Thomas Davie

MadMatt; 700 megabytes is nothing. At least to people with fast connections that is. A cable modem working at 1.5 mbps would take a little over an hour to grab something that size. A 56k modem would take 30 odd hours. Still quite doable. But you're right....it ain't gonna happen. Tom

Just curious as to whether or not snow on slopes/sides of hills reduces traction or makes vehicles move slower (more so than on level ground). Thanks Tom

Hey Lee, I don't know if you've sent the last turn or have received any emails from me. Anyways, just letting you know that I still exist, so please drop me a line, or here publicly if your email isn't getting through. Tom

Fionn; have you ever suffered spousal rage (no I'm not married) in a manner similar to this? 'Honey, I'll meet you after work to go Xmas shopping, but I have to go home to pick up a few things first' 'Ok dear, see you at the mall at 6pm'. So, I go home, one thing leads to another, and at 10 pm I receive a frantic phone call asking if I was ok. Well, I kinda lost track of time, and ended up playing a computer wargame, and was in the proverbial dog's house for quite a while. Ah, the joys of addiction Tom

Craig; from one Canuck (Winterpeg) to another....Hello. Yep, the current storm system that swept over the prairies is a bugger. We're getting it right about now Tom

Hey Howard; I sold CC4 Didn't last too long at all. Actually, I swapped it for Baldur's Gate. The only continous action game that is still on my system now is Starfleet Command. Tom

Fionn; what the heck. Name the site. I'll figure out who he or she is. Shrug, I can always use a good mindless fight. Tom

Steve; there will *always* be people who will take an opposing position just to be contrary. And then there will always be people who will want to air these opinions publicly just to stir up ****. Sometimes it's what makes these people tick. Then again, there are going to be people who 'just don't get it' in regards to a groundbreaking product. They misunderstand what is trying to be accomplished. And finally, there are going to be people who 'just can't get it' as regards the same. They find it hard if not impossible to adapt to such a radically new system (remember in the past you had said that there were probably a small number of peoplem who just wouldn't follow the new system?). So, uh don't laugh too heartily at these people....they may be future customers of yours. Tom

Ship now, but when you've got the networking code worked out put it in a demo. I'll wait. Tom

You think you were ripped off? I bought CC4 about 2 weeks ago, and I've already uninstalled it. Caveat Emptor I guess. Shrug. Continous action games never are my thing anyway. Tom

Re: Canada Customs....I started beta testing a product about 3 weeks ago. The CD/manual was shipped to me in a thick paper envelope, clearly marked 'FREE COMPUTER GAME/ NO COMMERCIAL VALUE'. Not only did CC open it up, and ended up ripping the manual in half (eh, it had a swastika somewhere in the manual???), I got arbitrarily charged $20 Cdn. $5 processing fee, plus duty and GST at an assessed rate. Go figure. Now I figure I'll just drive across the border and take my chances. Tom

Mikeman; Pford is talking about a learning AI. They are commonplace in chess and some other types of games. The vapourware that is 'Road To Moscow' was purported to have a learning AI. Roughly speaking, such a system would optimize itself to whatever player it was 'mostly' playing against. Tom

Captain Foobar; you've been emailed. I won't make any public comments because the game system has been set and people obviously love it. However, should anyone wish to enter into a polite and private discourse regarding the utilization of 3d elements, please feel more than free to email me. Tom

I assume that when the game ships, the company will be very responsive as far as monitoring bug reports, etc, soooo.....will bug fixes (if any) be incorporated first, or will you be geared towards adding on tcp/ip play. Just curious, and no hidden insults intended. Thanks Tom

Fionn; I drove down to the States yesterday to buy the game. To be honest I haven't gotten into the strategic coponent of the game yet, just a few scenarios. Now, I've always thought that the pathfinding component of most 'continous' action games rather brain dead and have thus used waypoints if available so I haven't seen the tank 'jig' yet. Current opinion? It's more of the same. I don't like the lack of purchase points, and as far as the series has gone, I thought it hit the high water mark in CC3. Wouldn't have been worth it were it not for the beer that I was able to buy when I was down there as well. Tom

Yes. Tom

KingTiger: I don't live in the Northeast like 'Tom', but I can tell you that punk rock shows are awesome. Total uncontrolled chaos. My hearing and my liver both tend to suffer after one of them, and due to my advanced age the recovery periodd is a lot longer than it used to be. Tom

Fionn; if I suffer from a hyperactive reticular formation of the lower brain stem you'll understand if I blurt a question out of turn, ok? Tom

Unless I have a myocardial infarction or require medical attention, I intend to be there. Tom

*I'd like to hear opinions on what aspects *of CM took the most getting used to, mainly *from a gameplay point-of-view. *For example: *• Did anyone have trouble learning to *navigate the battlefield using the camera *views? Learning how to do this quickly? Yes. Learning how to do it in a meaningful manner or fashion? Yes. Still can't do it. *• What about calulating/juding line of sight? Yes. Still can't do it in any way that garners me useful information that I can relate back to the battlefield. *• Interpreting the unit figures, especially infantry? No problem. *• Interpreting terrain - eg distinguishing between different types of woods? No problem. *• Giving orders? HELL YES. Especially when changing between viewpoints. I find the differential display of movement plots more than disconcerting. *• Understanding how the command and control system works? If so, which aspects: range to leader, impact on delays, or whatever? No problem. *• Getting used to units doing their own targetting? Don't like it. Think it's flawed. The degree to which it is done in the beta demo is, to me, unacceptable. I am though, aware that this has been tweaked somewhat. I am aware of a vein of thought which goes 'If you find the AI constantly retargetting, then maybe you need to rethink your targets'. Personally, I don't buy this. My reasons why would constitute another thread though. *• And anything else. Other than what I've briefly touched upon, no. *In short, what are the areas that you think *might be helpful to explain to someone new *to CM? Well, in order that this can be meaningfully answered you'll have to qualify the question a wee bit more Fer instance; I'm new to CM's interface as of 2 weeks ago and still having trouble. Please explain it to me Tom

Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it. Tom

Peter and Herr Oberst. Thanks, thats exactly what I'm after. I'm trying to figure out how people are playing the game and why in order to maximize information. I haven't settled on anything yet other than trying to avoid modes 1 through 4. I suspect I might find them more useful if I was able to superimpose a 2d map on top of mode 3 or 4. Not sure though. Thanks again. Tom

Subject says it all. Thanks for any replies. Tom

Good stuff. Yep, I tried dropping a tunr file on it and nothing. Glad to see you back in business. Tom

Odd behaviour mate. I just tried that. Mine doesn't go bing, black or break. For the heck of it, I tried to drop a Word 200 document on it and nothing. Program starts up ok. Tom