Lurker765

thanks BFC. I definitely enjoyed the ride for CMx1, but it is beginning to look like I will move along and return in a year or two. I know you have mentioned that you expected some of the old timers to leave and that it wouldn't really bother you, but it is still sad to exit. I wish you luck and hope you again make games in the future that I enjoy playing. It was incredible finding CMBO lo those many years ago due to the great reviews it received. That series was probably the best computer game invented in my opinion (along with Civilization, Baldur's Gate, etc) and definitely the best wargame ever made. Good luck in the future. [ November 02, 2007, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Lurker765 ]

I believe that the references to uncommented code in this thread point to CMx1 and everyone in the prior posts made a note of that. While past performance is not a guarantee of future results it is the only indicator we have. Game code for CMx1 source lack of comments was Steve: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=002510;p=7 In any event I have made a living doing code. I even had my own game company for nine years and was the sole coder on it as well. While it is more difficult to jump into the middle of a project it happens all the time. While it is also more difficult to jump into a tangle of uncommented code that also happens all the time.

Ah, padawan, but did you do a search? However, these answers do not come from an 'official' source and their answers are not exactly definitive. http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=002978#000000 http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=003081#000000

I have had Strykers sit at the crest of a hill and watch as the RPGs pound the ground at their wheels until one finally hits. In a WEGO PBEM turn that took probably 40 seconds before one was finally hit. The one next to it never moved until I gave it the order at the beginning of the next turn. So, the knife fight range didn't matter much in the case I encountered. A reverse down the hill would have been nice.

thank you for explaining how to do this new feature.

I believe Scipio posted earlier that it doesn't matter what movement command he uses, the men still leave the trench and get shot. Huntarr's suggestion doesn't help in this case of a trench laid out in this direction.

Having a way to tell how damaged a building is would be nice. I can't tell if it is about to collapse. Having the tab key centered on the unit in the CMx1 fashion. In view 6 your unit is in the center of the screen. In views 1-4 it is centered but slightly back of the unit. Right now I press the tab key and then have to use the mouse to see what is going on around the unit. Labels showing unit status so when you are in a high view you can tell at a glance what is happening in the battle and if a firefight just broke out. A targetting command that lets you cycle through units your unit can fire at. Sound identifications. Generic unit identifications. Not knowing that a unit is the HQ unit within one second of spotting them. Targetting lines showing who is firing at who. Kill stats on the units. Unit stats as well so you can tell what armor a Bradley can penetrate for instance. Along with useful things such as minimum ranges, if a unit needs to be stationary and for how long before firing, etc. WEGO data reverting back to the beginning of the turn when you replay a turn rather than showing the data that existed at the end of the turn. HQ lines drawn from the commander to units under his control so you can easily see where the squads under his control are located. [ October 15, 2007, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Lurker765 ]

Is there any way to area fire and target an edge of a building rather than the center? Also, how can I tell if a building is heavily damaged and about to collapse?

Yes, you don't want quick or fast due to non-response to the environment since your men will die without slowing down from their movement path if it turns out a MG has LOF into the trench. Hunt isn't appropriate since you don't want to stop and shoot, you want to move. I just find it hard to believe that if you order your men to move in a trench they will crawl out of the trench and move through the open terrain under the rationale that they should spread out to avoid getting killed?

So how do you get your men to move along a trench if you do not have the minimum headcount, are in a hurry, or do not have the necessary unit experience? Are you really saying that you cannot issue the move command in a trench and expect your men to stay in the trench and move?

I have played scenarios with no setup zones (I think one is Al Fubar that shipped with the game). It was confusing since you couldn't place your units. This has been a common topic of conversation. For example see: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=002700;p=1

This is normal. The first two exchanges are password only. Everything should be fine if you continue the exchange.

How many people read the box before pre-ordering? </font>

I believe some people had issues with the text on the game box that says: "Play the game as you want: Realtime, WEGO-Turnbased, against the Computer or against another human player via TCP/IP, PBEM (play-by-email) or hotseat" Paradox's web site for CMSF says: "Playable in both real-time and turn-based modes or head-to-head via TCP/IP, PBEM or hotseat" http://www.paradoxplaza.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=199 I'm not sure if this a promise of WEGO TCP/IP or not, but if you came from a CMx1 environment it might be easy to assume it. In any event, the text is a bit misleading in my opinion.

I guess I am not being very clear. Sorry. I think I now understand how the modules work. It took a couple posts to get a clarification on this, but eventually BFC explained what their plan was. Given this understanding, BFCs statement that they will continue to release patches to the game will always be true as long as they use this engine and make available the core engine code to earlier modules. My point is when is CMSF a released, finished, polished game? v1.01 was not it. BFC have said that v1.04 might be it. If that is the case then for me the things like WEGO not tracking data correctly when reviewing a turn, no WEGO in TCP, LOS issues, getting shot through walls and berms, vehicles not reversing when facing a major threat they can't handle, no arty smoke, etc all make it so that I cannot enjoy the game without high levels of frustration watching my men do crazy things. I mostly play PBEM since I prefer playing against humans and don't have large blocks of time in a row. If v1.05 fixes most of these issues I would be one happy camper. If v1.05 fixes these issues and only gets released as part of the Marines module in (hypothetically) eight months I would not be a happy camper. My initial misunderstanding was that Steve was saying that v1.04 would do the trick and be the release they wanted and that they were likely to do another patch in the near future, but that was not a guarantee since BFC was going to be focused on the new Modules instead. Anyway, I think I am probably done posting for a while about this. I think my only recourse is to wait and see what happens. It is a bit frustrating to have preordered this game back in July and to have had to shelve it through October until my computer could play it due to the frame and lag issues, much less the gameplay problems. Thanks for being civil on this topic. It is a breath of fresh air in here.

I mostly agree. But, after dealing with a lot of frustration trying to play v1.01 Steve mentioned in a thread that perhaps those of us who were not having fun with the current incarnation of the game should go away and come back in a bit when the game is patched up to the point where BFC are happy with it. From what I could tell from his statement I quoted it seemed that v1.04 was going to be that release. At that point I would try the game again and see if I have fun playing. If v1.05 is the finished product then I would like to know that so I could try that one. And while I don't mind waiting I would like to know if I should just forget about this game for 5-6 months and come back then and see if I like it. As a total hypothetical example, if BFC were to start work on the Marines module and don't release another patch for CMSF until the Marines module is out eight months from now they would meet their promise of continuing to release patches. But the spirit of that promise would have been violated in my eyes since I have a game that I can't really play and have a modicum of fun with due to the still existing bugs.

I understand what you are saying. My question was focused on the near term. If the Marines module work is the primary focus and the v1.05 patch was scheduled for four months from now it would be a lot different than if they started work on v1.05 with it being the primary goal of coding for the next month.

sigh... that's why I stomped on that rumor the moment I first saw it. I knew for SURE that it was going to keep on going even after I made a VERY direct set of posts to try and squash it. It got started by someone who completely and utterly misread something I said. What I said is that v1.05 is designed to be the last regular patch so we can get on with moving the game system forward instead of spending 100% of our time patching whatever exists. HOWEVER, I also clearly said that if more patches are required to fix important things, we will put out further patches. But they will be done alongside of us moving the game system forward. Steve </font>

I asked this question and the closest answer I got was from Steve in the thread: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=003066;p=3

despite saying I wouldn't post anymore in this thread... thanks for the explanation Huntarr.

I don't understand how I am from the mirror universe. I was a little confused on Steve's statement in the other thread. I posted my question in that thread, never got a response from anyone associated with BFC and that thread slowly disappeared off the front page. I did not selectively quote anyone out of context. My quote showed the full paragraph of the statement I was curious about. I have not seen any discussion of how the code patches would be integrated backwards, and given the prior history of CMAK/CMBB/CMBO I thought it was a legitimate question to ask. Since I thought there were still quite a few issues left to fix in the game it was a relevant question to me since I didn't see v1.04 as having sufficient development time to address the outstanding items. Steve's response answered most of my questions. I still don't know if things like smoke arty will be retrofitted into CMSF, but as per Steve's request to let this thread die I'll stop posting on this subject.

rune, If you had said you were speaking officially and clarifying Steve's position it would have been better for me. I know you do some work at BFC (scenarios, etc), but I didn't realize your posts were all "official". Since you are listed as a "member" rather than forum admin and you usually don't chime in on the direction the company will take as official policy I didn't understand your post overruled Steve's ("Clearly" rather than "likely", etc). In any event my questions were eventually answered and I learned some things along the way as well.

thanks for the explanation Steve

The quote from Steve (about as official as it gets) is what got me worried about this. quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We're just about "done" with patching CM:SF. What I mean by that is our focus will shift to making the Marines Module and the WWII version (we are doing both concurrently, which is also part of the CMx2 plan). Now, that doesn't mean that we won't be releasing any patches after v1.04, it just means that we'll start focusing our attention on things other than the patch. v1.04 should pretty much do the trick, however we think a v1.05 in the near future is likely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Rune could easily be correct, I do not read that as a guarantee that v1.05 will be released. I definitely do not see that statement as "CLEARLY stated that a v1.05 is being planned". I just don't know exactly what the master plan is for patching/enhancing CMSF. It would be nice to have confirmation that ongoing work in CM2 Marines gets "patched" into CMSF. If I love CMSF but I am not particularly interested in the Marines module do I get the latest code as time goes by? Will it be months before the next patch once work goes primarily into the Marines module?

I'd just like to hear the plan from someone official rather than speculation on how the master plan will come together.