Volcano

Ok, great -- there is always room for more.

Yes, it is time for you to return to your cave and stick around with the rest of us for a while. :biggrin:

Ok, no problem. However, if anyone has a better week day to suggest then let me know, I just picked Wednesday at random. Five people showed up tonight and we had some good killin' fun; over 100 kills and about 30 losses and still a defeat (the enemy broke through). Thanks to everyone that showed up and played. Next event will be same time next week unless I post here to the contrary.

Back in the days, many old SB'ers might recall that TGIF always (or usually, at least) consisted of a head-to-head scenario followed by a co-op scenario, the latter of which was good for some good ol' fashioned team building. These days, as we get older apparently, we seldom play a co-op after TGIF. During the summer months, and starting tonight (6 JUL), I am looking at starting up "Co-Op Wednesdays". Basically, like the name says, anyone who wants to play a co-operative (or, as a last resort, a "head to red") scenario should meet in the SB Lobby every Wednesday at 2100 hours, CST (same time as TGIF, just on a Wednesday). Details: The event will go until the end of summer (end of AUG), unless there is no interest then it may just last through JUL (and it may last longer if it is popular enough). I will host the scenario unless it is proven that my connection is terrible and someone else wants to host instead. I can guarantee that I will have time to host one scenario at that time (maybe two if they are short), so this would not be some sort of mid week all-nighter -- no need to worry about that. Scenarios will consist of cycling through the known co-op scenarios available. Scenario submissions are welcome, the only requirement is that the scenario must either be co-op or a head to red. At the end of the scenario, since everyone is on the same side (unless it is a head-to-red), we will try to have a "real AAR" (a military type AAR: where we discuss what went right and what went wrong, how we can improve, etc). New people can look to CO the side or individual companies if they desire -- it is intended that this event help people practice CO'ing or platoon leading if they so desire. If enough people participate, we might try fully manned tank scenarios, and Channel Commanders in TS. Interested? Then show up tonight and we will get this party started. (Apologies on the short/sudden notice - I suspect there will not be much attendance on the first night because of it...)

Typically laptops have trouble running games at 1680 x 1050, or at least the laptops I used to know did. I suppose they have advanced quite a bit in four years. Glad it is working for you again (or it sounds like it is anyway?).

Yes, try uninstalling SB, then install the 2.538 upgrade, then put 2.552 patch on over that and those problems should go away.

Nah, company nicknames are always (or usually) only used in reference to the commander when he calls higher. AFAICR the company name is hardly ever used at all when referencing the company itself, just the simple "Alpha company" "Bravo company" etc. is used. I don't recall hearing "Bulldog company" on the radio, as an example. That is not to say that some cheese somewhere would not do that however. As mentioned above though, the company commander WILL use the company's name when he calls up to higher HQ (battalion), so he would say "this is Axe 6" or "this is Bulldog 6". The reason for this is because using his name within his company (Black 6) would be indistinguishable with the other Black 6's of the other companies in the BN.

In US Army, callsign for 1A (the platoon) would be "Red". The actual #1 vehicle in 1st platoon would be "Red 1" and reference to the platoon leader himself would be "Red 1 Actual". 2nd Platoon is "White", 3rd Platoon is "Blue", 4th platoon is usually "Green" and a 5th platoon would be "Gold".. CO is "Black 6", XO is "Black 5". No idea about the details on Stryker mixture of platoons however...

Yes, we know what you want to see. You have mastered the art of asking for something without actually saying it -- Level Up! Welcome to Level 2.

What kind of video card do you have? Have you tried adjusting the settings on the card itself? Make sure you do not have AAA turned on (adaptive anti-aliasing).

No changes in the patch should cause this, at least no more than the previous versions would have. Check and make sure you do not have any background programs running, especially virus scanners which might be processing every single operation in the background. You said you did a "complete wipe" of your HDD recently -- perhaps you installed something on there that is causing this like new virus scanning software. Also, and this is just me guessing here, be aware that if you have ATI or Nvidia graphics card you most likely cannot get the latest version of Catalyst (or whatever Nvidia has) as this usually will cause problems because it might be made for a newer series card. I did this recently -- downloaded the latest version of Catalyst which, unknown to me at the time, no longer supported my older ATI 4870 very well, and a similar problem occurred from what you describe. I had to a double check at their site and find an older version that supported my card. Usually it is classified by card series and it is easy to get it confused, especially since it will appear as if the card is working fine after the wrong driver is installed.

Right, that is standard behavior. Shoot here does not work like that, it acts as a way to assign the Suppress tactic from the 3D world, so maybe the name is misleading (perhaps it should say "Suppress here" -- we will look at clarifying that in next update). It is basically a command for suppression of an area -- tanks will use coax and HMG (if it has one), not maingun and IFVs will use autocannon, HE and coax. So, telling the tank to "shoot here" is just simply telling it to suppress the area for infantry, not shoot at a target with the maingun. The best thing to do in that example is to let the AI find the tank and shoot it on its own. Use the SHIFT+arrow left,right,up to put the gun in the appropriate area, then press E or F if it needs further help.

Sounds interesting -- I just hope everyone is not stuck using manual hand crank controls. This was tried in the past in several scenarios with disastrous outcomes.

Oh, one more reminder relating to spotting that you should keep in mind: Do not forget that vehicles combined in a platoon unit will have better... situational awareness as a whole. It is not that they will spot "better" or "quicker" in that situation, rather, they will share information quicker and there will be more cyber eyes scanning around. So, if one of the four AI TCs are scanning and spot something, then the whole platoon will be alerted almost immediately. With separate vehicles this takes longer. The idea here is that when vehicles are in a platoon, it is easier (IRL) to report a contact relative to the platoon unit to the other vehicles, as opposed to reporting a contact to vehicles that are scattered all over (it is the difference between saying "contact left!" and "contact, grid XXX XXX"). This is by design to encourage you to keep units in platoon units, particularly on the offense. The above was always the case but I post it as a reminder because, combined with the fix for AI to see things right in front of their nose, it may in fact seem like a platoon is quicker on the draw, especially if someone is operating as a single vehicle against platoons of AI vehicles.

Sounds good. Any idea on the time it would take place? I may be able to play on Red and perhaps CO once or more (I will have a better idea near the date)...

Well, again, the AI had a problem with seeing targets in full view, often looking beyond the target instead. This is what was fixed, nothing more. The fix to the behavior allows the AI to spot targets more on the competency level of a human who would be scanning around to the flanks and front (the TC). So yes, it should be more difficult now than what it was before, but "too difficult" is relative. It is more realistic than it used to be. I only say this because people should avoid thinking that the whole AI spotting routine was changed.

BTW, just a general comment: Network sessions and AI has been *improved*, do not expect miracles however, just an improvement. Just something to keep in mind.

Hmm, never heard of that. Maybe you need to update your video drivers. However, when the screen goes black, can you still see the bar at the bottom of screen -- the info bar in the 3D world (the bar with the text / message bar on bottom left and the tank icons on the bottom right)?

Hmm, that sounds like a lot of painting and repainting of the turret front each year. :shocked:

It already is.

What was the range to the target? It shouldn't matter, but it is a useful element of information in these hit ray screen shots showing KE impacts. If I had to guess, the shot traveled down the length of the gun tube of the Centauro. The AAR does not update the gun tube elevation positions (they always appear at 0 EL) so the AAR is a bit misleading in this regard -- it is my guess that the Centauro is aiming at you. A shot down the length of the gun is greeted with an almost impervious bit of armor, the round penetrated down to the point where the ray stops in your image. That isn't a bug per se, but the fact that the gun does not get damaged in the process is, well, something we have to live with at the moment.

Same here. The deal with it is, I too was in 1-37 AR (A Co) (1997-1999). When the M1A1(HA) was being worked on, we needed decals for it so naturally I provided plenty of pictures of my tank as the example.

In the top image, of the Hind helicopter rocket pod, I believe the guy is just finishing it up. He is installing the launch button just behind the launcher there so someone can stand behind it and aim.

That sounds like the US Army in the mid 1990s.

RL2: 1985, where Red can (hopefully) fight toe to toe, and not like Ewoks.