DAR - City Of Lights (Discussion Thread)

[BletchleyGeek]

Hi everyone,

the DAR by FredRock and me, which has just been started in several venues is special, and not only because of that we consider it to be special. It has some "bonus" for you all.

During certain discussion on certain CM forums which shall remain nameless, one of the many criticisms made by someone who will also remain nameless was "looking over someone else shoulder while he's playing the game isn't that fun or interesting".

An statement which is quite true. Then I realized that we can do better than just offering a "closed" account of the game. If the Internet is going to kill the TV or the movies isn't because rampart piracy, but rather because you can offer something better than one-directional, canned content.

So it occured to me "Why not make a DAR making the game files available so people can see things by themselves and try out or discuss variants in a 'hotseat' manner?". This, which was at first a random thought, turned out to be not only to be appreciated as a good idea by some people, but also as a novelty.

So here it is. The first - I think - open DAR ever made for Combat Mission.

Game files can be found on this site - courtesy of Fredrocker. We have set blank passwords.

http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com

So guys, you'll eventually get out of this as much as us - and perhaps more. Neither me or Fredrocker will be checking this thread, so anything you say or comment is hidden by FOW to us.

Enjoy!

[Ranger33]

Well, I guess you said you won't be reading this thread, but I will say it anyway: This is a really cool idea, I probably won't be downloading a bunch of turns, but it will be cool to be able to watch one if something crazy happens.

It's kind of like a poor man's (scratch that)...wargaming man's version of e-casting in Starcraft 2.

Looks like a very fun scenario as well, should be quite dynamic.

[stoex]

I agree, it's very interesting to see the battle unfold from each of the players' perspectives. However, I find I often have trouble getting oriented on the screenshots. The map is kinda convoluted, and the perspectives in the screenies, the darkness, and the varying use of terms such as "east" and "right" or names of soldiers get me pretty darn confused as to where on the map I am looking at in some of the shots. Anyone else have this problem?

Oh, and while we're at it...not to hijack this thread, but as I am posting my own DAR here, and trying to do better in this respect for the benefit of the readers who feel the same way I do - does anyone have any comments on whether I am succeeding?