BletchleyGeek

Great to hear that - obviously you guys had "war gamed" some contingencies... others will turn up when the service goes live

Not much. As I wrote on my original message, Slitherine system automates the logistics of exchanging game files, making it almost transparent to the players (you don't get to handle the files themselves). And as I wrote on the previous message, the difference versus regular PBEM is failure handling. If your Internet connection goes pop while uploading your file to Dropbox, there's no drama, as you're in full control of the process. When the game (the PBEM++ client) is the one in charge, there may be issues like for instance, the files not being easily accessible (game data being written to a temporary file) etc. or lost (if the game writes the data in "streaming" into a socket). Some Slitherine published games handle these eventualities more robustly than others. In the worst case, you may need to redo your turn, if the game crashes as a result of not being able to execute the file exchange protocol, and temporary files may be deleted when the game closes. This has happened to me like twice or three times since 2009, when I started using the service playing Field of Glory online (once with the first WitE, and a couple times with the newer Field of Glory 2).

My biggest problem with the system - as usually implemented by developers published by Slitherine - is that if there is trouble getting across a handshake with the server, the game (client) gets stuck in a inconsistent state, or you find yourself dismissing a pop-up with a obtuse error message over and over again. Some developers have the resources to work out the possible failure modes in a graceful fashion, others do not. If I have to be negative/pessimistic about this, the major potential issue I see with adopting Slitherine PBEM++ system, in the hypothetic case that this is indeed the MP feature Steve was talking about, is the sheer size of the PBEM game files. Their size is obviously related to the size of the map and number of units: for the largest scenarios out there (e.g. CMFI "Lancing the Abscess", CMRT "Studienka", CMBN "Counterattack at Son") you can produce files north of 100MBytes in size. Before I managed to get a decent fiber to the home connection, uploading those files to Drobpox, could take like 20 to 25 minutes on a "decent" DSL connection, in the evening. This kind of transmission time is way above what you usually get with most games on Slitherine's platform (Wite2 saved games amongst the biggest, like 5 to 10 MB). With compression, CM saved files get reduced between a 5% (ZIP) to a 10% (7Z/LZW). Besides transmission time, the other issue is server side... as if say, at any point in time there are like a few thousand (optimistic figure that one) active PBEM games, and you want to keep at least one file as a back up, the footprint of the gaming is significant in terms of hard disk space. But this is probably not much of a concern these days.

The facts of Slitherine PBEM++ system is that you don't need Dropbox. The files are exchanged over the cloud, through Slitherine's servers. There is a matchmaking service too, where you post "challenges" which can be open to the public, or protected with a password (so your buddies can get into it but no randos). Whenever a new turn file is available, you get an e-mail letting you know about it. This system, in coordination with a third-party app like Discord (or even Steam internal chat system) I think is a pretty positive and a significant step forward.

Play by cloud over the Slitherine PBEM infrastructure?

That may be a factor, but clearly CMBS which is also on Steam, is comparatively speaking as "popular" as RT.

Here's the discord link https://discord.gg/y58NUvZg

They just need to join the CM Discord and check the title ownership poll there... The ratio of CMSF2 owners over RT owners is 3:1, the ratio of CMBN owners over RT owners is about 2:1, with near parity with every other title (but Afghanistan, the hipster title). I was surprised that CMFB wasn't as popular as CMBN.

Very interesting Steve. Is that time accounting for playtesting, map making, research etc? Also for developing simulation models for new vehicles and equipment? Thanks again for sharing these insights into the development process. And all the best with the upcoming releases!

Thanks Steve for moving the progress bar. @BFCElvis explanation of the process was clear and informative too. FWIW I think Battlefront.com is a "proper" company, even if it doesn't follow the standard publisher model of Slitherine. It has to be incorporated according to the laws of the state of Maine (?) at the very least Having deadlines like that are good for managing expectations. But quality at release may be less than expected, as a host of small items which are unimportant individually, and were thus deemed low priority for fixing, in the aggregate can make quite a dent in the perception of a game. And I am talking about a very big WW2 wargame that came out recently which I was the lead tester for two years until late last year.

Looking forward to play this one Ben, many thanks for trying out an old concept that I also remember fondly. And thanks also to @BFCElvis for his inputs on our waiting, CMSF2 R2V and FR I guess stressed processes a but due to their sheer size.

Great game @The_Capt!! I have never been a fanatic gamer of this period, but you guys have managed to get me very interested now Thanks very much for the time taken to write commentary, process screenshots etc. it's been much appreciated entertainment. Now I am looking forward to that debrief!

Run unless you're already in contact with the enemy. If you're being engaged, then your pixeltruppen will have bite their helmet chinstraps for a while.

That's a pretty good one @domfluff

... like this one The AI was driving those two tanks very close to each other, and I have seen proximity kills of soft-skinned vehicles (or as my buddy @Lethafacepointed out, something to watch out for when around vehicles like the BMP-3), but in 10 years of CMx2 I haven't even seen a proximity kill of a reasonably armoured AFV... by another AFV blowing up. Any other rare events like the one above people would like to share? Spotting stuff like this highlights how much happens under the hood with CMx2... and also how much more could this game tell us about what it does.

When you read the peanut gallery thread, you'll have a couple laughs

Those were two fun turns, Bil. Any chance of a video covering the last 5 minutes of the battle? It would be a great advertisement for the game.

Wrong assumption! Bil still has some cluster munitions available. The revolving door game on Warren's right flank is going to get very interesting soon. Also, that infantry screen has done more damage than I thought possible with those Dragon missiles.

Breakout battle? I am also expecting at least one scenario with the phrase "Last Stand" in the title

For @BFCElvis with love

All US Scout sections can act as forward observers for artillery, Bill highlighted this in the AAR as an important factor when selecting forces. Since he hasn't really mentioned that he is relying on further arty fires in the last update, I assume Bil doesn't consider those to be an important part of his plan any more.

Maybe he had a bad day... But seriously, the Allies had a lot of trouble at their mid-level of command (battalion, regiment) for several reasons. Prokhorovka is what happens when mid level officers reinforce failure and higher level officers do not rectify as feedback on decisions comes up the command chain.

Yep, Prokhorovka was a defensive battle where the German Army did very well. And a complete dog breakfast for the Red Army. It's remarkable because of the exchange ratio and the cover up effort.

Beautiful report @Bil Hardenberger, greatly appreciate the vignettes that illustrate the in game events... it's great to see some combined arms action (even if some of that was blue on blue!).