A Canadian Cat

The Blitz is running three scenarios again this month. Sign up for the November Scenario of the Month has started over at the Blitz. This month the scenarios are: CMBN: CW - The Mace CMFI: TWC Priolo Crossroad CMRT: Dawn Patrol The form post on theBlitz for sign up.

The Blitz is running three scenarios again this month. Sign up for the November Scenario of the Month has started over at the Blitz. This month the scenarios are: CMBN: CW - The Mace CMFI: TWC Priolo Crossroad CMRT: Dawn Patrol The form post on theBlitz for sign up.

And you should never mess with a sniper unless you have lots of friends handy.

Yeah, DRM sucks - I am with you there. I occasionally lobby my company to ditch it too. No joy for me either. The thing is contact support they will help you fix it. They really want to to play the game and since BFC wants DRM their support guys are top notch at getting you back up and running again.

Kinda sounds like he expressed himself just fine.

That looks great. I must say I really like having your buildings in the game. Well done.

Please do not take my comments the wrong way. I was in no way implying such use could replace playing a good scenario that someone else created. This kind of thing is another way to play and it is fun. For those that like the idea of the vehicles but are having trouble with the no scenarios available issue this is an alternative way to have fun with them. That is all I was offering. OK actually you got me I am secretly hoping that some people will try it out and enjoy it and start creating scenarios for the rest of us to play too.

Just in case Steve is counting I would love and early war years game too.

LOL, it took me a moment to figure out what you meant there - mainly because I said I did not want to go into that:) In a nut shell I view buying software the same as buying a TV or a dishwasher. I want it to work as well as it did when I bought it for the job I bought it for. I don't mind paying for new features and I appreciate that sometimes it gets fixed for no or little cost. But in the end I want the choice to decide am I going to use this product as it is for years to come or am I going to buy a new one. Just like the 19 inch CRC TV I still have because it still works and it does the job I need it to do. Even if there are customers who want more than that - to get and pay for ongoing support as requested, or additional services or just a steady flow of updates. I am happy for them when a company provides that pricing option, I in no way would say that is a bad thing to do or a bad thing to want. *I* just do not want that. Lately I have been a little hot under the collar over price changes Adobe has made. It really pisses me off when I start thinking about it - Doh - there now I am thinking about it again:mad:. Indeed and its uniqueness could be used as an argument for charging even more. My point is as simple as "if the price were low enough such that no one complained about price" that price would unquestionably be to low. What the upper limit would be I have no idea - heck I would not even want to speculate in case Steve might take me up on that idea:D

LOL, thanks, good to know. I actually like using artillery - I know some people find it boring but I find it fun. I guess that is showing in this game because the LOS is pretty open on my side of the map so I have spotter all over the place who can call in the good stuff in lots of places. Mind there is lot of time on the clock and my ammo count is ticking down...

I suggest you check with support to be sure but the new system appears to be "enter a key and it unlocks what it unlocks" in which case the key for the big bundle will probably just do the right thing. Either way if something goes sideways support will help you make it right - they always do.

LOL so we can be treated like mushrooms:D

Well you can disregard information to the contrary if you like but I can categorically tell you that I have seen no evidence of any kind public or under NDA that indicates to me that BFC have done anything of the sort. Frankly, what Steve, Steve, Ken and I have said should be enough to convince you there is nothing nefarious going on.

Yeah head to head campaigns would be really really nice. I would love that. Sadly it is not practical for me to play hot seat or TCPIP so until PBEM is supported for Campaigns I just have not bothered to look at it much. So you might ask: why is this guy even answering my thread? Good question. Because I think you can take control for yourself and with an existing campaign take it apart, tweak it and put it back together again. I should stress I have not done this nor do I know anyone who has. But you can try this at home:). This has been mentioned on the forums here and there but I do not recall anyone reporting back on how things went. So, first of all if you do try this please let us know how things go. Check out this tool: http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods/5372 which among other things can dissemble a campaign into its separate scenarios. Given that you can then make what ever tweaks you like - including marking the campaign as supporting head to head play and use the game's campaign compiler to put it all back together again. Good luck.

I'm not going to comment on game specific issues but when you are developing a product you can choose to release multiple little patches or fewer larger patches to fix customer defects. As a developer being interrupted over and over for fixes is a huge distraction from other tasks. I am *not* saying fixing bugs is unimportant what I *am* saying is it effects productivity. It is more productive (from a single developer's perspective) to work on new features for a while and then work on a series of defect fixes / fix porting for a while. I personally get more done. Period. Both more feature work *and* more bug fixing. From BFCs history they appear to have chosen to release fewer patches with more fixes. What that means is some customers wait longer to get fixes. This time it was / is you. A few years ago it was me next year it will be some one else. It is not a conspiracy, it is not incompetence (the opposite actually). In my opinion this is the correct choice to make when you have a small staff - you cannot afford to sap their productivity because you cannot compensate for that by having a few more programers to pitch in. The company I work for does the opposite - customer issues that need fixes get put into customer hands frequently. Most of those are special builds designed to patch that defect and goes to that one customer (and later other customers if they hit the same problem). After a while we roll those up into something that gets pushed to everyone. The amount of time it takes is astounding. But for your company it is the right choice to make because our business model is based on big $ every year for support and maintenance. In short our customers want *and* pay for more smaller fixes that service their individual needs as the come up.

^^^ LOL nice.

Ooo harsh I am one of those buffer guys that allows the smooth transition - my routine is to run with two installs (I actually have three of CMBN right now cause one 2.12 game is dragging on - not in a bad way). Having said that I expect to start new games on the newest version and when games on older versions end those installs get deleted.

There is a tenant amongst pricing theorists (aka economists working with the marketing department) that goes like this (paraphrasing): "If you don't get some complaints about price and have some people decide not to buy because of price, your price is too low". Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.

I do see where you are coming from. Making your own scenarios can be pretty intimidating true. But two points: Releasing the pack with just vehicles gets cool stuff into our hands faster than if they waited to have scenarios made and tested too. Making your own scenario is not as scary as it sounds. I recommend reading @JonS's scenario design AAR - which ships with the 3.0 upgrade as a PDF but is on one of the forums too. You can go even simpler too - see below... I bought the pack last night and within a couple of hours was storming the beach against thick minefields, hedge hogs, wire and AT bunkers with nothing but infantry, engineers with flame throwers, flail tanks and AVRE Churchill tanks. Brilliant, loved it. And I did that by making a custom map of my own. Here is an even easier way to get started: Think of what you want to test out, that will dictate what units to pickup. Find a small QB map (emphasis on small). Load the map into the scenario editor and save it to the Scenario directory with a new name, such as "Pack beach test". The hardest part will be deleting the AI plans and setup zones. Do that first cause it is the only part that sucks:). Now go to the unit purchase screen and pick some defenders. Deploy them. Now pick some attackers - these are your forces cause you are attacking Deploy them. Play There seven easy steps. That is all you need to attack a fixed position - which is not to bad most of the time. After you discover that you enjoy it you can do more and get fancier. Try it you might like it - and you don't need to purchase the pack first either:) Oh yuck, I really hope they do not do this. No further comment cause I get kind of angry when I talk about this kind of thing That would be cool actually. Now that would be brilliant - product placement ala Hollywood style. Opens up a lot of opportunity for new animations:)

So, this brings up the basic question: Should HT riders be ducking down lower in the back? This has come up a few times but I do not recall seeing a definitive answer. I cannot say my men have suffered casualties, except from fire from above, but I know some people have expressed a concern.

Wow, you guys need to get a grip! I mean that in the nicest way possible - like trying to snap a friend out of a funk. But snap out of it damn it! BFC have not been secretly trying to screw you over nor have they sacrificed a bug fix patch to make more money. That I can guarantee. I realize the timing is not what you wanted I think we all read you loud and clear but rest assured that they are not *trying* to piss you off. And getting more and more angry about it will not make the patch appear any faster.

Oh man that was funny. Nice friendly place you used to eat at:D

That is brilliant! Brilliant! There is no other word. I guess my fan boi is showing I have a couple of friends who have not kept up with modules - this would help convince them I am sure.

Given that I really am not supposed to say anything about what goes on behind the scenes I'll just ask you a question: are you really saying that for political reasons the pack should have been held back and put on a shelf just because it was done first? I for one don't think that would be a good idea at all.