Gaswell

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 23 2002,05:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">the point is that they decided to use a heavily populated area as a defence, using the civilians while endagering them with their own boobytraps.<span id='postcolor'> You can't be serious. How did they "choose" where the Israeli military would move in? </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 23 2002,05:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">about any financing i might ask you if your willing to pay for any damages done to Iraq in the gulf war?<span id='postcolor'> No, that damage was caused during military action against an agressor. However, it could be argued that Iraq should pay for damages caused in Kuwait. I'm not even gonna apply the correct analogy to the current situation, simply because I doubt either of us would like the resulting comparisons. Are Israel gonna pay the PA for damages caused to the infrastructure in Palestinian areas? When? Who should estimate the total costs? How about damages caused to UN property, and the property of various humanitarian organizations? </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 23 2002,05:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">do you pay your enemy after the war for any damages done to him by you?<span id='postcolor'> Yes, in some cases. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 23 2002,05:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">does anyone in the PA is paying any damages done to any of our structures by suicide bombers?<span id='postcolor'> Now you go off postulating that the PA is responsible for every suicide bomber whacko out there. Is the Israeli government responsible for every right-wing Jewish extremist, such as the one that killed Yitzhak Rabin? Or Folke Bernadotte?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">thats a really good excuse. lets not go after terrorists because ppl might get hurt. <span id='postcolor'> No, by all means go after terrorists, just don't use a sledgehammer where it will do more harm than good. I'm not talking only about collateral damage, but also in terms of international negative reactions and long-term adverse effects. Don't know if that is even a consideration, but I'm giving the Israeli leadership the benefit of doubt here. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">lets not engage any threat that is sheilding himself in the midst of civilians because they might get hurt.<span id='postcolor'> Again, don't use a sledgehammer. Force isn't the answer to everything, although for someone it is an attractive short-term fix. Maybe you need to study the reason behind the threat to avoid creating more threats as you eliminate one. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">so your accusation that we elected a leader ship and  then violence errupted is wrong.<span id='postcolor'> You gonna quote me as having said this? </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">and sharon has to thank Arafat for his elections. he wouldnt be elected unless Arafat opened fire.<span id='postcolor'> By "Arafat" you mean "one of the various Palestinian extremist groups that Arafat couldn't control even if he wanted to"? But I agree with you; Sharon probably did benefit from the cowardly attacks against Israeli civilians. Isn't it suspicious how Arafat, if I understand you correctly, worked so hard on his terrorism act so that he could get a hard-liner such as Sharon voted in as his future "adversary"? Or are you saying that Arafat is a vegetable? </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i say that our troops checked fire far more then any other country. <span id='postcolor'> Well, you're certainly allowed to make statements. If that is true, the Israeli military leadership should revise its PR strategy, 'cause that's not how it looks to the outside world. In fact, it looks very much like your military wants to hide the truth, whatever that may be. Your military's concern for the safety of international reporters and journalists is almost touching. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 22 2002,19:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">you couldnt hear a word from europe when suicide bombers exploded amongst us, but the minute we lift a finger, we're being compared to the nazis.<span id='postcolor'> That's just plain wrong. We get a lot of bomber reports where I'm at, and they're not too shy about telling the details, either. I'm not even gonna comment on the "nazi" part.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 23 2002,03:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">BTW. want to comment about the statement that the Berlin police said it cant defend jewish citizens, and they better hide their jewish identity?<span id='postcolor'> Sure do. In this article the statement you mention is said to come from a radio station controlled by the IDF. The Berlin police spokesman Lars Sunnman is mentioned as the source. However, the article also claims that there's no Lars Sunnman at the Berlin police department. A spokesman for the department states that this message is a "lie" and that "we'd never make such a statement". If there really was a Lars Sunnman representing the Berlin police and he really did make these statements, wouldn't you think Mr. Sunnman would find himself out of a job before you could even say "recent German history"?

@scout: CQB being dangerous sounds like a pretty lame excuse for being heavy-handed in civilian areas. Of course it is dangerous. If you're brave or stupid enough to become a soldier you implicitly accept the risks involved in your line of business. Not so for civilians. As for "terrorists"/"criminals"/"partisans" (or any similar political word) making your CQB dangerous - you knew what you were getting yourself into when your elected leaders sent the IDF into booby trap heaven. You can be pretty sure that your military leaders estimated the number of soldiers killed, as well as the number of civilians killed, and found the numbers to be acceptable. If the death tolls on both sides are getting too high for comfort, maybe you should question your military and political leadership instead of blaming the Palestinian gunman who probably fights back with the same belief that his cause is just as you do. Mentioning Chechnya is a dirty trick, and not really comparable if you wanna talk international law or political/regional background. But I agree that the Chechnya conflict hasn't gotten nearly enough attention, especially compared to your never-ending self-destructive poorly-handled Middle East conflict. Why are you even mentioning Chechnya? Is it a threat, such as "look how nasty we could have been"? Is it an attempt to compare favourably to someone, like "at least we didn't commit genocide like these guys"? Yes, I agree that compared to the Allied bombing of Dresden you're bonafide saints. However, I still think you should have tried harder to avoid uneccessary damage and deaths. In fact, the Norwegian UN envoy Terje Rřd-Larsen said a similar thing, and for some reason this has earned him a surprising amount of flak from the Israeli side. Now why is that, exactly? I'd love to see the UN go into the conflict to lead negotiations, to observe a cease fire, and to investigate the recent events, but last time I heard the Israeli government strongly objected any investigation and had a hard time complying to UN resolutions. It's good to hear that you support an UN investigation, scout.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (theavonlady @ April 19 2002,22:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">and they excessively risked the lives of IDF soldiers (23 died in Jenin) in order to minimize the risk to civilian casualties.<span id='postcolor'> Y'know, it's hard to take people seriously when they say shit like this and make it sound like they mean it. Sure you're not out trolling, Avon? If not, it's just... sad.

Engage in effect means "attack your currently assigned target, even if it means leaving the formation to do so". So what you do is first tell Mr. X to target something or someone, and then you tell Mr. X to engage his target. Same as when you select a guy and click on an enemy, but much more cumbersome IMHO. Engage at will is somewhat similar to a "continous" engage command; any targets you give will be immediately engaged w/o any need for an explicit command. In addition, you men will scurry about, apparently trying to take cover (but getting killed in the process).

Oh man, don't mention Westwood... I tried out Emperor:BfD and I still can't get the stink out of my comp.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 16 2002,16:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">were they were 5.56 mm? did they see who shot at them? were they in the middle of some kind of gun fight?<span id='postcolor'> I only know what I have read and heard on the Norwegian and Swedish news, and AFAIK there's been no mention about calibre, only that it's likely that rubber coated steel bullets were used. The news sources refer to the shooter as an Israeli "sniper", or "soldier", standing 15-20m away from the car. The incident happened in an area controlled by the IDF, and there's been no mention of an ongoing fight in the area. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 16 2002,16:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">gaswell- the thing u dont appriciated is that most of the ppl my age are there right now, and they have cell phones and we just happen to talk amongst us, and they tell me just how it is going on there.<span id='postcolor'> Your friends have my heartfelt sympathies for the hardships they're going through, and I sincerely hope they're doing OK, but I doubt they're in a position to give an unbiased view of the situation. And if they are, why not let the international media in to verify their stories?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 16 2002,09:45)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">how do you know? did u see it? if these two decide to break into area of op they will be forced out without harming them. i again say, u make many allegations but u dont seem to base em.<span id='postcolor'> The story from SVT: SVT-journalister beskjutna i Ramallah An article from a Norwegian newspaper: Norsk fotograf beskutt pĺ Vestbredden Describes how the news team, having turned around after overhead warning shots from a tank, was fired upon from 15-20m. One shot went through the vehicle. The article also mentions that the Swedish correspondent speculated whether they've been shot at with rubber bullets, since the only shot to actually penetrate the car went through a window. Rubber coated steel bullet can easily kill, and have done so on several well-documented occasions. I don't really care whether the IDF threw wet paper towels; they shouldn't fire at civilians. And as a comment to your remark, "did u see it": It's very hard to get a proper picture of what's happening, because the IDF is keeping the international media out of the loop by force, threats and intimidation. In fact, I would think it's pretty hard for the average Israeli to know what's actually going on, too, because I have a slight suspicion that Israeli media aren't invited along for the ride.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (sgtvor @ April 15 2002,10:07)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Just right click on the enemy instead of left clicking on him. Â Your units will target the enemy and (if on hold fire) wait for your command before firing.<span id='postcolor'> Unless you've set them to "engage at will". If you give them a target they'll engage it even if you've set them to hold fire. I've blown a lot of ambushes forgetting about this one...

Due to the very problem mentioned by Don Jennings I've stopped using the engage and engage at will commands. In my experience I usually get better concentration of fire from my guys by keeping them in formation and letting them pick their own targets. It's quite a sight when 9 guys open up at an enemy squad (esp. with G36s), and if your guys get to use their GLs and/or mortars it's usually over pretty quick.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Shadow @ April 16 2002,12:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Why did'nt the AI BMP start firing at my T-80.<span id='postcolor'> Could be that the T80 was sufficiently damaged for the AI to consider it "dead". Once upon a time I was testing this mission where a "west not present"-trigger repeatedly refused to fire even though we had thoroughly cleared out every capitalist lackey in the surrounding area. Turns out a few of those M1A1 I believed to be dead were only disabled; that is, the gun was disabled and the tank didn't move. I actually had to walk around and plink every tank with RPGs to make the trigger fire. My AI buddies didn't lift a finger to help me. Could be the same thing or similar.

When my squad is in a firefight, and I tell my guys to engage at will... that's when I get a lot of stupid AI behaviour. These guys just have no sense of self-preservation. I'll watch from behind good cover as they run into a hail of bullets. No going prone, no taking cover, no return fire. One time I watched three guys crowd together behind a single bush ("concealment is not cover") and stand straight up as an enemy machine gunner cut them all down. Not once did they return fire. And don't get me started on the "take cover" command... I order them to watch the road ahead, then tell them to take cover in preparation for an ambush (plenty of cover available, since we're in a village). What do they do? Every one of them now faces 6 o'clock! And they're not even close to being behind cover! In fact, one guy keeps running back and forth across the village square. I understand how difficult it is to make good, human-like AI in a complex game like OFP, but IMHO it would be better 1) if the AI at least tried to get down and behind cover and return fire when shot at; this would also simulate suppression somewhat, 2) if the manual outlined in painstakingly detail the exact AI behaviour behind each of the command menu choices, and 3) if all useless, broken or confusing commands were removed from the command menu to reduce clutter. Finally, a note on AI mech inf squads: If the vehicle/squad commander goes into combat behaviour then everyone in the back should disembark ASAP, IMHO. This not only increases their life expectancy in just about every situation, it also increases the squad's total firepower. I'm currently using scripts to do this in my own missions, but it should really be handled by the standard OFP AI.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Hardliner @ Mar. 16 2002,18:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Take a wild guess...<span id='postcolor'> Given your nick, I guess you're a mushy soft-lined liberal, welcoming the Coca Cola Company into your doctrine with open arms from your open-top APC. Much like myself, actually, 'cept the APC.

Gaswell, as in the street adress 2096 Gaswell. Or similar. A now-deceased friend of mine wrote a short story about 2096 Gaswell, using his unfortunate buddies as props. Didn't get published, but a funny story nonetheless. Tried "Flagger79" one time (79 because of my 0-x rate during my very first Q2 DM game) until this guy asks me if I'm the Flagger who plays with Thresh. I'm not.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 12 2002,04:47)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i really think that at the moment Arafat will be removed israel will return to the cycle and more moderate leader will be chosen, and that'll result in some kind of agreement, though im not overly optimistic about that point.<span id='postcolor'> I have no idea about whether the world would be better off with or without Mr. Arafat; however, I cannot ignore him being voted as the democratic Palestinian leader. From a hopefully neutral viewpoint I must say that Mr. Sharon doesn't really strike me as the best peace negotiator Israel could produce. You surely understand that someone will replace Mr. Arafat, should he come to an untimely end (or not as untimely, depending on your view). While he may be unable or unwilling to directly control every Palestinian fraction group - now more than ever, at the very least partially because of Israeli destruction of Palestinian infrastructure - he remains the symbolic figurehead of the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation (or whatever you wanna call it), and the legally voted leader of the Palestinians. How many terror groups wouldn't view the death, or deportation, of Mr. Arafat as a reason to continue their actions? The recent handling of Mr. Arafat has been downright amateurish in this regard; if the Israeli government intended to boost his standing in the Muslim and internation (European) community they've really succeeded.

I'm a spaceman.

A "super soldier gear" will serve to make the US soldier seem even more inexpendable than their enemies. I certainly appreciate the morale/effectiveness impact on enemies by a super-soldier as envisioned here, but what happens when a squad of super-soldiers is taken down in an ambush? I fear that this may make the US soldier even more vulnerable towards media attacks during wartime. It is too much to ask of the GI Joe to be able to out-fight local troops across the globe.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (scout @ April 12 2002,03:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">as to your first question. first of all it did succeed for the short run, it lowered incidents from about 30-60 incidents (shooting, suicide bombing, etc.) to a mere 5 a week. and ppl here, unfortunatly , dont think much further. and in any way, sitting and waiting for some1 to do something didnt prove itself did it? the second question, its a good one. i'd like to know myself<span id='postcolor'> But doesn't the recrution to Palestinian terrorism increase as more moderate Palestinians feel that their normal lives are disrupted? That's essentially the same for the Israeli; aren't more moderate Israeli willing to go hard-line against the Palestinians as they see their normal lives disrupted? How are you ever gonna get peace? I understand the Israeli desire to take out terrorists, but doesn't the IDF understand the emotional consequences of their reportedly heavy-handed approach? Doesn't the IDF intelligence understand that the current approach only serve to reinforce Arafat's symbolic position as an elected Palestinian leader? How about the suicide bombers? What are they trying to achieve? The Israeli aren't likely to pack up and leave. Nor are a few disillusioned suicide bombers likely to wipe out the entire state of Israel, as sanctioned by the UN. Frankly, I don't see any hope for either party. You're probably gonna lose your children and loved ones today, tomorrow, forever. But - hey - I'm Norwegian, and since the oil prices rise during Middle East conflicts I should be more than happy, right? Wrong. I'm no religious man, and I've been rough about a few characters in my time, but there's no excuse for treating people badly who doesn't deserve it. I just hate to see y'all grind yourselves deeper down into the whole mess you're in.

Could someone inform my Euro Trash ass as to 1) whether the average Israeli really believe that the current anti-terrorist activities will eliminate the suicide bombings, and 2) whether the average Palestinian really believe that the continued suicide bombings will really bring peace to the region. @Avon, ACEJim et al.: Hope you've not abandoned this discussion. It's been most enlightening. Edit: Removed one biased remark.

Not my style to dig up an old post, but I didn't see any comments to this one. </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (theavonlady @ April 04 2002,15:43)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Can anyone confirm this news from Norway: Three members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee now say that they regret having decided to award the prestigious prize to -- Shimon Peres… LOL!<span id='postcolor'> In this story, one Committee member (Hanna Kvanmo) regrets giving the Peace Prize to Peres; several other former and current members state their disappointment: Nobelkomiteen angrer pĺ fredspris til Peres The 1994 leader of the Comittee declines to comment on the current Middle East crisis. Personally I don't feel like laughing out loud at this. Neither Arafat or Peres should have been given the Peace Prize.

Just played RtCW - lots of nice soldier animations there that could've been great in OFP. Including the walk-with-gun that Architeuthis is talking about.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (docluvless @ April 11 2002,15:33)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Have any of you tried a "barebone" system and built up from scrach? Is that very hard?<span id='postcolor'> No, as long as you do your homework you'll be fine. Check the net for reviews, opinions etc. Once you've decided on components the actual assembly is a piece of cake. Unless you go to work in a big, woolen sweater, wearing large furry slippers on a thick wall-to-wall carpet.

Why is it that German authorities don't want gamers to kill nazis?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Hidden @ April 08 2002,06:07)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It is not about having a weak stomach, it´s about the most disgusting behaviour I have seen so far on the internet.<span id='postcolor'> That I'll have to check out. OK, I'm back. Doesn't sound like I'm gonna be playing Renegade any time soon.