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Questions for Santa Steve


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Sorry for contributing to the flood of questions that follows the new forum and meaty bones.

1. Will we see anymore additions to the TO&E, like AA/flak stuff? Bummer to hear the flamethrowers and flame tanks won't make it in this time around.

2. Any tweaks to the campaign features? I like the new Designer Notes subsection for briefings. Is there room for designers to include more maps/images into his briefing besides just the one?

3. Will there be limitations to indirect fire for on-map guns? I assume so, or not, don't know how this works. Can a gun point up in there and have rounds fall on the other side of like a hedgerow less than 50m away?

4. Will there be cowbell? :D

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2. Any tweaks to the campaign features? I like the new Designer Notes subsection for briefings. Is there room for designers to include more maps/images into his briefing besides just the one?

Actually there's slots for three images per side. One small one ('Strategic'), one wide ('Operational') and one big one ('Tactical'). But you probably mean being able to have more than one Tactical map per side.

3. Will there be limitations to indirect fire for on-map guns? I assume so, or not, don't know how this works. Can a gun point up in there and have rounds fall on the other side of like a hedgerow less than 50m away?

Maybe if it's strong headwinds. :D

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Will there be limitations to indirect fire for on-map guns?

The only real limitation is the need for a spotter to have LOS on the target and for the gun to have some sort of contact with that spotter. On-map and off-map gun indirect fire operates exactly the same. Of course physics also plays a role. High-powered anti-tank guns can't indirect fire because their shells would land eight miles off-map!

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Will there be limitations to indirect fire for on-map guns?

I know for sure of one limitation for on-map mortars... "weak" on-map mortars on extremely long maps may find that they cannot reach the far end of the map. The effective range of these on-map mortars is correctly simulated in the game. I assume (without having checked) that most on-map *Guns* are powerful enough to fire all the way to the end of the longest map you can have in the game, though.

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I know for sure of one limitation for on-map mortars... "weak" on-map mortars on extremely long maps may find that they cannot reach the far end of the map. The effective range of these on-map mortars is correctly simulated in the game. I assume (without having checked) that most on-map *Guns* are powerful enough to fire all the way to the end of the longest map you can have in the game, though.

That sounds glorious! Imagine calling in that off-map naval arty and having it hit a target at the other end of the map. I can imagine the maps are huge too.

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I can imagine the maps are huge too.

You may be surprised by how small some of them are. I've been experimenting with various scales of fighting on different types of terrain, and sometimes it takes forever to clear a tiny amount of well-defended bocage.

That said, I've also seen some massive maps, too. Should be a nice variety of terrain for you to blow the **** out of. :D

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I know for sure of one limitation for on-map mortars... "weak" on-map mortars on extremely long maps may find that they cannot reach the far end of the map. The effective range of these on-map mortars is correctly simulated in the game. I assume (without having checked) that most on-map *Guns* are powerful enough to fire all the way to the end of the longest map you can have in the game, though.

Offhand, the only gun in wide use in Normandy that I can think of which wouldn't be able to reach all areas of a large CM map is the German 75mm LeIG. IIRC, its maximum range is somewhat under 4km; that thing really throws a change-up. The mV of the common Allied pack howitizers is substantially higher, and therefore the range longer. But there might also have been some captured old French guns or whatever in the service of some of the German 2nd line units around Normandy, and some of these might have had a really low mV and range as well... I'm not really up on my WWII artillery marginalia.

In addition to range being realistically modeled for on-map mortars and guns, it will be really cool to have ballistic trajectory realistically modeled as a consideration in indirect fire support. Low mV guns may be crappy against tanks, but a high trajectory is actually better at hitting infantry positions, especially on the reverse slope.

Looks great! Looking forward to it...

Cheers,

YD

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In addition to range being realistically modeled for on-map mortars and guns, it will be really cool to have ballistic trajectory realistically modeled as a consideration in indirect fire support.

It is realistically modeled, and you can in fact watch the rounds from a mortar as they lob from tube to target. I'll make sure one of the videos we'll release will show this, it's a neat effect.

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It is realistically modeled, and you can in fact watch the rounds from a mortar as they lob from tube to target. I'll make sure one of the videos we'll release will show this, it's a neat effect.

In CMx1 I don't believe I ever saw the entire trajectory of a mortar round, but in certain views I could see them going up and coming down. I could also spot incoming off-map artillery rounds. I thought it was neat that BFC had bothered to put that in.

Michael

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Actually there's slots for three images per side. One small one ('Strategic'), one wide ('Operational') and one big one ('Tactical'). But you probably mean being able to have more than one Tactical map per side.

On a side note, it would make sense to have the campaign briefing available to the player during the actual campaign and not only at the start. I've on occasion booted up the campaign from the start just to read it again. Why not have a campaign button available to the player in the scenario briefing? There's certainly room for it.

It is realistically modeled, and you can in fact watch the rounds from a mortar as they lob from tube to target. I'll make sure one of the videos we'll release will show this, it's a neat effect.

Hey don't forget to show us on-map guns pointing upwards for an in-direct fire mission. I think a lot would like to see this since this is completely new to the CM series.

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Hmmmmm....I wonder if Steve wont answer this because he is saving it for a surprise? What a wonderful gift that would be.

I was looking at the screenshots AGAIN and I saw that the GI's carry Bayonets! Is this a clue about hand to hand????

Hmmmm.....probably not because that would require an animation of them fixing the boyonet and I am sure that is not in there.

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I was looking at the screenshots AGAIN and I saw that the GI's carry Bayonets! Is this a clue about hand to hand????

Hmmmm.....probably not because that would require an animation of them fixing the boyonet and I am sure that is not in there.

Well Lanzfeld, that's the second time you've quoted yourself now. Too bad it hasn't really helped yet, but I like your persistence. ;)

Just to be clear, are you referring to fully animated hand-to-hand combat? My guess is that it will be abstracted with sound effects like in the CMx1 series. But don't get me wrong though, it would be great to see the "sh*t hit the fan" fully animated. Probably too difficult to pull it off in convincing fashion, at least not without dedicating a lot of time and resources.

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Well Lanzfeld, that's the second time you've quoted yourself now. Too bad it hasn't really helped yet, but I like your persistence. ;)

Just to be clear, are you referring to fully animated hand-to-hand combat? My guess is that it will be abstracted with sound effects like in the CMx1 series. But don't get me wrong though, it would be great to see the "sh*t hit the fan" fully animated. Probably too difficult to pull it off in convincing fashion, at least not without dedicating a lot of time and resources.

I would take the abstracted with sound effects and be VERY happy. Anything is better than nothing.

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Close combat will be improved for CM:BN. But as I've said forever and a day... there will not be any close quarter combat animations. That's just not something we can fit in. Plus, no matter what we can realistically do with the animations they will still look unrealistic. Even FPS games with tens of millions of Dollars (for you Europeans, that's about 300 Euros :)) don't have very good CQB animations. So we're not kidding ourselves about it.

Steve

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YURRRREEEEKKKAAAAA!

He speaks!

So we can charge an enemy when we are out of ammo and still get kills via (abstracted) hand to hand combat? That is wonderful!!!! Forget the stupid anamations!!!

and when you say that "close combat will be improved for CM:BN" I am not sure what you mean because CM:SF had none at all. I guess you mean close combat will be introduced in CM:BN?

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Close combat will be improved for CM:BN. But as I've said forever and a day... there will not be any close quarter combat animations. That's just not something we can fit in. Plus, no matter what we can realistically do with the animations they will still look unrealistic. Even FPS games with tens of millions of Dollars (for you Europeans, that's about 300 Euros :)) don't have very good CQB animations. So we're not kidding ourselves about it.

Steve

Understandable. Getting CQB animations to sync up can be a nightmare. Theatre of War 2 has some, but for the most part you watch the soldiers swinging at thin air with the target soldier either not reacting or taking invisible blows. :) I think only the Total War series and perhaps Dawn of War managed to achieve tolerable combat animations.

Abstracted is good enough for me. I'm just glad to have CM heading back to WWII. :)

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