Lots of Combat Mission News

[Nefaro]

How much are they charging for a game update?  :o

[MikeGER]

How much are they charging for a game update?  :o

^to much  ;)

IMHO: it should be free, at least for those who buy the Italy-Game 
(i guess its 'included' in the next BfN module release so, so it will be a purchase or waiting decision like allways with new stuff) 

[MarkShot]

Interesting.  Some of the waypoint dragging and arc stuff were upgrades from CMx1 v1 -> v2.  :)

Well, I can only be a bystander until I get a new system.  Y'all let me know how it plays.

[junk2drive]

Interesting.  Some of the waypoint dragging and arc stuff were upgrades from CMx1 v1 -> v2.  :)

Well, I can only be a bystander until I get a new system.  Y'all let me know how it plays.

The new CM runs on a fairly modest system. I would think in Taiwan you could get the parts to build a box pretty cheap.

[MarkShot]

We are taking our existing boxes.  For actual hardware replacement value shipping is a breakeven proposition.  But the time and nuisance savings of shopping and setup are worth it in the short term.  Once settled, I'll begin shopping for a new Win7 desktop which will be the first of our next generation of tech.  (Or maybe a laptop replacement if my wife sees herself doing a lot of local travel between Taiwan and Macau.)

[Con]

modern day NATO sounds promising

I didnt see anything about Modern?  Are you referring to Shock Force because I think I read that these 2.0 changes cannot be applied to those games and modules

Con

[junk2drive]

In the thread for Road Ahead it tells of a new CMSF2 game, Nato vs Russia (not Soviets) in the Ukraine

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=104854

[jomni]

Ahh Shock Force 2.  I'm in. 

[Staggerwing]

I hope some talented modders will create Cold War scenarios set along Fulda Gap and the NG plain.

[Michael Dorosh]

They're going to nickle and dime every little "update" now, aren't they?  Wise move I suppose after they realized how they gave away the house with CMBO/CMBB/CMAK that covered entire fronts in one package.

So I noticed that the Brits and minor allies are absent from the force listing for CMFI.  So if BF think they are going to sell me a Brits expansion for CMFI, after I have the one for CMBN....they will have gone over the line in my book.

Of course if the game engine wasn't so darn good, I'd flame all over the place and walk off in a huff.

No, you wouldn't - there are still no flame weapons on inventory. And possibly not for some time to come, though perhaps they really aren't needed until they cover the late 1944-VE Day portion of NW Europe, when they really became standard issue in Commonwealth infantry units (i.e. Wasp, Badger, heavy use of Crocodile support).

Outside of the number of promised product releases in the next 12 months, I don't see this as a huge announcement otherwise - as GJK may be suggesting, this is basically Americans and Germans in slightly different coloured clothes fighting over different coloured grass, for a 55 dollar pricetag, with out-classed Italians thrown in. Some of the UI features will be nice, and it is great they will be patched into CM:BN. I may wait for the Commonwealth to come out for CM:FI and hopefully there will be a bundle deal at some point. Functionally, there will be no difference (or should not be) between British/Canadian/Polish troops in Italy, and in Normandy. The Germans might get some notable stuff, perhaps the Elefant? I see U.S. Rangers are included, finally, so maybe the FSSF will be in the Commonwealth module to sweeten the deal, and make Anzio a little more palatable. Not that it should matter in game terms, but visual representations of Johnson LMGs and arrowhead shoulder patches would be a nice touch.

Some modders were working on a Japanese mod, that the Italians may be useful for (easier to mod them as Japanese, both functionally and aesthetically, than British).

On the positive side, BFC is slowly grinding forward on their to-do list of features - the sortable scenario listing, cut-and-paste features in the editor, etc. are nice, but basic fundamental flaws in the overall game remain, such as the campaign structure (see Devil's Descent and the lengths that a creative designer had to take to put in decision trees to make it interactive, though the player still lacks access to selecting which units he would use from his own OOB),  and the scale of the whole endeavour still seems "off". Half the time you're up above at company level sorting out where your platoons will go, but the other half of the time, you're fiddling around with individual bazooka gunners and ammo bearers and trying to tell an artillery spotter what side of a building he should stand on to get the best view.

The mentioned graphical improvements will be nice - since you're required to be down in the weeds half the time - but when they said in the announcement you could draw roads and hedges in the editor by choosing start and end points, I thought maybe it meant an improvement in how they actually looked in the game.  I see the AAR screen captures show no such thing. It apparently just lets you "paint" them faster (a welcome improvement, nonetheless). The walls in this shot still show the "stepping-stair" walls:



Roads and hedges aren't just an "immersion killer", it makes it incredibly difficult to recreate accurate historical maps from the limited set of road tiles in existence. The ability to overlay the editor onto maps and images is terrific and a great step forward; but until there is an ability to match this with WYSIWYG road construction, it won't mean much. But - I don't think there is any demand whatsoever for 100% historically accurate maps in any event. It's just an annoyance at this stage to have to look at those goofy layouts.

All in all, some nice-to-have features, but nothing that is an incredible leap forward. The NATO and Eastern Front titles have the potential to attract new players who have yet to dip toes in; if they are wise with their marketing they should do reasonably well with it.