to me as I can't read French, and unfortunately I'm not even sure what you are tying to suggest it proves. Mr Lippman's site has the wrong units listed (for example saying it was 1 Btn KRRC) and looks amateur to me. He says the Italians attempted 'a short hook East' to try to outflank Combeforce. Think on this, if you are facing South, and try a 'short hook East' which direction are you attacking from? Look at the map, the attack does not come from the East, it comes from the West and is heading East, trying to take the Pimple and then bypass Combeforce to the South. The only possible way they could attack from the East would be to break through 4th Armoured and then turn around behind them for another go back at them. The Italians took the Pimple a few times attacking it from the West, but never got further than that. If the Italians had attacked out of the East (i.e. heading West) from their column they would have got very wet indeed. Finally the mythical Free French marines. I still am unable to find any trace of them at all, however if they did exist you might have provided a clue as to their location. To protect the flank of the retreating 10th Army the Regia Aeronautica dropped thermos-flask shaped mines to blow off the tracks of any pursuers across country. If your Free French Marines existed, then they were obviously a long way away from Beda Fomm taking pot shots at these mines scattered over the countryside between Mechilli and Antelat. An object lesson here is to use written and published accounts of battles rather than a couple of websites. I'm suprised you didn't even find a map of the battle though, Google turned one up for me immediately, and I'm sure you would have realised you were labouring under a lot of misconceptions just by looking at that. So if you admit that you have the wrong nation, attacking in the wrong direction, and with the wrong equipment and decide to request BFC withdraw the 'Historical' tag in the next patch because of honest mistakes, then that is very worthy and will be very much appreciated. If you persist in defending this fantasy re-writing of history and insulting the memory of those who were there, then I will insist on continuing this argument. However, this is supposed to be the season of goodwill and I'm sure we've both got better things to do

So if I read you right you say that you hear 7th Armoured division had some Australians attached to it sometime during 1940, and you have seen a possible picture of a 1RTR Matilda, and this is what you based the battle on? For goodness sake, there must be half a dozen descriptions of the actual battle itself that I have read over the years, why not use one of them rather than just guesses based on odd pictures and general OOBs? A couple to hand at the moment are Delaforce's 4th Armoured Brigade book (Monty's Marauders), Crucible of War Vol 1 by Barrie Pitt, and The Desert Rats by Robin Neillands. FWIW I can tell you exactly what constituted Combeforce : 11th Hussars less 2 squadrons. 2nd Battallion Kings Royal Rifle Corps 4th Royal Horse Artillery (one battery) 106th Royal Horse Artillery Anti Tank (one battery) NB. A slight absence of French and Australians! 4th Armoured Bde consisted of: 7th Hussars (Vickers Mark VI) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (A13s) 6th Royal Tank Regiment (Cruisers & Vickers) 4th Armoured Brigade started the race towards the battle with 50 A13 cruiser and 95 light tanks, another NB. no matildas! The first to arrive were 7th Hussars and 2 RTR, light tanks followed by cruisers. They attempted to relieve the pressure on Combeforce on the 5th Feb by racing up and down from the east on the landward flank from of the 10th Army attacking where they could. On the 6th - which is when your battle is supposed to be, 4th Armoured Brigade did most of the fighting, however late on elements of 7th Armoured brigade began to arrive. 7th Armoured Bde consisted of: 7th Armoured Brigade: 3rd Hussars (Vickers VI) 8th Hussars (Vickers VI) 1st RTR (A9s & A10s) I cannot trace exact numbers for 7th Armoured Bde, but if you assume a similar balance to 4th Armoured we'll probably be close. A note about British armoured brigades in 1940/41. Tank squadrons mixed within the brigades so that every regiment had at least one gun armed tank squadron. Therefore Hussars had Cruisers mixed in and vice-versa. Just to add extra spice I'll add a map of the action. 1st RTR approached via Beda Fomm on the same route earlier used by 2nd RTR. Your Moorhead quote about meeting Australians after the battle immediately gives itself away - it is after the battle. The 10th Army surrendered en masse and the Australians marched then down from the other end of the Army column in the North rounding up the prisoners. I have a full OOB for the whole Western Desert Force engaged in Operation Compass, and these alleged French Marines are not even listed. The action at Beda Fomm was purely British. So to reiterate, you not only have the wrong units but the wrong NATION attacking in the wrong direction and with the wrong equipment. A fantasy with what appears to be almost no research, indeed I can almost imagine that Australians and Matildas are included because they are 'cool'. [Edit] Typo. [ December 17, 2003, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

So if I read you right you say that you hear 7th Armoured division had some Australians attached to it sometime during 1940, and you have seen a possible picture of a 1RTR Matilda, and this is what you based the battle on? For goodness sake, there must be half a dozen descriptions of the actual battle itself that I have read over the years, why not use one of them rather than just guesses based on odd pictures and general OOBs? A couple to hand at the moment are Delaforce's 4th Armoured Brigade book (Monty's Marauders), Crucible of War Vol 1 by Barrie Pitt, and The Desert Rats by Robin Neillands. FWIW I can tell you exactly what constituted Combeforce : 11th Hussars less 2 squadrons. 2nd Battallion Kings Royal Rifle Corps 4th Royal Horse Artillery (one battery) 106th Royal Horse Artillery Anti Tank (one battery) NB. A slight absence of French and Australians! 4th Armoured Bde consisted of: 7th Hussars (Vickers Mark VI) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (A13s) 6th Royal Tank Regiment (Cruisers & Vickers) 4th Armoured Brigade started the race towards the battle with 50 A13 cruiser and 95 light tanks, another NB. no matildas! The first to arrive were 7th Hussars and 2 RTR, light tanks followed by cruisers. They attempted to relieve the pressure on Combeforce on the 5th Feb by racing up and down from the east on the landward flank from of the 10th Army attacking where they could. On the 6th - which is when your battle is supposed to be, 4th Armoured Brigade did most of the fighting, however late on elements of 7th Armoured brigade began to arrive. 7th Armoured Bde consisted of: 7th Armoured Brigade: 3rd Hussars (Vickers VI) 8th Hussars (Vickers VI) 1st RTR (A9s & A10s) I cannot trace exact numbers for 7th Armoured Bde, but if you assume a similar balance to 4th Armoured we'll probably be close. A note about British armoured brigades in 1940/41. Tank squadrons mixed within the brigades so that every regiment had at least one gun armed tank squadron. Therefore Hussars had Cruisers mixed in and vice-versa. Just to add extra spice I'll add a map of the action. 1st RTR approached via Beda Fomm on the same route earlier used by 2nd RTR. Your Moorhead quote about meeting Australians after the battle immediately gives itself away - it is after the battle. The 10th Army surrendered en masse and the Australians marched then down from the other end of the Army column in the North rounding up the prisoners. I have a full OOB for the whole Western Desert Force engaged in Operation Compass, and these alleged French Marines are not even listed. The action at Beda Fomm was purely British. So to reiterate, you not only have the wrong units but the wrong NATION attacking in the wrong direction and with the wrong equipment. A fantasy with what appears to be almost no research, indeed I can almost imagine that Australians and Matildas are included because they are 'cool'. [Edit] Typo. [ December 17, 2003, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

I'm sorry Rune but I think this scenario is almost pure fantasy. If I leave the others to discuss the map and will focus on the units, at the moment you have Australian infantry backed eventually by Matildas. Beda Fomm was a purely British operation, on the 6th Feb the Australians and any Matildas were harrying the other end of the retreating 10th Army at least 80 miles away around Benghazi. If you are interested in simulating the real battle on the 6th, you should have Comberforce stretched out denying a north/south coast road with men from the British Rifle Brigade screening the R.H.A. guns directed by Jock Campbell, supported by light tanks from the 11th Hussars. Throughout the day A13 cruiser tanks from 4th Armoured Brigade attempt to stop the Italian 10th Army overwhelming Comberforce, by attacking from the East, almost running out of ammunition, and eventually receiving help from more cruisers of 7th Armoured Brigade just as things look hopeless. A quick look at a campaign map will show how inapproprate your choice of Australians is as discussed above, and also why a Matilda could never have been involved. One relativley good thing about the A13 was its speed, and 4th & 7th Armoured spent the previous 48 hours attempting to cover huge distances to cut off the 10th Army cross country. A waddling Matilda would be a totally inappropriate tank to use for that mission, which is why they weren't! What you have created is just as historical as an Omaha beach scenario where the French army storms ashore backed by Pershing tanks :eek: It might be fun, but it isn't history.

I'm sorry Rune but I think this scenario is almost pure fantasy. If I leave the others to discuss the map and will focus on the units, at the moment you have Australian infantry backed eventually by Matildas. Beda Fomm was a purely British operation, on the 6th Feb the Australians and any Matildas were harrying the other end of the retreating 10th Army at least 80 miles away around Benghazi. If you are interested in simulating the real battle on the 6th, you should have Comberforce stretched out denying a north/south coast road with men from the British Rifle Brigade screening the R.H.A. guns directed by Jock Campbell, supported by light tanks from the 11th Hussars. Throughout the day A13 cruiser tanks from 4th Armoured Brigade attempt to stop the Italian 10th Army overwhelming Comberforce, by attacking from the East, almost running out of ammunition, and eventually receiving help from more cruisers of 7th Armoured Brigade just as things look hopeless. A quick look at a campaign map will show how inapproprate your choice of Australians is as discussed above, and also why a Matilda could never have been involved. One relativley good thing about the A13 was its speed, and 4th & 7th Armoured spent the previous 48 hours attempting to cover huge distances to cut off the 10th Army cross country. A waddling Matilda would be a totally inappropriate tank to use for that mission, which is why they weren't! What you have created is just as historical as an Omaha beach scenario where the French army storms ashore backed by Pershing tanks :eek: It might be fun, but it isn't history.

Hehe. They probably got delayed in the same shipping strike which BFC have invented to halt the deployment of the Afrika Korps for several months as well. It's bad enough that the Italians aren't available for their main offensive, but not having the Afrika Korps available for the crucial Easter battles of 1st Tobruk is bloody awful. Hopefully a patch can fix, if BFC are interested.

And very unrealistic indeed. Spoiler: . . . . . . Matildas at Beda Fomm???!!! How did they get there then?! And don't even get me started on the map. Whoever described this scenario as 'historical' is probably the same guy who wrote that we can deploy thunderous tanks like Pershings and King Tigers on the CDV case. I hate bad history :mad:

And very unrealistic indeed. Spoiler: . . . . . . Matildas at Beda Fomm???!!! How did they get there then?! And don't even get me started on the map. Whoever described this scenario as 'historical' is probably the same guy who wrote that we can deploy thunderous tanks like Pershings and King Tigers on the CDV case. I hate bad history :mad:

Definite: All British armor commander' portraits (on the left of the toolbar) have a Canadian flag behind them, not a British flag. Possible: 6pdr bunkers are available for QB purchase for British in 2/41 ???!!! [ December 07, 2003, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

Okay, I Googled 'rocks - please delete' and I wind up HERE. I'd love to help them but my heat rocks for reptiles knowledge is a bit limited....

Oh man! Does this mean I get to lead Commonwealth troops against crack Italian troops on the mountain fortress of Keren? That has been a wargaming dream for years!

Lots of interesting stuff to read here Can I add a couple of further points from my reading on the pursuit after Alamein which some posters have criticised. The weather has already been mentioned, but the Axis forces had the great advantage of the use of the one good quality roadway in the theater - ie. the coast road. While the desert was turned ito a quagmire slowing the pursuit, and the air force was grounded, they could freely use the tarmac road and easily deny it to the Allies with small rearguards. Also I did read years ago of the actual numbers of Axis troops who made it back to Halfaya from the Alamein positions, and it was suprisingly few, the large majority surrendered. I wish I could recall the source, but if anyone has any information or ideas I'd be grateful.