Questions for Steve (General PBEM) #2

[Guest Big Time Software]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>But my guess is the resulting probability that the StugIII would be alive right now is .0000 something at best.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not quite that low. Remember that the other Sherman was a normal M4A3, which the StuG can easily penetrate. Plus, the 75mm gun on the M4A3 is not guaranteed a penetration against the StuG. (In fact I think Martin said that one American shell hit the StuG and bounced? I'm not sure of that though). Plus... the StuG crew is "veteran" which means they do everything a little faster and a little better. Crew quality makes a significant difference in CM. It's the man, not the machine.

A StuG versus an M4A3 is a roughly even match, so no great surprise that the StuG won with a veteran crew. I wouldn't really say Martin was "unlucky" with that one. Only the death of the Jumbo was a rarity.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>One question about LOS: You say that the Jumbo could not see the StugIII, so it shot at the town. And it did not see the StugIII right away because it was looking at the town and the gun came up behind it. Okay, but Martin could see the StugIII because it was spotted by somebody in his army, correct? This is the unavoidable issue of omniscience for the player because he has the combined LOS of all of his troops. But the omniscience does not filter down to the unit level correct? Meaning that, in order for the Jumbo to even know the StuGIII exists, he has to be able to see/hear it himself -- no matter who else in the American army can see it? Is my understanding right?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly right. And units don't retarget robotically at the instant a target comes into view. It might take a couple of seconds sometimes.

Charles

[Larry Marks]

Steve, thanks for the info on the trees. Since every round is tracked in CM, will the trees offer some sort of cover(irrespective of the density you choose)that is factored into hit calculations?

On repairs, after this scenario is done if Fionn's Panther survives it is going to need a new transmission.

Larry

[This message has been edited by Larry Marks (edited 08-25-99).]

[Ben Galanti]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Any hit on a tank has (roughly) a 1% chance of hitting one of these weak spots, and the armor strength is reduced by as much as 50%.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So, is the reduction always 50%? Or is it a random amount up to 50%? Just wondering if Martin was so unlucky as to get the 1% chance of a critical, then another small percentage chance on top of that, that the armor was reduced enough to let the 75mm get through.

[Guest Lokesa]

Pixman, wasn't it Lt Stahler? a 9-2 regular if I remember correctly. Great game, I started playing around at around age 10 or 11 and went nuts with it My other favorite was rise and fall but due to a lack of patience I was easily defeated (my brothers would purposly drag every move out till I was bonkers and would do stupid moves)

[Guest Big Time Software]

Yes Kevin, the trees are very significant to combat in general, and artillery specifically. In Fionn's reports there are some shots of treebursts. These are not very nice to infantry The thing is that the visual representation of EVERYTHING in the game is NOT necessarily representative of the underlying game.

As said before, you could play with the entire graphics engine unhooked and the exact same results would come about. The density of trees is determined by the terrain type, and that is factored into everything relevant.

Steve

[Guest Big Time Software]

Ben - the 'critical hit' penalty is at most 50% (at least 30% IIRC). Since I don't know exactly what the ranges and angles involved were I don't know how much of a penalty was required to make the shell penetrate (and there's also a random factor above and beyond the 'critical' thing as no two shells behave exactly the same way when subjected to the tremendouses stresses of striking armor) but I suspect at least 40% penalty was needed for penetration. Perhaps more.

Charles

[Rhet]

I did not want to bring this up in an open forum while the game is being played... so I put it here where Martin and Fionn can't see.

I call this post Victory Location Tattletale?

While spectating "the game" Martin posted a screen shot in turn three with the following caption:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>A town swarming with the enemy! Notice that the victory flags have changed - since my platoon moved closer to the town, they are not in German hands anymore, but are "neutral" right now.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

After studying the game, this is an incorrect statement right? In looking at Fionn's turn 3 screen shot he sure looks like he is occupying this VP. Also if the Germans had left why would the upper levels walls still be in a dropped state? Another interesting point in Martins screen shot is the presence of a generic infantry marker sort of half in and half out on the bottom level. It appears that a bad assumption was made at this point but, if there are generic markers in the building shouldn't the VP show this as being possesed by the Germans?

In turn four Martin has two screen shots of the town that show all three VPs in German hands (turn4advance & turn4south). Only the Northern building shows evidence of occupation (upper and lower walls dropped & two generic infantry markers). How do his troops know that the other two are occupied?

Now for the tough question...

Why does the VP flag indicate "unoccupied" in turn 3 with the upper walls dropped and a generic unit marker in the building while in turn 4, the VP flags for the other two buildings show as "occupied" without any visual clues (dropped walls or unit markers)as to them being occupied or not?

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Rhet

[Doug Beman]

Is there a way for a player to find out which enemy units one of his own people can see? That way, if, say, Martin knew about the Stug he could make sure that the Sherman did/did not know about it and take appropriate action.

Does snow really slow down tanks that much? I read somewhere here that this battlefield has a 6" cover, and that it is playing hob with the tanks' mobility.

DjB

[Lee]

Wow, this is really exciting to read. CM plays more

like a WWII movie than any other wargame I have

ever seen. NEAT.

I was also shocked by the Jumbo's quick destruction,

I read Fionn's account first and thought (as did he)

that he had knocked out another regular sherman.

I was quite surprised when I saw it was really

Martin's much loved Jumbo! Ouch! But I completely

support Charles' and Steve's decision to include

critical hits, it's realistic and also helps keep

players from getting *too* confident when riding

around in their favorite bruiser. Ever heard of

Achilles' heel?

I'm really eager to read more of the battle reports

as they happen. Any chance of getting 3 or 4 turns

a day posted? This is a lot of fun. (:

[Rick]

Steve or Charles,

Do you know why the explosions look different in Martin's screenshots than in Fionn's?

As far as I'm concerned they both look good, but they definitely look different.

[Guest Big Time Software]

Rick, yup we do. Basically, if Quality APIs were gunpowder, Microsoft wouldn't have enough of their own to blow their nose Seriously, DirectX is better than anything before it on the PC, but it sucks to work with. And since Charles has experience programming for both PCs and Macs, he has something to directly compare it to -> Apple's Sprokets.

Both sets of explosions are supposed to be transparent, but Martin's isn't right now. This will have to be fixed before we release, along with a number of other DirectX odd behaviour...

Steve

[This message has been edited by Big Time Software (edited 08-25-99).]

[Guest Big Time Software]

Doug, there is no way to know if your unit has been spotted other than having been shot at. This is intentional as the only other realistic way would be to ask the other side "hey, can you see me?" Yes, snow will make any vehicle go slower than if it were on open ground. Snow cover, drifts, and dips can cause "bellying". Vehicles generally only have about 10-12 inches of ground clearance, so 6" of snow is enough to be a problem. Once this happens you have a chance of getting out of it. Fail this and the vehicle is stuck for the rest of the game. Fionn had 3 vehicles get bogged down, but managed to get 2 free. We might tone down the chance as this is only the first game we have played with moderate snow depth.

Lee, thanks and wait until you actually SEE the "movies" in the game. I once read about a US AT gun firing at a Panther's ball mounted MG in the fog. All they could see was the flash. They shot and knocked out the tank. Technically I don't think they could have, but they got that 1% hit. We are trying to do 3 turns a day now.

OK, now I am closing this out and will open a new thread to answer Rhet's questions.

Steve