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herr_oberst

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Posts posted by herr_oberst

  1. Just passing time here... (sigh. I've even resorted to playing Doom 3(!) to pass the time. How desperate can ya get?)

    Way back when, in the CM:BO days, I had a PBEM opponent (can't remember who it was) commenting on me playing Bing Crosby songs while thoroughly beating him.

    Well, no wonder... that's almost an insult!

    I prefer electronic... no vocals to distract.. perhaps Klaus Schulze and the X CDs.

    At times "Creeping Upon" from the old Command and Conquer game... although the pace is better suited to a click-fest RTS...

  2. I've got post installers coming tomorrow morning at 8AM and NO POSTS for them to install (and most of the day free at home tomorrow to have played). Rrrrrrrrrr.

    Well, that's about the laziest forum participant I have ever heard of...

    "POST installers..." - what, you're too lazy to post them yourself??

    No-one else but you to blame if them have no posts to "install"... So sit down and write some lame posts for them to "install" in your place...

    :) (a smiley just to provoke Peng)

  3. The ground military action of Star Wars, as depicted in the movies, wouldn't fly as a combat game of the CM style. Ancient period tactics applied with 'modern' weapons. Eclectic mixes of tech level. It lacks verisimilitude because it's all designed to 'look cool' and have lots of whizz-bangery to it.

    .

    Imagine the whole new level of grogginess...

    "I'm sorry, but there's no way my AT-AT should have died... it has 80mm of face-hardened plate at 17 degree angle, and it was mid-step, which grants an additional 3 degrees of slope, making an effective armor thickness of 97mm, while the velocity of that bomb-laden swallow was only 3 mph... Unless, of course, that was an african swallow was carrying a shaped charge Mk IV and coasting between wingbeats at the moment of impact..."

  4. Energy focused on the Big Bone. There can be no better bone than that.

    Steve

    Somewhere in the woods of northeastern US of A...

    *dig* *dig* *dig*

    Oh my, what this?

    *delicately brushes some dirt away*

    Mein Gott! Er, sorry, My God! It's a Craniumsaurus Rex skull! It's perfectly preserved, almost like it has not been in the ground for millions of years. Could this be from the Jurassic, or the late...

    *brush brush brush*

    *sigh* Charles...

    No wonder Battlefront has been heming and hawing around a release for CMBN...

    PS: The Jägermeister made me do it...

  5. Traffic example? I'll bite.

    Single core processor = 1 lane road, 2.0 GHz processor =50 mph speed limit, 3 tasks running = 3 drivers each in their cars taking a drive that should (if they were alone on the road) take 10 minutes (8 miles or so).

    Now imagine that all three drivers want to get somewhere, but this road can only "fit" 1 car at a time, and the drivers/cars have to take turns. When it's your turn to drive, you drive for 1 minute. The other two cars have to pull over to the shoulder and wait. You drive, then its driver 2's turn. So you have to get off the road so he can pull onto it. Driver 2 drives 1 minute, then has to make way (get off the road) so the third driver can get on and drive during his "turn". So you get to drive for 1 minute, then cool your jets for 2 minutes while the other drivers get their turns. Your trip ends up taking 28 minutes (10 minutes driving, 18 minutes waiting; drive, wait, wait, drive, wait, wait, drive, etc).

    This is called "task-switching". The single core swaps tasks in and out in a round robin fashion so everyone gets their slice of time actually doing something (driving along at 50 mph). Add in enough tasks all wanting their own little slice of time, and you can see computers bog down partly because of all the time available, each task is getting a smaller slice, as well as the overhead of switching their data in and out of processor memory.

    Dual-core processor = 2 lane highway, 2.0 GHz = 50 mph, same three drivers in their cars (tasks).

    Not really different from the single core model, other than the fact that 2 drivers can be driving at the same time (more throughput). They all do have to get off the road at the end of their turn, then back on, and it might be a different lane next time, but less time is spent waiting. Since there are two lanes available, each gets to spend more time on the road as opposed to waiting.

    You make the trip in 14 minutes, 10 minutes driving, 4 minutes waiting; drive, drive, wait, drive, drive, wait, etc).

    Quad-core processor = 4 lane highway, 2.0 GHz = 50 mph, same three drivers.

    Yeehaw! Now there's a lane for each driver, so they can all drive at the same time, and never have to pull over. You make the trip in 10 minutes flat, no waiting. It doesn't really help a single driver drive any faster (still 50 mph), but you never have to pull over.

    Up the processor speed or speed limit, to say 3.0 GHz (or 75 mph) and you'll get there sooner (6.5 minutes), but you still have to share the lane(s) with the other drivers (drive, wait, wait, drive,... or drive, drive, wait, drive....) if there are more drivers than lanes (tasks than cores).

  6. Dead on 50... with a similar lineage as many...

    Panzer Blitz way back when, France 1940, Panzer Leader, Squad Leader, CoI, CoD, AoV. Wargaming club at college.

    Best SL fun was a 6-way (or was it 8?) multi-player on about 12 boards with the city in the middle. A random draw of nationality, then 2,000 points to spend. Had to get from your map edge to the city in the middle, pick up a chit, and carry it back off your side without getting hammered. The hordes of Russian infantry and arty... the Brits in the "Rat Patrol" mode, all light vehicles carrying around FO's (gamey bastidge), balanced choices by the US and Wehrmacht players, and my fine SS Stormtroopers in HTs with a Panther lead.

    Great fun, great fun. Lots of computerized titles as well... CMBO, CMBB, CMAK. The Close Combat series (how long could you keep your MG equipped Kubelwagon alive, scooting back and forth to harry the GIs?).

  7. Now I've had a look at the manual and checked out the ToE's it really hit me that once all the modules are released this will be a massive game....looks fantastic so far...

    It feels like the only games I need from now on are the future CMx2 games....it's as if someone i.e Battlefront asked me exactly what I've always wanted in a wargame on the PC and then gone and made it.

    Not until the Space Lobsters module is out can it truly be considered complete...

  8. There are scenarios that are historically accurate where one side over powers the other very easily. Just as it happened in real life.

    Failure?? Not much fun, but it's just what the designer ordered.

    With the return to the Western Front, some designers may want to try and create some historical scenarios that depict specific recollections from unit histories, however good or bad they turned out for one side or the other.

    Bringing a specific scenario "to life" might just be the designer's goal.

  9. I'm pretty sure I did. I got the lithograph of the Panther and that went out only to the pre-orderers, right? I've still got that around here somewhere. I came across it a couple of years ago. I think it might still be rolled up in its mailing tube.

    Michael

    Heresy! My Panther print is up on the wall, right next to the laminated Truppenausgabe... Rußland 1: 50 000 L-37-6-B Dmitrijewka.

    Can't wait for the new map editor.

  10. Ermmm - he didn't ask about bunkers - vehicles and sharing ammo. Anyways you'll be pleased tae hear that yes bunkers do have an ammo supply. :)

    No ammo drops in buildings - least ways not in the beta I'm playing with just now.

    So you're saying that there aren't any floating blue power-ups hiding in the building my squads can just grab ammo from? Dang.

    And I suppose next you'll tell me that there aren't any Space Lobsters either.

  11. Two Sides of the Beach by Blandford was an interesting read.

    But if you're trying to get ready for CMBN, then I highly suggest

    Panzertaktik by Wolfgang Schneider, Fedorowicz Publishing.

    With Chapter titles like:

    Der Angriff (Offense)

    Die Verteidigung (Defense)

    Der Marsch (Unit Movements)

    Die Aufklarung (Recon)

    Die Fuhrung (C&C)

    and

    Die Zusammenarbeit (Combined Operations)

    it makes for some interesting reading. Good pictures, and instructional maps as well.

    Now if only I could play with all those guidelines in my head...

  12. Well the biggest reason is all the crap that Windows Accumulates over time. I work on different projects from time to time, often I look for programs that will help me do things better and faster. This involves a lot of demo and shareware installing in order to test if they do what they advertise.

    Even when uninstalling these they still leave traces in Windows.

    Just a suggestion, but restore points and the occasional ghosting of a drive image works wonders. The biggest thing your reinstall is doing is clearing the registry of trash. It is manageable with a slightly smaller hammer than the one you seem to be using.

    I'm a developer so load and discard all sorts of trash. Really risky stuff gets a virtual machine (have 3 VMs right now for different OSs, or major customer revisions), less risky tools get a restore point created right before loading.

  13. Read The Fine Manual?!? Feh. I intend to pick a scenario, sans reading anything, then get my a$$ handed to me... Kinda like CMBO, first scenario... rolling into town with POV right behind a tank commander. Thrashing those pesky allies for the first couple of turns, then the "Oh #$%^" moment when the Hellcats appeared on the ridge, and I got hammered.

    Good times, yes good times.

  14. Hi TRL :)

    I don't know for sure but I'm wondering if such changes are possible given the game engine? Also if the ground starts damp does it dry out if the weather is hot and sunny? Might have to go ask a question...

    Now that could be fun! A scenario that starts overcast, then 10 minutes in, a deluge creating very limited visibility for 5 minutes and skyrocketing the chance for bogging in the middle of a field. Then just simple overcast as the storm moves on.

    It would be nice in the scenario design to be able to designate weather effects.

    Turns 0-8: overcast

    Turns 9,10: strong winds from the West

    Turns 11-15: deluge, strong winds continue

    Turns 16-whatever: diminishing winds, overcast

    Oh the havoc that could produce...

  15. Is ASL still the best board game or minature system when it comes to WW-2 squad level combat. I am not really looking to play but am looking for research material.

    Research for what?

    Unit Histories + copies of captured maps from the Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division + CMBN Editor might make for an interesting scenario or two (although all my current 1:50000 maps are 'Russland', and my scanner died aeons ago).

    Perhaps a trip is due to see what they have in the LoC from the Western Front...

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