Rookster

The net never cease to amaze... You pasted the very link I was looking at, a picture which still tickles my own political funnybone, even now almost 20 years after the fact. Information is now amazingly accessible. But alas, not all information is easy to find. While I learned there have been very few battle casualties in the Abrams, furthering my belief that your use of "demise" signifies something other than physical death, I am unable to nail this trivia question down. Saddam's demise could be said to have been at the hands of the M1, inasmuch as it spearheaded the actual invasion that spelled the end of his regime. But the Afghan boiling water remark again eludes me, so I have to cry uncle and bow my head in shame, having failed in my assigned task

The only "leader" whose demise (I note that you did not say "death") was brought about by the Abrams, that I can think of at least, would be Michael Dukakis. The widely circulated phot op picture of Dukakis sitting in the M1 rang false with the public, and in the minds of many pundits, dealt a mortal blow to his election prospects. But if it is Dukakis, I've yet to find the boiling water-Afghanistan connection. The Sovs were deep into Afghanistan at the time, and very much looking for a way out. So a campaign speech might well have been the context for the remark, but I've yet to find it. Then again, I could be all wet and you might be referring to someone else entirely ;-)

A few years after the first unwomaned flight? http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123008993 (You're right, Brad, Google makes this stuff go easy sometimes -- but not always, so please do keep on it, we learn something new with every question.)

Hello Toorabid, and welcome to the HarpGamer forums. A point of information for you and others who enjoy the Classic branch of the Harpoon tree... EC2003 is a direct port of EC2000, meaning that "Blockers" exists in both, the difference being that the EC2003 version has the user-editable database (Brad's most recent HCDB rev is the way to go ). So if you load the EC2003 version of "Blockers" in the Scenario Editor, you should have no problem adding the Backfires or any other platform (s) you desire. Also, if you want to do the same with any of EC2000's many excellent User Authored scenarios, there is a Scenario Converter utility that will turn any EC2000 scen into an EC2003 scen. One caveat: Upon conversion, the scenarios often play "differently" than the original EC2000 version, primarily because platform loadouts and capabilities are now more accurately represented in the HCDB. Consequently, I'd recommend playing "Blinders - EC2003" first, to see what, if any differences you find, then experiment with any enhancements you want to make via the Scenario Editor. Good luck, and I hope this helps you.

Thanks for reviving the Trivia Questions, Brad. I believe it's this one you're referring to, and if so, it's one heck of a story. If not, it's still one heck of a story http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/jackson.html

Brad Leyte has just posted an update to HCDB at the DBShare Section of Harpgamer.com. From Brad's change log: HCDB-050510.zip new additions include: Lynx Mk 80 - Denmark Lynx SH-14D - Netherlands FF Descubierta (Morocco) - Morocco LCU Lt Malghagh (EDIC) - Morocco LSM Daoud Ben Aicha - Morocco LST S.M. Ben Abdallah - Morocco PG El Lahiq (Osprey 55) - Morocco PG El Yadekh (Kebir) I - Algeria PG El Yadekh (Kebir) II - Algeria PG Okba (PR-72) - Morocco SAM SL-AMRAAM Bty - INTL

Brad Leyte has just posted an update to HCDB at the DBShare Section of Harpgamer.com. From Brad's change log: HCDB-050507.zip new additions include: MCM Sandown - UK SSBN Borey (Project 955) - Russia SSN Type 093 - PRC Arrow II ATBM Battery - Israel Shahab-3 Site - Iran

If you would like to contribute to the ongoing H3DB Editing Project, please let us know by posting here, or by sending an e-mail to webmaster@harpgamer.com. Fred Galano is the Lead Editor and Project Manager for H3DB, so you should expect a reply directly from him. From Fred's Change Log for this release: H3DB---April 13, 2005 Updated numerous weapons and sensors see version codes below. These version codes correspond to the version field in the db editor. They should give some idea as to the work done on these units. If none of the codes appear, this means that no work has been done on the unit yet. Added: Takanami per user request---546 H3DB--April 11,2005 Version codes: 100--Unit has been completely updated and tested 99--Unit has been completely updated but not tested 88--Unit is not functional 77--Unit has been partially updated and is nominally functional Added Mk 54 ALWT---909

Count me in, Brad. I'm also fairly certain about Dewayne, and perhaps even Kelly, if we can coordinate their schedules. Will chat with them soon and request they confirm. Same with Fred, I would think. Is there a particular number of players we need to make this work? At least so many, not more than another amount? Thanks for getting this under way.

Thanks

LOL....already included, and the USNI BattleSet as well.

Good call, Brad. To make this information more readily available, I added it to the Tools/FAQ page at HarpGamer.com under the link Understanding Harpoon Classic File Names. Thanks for laying it out for us.

It sounds like you could use some help, and I'd be glad to give it a go, but it's probably best we do so via private email, and if need be, telephone. To get the ball rolling, I've messaged you through the email we have here at the forum to give you my direct email address. Just look at the upper right of this screen beneath the Help and Search icons. A link there should say at least 1 New Message. Click on that, and you'll find a message containing my direct email address.

It was nice making your acquaintance yesterday during our chat at #harpgamer, and I know you now have your answer on how to contact AGSI to arrange for an off line purchase. I hope it works out for you and Welcome Aboard!

Done. Find them in the Tools/FAQ section of Harpgamer.com. Thanks to Jan Masterson for his update to Joe's PE DB Worksheets, bringing them up to the most recent PE configuration, and for his recent inquiry about the Hot Keys list, prompting us to dig thru "the archives" (aka Tony and Bruce's hard drives ) and get it onto the site.

We have just concluded a site update to add H3 Scenario and AAR pages to the HarpGamer website. At the same time, we've posted Fred's H3DB-050323 release along with 2 HC scenarios he rebuilt for H3, his own Cold North scenario, and Mark Gellis's JAPFISH scenario. Also new to the H3 Scenario Page are two previously authored, original HUD2 scenarios by Kelly Crawford, Kurils and Okinawa II. On the HC front, Brad has released HCDB-050327 and this is also incorporated into the website update. Work continues on the PE User's Guide Appendix for Ships, and I expect to upload Jan Masterson's update of Joe Lanza's PE DB Worksheets, along with a Guide to HC Hotkeys within the next day or so. The #Harpgamer IRC Channel continues to have an active group of participants, and there's something going on there almost any hour of the day or night. We encourage you to stop by and say hello, and perhaps join in some of the game related conversations we are regularly seeing there. We've also got some plans for a few scenario based competitions on IRC (more on this in the weeks ahead), so now is an excellent time to get familiar with how the IRC channel works. Our Java based Chat link is simple to use, and for you IRC pros out there, your dedicated client will no doubt be your preference. Either way, we hope to see you there soon!

A RECENT CONVERSATION IN #HARPGAMER This conversation took place in the #Harpgamer chat channel. Pete Maidhof comes by "to say hello" and he compliments Brad on his AAR of Fred Galano's WWIII (Westpac) Scenario. Pete is pleased to learn that ground units in HC are currently modeled more effectively than he had previously understood them to be. Perhaps Pete will soon have a go at Fred's scenario. Or maybe he'll try putting mobile land units into a scenario of his own making when he next opens the Scenario Editor. (No pressure, Pete, and thanks for okaying the use of this screen shot!) Earlier this same day, someone asked a question about the role of weather modeling in Harpoon Classic. A more lengthy conversation ensued (see this forum's previous post), and all who participated soon had a fuller understanding of what weather does to sea state, how that affects sonar detection, what precipitation does to radar and other sensors, etc. Many of you will want to have this valuable information, and it's clear that not everyone can always make it to the chat sessions. To keep you in the loop, we'll be posting a summary of this, and future discussions about game mechanincs, using the SE, the PE, and other topics. But we also hope you will join us personally to ask your own questions, or just to listen as these sometimes very informative sessions take place. If you are new to #Harpgamer on IRC and not sure how to access it, just use the "Chat" button above, and a Java based application will bring you there directly. We hope to see you soon!

The IRC Chat sessions in #HarpGamer often produce interesting and useful information as seen below: Q: Weather. What was done about it? Is there now a better model in place? A: Sea state from weather now has an impact on sonar modeling. [Participant Comment: I remember sailing litte boats into storms with no effect whatsoever.] Q: Is the starting time/date still the same that you have on your PC clock? A: No, HCGold fixed time/date. We also got Night/Day/Morning/Evening to work and affect visual detection. Find the current date/time of day in these terms in the Weather Report. Thanks to all who participated in this informative discussion. Also, please know that these are open chats and all are welcome. The balance of the conversation is summarized below: ______________________________________________________ Summary of Weather as Currently Modeled in HC: Weather affects Sea State Weather model includes a Precip number Weather model includes a Visibility number Weather model includes an Alert number Weather impacts groups within 330 some odd miles of the ramdomly generated roving weather symbol center, by applying a weather modifier to those aspects of the game it is designed to affect: if within 25nm, max precipitation and the only sector where ESM suffers if within 50nm, less precip if within 100nm, lesser precip again if within 150nm, same precip as 100nm but general modifier is less severe Precip affects Visibility, Radar, IR, and ESM Precip values are 0 to 3. Only heaviest precip, (3), cuts down ESM. IR and Visual detection degrade with each sector change above Weather groups are randomly created. Alert variable stores the strength of the storm. Length of the lines from the hub of the roving storm icon is indicative of the strength. Weather groups move from 17 to 23 knots. The weather group grows or reduces in intensity randomly. Each weather group (or storm) has roughly a 72 hours life cycle give or take. Every 12 hours storms are either upgraded, downgraded, created, or killed off. Weather is evaluated and updated for it's effect on local game units every 5 game minutes.

Only thought I had was, if possible, to provide a graphic of a keyboard, with callouts for the various keys, but that may get too crowded and not reproduce well, not sure. Anything you come up with should be fine though, or we can just post that list on the site, saving you some time. Whatever you decide is fine

It got ugly for a while, both Tony and I muttering under our breaths as to why we could not locate the one we both knew we had put together a couple of years back. But when I restored my old Harpoon folders that I had previously transfered to DVD, there they were, on the first search, big as life As you will see, the files are sorted by Desired Action and by Key Stroke and the lists are rather comprehensive. Please let us know if you need any further info or help and thanks again, Jan, for offering to do this!

Good project idea, Jan. I know we had compiled them at some point, a couple of years back. Give me a day or two to look and with luck I will find the list we made and email it to you. Thanks for the offer!

HarpGamer.com has just been updated to include the following: 1) Aircraft Appendix for the Platform Editor: A companion to the PE User's guide, this document provides a detailed discussion of the Aircraft Flags and Radar Cross Section data entry fields for anyone interested in the HC database. First in a series. 2) Newly posted HC Databases: * HCDB_050314 * Rene' Haar's HC_EURODB_050316 3) Newly posted Harpoon II / Harpoon III Databases * Link to the DB200 at Harpoon Headquarters * Darren Buckley's HUDII 4) Four New Scenarios for Harpoon Classic * In Self Defence ? (Westpac) by Brad Leyte * World War III (WestPac) by Fred Galano * Resolve (WestPac) by Brad Leyte * Operation Thistle (EC2003 GIUK) by Mark Gellis 5) A newly revised Live Chat system, accessible via our Java based web applet or from any stand alone IRC Client. We've been having some very interesting and informative chat sessions of late, like the one last night that included a detailed discussion of weather modeling and how it affects sonar, radar, IR and visual detection. We will be making a synopsis available very soon, and hope to summarrazie the more useful discussions on the chat channel as a regular feature of this forum and the website. But there's nothing like joining the conversation live to get your own questions addressed, so come pay us a visit soon! Finally, please be advised that if all works as planned, we are hoping to do another update this weekend, one you're not going to want to miss, so please keep checking this section for further news!

Glad to hear you're finding the Aircraft Appendix a helprful resource and thanks for your feedback. If you, or anyone reading this, have any suggestions for improving the aircraft section further, please post your thoughts here, or contact us via webmaster@harpgamer.com . I can't promise when we might incorporate anyone's suggestions, but we can certainly compile a wish list for future consideration. This project took some time to get around to doing, but now that it's underway, users can look to see more of the same for ships, subs, weapons, sensors, and so on. I'm currently looking at the data entry screen for ships, and expect to put the companion document together this weekend, or soon thereafter. Please keep an eye on this forum for an announcement when it's ready and uploaded to the website.

So that's what that "thud" was, and that's why I woke up with an egg on my dome this morning! Thanks, Brad, your words are very kind, and the feeling is quite mutual. You bring only good things to this forum, our website, and for many years now, to the Harpoon community at large. Thanks for all you have done, and continue to do, for all of us.

"The failure to implement a comprehensive peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union after the end of the Second World War has acted as an obstacle to the resolution of an outstanding territorial dispute over the Kuril Archipelago. In recent years, the Russian attitude toward the issue appears to have moved toward one of consolidating control rather than giving up the territory. Now, the Russians have moved significant military forces into Etorofu, and it appears they are bent on consolidating their illegal hold. A Japanese fishing vessel has gone missing in the area of Shikotan. The Japanese Self-Defence Forces have been mobilized." Such is the backdrop for Brad Leyte's most recent scenario, "In Self Defence", which can be found at the HarpGamer.com Scenario Page You will need the newly revised HCDB-050314 to play this scenario.