Screenshots

[decaro]

Great! I can't wait for this game.

Spearhead was 1st Armd Div; I was in 2nd AD before it was inactivated after OP Desert Storm. Both had the standard armored patch; a triangle w/gold, blue and red sectors for each combat arms branch.

TDs all had the same patch; a black panther with treads in its mouth, all on a circular gold background.

Small correction; my dad recalls the TDs upgraded to a 3-inch anti-tank gun, which was towed by a "prime mover," usu. a half-track. These guns were used strickly for defense, i.e., bridges, crossroads and similar sites were armor could show up.

Parkers Crossroads aka Woody's Crossroads, both being Barack de Fraiture, France?

[simovitch]

643th Tank Destroyer Battalion

Redesignated from the 43d Infantry Division’s Antitank Battalion (Provisional) on 3 December 1941 and activated at Camp Blanding, Florida, on 15 December.

Arrived at Cherbourg, France, on 15 December 1944 equipped with towed guns. First engaged near Manhay, Belgium, on 22 December 1944.

Crossed the Roer River on 24 February 1945. Re-equipped with M18s in March 1945, crossed the Rhine
River at Wesel and the Elbe River en route to Zerbst. Withdrawn to take up occupation duties in the Harz Mountains.

Sounds like they got off the boat in Cherbourg and drove their towed guns straight into the Bulge. [8D]

Baraque de Fraiture, Belgium is just up the road from Manhay, on the way to Bastogne.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: simovitch
643th Tank Destroyer Battalion
Redesignated from the 43d Infantry Division’s Antitank Battalion (Provisional) on 3 December 1941 and activated at Camp Blanding, Florida, on 15 December.

Yes, all generally correct, and thanks much. However, the 643rd was originally from the 192nd FA, a national guard unit out of Stamford, CT, which fell under the 43rd, at least according to my father.

At Blanding, my dad's anti-tank unit was sent to (then) Camp Hood, TX, home of what would become the (self-propelled) TD. The rest of the 192nd went from Blanding to the S. Pacific.

Re dad, the 643rd returned to Stamford, then on to Mass where they left for Cherburg, France, arriving after D-Day. There the unit must have been parceled-out as an anti-tank assets for other commands, i.e., 3rd Army.

Co C, 643rd, made the cover of Life magazine after it was ambushed and annihilated during the Bulge at some crossroads.

I have copies of old photos of B de F; CDV's Combat Mission anthology recreates the battle at Parker's Crossroads (aka BdF), as well as a number of other battles that are also in HttR and COTA. It's sometimes interesting to run them both; CM works better w/ small scale skirmishes, while Panther game's engine does very well w/large scale ops.

[Arjuna]

Joe D,
 
Wish your father well from us here.

[simovitch]

Here's a screenie of a portion of one of the smaller scenarios for BFTB. "Battle of the roadblocks" cover's the 2nd Panzer advance from Clervaux to Noville (and a bit beyond). It's a little under 4 days long.

Here we see Kampfgrüppe Holtmeyer (with part of von Böhm's recon) breaking through the Fe'itsch crossroads early on the morning of December 19th. There is likely a big 10th Armoured party waiting ahead at Longvilly...

More to come. I'll try to start an AAR for this one in a new thread while I go through playtesting.

[Rebel Yell]

Sweet, thanks Sim.

[flintlock]

ORIGINAL: simovitch

More to come. I'll try to start an AAR for this one in a new thread while I go through playtesting.

Ah, looks good. Looking forward to following the upcoming AAR! Well, that is assuming it starts of course.

[hank]

Has the work on the estab information progressed to a point where you can post a screen shot of what we'll get graphically when we query an equipment type?

From what i understood many moons ago when this was mentioned that we would get a picture or silhouette of the equipment type you select in the "Equipment" tab info area.  This is the second item I asked about when HttR came out.  The first one they fixed in CotA; the small graphical representation of armor in HttR actually showed a truck instead of a tank.  The second one was to provide the players with a pop up window that shows either a silhouette of the tank or assault gun or truck or whatever OR a Photograph; with accompanying weapon data.  One good examples off the top of my head is Flashpoint Gemany.  Another method is what's used in Panzer Campaigns' side menu unit equipment information but that's not applicable to the way this game is designed but the info is similar to what I'm asking about; a picture and some weapons details.

These graphics are a great method to increase immersion.  Being able to view the equipment you're fighting with helps you get the feel you actually are commanding men and machines to do battle in a virtual world.

another 2 cents for what its worth

[Txema]

These graphics are a great method to increase immersion. Being able to view the equipment you're fighting with helps you get the feel you actually are commanding men and machines to do battle in a virtual world.

I fully agree with you. This can be seen as a little addition, but I am sure that it will attract more players to the game series.


Txema

[Arjuna]

Hi all,
 
Just to keep you informed, I started work on merging the changes made for the COTA Patch 3 into the BFTB code yesterday. With a bit of luck I can finish this merging by the end of the week. Once that is done and if we're really lucky I would like to incorporate Paul's new code for displaying estab data in the game. Then we can put out a new BFTb beta build next week. Fingers crossed.

[hank]

One screen shot in particular I would like to see is of the Estab data. But I can see its only a couple of posts up where I asked about this before ... please excuse my persistence.

That's one feature I've been wanting to see in HttR/CotA.  IMHO, good graphics for displaying weapon types is a big plus for immersion.  I've always liked popping up a window and page through graphical images of tanks, arty, etc. like you get with many of the wargames put out over the years  (SPWaW-s Encyclopedia to PzCampaigns color silhouettes  to Flashpoint Germany's photo's of M1's/T-72's, etc. etc.)

[Arjuna]

hank,
 
Paul is working on it. He's got it partially up but it's not complete yet. We'll post something once it's done.

[ETF]

Keep up the great Work!!!
 

[decaro]

Have you downloaded the 1.02 B for CaW? The game is getting better.

[Txema]

Has the work on the estab information progressed to a point where you can post a screen shot of what we'll get graphically when we query an equipment type?

From what i understood many moons ago when this was mentioned that we would get a picture or silhouette of the equipment type you select in the "Equipment" tab info area. This is the second item I asked about when HttR came out. The first one they fixed in CotA; the small graphical representation of armor in HttR actually showed a truck instead of a tank. The second one was to provide the players with a pop up window that shows either a silhouette of the tank or assault gun or truck or whatever OR a Photograph; with accompanying weapon data. One good examples off the top of my head is Flashpoint Gemany. Another method is what's used in Panzer Campaigns' side menu unit equipment information but that's not applicable to the way this game is designed but the info is similar to what I'm asking about; a picture and some weapons details.

These graphics are a great method to increase immersion. Being able to view the equipment you're fighting with helps you get the feel you actually are commanding men and machines to do battle in a virtual world.

Any news on that?? Screenshots??

Really looking forward to that feature. I am sure it will finally attract some of my friends to this game engine (together with the Battle of the Bulge topic).


Txema

[freeboy]

Can I buy the beta lol?

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

Can I buy the beta lol?

No, but you could apply to Arjuna to become a beta tester.

All you have to do is read my Race for the Meuse AAR to get an idea of how much fun I have beta testing BFTB.

[Arjuna]

No we don't have any pictures of the estab views to show you at the moment. I've only just started back on BFTB and there are a few more pressing priorities at the moment. I'm currently adding in the ability to set the initial supply levels for units and bases in the ScenMaker.
 
Then I will be adding another feature to the ScenMaker where an initial orders delay period and modifier can be specified for each side. This will enable us to recreate the command paralysis that afflicted the senior US command on Day 1 of the Bulge. This will necessitate changing the code for the initial atStart orders of units that start on map in the Game. That may take a bit of work but will be worth it.

[Deathtreader]

Hi all,

I presume that by modifier you mean that incremental reductions/increases over a period of time in orders delay (not related to command load)?? For example the 1st hour is orders delay for 90 minutes, the 2nd hour is 55 minutes and so on..........
Nice feature!!

Rob. [:)]

[Arjuna]

Yes you enter a modifier and it is attenuated over the duration specified towards the default 100% value.
 
Eg1. Duration = 60minutes, Mod = 0%. This means the orders delay modifier will be 0% at start,  1.66% at start + 2 etc until it reaches 100% at start + 60.
 
Eg2 Duration = 1440 mins ( ie 24 hours ), Mod = 400%. This means the order delay modifier will be 400% at start, 399.7% at start + 1, 366% at start + 2 hours, down to 100% at start + 24 hours.