Separate from your informative discussion of coding, that DLC model where I opt out of a lot of Paradox games. £30 for an suboptimal base game, or £120+ for something much less satisfying than four games, largely comprising a mass of mini-DLCs each costing more than they are worth.

I tried the DC: Ardennes and I agree that there is a major problem with inadequate challenge unless you play Axis: but then this perhaps reflects the real life it is based on. The German target was utterly unrealistic, with a grossly optimistic schedule, ending in being vastly outnumbered. No AI...

I certainly appreciate the simplicity of just downloading a game and done, without requiring another program lurking in the background to run it. On the other hand, I've also noticed some developers like Paradox or Frontier effectively have their own launcher overlays doing a similar thing...

It is unfortunately mostly true that the more mass market something becomes, the worse it becomes. Soulless multinational pish manufacturers have bought out quite a few of the better end European beers, and pretty much the first thing they've done is source cheaper ingredients, cut the brewing...

Yeah, apologies for that. I'm used to the UK's terminology for WW2 where "field gun" meant any gun up to quite a large calibre (4 or 5 inches), which included most of the artillery such as the 25-pounder, and so I tend to somewhat inaccurately associate the term with artillery pieces.

I usually manually guide my field guns to where I want them to be and then reattach them to their normal parent (to reduce HQ load). These are indirect fire only - if you're defending, keep them well behind the frontline (give yourself a few km beyond the frontline) so they don't get overrun by...

Uploading images is a bit of a faff, but it's a sort of "T" shape. In the CO2 map, the horizontal top runs along the E-W road (the N807 nowadays) for about a kilometre along the road, ~50m either side of the road. The vertical is about 500m x 200m running either side of the road south. From the...

Soy is village terrain (although has a large footprint if only 24 buildings). My units were in the village. Just FYI, they weren't set to ambush in Soy - the idea was to take on incoming units normally, with StuGs and an AT platoon for armoured. The StuGs couldn't see the Shermans with the low...

Yes, I should have been clearer. They didn't fire AT weapons at 200m. The armoured company fired at ~200m outside the town at my inf in the town, killed about 20 and forced the company it was shooting at to retreat. As far as I can tell, my infantry fired no AT weapons at this point. Then the...

I've been playing some CO2 with the update and Bradley at Bay incoming... I do have an issue with infantry AT weapons: they seem very ineffective. I often have infantry companies defending woods and towns that are almost completely ineffective against armoured companies. I've tried giving them...

My two pence: Fundamentally, the operation worked except for the Arnhem bridge. The question is why the Arnhem bridge failed. I think we can talk about the delays, chiefly at Nijmegen, but one way or another, the British 1st Airborne failed to secure the bridge in sufficient force. And I would...

Anecdotally - and I have no saves to prove the point - I've played this scenario several times and there are always loose US motorised units trying to infiltrate the right flank. You can maul them a bit when they're incoming by blocking the routes in around Lamormenil, but after that you just...

It's funny, but the minute I read about the change of acronym, my instinctive thought was that it would have something to do with money - often someone with a project they want a load of funding thrown at.

I certainly expect kids who never started wargaming via board games with lots of numbered counters struggle to grasp computer wargames that continue the visual practice. And no matter how much some might like to think graphics don't matter if the gameplay is good enough... to a significant chunk...

I think the game reflects tanks taking non-catastrophic damage that renders them combat ineffective - for instance immobilisation, critical gun damage, etc. The tank might not have been blown up but it needs repairs, and is out of the action. So generally, try to avoid close range engagements...

1) Forest/woods provide less cover than you'd expect from artillery because exploding shells shred the trees, thus making a lot of wooden shrapnel that's very likely to injure men. Even so, woods are still better than open due to small arms fire protection and lower visibility. 2.1) I can't...

Welcome! I will never forget that your guides were an invaluable help for me when I boarded the Panther Games ship back with HTTR.