BFCElvis

I've been a season ticket holder since the early '90s. Yesterday was rough but the week before (against the Patriots) 2 of the guys who share the tickets with me accidentally scanned 3 tickets when 2 of them went in. So, my ticket got burned and the ticket office wouldn't do anything about it but offer to sell me a standing room only seat for $91. Being a Bengals fan is is tougher though. Think they'll give up on Andy Dalton after this year? Am I posting in the right forum?

I'm friends with him on the Facebooks (seriously)....maybe I'll shoot him a note.

I wish that I could say it's a bigger deal but it isn't, at least not in my opinion. I always feel like if I'm in front of a computer (and sometimes my phone) then I'm on duty. As I said, I have been on the other end of support and know how much of a bummer it is waiting for a response (most recently with the Philadelphia Eagles ticket office.).

Uh oh...is Lewis back?

Frankly, and I do have some degree of say in the matter, I would never hold the release up for a second (especially at this point). When it comes to the Help Desk there isn't a holiday since I started on the Help Desk that I didn't do support work. Xmas? Sure? Birthdays? Sure. The day of my father's funeral earlier this year? Sure, heck, I had the laptop set up in his hospital room the whole time and he even helped me with 2 issues (he was very computer savvy having been one of the co-founders of the Computer Science Department at St. Joe's University). I've been on the other end of tech support and know what waiting for a response is like. And I really don't mind it at all. It's always busier when there is some find of release but there has only been once where it felt super busy (I am trying to remember what it was....I must have blocked it from my memory but it was insane. Everything else was just making sure to check in frequently to see how things are going but still eat, drink and be merry).

One thing that I already know will probably generate some tickets. Apparently Mac users using Catalina have found that security has changed and they need to change their settings to download and install the game. I've had a coupla/few on the Help Desk and the couple of weird Mac testers that have Catalina have told me they've needed to it. Here's what some Catalina people need to do:

If you have every module, Pack and Upgrade then the order of installation is 1 step: Step 1: Download and install the CMBN Full Windows file in your 4.0 purchase's link. That's it. It installs everything. Then use the Activate New Products utility in game's main directory and enter your 3.0, 4.0, module and Pack keys (it doesn't matter which order....as long as they're all entered)

I did say "very soon", right? Not this weekend (said as a courtesy to any refresh monkeys that might be hanging around) but very soon.

Enough

It's still live. I just posted in it to check.

It may be a dirty and ungrateful job but NOBODY has to provide links like that on this forum. OK?

I'm not sure if there was leakage in the patches but definitely in the full game installer that is currently up. I've been giving links to that installer to folks that have purchased the CMFI Big Bundle so that they have access to the base game and Gustav Line while Rome to Victory is being completed. The real trigger is the Rome to Victory license key. So, there actually is a link to having pre-ordered some form of Rome to Victory. Once the Rome key is used what is described appears....or more accurately...is "unlocked". That can't be helped if you have the Big Bundle because it's the only key that someone has but someone who ordered just the module would have to intentionally try to activate it. There's no good reason to do that though other than to see the oddity. That is why only people who pre-ordered are seeing it. There's more to it than just the invisible vehicles....it's more subtle and may not be something that is obvious to all. I'll just leave it at that for now because I'm an evil bastige.

Very close to release.

Without getting toooooooooooo specific......No, there will not be a Canadian campaign. And, there will be a more battles than mentioned in the pre-order announcement (the extra time was good in that way).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing the games this way. I can even relate based on one of the very few non-CM games that I play. For xmas a couple of years ago I got the kids an Xbox. It came with Madden '18 because that was about the only game that held any interest for me. One of my best buds talked me into spending $60 for Madden '19. I was resistant because I didn't see much difference or value. I only did it because when he got his he traded in his '18 so that he could get '19 cheaper and if I didn't get '19 we couldn't play head to head anymore. I noticed almost no difference in the games. He then did it again for Madden '20. This time I didn't get the new one.....we played head to head so little I didn't see the value. BUT there are people chomping at the bit for the changes from '18 to '19 and '19 to '20. I don't play deep enough to feel any need for them myself but some people do. CMx2 games are very similar in that way. For me, there is a HUGE difference between Shermans fighting around hedgerows and T34s rolling across the Steppes. Or waging war between June and October 1944 and fighting through deep snow in January 1945. Or using all of the cool tankettes in CMFI. They present not just a visual difference in the game but different tactical problems to solve/deal with. But I have no problem understanding that for some people they all come down to the same, tactical level war simulations. And everything else is aesthetics and window dressing. I get it and it's cool. We just appreciate that there is some form of the game that you enjoy.

This year I have spent more time on the forums than I had for many many many years, as it's now part of my job. Frankly, I had expected more calling out of fanbois and haters and trolls. I have found refreshingly far fewer than I had expected. Sure, you get the disagreements about things from time to time but I've found both "haters" and fanbois" to be respectful and stay on their point for nearly every conversation. On the "outer boards" I had heard rumblings about critics of the games being shouted down but the reality doesn't seem to be true. Certainly, supporters will respond, often by repeating things that have been been hashed and rehashed many times before, but they seem to do it in a respectful way. The receiver may not like the answer that they get but they are getting it from well meaning people. Likewise, people who are critical normally will post their opinions in a friendly and sincere way. From a moderator point of view I have had to do close to nothing other than block spammers. And the few times that things do flare up it is almost never the Us vs Them kind of disagreement that does it...it tends to be more general personality differences.

Steve checked the link on the website and is seeing what I'm seeing. If anyone can't download the campaign through that please open a Help Desk ticket and I'll get you the campaign through a different method. He saw what I did when creating the link in this thread gave me some advise about changing it....which I've done. So, you can try that as well.

Interesting and weird. I'm not signed into the website....only the forum...and the links (both on the website and the OP here) continue to work. I'll ask the guy (Steve) who worked on the site before I took it over to see if he has any possible insight.

The air assets added to Rome to Victory is Focke-Wulfe 190F8, P-47D Thunderbolt Fighter Bomber , P-51B Mustang Fighter Bomber and P-51D Mustang Fighter Bomber

Not for me. Clear out your cache and see if that changes it.

The absolute moment that I hit Submit on my reply I realized that. I also realized that....man, I have a lot of open browser windows. I am one multi-tasking mofo. I suppose it is though. They are 2 Rome stand alones battles that were being prepped for final shipment to HQ. I won't get into the details about either battle other than to say that Brummbar is a very cool battle that presents a very interesting problem. And Mort may be the oldest battle that went into development. If i told you when the 1st version was created your head would explode.

Odd...I just clicked on it and got this.......

Thanks. YIKES that's some link you sent me. You don't even have to click on it to know it ain't going anywhere. It may mean clearing out your cache or somefink like that. Here's the URL that I get when I click on it: https://battlefront.sharefile.com/share/view/s7d76501e23a4e608/fof9f423-8c9f-4494-82e5-704ab8a27de7 Which doesn't look anything like the one you sent me.

HHmmm...It's still working fine for me. HAve you tried using a different browser? Can you copy/paste the URL that the link goes to and send it to me?

Correct. There is an old (banned but not for this) forum member who used to track the time from pre-orders opening until release. And that is what he found...I haven't look up his talley but my memory was that it was usually 6 weeks. For those that are interested in this kind of thing it should serve as an example of how unusual this is.