mjkerner
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Posts posted by mjkerner
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To original question: undoubtedly the BAR, followed by the .50 cal.
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Rick, I don't think my playtest email report went through to you yesterday. I had a number of emails that tanked. Is it too late to send it tonight (by PM) when I get home? I had a couple of suggestions. (it was the night scenario.)
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For sdp's Italian mod:
The brown bocage is a first attempt at vineyards in winter. Needs work. So do the HG pixeltruppen.
If this works out, Panzer crews and panzergrenadiers in tropical uniform, and LW Field Divisions are next.
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My AI experience is quite limited, so I may be corrected. I think to do that properly you would need triggers of some kind so you can have the reserve react to what other AI groups made contact (to determine where the attack is coming). Therefore you cannot do that with the current AI - there are no triggers.
The best that you can do with this AI system is hold the reserve for at time and then pick the flank you will deploy them to. You can have several versions of the AI plan so which flank the reserve is deployed to is not predictable. But bottom line you have to guess where to send them.
...and when to send them as well. I hope triggers are eventually worked into this franchise.
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Wow, memories! Gene McCoy used to live across the street from my sister in Madison, WI in the late 70's/early 80's and I'd been wargaming since 1971, so she asked me if I had heard of him or bought his magazine. "Yes" and "yes"... but with little kids, 2 jobs, and school, I never managed to meet him, or to afford buying many of the mags. Once, she got me a stack of extra magazines from him, which I still have. I've been thinking along the same lines as you, Blazing 88 (same with ASL scenarios), but haven't yet built any of them in CMBN. Someday.
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kill streaks and masturbation
liquidcactus, that's too good to let die. You should put it in your sig!
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Holien,
Sorry, I had a honey-do list waiting for me when I got home last night, and it took time to go through my books.
"Bocage is not just a wall with shrubs on it." For that, any number of sources from wikipedia to a botany textbook would be good, but I didn't get the impression you thought that.
As for it's difficulty in passing through or over in battle ("soldiers can't just go though or over it"), the following books in varying degrees discuss bocage fighting, with the overt or implicit proposition that it wasn't an infantry or armor tactic (except by blasting or using "Cullins") used with any regularity:
All American All the Way (Phil Nordyke)
The GI Offensive in Europe (Peter Mansoor)
Decision in Normandy (Carlo D'Este)
A Foot Soldier For Patton (Michael Bilder)
Beyond the Beachhead (Joseph Balkoski)
Fighting with the Screaming Eagles (Robert Bowen)
Death Traps (Belton Cooper)
All The Way To Berlin (James Megellas)
Bootprints (Herbert Wineberger)
The View From The Turret (William Folkstad)
Etched In Purple (Frank Irgang)
The Fighting First (Flint Whitlock)
No Better Place To Die (Robert Murphy)
D-Day With The Screaming Eagles (George Koskimaki)
If You Survive (George Wilson)
Crack! And Thump: With A Combat Infantry Officer in WWII (Barry Basden)
Busting the Bocage (Capt. Michael Doubler)
D-Day: The Battle For Normandy (Anthony Beevor)
Lucky Infantryman (Ed Jackel)
Men of Steel: Canadian Paratroopers in Normandy (Bernard Horn)
I have the official histories of the 1st, 4th, 28th and 30th US Infantry Divisions that discuss bocage fighting as well.
And you are right, I never asked any of the vets those specific questions. They generally described the fighting as going around or through openings (farmer made, or by tanks), but no one ever said they were all, 100% impassable/inpeneratable. But then neither did I.
Some of the accounts do mention (or at least imply) that troops went through bocage to hastily get out of the line of fire, or when there were no Germans on the other side of the field. In one of those books, I think it was Koskimaki's, a paratrooper mentions "sailing" over a hedgerow to avoid fire and landing on top of some sheep! But I haven't come across any reference to routine infantry assault tactics that involved soldiers going through the tangle on top of bocage.
Any way, BFC has given us gaps and hedges, which for me gets the game around the problem pretty well. I had assumed from the get-go that the hedges were passable "hedgerows", because frankly, I didn't think that there were a lot of decorative garden-type hedges in France then. But since they aren't raised like the bocage tiles, I don't know. (And, I was not suggesting that you didn't know bocage was not the same as my neighbor's hedge. But if you recall one of the very first threads on this issue, there was one or two persons who were arguing that it was. I think BFC weighed in on that one.
Cheers!
P.S. As it has turned out, it was a good discussion, but I jumped the gun thinking that it was going to turn into another "they got it wrong again" battle. Which, even if it did, I could have just ignored it, advice I've thrown out there before myself. Ironically, I had just gotten off the phone with an unreasonable attorney who would not negotiate a simple contract issue. Note to self: don't reply to forum issues at work.
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Man Fuser, where did you get that burst of activity?? Really, really great vehicle mods. Thank you so much!
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umlaut, that's a bad word here? How does the argument go...not enough time lapse for "e" to be gained??
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As much as you pretend to know more than the rest of us about the intricacies of bocage, you are not the definitive source on the subject and this does warrant further discussion. And we are not talking about the typical bocage that is probably referenced in the AARs that you mention.
No, I don't know squat about it firsthand at all. I only know from what I've read from many, many sources over 45 years, and also from family, friends and acquantices/work colleagues I've discussed it with face to face who were there...members of the 82nd and 101st AB divisions and the 8th, 29th, 79th and 1st Infantry Divisions. Most conversations were of particular incidents/actions, but long ago (I think when I first read "Night Drop") I had trouble understanding the difficulty of the bocage country when I'd read about, so I made a point at various times over the years to ask them in particular about bocage. Of course they could very well have been generalizing--just like my home state is the "Dairy State" so all we have is cows and farms here--but it was certainly bad enough to get around in that everyone of these guys thought it was miserable country to fight in because it was so hard to work through without a lot of risk. Beyond St. Lo it was a different story, apparently.
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Please quote what sources so I can read what you have read?
I love how free speech and debate is being encouraged by the tone of your post...."
Yes, when I get home I will give you some. There are many accounts in personal memoirs as well, of which there have been a lot of new releases in the last couple of years, as the veteran ranks are dwindling. Don't forget, these are field dividers "grown" over hundreds of years with all the roots and stones etc., firmly imbedded in them, not like the hedge around my neighbors house.
"I love how free speech and debate is being encouraged by the tone of your post....:
Then my work here is done.
(Please note the smiley) Actually, it's BFC's house so technically there is no free speech here except as they define it.But, all joking aside, it's just that this has been debated and discussed to death on many other threads here, and still people adopt the attitude that BFC screwed it up or is being pissy for not easing up on the bocage difficulties. (Several of those threads have sources quoted as well.) It was a fact of life for the combatants at the time, so it seems reasonable to me it should be for us, too.
I like Womble's comment. Scenario designers should think about using non-bocage hedges and berms and whatever as the case may fit the scenario. Personally, I'd like to see a high hedge..one that has a berm with "shrubs on top" that infantry and armor can pass through but that gives more protection to those hunkered down behind it. It's possible to do with elevations, but that's more work in the editor.
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What about "bocage" don't you guys understand? It's been discussed to death on these boards...just read up on contemporary AAR's, US Army Manuals, etc. It's a no-brainer. Bocage is not just a wall with shrubs on it. Period. And no, soldiers can't just climb over/through bocage. Period.
Please, read up on it before you continue to beat this dead horse.
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Chad, those helmets and uniforms are EZ's and the netting looks like it too. They're in my US divisional patches mod at both the Repo and GaJ's CMMODS. It could also be ellisam's, he's done really good work on some vehicle weathering mods at CMMODS, but the helmets/uniforms are definitely EZ's. I've been looking at them night and day for several weeks!
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...and some wrecked civilian autos/farm trucks. And while we're at it, morbid though it is, it would add atmosphere if we could have dead/incapacitated bodies. They don't have to be gory, just the dead we have now in game.
But they are 3D models, so I'm assume it takes alot of work, so I don't expect a lot of new objects throughout this game's run.
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Fuser, the handprint next to the hatch is a particularly brilliant piece of inspiration!
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Fuser, beautiful weathering job as always. I would leave off the branches, though since they only show up flat. I tried adding foliage to helmet netting and essentially got the same effect, so I dumped it.
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ss,
go into your game ("your drive"\Battlefront\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy) and open the "Game Files" folder, then open the "Campaign" folder. What's in there? There should be four (IIRC) campaigns in there. If not, then that would be the problem. If so, then I don't know what to tell you.
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The teams with duplicate names have both parachute and glider versions.
Yes, that was my point. I realize from a TO&E perspective, they are glider infantry, but of course they use the infantry uniform.
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Oooooh, sounds good. Thank you for cluing me in, Pinetree!
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Thanks for that very thorough explanation!
Do you know how common OD was vs. Khaki for any given division in the theatre at any given time period?
Glad it wasn't too garbled! Nope, I don't know, and I suspect there was a lot of mixing anyway, once the replacements started coming through the Repple-Depple. I just use what strikes my fancy atm. I tend to use the khaki when I go to sdp's sunny Italy.
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Hi Broadsword. You can pick one folder of each type/branch of uniform: Infantry (which includes glider infantry), Armor, and Airborne. Here's why: All graphics in the game have unique naming conventions for the specific image so it knows what image to wrap around the 3D model of our pixeltruppen and pixel-vehicles. In the case of uniforms, becuse each type/branch has a distinct name associated with them, the game won't be confused by a conflict in names and will go ahead a grab whatever armor, airborne, and infantry uniforms you put in the z folder and they will all show up on screen for battle.
The reason you can't have both OD and Khaki uniforms for the 8th Infantry Division, say, or why you can't have both the 4th Division and the 29th Division in Khaki, is because the game selects mods from the z folder based on highest number or letter at the beginning of the folder or bmp image or brz file in the z folder (whichever form is used, the game ultimately finds the underlying image file). In case of a tie, it will continue going through the letters/numbers of the file name until there is no tie.
So, if you put both my "z4thID_Olive Drab" folder and "z29th ID_Olive Drab" folder in your z folder in the Data folder, it will use the "z4th ID_Olive Drab" folder and ignore the other one ("4" beats "2"). If you put both the "z8th ID_Olive Drab" and "z8th ID_Khaki" in at the same time, it will grab the "z8th ID_Olive Drab" because this time, the "O" in Olive beats the "K" in Khaki.
Incidentally, I could have lumped both the Khaki and OD uniforms for the same division into one folder (individual uniform bmp images can be numbered, allowing an infinite number of uniform images to be used in the game--as long as the file name for that type/branch of uniform was used) and the game would have randomly applied them to your pixeltruppen. But I didn't think it looked good overall. The troops in the squads didn't tie in as well aestethically, so to speak (IMHO). (Christ, I'm starting to sound like Hugo Boss!!)
Finally, the actual insignias are put right onto the uniform using Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, or any image editing program. There is no separate decal for them, so that is why they "travel" with the uniform, and why modding them is tedious. And why I have to inexpertly explain why this and that can't be done.
Anyway, to sum up one infantry , one armor, and one airborne uniform mod can successfully exist in the z folder at one time. If you want khaki infantry, use the division with the khaki uniform, etc.
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Thanks for the explanation, Marco. Wish me luck.
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Hey marco, I'm finally getting back to this and trying out your method. One question...if the transparency is all or nothing, why 254? Isn't 255 pure white (and 0 pure black)?
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Fuser, gorgeous as always. I second Peter Panzer...work until you drop!
(Please note the smiley) Actually, it's BFC's house so technically there is no free speech here except as they define it.
Weird buddy aid bug?
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
lol, after watching that, I did expect them to poke him with a stick.