BIN Patch Status ?

[Capitaine]

Dunno 'bout that Mech Recon in Losheim. I've been playing a lot of TAO4 lately and I, too, am doubtful of one step of "mech recon" holding out at +10-1. 10-1 is, well, 10-1 and given the defender shifts to start with, one would think 3-1 would be pretty good odds really, when actually 3-1 stinks in this game. The "*" results at high odds cause me to raise an eyebrow 'cuz I don't see that much metal flying around and no one dying (in a material way). BTW, I've never come up empty there so I've no axe to grind.

If ordered to "press home the attack", I'm sure at 10-1 the attackers could do it. (Of course, further complicating things is that TAO is 1/2 day of battle while BiN is a full day; one of the continuing issues of scale in the saga... [:-] )

[RobertRasmussen]

ORIGINAL: Black Cat

I don`t want to jump on this thread, and it`s probably my on-going misunderstanding of the system but...

I attacked an 2 step not dug in Ost unit West of Carteren ( sp ? ) It was in a_ Forrest Hex_ with a 9 Allied penalty [X(]

I attacked on 3 sides with 3 Regiments of the 101st. Airborne and one side with a Regiment of the 4th. Div. all in supply and at full strength and all Arty and Naval Gundfire available and a leader. The odds showing were 10+ ( couldn`t get better right? ) and I of course rolled a 1. Not to be Bitchey BTW, but in 12 game starts I seem to roll a lot of 1-2`s around Carterin in key 10+ attacks.

But that aside, really, shouldn`t that Ost unit have lost at least 1 step no matter what I rolled...???

I've noticed the same thing: In key attacks on city hexes in Carentan or Caen it seems very easy to roll a 1 or 2 at 10:1 [:)] And sometimes it seems that the AI rolls an unreasonable amount of 5's and 6's. But on the other hand: It must be just perception. I can't imagine that the AI has been programmed to fiddle with the die rolls.

[JSS]

ORIGINAL: RobertRasmussen

...And sometimes it seems that the AI rolls an unreasonable amount of 5's and 6's.

Remember, if you set AI to + or ++ that adds 1(+) or 2 (++) to each dice in every attack the AI makes... at ++ setting 50% of AI's dice should be "6"[X(]

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: JSS

ORIGINAL: RobertRasmussen

...And sometimes it seems that the AI rolls an unreasonable amount of 5's and 6's.

Remember, if you set AI to + or ++ that adds 1(+) or 2 (++) to each dice in every attack the AI makes... at ++ setting 50% of AI's dice should be "6"[X(]

???With the "replacement bug" unless we have the ai set to computer- we can't expect realistic results so how can we make sense of any of this? I have played as the Allies vs. computer- and have noticed the same as mentioned above[&:]. Is the ai of BiN really that much better as touted? Or simply completely changed as to "appear" better?[;)] Things don't add up the same as KP/ATD, and after a few games against a "God Mode" ai you start to question reality. I think BiN is a major step forward and a great improvement, but at this stage it's hard to tell what is a "new feature" and what is a "feature in progress"

[Gregor_SSG]

ORIGINAL: RobertRasmussen

ORIGINAL: Black Cat

I don`t want to jump on this thread, and it`s probably my on-going misunderstanding of the system but...

I attacked an 2 step not dug in Ost unit West of Carteren ( sp ? ) It was in a_ Forrest Hex_ with a 9 Allied penalty [X(]

I attacked on 3 sides with 3 Regiments of the 101st. Airborne and one side with a Regiment of the 4th. Div. all in supply and at full strength and all Arty and Naval Gundfire available and a leader. The odds showing were 10+ ( couldn`t get better right? ) and I of course rolled a 1. Not to be Bitchey BTW, but in 12 game starts I seem to roll a lot of 1-2`s around Carterin in key 10+ attacks.

But that aside, really, shouldn`t that Ost unit have lost at least 1 step no matter what I rolled...???

I've noticed the same thing: In key attacks on city hexes in Carentan or Caen it seems very easy to roll a 1 or 2 at 10:1 [:)] And sometimes it seems that the AI rolls an unreasonable amount of 5's and 6's. But on the other hand: It must be just perception. I can't imagine that the AI has been programmed to fiddle with the die rolls.

You are right, the AI has not been programmed to fiddle with the dice rolls, except where explicitly stated on the Computer + and Computer ++ settings.

We get this every time we do a game. The human memory is very, very fallible. We forget all those sixes we rolled, where we got an exceptionally good result, but grimly remember all the ones we rolled, where we got an exceptionally bad result.

Remember also, that in a big BIN scenario, you're rolling large numbers of dice. The more dice you roll, the more chance you have of encountering unusual results.

Lastly, the AI hasn't got a hope of telling that one particular combat is far more critical than another, and in fact never tries to make this evaluation. If it was smart enough to do so, then we'd all be in trouble.

Gregor

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

Ian Trout, from SSG just recently posted at the R5 forum that it would be at least one month for the patch, so call it two months, is End of November my guess...
Hello Ravinhood, did you buy BIN, it is awesome.. how abot Rome TW?
Good to see you again.. so to speak

LOL Hi Freeboy, and no I didn't buy either, RTW is a TOTAL letdown and well BIN is direct download only (have dialup) and I'm not paying $50 +$10 for a cd without a "MANUAL", the box I could care less about, but, if I'm going to pay $60 for a game I sure expect a MANUAL I can lie in bed with and read myself to sleep before I play the game again. I don't own a printer (my ex-girlfriend took all my printers, the beach lol, heh, but, I stole all her RAM!! lol), so, I have no way to print out the pdf or whatever txt file it uses either.

I'm still playing SPARTAN, and tweaking that ole ai file of mine. It's still one of the most challenging games I have and I have some Combat Mission PBEM games going. Gawd I hope Battlefront doesn't follow the path of Creative Assembly and come out with some stupid kiddie click fest rts version of the Combat Mission series in their next renditions.

I'm still disappointed in Matrix for not finding some way to release boxed versions or even sandwich bag versions of their game with a "MANUAL", somehow, someway. EBgames, Best Buy, Software etc., Walmart or Hastings even. Just takes too much of my time for a "download" and then no manual to go along with that. Looks like my Matrix games buying days are limited to ebay and amazon.com as some people grow bored of them and toss them up for sale there. I'm an old dog you can't teach new tricks to, especially when it taxes MY energies moreso than the companies. I'll just keep chewing on my ole favorite chew toys and save my teeth and energy for those toys that other companies put in my FACE to bite on (retail sales).

What about that NWS site Matrix? I buy HPS & Shrapnel games from them, why don't you try to make some kind of arrangement with them to sell some of your games that can be ordered "complete" without having to "download" anything??????

[mbMike]

RTW is a TOTAL letdown

I hope you didn't buy RTW! It was pretty friggin' obvious what the game would be like. It's a blast, BTW. Worth the 49.99 USD!

[ravinhood]

If you like RTS kiddle clickfest type games, yeah I guess it is, the NEW fanbase over at the official site love it, but, 90% of the vets loathe it. So it's just a change of the forum members, we'll give our money to someone else and CA can go take a flying leap off the gruder building.

[Erik Rutins]

Ravinhood,

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
I'm still disappointed in Matrix for not finding some way to release boxed versions or even sandwich bag versions of their game with a "MANUAL", somehow, someway. EBgames, Best Buy, Software etc., Walmart or Hastings even. Just takes too much of my time for a "download" and then no manual to go along with that. Looks like my Matrix games buying days are limited to ebay and amazon.com as some people grow bored of them and toss them up for sale there. I'm an old dog you can't teach new tricks to, especially when it taxes MY energies moreso than the companies. I'll just keep chewing on my ole favorite chew toys and save my teeth and energy for those toys that other companies put in my FACE to bite on (retail sales). What about that NWS site Matrix? I buy HPS & Shrapnel games from them, why don't you try to make some kind of arrangement with them to sell some of your games that can be ordered "complete" without having to "download" anything??????

Please note that you can buy our games without downloading anything. Just order the version currently labeled "PC-CDROM" and you will be shipped a printed DVD Case and CD, no need to download anything. I've ordered from the NWS site and received just a CD in a sleeve for one of their titles, so I don't see that they have a better system. I think we're both moving in the same direction. The "Game on Demand" is something that just launched, so you may not have been aware of this possibility - we spent a good part of the summer planning and implementing it along with Digital River.

Please note that all of our games are now available in a printed DVD Box version, with or without a download. We have also added trackable UPS shipping because of the many problems customers were experieincing with USPS packages not arriving in a timely fashion or being completely lost along the way.

Regarding the manuals, we are working on a number of options, but I doubt we'll be able to include them in a DVD box. We are however, always trying to find better, less expensive ways for our customers to print out the PDF manuals.

Regards,

- Erik

[ravinhood]

Ahhh breathes a sigh of relief, now that's more like it. But, I want that manual. As you see I have no printer. But, as it were direct download was totally out of the question for me and I'm sure several others if not many. I'll look into your store again and see what it looks like now. When WitP came out, I haven't looked at your store since. I mean you give a nice pretty BOX picture of your games, but, then if you only ship a CD/DVD case, that's fine, but, heck, if you can ship a cd case in a sandwich bag with a paper manual I'd be happy. I don't need no fancy graphics on the manual, can be plain white paper. But, I want something to hold in my hands on the cold winter nights! LOL

[dudalb_slith]

"Anyway dump the AI."....
If you want SSG and Matrix to go bankrupt, that's the way to do it. There is little or no market for a Multiplayer only Wargame. Despite all the publcity about Multiplayer based games,the vast majority of people play versus the computer.
And with wargamers you are talking about a different market then the Role Players, so the "Everquest" model does not hold. I'm betting that David Heath and SSG will back up what I say: to put out a serious wargame with no AI is suicide from a business point of view.
If you like Multiplayer, fine. But don't go on some crusade against Computer AI.
And I hope that Matrix does find a way to make a manual available at a reasonble cost. to burn up about a quarter of a ink cartidge gets really old really fast. And then the whole issue of decent binding...soemthing most people cannot do at home.
I presume the Deal with Kinko's Matrix had did not work out?

[Black Cat]

On the Manual; it took 1/2 each of a Color and B&W Ink Cartidge to print both the Manual and Tutorial. I buy a 1" lose leaf binder from Staples and have a three hole punch....Done.

I understand what your saying though and I think an in-game manual with search function like the HPS or Space Empires IV system is really the way to go.

[PresbyterJohn]

Sorry but people are selling board games which are more expensive than these PC games and no AI is included. Dump the AI for those games that are just glorified board games and compete with the board games at the multiplayer level at a significantly cheaper price. Don't compete against the market for AI only computer gamers.

[cesteman]

Black Cat,

I had thought about printing out the manual until I saw how many pages there are!!! 54 right? I don't know what kind of printer your using but my ink jet uses expensive ink!!! So what options are there? I want a printed manual but I don't want to run out and pay $30-40 for more ink cartridges[:(] Food for thought.
Christian

[cesteman]

I almost forgot to ask. It seems (myself included) getting off track here. This thread is about the status of a patch for BIN. So, can anyone tell us when we might expect a patch for this wonderful game? [&o] Thanks.
Christian

[PresbyterJohn]

ORIGINAL: cesteman

Black Cat,

I had thought about printing out the manual until I saw how many pages there are!!! 54 right? I don't know what kind of printer your using but my ink jet uses expensive ink!!! So what options are there? I want a printed manual but I don't want to run out and pay $30-40 for more ink cartridges[:(] Food for thought.
Christian

You aren't printing out in full A4 are you? I have never seen a game sold with an A4 size hardcopy manual. Everybody will print the manual in booklet size for 28 pages so that it is the same size as a real manual. And if you want to save paper print it back-to-back.

[cesteman]

John,
A4??? I guess that's what it was... I am not a compter wizard [:D] How do you set that up? Thanks.
Christian

[Hartford688]

In Acrobat:

file/print

In section at top of dialog box for Printers, click on Properties button

Go to Job Finishing tab

Select "Handout"

Then choose "number of prints" = 2 or 4 (I use 4)

Print is small but I find perfectly readable.

I also set up print quality to "normal" rather than high even at this small setting...still works fine and uses half the ink...try running a test page and see what works for you (and your eyes![;)])

[cesteman]

Are you using an ink jet? I have a cannon S600 which loves to suck it up. Does the smaller print include pictues or just the text? Thanks!
Christian

[cesteman]

Hartford,
Just noticed your from Amsterdam! I loved that city when I visited two years ago. Very unique! Later.
Christian