Hertston

Hehe.. no, a week or two I can live with; plenty of other games to play. It's when I hear nothing but silence I get worried!

For the third time, what is the anticipated ETA for the European kalypso versions?

And, indeed, the UK kalypso version?

Maddmatt, does BF have any idea when the patch will be available for other versions (I have the English (UK) kalypso box version 1.7.0.68), or is that out of your hands? It does have the BF logo on the box, but I assume it's not compatible with the patched buy-from-BF version?

The AI is less than stunning but that is made up for to some extent in the scenario design. Pathfinding is no worse than in any other RTS game (which isn't saying much). LOS issues are still a huge problem. I doubt very much any of those will change significantly in 1.05 so if you fancy the game might as well buy it now. For all its faults there is no other product that offers what CMSF does.

Veteran. I started off with elite, but switched when I realised that original omission of the pause feature was probably the worst design decision in the whole game (and that's up against some pretty strong competition). I know that's been remedied, so I must give elite another go sometime.

It must be very frustrating developing for PC (as opposed to consoles) these days, with so much variation in results. I guess, as you say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I haven't noticed any change in graphics at all except that I can punt up the options - I get better (in some cases MUCH better) FPS in most scenarios with "better" settings for models and textures than I did with "faster" for both with 1.03. Which makes me a happy bunny, in that respect anyway.

That rather assumes there will be any modules beyond 'X'. Personally, I'd be amazed if anything after the USMC one actually gets released, much as I would like them to be. I think they would have to be independent, otherwise the market for each successive one would shrink each time, and they would become totally unviable... after the first one, probably.

I just can't see the point any more. It's dragged on so long they would be better taking what they do have, and converting it into a 'module' for the first CM2 WW2 game.

Likewise, a HUGE frame-rate improvement. Early days, but a great start.

It's not 'stupidity'.. both Paradox and Gamersgate will have a little work to do with the patch once they receive it from BF. Hence my guess that the BF version is already done and we are waiting on the others. It's not anybody's 'fault'.. release the BF patch before the others and one group moans, delay it in order to release all versions at the same time and a different group moans. A no-win situation. A few extra days won't kill anyone, anyway.

My (wild) guess is that it's been ready for days; it's just faffing about trying to arrange the parallel release of the Paradox and Gamersgate versions that's causing the delay while they do their own installer test and 'quality control', dah di dah....

You have to go back into the depths of history for that one. Play.com is registered in the Channel Islands, but the Channel Islands aren't actually part of the UK; they are a seperate possession of the Crown. Strictly speaking they are ruled by the Queen not as the Queen of the United Kingdom but as the heir to the Duchy of Normandy (i.e their status goes right back to William the Conqueror). They have their own government and are not represented in, or under the authority of, the British parliament. The point of all that, in a nutshell, is that they never signed the relevant treaties and are not actually full members of the European Union, from whence comes VAT law. In fact they have a rather unusual status all-round which led to similar problems with 'offshore' banking and associated tax revenues (or lack of them) which were only resolved fairly recently. How the loophole will be closed in practice I don't know, but Gordon Brown (the Prime Minister) has recently announced it will be.. the DVD and CD retailers in particular have been upset about the 'unfair' competition for some time.

Because that isn't their business model. Sales of CMSF amount to relative peanuts (no offence), as do the vast majority of games but they do get those who want them to visit the site. Where they will buy the big selling games (Halo 3, WoW etc) and DVDs which, while discounted, are usually no more so than people like Amazon. The trick is that, being Channel Islands based, they don't have to add on or account for the 17.5% VAT (sales tax) they so they actually make more on each sale than UK/mainland Europe competitors retailing at the same price. If it's any consolation that's a loophole about to get closed.

If you think SF is the largest, or indeed worse, you can't have bought many games recently! However, perhaps BF might consider moving to the model Stardock are using for 'Sins of a Solar Empire' for the WW2 game? Pre-ordering gets you access to the beta - so that's 'paying beta tester' if you like, but they are totally up-front about it. The boards are open to anybody, without the NDA crap - which suggests a certain confidence in the product - so any potential pre-order or release customer can assess exactly what the state of the game is and make a totally informed decision whether to buy it or not. A great way for getting customers on-board with the project rather than antagonizing them. Not to mention keeping the cash-flow rolling.

Always happens when a game is distributed in several ways. BF will have no control over how Walmart decide to price it, or when they discount that price. The can't cut to match as they couldn't survive on Walmart margins. Plus you don't get the 'proper' manual with the Paradox version? Look at it this way, at least all of what you have paid has gone to support BF; had you bought Paradox/Walmart I doubt 20% of it would have done. It's a bitch, especially when you are strapped for cash, but it's up to the buyer to seek out the lowest price not expect everybody else to match it.

You can't assume all scenarios will run acceptably just because the demo does. Some maps are real frame-rate killers, at least up to 1.03. 1.04 will apparently include a significant performance improvement, so you might want to hang on and ask the same question once that has been released?

Can you give a realistic assessment at this stage of the chances of seeing any further CM:SF modules after the Marines one?

Nope. It was followed by SFC2: Empires at War (an improved, but initially buggy revamp of the first), a stand-alone expansion called Orion Pirates, and finally SFC3 which was a dumbed down (although it has its fans) game that moved from the Starfleet (Battles) universe to the TV Next Gen one. There has been a lot of fan stuff, especially ship models, for all the games. Orion Pirates was the peak IMHO. Top-notch strategy game in multiplayer with huge amounts of variety and an awful lot of skill required to play well. As to the original question I doubt I'll 'still' be playing. Each expansion might start me playing again for a while.

Likewise. I hope SF makes it as far as the second module, at least... and personally I'd rather see at least one more 'modern' (i.e anything post Korea) game from the CM2 engine before moving back to WW2. I appreciate that's a minority opinion, though.

That's next month...

I'd happily second any recommendation so far, although I'd add Highway to the Reich as well as CotA. It's a little less refined than the later game, but not much and would be a better choice if you have an interest in 'Market Garden'. My other pick would be at strategic level (if you are willing to stray a little further from what you originally wanted), Matrix's War in the Pacific.

I always worry about a reviewer who calls maps or scenarios in a wargame 'levels'! However, a reasonable enough review, I think. I don't share his opinion on the UI, but then I rarely do when the reviewers moan about UI in games I have played. The SMSF UI is actually rather elegant IMHO, once you get used to it.

I'd rather see pauses controlled by the players, either with a fixed number of 'time-outs' as in sports or (preferably) a fixed time allocation, as in chess. I suspect auto-pauses might just annoy people as Murphy's law dictates they will mostly occur when neither player needs to do anything and they will just be sitting there twiddling their thumbs.

I just hope we get to see them, although that will presumably depend on sales of the first. I'm as keen to see WW2 as the next guy, but it would be a shame not to see the full potential of CM2 for modern settings realised before its back to Shermans and Tigers.