Grisha

Okay, that made me laugh.

Like the old saying goes, "Никто не забыт, ничто не забыто." No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.

It is more than a little surprising that I've been gone since 2014 and to come back to see nothing new with CMRT six years later. BFC haven't been slacking however, given all the developments with CMFI, CMBN and the arrival of CMFB afterward. That's a lot of work though not so much for the Eastern Front. CMBB was a masterpiece, however, so I'm confident BFC will make up for the drought. At least they kicked off the new engine on the Russian front in 1944. Barbarossa is overblown Hey, it could be worse. It could be Bannerlord. Love that game, but the wait was insane.

NKVD had a lot to do with this development, working in hand with Red Army and coordinating with Soviet operations. That was about 1943 roughly. There were airfields in partisan-held territory in occupied USSR with regular flights by U-2 for ferrying officers/agents/wounded.

Great news! Looking forward to Fire and Rubble then.

Erwin, Have you read 'Soviet Partisan Movement 1941-1944' by Leonid Grenkevich? Lots of good information in that book but little on the conflicts between the nationalist and communist partisan factions. Thanks for pointing that out. Vatutin had been killed by Ukrainian Nationalist partisans while on military operations in 1944.

Been away a good long while from CM. I've had CMRT on a cd in its case and decided to revisit it. Caught a video by Josey Wales doing a Soviet attack on a village called Ugly, and now I'm thinking of playing again. Think I have CMRT updated to most recent patch(engine 4). What's Fire and Rubble all about?

Let's hope it's truly dead. I've always been somewhat proud of gamer geekiness, in that we take in whoever due to our own propensity for being on the out of mainstream followings. At a party there's nothing more I'd like to do than talk about Soviet operational art and how it stood up to German tactical-operational theory, but I realize that would soon mean eating crackers alone at the snack table. So, being happy with anybody having an interest in wargames to the point of wanting to play was the only criteria back then. But now it seems things have changed. Women start expressing their own thoughts and submitting their own objections to the way they're depicted in games and all hell breaks loose by a contingent of male gamers who are appalled. Why? I don't know. It's really unfortunate too, because it's embarrassing as hell. I expected a lot more from my odd/wonderful community and they totally let me down. What is up with that? Anyway, mi dos pesos and all that. Hope this phenomena returns to the trash bin of cultural history and we can re-learn to cooperate with all genders and just enjoy playing games again.

Maybe this could be the new Peng Challenge?

Hey Charles and Steve, Have you guys ever thought of talking to Good Old Games (gog.com) about putting out those two air war gems from the 1990s? You know what I'm talking about: Over the Reich and Achtung Spitfire! It would be great to see those games back out and playable on Windows 7/8. They just put out an enhanced version of Cinemaware's Wings! Saw that and I thought of OtR, one of my favorites.

Yeah, seeing Kip's reply reminded me of it too. It was slow as hell but on the other hand just doing the work was pretty cool.

In video gamer terms 'strategy' means you have to use your head and think about stuff. In military terms 'strategy' is the prerogative of politicians and the highest ranks of the various military arms, where military directives are shaped and formed by political goals. CM has always been a tactical game in military terms. This per the definition of the hierarchy in military art: tactics, operational art, and strategy.

kuri, Thanks for that post. I'd long had hopes for Matrix' Combined Arms over the decade plus of its development, but Command Ops may be the way to go. What kept me away from the game was the lack of eastern front representation. This appears to fix that. I think I'm going to buy this one, thanks to you.

Yeah, the game was originally made as WEGO, and I still play that way. Realtime can be fun but isn't as helpful when trying to simulate the decisions of many commanders and units from one mind (yours). Also, it's really helpful to make sure to do the training campaign even if you've played the game before (first series). They do a good job of explaining the default method of camera use.

The idea of a Soviet soldier not having the wherewithal to open a hatch to get a better view of a very dangerous opponent is sort of mind boggling. No, sir, it's not gamey at all. It's what any smart person (including Soviet-type human beings!) would do when posed with such a situation. A risk? Certainly, but relative to what?

I bought it and I'm enjoying it very much. I also bought CMBO way back in the day. Why? Because it looked innovative. And, guess what? CMRT still is. You decide.

Whoa. I'm going to have to check this out. Thanks, Ian! Way cool!

Oh, and if you guys didn't know already, d/l priority is based on 'Join Date.' Sorry if you didn't know that.

Today's my weekend and it was either play ESO or EVE. Then, I saw the email about the download. CMRT FTW ZA RODINU!!!! 21 minutes from PKKA goodness.

My bad, stikkypixie. I got mixed up with something else. AI triggers weren't in CMBB.

Making a manual is such a thankless job I would suspect. You have to write it all down, then try and come up with possible interpretations for rules or mechanics, all in the interest of making the game more easily understood and intuitive. Battlefront, you guys have always put out stellar manuals, and I want to let you know it's greatly appreciated.

Hey, John. I live in Ballard (Seattle proper). A bit busy this weekend, but we should hook up some time. I have a friend in Portland who also plays CM. Are you living here, or just visiting, I guess I should ask?

Not trying to rag on CM2. Just saying I'm glad to see those features in CMRT, and didn't realize it had been omitted up to this point.

Yeah, I think Jason has the right perspective. At this level if you call in air support and a friendly aircraft shows up and ends up hitting the enemy, that's pretty much a win. Soviet pilots had maps they could pull out with grids and all, like everyone else, but not 20x20 meters.

Glad to see that command and control lines are in the game, as well as AI triggers. CMBB had all that, so I guess it got lost along the way into the CM2 engine?