aka_tom_w

Steve already said (about a million times) don't waste your time/bandwidth/energy lobbying for PBEM because it won't make any difference to them. He said if you read his posts, (about a million times) PBEM is not a 'sacred cow' and if we have to leave it behind to move to RealTime and other cool features in CMx2... "SO BE IT" (Meaning they plan to generate more sales offering a RealTime Game then they will lose by disappointing hard core fans with no PBEM available, and that makes sense to me from a purely profit motivation standpoint. For which I respect and appreciate their logic, and clear focus and shrewd business sense ) Since it looks like some form of PBEM will be in anyway I wouldn't worry about it. IMHO -tom w [ October 06, 2006, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

I agree I am looking forward to playing the demo the first time as the Syrian's in RealTime. My perefence would be to take on a much younger and inexperienced (CM Wise) RealTime 'expert" (read teenager) opponent playing the US side in RealTime, I think that should be managable and enjoyable. My guess would be that for my aging (NON-teenager) senile brain, the fewer numbers of Syrian units would (presumably) make the RealTime game experience more fun and/or at least managable. If I was to play against folks or other players with CMx1 experience who I have played CMx1 against in the past I think I would have to take the US in Realtime, or I would prefer good old WeGo. BUT I am (as an old fan of WeGo!) looking forward to some smoking hot RealTime battles playing the Syrian underdog to bloody the nose of the "clickfest" happy US player. he he -tom w [ October 06, 2006, 07:25 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

Thanks Steve This was the kind of answer I was looking for in this thread, it was posted last evening in the latest Small Bone thread. here it is: That ALL makes sense to me and I am glad to hear it. -tom w [ October 06, 2006, 04:57 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

I thought it was clear (at least to me) that Steve said there would for sure be a command delay in WeGo as in the past in CMx1, just that there would be NO command delay in RealTime mode. Or did I miss something? -tom w [ October 05, 2006, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

Thanks Steve! Thanks for all the time posting and keeping us up to date. I think this could be repeated: AND the real issue is most of those tens of thousands of people, don't post here, don't complain and the majority of them are happy playing solo against the AI most of the time. (I don't have any facts but Steve suggests most folks who buy the game, don't post and rant on the forum (like some of us ) AND most folks play solo most of the time.) Hey Steve I hope you are keeping an eye on Field Ops, it looks like it has a large budget and is supposedly scheduled for a Feb 2007 release, and they already have a ton of screen shots out: Field Ops home page It looks REALLY good but somehow that implies to me that it might lack substance to be a good game to actually play. But it does make me curious. Thanks -tom w

yup that's interesting: (PC only) web page field ops hmm web page Field Ops Previoulsy known as "Ghost Wars" so said the web page that had it listed (this link is the official home page of Field Ops) -tom w [ October 05, 2006, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

I'll have BOTH, with thanks ! (one at a time of course, may I have the chocolate first?) -tom w

So in your opinion apms or fast clicking many actions per minute won't be a decisive factor? I tend to agree. if you only have 15-20 (max) units to deal with in real time, FASTER actions per minute won't give you any advantage if you are a poor planner, or have no contingency plans or a good fall back position. I would like to think that quick thinking and the ability to react fast with a good plan or counter tactic, may be more important then simply apms or fast clicking. (or so the theory goes) -tom w [ October 04, 2006, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

My first question is how many "manouvre elements" are there in a reinforced Company? 3 platoons? 9 Squads? Plus support elements? I think that would be plenty for a realtime battle. -tom w

I guess that is my point. I am wondering if young teenagers will be interested in CM:SF? There are no higher tech levels to get to. There is no building. Except for maybe reinforcements designed into the scenario you have to go with what you have. I am not so sure the 'rush' in CM:SF will prove to be always the best strategy. But I am curious. -tom w

My guess is if they did what they said they would do by including the opportunity for the scenario designer to "guide" or hint or somehow script or program the AI defender (or attacker) I would suggest the AI might be almost unbeatable in RealTime. I suggest this because if the AI can do all things at all times, then we know it is NOT slow and if it is not limited to any artificial "actions per minute" limitation code, AND it can be hinted or programed to be clever and at least given a fighting chance by the scenario designer, then I would suggest the AI should provide quite a refreshing challenge to most solo players. -tom w

Hi Kineas I think Rollstoy is requesting the "issue orders while paused" in RealTime feature which they have said is not currently an option in the game at this time but they said they would maybe look at it. My understanding of the "artificial restraint" Rollstoy is refering to is the one about how you cannot issue orders while paused in RealTime mode. -tom w

quick search: web page RTS and apm notes

This makes sense I am not convinced the RTS "pro" player who can click 3-4-5 times faster then his not so RTS savy opponent will have a real advantage. One factor not mentioned here is the number of units and the size of the battle. In what might be considered a really big scenario on a large map, perhaps the RTS savy (quick clicker) will have an advantage. But my guess is that in any average scenario, ANY non RTS, (average to good) CMx1 player should do very well playing EITHER the US or the Syrian's against a non CMx1 RTS "pro" youngster (under say 20 years). On a larger map for reasons outlined by Kineas may be more evident.... "It's not that simple. If you average around 20-30 apm (action per minute = click per minute) and a guy comes with 120 apm sustained knowing this he will attack you on 2 or 3 sides of the map simultaneously. You just won't be able to keep up with this and there you go your fronts collapse. It's a perfectly valid RTS strategy." The faster clicker may be in a better position, however a strong NON RTS CMx1 player should be able to hold his own playing the Syrian's quite easily against the RTS player with less experience commanding the US forces. FWIW IMHO -tom w

If I had to guess, it would be my guess that there is NO Way in hell that BFC would ever intentionally limit the actions per second a human player could issue. I would suggest that the "clickfest" is just simply part of the whole RTS paradigm. But that is JUST me guessing :cool: -tom w

well here's a hint about how Real Time will play: NO command delays!

"In CMx2 things are very different. The CMx2 concept of tiles is gone. However, there is still an underlying grid and a separate terrain mesh. Unlike CMx1, the two can contain different sized blocks. This allows us to independently control the volume of data for the game engine and the graphics engine." this is what I was talking about, and I may have been mistaken, there are still tiles, but the are superimposed on top of a 1m x 1m mesh. correct? from the same Post by Steve: web page Steve's post and entire thread about terrain it is a long thread The 2D Editor UI will be a lot easier to use than in CMx1. Even if Charles winds up refusing to code 90% of the stuff I came up with, I can assure you it will still be better No, you will not be able to cut and paste parts of one map into another, no matter how the mechanics work. All you can do is download someone else's map, bring it into the Editor, and work on it as you would do in CMx1. In order to do more than that we'd have to support the concept of placing "assembled" stuff instead of just creating it. It's not going to happen simply because it isn't necessary (it is also a time sink we ain't touching). If someone makes the Reichstag, then why wouldn't they also put the neighboring terrain around it? And if the person doesn't do that, why can't you just import the map, increase the size, and then work on it yourself? Piece of cake. Steve Battlefront.com Administrator Member # 42 posted August 26, 2005 09:33 PM Oh yeah... I keep forgetting to mention that the terrain mesh is 1m x 1m. So even though the terrain itself is measured in 8x8 pieces, the underlying shape is significantly more flexible. This is why you guys don't need to worry about houses in sides of hills and whatnot Steve AND Battlefront.com Administrator Member # 42 posted September 04, 2005 06:49 PM Correct about the TacAI. It can figure out "I am here, the enemy is there. I need to find some cover. That trench looks good". It is the StratAI that needs to say "I don't know where the enemy is, but I suppose he is over there. Ah... a trench runs in just the right spot for defensive line. Let's see... the enemy's approach path is level so the trench actually will provide some cover. I think I'll put 2 platoons along this trench and my heavy wepaons behind it." Two different concepts. The TacAI is the easier of the two to do in this case. Terrain grid is 1m x 1m, but every 1m a height can be assigned of between 1 and 100mm. This means that you can have a 100m long slope with the high point being 1m. For every one tile you had in CMx1 you can have roughly 4 tiles. So even if there were no mixing of terrain within a CMx2 8m x 8m tile, you will still get (roughly) 4 times the varried terrain as you could get in CMx1. In reality, over a larger space of map, you get a little more than 6 tiles for every 1 of CMx1. That's a pretty huge jump in variety all on its own. However, we will allow some mixed tiles in CMx2. Some of the mixing will be dynamic, but some of it will have to be hand coded by us. In the latter cases we'll have to go easy on the variations simply because there is only so much time in the day Steve [ October 03, 2006, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

I'm ignorant of the different styles of map you refer to above. I thought the CMx2 maps were just going to be roughly the same idea but with smaller tiles and therefore finer resolution. Are FPS style maps different than that? -dale </font>

I did not like CMBB at all (no english speaking nation) but I bought all three as well. I did like playing the ETO scenarios in CMAK the best however. -tom w

are there any other pics? Have we ever seen this one online before? sure its a month old, but I don't recall if I have seen this one before or not, it does sort of look familiar. -tom w

Hey I think it great there is an option! They have made what appears to be a breakthrough in a game offering. Giving us BOTH WeGo and REALTIME in the same game! I don't know of any other game that does that and it should be getting great deal more "hype" and attention that both styles of play are offered instead of the now routine complaining that you can't pause and give orders in RealTime ("because that's the way every other war game works"). -tom w

Good point, lets see how it actually works when we start playing the demo. Thanks -tom w

I think Mr. Shirt has it nailed. [Rant On] If you could pause and give orders, oh say, EVERY 60 secs, (!) why not play we go??? RealTime means nonStop REALTIME action, no whimpy pauses for orders. Its a good call, and it makes sense because if you want to pause to give orders play WeGo and be done with it! [/Rant off]

reboot? Clear the cache? I can see the image fine... here is the link to the actual directory on a server: web page pics Can you see the directory? there are other pics there: that is the smaller version the other one is HUGE some pics there are BIG the ones with "small" in the title view better on a smaller screen: OK? -tom w

"Plus, thirty seconds after debussing, all camouflage is the same colour anyway." This could not be more true of guys playing paintball. Some guys of all new cool camo outfits. (oooh.... cool... more money then sense, or no kids and no mortgage.) Other guys just wear sort of dark green "work" clothes. Guess what? By the end of the day they are all equally stained and muddy and they all look like dried Temperate Woodland Mud Pattern. (TWMP) FWIW -tom w