Webwing

Check the repository. -

Mike is right. Here is a close up image of the model

This is a bug that had been fixed. Apparently it got back somehow in the final release. It should be fixed in a future patch. -

Yep, you are right. Not odd though, when you think work on the modules is already under way.

Not this weekend. Sorry.

The Tornado.

It´s VERY close. -

I can tell you there is none unfortunately. We have 3 campaigns and a lot of scenarios using the blue forces that are unique to the module only. There are no new US Army units in NATO so no scenarios with them included. Besides we had our hands full with the 3 new armies plus Syrian units included. I´m sure there will be user made scenarios with US vs new Syrian units though, once the module is finally released. Not really. All models and units were made exclusively for NATO. Some info regarding air support units was used. Also code for multi barrel guns used in the Shilka was first done for CM:A. Elmar already answered that. No content for other modules. If you get NATO but does not have the Marines, you still should be able to use all the scenarios there. -

Well, that´s the thing, real time games are faster than WEGO. So you can have a half hour game with a friend, which is a lot of fun. Everybody´s got a half our to play! -

Hm, well but still TCP/IP real time is a lot of fun too. -

Sequoia, I totally missed this sorry! But then again I can´t really say anything about future projects. But at least by that you know it´s more than one! -

No. I said it takes time to do and test campaigns, not that they are causing delays. When you think that in 2 years you will see 2 games and one module being released, that is like one product every 8 months. It´s not too bad. Also notice that NATO is a huge module, Afghanistan was the first time Battlefront did a CM game with a partner and Normandy will have loads of new features and a new setting. Unfortunately not all the testing in the world can guarantee there will not be problems. But we sure as hell are trying our best, that much I can tell you. No. I don´t see it as a waste at all. Withing the requirements of the campaigns system I´m very happy with the result of both the UK and now the NATO campaigns. The good thing about the heavy branching you see in the flowchart is that you don´t need to replay a mission if you don´t get a win. Actually looking at the chart you should be encouraged to move on with a draw or less. This means when you replay a mission chances are things will be different. They will also be different because there are several AI plans for each one. Regarding the difficulty settings we had and still have many discussions about it. Problem is when playtesting I usually get a defeat while others win easily. So, what is easy for one person is very hard for the other. To strike a balance is complicated. We need to have several people testing the same missions. Then again after being tweaked. Take into account also that campaigns use core units, and if you lose too many men in one mission, they will not show up for the next. Possibly. -

I want to give you guys some information regarding the scenarios that will be included in NATO now that we are so close to the release date. We are in the last stages of testing the campaigns. This is obviously extremely time consuming but, like I said, we are very close to the end. Here is the flowchart for the German campaign. It will give you an idea why it takes so long to test it. There are 3 campaigns, Dutch, Canadian and German. In total 36 unique missions! While in the previous modules we had 18 missions in a campaign here you get twice that much. We are not counting the variants either. Some missions have 2 variants, some have 4! The designer leading the campaign work is Paper Tiger, which we all know, is totally commited to quality and perfection in everything he does. There are also 25 stand alone missions. They are very different from one another in size and force mix. Also the terrain and setting is varied. They were designed by George MC, Jaws, MarkEzra, MikeyD, Normal Dude and Sergei. I playtested many of these scenarios myself and I have to say they are among the best in CM:SF. Among the standalones we have 6 H2H maps. 3 are metting engagements and 3 attack type scenarios. They were designed by MarkEzra specifically to be played against another human opponent, so that both sides have balanced forces and objectives. PBEM/TCP players will sure be happy with that. I have tested TCP play myself and can say it is a great experience. The problems of the past are long gone and playing against a friend over the Internet is awesome as anyone that has tried it knows. If you haven´t tried this yet I encourage you to do so. It´s a completely different challenge. Also included in the module are 50 new maps for the Quick Battles. That puts the total of QB maps at 275. The total of scenarios, including the ones in the campaigns, is 61(not including variants)!!!! It is an umprecedented amount of content in a module or game! That should keep you guys busy for some time! Last but not least we have an awesome demo mission ready to go! I´m not going to say anything about this one so I don´t spoil it for you. All this is obviously only possible because of the hard work of the scenario designers in the beta team, that with their time, passion and great talent have helped transforme this module into a very special product.

vincere, I can´t remember doing it myself. Maybe someone else did though. -

You will get a lot of ammo from the Zil truck. Not only 7.62. It doesn´t make much difference if the ammo is in the BMPs or in the Zill. Actually I think it is better to have them in supply trucks. You can have the trucks attached to any units you like. Also it is more flexible when designing missions. You can have trucks arriving a bit later as reinforcements, bringing more ammo to the troops. -

That sure is a concern for designers in general. The designers working on NATO missions and campaigns though are aware of that. However there are missions where you do have to remember to keep your Marder, with Milan mounted, in a hill a bit further back from your targets. -

As mentioned before I have plans to release the templates to all vehicles, weapons and soldier included in the NATO module. By template I mean the clean texture without any dirt, sand or cammou. Also give you the UVW mapping for the textures. This would help you out finding where each piece of geometry is. However I´m not too sure this is needed since in most textures it is pretty clear what is where. I might even do this before the release of the module. I´m not sure how useful that would be though since you would not be able to see the result of the work until the module is released. I had an unexpected backup problem though. Because of this I don´t have the original 100% clean texture. They are clean enough so that you can paint on to top of it but not totally flat as in the initial phase of texturing. I´m sorry about that. However you will see that it will indeed be less work than having to clean up before getting started with the real fun work. Actually this cleaning up takes more time than painting itself most of the time! Specially for NATO where we added a lot of dirt and sand to the vehicles. Just a heads up, so you can start to clean your brushes, mix your paints and start checking your references. --

Specially in an epic demo mission! -

Notice that the range info, min and max, can be found on the interface and also in the manual. However, in the heat of the battle one might overlook that. I sure did, while testing NATO, and found myself wondering why the soldiers would not fire their weapons. They were simply out of range, min or max. Since there are lot of new stuff to deal with a few tips are never too much. So, here is an image showing you the min and max range of the main AT weapons used in the module. In the case of the Germans, the Panzerfaust 3 and the Milan complement each other perfectly. The max range of one is the min range of the other. Bellow is an image of the game map so you can see the distances in the game. -

Ryujin, Great posts. Please, do start one in the Strategy and Tactics Forum. Put all the stuff that you posted here and whatever else you think is of use. Others will sure jump in and contribute. I´ll ask Martin to make it a Sticky. I´m posting some stuff about the AT assets in NATO in a bit also. -

I wanted them to have even more dirt actually, but in the end decided that was enough. One thing I liked when I started research for vehicles was that so many vehicles in Afghanistan were still painted green. That was very cool, because the dirt and sand look so much better on them than on the tan painted vehicles. I figure if the forces in Afghanistan didn´t have the time to paint all their vehicles in desert colors the same could have happened in our fictitious war in Syrian. This sure adds a lot of variety and a sort of authenticity to the scenarios. Of course, people will be able to mod this to whatever cammou they want. -

I like Gadwin PrintScreen. -

I don´t think you are being rude normannobrot, but you should try and look at things from a different perspective! I always play from the blue side, so one might say I`m biased. One might argue that even then I´m always facing the same enemy. However depending on the forces you are given the mission is so completely different and takes completely different tactics. The NATO module will put that in evidence even more. When you compare the Mech Coys of each of the 3 countries you can see how different they are. Vehicles, squads and sections, weapons and even the AT assets are very different and assigned to units at different levels. So the same mission with a Panzergrenadiers coy or a Dutch or Canadian Mech coy would have to be played differently, else you are in trouble. While doing so you come to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of each formation. I find that really cool. I´m learning a lot actually. Also, when you think the Red side is getting Air support, trucks with loads of supplies and ZSU units, you can imagine how that spices things up. The NATO module has the biggest amount of content in any module so far, be it in terms of new vehicles and units or in terms of single missions and campaigns. This way the CM:SF family will have a worthy closure. -

The first time you meet a ZSU firing at you in a mission, you will change your mind! -

With the Dutch Mech inf coy you have, apart from other units: 3 Rifle platoons on YPR-PRI (HQ has the YPR-PRI with ERA) and 1 AT platoon on Fenneks MRAT. These have the powerful Gill missiles. So, unlike the Germans the AT weapons stay with some specialized units. With excellent settings you get the YPR-PRI with ERA. One platoon and the HQ with the CV9035. The Canadians also have AT weapons with their rifle platoons, however they need to dismount to use the ERYX for instance. They also have a specialized antiarmor platton in the Combat Support coy, that use the LAV III TUA. As you can see even within the forces in the same module there is a lot of variety. Actually the 3 campaigns are completely different in character because of the characteristics of each force. -