Placebo

I really like it the way it is, i try to buddy aid where possible and it does slow down an advance which seems quite realistic.  Adding more micromanagement would not really add anything to the gameplay. 

I really like it the way it is, i try to buddy aid where possible and it does slow down an advance which seems quite realistic.  Adding more micromanagement would not really add anything to the gameplay. 

I really like it the way it is, i try to buddy aid where possible and it does slow down an advance which seems quite realistic.  Adding more micromanagement would not really add anything to the gameplay. 

I really like it the way it is, i try to buddy aid where possible and it does slow down an advance which seems quite realistic.  Adding more micromanagement would not really add anything to the gameplay. 

Weird though it sounds, i still miss the machine gun jams that we had in CM1!!  Please keep on the to do list.

Battlepack 1: The Great Swan
Northern France and Belgium
September 1944
 
In just two months, between 6th June and mid August, the Allied armies in Normandy destroyed the cream of the 1944 German Army. Following this resounding defeat the Allies bounded across France in just a few days. It is during this period of stunning advance that Battlepack 1: The Great Swan is set, following the advance of the British 2nd Army from the Seine River, through Belgium, and all the way to the high water mark of the advance along the Meuse and lower Rhine.
 
The first phase of the Great Swan occurred when the 43rd Wessex Division seized a crossing over the Seine at Vernon in an opposed assault crossing. The battle here lasted several days, and the first 24 hours in particular were considered to be very dangerous for the British troops. However the bridgehead was stabilised and then gradually expanded to make room for follow-on forces. Prelude, the first battle of the Campaign Amiens Tonight, is a semi-historical examination of the difficulties of pressing back the determined German resistance which was able to make good use of the thick forests along the Seine river banks.
 
Shortly afterwards the British forces exploded out of the bridgehead and began racing across Northern France and into Belgium. From the first German resistance to the breakout was weak and disorganised - they were too busy fleeing back towards France to form a cohesive front. Engagements during this period tended to be small scale, and highly confusing. The Copse is a tiny scenario that takes a hypothetical look at one of these minor engagements. Overnight the advancing Allies generally rested, and prepared for the next day’s advance, while the Germans continued their relentless withdrawal. Celer et Audax and Nulli Secudus look at what happens when small British force disposed in hasty defence finds itself in the path of some withdrawing Germans in the middle of a rainy night or on a misty morning.
 
During the advance to Amiens the 11th Armoured Division was ordered to advance through the night without rest, culminating in an astonishing advance of 48 miles in just 24 hours. Tallyho follows the vanguard of this drive as they approach the location of a temporary halt at dusk. The next day found 11th Armoured at Amiens, embroiled in bitter city fighting (The Somme), and then pushing out of the city into the open ground across the river (To the green fields beyond). This was not the end of the war, and the Division soon found itself heading east once more (And the beat goes on).
 
Within days the lead elements of XXX Corps, made up as always by the armoured cars, found themselves in the region known as ‘the Crossroads of Europe’, a place where famous battles to decide the fate of nations have been fought since time immemorial (A crossroads near Brussels).
 
Soon after reaching Antwerp and the Belgian boder the advance petered out, stopped more by the logistical strain of leaping forward 200 miles in a few days than by increasing German resistance. Field Marshal Montgomery famously tried to kick-start the stalled advance with Operation Market-Garden. Those battles have been dealt with elsewhere in Combat Mission. However, in the weeks prior to the launch of Market Garden there were about a dozen planned airborne operations, all opf which were cancelled when they were overtaken by events. But what if the advance had been halted in the vicinity of Brussels?
 
One of the planned and cancelled airborne operations was LINNET II, which was to seize bridges over the Meuse west of Aachen, and open a route into Germany. A group of “what if?” fictional scenarios looks at how this never-fought battle might have played out. The flat ground between the Meuse River and Albert Canal would have provided excellent landing grounds (Drop Zone CHARLIE), while securing the river crossings was dependant on holding the high ground just east of the Meuse against counter attacks (LINNET II). As this operation was never launched, the exact details of Operation Linnet II are vague, and this vagueness has been exploited to look at the effect of differences in the detailed organisation of British and American ground and airborne forces when given the same ground and objectives, fighting against the same enemy.
 
Following the failure of Market Garden the British made a concerted effort to close up to the Rhine along its lower reaches before the onset of winter. This phase of the campaign saw a partial reversion to positional warfare, and the re-emergence of deliberate attacks against strong defences (Swansong). Often these attacks were supported by the specialist armour of the 79th Armoured Division (Hobart’s Funnies). With the onset of bad weather at the end of September the frontlines became static, and the heady days of The Great Swan became an increasingly distant memory.
 
In total Battlepack 1: The Great Swan contains over 25km2 of brand new, highly detailed handcrafted mapping.

Now, I won't name any names yet, but 'this guy you all know' yet again came up with this neat new concept. New to CM, that is. The entire gaming world outside of CM has been saturated with it for years. What am I talking about? Achievements! Obviously for use in campaign games only.
Since I'm the go-to-guy for 'this person you all know' for this type of odd-job, I happily sank my modding teeth into this one.
 
I've been playing around with the idea for an evening. It's just a bit of fun, and nothing too serious. I just thought this was too cool not to share straight away:
 
 

Looks really good.

Can i amend this quote to:
BFC got stuck in there own niche and are moving it forward
As long as they make enough money there is no reason for them to change what they are doing
 
I will keep coming back to buy the next great game they release, so don't care much if some would class it as update/DLC whatever  

Well Battlefront's plan for complete radio silence on the new Bulge game is working too well 
 
Does anyone have any snipets of info or leaks to share,  I would love to know more on any engine updates, campaigns etc (I am not even going to mention release dates!!).  

1) using UAV at the very beginning of the battle is very risky, but you are not forced to use them so soon, maybe during the battle the enemy AA assets will be destroyed and the UAV will be safe to be used, and can still be decisive.
2) SAM teams need time to spot sometimes just like a ground unit against another ground unit. The grey eagle particularly, can start an attack mission and only after it has started it becomes vulnerable.
3) no need to change difficulty, if you want to increase artillery reaction times invest in arty experience and loadership first, forward observer experience and leadership afterwards (although, FO experience accounts for precision of the strike rather than timing). Then, use TRPs, target reference points, these%

CMBO had a total game count of 125 armor/vehicles for the period covering June 44-May 45
CMBO has a total count of 97 armor/vehicles for June 44-Sept 44
CMBN has a total count of 185 armor/vehicles for June 44-May 45
CMBN includes 90 armor/vehicles that were not in CMBO for the time span or at all.
CMBN is missing 8 vehicles that were in CMBO.

You can figure out the AT guns and Mortars....

NOTE: I included Rhino variants in the final tally but left them out of the total New Vehicle count. Even if you exclude them completely it is still an impressive total.
 
 
 
Mord.

Yes. And coincidentally it's also the newest addition to Ben and Jerry's tasty lineup.
 
 
 
 
I used to fluff his pillows.
 
 
Mord.

I know you meant it in jest, but speaking for myself. I generally buy the game anyway and have also been known to gift it. BF isn't losing any money on me for beta testing. What I gain is less financial and more about
1 watching the development process. I find it very interesting to see the decision making process to the extent I can at battlefront.
2 contributing even if in a small way to what i think is by far the best game out there bar none
3 getting to interact with a bunch of folks I have a very high regard for, both BF employees and beta testers
4 I save money spending time on this hobby. My other one, carpentry, is far more expensive.

That is purely a personal decision though. No matter what BF does someone is always going to want something different and they will mod it. So for example if I want unit patches for one specific combat formation (which actually is one of the mod types I really like). That isn't on BF that is just my thing and that I actually can do it is pretty cool.
Regarding pricing. Question - where do you define the line between what is considered worthy of a full game and what is a module?

I ask because BF has explicitly defined a line where they feel the amount of content that loads is what they feel is an upper threshold for a "family". I am sure they wrestled with that a while trying to optimize for the game, their labor and the price. How many man hours of BF time goes into a $55 game based on expected sales. Personally I have never been disappointed and I think you will need to actually see the game before you are in a position to feel that content wise it is worth it or not.

BF definitely has a bit of a sliding bar. CMBS introduced a lot of new stuff, this was on top of the rest of the content. I fully expect from a number of man hours to price, CMBS was a loss relative to CMFI and CMRT. Sales figures would affect that equation but we have no info on this. I did not hear anyone crying out when they first launched a UAV or an ATGM was shot down by APS or a laser warning went off that BF charged too little for CMBS. It is always one sided, BF always charges too much, never too little. That for me usually invalidates these discussions. They are not objective about cost versus value. They are strictly oriented towards your/our wallet and not Battlefront's. There isn't anything wrong with that per se,but again they aren't objective.

Odin,  I am taking a different view, I hope Battlefront put in plenty of new content to warrant the full price game tag.  Info is still quite sparse on the game and they have a history of not commiting to anything until it is definitely making into the the game so I would wait and see.

Odin,  I am taking a different view, I hope Battlefront put in plenty of new content to warrant the full price game tag.  Info is still quite sparse on the game and they have a history of not commiting to anything until it is definitely making into the the game so I would wait and see.

It's really cool being able to flow back and forth depending on what your interests dictate at any moment. Between CM and Total War I have just about all my historical warfare/history interests covered...all that's really missing for me now is Nam and Korea. I think this is the best time I've ever seen in PC wargaming. I really dig having all these choices. I've said it many, many times but it's really cool being able to read a book, or watch a documentary and then jump straight into a game and interact with the subject matter so intimately.
 
Although CM and Total War are completely different games, I am finding TW scratches the same itch Combat Mission does. I didn't think I'd like TW (only ever played Shogun I) but I am really taken with it. I have managed to pick up Rome II, Shogun II, Medieval II, Empires and Napoleon (with all the DLCs) since December through 75% off sales. TW fills in the gaps CM couldn't, and now thanks to both, I am in history heaven.
 
As an example of what I was saying in the first paragraph, I was watching Turned on Netflix the other day, so I decided to start a game of Empires (using Darth Mod). I picked Britain for my campaign so I could eventually act out the Revolution. Last night the Huron and Iroquois declared war on me. A massive force of Huron ended up over running a small trading post I had on the Hudson Bay (my only British foothold on the continent at the moment). They killed everyone to the last man. I already had a ship with troops inbound, figuring the Indians would be attacking there, and wanted to bolster the defenses but it was too late. When my guys landed they tried besieging the captured post but the Huron counter attacked. When it was all over 54 out of 500+ of the Crown's men were all that remained. The survivors ended up fleeing north west along the bay, deeper into the wilds, in the middle of winter. A couple turns later France declared war on me after I attacked the Cherokee. Thus began my version of the French Indian War.
 
THAT is why I love these games! CM and TW both draw you in (albeit in different ways), involve you, surround you with their history and provide the vehicle to tell your own stories. And for me, in particular, that is the main draw. It really doesn't get much better than that. And the Bulge will be one more setting to add to the mix—one more stage to showcase the drama.
 
 
Mord.

Bull****.
 
Absolutely we should support the paid engine Updates. That is what keeps the older titles on par with the newer ones.
 
What I would support is lowering the "bundle" prices for new players on the older titles, thus reducing their initial expense for buying a "Family".
 
I will never begrudge $10 for updating an older title to a newer engine.

Interesting (and i would say relevant) thanks JK

Michael you have no idea what a sacred place this forum is in this regard. On some other forums the average poster is angry, tired and drunk!
 
EDIT:
 
LukeFF upvoting your own posts in response to someone downvoting them is lame. Also i agree with Desertor. Just dont read Johns posts if you are not interested. I dont read 90% of them either.

Title says it all, weather is getting warmer but I need my fix of winter WW2 battles. 
 
Anyone know anything on the bulge game release?

What does professional.soldiers.in an.army with the most epic firepower ever have to do with you being.shot at at that moment.in the ukraine? The US was more or.less sole.posessor of nuclear weapons in 1950 ( yes i know the soviets tested one in 49, doesnt mean they had any meaningful numbers) and US forces panicked and.fled with certain exceptions during the initial NK invasion and again during the Chinese intervention. I imagine yoyr country being.the strongest in.the world.means.fu#k all when that power isnt on.the spot and you.re being hosed down.with half your platoon screaming in bloody agony or turning into red.mist. Also the OP seems almost like a troll. I dnt want marines.or nato modules. F everyone else give me what i want. US troops act like COWARDS.very inflammatory, above.other posters are correct.the game.for obvious reasons doesnt model different soldiers as having different national.characteristics. this would obviously cause bfc endless problems, especially from.countries with less than.stellar military histories or ones that seem to breed rabid hordes of trolls online (heres.looking at you Russia and.to a lesser extent Germany) declaring their countries are the supreme pinnacle.of.human evolution. Russian.stronk crush hato dogs. Nazi germany didnt.really start ww2 it was forced upon.them. ( yeah rlly read that last.nite by a.youtube user)

Never reload - enjoy the challenge of still winning despite the setback.