CM Red Thunder page is up

[Michael Dorosh]

Well I think the biggest two factors affecting interest in CM:A were 1. it was a developer independent from BF, which soon after release stopped support, and 2. it was the Soviet/Afghanistan conflict a relatively obscure conflict compared to the usual fare of WW2.

Good points. That, and the T-72 product seemed very much out of left field. Good tank simulators (affordable ones) are so rare, that having one set in the Balkans Civil War just seemed - bizarre somehow. It made more sense when one realized that for the independent developer BFC was getting it from, it was a subject much closer to home, figuratively and literally.

[WallysWorld]

I have CM:A and like it very much and maybe even more so than CMSF. In CMSF, I find I can call on overwhelming firepower to knock out the enemy while in CM:A I really have to be more cautious with the Soviets due to the time delay in getting artillery/air strikes.

[Zonso]

Yeah, I always felt the different terrain, small unit actions/scenarios and music gave a very unique experience to CM:Afghanistan. As WallysWorld states, you couldn't just rely on overwhelming firepower CMSF though I admit I tried initially. :)

A very interesting article from RPG, highlighting some of the new features in Red Thunder from the beta-testers:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/07/the-flare-path-always-bagrational/

Can't wait!

[Michael Dorosh]

Yeah, I always felt the different terrain, small unit actions/scenarios and music gave a very unique experience to CM:Afghanistan. As WallysWorld states, you couldn't just rely on overwhelming firepower CMSF though I admit I tried initially. :)

A very interesting article from RPG, highlighting some of the new features in Red Thunder from the beta-testers:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/07/the-flare-path-always-bagrational/

Can't wait!

Almost all of the comments after the article are focussed on the side-bar to the main CM article - and the sidebar had nothing to do with CM. I don't know what to make of that.

The article focused almost entirely on graphics - no news on the AI improvements. I don't know what to make of that, either, but it's probably easier just to demonstrate than to talk about. I wish we would see demos before release, rather than after.

[Bletchley_Geek]

Almost all of the comments after the article are focussed on the side-bar to the main CM article - and the sidebar had nothing to do with CM. I don't know what to make of that.

I don't know how it is Canada or the US, but British and Australians love quizzes.

The article focused almost entirely on graphics - no news on the AI improvements. I don't know what to make of that, either, but it's probably easier just to demonstrate than to talk about. I wish we would see demos before release, rather than after.

Well, to be honest, 4 paragraphs are devoted to the AI triggers coming in with Red Thunder

A feature tucked away in the Editor section of the Red Thunder overview page has got me most animated. To the outsider, the promise of "AI Triggers [that] allow AI forces to execute actions based on other units or interaction with Objectives" might not sound like a reason for hat hurling, but for anyone that misses the unscripted dynamism of the old CMx1 AI, the announcement is a massive morale booster.

Currently, AI plans don't change to fit shifting battlefield realities. The timetables sketched out by scenario authors are followed to the letter/number whatever you decide to do with your own forces. Battle crafters are expected to second-guess players and unsurprisingly they regularly guess wrong.

In Red Thunder things will be different. Silicon COs will get a big helping hand in the form of invisible (to us) behaviour triggers. Now artificial adversaries won't decide when to spring ambushes, or commence withdrawals or counter-attacks, simply by consulting wristwatches (though this is still an option). They'll spring into action when a player blunders into a pre-daubed trigger area. A cunning scenario shaper can assign several triggers to a particular unit or bunch of units, though presently only one of these triggers can be active at a time. While explaining the new capability on the official forum, BFC's Steve Grammont describes how it could be used to, say, create more plausible tank destroyer behaviour...

"The Human player moves his units cautiously along the road. Unknown to him he runs over the Trigger Objective and that springs the tank destroyers into action. They appear on top of a hill 800m off to the left, catching the player's attacking tanks in the flank and (hopefully for the AI) knocking some out. After a couple of minutes of trading fire AI Group 3 executes another Order to move back behind the hill for cover and then relocate to a new spot to then be tied into a new Trigger Objective so as to repeat the same sort of thing but from a different location."

There are lot of screenshots, it's true. But I kind of agree with Tim Stone about that one being my favorite feature.

[Grim.Reaper]

All this talk has pushed me dangerously close to purchasing Market Garden today....:)  Somehow now I have the itch to try it before the new game comes out, which I am also almost certain to pre-order now....

Someone talk me out of it:)

[Michael Dorosh]

Well, to be honest, 4 paragraphs are devoted to the AI triggers coming in with Red Thunder

Only one of those paras is anything new though. Two paras are introductory and mostly describe the current AI, and one para is a direct quote from the BFC forum. Your four paras basically boil down to this:

Silicon COs will get a big helping hand in the form of invisible (to us) behaviour triggers. Now artificial adversaries won't decide when to spring ambushes, or commence withdrawals or counter-attacks, simply by consulting wristwatches (though this is still an option). They'll spring into action when a player blunders into a pre-daubed trigger area. A cunning scenario shaper can assign several triggers to a particular unit or bunch of units, though presently only one of these triggers can be active at a time.

[undercovergeek]

Well, to be honest, 4 paragraphs are devoted to the AI triggers coming in with Red Thunder

Only one of those paras is anything new though. Two paras are introductory and mostly describe the current AI, and one para is a direct quote from the BFC forum. Your four paras basically boil down to this:

Silicon COs will get a big helping hand in the form of invisible (to us) behaviour triggers. Now artificial adversaries won't decide when to spring ambushes, or commence withdrawals or counter-attacks, simply by consulting wristwatches (though this is still an option). They'll spring into action when a player blunders into a pre-daubed trigger area. A cunning scenario shaper can assign several triggers to a particular unit or bunch of units, though presently only one of these triggers can be active at a time.

But what's your point?

[KyzBP]

All this talk has pushed me dangerously close to purchasing Market Garden today....:)  Somehow now I have the itch to try it before the new game comes out, which I am also almost certain to pre-order now....

Someone talk me out of it:)

I was going to ask you to talk me out of it.

[MengJiao]

All this talk has pushed me dangerously close to purchasing Market Garden today....:)  Somehow now I have the itch to try it before the new game comes out, which I am also almost certain to pre-order now....

Someone talk me out of it:)

You could do what I've done and get CMFI.  I'm just fighting the 2nd incarnation of the Herman Goering Div.  For market garden I'm bogged in Where Eagles dare (board game).

[Bletchley_Geek]

Only one of those paras is anything new though. Two paras are introductory and mostly describe the current AI, and one para is a direct quote from the BFC forum. Your four paras basically boil down to this:

Michael, Tim's "reviews" aren't usually very heavy with the details. He's got a quite entertaining style, that makes for a great read although it's not always informative (and sometimes a bit misleading, as he doesn't make any claims of his pieces being an 'objective analysis' and my 'taste' goes sometimes along different lines than his). In this particular case, I found interesting that Tim approached the beta testers and asked them to highlight a particular aspect of Red Thunder. I liked that.

I'll concede that we don't know everything about the AI triggers feature: only what Steve has explained on the BFC forums, where he outlined the feature in some detail. For better or worse, Battlefront forums are the main venue when it comes to learn about new features.

[Dolan50]

All these new CMRT features have been standard Graviteam features for at least 3 years.

Outside of micro management,WEGO and a 1944 east front time frame there isn't a whole hell of a lot difference that I couldn't get  from a Graviteam product for a cheaper price and better graphics and physics quality.

Battlefront really needs to step up their game as they're playing catch up when it comes to this type of game depicting tactical warfare on the east front.

I'm glad they're finally introducing some of these features as I may be interested in their Battle of the Bulge game considering Graviteam has no interest in a west front theatre for their game,though it still looks as though it will be years before I can expect something from BF that's even remotely acceptable to what I've come to appreciate from Graviteams rendition of grand tactical combat.

[z1812]

All these new CMRT features have been standard Graviteam features for at least 3 years.

Outside of micro management,WEGO and a 1944 east front time frame there isn't a whole hell of a lot difference that I couldn't get  from a Graviteam product for a cheaper price and better graphics and physics quality.

Battlefront really needs to step up their game as they're playing catch up when it comes to this type of game depicting tactical warfare on the east front.

I'm glad they're finally introducing some of these features as I may be interested in their Battle of the Bulge game considering Graviteam has no interest in a west front theatre for their game,though it still looks as though it will be years before I can expect something from BF that's even remotely acceptable to what I've come to appreciate from Graviteams rendition of grand tactical combat.

Iv'e tried Operation Star and I much prefer Combat Mission. That's not to say Graviteam makes a poor or uninteresting product, just that I feel Battlefront makes a better game. Each to their own.

[Keunert]

are some of you playing CMxy on mac? can you install user created content like mod's and scenarios?

[Zonso]

On a PC, but these instructions for the Mac:

How to create the mod folder:
1- locate the file named CM Battle for Normandy.app (it should be in Applications/CM Battle for Normandy);
2- right click on CM Battle for Normandy.app and select Show package content;
3- in the new finder window navigate in /Contents/Resources/Data;
4- In /Data, create the new folder named "Z" (or any word starting with "Z"); in this folder you will put all the mods the way Mord explained

from this thread seems straight forward: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=98199