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Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy Video AAR


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I will definitely spend a lot more time zoomed in on the ground in the next

A brief look at all game screenshots should give an idea of what its like playing from ground level. More immersion and a more 'real' feel but exponentially more confusing. You notice even with a camera height advantage his Panther still got immobilized while his back was turned. :)

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We purposefully made the suspension of vehicles a little "looser" than in real life so you can get a better sense of motion (especially at higher camera angles). Same with recoil effect from firing.Steve

Surely a player gets a sense of motion when his vehicle moves? I just think, given you have spent so many hundreds/thousands? of hours designing a game to be as emersive as possible, that the 'Pimp mobiles' destroy some of that hard won suspension of disbelief. I'd prefer a Panther to look as though it weighed 40 plus tonnes, when moving or firing, as it would accentuate what scary beasts they were, at the moment CM1 captures this seeming invulnerability better.

The bailing out tank crews are simply going to the nearest possible cover. How well they do in combat depends entirely on how good they were going into the battle and how well they came out of the tank.Steve

Surely a crack Panzer crew is not equated to a crack infantry unit, this is not Sven Hassel!

Note that almost none of the US crews survived. They might have done some damage here and there, but overall they were wiped out fairly easily.Steve

Which makes their behaviour even more suspect. Either a) hide behind the tank and hope to sneak away, or B) engage in a firefight using mostly side arms. Given bailing was often highly traumatic for unwounded crews, who in their right mind would pick a)? Ok, Sven Porta, Tiny, Hedi and the Old man, put down your hands!

Having said that, I really appreciate the decision to allow a beta tester to release an AAR video and the game looks amazing, especially the terrain (loved the sunken road in the first one and that bocage looked frightening to attack).

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@ Steve,

I didn't quite catch this from the video, but will you guys include "artillery procedures" for CMBN? What I mean specifically is the radio traffic you hear when calling in artillery? This really increased immersion while playing CMSF and I haven't heard any in the video AAR on the German side at least?

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Surely a player gets a sense of motion when his vehicle moves? I just think, given you have spent so many hundreds/thousands? of hours designing a game to be as emersive as possible, that the 'Pimp mobiles' destroy some of that hard won suspension of disbelief. I'd prefer a Panther to look as though it weighed 40 plus tonnes, when moving or firing, as it would accentuate what scary beasts they were, at the moment CM1 captures this seeming invulnerability better.

Well, each to his own. Not a single tester has ever complained about this as a significant issue, so a few people griping while watching a video doesn't really concern me that we have some massive problem on our hands.

Surely a crack Panzer crew is not equated to a crack infantry unit, this is not Sven Hassel!

Of course it isn't. But weapons effects are weapons effects. If a Conscript gets the jump on an Elite unit, then the effects are what the effects are. Seeing as the remainder of Chris' squad surrendered, I have to assume they were pretty well damned near the point of collapse and the crew pushed them over the edge.

If we saw this happening all the time I'd be concerned. We don't, so we're not. Just look at all the other bailed out crews in the first game. They pretty much did nothing. Could it use a tweak or two? Perhaps, but we're not going to run around like the house is on fire over this.

Which makes their behaviour even more suspect. Either a) hide behind the tank and hope to sneak away, or B) engage in a firefight using mostly side arms. Given bailing was often highly traumatic for unwounded crews, who in their right mind would pick a)? Ok, Sven Porta, Tiny, Hedi and the Old man, put down your hands!

An overly simplistic way to look at it. You forgot c)... crew is pumped up on adrenaline, pissed off, scared, and trying to get the Hell out of a kill sack as quickly as possible.

Having said that, I really appreciate the decision to allow a beta tester to release an AAR video and the game looks amazing, especially the terrain (loved the sunken road in the first one and that bocage looked frightening to attack).

The claustrophobic feel of Normandy is certainly there, that's for sure. As Chris said, it's quite frustrating for the Germans to know that often their #1 asset (long engagement ranges) is just about useless. On the flip side, the Americans' #1 asset (massed firepower) is extremely difficult to achieve.

Steve

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@ Steve,

I didn't quite catch this from the video, but will you guys include "artillery procedures" for CMBN? What I mean specifically is the radio traffic you hear when calling in artillery? This really increased immersion while playing CMSF and I haven't heard any in the video AAR on the German side at least?

The German voices are missing in this Beta version. Something we put off and then suddenly remembered we needed to do :) No worries.

Steve

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Looks amazing and quite the appetite-whetter. Thanks for posting.

Only thing I saw that could fall into the category of "bug" was in the first scenario when one Sherman passed through the rear half of another Sherman.

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Well, each to his own. Not a single tester has ever complained about this as a significant issue, so a few people griping while watching a video doesn't really concern me that we have some massive problem on our hands.

I certainly wouldn't call it a "significant issue" or a "massive problem", but I noticed it as well and would agree that it looks overdone. As realistic as everything else seems and as immersive as the rest of the experience is, the rocking vehicles take away from it a bit. Just my $0.02.

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Only thing I saw that could fall into the category of "bug" was in the first scenario when one Sherman passed through the rear half of another Sherman.

In my experience that rarely happens now. That map crams a lot of vehicles in small and narrow spaces, increasing the likelihood of it happening.

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I certainly wouldn't call it a "significant issue" or a "massive problem", but I noticed it as well and would agree that it looks overdone. As realistic as everything else seems and as immersive as the rest of the experience is, the rocking vehicles take away from it a bit. Just my $0.02.

I demand rocking vehicle slider control in the first patch! That way we can set how much our vehicles rock! ;-) NOT!

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I certainly wouldn't call it a "significant issue" or a "massive problem", but I noticed it as well and would agree that it looks overdone. As realistic as everything else seems and as immersive as the rest of the experience is, the rocking vehicles take away from it a bit. Just my $0.02.

One major difference, though. The testers are playing the game, you're just watching a video. It's very easy to take things out of context in screenshots and videos, make conclusions based on that, and then promptly put them aside when actually playing the game. Likewise, things which don't appear to be an issue in screenshots and videos may be when actually playing the game.

As I said, nobody has raised this as an issue, yet I'd rank the bulk of our testers way above average in terms of their "grog" knowledge.

Steve

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One major difference, though. The testers are playing the game, you're just watching a video. It's very easy to take things out of context in screenshots and videos, make conclusions based on that, and then promptly put them aside when actually playing the game.

Isn't it also possible to be so busy playing and enjoying the game that you don't notice small things that other people scrutinizing the video might? Sorta like the German helmet shape only being changed two weeks ago.

Just sayin'.

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Actually, that's precisely my point. "Oh my God, the helmet's sloped angle isn't perfect!" is just the sort of thing I would expect from someone looking at a screenshot who has nothing else to do but get out a slide ruler and measure things. The people playing the game didn't notice because it isn't important in the total context. Especially graphical nit picking. Does the German helmet look like a German helmet? Yes. Would people mistake it for an American helmet? No. How about British? No. So isn't that the important thing?

Plus, how many people saw those screenshots? Tens of thousands. How many people noticed the shape was a little off? One.

Details do matter, otherwise this game would have been out more than a year ago. But I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist over something that isn't really a big deal. No game we've ever made is perfect, so I think if all people have to complain about are helmet edge shapes and recoil, then I'm pretty happy about that.

Steve

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Looks amazing, especially the second map, with all the nice trees, water, and a little village just waiting to get blown away. It looks like you could take maps and photographs and faithfully recreate just about any location in Normandy. I haven't been giddy like this about a game in a long time. It looks every bit as good as I imagined, and the action is, dare I say it, like watching Call of Duty (1 & 2) on a grand scale. The bocage terrain really makes things interesting: big fields mixed with tiny ones and little pockets of cover all over the place. While the vast expanses of CMSF offered a unique tactical challenge, they often limited your overall strategic choices, I don't see that being a problem here at all.

For what its worth, I didn't think the tanks rocking back was excessive, even if it isn't 100% accurate, I think we can make an exception here for what ends up being a very nice effect that adds some fluidity to the action.

This game is just begging for some multiplayer action, the AI is adequate but clearly a human player could have exploited that vulnerable left flank in the first scenario. But it appeared to be a good match on the second one, with a more central objective.

Needless to say, I had been really hoping for some gameplay footage and here we got not just a few minutes worth, but two full scenarios!

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Tanks getting knocked out with hand grenades is pure john wayne stuff

After spending thousands of hours modelling these vehicles Ill have to disagree with that...panthers, shermans, tigers and many tanks all have engines that are visible from outside of the vehicle through their engine covers. Any fragments, be it from grenades or even small arms fire, that passed through these covers has the chance to knock out oil lines, water hoses, electrical fittings, etc. Even the Abrams has a weak spot to the rear some half century later that required modification for an urban environment (albeit to rpgs).

Dan

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The German voices are missing in this Beta version. Something we put off and then suddenly remembered we needed to do :) No worries.

Steve

Thanks for the heads-up Steve! ;) game looks amazing already! Can't wait to play it! the beta preview seems like ages ago!

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Holy thru and thru Batman! I do believe I just a saw the Panther's round pass through a knocked out Sherman and knock out another Sherman behind it at 00:32:21. Immediately prior to 32:21 Tyrspawn is sliding the camera forewards along the main road towards the Panther. As he does so, a Sherman contact pops into view on the main road juuuuust as it moves out of frame while the camera is still moving forward. Immediately after the Sherman moves out of view the camera zooms onto a knocked out Sherman which is immediately pierced by the Panther's 75mm and you hear the tell tale shreek of armor being penetrated by an AP round. At 32:30-ish the camera slides backward along the main road and you see another Sherman ( I believe the one that popped into view immediately before 32:21) which is starting to smoke with a red cross over it due to a crew casualty.

I do recall that this is possible. :)

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