herr_oberst

Hmm, personally, I'm okay with Battlefront keeping what is essentially proprietary data and detailed methods, well, proprietary. They are the ones who've invested the time and $$$ into the game engine, and might not care to post the data and the details of their handling used in the game where someone else could use that information to create a competitor with much less expense. I've just played one scenario in CMRT so far, which had a bunch of armor in it, and there were surprises (and what I felt were reasonable outcomes) going both ways - a MkIV taking out a 122 head-on at a good range after repeated hits, and a Panther that died to a SU-76, again at longer range, again after repeated hits (IIRC, there were 7 ricochets). Are they modeling fatigue from consecutive shots, or was the kill due (finally) to weak point hits? I would hope that it could be either. As much as they track other data for the engine to consume, fatigue on a certain armor plate doesn't seem like a stretch given that we now have hit decals, which I assume are placed at impact point. From my game, how much longer did I expect that Panther to survive -- not much. Seven hits on the front glacis from a higher elevation -- not good odds in my book. I hope there is some bit of alchemy going on, since non-penetrating hits still have an effect on the armor that remains. Having seen photos of some non-penetrating hits on a Panther glacis by (IIRC) blunt nosed ballistic capped shot, there was a gouge in the glacis that you could put your fist in. How resistant is that spot now that 30mm of metal had been shoveled away? Unless at the extremes of gun vs armor, I like the inherent, sometimes surprising, variability in outcomes. On the mass, results are predictable, for a specific instance, a bit less so. It keeps the game from becoming too formulaic in playing approach.

I have copies of 10 or 15 German/Russian maps, and TheVulture is correct. Find a heavy line, note that height, find the next heavy line, note that height, then do the math between elevations for hte number of lines present. Tracing them can be maddening sometimes when there's other data that obscures a chunk of close lines -- more than once, I've had to back out my elevation settings when a town name hid a turn in the contours.

Believe what you will, but don't expect me to explain it to you as that would just exacerbate the issue. I do say it half in jest, because there's ALWAYS someone who announces. It's like there's a great roulette wheel that spins and picks someone to be the Bone-head du jour concerning a Battlefront release. You know it is going to happen, the only question left is who? Hence, the obligatory "You are a bone-head" message to the starter of the first thread. One could say it's almost a tradition.

Okay, I'll be the one to say it: Great Ajax, you're a Bone-head. Let me quote the email you must have also received: ATTENTION! We are offering these early downloads exclusively to pre-order customers as a reward for your trust and loyalty. In your best interest, please do not tell anyone else about it, or the download servers may be flooded with a lot of new customers, robbing you of your ability to download the game quickly. Thank you for your consideration of everyone else who also pre-ordered.

Recently overheard at the Battlefront "release status meeting", April 1, 2014. "Perhaps it IS a good day to die... I say we ship it." "Code Indentation?!? - I will show you indentation when I indent your skull!" "Specifications are for the weak and timid." "What is this talk of 'release'??? Battlefront software escapes, leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in it's wake." "Debugging? We don't debug. Our software does not coddle the weak." "Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!!!" "I have challenged the entire Quality Assurance team to a Bat-Leth contest. They will not concern us again."

No, not yet. That is for the upcoming versions. Right now your group of ponies (no matter how large the group) will be represented by a group of 3 pixel ponies, featuring somewhat boxy renderings. This trio of pixel ponies will move smartly, and in a nicely coordinated ballet. Common movement modes are: "Prance forward", "Wheel left", "Wheel right", "Run away", or my personal favorite, "All fall down".

Couldn't resist, but there are two sets of conditions that will tell if you are using your tanks right or wrong... If you are playing me, and your tanks are going all 'splody and burning, well then, you're using them just right. If you are playing me, and all my tanks are going all 'splody and burning, well then, you're using them all wrong.

Pre-orders for hardcopy gives BF a rough guesstimate on what their initial production run should be for physical media (n definite pre-orders + m desired inventory), which I assume has value to them. Better a single production run of 7,000 than two of 3,500, or whatever -- simple economics at work there. Enough value to BF that they offer a slight discount if you put your money where your interest is up front, so to speak. There is little to no value to BF for pre-ordering digital downloads since any 'production costs' for digital download they might save would be effectively nil (already a sunk cost - the digital package has been built regardless of how many digital download pre-orders they might get).

Early advice on battle techniques in Red Thunder? Assuming you want advice on how to win? Don't fight Bil.

So I'm taking this particular statement as Steve's oblique hint that we will indeed see a CM:SL, "Space Lobsters of Doom" module, and that all our years of waiting have not been in vain.

Once again, thank you for the AAR teaser, both participants. Always nice to get an early peek, and to get an idea of the capabilities of the new units available. Hetzers are great keyholed - in open terrain, not so much. T35/85's can pack a punch, and flamers in any form seem pretty wicked. I predict much smoke and flame in upcoming QB's. Thanks again. Great work by both parties involved.

Once again, thank you for the AAR teaser, both participants. Always nice to get an early peek, and to get an idea of the capabilities of the new units available. Hetzers are great keyholed - in open terrain, not so much. T35/85's can pack a punch, and flamers in any form seem pretty wicked. I predict much smoke and flame in upcoming QB's. Thanks again. Great work by both parties involved.

Move fast, possibly die young, and leave a good looking corpse... or sumfink like that.

America is still the Land of Opportunity. All sorts of opportunities. For instance, if you'd like to get mugged on your vacation, like a bunch of Reds advancing into Objective BLAU, this is the place to come. There, brought that back on topic for ya...

Time to sent in Lt. Stahler. He and his -2 drm always worked wonders for me!

I want to see a BFG make that ISU go whoosh, partly just to see what happens to the riders (collateral whooshes?).

Opponent's expending HE with no casualties is always nice, but it also gives you a fair idea of where he is not. Not to say he won't be there in the minute after it all stops mind you, but at the moment, it's no man's land.

Pre-Ordered the day I saw that it was open. That makes all the WWII games and modules: CMBO through now.

Laggards! This thread's almost off the front page. Granted, nothing much is happening at the moment, but I almost wish Elvis had pre-planned some arty on the woods Bil is hustling through. Bring on the 'splody things.

Map-makers choice. Long have I awaited the return to the Eastern Front. A trip to the Library of Congress a few years ago gave me the chance to make copies of period maps of as many areas as I could annoy the LOC Geography and Maps Division staff to retrieve from their archives. Listed below are the map grids that I have copies of, so if you're really interested, reply here and I'll see if I can scan them and post, or email those scans. Generally speaking, they are captured German maps, although a few are Russian maps captured from the Germans I suppose (otherwise, how would the LOC have them?). 1:50000 Als Schiesskarte geeignet! Truppensuagabe 1. Ausgabe vom III. 1943 (or 1941 or 1942 vintages, it varies a bit) So let the listing begin: L-37-6-A Bol. - Meschkowa L-37-6-B Dmitrijewka L-37-6-C Uspenskaja L-37-6-D Kuibyschewo L-37-32-A Rostow N-D L-37-32-B Akssaiskaja L-37-85-C Majak-Ssalyn L-37-85-D Kertsch L-37-97-A Marfowka L-37-97-B Star. Karantin (Gorkim) O-35-12-A O-35-12-B Peternot O-35-12-C Djatlizy O-35-12-D Ropscha O-36-1-A Strelna O-36-1-B Leningrad O-36-1-C Krassnoje Sselo O-36-1-D Puschkin O-36-2-A Rschewka O-36-2-B Newskaja Dubrowka O-36-2-C Kolpino O-36-2-D Nikolskoje 1:100000 Stalingrad Kursk

Truth. That long barrel kind of says it all, all we're missing is some adhoc paint job markings.

Oh great... can't wait for PaperTiger to shred my forces in new and varied ways.

Why the request for all that arty? Because you're playing as the Russians! Geez, you make it sound like you want to win or something... we sideliners just want to see lots of big 'splody things -- although I do like your idea for the flamethrower AFV. That could be quite a nasty surprise.

Maybe just two platoons of T-34's, riders, and all the FO's with off board 120's he can find. That could be fun.

upen, I've bought on the order of 9 titles from Battlefront, and pre-ordered every one. Never been disappointed either -- sure, defects (or bugs) are a fact of life in software (23 years in the industry has taught me that), but Battlefront always delivers on the vast majority of what they say. One of the nice things is that they WON'T ship just to meet an f'ing date posted on some website, and that's a big part of why they get my pre-orders. Other 'big' companies are too used to putting out crap to keep analysts or corporate bureaucracy happy while screwing the customers. I want a good game, plain and simple, and BFC has delivered on that for years.