Before I knew it, it was 2:39 AM!

[Brady]

While I bought the game the day before, last Night was the first time I realy had to sit down and have a go at it, and from about 9 PM till 2:30 AM the time pased so fast I had no idea what time it was, I thought it was around midnight and WoW this is a good game, that to me is the true test, lossing all since of time and space[:)]

[MarkShot]

Although I have spent many a night up playing games throughout the night, it is mostly due to the fact that I could not sleep than anything else.

The one time I remember being so captivated by a game that I got caught by the sunrise was with Microprose's European Air War. (I used to be a serious prop-head.) I installed in the evening and I was just totally memorized by the "big sky" the sheer numbers aircraft and all the activity; not to mention the wonderful continuous radio chatter. Prior to that flight sims featured perhaps a max of 8 or 16 AC in a scenario. To see huge formations of bombers with some trailing smoke and drifting out of formation, multiple flights of escort fighters, and mutiple flights of intercepters ... it was truly beyond words for me.

That wonderful game then consumed years of my life first offline and than online. I could not think of a better game to have concluded my career as a flight simmer with.

From there, I drifted aimlessly and slowly moved towards ground combat. An announce by Battlefront's Madmatt introduced me to RDOA and my life found new meaning and purpose. Lucky I am that Dave decided that I might be reeducated to think in terms of terrain, cover, digging-in, direct and indirect fire, etc...

[Brady]

I used to be a flight sim junky as well, but before that I was a Bord game junky, playing ASL for a years as well as other AH games, I did fly a lot though for about 5 years, often averaging more time in game than I did working full time, prety much all of that time was in Aces High, burn out led me back to my roots so to speak with real war games and Matrix has broved to be a great place to play[:)]

[Tzar007]

I remember playing HTTR far into the night... I did play COTA until 1h00 the other night, but it's not a record [:)]

[Banquet]

ORIGINAL: MarkShot
Lucky I am that Dave decided that I might be reeducated to think in terms of terrain, cover, digging-in, direct and indirect fire, etc...

Lucky for us too, because your analyse of the game and scenario's have kept this forum interesting during times when CotA's release seemed a long way away. It's been very much appreciated.

[Sarge]

I remember installing CM for the first time and literally playing from 8pm to 5am, it was the first time I was ever so captivated by a game.

Although I no longer have CMBO on my HD I still to this day play CMBB and on occasions fire up AK. But still have yet to find a title that comes close to that first night of CM.

HTTR came close and has yet to be removed from my installed list since day one of release, but COA looks like it will change that.

[MarkShot]

ORIGINAL: Banquet
Lucky for us too, because your analyse of the game and scenario's have kept this forum interesting during times when CotA's release seemed a long way away. It's been very much appreciated.

Despite being privy to confidential information, I never imagined that it would take to June of 2006 to have COTA go on sale.

I did the first draft of "MarkShot's Top Tips" from Macau, China, while visiting family in December, 2004, since Dave convinced me that he was almost ready to release and was in the process of wrapping up the doc set.

I started the COTA Mini-Guide in October, 2005, since once again Dave had me convinced that the release was around the right corner. Also, after having recently been discharged from two weeks of hospitalization after a heart attack, it seemed like something to do to take my mind off of the whole negative experience.

Yep, so even during the last couple of months, I was kind of wondering if it was really going to happen this time. I half expected Dave to show up one morning, think of a new feature that the game needed, and dissappear into development for another year or more. Fortunately, economic necessity finally made him come to his senses.

[06 Maestro]

I’ve had the game for 2 days now and am wrapping up the second lesson. This game is incredible. I’ve been a war gamer for almost 40 years and have never seen an operational (or tactical or strategic) simulation as realistic as COTA-COTA rocks!
I have been searching for a good game to replace my old, outmoded titles for about 9 months-I think the search is over.
Many thanks to all concerned for a job well done.

[Banquet]

MarkShot, I hope you are well on the road to recovery now. That must have been very scary to say the least!

[MarkShot]

Banquet, taking more pills and changed my diet. I definitely want to be around to see the future of PG's engine.

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: MarkShot
...since Dave convinced me that he was almost ready to release and was in the process of wrapping up the doc set...

We programmers are like that...everything seems to be "almost there...and sometimes the things which are stopping you getting there turn out to be bigger than expected.

We can do a lot of good things with a basic computer and a good language...but predicting the finish line we are pretty useless at!

[Banquet]

I have to say.. CotA may have taken a while to be released but the extra care it's allowed Dave to lavish on the game shines through. How many times have we heard that testing this feature, or that bug, has led to refinements in the code and improvements to the AI and various other aspects of the game. CotA just screams professionalism and polish.

[EagleMountainDK]

ORIGINAL: Banquet
CotA just screams professionalism and polish.

I couldn't had said it better myself.