Zemke

I wrote the above post with my 15 year old son in mind, and the future of our hobby in general. Remember in the 1980s when you could walk into a computer game store and all the games were "Wargames", now there are none, or very few. If I want a wargame I have to order from online. Why, because the market has gotten so small, thats why, supply and demand. And to agrue that "twitch gamers would never play anyway", seems the type of attitude that will certainly doom our hobby in the long run. You can have realism and good graphics, you can have PBEM and multi-multi-play all in the same game! It has been done and is being done right now. Oh, and for for those who wouldn't want the hassel of dealing with other players on their side, then don't, play alone. But in the real Army and in real life, subordinate commanders have to work together, cross-talk, coordinate, to ensure the mission is executed. Multi-Multi play would open that OPTION up. I just see the possibilities of greatness. Organized groups (Clans) pitting tactical decision making against each other. Campaign games that don't take longer than the real war took to complete, while still making the "old guard" happy, as they can still be the squad leader, platoon leader, company commander, and study every fold in the ground, and check every LOS from every where before they send their PBEM file to their buddy. Everyone is happy!! As for the development time, I would gladly pay the extra money, and wait the extra time for CMX2 with multi-multi play capability. If it cost me $100 for the game, and it was what I wanted, I would buy it, period. Wargaming is what I love to do, so money is not the issue, (IF THE GAME IS GOOD). I have spent far more on other things, and had less fun than I do playing Combat Mission!!

Am I wrong, but would not a multi-player CMX2 appeal to a larger market, particularly the younger players. I mean given the number of multi-play sims, and FPS out there that are predominately played by teens and young adults, this generation expects a multi-player feature. As I have said in the past SPWAW had a good starting point on how this could be done. Also FOW aspects could be included like Allied player A could not see Allied player B's soldiers unless he had LOS. This would make coordination critical to winning. Think of the possibilities, all players giving orders, when everyone hits go, you see your troops, and maybe some of your ajecent units, you hear fire from a distance...who got hit.... You could have larger battles, done faster, with all the real confusion that several personnalites interacting would create!! You could have a recon commander, two manuver commanders, perhaps a FSO (Fire Support Officer), each responsible for their part of the mission. An overal battle Commander feature could be part of it. The possibilities are there. Other games have done it, and do it well. Rome Total War comes to mind, al bet somewhat unreliably. SPWAW had the feature, but online or LAN play never seemed to work, as the games could not be saved, (they may have fixed this by now (CM came out and I never looked back). I am not a programer, but I have been playing wargames for over 25 years and I am an Infantry Officer, and I know in my heart that good wargames don't have to be stale looking and be realistic, they can be both now, and multi-play will add the final touch for a tactical simulation to go that next level and reach many more prospective buyers.

Am I wrong, but would not a multi-player CMX2 appeal to a larger market, particularly the younger players. I mean given the number of multi-play sims, and FPS out there that are predominately played by teens and young adults, this generation expects a multi-player feature. As I have said in the past SPWAW had a good starting point on how this could be done. Also FOW aspects could be included like Allied player A could not see Allied player B's soldiers unless he had LOS. This would make coordination critical to winning. Think of the possibilities, all players giving orders, when everyone hits go, you see your troops, and maybe some of your ajecent units, you hear fire from a distance...who got hit.... You could have larger battles, done faster, with all the real confusion that several personnalites interacting would create!! You could have a recon commander, two manuver commanders, perhaps a FSO (Fire Support Officer), each responsible for their part of the mission. An overal battle Commander feature could be part of it. The possibilities are there. Other games have done it, and do it well. Rome Total War comes to mind, al bet somewhat unreliably. SPWAW had the feature, but online or LAN play never seemed to work, as the games could not be saved, (they may have fixed this by now (CM came out and I never looked back). I am not a programer, but I have been playing wargames for over 25 years and I am an Infantry Officer, and I know in my heart that good wargames don't have to be stale looking and be realistic, they can be both now, and multi-play will add the final touch for a tactical simulation to go that next level and reach many more prospective buyers.

I used half squads, but mostly for scouting, OPs, and lead element of the platoon. As for the realism or gameness of it, real Squads are organized into two fire teams, squads maneuver by fire team. As in real life, if the squad is maneuvering, and due to terrain, is forced to maneuver in an area lager than the area reprsented by game tile, then the split squad makes sense. In real life, a squad that is more spead out is harder to control, thus harder to "motivate" it to do what you want, thus a moral hit.

The key to all this is maintain a balance. I lean to more realism, but like a flight sim or other games out today, let the player decide at what level of realism he wants to play at. If CMX2 can achieve a level of improvement like CMBB did over CMBO in realism, then I say you did it. One thing that I think would change the face of this game, and make it truly great, is::::the ability to have more than one player per side, like SPWAW could. The "team" would get a certain amount of points that could be split between the players anyway they wanted. THIS would revolutionize the game in a way nothing else would. Also, PLEASE fix the artillery model. During an attack or assault the attacker should have the abiltiy to use TRPs. We do it real life, but not in CM. As an old grunt, I would never order a deliberant attack without preplanned fires on call. In the American we call them priority targets, and a Company may get one, a Battalion two or three, but this all depends on what fire support assets are availible. Make losing a HQ hurt, in real life if the Company HQ or worse the Battalion HQ is "killed", depending on that nations doctrine, the battle could go to hell really fast.

The bottom line is realism. I would like to see the following: 1. Squad orders that allow flexibility and realism. 2. Curved Armor Modeling 3. Did every Panther G have lots of uppper armor flaws. 4. Better Graphics, more detail, mod-able, more dead infantry, more armor graphics options on armor kills, Turrents blow off 5. Time on target indirect fire modeling 6. Tanks that turn faster, I know tanks can turn faster in emergency than they currently do. 7. Harder to spot Infantry in General. Infantry strength is the ability to hid. This could be done through more variations in terrain, streams, ditches, etc. 8. Tanks that protect Infantry from direct fire if they are behind them. 9. Pre set armor formations. 10. Company TO&E for Armor 11. More importance for Command Elements. Losing the Battalion HQ should create problems, particularly for more armies that had a more centralized command and control system, the Soviets come to mind. 12. Finially a list of sources where the information has been gathered. This would create a certain amount of debate, but would also allow correction in bad data, due to good research.

CM2 should be, must be WWII! Modern is well, very deadly and very complicated. What would make CM 2 super is the ability to have mutiple players on each side, like Steel Panthers, World at War has.

How about some kind of update on CM2?? Also, maybe some feedback on possible suggestions. I would love to see multi-player capabiltiy included in the game, much like SPWAW, but more reliable. Other than that, what is possible to improve......