MJY

Frig' you guys are fast! Three questions late last night and three responses from you and Bill 101 the following afternoon. Great service! :-)

Hey...again, I am playing the WWII 1939 Storm over Europe scenario (WWI version 1.02). My opponent has a Free Polish DD in the Mediterranean. Last turn, I went to strike it with some of my Italian naval units, but I could not attack the unit. It was as if the two "countries" (so to speak) were not at war with one another. But shouldn't the Free Polish DD not be considered to be a "UK and Minors" unit and thus eligible for attack? I understand that during WWII there was no actual Declaration of War between Italy and Poland, but in game terms the immunity of the Polish DD from Italian attack would allow the Allied player to conduct risk-free reconnaissance. Is this a glitch? Thanks. MJY

Hey all, I am playing Call to Arms (WW1 version 1.02). It is 1918 and Russia has left the war (surrendered/fallen to the Bolsheviks) due to its NM falling below 10% (if I recall correclty) yet unlike all the other Russian land units two Russian subs have remained in the Baltic Sea. I cannot attack them (i.e., they act as if they are "neutral") but my opponent can still move them and they can "block" my German naval units. Is this a glitch? Thanks. MJY

Hey guys, I'm playing Call to Arms (WWI version 1.02) and my von Hindenburg HQ is showing an HQ rating of "0" and I wonder if that is correct? I am assuming it is an error. MJY

Hey, Many thanks to the tech support group for helping me with this problem. They were very fast and efficient. MJY P.S. And I promise to unlicense my games when upgrading computers in the future!

Hey all, Exact same issue. Just posting to set up e-mail notification. ;-) MJY

Hubert, Brilliant. That did the trick. Now if you can only arrange for me to take the next three weeks off so that I can spend all my time exploring the game!

Hey guys, Just got SC WWI in the mail. Installed the game, but when I go to launch it, it stops responding. Only the "exit" button works on the main menu. When I click all other buttons on the main menu, the music plays, but nothing else happens. When I Ctrl+Alt+Delete, the Windows Task Manager does **not** say "the game is not responding" however that is what appears to be happening. I am running Windows XP. I followed the booklet and tried to run the game as "Administrator," but when I try to run the game I get an error message about "logon failure: user account restriction." Any ideas? My SC PDE still works.

Bill101, Thanks for the answer. I have a busy couple of days ahead, but will give it a go towards the middle of the week. I'll let you (and any other readers) know how it goes. As for Bill 101, that was a hugely controversial piece of legislation in this country. What happened was that back in the mid-1970s, the province of Quebec was controlled by a separatist party. (Think Welsh or Scottish separatists whereas this refers to French Canadians.) Bill 101 was a provincial law that made the use of french mandatory on all business signs -- even if owned by an anglophone. Most children were required to attend french language schools. And so on. The bill went to absurd lengths to promote the french language. A store with a name like Eaton's (note the apostrophe) was required to change to a francophone formulation (no apostrophe) and so on. The law caused great consternation for the large anglophone minority in Quebec and tens of thousands of anglophones moved out of cities like Montreal in the following years. The law was eventually ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But that did not stop the Quebec nationalists who used an even more controversial clause in the Canadian Constitution to "exempt" their laws from constitutional oversight for a number of years. I could go on (I teach this stuff over here), but I am sure I have bored you enough. :-)

Hey Bill101, Thanks for the quick response. So, how does one actually make that change? Is it complicated? MJY P.S. If you don't mind my asking, I assume your screen name "Bill 101" is a Quebec politics reference? :-)

Hey all, I am playing the Case Neptune scenario. Pretty wild playing with all those units! Anyway, my US forces captured all of the Kaukasus minor Axis country and most of Turkey, but all those cities that I captured have remained at a maximum of 4 strength points. I do have a rail connection back to Tehran (even though Iraq is allied with the Axis). Am I missing something? Obviously, that has seriously impeded my supply lines and (perhaps more importantly) my ability to operate in and around the region. By the way, I have saved a couple of files to illustrate the issue.

Hey, Hubert Cater will have a definitive answer for you. In the mean time, I found that if I did not move the subs in silent mode, the issue didn't occur. Hope this helps. MJY

Hey all, I got a very strange message when I opened up an e-mail file (second turn of a Storm of Steel scenario for PDE v1.03). It said: "Warning: Original campaign could not be found for this saved game. Do you wish to continue?" Anyone know what this means? The game seems to be working fine, but if it is a problem I would like to catch it before we get too deep into the game. Thanks.

Hey all, There doesn't seem to be a flag to click to DOW against Algeria in the 1947 "The Russians are Coming" scenario. Have I missed something? Is this connected to the surrender of France? Thanks.

George, You can't do all of these at once, but other options to consider with the Italians include: (i) Build their engineer and use it to build forts in France or in the East (useful later in the war if you end up on the defensive) (ii) Invest in LR air and use the Italian bomber to spot enemy positions (so you know what weaknesses to attack and where to prepare your defences) (iii) Invest in diplomacy (to save German MMPs for more important jobs) (iv) Use the Italian fleet to harass the Royal Navy (this is Italy's one good asset) (v) If using soft build limits, I like to invest in flak tech and build flak units (such units usefully serve as garrisons and defend France against the Western air forces) (vi) You probably can conquer Greece or parts of North Africa (but don't be too surprised if they are taken from you by an Allied counter-attack) Just don't expect too much from your forces. Historically, the Italians had very limited success on any front (e.g., the Germans had to bail them out in Greece and North Africa). The game more or less reflects that. MJY

Hubert, Unfortunately we couldn't find the file. If it happens again, I'll re-post the question. MJY

Hey, Yeah, I agree with Seamonkey. As an "armchair programmer," I don't know what it would mean from a software perspective (i.e., it is always easier to offer suggestions than to write the code), but a system that allows moves and attacks to occur in any order would be a big plus from a realism perspective (although there would no doubt be play balance consequences). And his point about motorization tech is dead on. I have not seen it used in very many games. MJY

Hubert, I used to play 3R a lot. Was probably addicted to it back in the 80s! It has been a very, very, very long time since I last played it, but the way it used to work if I recall correctly was that at the end of your regular movement and combat turn, you were allowed to move certain units (e.g., armour) a limited number of additional hexes. You did not get a full second movement phase, but one or two extra hexes to help conduct encirclements. MJY

Hubert, I no longer have the file, but have asked my opponent if he does. Will advise. MJY

Please ignore. Just setting up e-mail notification.

Hey all, This event occurred in PDE, but I think the same thing happens in WAW, so I am posting here. Here's the situation: I captured London and then Manchester early in the game. Then, while I was attacking Russia, the US liberated the British Isles. A short time later, I captured Alexandria. Much to my surprise, the British surrendered! Shouldn't the British capital not have transferred back to London once the city was liberated or once Alexandria fell? In other words, shouldn't the British (or the Russians for that matter) only surrender once ALL their capitals are under enemy control SIMULTANEOUSLY? -------- And a related issue. I when I captured Alexandria in this game, not only did Britain surrender, but the Egyptian minor Allies did NOT surrender. They continued to fight on in occupied Syria. That seems strange too. Thanks.

A quick question. Are you referring to no "Allied" intelligence spotting occurring at all? Or are you referring to the fact that "the US" did not spot any units? I have noticed in some of the earlier versions of the game that the little flags indicating things like which country's subs are attacking convoy routes as indicated in the end-of-turn summary are occasionally inaccurate (e.g., any sub attack against a convoy route might be indicated in the summary with a German flag even if it is an Italian sub that did the actual attack for example). Perhaps you were getting intel spotting hits, but a UK or USSR intelligence flag was popping up instead of a US one. In any event, I'd gladly sacrifice all other intel gains if I could hold my opponents to level 1 infantry tech!!! :-)

File on its way. Thanks. The response was quick (as usual)!

Dear Tech Support, I got the following error while playing the Patton Drives East Scenario: Failed (on_menu_command): Segmentation Violation The error message only occurred: (i) when I played back my opponent's the turn (ii) when I hit "cancel" on the Russian builds (iii) my first action was to attempt to switch a Soviet sub to silent (The sub is located just off the coast of Norway -- right near the "loop" arrows.) I have saved the turn. I assume I need to e-mail the turn to someone? Thanks.

Hey all, As far as the Soviet Winter Strikes is concerned, isn't the real issue (from an historical perspective) the surprise/unpreparedness factor (e.g., the Germans not producing and distributing winter clothing or winter-proofing their vehicles and the like)? To me, that would only occur in the FIRST winter of fighting in Russia -- be that 1941 or earlier or later (for that matter). The way things are now, you would think that having spent the winter of 1940 fighting in Russia -- even if relatively mild by comparison -- the Axis would know to prepare for the subsequent ones to at least some degree (e.g., even a harsh second winter would be less of a factor than the surprise impact of the first winter). In any event, I have played games where I tried odd strategies (e.g., attacking in the West and Med) and leaving Russia until after the 1941 winter and in SCII or WAW (if I recall) you still get the Soviet Winter effect on a delayed basis (e.g., in 1942). (Please correct me if I am in error on this point.) That would seem to reinforce the idea that it is the initial/surprise that is the main issue -- not the particular harshness of the 1941 winter. In any event, shouldn't the severity of the Soviet Winter be a random factor? Maybe 1943 could be the worst year? Or whatever. Now there might be play balance issues involved in making things random, although if there is a high probability (albeit not a certainty) that the Soviet Winter sill strike in 1941 I will still plan accordingly as the Axis.