Battlefront's first Super Bundle is now available.

[Ithikial_AU]

49 minutes ago, Probus said:

Was it Dr. Who that uncovered the Reptilian Overlord plot?

Honestly, the easiest way to do this would be to get a license to turn this book series into a game.

Effectively WW2 humans vs modern era alien space lizards. It's effectively CMSF NATO vs all nations in the WW2 families.

Honestly, I'd love a sci-fi combat mission the style of 'The Expanse' or 'Firefly'. Human only... some central alliance versus the outer rim rebels or some such.  But I know it's a bigger pipe dream than CM2 Africa.  

 

[Probus]

2 minutes ago, Ithikial_AU said:

But I know it's a bigger pipe dream than CM2 Africa.

Call me nieve, nyeve, naieve...  Call me stupid, but I think the way I described is very limited impact on Battlefront and really big in the 'turn a profit' arena without requiring Battlefront to allow in depth user mods that change or add units @Ithikial_AU.

BTW, is that avatar PKD related?

[Ithikial_AU]

1 hour ago, Probus said:

BTW, is that avatar PKD related?

PKD? It's the logo from the original classic 'Deus Ex' game from the year 2000. Still one of the best games ever made IMO.

[John Kettler]

Vacillator,

You're most welcome. Wasn't trying to discourage you, just help you understand, in advance, how big the changes were in the Modern CM games vs the WW II ones. That way, you would be far less likely to be turned off by the experience and instead do the work to be able to enjoy these far more demanding sims. 

dan/california,

May your treatments take, and may you be pain-free for good! Much appreciate your support, and I look forward to getting back into playing CMx2 in due course. 

Sgt.Squarehead,

Read it, found it fascinating, bizarre and weird, but enjoyed it immensely. Would have to say I think the humans would be better at exploiting both cover and concealment.

Regards,

John Kettler

[danfrodo]

15 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Anyone? 

 

OMG I remember that book cover from waaaaaay back i the day!  So as Probus asks, is it any good?

[Probus]

14 hours ago, Ithikial_AU said:

PKD?

Philip K Dick - Great Science Fiction author.  Some works from his books include Blade Runner, Man in the High Castle, Minority Report, Total Recall...

[Erwin]

Agreed.  Read all PKD's books when I was a teenager.  His concepts were quite mind-blowingly original at that time and changed the way one looked at the world.  I still have his complete set stored someplace.

[danfrodo]

Now that this thread is completely hijacked.....

I did the Three Body Problem trilogy this year.  Makes majority of sci fi look like marvel movie in comparison.  Utterly brilliant.

[Probus]

32 minutes ago, danfrodo said:

Now that this thread is completely hijacked.....

I did the Three Body Problem trilogy this year.  Makes majority of sci fi look like marvel movie in comparison.  Utterly brilliant.

Really.  I was thinking about reading that.

It's hijacked, but only temporarily.  You see:

I have all 3 modern titles already.  They are great but brutal.  Mistakes cost you dearly. Don't move without recon. Don't sit still or your the target of a ATGM (that's Anti-Tank Guided Missile for you WWII folks) or precision artillery guided in by a drone behind your lines.

They kind of remind me of chess, in a way. If you make the wrong move in chess your piece is taken.  Same way in modern warfare. Precision munitions and high armor penetration means you really need to pay attention.

The M1 Abrams is a real battlewagon.  It is one of the few tanks that can shrug off hits.  Just keep the FRONT TOWARD ENEMY.

[danfrodo]

I just did (most of) an SF2 german campaign.  Then went back to Ost Front for BenPark's Reitwein battle.  See folks, if you play w modern games you don't go blind (to ww2).  Now doing BS TF-369 campaign -- and the enemy just parked some high value targets in sight of my observer; if they stay there just two more minutes they are all KIA.  Ah, good times.  I've played BS the least but looking to make up for that w time off work in December. 

Death in BS can be sudden and surprising, but it's not like the WW2 battles are cakewalks. 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

On 11/26/2021 at 2:24 AM, Probus said:

Is Footfall, 'Probably the finest novel of alien invasion ever written'?

22 hours ago, danfrodo said:

OMG I remember that book cover from waaaaaay back i the day!  So as Probus asks, is it any good?

It's a decent read, typical Niven & Pournelle (the world gets blown up), but the aliens are extremely novel.....The book attempts to explore the possiblities of an encounter with 'nuts & bolts' aliens who are comprehensible to us but very different from us (evolved from herd beasts).  Likewise their technology is comprehensible to us, no FTL or super-science (it was only discovered that Bussard Ramjets won't actually work after the book was published).

My main reason for posting it was that I thought the chapter 'Jayhawk War' would appeal to CM:CW players:

“I agree with Colonel Halverson’s reasoning,” Morgan said. “The invaders are hiding something to the east. We’re a cavalry outfit. It’s our duty to explore-but carefully. In particular, we have to be certain that any information we get will be useful. That won’t be easy. They’re jamming all communications and the phones don’t work.”

Joe Halverson nodded thoughtfully. “Suggestions, Major?”

“We’ll have to string things out. Use the Bradley vehicles as communications links.” He sketched rapidly on the table cloth. “Corporal Lewis” — Morgan nodded to Evan Lewis; everyone knew that Evan’s son Jimmy was an electronic genius — “Jimmy rigged up those shield things that let the tanks talk to each other, as long as the antennas are aimed straight at each other. Fine. We send the choppers forward as scouts and flankers, making sure they stay in line of sight to the tanks. Tanks in the middle, concentrated enough to have some firepower, spread out enough to not make such a good target. Then string the Bradleys and the LAVs out behind as connecting links.”

“What do they connect to?” Mason asked.

“We leave two troopers here with my wife and a radio. Juana writes down everything, if we don’t come back, she gets the hell out.”

“Not much chance she’d have to do that,” Halverson said. “Hell, we’re not an army, but we’ve got a fair amount of strength here.” He looked out the window at his command. Six helicopters, with missiles. A dozen tanks, with guns and missiles. The communications weren’t any good because the Invaders were broadcasting static from space. But even without communications a troop of armored cavalry was nothing to laugh at.

“Sounds all right to me,” Lewis said. “At least we’ll be doing something.”

“I’d rather wait for orders,” George Mason said. “But what the hell, I’m ready if you are.”

Joe Halverson stood. “Right. Let’s go.”

“I’m Jimmy Lewis,” the corporal said. He climbed through the attic window to join Harry on the roof of the big frame house.

Harry nodded greeting. “Hi. They tell me you invented this.” He hefted the hand-talkie radio whose antenna was wrapped in a tinfoil cone stiffened with coat-hanger wire.

“Yeah,” Jimmy Lewis said. His tone was serious. “It’s the only way I’ve figured to keep communications. You have to point it pretty tight, though, or you’ll lose the signal

Harry regarded the device, then the similar but larger tinfoil monstrosity on one of the Bradley Fighting Vehicles in the yard down below. “Yeah. So I point this at the Bradley, and maybe I can hear. What then?”

“Use this,” Jimmy Lewis said. He handed Harry a Sony tape recorder. “There’s three hours of tape on there. More than enough. Just plug it into the radio, here, like that, and turn it on when we move out. Listen in the earphones, and you’ll hear a tone if you’re pointed close to the tank, and nothing at all when you’re dead on, except when they’re talking; then you’ll hear them talk, of course. It sounds hard, but it’s pretty easy, really.”

“Sure.”

Major Morgan was in the front yard. Harry couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Juana Morgan didn’t like it. Their housekeeper sat in the front seat of the four-wheel-drive Jimmy, but Juana Morgan didn’t want to drive it.

Finally, though, she got in, and the blue Jimmy drove off. And now it’s just Carlotta and me. David Morgan stood very straight as he went to his tank and climbed in.

Colonel Halverson came over to stand below them. “Bout time, Jimmy,” he shouted up at them.

“Yes, sir.” Corporal Lewis waved to Harry and crawled back inside through the window.

“Thanks, Mr. Reddington,” Halverson shouted. “I need all my troopers. Good of you to fill in. I doubt you’ll be needed, but—”

“Yeah. No problem, Colonel.” Of course Carlotta’s goin’ nuts, wanting to go get that elephant. Maybe it’s safer up here!

“Thanks, then,” Halverson said. He walked briskly up the line to the lead tank and climbed in. He stood in the turret for a moment, then waved dramatically. “Wagons-hoooo!” he shouted.

The helicopters rose in a cloud of dust and swept forward and off to each side in groups of three The tanks fanned out and moved ahead, leaving the Bradleys behind.

“Watcher, this is Jayhawk One. Do you read?”

Harry keyed the mike. “Roger, Jayhawk One, this is Watcher.”

“Course is 100 degrees, moving forward at 1220 hours,” the tanker’s voice said in Harry’s ear. Harry started guiltily and switched on the tape recorder.

When the Bradley began to move eastward, it was much harder to keep the radio aimed properly. Harry braced it against the chimney. The rooftop was steep and it wasn’t easy to keep his footing.

The helicopters wove in complex patterns ahead of the tanks. “Moving, ahead at twenty klicks,” the voice said.

About ten miles an hour, Harry thought. He could still remember kilometer signs on highways, although he hadn’t seen one in years.

A half-hour went by. The helicopters and lead tanks were nearly invisible. The others were strung out behind them. Harry’s radio contact was a good five miles ahead, and it took all his attention to keep the antenna aimed properly. He was about to key the mike to tell them that.

“Light overhead,” the tanker’s voice shouted.

Harry could see it. A bright green flash, more visible high up than near the ground.

“It’s moving in a circle-Number Three Helicopter reports the beam is moving around them in a circle, it’s tightening in on them—” There was a pause. “No contact with the choppers. Colonel Halverson reports they’ve all been attacked by some kind of beam—”

 

[dan/california]

So you convinced me to finally try "Three Body Problem". The writing is unbelievably good, but the first quarter of the first book is just a crushingly unpleasant story...

[Armorgunner]

On 11/23/2021 at 10:40 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Yeah right, apparently they were invading southern Ukraine last September too:

According to Bloomberg, they have about 100 btg on the border to ukraine. And have called in large number of reservists. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-21/u-s-intel-shows-russian-plans-for-potential-ukraine-invasion

If you do it regularly, and nothing happens, it soon Will be the new normal. And thats when it Will happen!

[Armorgunner]

The Russian defence minister, say that Russia have 168 battalion tactical groups, with an alert time of one hour.

https://tass.com/defense/1324461

Belive it, or not. But the one hour seems a little optimistic, in my opinion.

[Erwin]

It was the same with 1930's Germany, during the USSR days, and now China.  If you lie big enuff and long enuff, people start to believe (and start being fearful).  One has to remember that all these regimes were and are brilliant at propaganda.  

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Can we get back to the aliens? 

[danfrodo]

16 hours ago, dan/california said:

So you convinced me to finally try "Three Body Problem". The writing is unbelievably good, but the first quarter of the first book is just a crushingly unpleasant story...

Hang with it Dan/Cali.  (is that a Chili Peppers reference in your name?).  3-Body is not Game of Thrones book 4, where there's just endless pointless storylines (I'll never read another GOTR even if he does decide to finish, which he won't).  All of it matters.  The story is going to really go places in book 1. 

[dan/california]

40 minutes ago, danfrodo said:

Hang with it Dan/Cali.  (is that a Chili Peppers reference in your name?).  3-Body is not Game of Thrones book 4, where there's just endless pointless storylines (I'll never read another GOTR even if he does decide to finish, which he won't).  All of it matters.  The story is going to really go places in book 1. 

I am in too deep to quit, but bleep there are some rough bits.

 

[ZPB II]

Three-Body Problem fans are absolutely delighted that the same two dudes who crashed & burned Game of Thrones will be doing the Netflix adaptation.

[Probus]

Oh you're kidding @Zeb II. That is concerning.

[danfrodo]

what Zeb II????    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By the way, Dan/Cali, I did audiobooks so maybe that made it all flow more than in print?

[Kevin2k]

On 11/26/2021 at 6:16 PM, danfrodo said:

OMG I remember that book cover from waaaaaay back i the day!  So as Probus asks, is it any good?

Hey, I read that Niven Footfall book like six months ago. It is good. A bit slow at times, but a finale with lots of action. It is notch below my favorite books of him: "The mote in gods eye" / "Gripping hand" and "A world out of time". But these ones are weirder then Footfall, as they have no normal earth setting.

[danfrodo]

Oh yeah, Mote in gods eye.  I read that 100 years ago, I still remember the main bits.

Hopefully Weiss & Benioff won't ruin 3-body.  They were really good in GOT until they ran out of book material and then seemed to have tired of the whole thing.  I read there's a new level added in hell just for them, empty & waiting, based on what they did to the best show ever -- God very angry, as we all are.  I suppose they still have a chance for some level of redemption w 3body.  But even if they ace it all I would do was reduce the temperature a little.

[Kevin2k]

1 hour ago, danfrodo said:

Oh yeah, Mote in gods eye.  I read that 100 years ago, I still remember the main bits.

Hopefully Weiss & Benioff won't ruin 3-body.  They were really good in GOT until they ran out of book material and then seemed to have tired of the whole thing.  I read there's a new level added in hell just for them, empty & waiting, based on what they did to the best show ever -- God very angry, as we all are.  I suppose they still have a chance for some level of redemption w 3body.  But even if they ace it all I would do was reduce the temperature a little.

I am actually looking backwards in time. Considering somewhat older books, preferably a notch below the most-awarded/top-selling ones.

[Probus]

I think I'll start another thread with this SF topic get some good ideas that we can vote on to see what folks like.

How long does this bundle sale last @BFCElvis?