BigDog944

All three AARs sent in!

Yes, SeaMonkey. Airborne Assault, Highway to the Reich is a great game! I personally think the engine is ahead of its time. It's the type of game we'll all be playing in 2007, but hardly anyone's playing today because so few gamers really have what it takes to command a successful military operation! Personally, I've played the tutorials twice, now! Loved them both times and have been meaning to commit more time to the game, but have always been side tracked. By the time I get back to it, I feel I need to do the tutorials again... Oh well.

I imagine that the main piece (only piece?) of coding that Charles has done in CMBB is to allow CMBB to import scenario files that CMC has created (and the reverse, CMBB will be able to export the detailed end of battle results back to CMC). Given that the CMBB editor already allows you to create a battle with 'over-ridden' unit names, it means that the unit names are encoded in the battle file format, not assigned randomly at runtime. I'd take this to mean that the CMBB battles created will have the CMC unit names intact. What would be really nice is if that battle file import/results export interface were openly published at some point in the future. Something in a nice XML format, please! Think of the user community mods and campaign engines that would be possible! Not likely until long after the commercial value of CMC has trended to nil, though! By the way, Hunter... I know through years of personal experience that Python and wxPython are wonderful to code with! Excellent choice! I initially was wondering why not PyGame, but then I thought that the campaign editor of CMC would be far easier to code with the GUI components that wxPython gives you, rather than the minimal help you'd get from PyGame.

If you were willing to wait for it, the "Tiger Valley" scenario that was created for RoW V is probably one of the best, most fun CM battles I've ever played. It'll probably be a while before it's published to the general public, though... You'll eventually be able to find it on the Boots and Tracks web site, I think.

Spanish Civil War

The best way to use mortars is with area fire, as you are attempting, as with area fire the mortar will continue to fire at the targetted spot the entire turn. However, do you know about using an HQ (platoon, company, battalion) to spot for your mortars? A mortar that is under command (dark red line from the HQ to the mortar) of an HQ can area fire at anything the commanding HQ can see, even though the mortar targetting line shows the target as being out of line of sight (targetting line is black). You'll know the mortar is successfully targetting when the orange area fire target line doesn't disappear after setting it. If it disappears, neither the HQ nor the mortar has a LoS to the spot. Using this method, you can keep your mortar hidden behind a hill and still hit the same targets. Only the HQ needs to be exposed. If the HQ doesn't fire, it'll be nearly impossible for the enemy to determine where the mortar fire is coming from. Indirect mortar fire using an HQ will solve your problem. Good luck! [ October 21, 2005, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: BigDog944 ]

The Enigma and I just finished Loaded for Bear. I guess that means our non-finalist group is completely finished all battles!

We just don't want to promise now what we can't deliver in case we'd run into any issues later on, so until we can test it properly on a Mac platform, the quote you used as the title for this thread stands. Martin </font>

That look is going to take you all of five minutes at this point is my guess, and then it is back to twiddling your thumbs while waiting for the release of the Commonwealth module to CM:x2 WW2 in about 3-4 years. Sorry. All the best Andreas </font>

Is it just me? The thought that every CMx2 game released in the next two or more years will be almost entirely American focused leads me to thinking I'll be looking into what the competition is offering. CMx2 will probably be a good game, but as soon as I read about the subject matter of the first two releases, I definitely started thinking that the CMx1 trilogy will be staying on my hard drive for years to come.

I am currently enjoying "Tobruk - The Easter Battles" by Cory Runyan. Here's the original announcement of it. EDIT: And here's a link to where you can download it! Tobruk - The Easter Battles It's a 7 battle (day, night, day, night...), 40 turns each operation of the German assault on the outer fortifications of Tobruk in April 1941. The map is huge, but the number of forces is very managable for both sides. An excellent operation! [ September 28, 2005, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: BigDog944 ]

"IL2 + AEP + PF" w/ TrackIR "Highway to the Reich" "Hearts of Iron II" "Silent Hunter III" "Strategic Command" (sometimes it's brilliant, sometime irritating)

Powerful photos. I was particularly struck by the one "Then and Now" photo they have there. Those types of shots always make things so much more real to me. Thanks!

Any chance of forwarding them on to me too, please? Email in my profile... Many thanks in advance.

I hear you. However, anyone who plays me now is probably dreaming of a total collapse on my part, in the style of my Axis score in "Maleme" against Walpurgis Nacht. Yes, my pride is still stinging! However, you may find that to your advantage if they believe they're playing me, as your defense will probably be well positioned to exploit any cockiness displayed by them!

Other than the fact that we're both Big, I see no other resemblance, Bigduke!

Don't you mean BigDuke?

Bigduke6 Thank you for the work you put into your AARs! Each one a brilliant read! Excellent, excellent work.

Great work, GaJ et al. One thing I have to say to my former Group 4 bretheren is I'm deeply disappointed in your lack of AARs. Only one of my opponents wrote one! :mad: I hope you all enjoy reading my work, while realising what a letdown you've been to everyone else who has participated in this tourney, designers, organisers and players. To everyone who did write an AAR, I'll enjoy reading your work. Thank you! Kingfish Any chance of disqualifying from entry in the next RoW tournament everyone who couldn't be bothered to meet the AAR requirements for this tourney? The tourney was all about play-testing and giving feedback to the designers, right? [ July 01, 2005, 03:29 PM: Message edited by: BigDog944 ]

While generally true, Canada's spiritual heart actually exists HERE It also happens to be an important base for the Canadian military! So, having Canadians on the Russian front in WW2 wouldn't be such a stretch after all.

Ted has dropped out of Section 5, so we'll need the first replacement on the list. Kingfish, who's up? I'll need someone to send my setup to.

Thanks for the reply, Nidan. It all makes sense now!

My favourite was "Highlanders in Hell". As the Allies, I really felt under the gun to perform well, and the scenario rewarded me in points and feelings of accomplishment when I finally managed to take down one of the Panthers! The only thing I didn't think was too great was the flag placements. The overall objectives didn't seem to make sense in a context greater than just that virtual battlefield. My least favourite was playing the Axis in Maleme. The problem there was that the entire result seemed to rest on two factors. The first being the placement of the lone gun available to the Axis, the second being the Stuka actually showing up and hitting something. Because I placed the gun in a poor position to actually cover the advance that Walpurgis Nacht chose, I was left with no answer to his Vickers tanks. They ruled the battlefield! Also, the Stuka didn't even show up for me. My side auto-surrendered on the second to last turn, and it was only during my last turn that I heard the plane engine noises approaching. Had it shown up a turn or two earlier, it may have kept me from auto-surrendering, and then there wouldn't have been an anomalous outlier to spur on all this "Fix Nabla" talk! Anyway, all the scenarios were a lot of fun, and I learned something from each of them. I'm amased with the effort and research that goes into making a scenario, and by playing them, a lot of that research and knowledge rubs off on me. Thank you all designers!

GaJ, Very entertaining! As an Axis player who got creamed in this scenario, it was interesting to see where I went wrong. It was all in where one placed the gun, I believe. BTW: You've got yourself listed as playing Axis in your AAR, when in fact you were playing Allies.

Thanks, WN!