Sigrun

Still beavering away, and the pile of rubble that was the ground-work is now starting to bear a resemblance to some kind of organized structure. Web-site development is underway, the ruleset, graphics, charts & tables; lots has been done (not all uploaded, more stuff still to create)... The forums are also up, with at least a hint of how the format is going to work. It's big, and it will rely upon the input of all participants beyond the mere fighting of the battles within CMBB. But nothing too onerous I believe. So, if you're interested in a big CMBB affair, on a grand scale, with land and medals and glory...and everything , please come along and make yourself heard. Thirty per side, just for starters, would be nice. Oh yes. http://www.deadisdead.net/phpBB/index.php

Thanks guys, that's been most helpful.

Nice little write-up.

Excellent news.

Apparently the Soviets couldn't have built so many of their own tanks without US steel? Another query...how much of Germany's output was deployed on the eastern front? I've read as much as 90%, but that seems somewhat high.

I'll have anyone who's a dedicated fan of this game and is prepared to put in a decent amount of time and effort, in the interests of making it an enjoyable experience for all fellow participants. The forum is up, though only with general discussion currently. There will be additions to complement game format components. http://www.deadisdead.net/phpBB/index.php

Regarding US lend-lease to the Soviets in WW2. Having done some research it would appear LL supplies began arriving in Russia in Oct 1941, and accounted over the duration of the war for approx 20% of Soviet available war materiel. Is this in the right ballpark? Thanks in advance. (I've posted this in here because it'll apply to my CMBB war.)

I know people don't like out-of-game chores, but usually there's no avoiding at least some. Without access to the files (which means no way to parse them) there is no alternative to players having to manually maintain certain data. In this case that means totting-up losses after a battle and submitting a report to the superior officer, who will forward them to me (cross-referenced & collated data keeps everyone on their toes. And honest. ). However, what I originally thought was going to be a royal pain in the arse has become a breeze, namely dealing with infantry losses. I envisaged each player having to track each soldier by type, association, weapon etc etc etc. "That'll go down a treat" I thought. There followed a "Duh!" moment, at which point I realised it would be simplicity itself to simply levy a point penalty for each loss, regardless of type etc. So, the "math" will be nothing harder than writing a list of number of troops and specific vehicles and other hardware lost after a battle and sending it to your boss. And this data is readily available on the screen at the end of each battle. So: Soldiers lost: 132 Panther A lost: 6 37mm PAK lost: 2 Trucks lost: 11 All of those have a specific point value, but to keep things simple the soldiers' will be abstracted...that means you won't have to scour through the list, specifically ID'ing each soldier by type etc and writing that down. How that ties-in? A brief briefing then...( ): I have used the data concerning each side's resources directly from the game HoI2, as it's as good a base to extrapolate from as any. Those values are represented directly on the map as two figures, an IR number (Industrial Resource) and a CV number (City Value). The IR numbers generate an income of points per month. The CV generate a 'prize' point value upon capture. The leader/s of each side will take their total points each month and allocate them to their combat officers as they see fit, maybe with detailed or general instructions on how to 'spend' them. The combat officers will then purchase their units from in the game and submit that roster back to the boss, for his records. Then they fight and stuff gets mashed up. A list of the mashed-up stuff is submitted to the boss and the point's value (loss of) is duly recorded. So, the next battle comes around and Officer-A wants to replace the stuff he lost in the last battle, which he may or may not be able to do depending on how many, if any, points he's been allocated back by the boss from the boss' pool. The points pool each leader will have will be determined by the total number of IR sectors owned (own side ones and those captured by advancing on the map, plus any captured city bonuses). Obviously there's some fine-tuning to be done, followed possibly by more after battle commences, though I'll do my best to try and get the numbers spot-on from the outset. Don't fear the math.

As soon as everything is up on the site and we have enough players for critical mass.

I'm not sure how popular that would be on a 30-turn game? That's five and a half hours...how many players would have that much time to devote on a regular basis? I figured a max of five minutes would just about be acceptable to most players. Personally I'm fine with ten minutes, but then I'm self-employed and I do have a lot of free time (which is why I can do online wars), a luxury not enjoyed by most. Plus it would be nice to have games longer than 30 turns, especially if the map/sides are large. That increases the time overhead. But that's why I've posted this poll, to see what you guys are comfortable with. It would be a pleasant suprise to discover there are loads of players happy to devote and entire saturday/sunday to combat, but I doubt if that's going to prove to be the case.

Incredibly beautiful maps.

Then I read your sig...how I laughed!

Regarding TCP/IP games, what do you guys consider an acceptable limit on turn times? I'm talking about the setting that limits how long each player can take on his turn. When me and my brother used to play over my LAN he would take, literally, over half an hour micro-managing his forces (wiping each soldier's botty as I use to complain). Then I discovered the time-limit setting, and it was five minutes max thereafter. So, for an online war (tourny), what's acceptable/advisable?

Update: I have a new domain-name and hosting deal on order, and I've been sweating my nuts off over this bloody map (argh! ). This is a half-size image, it looks a lot clearer full-scale. The format is shaping up nicely too.

I'm sure it's a load of fun Kelly, it's just that I wouldn't be able to bring myself to scoot around in an Onion Tiger.

There will be little to compare. CMMC looks like a full-on simulation of the entire staffing from top to toe of divisional combat. I can see the appeal if you like an extreme extra dimension beyond the actual in-game combat. I'm used to a faster pace and a broader scope, usually frustrated by the limitations of whatever game I'm trying to use. I've had to change mental gears to get my head around using this type opf game for an online war, but it's actually proving to be more suited than anything I've used (or tried to use) before. Right now I'm wading through drudgery (made a couple of maps, now compiling sector data, both taking liberally from HoI2 :cool: ).

I've considered the various 'scales' of format, and covering the entire front with a KISS system offers the best bang-for-buck in terms of role-playing and individual player achievement imo. Not only can players be given bigger/smaller commands, based upon their performance, they can also be transferred to/out of elite divisions (something not possible with a single-div format). Cheers JT.

Well, I've had a look at the two wars you mentioned...Onion Wars, looks like a light-hearted fun-fest, not really in the same ballpark as a serious affair. CMMC...aye carumba! Now that is one seriously complex gig, although it models a very small ToOps. It looks like there is a massive hole waiting to be filled in between the two, as they appear to occupy the opposite extremes of what is possible (unless one imagines CMMC handling the entire eastern front :eek: ). I guess I'll employ the old tried & trusted method of 'Build it and see who comes'. Thanks for your input 76.

Thanks 76, I'll check out both those wars. Me and my sparring partner (brother) have used countless random maps, and never had a problem with them. Hand-making maps is simply not possible for a project like this, especially since I did pretty much the same for my IL2 war (new maps every day, though many were simple alterations of existing ones...still a one-year trauma I have yet to forget ).

CMC does all of that, and more, once it comes out. CAMPAIGN TRACKER also does the tasks you describe, with the, er, slight drawback that before and after each battle you've got to enter unit data to/from CMBB. It also allows for two sides, although it would be tough to have lots of different players enter data into the same master database. Anyway, if you proceed I've got several dozen 3 km x 3 km maps you're welcome to make use of. In any event, as you're coming to realize, what you're proposing is rather a chore. </font>

I'm pretty sure that the answers are "No" and "No". Nonetheless there are a couple of other on-going CMBB wars, including Onion Wars and CMMC (search forum). I also created an application called CAMPAIGN TRACKER which allows you to track all unit info, etc., but you've got to enter it manually, which is a huge drag. I can't figure out how to post a thread-specific link for my post describing CAMPAIGN TRACKER, but you'll find it with a forum search. </font>

Good evening gentlemen (and any ladies who might be into this stuff); I've been on these forums for only a couple of days (unless my taken name indicates I registered previously but forgot), but I've been playing the CM series on and off for a good few years. And at least a couple of the members here (who's names I recognize from other forums) know me of old. They will also remember the online war I ran for just over a year for IL2 (mentioned only to clarify that I'm not a complete noob to this online warfare jazz ). So, that's the intro out of the way...now down to the business. I've been taking a good long look at the scenario editor (with a view to using it for an organized online war), and it looks pretty damn good. But I have a question (and maybe more later): Is it possible to open a saved mission file outside of the game? Even better, has anyone coded a parser (and is prepared to share it)? If anyone is interested in considering yet another organized war, and would like details, ask away...it'll at least give me an indication of general enthusiasm.

Never mind, I used the link from the log-in page instead of waiting for it to automatically forward me, and it's cleared the glitch. Mods, please feel free to delete this thread, thanks.

..why I'm shown as not being logged in on these forums when I obviously am (I'm able to post)? I'm assuming that's what's preventing me from seeing a link to my profile (I'd like to edit my password from the emailed one to something more memorable). I've logged in repeatedly, but nothing changes. Thanks for any help.

This sounds very interesting. Question is though, how much role-playing is involved? Specifically, are there any Knights Crosses to be won? Is there a 'career persona' as such?