Combat Mission newest releases

Michael Dorosh · January 02, 2021, 11:33:31 AM

Trying to update my ongoing list of Combat Mission releases at the following URL:

https://tacticalwargamer.com/computergames/combatmission/combatmission.htm

Am I missing something? I haven't been following along with the patch releases, last news I have is the Game Engine 4 patches going out in the summer of 2020.

Was this the only BFC release for the calendar year?

I went to check the January 2020 post at their forum, with the look at the year ahead, and get this:

QuoteWith the release of Fire and Rubble coming relatively soon, I'm guessing at least one of you might wonder what else we have planned for 2020. Might as well get that out of the way now as well ;)

We are not quite sure what the next release will be, though we know for sure it will be one of the following:

CM Final Blitzkrieg Module. This will take the Western Front from the Rein to the Elbe.
CM Black Sea Module. Picture US Marines, Ukrainian VDD, and Russia VDV forces added to the mix.
CM Red Thunder Battle Pack. A bunch of battles for the late Summer 1944 time period was started a while back and is now moving forward again.
At least one more Battle Pack, yet to be determined.

And as always we'll be working on things we're not ready to talk about plus the customized British MoD version. We do like to keep ourselves busy!

Did any of these (or anything else) get pushed out in 2020?

I'm guessing not, based on their news page? https://www.battlefront.com/index.php?p=home

Jarhead0331 · January 02, 2021, 11:38:47 AM

None of that has been released.

Happy to see another module for Black Sea and although the late war on the eastern front isn't my favorite, still glad to see Red Thunder getting some attention.

Anyway, I'll be pleasantly surprised to see these in 2021.

RyanE · January 02, 2021, 11:45:18 AM

"Fire and Rubble coming relatively soon"

They didn't even get that out in 2020. I actually don't remember if they got any modules out in 2020. I think the only thing they got out was the move of CMSF2 to Steam with a patch. And that seemed to have consumed all of their resources, along with whatever they ended up doing with Slitherine for the UK MoD.

I really didn't think they could slow down their public product releases any more than they have, but I was wrong. This might be their driest year for new content, but I could be wrong. They have had a few very slow years in the recent past. And the comms about the release schedule is a little better, but still abysmal in its forecasting accuracy.

JasonPratt · January 02, 2021, 11:46:01 AM

I'm just happy they started releasing things on GoG and at Matrix (thence also through Steam) this year!

Edited to add: that's CM Shockforce 2. It went to Matrix, and Matrix took it to Steam.

Which might have been inspired by some of their devs jumping ship and migrating to Matrixlitherine, and thus recapitalizing sales successfully. ;) (The Strategic Command series specifically, first in a re-release of their original titles, and then modern updates of them.)

Michael Dorosh · January 02, 2021, 11:49:10 AM

Ok, that confirms it - thank you gentlemen.

Gusington · January 02, 2021, 01:21:49 PM

Is Red Thunder ever offered at a discount?

Michael Dorosh · January 02, 2021, 01:39:19 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on January 02, 2021, 11:46:01 AM
Which might have been inspired by some of their devs jumping ship and migrating to Matrixlitherine, and thus recapitalizing sales successfully. ;) (The Strategic Command series specifically, first in a re-release of their original titles, and then modern updates of them.)

Sometimes old dogs do learn new tricks. Guess we'll see if other titles follow suit. CMSF2 was an easy enough test bed for the marketing model, excluding Afghanistan it is the one least likely to make much money. The original CMSF has been around since 2006, and you would think anyone really interested in the theatre would own it already.

JasonPratt · January 02, 2021, 02:53:13 PM

They've semi-sort-of already tested Combat Mission sales on the new(er) main platforms, when the Strategy First versions of Battlefront's CMx1 games went to GoG. Progressively, too: first CM1, then later a dual release of CMBtB and CMAK.

Those are even less likely to be bought than CMSF2, due to their age and the same theory that almost everyone who would want to play them has long since owned them (though having a working electronic copy through GoG sells a lot of old games!)

I can only hope that SF2 profits Battlefront well enough to continue the move to wider distribution.

The next question, of course, is whether BF's notorious patching model is moving with SF2! That doesn't seem super likely -- the whole SF2 set is on Steam now, through Matrix -- so they must be at least experimenting with modern patching methods, right? :dreamer:

JasonPratt · January 02, 2021, 03:00:03 PM

Addendum: even when hope is real, hope isn't a strategy, so to help this hope be fulfilled, I just bought the (current) entire SF2 set at Matrix for just under US$45 including tax.

Using their sale, and my amazing loyalty discount, combined. As per usual for this season. ;D

(Obviously I didn't want to help enough to wait to pay the full price. ::) :P Then again, if I had been super-interested in SF2 I would have bagged it long ago, so the sale worked in capitalizing on a customer who probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise. O:-) )

al_infierno · January 02, 2021, 03:38:01 PM

Battlefront gave vague target dates and didn't meet them without explanation? I never!

Zulu1966 · January 02, 2021, 08:42:22 PM

Quote from: RyanE on January 02, 2021, 11:45:18 AM
"Fire and Rubble coming relatively soon"

They didn't even get that out in 2020. I actually don't remember if they got any modules out in 2020. I think the only thing they got out was the move of CMSF2 to Steam with a patch. And that seemed to have consumed all of their resources, along with whatever they ended up doing with Slitherine for the UK MoD.

I really didn't think they could slow down their public product releases any more than they have, but I was wrong. This might be their driest year for new content, but I could be wrong. They have had a few very slow years in the recent past. And the comms about the release schedule is a little better, but still abysmal in its forecasting accuracy.

Pretty sure Rome to Victory came out in 2020 didnt it ? Or is that just lockdown time playing tricks on my mind.

al_infierno · January 02, 2021, 08:45:34 PM

Quote from: Zulu1966 on January 02, 2021, 08:42:22 PM
Quote from: RyanE on January 02, 2021, 11:45:18 AM
"Fire and Rubble coming relatively soon"

They didn't even get that out in 2020. I actually don't remember if they got any modules out in 2020. I think the only thing they got out was the move of CMSF2 to Steam with a patch. And that seemed to have consumed all of their resources, along with whatever they ended up doing with Slitherine for the UK MoD.

I really didn't think they could slow down their public product releases any more than they have, but I was wrong. This might be their driest year for new content, but I could be wrong. They have had a few very slow years in the recent past. And the comms about the release schedule is a little better, but still abysmal in its forecasting accuracy.

Pretty sure Rome to Victory came out in 2020 didnt it ? Or is that just lockdown time playing tricks on my mind.

Great question! It came out in November, 2019. I had to check my email to verify.

smittyohio · January 02, 2021, 08:52:15 PM

I hope they get the WWII games on Steam soon. I bought SF2 to support it even though it's not my favorite timeline. The sale + loyalty coupon made it really reasonable for it plus all the expansions. But I *really* want the WWII ones on Steam. I refuse to use the BF DRM model.

RyanE · January 02, 2021, 10:03:22 PM

Just did my periodic search through the BFC forums for any slight hint at plans of info. I had seen a few weeks ago the Fire and Rubble module was hinted at an early January release. Seems like BFC is backpedaling on it a little. Someone mentioned something going on in Steve's personal life. The Fire and Rubble thread is showing some community impatience in BFC's release pace and lack of follow through on plans.

btw, The CMFI module did come out in 2019 and even then it was over a year late, IIRC.

Zulu1966 · January 03, 2021, 07:51:33 AM

Quote from: RyanE on January 02, 2021, 10:03:22 PM
Just did my periodic search through the BFC forums for any slight hint at plans of info. I had seen a few weeks ago the Fire and Rubble module was hinted at an early January release. Seems like BFC is backpedaling on it a little. Someone mentioned something going on in Steve's personal life. The Fire and Rubble thread is showing some community impatience in BFC's release pace and lack of follow through on plans.

btw, The CMFI module did come out in 2019 and even then it was over a year late, IIRC.

Jeez - where did that go. I stopped anticipating BF releases a long time ago. when something appears thats great - but I no longer anticipate anything. I still have enough content in what I have bought - which is all of them to last me years.