Childress

You notice that the map featured in Bil and Ken's AAR has virtually no buildings. Was this deliberate? BF hinted at some city fighting improvements. Maybe they're not ready to show 'em.

...which appears less desaturated than the previous version.

C'mon, Ervin. We know you would if the elevation/depression factors were off.

In order to follow the enemy's movements by observing the tracks of his AFVs and the fences they knocked over? FOW? Think about what you wrote.

Yeah, then it's over. I submit that it wasn't uncommon to see entire platoons surrendering, even within the scale of a CM-sized battle. And the battle continued. Mind, it's understandable that, aside from the programming challenges, BF hesitates to remove gaping chunks of assets from the player's control. It's a game, after all. In the scenario Primosole Bridge the player attrits the Italians down to the last condottieri. What actually occurred was that the bulk of that force surrendered and the British paras had to devote precious time and resources to processing POWs. The entertainment value would be nugatory.

Fuzzy logic? As Tony Soprano would say, fugheddaboutit.

Right. Also extant WW2 photos show considerable clumping. One thing the photos don't support are the existence of 'formations' - in any elaborate sense. In my opinion the number one factor in casualty inflation is the absence of any mass surrender mechanic. One recognizes how thorny this would be to code but, in reality, entire platoons and higher were known to raise the white flag in dire situations.

Lots o'luck.

Gary Grigsby's game on the subject is the best, imo. It plays out plausibly on a grand strategy scale minus the micro-management angst of War in the East. It was one of the few that inspired me to initiate some PBEMs. Unfortunately my last opp was a bit of a cheat, alleging comp issues and forcing me to resend turns endlessly. I was the Union. He finally cornered Grant's Army outside of Vicksburg and annihilated it, capturing 20,000 men. I resigned.

This time there'll be twelve episodes instead of the canonical twenty-four, apparently allowing Jack Bauer to spread his wings- geographically speaking. Loved the first five seasons, but then they went and made 6,7,and 8. Anybody here a fan? Here's my review of Season 8 on Amazon: The first five seasons of 24 remain, in this reviewer's opinion, the gold standard of the series in terms of intelligence, creativity, casting and emotional resonance; arguably the most riveting television ever. I gave them all 10 stars. These were very much the product of writer, co-creator and self-described Hollywood right-winger Joel Surnow and were adept at reversing liberal expectations, for example featuring a villainous-and black- First Lady, and imposing agonizing choices on the protagonists. When Surnow's full time commitment ended following the fifth season the franchise shed a dozen IQ points. But 24 still scored as more entertaining than your average fare thanks to the compelling format he devised with Robert Cochran and the always reliable Kiefer Sutherland. Critics and many fans considered Season 6, featuring Jack Bauer's pathological family (who knew?), a misfire. The chastened producers were determined to right the ship and the first half of Season 7, set in Washington DC, re-captured some of the old magic (Surnow returned as exec- producer for the fist eight episodes) before entropy set in and the show collapsed into terminal silliness (those ridiculous missiles!). Season 8, now re-located to New York City, starts lethargically but generates electricity as it builds. CTU resurfaces in a whiz-bang setting and Sutherland contributes a driving performance, some say to the point of stepping out of character and damaging the Bauer brand in his character's quest for vengeance. The season makes little use of NYC exteriors but that doesn't much matter as the bulk of the action plays out, in traditional 24 style, inside offices, parking structures, warehouses and behind the tinted windows of SUVs. Heavy demands are placed on the viewer's common sense (the early seasons sold their improbabilities better) and plot warhorses stampede again, e.g. 'the mole', but you get your money's worth. Get ready for Season 9...

Courtesy of a Republican president. A close friend is a teacher in the L.A. Unified School District. I could fill this forum with her- daily- horror stories. A recent innovation: students are now legally entitled to drop the F-bomb on their instructors in class. And they do. Here's a revealing U.S. statistic: 10% of American parents parents send their kids to a private school. 20% of public school teachers do.

Thanks, dude! Oh, just remembered. We left some of our, uh, paraphernalia behind the Prius. Do you mind sticking it in your garage temporarily? Can't be too careful, there's a lot of low lifes out there. Peace. Edit: Forgot something else! The old cerebral cortex must be fried! I'm cool with Astral Plane hanging out at your pad. But I'll need to drop off her Azithromycin pills. Mailbox ok?

Oh, yeah? And what about the tent? And my girlfriend? Right, the medium is the message. You and cousin Bill should get together over Lattes.

Perceptions that are driven by the experience of actually 'being' in a college or post-graduate environment? If you seek the free exchange of ideas, the rainbow of opinions, or the thrilling collision of conflicting world views the last place you want to be is the modern American liberal arts university. The Battlefront forum is Plato's Academy in comparison.

Archival photos don't appear to agree with you. The herding instinct is pretty strong. Perhaps less so for highly experienced groups. But if you're correct the best manner of simulating dispersion would be 'nerfing' the effect of fire. BF has to deal with the constraints of the Action Square.

I didn't start this detour into dangerous waters, but what the hey... Years ago I had a conversation with a family member, Bill. Bill is an alumnus of Wesleyan and became an energetic recruiter for that university. He's now retired, in his 80s. Wesleyan had long become notorious for its Marxist faculty, speech codes and general leftist bent. Bill, a church-attending Republican, was well aware of this and disapproved. So I asked why he continued his recruiting activities. His defensive response: 'Because they're getting an education!'. You can't make this stuff up.

I'm with the Professor on that score. Some of us dream that ALL degrees, at least in the Liberal Arts, were abolished* and restricted to the sciences. The former tends to result in a inflammation of society by manufacturing under-employed misfits. You see a metastasizing of bureaucracy. *- I have two thirds of a Masters in French History.

One suspects there will be a few tweaks, minor features (ditch-lock?), bug fixes and what-not incorporated into the MG module. They'll bundle these enhancements with the 1.10 CMFI update. Less work on their part. Be patient, les enfants.

That really says it all.

Well, it had the morale constraints that you- and other grogs- favor. But who wants to return to the era of Bobble heads and borg spotting? But, I have to say, running CMBB after CMBO proved a shock to the system. And it wasn't the theatre, the snow or the T-34s. It was the infantry modelling. Sometimes you get the impression that, in CM2, the resilience, relative 'un-brittleness', of the modern volunteer and professional U.S. Army was carried over to the draftees of the 1944. re: Wargame: AirLand Battle. Forget it, Michael. If the company finds you were born before 1960 the download aborts.

Jon, what's your expert opinion on CMBB, in terms of morale, suppression and rally? Were you around then?

If memory serves, the most punitive morale and suppression system yet seen in a CM game was introduced in CMBB. Pulling off an infantry assault, for example, required very careful planning. Rewarding when it worked but you really had to line up your ducks in a row. But it was disconcerting after CMBO and there were complaints from users: 'it's like herding geese!'. In response a chastened Battlefront softened this behavior for CMAK. They ditched or modified the infamous 'crawl of death' (a good thing). But players adapted. Years go by. Now many view, in retrospect, the basic system in CMBB as the zenith of realism: 'damn, that's how it really was'. Go figure. They can't win!

I edited my post. The CM buyer who wants a more forgiving and easy going sim is as mythical as the unicorn, imo. From JasonC on down.

On reflection, that smaller crowd probably includes every poster on this forum. Viz the machine gun controversy: 'more punitive! more suppression! Make it harder!'. That's why we buy CM games, right? Hold the spritizers. Give it to us neat.

Units in CM seem pretty resilient. Should a squad, average exp and average motivation, continue fighting after losing half its members? Limited to defensive fire only? Become completely unresponsive? Who knows? But, as remarked, if the answer is 'yes' to the second two questions the fun factor declines. Especially for the non-hardcore players.