Thomas Davie

I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Situated directly north from Grand Forks, North Dakota. Tom

Steve; thanks for the quick reply. Do you know if I will be able to print out the penetration diagrams from the CD (are you going to include some kind of mechanism to do this ), or must I take screenshots of the diagrams and then print them out with a third party utility? And yeah, I *am* crazy enough to print them all out in colour. I figure it's going to cost me the same amount of money whether I do it, or you would charge me $200 or whatever Tom

Steve: Ok, thanks for the information. For example, will Fionn be including the penetration diagrams for TGN as well as the 'pop up' info that I've seen on some screenshots (the ones with font/side/rear armour thicknesses and some range attentuation? ). If so that is a hell of a lot of work on his part. Tom

R Cunningham: I don't know who the hell has that besides me. And no, having a manual in pdf form is no excuse for not having a nice fat manual. I want a nice fat manual, and one that is chock full of data. I'm probably (almost certainly?) not going to get what I want though, so c'est la vie. The remaining question that I've got is will I be able to print out the 'call up' unit data and weapons penetration charts, or whether I would have to do screen captures and print them out one by one. Now, *these* I would take to the throne and pour over them. Tom

R Cunningham: Dual monitor system or task switching. That having been said, I use task switching most ofen since a lot of the games I have barf on a dual monitor Windows system. One game which seems to happily co exist on an 'active' dual monitor setup is Starfleet Command. That game came with the manual in pdf format (as well as a 160 page spiral bound rulebook). When I play the game, the pdf file is displayed on the second monitor so I can refer to it during a scenario. Tom

Lokesa: No idea if any campaigns were ever made 'unoffically' for Close Combat. I continue to play the same map over and over again....one of the maps I got off of cc2.gamestats.com Sorry I couldn't be more help. Tom

While waiting for Combat Mission, I've been playing the following (and for the following reasons); 1) SFC; incredibly detailed ship to ship combat set in the SFB world. I used to playtest for SFB. 2) West Front/East Front 2. I just love the tactical/operational level involved and have played some insanely large battles with it. 3) Age of Empires/ Age of Kings. Get a weird thrill out of building up an empire and then taking the 'hands off' approach and watching it decay. 4) Close Combat 2 with the extensive Dar Fuchs 'East Front' Mod 5) Steel Panthers: WW2 But....I check the Battlefront website several times a day to see if there is any news about the game. Tom

Ok, I guess I should have been more specific. Sorry bout that. Will the manual include some or all of the following data; -Maximum sighting ranges within the game (even a fuzzy interpertation needs a base number, and I guess this is what I'm after) -How different events in the game numerically affect unit morale. -A mathematical explanation of how the morale system works. I don't know if I understood you correctly, but you said the 'tables' will appear as composed of icons? Are you kidding? So any data that I will be able to get from the manual will be in iconic form? Tom

Posting this from Kelowna, Brtish Columbia where I am currently on holidays so if anyone sends me the usual hate mail don't bother for a week Steve: What will the manual include? Will it have any tables at all pertaining to any aspect of the game? Thanks Tom

Lee: accepting that the CD be in the drive in order to play the game is a price I don't mind paying *as long as* I can copy the original CD so that I do not have to use the original disc. Tom

Lee: Battlefront's return policy is good I'll admit. Most other companies would do well to emulate them in this area. Moon: If the CD turns out to be uncopyable due to incorporation of 'bad' sectors on the original CD my policy is simple; I'll send the CD back to Battlefront at my expense, and they have my money for free I will *not* support an uncopyable program in any way, shape or form after W*st Fr*nt from T*l*ns*ft. So, if it turns out to be the case that Combat Mission is uncopyable (which is entirely within their rights as a producer), I would appreciate it if someone would make this fact known to me before I buy the game. Tom

Doug; don't be discouraged. CSIPGWH is a slightly drier lot that *.strategic The demo alone and some ensuing chatter about it will draw a reaction. Tom

Just curious as to what labour day means in the States since I have no idea what the hell it means in Canada. As a matter of fact, I was down in the States for the labour day weekend availing myself of comparatively cheap tequila. Reason I ask is that; a) no Canadian I ran into had any idea what labour day meant for Canadians and no American I asked had any idea what it means to Americans. I had thought that the baseball team from my city was in a playoff game against Fargo-Moorehead, but I was wrong. I did run into a store clerk from a Best Buy who is eagerly waiting for CM though. Tom

People can (and should) speak for themselves re: CC 1/2/3. I generally hate RTS games with a passion, although I am starting to make an exception for Age of Empires/ Age of Empires 2, and CC 1/2/3. Sure there's going to be inaccuracies in the database for CC4. Ever see a game that was perfect? It *will* be hacked. Guaranteed. Combat Mission will likely contain some small imperfections as well, however my money says that Battlefront will be more open to correcting any errors that can be demonstrated to exist. Ah well, minor soapbox mode off. Tom

Thanks for the info Steve. I didn't know that it was DirectX that was responsible for multiple monitors. Eh, that does not fill me with confidence (insert standard anti MS slogan here). I've got an ATI Rage Turbo pro 8 Mb pci card driving a 15" monitor as a secondary display....or at least what I think of as a secondary display. I suppose I could yank it if it causes any trouble. But then I assume if the demo runs flawlessly, so will the game. Thanks Tom

Subject says it all. On the Mac I'll use, I've got 1 monitor, but on my home comp (wintel), I've got 2 monitors. IS CM going to be compatible, or should I disable one monitor while playing the game? I ask because some of the so called W98 games make my system puke pretty badly. It's not a big deal to remove one of the monitors, just that I'm rather lazy Thanks for any info. Tom

I'm glad that some people in the States are able to tryout some of what I think are Canada's best beers. On the 16th, I'm heading out to British Columbia on a classic road trip and will swill many beer. I'm currently in search of an ultimate barleywine and IPA. Open to any suggestions at all from people in the States. I'll be in the upper northwest if that helps. Thanks Tom

Steve; what does a Trois Pistole taste like. I've read about it but never had it. Somewhere I'd read it had a strong licorice taste. True/false? we finally have some half decent beers which originate where I come from (Winnioeg, Manitoba)....a hefeweizen from Agassiz, and a pale and dark ale from Fort Garry, along with Frontier (a supposedly Czechslovakian pilsner but i have not tried it yet ). Tom

While on the topic of beers from Quebec, I'd suggest also trying St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout by the McAuslan Brewery. Thick, chewy and roasty. Also a top notch Canadian brewery. Ah heck, also try La Seigneurale, Brasal, Brasseur de Nord and Le Cheval Blanc. Tom

Lokesa; my favourite would have to be La Fin Du Monde, which translated into english means 'the end of the world'. This beer goes well with fish, veal or other 'light' meats. I don't know if you can get it in either th 26 oz or 12 oz sizes. Be warned that if you can get it in the 26 oz size, it can not be recorked (comes complete with a wire wrapped cork, and covered in white tin foil ), which means you have to consume the entire bottle usually in an evening if you do not want it to go flat. The Maudite goes well with red meat, such as a nice steak or roast. This also comes in 26 or 12 oz bottles. One other thing about the Unibroue beers is that they all keep for several years. I'd been saving a bottle of '94 Maudite until you and Steve got me going and tried it last nite. Here are my April 4/97 tasting notes on Maudite verbatim; A smart pop when the bottle opened. Ruddy dark brown colour. Dense, finely bubbled head. Fruity, faintly alcoholic aroma. Head is fairly long lasting. No lace on side of glass. Complex taste comprised of fruit, malt and Belgian candy sugar. Carbonation not too high. I had prviously believed this to be a Tripel, but now it doesn't seem to me to be as wild and unrestrained as it once was. Perhaps because it has aged since 94 or perhaps because I've been exposed to more beer since then. Lots of esters. Slightly phenolic. bubblegum/banana? Sorry that I can't find my tasting notes for any of the other Unibroue beers. Tom

Here is the wesbite for Unibroue Beer in Quebec, Ca. www.unibroue.com The site is in both English and French. For anyone who doesn't know, Unibroue makes beers in the 'Belgian Style'. Stylistically, these beers are 'out there'. The bare no similarity to Labatt's Blue or Budweiser. These are the beers they produce; Blanche De Chambly: A 'white' beer, made of wheat and spiced with orange and coriander. Very effervescent. 5% abv Quelque Chose: A gluhkriek which is a brown ale beefed up with tons of sour cherries and loaded with unfermentable sugars. Meant to be drunk warm/hot (honest).8% abv Raftman: A peat malt smoked beer. 5.5% abv Eau Benite: A Trappist style ale. 7.7% abv La Fin Du Monde: VERY similar to Scaldis or Bush Blonde. Pale, pale yellow in colour and heavily spiced. Has very aromatic and flavourful yeast byproduct profile. Surprisingly 'light' for a 9% abv beer. Trois Pistoles: 9% abv La Gaillarde: An orange-spiced beer. Very tart tasting. 5% abv Marie Clarisse: 6.5% abv brewed for one hotel chain in Quebec. I haven't tried this beer La Maudite: 8 % abv Very malty beer, the spices tend to keep it from being cloying (the Belgians use some weird spices in beer making, including cinammon, ginger, allspice, peppermint, coriander, licorice, honey, heather, clover and so on ). 1837: 7% abv. distibuted exclisively in Quebec. I haven't tried this beer U and U2 beers; pilseners? Sold only in Quebec? I suspect that their are several other 'one off' beers that have made their way to some pubs and bars. Now, sorry for the long beer rant, but I think this is Canada's finest brewery and I live 1/2 way across the country to the other coast and have only been to Quebec once in my life. And although I don't know about Steve, but I love the Unibroue at room temperature (yup thats right....not cold). Tom

Uh, no it isn't on topic, but beer is....well, the food of the Gods? Raftman is made with peat smoked malt and has an iodiney taste somewhat reminsicent of a single malt scotch from Islay. But it is a thin bodied beer, and very carbonated. It would go well with say barbqued food on a very hot day. Otherwise it's not in the same league as the others in my opinion. Agh, I've been started on a beer kick again Hmm, maybe I should take a trip to the STates today to grab some good beer? Tom

Steve; you mean the beers from Unibroue? They are phenomenal. I've got access to the following; La Fin Du Monde Maudite Raftman Blanche de Chambly and I've tried L'eau Benite and Trois Pistoles. I love the spice notes that come through in La Fin Du Monde. But, if you've got the Canadian labelled bottles you know it's 9% abv. It's definately a treat and not a session beer at that strength (for me anyways ). Tom

KRM: one bottle yep. Never tried it, but have read rave reviews of it. Any more than one, and I run the risk of Canada Customs busting my *ss. For a CD of the demo, I consider that more than fair. Tom

KRM; I'd send you the demo in return for a bottle of Cooper's Sparkling Ale? I'm serious. Tom