Richard Foulston

Hi, It's Richard again. I just have another few comments and suggestions: 1) As someone mentioned earlier, graphics are a big thing when it comes to computer games, and people really do want the best. If a rewiew in PC Gamer states at the end - 'Overall the graphics are great but the flames and smoke look a bit like they were done in a rush and don't really match the quality of graphics on most of the other parts of the game' then you're probably going to loose some customers. But a - '...so you may want to buy the expansion pack coming out next month' would go nicely on the end. Are there any plans to bring out an offical expansion pack (like on command and conquer, and Starcraft ones), which would include improved graphics, fix bugs, and add the vehicles not released in the original? I know that I'd be willing to spend another £15 on an expansion pack (I did with Starcraft), would other members? 2) What are graphics like that doing in Combat Mission? The graphics for the tanks are amazing, and everything else fit in perfectly, except the fire, smoke and explosion effects. They really don't fit in! You did say the game wouldn't be released until it was ready, doesn't making all the graphics fit in count as finished? 3) One another thing that rather annoys me about computer games is seeing one man, who represents 5 men. Will there be an option that will allow each man to represent one man (by that I mean a squad of three men representing three men, rather than twelve, as I accept that it is too hard to have twelve men per squad) ? (For those who care a little more about playing a realistic game, than an accurate world war 2 simulation.) 4) What are the current desicions about dead infantry? Do they stay on the battlefeild, just dissapear straight away, give a little dying act and then dissapear after a few seconds, dissapear at the end of the turn, or do we get a choice in the options? 5)We have to mail order Combat Mission from you personally, right? Well, then where are you stationed, 'cause if it's in America then surely the post & package and everything, are going to make it pretty expensive for people in places like Britain (where I am) to buy the game off you. Am I right? Is there a solution? I really do think that adding a little realistic 3D smoke around the turret when it fires; and having a more realistic explosion, and some smoke around large explosions from tanks and mortars, etc...; and some realistic fire and smoke (even if it's just thin 3D dimensional strands of flame, a bit like on Starcraft, if anyone has ever seen the flames on terran buildings, and I don't mean having seen screenshots because they're rubbish), I personally wouldn't mind waiting for an expansion pack or something like that, if you did ever decide to improve the graphics. I would just like to say that I think the producers are doing a wonderful job, and combat mission has to be one of the best computer games that I have ever seen. I was just hoping it would become the best!

Thanks for your help but most computers can cope with quite a lot more than the probable requirements (or at least all iMacs can especially with speed and RAM upgrades) so my suggestion would be to have extra 3D graphics available for optional installation, or bring out the 3D graphics in a later addition if they slowed down it's production, but I guess we'll just have to live with it, real pity though, but I'll probably get the game anyway. Thanks for the information about squads representing more men, I thought it might have somthing to do with that, but I wasn't quite sure. Also Von Shrad, it would be nice if you could explain about the Beta demo's and gold editions, etc... I have always got a bit confused about that sort of thing. Thanks for your help.

I downloaded the Beta demo recently and thought it was brilliant, but I didn't like the fire and smoke graphics. The fires are just boxes of two dimensional flames, and the smoke is also totally two dimentional. Will these be changed to three dimensional objects later on. Also, when heavy weapons fire (e.g. tanks, artillery, etc...) and when the shots hit the target you see a quickly expanding sphere to represent an explosion. In the final version will this be changed to smoke around the gun for firing, and a more realistic explosion for impact. The only other problem is that infantry can take quite a lot of fire power. Usually it would only take one or two shots anywhere on a person to take them out of the action. Will this change? My only other questions are: 1)What's so special about the gold version I've heard everyone talking about, what will be added to the game, more vehicles, support for other graphics cards? Will this version cost much more, can the original be upgraded to gold, and if so, will you have to buy the upgrade, or can you download it free. 2)I don't know if there is a definate answer to this one, but does anyone have an official (or nearly official) release date. I've heard dates ranging from the end of last year to the end of January. Please answer my questions if you can, Richard.