Purchase and QB Bone

[MeatEtr]

2. I assume that some form of random maps/weather/time of day options will be present again. If so, will the player know the outcome of these random choices *before* they select their forces? In other words, if you hit random on map type, map density, time of day and weather, before I buy that force of all Panther tanks will I know that the map is dense urban, at night, with rain before I make my purchase?

Pretty sure there is still no random map generator. But being able to pick some settings like time of day and weather options would be great.

[Battlefront.com]

1. Will the point value of infantry ever change dependent on the terrain of the QB? In other words, would a vanilla rifle platoon cost the same in a city or bocage as it will in an open ground map?

We have a list of things we want to have influence price, but we've made no hard decisions. It's likely that the logic will start out fairly basic at first and get more sophisticated over time.

2. I assume that some form of random maps/weather/time of day options will be present again. If so, will the player know the outcome of these random choices *before* they select their forces?

That is our intention, yes. We know this was a big source of complaint for the original system.

There will be no CMx1 type random map generator for CMx2 for Normandy or likely ever. We will, however, have a "mega tile" randomized system eventually. We wanted it for Normandy but it was just one big bite too many for this one.

3. When selecting a point value for the game, will we be able to set both a 'normal' and 'rarity' point value, or will there be a constant ratio between the two?

We do intend on having a setting to control the degree of Rarity allowed, from OFF (i.e. unlimited) to small (i.e. very few rare things allowed).

4. Picking how many BAR's we get! Thats great! I lived and breathed by vanilla US rifle platoons in CMx1 PBEM games. Just curious, outside of BAR's, are there any other options for rifle platoons? Satchel charges outside of engineers? Bazookas? Sniper rifle (Sprinfield) in platoon HQ? Thompson in rifle squads? Extra ammo? Also, are these platoon settings, or can you have one squad with 2 BAR's, and the other 2 with only 1 BAR?

There is no direct control over the internal makeup of a unit in general. Something like BARs is an exception to that rule. There are likely to be other exceptions as well. The problem here is we need to be careful about how many variations there are because it has the potential to overwhelm the UI and/or users.

5. I know that the days of 'Bazooka Team' are over and that these bazookas (or Schreks) have been distributed ala Javaleins in CM:SF. How will this work in QB's though? Do X Bazookas just come with a rifle platoon? Or do you have to buy them (what I mentioned above) in the QB system?

Bazookas and Panzerfausts are carried as routine equipment of the Rifle Squads. You can section off an AT Team, just like in CM:SF, that will separate out 2 men with the AT weapon from the rest of the Squad. In the unit purchasing interface you can decide if you want them to have such things or not. Of course you can let the picking logic decide that for you to keep things varied.

6. Can we set ammo levels in QB's? Can we get extra ammo by paying for it? (ie. I want 125% ammo for this MG42 team)

Yes, the intention is to have the ability to alter ammo amounts by unit or force wide. This is set just like other Experience, Morale, and other similar attributes.

7. This is both for the editor and QB's, but can we set losses/understrength levels again similar to CM:BB and CM:AK?

Yes you can have pre-battle losses similar to CMBB/AK.

As for your two follow ups... 60mm (American) are always on-map, 50mm (German) are not present in Normandy. FOs are either purchased separately or you can use certain HQs for the FO role.

Steve

[ChrisND]

Screenshots aren't of any value at all...

Gameplay features is all that counts for the customers interested in this kind of game...

Any player that buy this game "only" for the nice screenshots will not buy any other module or expansion in the future. A casual player excited by screenshots, will lose the interest if it isn't his style of gameplay.

If you love the gameplay features included in this release, the screenshots doesn't add nothing to the information provided in plain text.

Who died and made you official ambassador of the customers?

[Chad Harrison]

. . .

There will be no CMx1 type random map generator for CMx2 for Normandy or likely ever. We will, however, have a "mega tile" randomized system eventually. We wanted it for Normandy but it was just one big bite too many for this one.

. . .

Thanks for all the replies Steve. The new QB system is looking to be a huge improvement over the CMx1 one (and that is saying a lot!).

The 'mega tile' system is what I was refering to. So if 'mega tile' is out, I assume all QB maps will be ala CM:SF? Which is fine by me, there are so many of them out of the box, not to mention from the community, and they have AI orders/setup unique to each map, and they give the option of having more unique setup zones for PBEM than horizontal sides of the map. Honestly, I think it will work better that way anyhow. Especially for competitive play. In no time I am sure we will all come up with some very nice attack/defend and meeting engagement maps that are nice and balanced.

Thanks again for the detailed replies.

Chad

[Dan Dare]

Behave my dear Cid250. I could say that most of the time I´m pretty much agreed with your thoughts, but sorry this time....now i´m dying for a screenshot as the perfect complement to the thrilling-amazing-superb info Mr Steve is giving to us....

I want to see the yanks coming, not just being told they will come

[Pvt. Ryan]

Will I be able to purchase a sniper and three batteries of 16 inch guns?

[Battlefront.com]

Don't worry, we have screenshots coming!

Yes, you can purchase a sniper and three batteries of 16 inch guns. I'm sure the German player will be much amused

Steve

[MeatEtr]

What kind of request was that?.

Screenshots aren't of any value at all...

Gameplay features is all that counts for the customers interested in this kind of game...

Any player that buy this game "only" for the nice screenshots will not buy any other module or expansion in the future. A casual player excited by screenshots, will lose the interest if it isn't his style of gameplay.

If you love the gameplay features included in this release, the screenshots doesn't add nothing to the information provided in plain text.

[Michael Emrys]

Bazookas and Panzerfausts are carried as routine equipment of the Rifle Squads.

Weren't bazookas held at a higher level than squad in the US army? I'm thinking more at platoon or even company level and parceled out to squads as needed.

Michael

[BFCElvis]

Yes, you can purchase a sniper and three batteries of 16 inch guns. I'm sure the German player will be much amused

Steve

But with that you wouldn't have anyone to call in the 16 inchers.

[Michael Emrys]

But with that you wouldn't have anyone to call in the 16 inchers.

On the other hand, with 16" guns, they don't really need to be all that accurate. Sort of like area bombing, y'know.

Michael

[Sergei]

Bah. You can do the same job with a 60mm piece if you just know how to utilize it.

[YankeeDog]

On the other hand, with 16" guns, they don't really need to be all that accurate. Sort of like area bombing, y'know.

Michael

I think his point is that a sniper wouldn't be able to call in the guns at all. WWII snipers did not generally carry radios, and I assume that, just as in CMSF, lower level units without radios won't be able to access artillery support in CM:N.

[SlapHappy]

Will squads have "ragtag" small arms assignments? For instance, will some squads have variable mixes of SMG's and rifles rather than be cookie cutter? Will we get a squad member with an occasional enemy weapon to start the scenario?

Also, are there any plans to expand the capabilities of soldiers in hand to hand combat situations? I would think that one-one soldier modeling and the decrease in overall lethality of the weapons systems, it would be more logical to be concerned about modeling what happens when troops face-off at swinging ranges.....

[Chad Harrison]

Weren't bazookas held at a higher level than squad in the US army? I'm thinking more at platoon or even company level and parceled out to squads as needed.

Michael

Per Orbat.com, the US Infantry Co. had 5 bazookas per rifle company. Orbat.com shows them in the Co. HQ Section, but I am sure they would be distributed as needed. *BUT*, I am sure that much like the BAR, this was never the case in reality (ie. they had more).

I am not sure how to do a link, so heres the website: http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/013_usa/43_org/div-inf/div-inf_inf-rifle.html

[Battlefront.com]

Weren't bazookas held at a higher level than squad in the US army? I'm thinking more at platoon or even company level and parceled out to squads as needed.

Yes, for US Rifle Companies they were held at Company level IIRC. The ability to select a Squad with Bazooka and without equates to how they were handed out. You just have to do it ahead of time instead of on the fly. That's because Rifle Companies in the game don't have organic transport sitting around with their spare gear in the rear. So either they go into battle with them or they don't, but you (as Company Commander) get to decide which to do.

I think his point is that a sniper wouldn't be able to call in the guns at all. WWII snipers did not generally carry radios, and I assume that, just as in CMSF, lower level units without radios won't be able to access artillery support in CM:N.

Well, to inject a bit of seriousness into an otherwise silly line of discussion... correct, a WW2 Sniper Team wouldn't be able to direct 16" Guns.

Will squads have "ragtag" small arms assignments? For instance, will some squads have variable mixes of SMG's and rifles rather than be cookie cutter? Will we get a squad member with an occasional enemy weapon to start the scenario?

Yup. Answered in detail a couple of posts up.

Also, are there any plans to expand the capabilities of soldiers in hand to hand combat situations? I would think that one-one soldier modeling and the decrease in overall lethality of the weapons systems, it would be more logical to be concerned about modeling what happens when troops face-off at swinging ranges.....

We definitely have to do a better job with H2H for WW2 than we did for Modern simply because the weapons of WW2 weren't all short automatic weapons like Modern. This does change the dynamic of H2H.

Steve

[Chad Harrison]

Don't worry, we have screenshots coming!

Yes, you can purchase a sniper and three batteries of 16 inch guns. I'm sure the German player will be much amused

Steve

Bocage? Infantry? Some building models? How many screenshots will a dozen cinnamon rolls buy us?

Didnt someone make a scenario for CM:BO where the allies had only a sniper surrounded by Tigers? But all you had to do was set the sniper to hide and they could never see him! Ah, the memories.

[Chad Harrison]

. . .

That's because Rifle Companies in the game don't have organic transport sitting around with their spare gear in the rear.

. . .

There was talk some months ago about having a sort of 'OP' or 'CP' on the company level that could be setup for both attacker and defender. In it would be extra ammo, zook/schreck's and so on. So they would serve the same function as Strykers did in CM:SF. Did something of this form make the cut?

And come to think of it, will the armored infantry units in CM:N have the zooks/schreck, ammo and such in their halftracks ala CM:SF?

[Cid250]

Who died and made you official ambassador of the customers?

Common sense... It almost died.

[Cid250]

We definitely have to do a better job with H2H for WW2 than we did for Modern simply because the weapons of WW2 weren't all short automatic weapons like Modern. This does change the dynamic of H2H.

Steve

This means that we can expect to see historical squad level AI tactics for each nation?, for example, with:

Garands as the main firefight weapon for the US, & BAR as support weapon to allow the GI maneouvers...

While the germans trying to use their LMG as main firefight weapon of the whole squad at medium range being the rifles the "support" weapon under cover (providing all arround security), but avoiding firefight and exposure to enemy fire in medium or long ranges???.

[SlapHappy]

Cid:

I think you misunderstood my question.

I'm talking more like "you just emptied you're Garand at me and I'm dashing at you trying to brain you with my entrenching shovel".

That sort of thing.

[Pvt. Ryan]

I think his point is that a sniper wouldn't be able to call in the guns at all. WWII snipers did not generally carry radios, and I assume that, just as in CMSF, lower level units without radios won't be able to access artillery support in CM:N.

I ask because when I first started playing CMBO I was amazed at the destructive force of the artillery. I enjoyed sitting at ground level with the Germans as the naval artillery rained down around me (shock waves and all). I occasionally set up QBs with just a sharpshooter and artillery. Maybe it was a spotter. I was just wondering if such limited force purchases would be possible under the new system.

[General_solomon]

thanks for the Bone Steve. I especially like the fact that you guys are almost finishing this up. I know you dont like to give time-frames but does this mean we only have a couple of months to go?

I just want to schedule a couple vacation days with my company. I don't know about the other folks, i want to play for couple days when released.

this is very exciting news. thanks again to the team for making such an awesome game.

its my opinion but this game will be the game of the decade.

[Cid250]

Cid:

I think you misunderstood my question.

I'm talking more like "you just emptied you're Garand at me and I'm dashing at you trying to brain you with my entrenching shovel".

That sort of thing.

Ok you mean head to head as "close quarters"

[Sergei]

H2H also stands for hand to hand - mano a mano.