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Destynova

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  1. I think this is an excellent idea. The current assault command does have it's uses when moving over open ground where the squad may be taken under fire. However, when in close terrain and when overrunning an enemy trench it has several flaws. The over watching element will often be out of LOS and the advancing element will often run into or past enemies before stopping to fire, something that i often fatal. I think a command that made the squad go line abreast and where they would advance together in small 5-6 meters increments before shooting at targets of opportunity or a target given by the player would be very useful.
  2. I cant say that I have ever tried to use the move command to take enemy positions before. Usually I use it when moving my troopers up to the front line. Seeing how casually they walk in move mode I considered it suicidal to use that command in the presence of enemies. In hunt mode it actually looks like they are ready for a fight.
  3. I have an observation here. One thing that makes fights in forests so deadly for the advancing party is that while the units don't have Borg spotting, they do instantly know when someone in a squad has been shot, and often the reaction is for everyone to assume fetal position, something that is not advisable when an enemy is just 20-30 meters in front and blazing away. I would argue that the instant suppression that often results from a squad taking a single casualty is somewhat unrealistic as often adrenaline and tunnel vision would keep the individual members of the squad from knowing about this until after the fight. Basically Ivan on the right flank wouldn't know that Leonid on the left flank took a bullet to the face because the short view range in the forest would keep that out of view and the enemy directly to his front would take all his attention. This brings up another point. We don't really have a good movement order for advancing and overrunning an enemy position. Assault works sometimes but since it splits up the squad it is not very useful in a forest or in other situations with limited visibility. Hunt could work, but since the squad drops dead in their tracks when they just smell an enemy or hear a bullet I feel this command could better be renamed "Probe" as that explains what it actually does better. What we could use is an "Advance" movement that puts the squad in a line abreast formation and they move forward in small 6-7m bounds with their weapons raised and ready for combat. If a member spotted an enemy he would stop and fire, other members who did not see the enemy would keep advancing until they spot the enemy whereupon they would start firing. Do any of you think that such an movement order would make forest clearing a bit more easy and realistic?
  4. This is very good news indeed. When Battlefront said "(soon?)" I hope they are hinting that they may be able to implement this by the time of their next big release. Anyway I am happy to see this is something they now are looking at.
  5. Indeed this is a good question. If a building gets attacked by a flamethrower will the building then catch fire and will the units inside take damage from the fire and be forced to flee? Or will the flamethrower just act as short range "superweapon" against entrenched foes but leaves buildings intact to be re-entered?
  6. Yes, I believe that an in game encyclopedia can add value to the game both for regular BFC customers such as us and help make the game more accessible for newer gamers that are just trying the Combat Mission games for the first time. As hard as it may be to imagine for most posters on this board there are new players that don't know the practical differences between a Sherman armed with a 75mm or a 76mm cannon, nor do they have any realistic ideas how said Sherman would fare against an Panther at 800m also armed with a 75mm cannon. As it is now, not even the description in the pdf manual gives any meaningful information for a new player to learn. Once less well known equipment get used even players that have some knowledge of WW2 tanks will be left wondering. In the Market Garden manual it is stated that the Cromwell VII has 8-101 mm of armor. I might surmise that the tank has 101 mm at the front and 8mm at the back, but is it 101 all over the front? Or is it only 101 mm at the turret with much less at the hull? I have no idea, and no easy way to find out. In the first generation of CM titles we had an in game encyclopedia that gave armor values for front, side and rear for both turret and hull. It allowed the player to make informed decisions about what tanks to buy and how to use them. At the moment its pretty much "learn by trying/failing". While some grogs might find this fun and realistic I would think that most non-hardcore gamers would like to have more information at hand to make decisions. If you give the player the ability to inspect the armor and penetrating capabilities of a 75mm Sherman and then compare them to that of a Panther their respective strengths and weaknesses will become readily apparent and the player can make decisions based on facts rather than uninformed expectations. Combat Mission can be hard and unforgiving as it is without making lack of information about the units an artificial difficulty that hit new players extra hard. Now, BFC has said that an in game encyclopedia is on their "to do list" but it will not be ready for Red Thunder. I can only hope and cross my fingers for that when their next game comes out or 4.0 that they have been able to implement this feature. I know if they release a module for Red Thunder that has Romanian or Hungarian units I would surely love some information about them.
  7. This look very interesting. Its basically what I would like to see in the game. While this is something I would use I would argue that new players might not know of this mod and therefor it would have been nice if this was something that was implemented by BFC. Basically first impressions are important and if a new player gets frustrated by lack of information or that getting it is difficult they may not stick around for long and in the end that may cost BFC sales. I love the CM franchise and I would like see even more games from BFC. Also I would be happy if more players found the CM series and started to play it, but in todays world of easy access for everything a bad first impression or some cumbersome interface choices can turn away people who would otherwise have played the game and matured into hardcore CM grogs with time
  8. You do raise some valid points about how the calculations of small arms fire and armor is different in this new generation of games. Naturally trying to describe the armor thickness and angle of every single part of a tank would be rather cumbersome to do. However for the layman a unit description as presented in the first combat mission games is more than good enough even though the actual calculations of armor penetrations are now more complex. I have attached a picture of the unit card from the CM beta. This information is basically what non grogs need in order to actually know what kind of unit they have and what they can expect of it. It gives armor for Front, side and rear and information about what the gun penetration is at different ranges and against different angles. As it is a more casual gamer given the option to select between several different Pz IV models from A's to F2's would have no idea what kind of armor the tank would have as well as the penetrating power of the main gun. Grogs would know easily, but I'm trying to convey how the lack of a unit encyclopedia makes thing more difficult for newer gamers therefor less fun. YankeeDog, I can fully understand why you would want BFC to implement features that would add more value to the game from your viewpoint. There is nothing wrong with that as BFC has limited resources and can only do so much in a given time frame. However speaking of myself, I think that if the original CM:BO and CM:BB did not have an in game unit encyclopedia and that finding out what the units did was a hassle that required me to use out of game resources I may have given up on the series. It would have been my loss no doubt, but as it was CM:BO was my entry point into strategy (and tactical) games. I therefor believe that it would make sense financially for BFC to make the game a bit more accessible for newer or not so hardcore strategy gamers as that would help "recruit" the next generation of BFC fans that will buy their games and ensure that they will enjoy economic security so that they may continue to produce more games I believe that an in game encyclopedia can be a good step in that direction while still being of use and value for grogs.
  9. I do know that programing an encyclopedia will take time and therefor I was hoping they could make it for the next big update. But I do think you are laying it on a bit thick here as making an in game encyclopedia is not a feat that requires unparalleled programming skill and years of hard work. It is basically a database viewer and something they have made in the past with their 2 first Combat Mission games. Naturally I can see that an encyclopedia is not as an attractive bullet point to sell your game with as for example flamethrowers, tank riders and hit decals, but I still believe that BF should take the time to make an in game encyclopedia now. Making it now would make it so that their next generation of games would benefit from it. Thinking of it, once an in game encyclopedia is implemented BF could easily reuse some of the unit information that was in Beyond Overlord and Barbarossa to Berlin for both Beyond Normandie and Red Thunder. Its not as if the technical specifications of the WW2 tanks changed since 2000.. I know I for one would love to see the return of the in game encyclopedia and I am sure many others would too. I remember fondly looking at the ground pressure of my tanks and wondering if I could brave that bog to get my tank in a better position or if it would be stuck in the mud *edited for grammar
  10. Hello. I am a long time Combat Mission player that started with Beyond Overlord and have played most of Battlefronts Combat Mission games. The one thing I really miss with the new engine is the lack of an in game unit encyclopedia. While I do have a good idea of what most of the units are, there are some times I really miss the ability to look the unit up in game. I know we get the PDF manual, and while it is nice, having to go out of game to look up an unit is pretty backwards considering you had a pretty nice unit screen in Beyond Overlord that told you everything you needed to know about a unit and that was back in 2000. I know you have made several upgrades to the engine and Red Thunder will be 3.0, but every time you have made en upgrade I have been disappointed that an in game unit encyclopedia has not been one of the upgrades. I therefor hope you could implement this for 4.0 when that comes out. I know most of the grognards who frequent this forum already have an encyclopedic knowledge of every WW2 tank and armored vehicle that was in use and can differentiate between different German half tracks by designation alone, but I was thinking of the more casual player. I think having an in game unit encyclopedia will make the game more accessible to people who like tactical and strategic games, but may not (yet) be hardcore. So therefore I think making such an encyclopedia would both make sense both financially by making it more accessible to new customers and increase the ease of use for you existing customers who you know will buy the game regardless.
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