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76mm

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Everything posted by 76mm

  1. True, but BFC doesn't need $80 million. Maybe you put in $50 towards a project which costs $100k and get a copy of the game and one of the Leaders named after you, you pick the a division's markings to be used in the game, etc. who knows?
  2. But it is right--it is all player funded, although I'm sure that some of them are player-speculators hoping to buy the special goodies now and resell later for a profit. Here are some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Citizen http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/04/with-72m-raised-star-citizens-chris-roberts-has-become-a-crowdfunding-believer/ http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1019-star-citizen-20141017-story.html#page=1 One of the articles in the links says that one of the game's "clans" (or whatever) has 26k members, and the game hasn't even launched yet! And of course you're right that some of the members of our player community are rather tight--but there have also been plenty of players posting things like "I would definitely pay more for feature X, or feature Y...". I've seen many players post that they'll buy whatever Battlefront puts out--but the pace is so slow--we're still waiting for a CMRT module after 18 months. What if, for instance, Battlefront told us that they could have the Kursk module out in six months if they could hire (ala Kickstarter, etc.) a freelancer to build whatever 3D models they needed (or whatever their particular bottle-neck is)? I'm in right now...
  3. From what I've seen, this is not the case. What they're doing is selling the ability to preview and comment and/influence the game as it develops, as well as selling "special edition" spaceships, such as "decommissioned" military space destroyers, etc. The space nerds are lapping this stuff up, I read an article about one guy who had bought something like $10k worth of space ships. You are right that there is some admin overhead/cost involved, and that is probably why Star Citizen, once they've raised a few million bucks, moved fundraising to their own site (as mentioned in a previous post, they are apparently licensing or providing this to other companies). I'm guessing that one of the main problems with development at Battlefront is time rather than money, so I have been hoping for some time that you could use kickstarter-type projects for individual add-ons projects for which you could hire a free-lance programmer--for instance, I'd be willing to pay ALOT for the ability to be able to import/export unit data (to facilitate player-made campaign layers). It seems like Charles wouldn't need to spend much time on projects like this, and the game could gradually be widened. I'm sure it is much harder than I'm making it sound, but still...
  4. ahem, according to Wikipedia, Star Citizen funding is now up to $80 million. I would hate to think that wargame nerds are more grudging in their support than space nerds. Star Citizen is apparently also providing their pledge "system" to other companies. Honestly, I think that some form of kickstarter-ish campaigns is part of the future of wargaming--it is becoming more and more difficult for a single guy sitting in his pajamas to develop a game which will succeed in the market--look at any number of stalled/failed projects at Matrix. I could probably count on one hand the number of companies like Battlefront that is capable of and willing to put out a quality wargame, and sadly I expect that that number will shrink rather than grow.
  5. I always hesitate to debate with Steve--best case any time he spends responding is time away from work on the upcoming CMRT module (ahem), worst case he can make me look like a dummy...but that's never stopped me before, so: 1) I'm not sure that I understand your first point--you disagree with me, but then admit that Borg Spotting only applies once one unit spots an enemy, which is exactly what I'm saying... 2) On your second point, I think it would have a big effect if you're playing real time; but if you're playing WEGO, as I do, the impact of this lack of defensive behavior is more limited, because within a minute at most I'll be able to cause the unit to take defensive measures myself, and moreover, even if I can't spot the enemy units, there are plenty of things I can do to supress/mask them: I can have tanks fire smoke, fire HE near the enemy, fire at their building, etc. Gamey? Yes, but I and probably many other players tend to do what they can to keep their pixeltruppen alive. I seem to be the only one with these opinions, so I'll shut up at this point, but wanted to get my two cents in...
  6. I agree that the fact that units don't stay spotted is a big advance, I just don't think it is the same thing as Borg Spotting. And even though you never really got a good spot on the ATs, once you'd seen where it was, unless your self-restraint is much greater than mine, your entire force would act as if it knew where it was. As Steve says, there is no real solution to this issue, but it is what it is... For me anyway, maybe the lack of Borg Spotting will be more obvious when CMRT moves out of Belorussia--where most of the scenarios I've played have featured very broken lines of sight (brush, trees, buildings, etc.)--into the open country around Kursk, etc.
  7. I agree that AT guns now have a purpose, which is great. But for the second time someone is pointing out that removing borg spotting is great because they don't spot the enemy; again, that has nothing to do with borg spotting, which refers to the fact that once one enemy has seen you, all of them have. If you don't spot the enemy at all, that is because of new spotting rules/routines, not because borg spotting has been removed.
  8. I've only read one of Mark's books--Island of Fire. It was amazing, my only complaint was that the book was so focused on the Barrikady fighting that even other fighting in Stalingrad was not addressed at all. But, given the amazing depth of the treatment of the fighting in the Barrikady, it is hard to fault the author for this.
  9. hmm, I seem to be in the minority on this one, but that's really what I think. I agree that borg spotting has been eliminated on a "micro" level, ie individual units/vehicles can survive longer because of it, and that is helpful to some degree, but "macro" borg spotting remains, and that to me is a bigger problem. My units might not know what is going on, but I do, and I am the one telling them what to do... I'm not saying that there is a solution to "macro" borg spotting--at least until that point in the future when TacAI can be programmed to the degree when I don't need to give units orders every turn. Playing with some form of the "iron" rules would probably address this also, but when I tried playing like that I quickly became disoriented without the situational awareness that a real commander would have. And I'm not sure that I understand slysniper's comment: "I might be moving them into line of sight of enemy units I do not see yet since spotting can be so deceiving now as to how long it might take to see enemy units within possible visual views." I don't think this has anything to do with borg spotting per se, just different spotting rules--if you can't see the enemy units yet at all then it seems like borg spotting is not a factor?
  10. I really have to disagree that the so-called "elimination" of borg spotting has made a big difference. The fact is that even without Borg spotting, whether or not your units have spotted enemy units on the map, you as player certainly have, and thus give orders to your units as if they also knew where the enemy is. The end effect is nearly the same, and I don't really consider the "lack" of borg spotting as some huge leap forward in my game experience.
  11. Glantz's Stalingrad series is very dense, but not as boring as Barbarossa Derailed, because generally it consists of narrative history, rather than cut-and-paste from Soviet orders/reports like Derailed. I you REALLY want to know about Stalingrad, you probably have to read it, but I can't promise that you'll enjoy it! I just finished reading Marshall of Victory--the english translation of Zhukov's memoirs; it was actually much better than I expected, but pretty long (IIRC 960 pp) and not without a fair bit of the party line. I also just finished Survivors of Stalingrad, which is accounts by, well, German survivors of Stalingrad, and have just started Stalingrad: the City that Defeated the Third Reich--accounts by Soviet participants in the battle--so far it looks pretty interesting.
  12. Depends on what you're looking for; if you want a very detailed treatment of the battle of Smolensk, with lots of extracts from Soviet orders and reports, then by all means read the book. If you want an interesting read about the battle, I would avoid it--all of the extracts from the Soviet orders and reports make it very dull reading. If you want a good book on the campaign up to and including Smolensk, take a look at Luther's book "Barbarossa Unleashed", it is excellent. Stahel's books on the summer of 41 are also very interesting, but very different.
  13. While this is very true, the best thing about the random maps for me was that they could create a large map with adequate relief features, which is very tedious and difficult to create manually; the problem with creating relief is that is is very difficult (at least for me) to replicate all of the naturally occurring little folds, dips, and rises on a map. I would then "wipe" all of the other objects (forests, roads, buildings, marsh) from the map and then do replace all of those by hand.
  14. This is where I am as well. I don't mind the new business model, etc., but I'm just not sucked into CMx2 yet
  15. I have been kind of sympathetic towards complaints about spotting, but wanted to pass on one of my real life experiences: I was a tank company XO during desert storm. One of my duties was to wake up long before dawn and go to each of my company's tanks to check that they were awake for "stand-to". Our tanks were parked in a circular lager in flat open desert. On really dark mornings (with no fog) I could not see the tanks from 10 meters or even 5--in fact I had to walk around with my arms out and as often as not I would feel them before I saw them, obviously these tanks were stationary. This is a completely true story, I think it can be difficult to imagine how dark it can get when you are out in the boonies away from ambient light.
  16. I would hope its superbly presented--$253 at Amazon!! http://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Favorite-History-January-1943-June/dp/1909982156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431203805&sr=8-1&keywords=stalins+favorite
  17. Here ya go: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/117526-modded-horizon-files/?hl=horizon
  18. Dunno, I think if you look at what was on the ground in April-May 1945, rather than "coming soon", I'd give the advantage to the Soviets; if you quibble with that, it certainly wasn't anything like as one-sided in the US' favor as Patton seemed to think.
  19. A whole collection of misconceptions and mistakes in one sentence...let's break down Georgie's statements: "The American Army as it now exists could beat the Russians with the greatest of ease..." Famous last words if I ever heard them...was he talking about beating a few depleted Red Army units they encountered, or a knock-down fight with the whole Red Army? Hitler didn't do so well with the prediction that the Wehrmacht could beat the Russians "with the greatest of ease" , and I doubt that Patton's statement would have been much more accurate. ...while the Russians have good infantry, they are lacking in artillery, air, tanks... Pretty nearly backwards as far as I can tell; the Russians were very short of infantry towards the end of the war. Red Army lacking in artillery? That's a good one! Russian tanks were both abundant and much better than most US tanks. Airpower is the only place I've give the US a solid advantage. ...lacking...in the knowledge of the use of the combined arms... Again, pretty rich considering that the Red Army had just finished crushing the Wehrmacht after pushing them back thousands of kilometers across a huge front.
  20. I've reconsidered my invitation, I hope you understand.
  21. hmmm, I can host you in Moscow for a few days but get dibs on her sister.
  22. I'd be pretty shocked and disappointed if the next RF module doesn't include snow--I understand that each RF base game will cover mid-year to mid-year, which should include the winter in the middle. There have already been plenty of threads with suggestions/ hopes of what should be included, I'm guessing that BF has already made up their mind on that.
  23. I haven't read any of those books, but another forumite (Sublime) highly recommended the Buttar book: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/117714-anyone-reading-or-read-prit-buttars-excellent-battleground-prussia/
  24. Have your people talk to my people, we'll do lunch...
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