mjkerner

...And with brown jump boots. Most excellent detail!

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! (pumps fist in air many times) :D:D:D:D

+1 I agree, it's difficult to give orders quickly. So last week I bought a Belkin nte52 game pad thingy. I had an old Nostromo but lost the install hardware, and so I decided to techy-ed up. I had tried to change the default hotkeys in Notepad, but the commands under each command mode just have slashes in front of them, instead of the keyboard number/letter...long story short--I couldn't figure it out. So even though I still have to switch between command modes to give various orders, the * hotkey in CMSF (and CMBN, IIRC) cycles through command modes, so I mapped accordingly and have only one button to hit to go through the modes.

Burma? Malaya? The Philippines? Guadalcanal? China? There's plenty there, Clark. But overall, you're probably right when it comes to popularity as a game compared to the ETO & Eastern Front.

No offense, Davey, but I sooo hope you are right!

That'd be good. I'm retiring in 2.3 years.

Damn, I can't wait for this any longer! I need it now!

Wait, you weren't kidding?

"Game guts" Is that a technical term, Steve?

Steve's been on the boards alot more than usual yesterday and today, it seems. A good sign for a demo this week?

Scunthorpe?? There's a joke in there somewhere.

It's already been decreed(search the threads) that EF won't be here until after the Bulge game and modules; 3-5 years??? I understand the progression of games is related to the development of things like winter terrain, certain armor, etc.

...aren't. Their uniforms are quite form fitting! http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=274&Itemid=457 (scroll down about 11 pics) It's obvious a game/animation limitation, and the picture is from the very first announcement so I figure it's an early beta, but when looking at the uniforms in CMSF/Marines/Brits/NATO, they don't seem quite as tight-fitting as all of the CMBN uniforms, but its especially noticable on Paras, IMHO. Maybe that's due to the extra body armor and what not, but there is a difference to my eye. On the other hand, in the later video AARS, the CMBN GI and Landser uniforms seemed to look better, so I assume they look better on the Paras too...just wondering. It's not really a big deal, but I am wondering if when the SS and Brit Airborne pixeltruppen arrive, their camo smocks will be a little more "blousey" (and then we could retro-mod the Americans' jackets)? Also, who's going to be the first to mod camo-netting helmet covers for the Paras (and others)? Since there is no demo today, I am idly bringing up this issue in the spirit of "I don't even have the damn game yet and I'm semi-griping over a petty issue."

Modders will help with some of these things, I assume. What flavor objects I'd like to see are casualties. I wonder if you could screen capture a casualty animation and paint it onto a flavor object?

That explains the "Location" in his Member Profile: "occupied killzone Deutsches Reich"

:D:D:D:D

There's a new game coming? Didn't notice.

Sonar, I agree, it will likely skew campaigns.

Casualtiers are generally too high, especially the kill-to-wounded-ratios, but it's a game, afterall, and so I treat the AAR casualty summary as an intial report, before the squad that took cover over on the flank has reported in, ammo runners have returned to the fold etc., errors due to the general confusion, excitement and adrenalin rush of battle. And I view the kill/wounded numbers as being posted in the wrong columns and reverse them!

Like a Norman keep? Are they even do-able in CMx2? Thanx

That's how it's done in CMSF. All the modules are merged in the game (except CM:A, which is a separate 3rd party licensed title). IIRC, in CM Family, the games won't inter-mix, but the modules will.

Broadsword, I did that for my own use with a lot of the CMSF scenarios--reversed engineered them adding different AI plans, sometimes different assets, etc. I'll look forward to your scenarios, since mapmaking in CMSF/BN is no picnic, it's easier to tweak another guys hard work!

How can you even ask that question? Isn't it a no-brainer?

Hi Sarge, I plan to make maps and scenarios for the fight for the Merderet River crossings at La Fiere and Chef-du-Pont, as well as the actions around Ste. Mere Eglise. I have a personal interest in the 82nd AB in and after WWII, but especially concerning the battles for the Merderet crossings. I assume the Game won't ship with maps and scenarios for the causeway fights, since there will be no French Renault or Hotchkiss tanks at least until a later module. (I'll have to use armored cars and halftracks, I guess, until we get French armor.) I plan on at least two, maybe four maps (the max size in CM:BN is 4k x 4k). The two will be Ste. Mere Eglise and north of La Fiere to south of Chef-du-pont, but since I also want to cover Amfreville and the area west of Cauguigny, I may need 3 or 4. I have some very good detailed sources. Phil Nordyke's excellent "All American- All the Way" about the 82nd in WWII, and his companion volumes specifically about the 504 PIR and 505 PIR; Robert Murphy's "No Better Place to Die"; and US Army maps of the area @ 1:25000. Another excellent source is Critical Hit Boardgames (Ray Tapio), whose initial gaming effort in 1999, Combat Normandy (before that game system went through some changes to become the Advanced Tobruk System---i.e. ASL-lite), has some very fine research and 27(!) scenarios covering just about every aspect of those battles. I made a lot of scenarios in CMSF and its modules, but only for personal use, since I didn't spend alot of time fine-tuning the AI plans or victory conditions. I'm not sure that people will like my scenarios much, though. I am a firm believer in "what you get is what they had...so deal with it". I could give a rat's ass about scenario "balance" per se, only that the disparity between the forces in the real-life situation is reflected in the VP. Can your infantry platoon hold off an enemy company plus some armor for 15 minutes to allow the wounded to be evacuted? [100 points] No, OK, how about 10? [50 points]--you get the idea. So I will try to make the VP meaningful in relationship to the circumstances. I've spent the last month honing my map and scenarios making skills on CMSF so that I'd be ready to go when CM:BN is released. I am so pumped for this game! I agree, MikeyD...but I assume there will be scads of ahistorical ones that I will enjoy playing. It's just that I like to build the historical ones, because I love the research.

I thought I read that CM: Bulge x4 Modules was in between CM West Catch All and any East Front CMs.