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sttp

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  1. Upvote
    sttp reacted to theforger in CMFB Rollbahn D Full Campaign   
    Hi Erwin, if you've not played Rollbahn D 0-48 just download the full campaign and start on day1.
    If you did give Rollbahn D 0-48 a run out, in the full campaign I released today I've given you the option to start on day 3, rather than having to replay days1 & 2 again.
    The first 7 scenarios that Rollbahn D 0-48 are the same first 7 scenarios in the full campaign.
    The choice is yours
     
  2. Upvote
    sttp reacted to theforger in CMFB Rollbahn D Full Campaign   
    Nearly two years. It's my first crack at a campaign having issued Mission to Maas V2 scenario in Feb 2020, which ended up like a mini campaign in a single scenario.
    At one point I decided to break Rollbahn D down into a trilogy, hence there is a part one earlier this year. I issued it just as Cold War and Fire and Rubble was released...great timing!
    In the summer I changed my mind and rolled up parts 1,  2 and 3 together and pressed on, aiming for Dec 16th as a release date, which almost didn't happen.
    No idea how many hours went in to it...I do still have a day job... if you do check out famous Ardennes pics from 44 you may be able to recognise buildings, down to even lamp posts and trees in some cases. The Church at Merlscheid, Buchholz Wirbelwind, SPWs and US prisoners being escorted back into Honsfeld from the NW, Church in Bullingen, destroyed Panther at Cheneux, Trois Ponts bridge, destroyed Panthers at Stoumont Station to name a few. 
    Fortunately much of the area is unchanged, the exceptions were Malmedy and Recht which were more difficult. For the most part Google Earth and pre war postcards came in handy, along with Duel In The Mist 1-3, Then and Now, Timo Worsts book on Knittel. I even took a punt on spending a few hundred euros on a copy of Roppelts 700 page memoir auf der Spur. So I guess Google Translate deserves a mention too. I hope to make my first trip out there in 2022.
    Previous to this campaign, in 2017 I published a couple of CMBS scenarios, Summer In The City and Korsun 2017.
  3. Upvote
    sttp reacted to womble in Add something new please.   
    If you could import segments of maps into other maps, there'd be scope for people to work on wee vignette bases that could more readily attain a high level of detail. It's so intimidating to make a whole map that's keenly detail, that it's a barrier to entry. If people could just work on "a farm yard" or "a sunken road" or the like, and then others could import them into their own broader frameworks, there would be scope for modular development of maps, and that can't be a bad thing.
     
  4. Upvote
    sttp reacted to fireship4 in Add something new please.   
    Yes but of course the price will affect the number of sales, and this is why economics is hard.  And maximising profit is a choice, no-one is doing a hostile takeover of battlefront, or taking its market share, until every other niche is filled or someone with the requisite passion and business nouse comes along.  Then again more competition will either reduce your market share or the increase its total size - people might discover Graviteam and eventually find themselves here...  All of this is more complicated than any simple answer from either side. 
    I will note that sometimes the last people you want to listen to are the people who've made it big.  It's rare to know what if any of the choices you've made led you to where you are, and whether they would be appropriate to anyone else.  The sample size is too small.  I think experience is hard to parse with this type of thing, it's complicated.  CM is successful (as far as I can tell) because it's been well researched and made with passion and dedication.
    Again though, the choices made in development have been choices - a normal business would have scaled up from er, one programmer (?), but if that is what they want to do, it's their baby (let a hundred flowers bloom and such).  I simply advocate acting on the best possible information, and considerations toward the greater good made where possible (this is a large chunk of the pc warsim experience after all, and matters a lot to fans of the genre).
    You are a little off there MikeyD, it's £46.49 ($61.38) for people in the UK on steam at the moment, and the current sale brings the price on battlefront.com down from £52.91 ($69.87) to £37.04 ($48.91) at current exchange rates.
  5. Upvote
    sttp reacted to LukeFF in Add something new please.   
    No, just no. If you're talking about graphics from the year 2000, then sure, but too many things that were acceptable back then just don't cut it any more:
    1. The shadows look awful
    2. Long-distance rendering of objects is really bad - hilltops covered with trees become as bald as a billiard table beyond about a thousand meters
    3. Performance with the latest and greatest hardware is unacceptable, especially as map sizes increase (anything over about 30 FPS is almost never seen). 
    4. Fog and flame effects look awful.
    5. On a lesser note,but still there, the vehicle models are starting to show their age - seriously, is this the last computer game (and yes, these are all computer games, whether you like it or not) where the main gun barrels and wheels are 8-sided objects?
    Don't get me wrong - CM does a lot of things right, but a lot of other things are vastly outdated. 
  6. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Vergeltungswaffe in Thanks Josey Wales & Usually Hapless   
    It has the most interesting terrain, the most unusual units and vehicles, and the most evenly matched forces (for the most part).
    FI has a delicious taste totally unlike that of any other CM.
  7. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Redwolf in Thanks Josey Wales & Usually Hapless   
    CMFI is cool, you won't regret it.
  8. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Sgt.Squarehead in Scenario Designer Request.   
    But keep in mind that if you are playing against the AI you will probably have just completely undermined the scenario designer's intent, and possibly f**ked up all his triggers etc. etc.
    So no, not as easy as that. 
  9. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Grey_Fox in Official Combat Mission discord   
    This unofficial CM discord server has over 1000 members: https://discord.gg/dfvWxbmp
    Elvis has joined it, as well as popular streamers such as myself (😆), Hapless, KOB, and others.
  10. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Redwolf in Engine 5 Wishlist   
    I'm going to go ahead and say that unarmed vehicles should have a LOS tool, too.
    Right now they do not have a LOS tool since LOS is done via the target command, and without a weapon you don't get a target command.
    But that leads to some absurd situations. Not everything unarmed is combat-irrelevant. For example I have a SF2 German Aufklärungs platoon, which comes in Wolf vehicles. The Wolf doesn't have a weapon, it has 3 scout crewmembers (not passengers, crewmembers, big difference). So if you drive your scout vehicle to a certain point on the map you cannot determine LOS (without dismounting). This seems opposite of the scout's purpose.
  11. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Simcoe in What's the reasoning for the long wait times for artillery in Combat Mission   
    This does bring up an interesting subject in skill levels. I have always tried to play on elite to practice for playing against human opponents but going back to Veteran or Warrior honestly sounds more fun. 
    Combat Mission already condenses a battle that may take half a day into an hour so why shouldN't artillery call times be condensed? Veteran cuts them down by about 30%.
    Also, is it really more fun to play on elite and have to identify infantry by the types of   ammo pouches they have? My troops would probably know so why not get an icon that shows they are a scout team?
    Not saying any of them are right or wrong but I think veteran ends up being more fun for me.
    Now if we could customize individual settings that would be pretty cool too. Imagine having all the rules of elite with shorter artillery times? That would be my preference.
     
  12. Upvote
    sttp reacted to AlexUK in Game Pricing   
    Lots of issues with current taxation basis. In practice, income tax can be highly regressive, as many citizens with significant wealth avoid paying income tax through various means (use of offshore trusts, using capital gains allowances/capital gains at lower rate, drip-feeding capital gains, and offsetting against losses, avoiding payment of national insurance through employment setups). Makes me rage.
    Tax is not an expense, it is a contribution to public services. I can't get my head around the US model - it would drive me crazy to have the risk of medical bills either through lack of cover or excesses even with cover - I just can't imagine the extra stress of all that. 
    I am much more in favour of the Scandinavian model in general. High taxes and high social security. Just seems to make sense to me, pity I can't speak the languages (and it is freezing cold/dark for half the year).
    For the UK, they screwed up while part of the EU. They had lots of ways to control migration but didn't use them. Maddening that the EU gets blamed for that! Here in Belgium, EU citizens can move here freely but if you don't have a job within (3?) months, out you go, and they are very strong on enforcing that (and mandatory registration/ID cards to track people, with police visits to confirm you live at the address.
    And the UK are really struggling now in lots of areas. Many of the migrants have gone, but it is a struggle to find UK citizens to fill the jobs they vacated. Fruit pickers, HGV drivers, Social carers, the list goes on and on. 
  13. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Grey_Fox in Game Pricing   
    Consumption taxes are favoured by many economists as they are less distortionary than income taxes. Greg Mankiw, author of probably the most used undergraduate intro to economics textbook, writes about it here in his blog: 
    http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/on-inequality.html
    http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/consumption-vs-income-taxation.html
    But yeah, on their own consumption taxes are somewhat regressive. That doesn't mean that it isn't easy to make them progressive through something like Canada's GST credit: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/goods-services-tax-harmonized-sales-tax-gst-hst-credit.html
     
  14. Upvote
    sttp reacted to womble in Game Pricing   
    Basic food doesn't attract VAT. Didn't know whether it was "exempt" or "zero-rated" (same end result) til I went and found the link below:
    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services#food-and-drink-animals-animal-feed-plants-and-seeds

    Also, the deterioration of the NHS under the past decade of mismangement by the Tories seems to be working, if it's driving you to private care, since it's all about Privatisation of the health service by the back door.
  15. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Bud Backer in CMFB (Unofficial) Screenshot Thread   
  16. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Bud Backer in CMFB (Unofficial) Screenshot Thread   
    Equal forces, 1818 points (I think "Small" battle size). This is a QB on the Stoumont master map. 
  17. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Lethaface in CMFB (Unofficial) Screenshot Thread   
    SPOILER!

    Just finished A war without mercy against @BletchleyGeek and we had a blast!
    Severe house2house fighting, PaK fronts, Hetzer lines, tank breakthroughs with actual tank companies, flank turning, getting counter attacked by a dozen Panthers with ample infantry support, it's all in there.
    I think it was the most complete battle I've ever played. It did cost quite some energy though lol.
    Thanks @ASL Veteran (IIRC it is one of yours).
    Trivia: Over 1000 casualties, ~50 tanks KO'ed (and several more combat ineffective), one year playtime.
    Who knows if I ever make an AAR out of this. It would surely be worthy of it, but playing the game took a year already (PBEM) and I guess making a proper AAR would take a similar time.
    Duel with a Panther (it is barely visible).

    The battle around the Church was very very bloody.


    German counter attack was barely held off:

     
    Post view breakthrough area across the rail line:

     

  18. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Bufo in Agenda / Handguns.   
    LoL you actually agree with him (I suspect you didn't want to), because of  your obliviousness to even try to understand that he is talking about the game and not real life.
  19. Upvote
    sttp reacted to domfluff in Some scenarios are unable to download   
    All of the historic downloads are controlled by Bootie of the Few Good Men.
    This clearly can result in a fairly major bottleneck, since everything is dependent on one person, and a single source.
    That’s not really an answer as to “why?”, but it does explain what is happening there.
  20. Upvote
    sttp reacted to George MC in Heart of the Dying Sun - WIP   
    Managed a wee run at terraforming. Might be it for a wee while, so pleased with this bonus progress.
    Most of the work has ben tidying up around Jasienica and creating Borki and its surrounding fields.
    So first image is overall view of the map looking NE. Jasienica is the long village in the top centre, and just behind is Borki.

    Slightly closer view of Jasienica.

    Looking through Jasienica to Borki.

    The wee village/collection of farms that is Borki

    So the scene above shows the main combat area where towards late morning/mid-day on the 18 August 1944  II. BtL./Germania's two other companies, (the 5. and 6), were nearly overrun southwest of Tluszcz near Jasienica by Soviet tanks and infantry that had broken through Jadwinin (which is off-map in the top left hand side of the map) before a counterattack launched by SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Flügel II. Abt./SS-Pz.Rgt. 5, supported by a Schutzenpanzerwagen company from Ill Btl./Germania, drove them off after destroying 12 Soviet tanks . The SPW company pulled back  leaving Flügel's small panzergruppe on their own. This lack of infantry support would come back to bite them later and set the scene for his command's rather harrowing next 12 hours - an episode he describes in detail and printed in full in Ewald Klapdor's history 'Viking Panzers'.
    Anyway before that 'adventure' his panzergruppe attacked from (through?) Borki, and the 7th and 8.Kp./SS-Pz.Rgt.5 were immediately engaged and cut to pieces the Soviet infantry who had pushed forward. Twelve Russian tanks were destroyed during this fight*. 
    NOTE: I have the original combat diary of 8th Guards Tank Corps and my translation states they went into action at 1200Hrs -1230Hrs. It also mentions 1500Hrs but I'm unable to confirm what happened at that point as its very unclear. looking at what happened next i think they simply by-passed Flügel's command on its east side (it was becoming pinned by Soviet infantry infiltrating through woods to its side and rear) and headed over the rail embankment - but TBH the whole fight in this area was one huge sprawling dogfight.
    *There is an interesting side note to this as I have found some evidence that his command was ambushed and lost a lot of Panthers BUT there is no record of this happening either from the German or Soviet side. So I do wonder if these images show his command pinned - he mentions they pretty much sat there watching Soviet infantry march past... Do the images show his command sitting tight and playing doggo? I turned this upside down so top of the image is north.



    There is this video also...
     
     
  21. Upvote
    sttp reacted to George MC in Heart of the Dying Sun - WIP   
    Wee update.
    Overview of (slow) progress from first post. Spent time creating village of Jasienica. Which is the long village bottom centre of the image below.

    Comparison with the map I'm working from (its a Russian 1:50 000 but also x-referencing with Polish 1:25 000 just contour inof and other stuff was easier to work with using Russian map as basis for overlay). I'm also checking in with Google earth but this place has changed a lot since 1944. It also shows the compromises I've made in creating the map within the game engine constraints. Few wee techniques used though. 'Dirt lot' tiles make good hard surface dirt roads you can run at any angle. With short grass at the edges it blends in well. Tad wider than required but means easier for player to plot movement orders. As I said I tend to avoid zig-zag roads from personal preference and aim more for the 'feel' of the road/track etc.

    View of Jasienica - looking NW.

    View of Jasienica - looking west along the main drag of the village.

    Looking SE towards the village from the northernmost railtrack.

    Overview of the map looking NE towards Tluszcz.

    Ground level view from NW corner of the mpa at the railtrack looking south.

    Oh and I intend to place lots of craters and then go back over and damage everything....
  22. Upvote
    sttp reacted to JM Stuff in Engine 5 Wishlist   
    Hey hey my friend,  probably I just made a bad interpretation of my thought and not something wrong about yours tests and results, and I am really happy to see some...but is in the gameplay itself...calm down and drink fresh...
  23. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Xorg_Xalargsky in Engine 5 Wishlist   
    Yeah but that would require prior LOS to the target no?

    The situation a Shoot n' Scoot command would be most useful for is a high-risk roadside ambush with a small window of opportunity or say a javelin team being used in a true fire and forget fashion.
  24. Upvote
    sttp reacted to Xorg_Xalargsky in Engine 5 Wishlist   
    I would disagree.

    From the player's perspective, shoot n' scoot can be implemented, but not from the AI's perspective.

    As of now, the method relies on the Pause command, timing, and luck.
    I'd rather have a command that allows a team or vehicle to fire 1 missile/grenade/burst/etc... and then retreat.
  25. Upvote
    sttp reacted to JoMac in Engine 5 Wishlist   
    Yeah, tell em ChuckyCheese ...After all @LongLeftFlank, should know what AFV stands for as he has only been playing CM, John Tiller's (EastFront, Westfront), as well as other Military Board Games longer them some of these Forumites were even born.
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