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Gryphonne

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Posts posted by Gryphonne

    Will artillery be more flexible this time around?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Heh... no, just a tweak to the AI behavior in general. Remember, the Scripts only tell units roughly what to do, where, and for how long. There's still a lot of independent AI at work so units travel over the best terrain, use their weapons to their best effect, take cover when necessary, etc.

    Steve

    Darn, I thought you threw some new bone or somefink ;) A question though, some time ago (I can't actually remember when) I found a post of yours saying that you guys were working on some kind of new AI template, any chance you could elaborate on that? :)

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    Will artillery be more flexible this time around?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    It hasn't changed because...

    Exactly what I thought :D there's a HUGE difference between tactical, operational, and strategic use of artillery. CM is a TACTICAL game and therefore tactical artillery usage is what scenarios should have. Anything else is outside of the scope/scale of the game and is as inappropriate as having massed B-17 strikes.

    As for the AI stuff...

    I think this has been covered pretty well. There's a couple of issues here, some of which are realistic, some of which are scenario designer problems, and some of which are limitations of what the AI can do. In terms of the latter, we made a recent change that should help avoid FOs on the move from continuing to move while spotting.

    BTW, last night I was testing a CM:BN scenario I made to test out new AI Scripts. I was concentrating on what was going on with the flank attack portion of the force when all of a sudden... 105s came raining down on a PzGren Platoon that I had in an all-too-obvious assembly area. I lost about 20% of my grenadiers and 2 halftracks. I had forgotten I designated that area fore fire support. Doh :D

    Steve

    New AI scripts Steve? :P You've piqued our interest; please, do elaborate :D

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    Russian front

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I don't think that's possible as the games themselves are "seperate", all featuring individual improvements, developments and features. Even though the engine is the same, the code may be vastly different. Naturally, one can also see this with CMBO -> BB -> AK. It would require unnecessary programming work to make them backwards compatible (even if it's just "the menu") and these resources are better used for the creation of new animations, features etc.

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    Russian front

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Everything now is going to use the sdame basic game engine, since it was designed to be more updateable. No doubt new features will have been added (such as the fog of war fortifications, new QB system, bridges, water and other goodies that get stuffed into the code between now and then), but it sounds like the underlying engine will remain the same; changes will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

    Which of course means they can churn out content for us hungry crowd quicker ;)

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    Post Preview AAR and Discussion

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Here is a somewhat trivial question but something I am curious about. I noticed when playing SF when vehicles/tanks are destroyed they don't look very destroyed, just some fire. Is vehicle damage more accurately portrayed (more eye candy) in Normandy?

    Nope, Steve mentioned this before. I think they want it in eventually, but it will be some time. Having said that, I think I did see tanks with drooped barrels though when they were knocked out. The vehicles however (half tracks at least) had various hatches open where the crew escaped, so they really looked abandoned/knocked out ;)

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    Post Preview AAR and Discussion

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Did you notice if the editor still has the "import the campaign units" feature like in CMSF?

    And in QB can you select the autopurchase by force mix like in CM1(ie infantry,mech, armor,etc,)

    I didn't take a look at the editor in that much detail, but I guess any feature from CMSF is carried over to CMBN as far as the editor goes.

    The quick battle option for autopurchase is there. In addition, I *think* I also saw someone use a "suggestion" option while he was purchasing his own units. That's just basically the same as auto purchase but it lets you view and modify the choice.

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    campaign additions?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I am playing around with the TF Thunder Campaign in anticipation of Normandy and I am curious how or if the campaign system has been enhanced for Normandy. I searched but I didn't find any solid information. Sorry if I missed it and this has already been covered.

    For one I find myself really wishing I could at least keep track of my forces somehow. Rather simple additions like Kills for units would be nice too like we had in CMx1. A basic OOB screen or something. I know campaign systems have been discussed tons through the years but I still would really enjoy being able to "rp" a bit more in the campaign system.

    Either way very much looking forward to Normandy! :)

    I can partially reply to this, kills are tracked once again but they are only shown after the battle. AFAIK kills are also tracked throughout a campaign for individual units.

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    Fallshirmjager

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    It shouldn't be limited, considering that each CMSF module also came with new animations (eg. gunner pose for EuroSpike ATGM or the new wall-hopping animation). The same with features, although there is a limit to how much new stuff can be introduced within a title: for example, some bigger changes might result in changes to map or TO&E formats, which would break older scenarios. Obviously this isn't desirable if it's not a completely new title.

    Ah yes, you are right :) I completely forgot the wall-hopping animations! :)

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    Fallshirmjager

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Heh... Bodkin has it right.

    The Commonwealth Module is the "second release", if one counts the initial main game. However, it is most definitely going to be the 1st Module. In other words, the next CM:BN content you'll have available will be the Commonwealth Module. After that is Market Garden, and that's the 2nd Module. The 3rd Module is what we're calling a Battle Pack. It will contain lots of fun stuff but will not be focused on a specific battle or portion of the theater.

    Steve

    Are you guys also going to introduce more animations and features over the course of the modules, or is that limited to the individual title releases? i.e. CMBN -> CM:Bulge -> etc.

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    Post Preview AAR and Discussion

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    It's only been a week? damn it! Curse you Einstein and your relativity of time!

    First of all, we had a great time in The Hague playing the preview of CMBN, Dave was an excellent host and a good cook too (oh, an he was *not* fat) :D

    Misc stuff:

    - The landscape felt very natural, object placement in the scenarios really came together. With CMSF the terrain still felt a tad artificial to me, all the buildings were the same, most of the terrain was the same. I don't know, i couldn't manage to pull it all together for myself. Not to disrespect BFCs hard work on that title, but I didn't feel very connected to it. CMBN, an entirely different story; I was instantly sucked into the lush environment. So many different trees, objects, buildings.

    - Woods are SCARY in CMBN. Woods were VERY daunting to send men into. You know that as soon you'd send in your guys your casualties would stack up high. This is so different from CMx1 where the game, by comparison with CMx2, feels very mechanical and chess like. You have to imagine most of the action and the terrain is merely tiles of "stuff". Naturally, this is also extremely different from CMSF where there is little foliage to speak of. And in particular, there aren't any 30m high trees with thick tree trunks :P Turn on shadows and that's one forest even the wolf in little red riding hood wouldn't want to traverse.

    - Effects are of course great as per CMSF. Smoke is lovely in CMBN because no-one has thermal sights!

    - Smoke in CMBN sucks because no-one has thermal sights! :D

    - Performance of CMBN seemed VERY smooth, like I said, I don't know what it is, but CMSF always felt sluggish for me, the LODs I didn't like.. But with CMBN that seems to be solved, scrolling over the battlefield was a pleasant experience!

    - Equipment.. oh equipment.. where to start! There is SO MUCH to choose from. So many formations that I didn't even know existed! Surprised me there again! And in response to Krilly's post, I indeed just set up some maps to stare at the equipment and watch it let loose!

    - Vehicle graphics are BEAUTIFUL. I am also very happy that BFC chose to keep things uniform, no more 30 different camouflage patterns for vehicles from the start or a difference in vehicle skin quality. They are ALL equally beautiful. The little random details like bent skirts, missing skirts, buckets, sandbas, whatever! It's all there!

    EDIT: more stuff I could think of. Some vehicle skins have very nice little details, such as the mirrors on the German half-tracks. Naturally, these mirrors don't actually "function", but it was a very nice tiny detail.

    EDIT: It looks great when infantry have their secondary weapon on their back. It was cool (and handy) to see which soldiers were carrying fausts on their backs. This immediately raises another question for me though: Will last-ditch AT weapons be in? Tellerminen, Panzerwurfmine etc?

    - The half tracks and other open-topped vehicles are also very beautiful. You can see the crew inside doing their stuff and it looks very natural :D

    - Animations are AWESOME. I *LOVED* the infantry shooting out of half-tracks! I also think there are some surprises in the animation department here.

    - On board artillery is great and feels very nice and more realistic after CMx1s simplified on board mortar model. Note: ammo bearers rock! You can quickly send more ammo to a position where you need it. You don't need to move the entire asset to a new position. Feels a lot more natural and more in line with what I'd expect.

    - There were some minor quirks and the UI sadly wasn't always as smooth. I still wish there were command lines to easily see which unit is in contact with its HQ or not.

    - The UI has been nicely enhanced in several places though, ammo counters are different in CMBN and a lot more helpful than in CMSF. Especially when it comes to CAS!

    - Voices and sounds were still CMSF, but given the work that BFC has already put into the game, and knowing BFC in the first place, these will probably be all changed. Some sounds were already present though I think, MG34 maybe? sounded like an MG34 and wasn't like any other sound I heard before. CAS sounds were already VERY nice! And even if people won't like the stock sounds in CMBN I'm sure, given the theatre, there's going to be so many modders and mods that people are going to drown in them :P

    - Fortifications are beautiful! bridges are awesome and there are so many different ones to choose from!

    QB generator

    What can I say? LOVED it! Thank you so much BFC for having this option back! and although I was skeptical at first when Steve said that we wouldn't have the same kind of options in CMBN as we did with CMx1, I was pleasantly surprised when i played with the CMBN one. Dare I say there is even more possibilities in CMBN than in CMx1? And dare I say that it's actually more fun to use? Not to mention that whatever you do, due to the C&C your force composition will always feel realistic! There were many more formations present than I expected there would be. I loved the rarity/points setup! No more crappy vehicles that cost you half your points. Instead, they cost you half your rarity points ;) But that's OK, that way you still get that little oddball you absolutely want plus a buttload of Shermans or Pz IVs!

    @Steve: it must have been tough again actually assigning points to units? :P

    I also loved the map selection for the QBs! Very nice, I would even go as far as to say that this is actually A LOT better than CMx1. The first thign I missed in CMSF was a random map generator. The last thing I missed in CMBN was a random map generator :P Honestly, the pre-built QB maps are of a higher quality than anything could ever randomly come up with! In addition, the little preview picture (and I think there was also an actual preview function?) shows what you're up against. VERY nice!

    The AI was surprisingly good in the QBs, I think that's also due to the fact that the AI now actually has plans on the QB maps. But even with the plans, I don't know, the AI felt more sophisticated. I don't know if I'm right here, but it seems stratAI was beefed up! In a QB map I had two StuGs and a platoon of half tracks with infantry. I moved my infantry forward slowly and took the StuGs on a road on the left side. Then I saw enemy half tracks driving towards me on the right and I drove my StuGs up this little bank along the side of that road. I watched with glee as the low profile beasts turned their guns and started unloading their arsenal into the half tracks. All of a sudden however enemy infantry appears on the other side of the map in the backs of my StuGs! I was really lucky in that scenario as I had only given the AI a handful of units that I could destroy easily :P Otherwise I would have been in deep trouble! And this is coming from someone that NEVER EVER considered the AI to be a threat, especially not in QBs :P

    Scenarios

    The scenarios looked great as far as I could tell. I played Barkmann's corner and also here the AI sometimes surprised me. I drove my Panther forward up a road covered by buildings on both sides. Then I had my Panther wait in ambush. Finally the first American tanks appeared and after knocking out 4 or 5, the AI decided to take another route. I held up a very stiff defence and so the 2 Shermans that tried to flank me on the left were quickly knocked out by a combination of Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck fire. All of a sudden however half a dozen of Shermans appeared on the right and threatened my Panther there. I backed up and carefully micro managing my vehicles a VERY close range firefight broke out. I actually had to plan how to move my Panther around the buildings and when to reverse it as not to expose too much of my vehicle. Several times the AI tried to move a Sherman around the house and knock out my Panther. Needlessto say, caught in the crossfire of almost ten tanks, the infantry in the house didn't too too well... it was a tense little scenario however. Although (I think) Jurrie told me there was still some work to do. Nevertheless, he was actually surprised as well by the actions of the AI for which he himself made the plans; go figure :P

    And last but not least, people that even remotely dare to think CMBN is just CMSF in a WWII setting are, for lack of a better word, wrong...

    EDIT: BFC, release the game already! :D

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    small caliber FlaK in Normandy

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Below is a list which Kwazydog posted in another thread. The only Flakpanzer listed is the Flkpz 38. Thank you for asking this question as it gives me ANOTHER OPPURTUNITY TO LOBBY FOR THE INCLUSION OF THE FLKPZ 38 in the 3rd "Battlepack" Module. In even another thread Steve said they did not want to include Flak guns until the code was in to have on screen anti-aircraft fire. It's something that's high on their list but it didn't make the original release.

    Panzers Available in Normandy (1st June)

    Pz-IV - 680

    Panther - 304

    Stug - 243

    Tiger - 68

    H-35 Assault gun - 67

    Lorraine Assault gun - 48 (105mm and 75mm AT versions)

    Jpz-IV - 40 (should be 60 in total, 20 missing?)

    Somuas S-35 - 26

    Tiger II - 24

    Sdkfz 7/1 - 23

    Pz-III - 18

    JagdPanther - 12

    Flakpanzer 38t - 12

    Sdkfz 10/4 - 15

    Befehlspanzer III - 6

    Renault B-1 - 5

    Thanks Sequoia :) Too bad it doesn't include numbers for the Wirbelwind and Möbelwagen, I thought these were used in Normandy too. Maybe at a later stage of the campaign then?

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    Another AAR Please?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Since I haven't been paying attention to BF, nor its release cycles, do you or anyone else know how distant an announcement and a release typical are for these games? Are we more than a year away? Sometimes I have the feeling, that people are expecting a pre-order appearing any day now, not that I'd be unhappy.

    It's too bad I can't remember the length in time between other previews and related releases otherwise I could probably answer this question in more detail. However, having witnessed the game - and this is MY personal insight only - I'd say it's pretty close to release. How close? I have absolutely no idea.. also, I have no idea what other under the hood work is currently being done. But it felt very complete and bug free at least. In other words, I would find it *very* strange if the game was still a year away, or even half a year for that matter. Furthermore, Steve mentioned that the game was already feature complete. From that I can only deduct that most of the work left now is polishing, campaigns, missions and bug fixes. Not to mention the fact that they felt confident enough to show it to a larger public and let us discuss it (in not too much detail) on these boards.

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    small caliber FlaK in Normandy

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Will we eventually see towed 20mm and 37mm FlaK in CMBN or one of its modules? If I recall correctly, there was quite a bunch of it available during the Normandy campaign, and it was essential, given the Allies' air superiority. Naturally, I don't expect to be able to target air units with it as this is out of the scope after all, but they are quite effective against soft ground targets.

    Also, does anyone have any reliable data on self-propelled anti aircraft gun numbers and types deployed in the Normandy campaign? And of course, will these also appear in some CMBN module?

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