Still disliking Artillery

[Vark]

Blackcat, wonder where you went to do your PGCE and did you ever put it into practice? Mine was at the UEA, and apart from the mildly left wing academic input, most of the students had already been 'corrupted' to conform to the left-wing orthodoxy well before taking the course. In fact, on my course, we lot were quite conservative, openly mocking the PC elements slipped into our course.

As for parental incomes, quite the opposite. I teach students who have flat screen TV's quad bikes and holidays four times a year, but parents who are obsessed with having 'me time' and buy their children's affections with the trinkets listed above. It's even worse for the parents (often not conforming to the BBC stereotype of bankers and the idle, evil rich) who have saved and sacrificed to send their kids to private school, now find the top universities actively discriminating them to fill the Liberal Democrats quotas. I must stop now, I'm about to throw something through a bloody window soon, bottom line I came into teaching as an idealistic pessimist, I fear I will be driven from my vocation, or seek refuge in the private sector again.

As for MK, I really hope BF sort out the house to house fighting, as it was essential to so much of the fighting at Arnhem. It will be a real killer if the blind bumping around and regular section massacres continue. We need a specific house clearing mode and ability to restock on grenades, unless the action could degenerate into an orgy of micro-management, and rapid player fatigue. I like giving broad orders and the occasional fiddling, I've found spending hours on precisely timed individual moves, often nets a poorer reward than keeping the pixel troops moving, and focusing on the big picture.

[MikeyD]

left-wing orthodoxy

A fancy way to say 'reality'.

[Vark]

Not biting MD, sorry, you keep on believing your 'reality', I'll believe mine.

What strikes me about the screen shots is that it really brings home the nightmare XXX Corps had in advancing across narrow elevated roads, in flat terrain. I'd read the accounts, in 'It Never Snows in September', of 88's picking off targets at close on to 3km, you can see how.

I'm wondering if BF could do a deal, allowing TV companies use of their terrain models and vehicles, when they make their WWII 'drama documentaries'. Instead of the crappy effects you get now.

[mjkerner]

I'm wondering if BF could do a deal, allowing TV companies use of their terrain models and vehicles, when they make their WWII 'drama documentaries'. Instead of the crappy effects you get now.

I've always wondered that too. It seems perfectly natural fit. Didn't the series about tank combat (can't recall the name) done in collaboration with IC or some gaming company?

[sburke]

Not biting MD, sorry, you keep on believing your 'reality', I'll believe mine.

Heh heh, well when it comes to people "reality" can be a hard thing to define. Personally I think everyone benefits from an education- is the benefit necessarily money? No, but a well educated society is far better than an ill educated one. I would posit that focusing on the monetary value of an education is actually completely the wrong idea, but then it costs so darn much it better have a financial reward. I don't care if it is a liberal arts degree or an engineering degree. Being in an environment that is supposed to foster thinking (I won't get into that debate as to what has become of the educational institutions - I think that is an argument generally driven by personal perception) does contribute to a better society.

And it ends up with people having the skills to develop a game like CM Now watch the entire BF team say "umm none of us attended any secondary school" LOL

[Vark]

They were too busy bunking off drawing little tanks and stick men shooting at each other, and wondering how they could make them come to life!! Seriously, I agree with you whole heartedly about the benefits of education, it's too damn important to allow the politicians to meddle in it, or pander to special interest groups, every 4-5 years.

[Childress]

(I won't get into that debate as to what has become of the educational institutions - I think that is an argument generally driven by personal perception)

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.

[mjkerner]

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.

It's pretty hard to disagree with that, Childress.

[sburke]

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.

I unfortunately am too old to argue with that...my last day in a university was... quite some time ago.

Now get off my lawn hippie.

[Childress]

Now get off my lawn hippie.

Oh, yeah? And what about the tent? And my girlfriend?

Personally I think everyone benefits from an education...

Right, the medium is the message. You and cousin Bill should get together over Lattes.

[sburke]

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.

Tent and the girlfriend can stay.

And I do like Lattes, however I have no cousin Bill and probably wouldn't want to see him anyway knowing my family.

[Vark]

Tent and the girlfriend can stay.

He keeps his girlfriend in a tent, cloaked in a foul miasma of incense and marihuana smoke, for a reason.

[Baneman]

He keeps his girlfriend in a tent, cloaked in a foul miasma of incense and marihuana smoke, for a reason.

Wouldn't you ?

I know I would.

[ZPB II]

16 minutes until 4:20.

[Childress]

Tent and the girlfriend can stay.

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?

[Blackcat]

Blackcat, wonder where you went to do your PGCE and did you ever put it into practice?

Brighton, as a very mature student. Drove me up the wall with all the PC bull and neo-marxist clap-trap. I put up with it because I wanted the ticket but I can't say it helped much in practice. I lasted two terms in the public sector, too much process and too little concern for education.

I came into teaching as an idealistic pessimist, I fear I will be driven from my vocation, or seek refuge in the private sector again.

I know how you feel, it is much nicer when you stop banging your head against the wall.

As for MK, I really hope BF sort out the house to house fighting, as it was essential to so much of the fighting at Arnhem. It will be a real killer if the blind bumping around and regular section massacres continue. We need a specific house clearing mode and ability to restock on grenades ...

Agreed, as I have said elsewhere, in my view CM doesn't really work too well in an urban environment.

[Ts4EVER]

Western society is too obsessed with numbers. Take that horrible "No child left behind" thing from the US, where they try to measure teacher effectiveness with standardised test. Every person with even a basic understanding of science and the human condition will tell you that the only thing these tests are measuring is the childrens ability to complete standardised tests. Instead of having teachers do what they presumably do best, you know, teaching, they want them to produce the right numbers to put into statistics.

Ad it's the same in every sector. I heard that surgeons sometimes refuse to work on old people, because if the surgery fails their statistics go down and their insurance rate goes up or they don't get hired anymore.

In an environment like that the only talent that flourishes is the talent to play the numbers game.

In the past there also were some incompetent teachers, some lazy ones, even the occasional pervert, probably, but that is just the risk you are running when you are dealing with people. Today society doesn't want to deal with humans anymore, just with numbers and statistics, like they mean anything! As soon as a human can be replaced by a robot or program they will do it, at least then the numbers are right again.

[Childress]

Western society is too obsessed with numbers. Take that horrible "No child left behind" thing from the US, where they try to measure teacher effectiveness with standardised test.

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.

[Ts4EVER]

In my opinion the school system we have right now, with instructors in front of "standardised" batches of children, is a relic from the age of the industrial revolution. There needs to be a new kind of system for the 21st century. I have worked in some pilot projects in Germany that showed a lot of promise, especially with what in the US you would call "at risk" youth, however, political reaction is as always sluggish. Politicians need statistics and short term benefits to justify their projects, and in a case like this it is hardly possible. I also foresee tons of teething problems that would further alienate the public.

There are models out there that work, but nobody wants to put in the effort to truly change the system. And the children notice, I mean they are not stupid for the most part, they know when a system doesn't benefit them and has nothing to do with their lifes and reality. I would probably drop the occasional f-bomb too

[womble]

...nobody with the power to wants to put in the effort to truly change the system.

My bold, would be closer to the truth. Part of not wanting to, on the part of the politicians is that they don't understand education in the first place, and part because it's a long term project that isn't going to help the politician stay in the position of power for long enough to make the changes. Bit of a "catch-22" situation there, even for the ones with the chops to understand that fundamental structural change over a long timescale is needed and the moral fortitude to want to make those changes.

[Sublime]

especially with what in the US you would call "at risk" youth

What did they call them in Germany? =P

[Ts4EVER]

What did they call them in Germany? =P

I don't know... foreigners?

[John Kettler]

Back to artillery. Am reading Tout's The Bloody Battle For Tilly and noted that on page 67 it states the normal British artillery fire pattern was circular, as opposed to a stonk in which the shells come in on a planned line. These seem akin to our much debated in-game capabilities, yet there's another piece of the puzzle regarding the Royal Artillery combat procedures.

In his Artillery Notes on National Characteristics, Poeland describes a remarkable two minute fire computation the British FOs used post Dunkirk to get steel on the target quickly, at the cost of precision. Of particular note is the statement the British never fired a converged sheaf. Am not quite sure how to reconcile the statement from Tout's book (circular pattern) with the standard sheaf Poeland so succinctly describes.

http://www.poeland.com/tanks/artillery/doctrine.html

Regards,

John Kettler

[Rob Deans]

Hi there,

Hands down, the best sight on British/Commonwealth artillery anywhere.... For those that really want to know how it worked......

http://nigelef.tripod.com/

Cheers,

Rob

[John Kettler]

Rob Deans,

Agreed. It's a tremendous online resource.

Regards,

John Kettler