Thomas Davie

Thanks for the reply Steve. I'm not knocking the AI in Combat Mission yet, was just curious about this odd behaviour. Could it have something to do with the facft that it was a turretless AFV and in some weird way, manner or fashion it was attempting a turret turn, but actually turned the whole vehicle? Ah, that's what I rationalized to myself anyways. I find I've got some conceptual questions about how the AI handles it's forces, but when they're all sorted out I'll post them (you might not want to bother with such a long post, who knows). All things considered, I'm rather impressed with the AI as well. Very impressed actually, considering what I call the AI you call the strategic AI, and it has only been in since about August. The one thing that would have been a game killer for me is that the AI thankfully avoids the 'I must follow a path to the victory hexes like a male dog following a dog in heat' syndrome. Tom

Please keep in mind that this is based solely on the beta demo, and in ONE scenario (The Last Defense). A Stug-III wandered up to what I could clearly see was 'my' position....it stopped, and then instead of pausing or reversing proceeds to turn around and make a beeline out of there, all the while presenting it's ass in a most inviting manner. I've seen this in pretty much every solo game I've played, or other equally odd 'things'. If this has been corrected or if I am somehow misinterpreting what is happening apologies. And again, if the testers OR Bigtime are not seeing this sort of occurence, well....I am. And yes I am keeping in mind that this is a beta demo. I welcome comments and am willingly ready to be shown what I am incorrectly concentrating on. Quite frankly after a weeks solid play with the game, I haven't got any comments on the overall quality of the AI as to whether or not it is 'good' or 'bad'. I've got the feeling that there's some stuff lurking under the hood that I'm not quite in touch with (no comment on any statistical analysis of the game system). As always, comments welcome Tom

Royston; For what it's worth, here is what I as a Canadian would pay for the game; $45 US (67.50 Cdn) $8 US Shipping (12.00 Cdn) That's $79.50 Cdn Add provincial sales tax of 4.73, and Federal tax of 4.73 and importation tax of God knows what (it's almost a whim what Canada Customs charges, but the last game I mail ordered was $15 Cdn ). So let's say a grand total of $103.96 Cdn I could download the game for free (but I won't). I can also pass on the game if I'm not willing to pay the price. But neither would I give a rat's ass if my friends laughed at me for not playing it because I didn't steal it. Shrug. Your choice. The last bottle of Scotch that I bought cosr almost as much as I figure CM would. Tom

Well no actually because I already knew it wasn't a Tiger. I just figured that the possible sighting of a Tiger meant that they had put false sightings in. Mind you, when playing a random game or one for the first time yes, I would be soiling myself Tom

Take this with the appropriate grain of salt considering it's soviet origin.... http://www.history.enjoy.ru/destroyed/ Been posted before, but there's been some updates. Tom

Playing the Last Defense as the US PBEM, and set up the 3 US bazooka teams in what I hope will be a forward ambush against some German vehicles. My teams move forward and rush into the woods, hopefully occupying good ambush positions. All three of my bazooka teams had German squads slip by them, and they ALL got gunned down in the back. You know who you are Tom ah, they were expendable anyways.

Steve; as long as the timers are optional providing both players agree....otherwise, what is the point of playing if one person can unilaterally dictate the conditions of the game. Mind you, I generally agree with the point being made. I've played in a few online tournaments and subject to a gentleman's agreement used 15 minutes per turn, with the understanding that the game would take approximately 3 hours. However, if my opponent 'demanded' a time limit, I'd probably not play. I'm playing a few PBEM games of CM at the moment and the most I would ever do is ask if my opponents could play a bit faster. Considering the games have just started, I'd personally think it a bit rude. Heck, I'm involved in a game of Warlords 3 PBEM that's over a year old! Voluntary reason is the key. Tom

Correct me if I'm wrong. But after managing to smoke a Tiger, one of the Germans vehicles was reported as a Tiger? So I made the assumption that you've already coded in possible misinterpretations about vehicles. Tom

I keep moving my mouse to the bottom of the screen expecting it to scroll or to the sides expecting it to rotate Tom

I've been playing the 'Last Defense" scenario over and over for a number of reasons, including a) do I have to unlearn, are my tactics as sound as I thought and so forth. I was pushing a column of 4 half tracks and 1 Tiger up a road. Figured I'd hide the Tiger inside the column of haftracks. ure enough, a halftrack immediately in front of the Tiger gets brewed up. The Tiger pauses, 1/2 turns to one side and starts to push the dead half track off the road. Reverses to the other side and shoves the half track off the road, and then starts to move forward again. Did I hallucinate this? It specifically happened twice and in 2 seperate motions. Tom

My 2 cents; I use a DOS box 90% of the time, but it doesn't bother me that the 'ESC' minimizes rather than cancels. I find I', hitting the 'X' key when I want to cancel something and that seems to have resolved any problems I was trying to deal with. Tom

The first time I played 'Defense' as the US forces, I managed to cath the Tiger in a crossfire of about 22 degrees on each side, and the Tiger was slightly elevated. Ovre a 2 minute period, the Tiger got hit at about 500m range 7 times. All it did was spook him up a bit and he reversed. The Hellcat is nice, but vulnerable, esp at close ranges. Tom

Fionn; I made a referenec that playing the beta demo felt like being in the Twilight Zone. This is nothing more than saying it feels very surrealistic. Tom

Fionn: I find that I am sticking to view level 4. That seems to give me the info that I want and I avoid any 'illness'. I did switch to level '1' with squinted eyes when I wanted to find out what KO'd something. I've tried some bizzare things such as dropping artillery on myself just to see what the system would do; my spotter became shaken, and made a beeline for the nearest building. I've noticed a few nice tidbits such as; traffic jams (tried rushing some TD's past each other), increasing delays as units stray from HQ's, a Tiger retreating after taking multiple hits, and variable AI deployment (I checked this with fog of war set to off). To be honest; the only negative is that I would like a selectable list of units that are active, ie....press a hot key and get a list of active units that I could switch to by using the mouse or keyboard (rather like the headquarters function in Steel Panthers). Nope; no complaints yet. Tom

After messing around with the demo for a while, I called a student and asked if he'd mind going back to the lab to try the game....no problem, so after getting him used to the interface (which didn't take long), PC 2 PC email works ok. In spite of the fact that I was told 'unlearn all that you knew' I find that I really didn't have to. Thankfully, the game is as flexible as I'd hoped. I HATE 3d with a passion. But the game is perfectly workable working from a top down perspective 80% of the time, and from a 3/4 perspective the other 20% One of the first thigns that I tried was allowing the AI to 'redeploy' it's forces, and this with the fog of war off....then quitting the game and restarting just to see how it would vary the initial disposition. Nothing specifically that I can pick up on as of yet. I never managed to take out the Tiger-1, but was able to force him to retreat because of repeated pummeling. I did easily(?) get a total victory, but was glad to see that I got punished for making obvious mistakes. I lost 2 TD's to infantry assaults simply because I pushed them far forward beyond infantry cover. Negatives? None actually. Positives? Detailed, appears to have a tough AI, has a twilight zone kind of freakishness about it. Managed to get into a traffic jam on a road The AI never rally pushed it's tanks beyonf infantry cover unlike me Tom

I found that if I DON'T lock the camera on a unit, I don't feel like doing the old technicolour yawn. But the first time I tried that I got an all too familar sensation Have only played with it for about an hour or so, and it feels rather like playing with 1/256 scale micro-tanks. Tom

Thanks Steve; am happily downloading it at a paltry 30k/ sec. Tom

Washington State? Damn; I was in BC about 4 weeks ago. Yeah, Washington State is 'north' by my reckoning'. It's about a 24 hour drive from where I live to Penticton BC (which is close to the border). As long as it's hoppy.... Tom

If anyone ICQ's me and I don't answer right away, I'm not being rude. I've got a permanent connection and my system is usually on 24/7. However, I will pbem any and all people who request up to 10 opponents in #. When the live tcp/ip thing gets worked in, I'll play a game anytime I can be caught. I play without an ego and don't care about losing as long as I learn and it's fair. Uh, thats about it. Oh yeah, I've got about 3 weeks of holidays in December when the University where I work shuts down. If ya live anywhere in the 'northern' part of the US, email me and we can go for a beer or several. Tom

I did wonder if you had met with an untimely demise. Tom

I suppose Elvis that it depends upon your definition of a case of beer That having been said, there was some talk of a net timer being included in the game to force people to plot their moves within a reasonable period of time. If this is included, I assume it will be optional, rather like in West Front (I had it set to 15 minutes per turn in an online tournament and that worked out rather nice). Tom

PeterNZ: Although TacOPs might be a little bit hard to get into at first, you might try easing your way in by downloading the Steel Panthers 2 demo. Covers roughly the same subject matter as does TacOPs, but in my opinion less well. Confused? You thought you were confused? First time I downloaded the TacOPs demo a few years ago, I setup all of my units with a nice clear field of fire to what I thought were the approaches that the OpFor would take. WHAM! Arty rains down. I die. However, TacOPs takes an approach to wargaming that I think is underappreciated. I hope that this will allow the development of Panzers East Tom

Thomas Davie thodavie@videon.wave.ca ICQ: 31296177 Static IP Tom

Mikeman; my honest opinion is that I will be operating at a distinct advantage by using an exclusively top down perspective. Of course, this can only be born out when the game/beta arrives, but my rationale is that I am pushing lines of force along a map (which by its very definition is 2d). I would contend that it is impossible to do this accurately if using an exclusive 3d mode. And I really think that if you use a mixed 2d/3d mode you will be missing the big picture (which is, I think what I will be concentrating upon). Anyway, sorry to get long winded, but if the LOS and other in game tools work as well in the 2d mode as they will in the 3d mode, no I won't be at any disadvantage at all. Mind you, I am making a very large assumption that there will be equivalent on screen cues, question marks and the like in 2d mode just as I've seen in some of the 3d screenshots. If there are, I don't anticipate any problems. Tom off topic ps The Perfect Martini -1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin -0.25 oz Noily Prat Extra Dry Vermouth Put in a shaker with 4 ice cubes and a twist of lemon. Shaken until outside is frosted. Strain into appropriate glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon or pimento stuffed olive. Eh, what can I say....I'm on a martini kick at the moment.

Apocal; no I'm not joking about the motion sickness when playing fps games. And in my opinion, it's got nothing to do with being raised on adifferent generation of games; I think it is just individual variation. If I get a visual clue (on screen for example) that I am moving, but my body does not perceive that motion actually occuring I puke. And as an aside, I'm not particularly hopeful that the slow panning down the battlefield (as opposed to rapid fire fps playing) is going to help all that much. But heck, I have the top down perspective, and that *is* what I want. Tom