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The Steppenwulf

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Everything posted by The Steppenwulf

  1. Hmmm, let's see... it's gonna be something most of the community wouldn't guess, and... we don't really know if it's CM2 or CM3. So... CM2 - Got to have really strong commercial appeal, as this game iteration is dated and CM2 sales are no longer what they were (it must be true), I'll have a guess here at Desert Storm, as it would potentially pull in lots of new players and generate plenty of revenue. CM3 - got to be something ultra modern to increase the possibility of procuring those lucrative future military training contracts, right! Taiwan 2025/26 is the obvious theatre here (so maybe), but I'll go for something altogether more freaky, a hypothetical RF civil war set in the late 2020's.
  2. It's not hard to conclude that corruption is endemic in Ukraine even from a 2 minute online sweep, including widespread discussion across mainstream publications over many months: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/10/opinion/ukraine-war-corruption.html https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/graft-accusations-dog-top-zelenskiy-aides-2023-09-19/ Ukraine is ranked 116 from 180 countries on corruption by Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/ukraine In addition, as I mentioned some (Ukrainian) commentators were discussing corruption allegations even at the start of the war. It was commonly known to be an issue. It's simply a matter of public record that corruption was a concern raised by the EU, as I asserted. The EU Anti Corruption Initiative is now committed to assist Ukraine Govt tackle it, as a prerequisite to membership (link below). Legal enforcement is part of the issue. That's why I mentioned shortcomings in checks and balances. All enshrined in general accountability: https://euaci.eu/news/finansuvannya-vidnovlennya-ukrajini-udoskonalennya-na-zasadax-prozorosti-pidzvitnosti-ta-dobrochesnosti Do not confound evidence with proof.
  3. The old Soviet states are particularly notorious and the problem is rooted way back in the soviet era. Big bureaucracy, low accountability of officials and processes, and little in the way of internal checks and balances. Allegations of corruption in Ukrainian govt administration were identified from the very start of the conflict - one of things that WiU (for all the stuff that he's wrong about), and other commentators did highlight. I personally considered there to be substance to the allegations for all the reasons above. But it's wrong to compare it to the west as it's on a different order of magnitude - a major impediment in fact for the progress of Ukraine's application to join the EU in the near term.
  4. In what way? Look it would be different in a fundamental way! The closer the representation to an actual violent event, a game or a drama purports to replay, the higher the personal and/or societal sensitivity to it will be. This is increased by time proximity and relationship to the victims and the experience. It's an accepted characteristic of PTSD that there are differences in sensitivity which can trigger flashbacks - by way of a direct psychological demonstration of this effect. If you cannot see this you must be in a tiny group of individuals that is unable to perceive the difference, or are unwilling to accept that there is a difference.
  5. Would it be different if Russian paramilitaries had in reality run riot through an airport lounge killing hundreds of citizens and security guards? An event of such unimaginable violence that it would be on the scale of Oct 7th attacks, or 9/11. Regardless it needs to be considered that this is not only the reputational risk of a single company at stake, Slitherine and Steam share the risk of potential reputational damage and this in turn can affect future agreements re collaboration. In fact reps from those companies may have even expressed their own views on promoting and selling the planned module. A number of factors could have influenced the decision to pull it, these included. P.S. This thread should have been titled "How cold is CMBS gonna' get?"
  6. I continue to maintain, as I stated on this thread a few months into the very start of this conflict, that the specific strategic goal here is about maintaining off-ramp conditions for the Kremlin. In other words, 'you (Russia) cannot win this war so negotiate your way out of it, when you are ready, and whenever that might be!' Such an event (perhaps an inevitability) leaves Russia with strategic defeat - for all the reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum on this thread - yet during the process of reaching this realisation, there is superlative management of risk avoiding direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. Thus Russia decides its own losing fate, rather than defeat being imposed directly upon it by decisive military action. This then is the escalation management strategy; the west maintains control of the levers but only pulls them as required to shut down Putin's options and drive Russia into an ever decreasing cul de sac. Consider the vast majority of post WW2 military conflicts undertaken by the 'super-powers', and the 'moral of the tale' is telling; assuming continuing resistance to invasion/occupation, the long term cost-benefit is so damaging to the aggressor/occupier that withdrawal negotiations (off-ramp) is inevitable. In this then, the west has already sowed the conditions for the end of the current Russian regime, simply a repeat of events following Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in the 90's.
  7. Apologies everyone but I won't be uploading the planned update with adjustments from the latest patch to this mod after all. The same applies to the Black Sea mod too I'm afraid and other mods I've been working on. Please do consider the mod now open field, feel free to modify it further and build on it as you wish.
  8. Okay I see you are a fella that just wants to debate but I'm not going to bite. I think you are right, lets forthwith consider this mod to have lapsed and the community can do whatever they want with any of the material. Unfortunately it means it won't be maintained and updated from a single source, it can be butchered as anyone sees fit. Please note there will no more updates from me to the work shared with the community. I will just be modding henceforth for my own use and pleasure. But one last thing. What has happened here is the very reason why super mods are NOT a good idea. I've seen it happen before in other gaming communities and they are problematic, not least because developers and designers wishes are trampled over and the work ends up all over the place. We can debate ethics and decorum but there is a very sound pragmatic point at the heart of this. It's unfortunate that you didn't just think a little bit before jumping. Bull in a china shop seems like a very apt metaphor.
  9. @37mm I've messaged you once and it didn't warrant a long-ranting list of counter justifications. How old are you? I'm simply asking you politely to respect my wish not to repackage my UI mod. The music is a different matter as are the full plate shots, use them as you like, but please don't repackage the mod. It's going to cause problems when the mod is updated (with multiple versions in different places) as it will be very soon - that' s because it is a WIP. It's either this or I won't be updating it with any further improvements at all and the community loses out... does not gain by having a 'super mod'. Look I'm honoured if players want to install my mod, but please just link them to it. It's not an unreasonable request and I think the community will understand my reasoning.
  10. BCS by MMP drew my interest recently (and I'm not a massive hex and counter fan). I just heard good things about it and it's growing in popularity. Battalion level with 1km per hex scale I feel hits the spot in terms of granularity as an operational level wargame (monster stacks are not for me): https://mmpgamers.com/battalion-combat-series-c-10 A strong core fan base might explain why there are plenty of exciting new development projects on the horizon for this game including one set in the Yom Kippur conflict: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/130401/2022-bcs-statish-system But admittedly, its heart is a ww2 theatre based game series.... Perhaps slightly off topic with the following as it's strategic level with brigade level formations, but it is modern conflict, the Next War series by GMT: India Pakistan: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-461-next-war-india-pakistan.aspx Korea: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-537-next-war-korea-2nd-edition.aspx Taiwan: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-894-next-war-taiwan-2nd-edition.aspx Vietnam: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-733-next-war-vietnam.aspx Poland: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-846-next-war-poland-2nd-edition.aspx I was aware of the Poland game some time ago and is somewhat relevant to Russia's present imperial aspirations, but the Iran game (for me) looked the most interesting one out of the series. Iran: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1011-next-war-iran.aspx I'd be Interested to hear if anyone else has already discovered these two series of games (perhaps are even players) and what their perspectives are on them.
  11. That would be amazing, if someone could provide a link and then I can copy everything to my dropbox, thank you loads... @Mad Mike I tried opening the Juvelize.btt in the editor and there's something not compatible that prevents the file from opening, so no info shows in the editor. If it's the same on your end then I guess this file is beyond resurrection unfortunately. From experience it tends to be a unit chosen in the ToE that had a code change under later game engines, so perhaps this file had units selected? In which case do you just have the map file without units, perhaps the map just stored as a back up?
  12. Thanks for your responses fellas! If you are all hands-on with the Cotentin Peninsula campaign and Arracourt is left for dead, are you willing to make public the material that was completed for it? In fact, I'm not so much interested in any completed scenarios or OOB/TOEs, it's rather scenario maps, or even better a master map, that I could get my hands on for my own campaign idea I've been chipping away at. For all kinds of reasons I suspect that the Arracourt encounters are very well suited. I could go as far as to give my word to keep any material supplied, strictly for my private use ONLY, if this solicits a kind share
  13. Since I purchased BN in 2010, it's seemed pretty clear that Combat Mission franchise was focused predominantly on producing content; one only has to look at the setup and shape (i.e. skill sets) of the BF dev team to perceive that content development WAS the commercial emphasis - since at least that point in time - and was NOT shaped by customer's views. But I'd love to hear about any market research data that BF has ever carried out that demonstrates that there was ever such a decision point (I mean perhaps it was before I discovered CM - entirely possible). Nonetheless, moving beyond this with a constructive point; would it be useful for BF to undertake some market research,(e.g. a formal forum poll) with their customer base. Not only might BF find such information useful but it might end a lot of the grumbling about 'development priorities' in the future. Maybe there's a core problem in that nobody feels that the relationship between BF and the customer is the two-way listening exercise that it could be. Let's be clear I prefer features over content but I'm not complaining about whatever BF develops. The way I see it is that BF are either interested in what the customer is thinking and they shape priorities to that (which would be great for the feature/s I'd like to see), OR BF do what the hell they want because they are simply relying on their own commercial acumen (for better, for worse). It's your livelihood at stake! But in this I'd warn that pretending that it's the former priority, when it's really only (and has ever been) the latter, might be interpreted as a tad disingenuous, which would not be helpful in maintaining good customer relations.
  14. Precisely and agreed! We are on the same hymn sheet and so perhaps is Ithykial, it's just BF we are waiting on for implementation...
  15. I was with you but now this sentence has lost me. If I'm right and you are referring to carrying over casualties from one H2H scenario to another - that is MANUALLY adjusting units rather than being auto-tracked, this would be extremely tedious, very inexact (since the headcount variable doesn't match with specific casualties incurred), and in summary the method requires its own function (such as a .csv file [battle result] download/ [new scenario] upload) to facilitate and make the idea viable. It's disappointing that we still don't yet have this given that there seems to be a demand (your work here being a prescient example), and it cannot be that difficult for the BF programmer/s to develop. Perhaps you agree!
  16. Interesting development! Specifically you must be referring to (informal) coop campaigns not a formal multiplayer function or H2H campaigns? Can you define and expand perhaps? Shame it's unlikely to be the latter as I'm sure this would constitute an engine feature....but seems like an interesting, fresh idea all the same.
  17. @LostInSeattle Yeh same - lost a long term opponent to other real life commitments during lockdown and not played any BN games since. With BN though I will only play the German side and I'm not interested in QBs, only scenarios - fun and immersion matters to me rather than competition. Battle size unimportant as long as it's engine game 1.3 onwards (less pathing issues with 1.3+ scenarios). If you are fine with my rather uncompromising stipulations feel free to hmu for a game.
  18. If it's only you playing the map then sure, fill your boots soldier! But for other players, playing someone else's map, this probably won't be the case. I personally would find it less immersive and wholly unrealistic. Consider also that they offer no block to los as well as no cover. That's not immersive to me it's map breaking! Small flavour objects that would not really present as hard cover or block los in real life are different though. Consider that there are actually very few stock flavour objects that are large, I suspect that's for this very reason. If BF was to use large objects they would have to ensure that they presented as hard cover and blocked los. They haven't because they don't and to do so would be an epic fail for immersion. That all said, there ARE lots of ideas for objects that are wonderful and would make the game prettier for sure, it's just worth bearing in mind the consequences of these shortcomings for gameplay with larger objects. Hope that helps! All the best!
  19. This sort of object is one of the easiest to create from scratch. But the thing is that there are so many free models out there online that it's easier to import one into Blender and convert the file. The problem with any objects in CM is that they don't offer any ballistics cover, due to not having cracked the meta data in the files. This means many objects, that you'd expect to offer hard cover in game, aren't suitable to warrant getting in game. IOW, given the effort expended, IMHO, it's no much worth looking pretty, if it confers no actual tactical advantage.
  20. + 1 - I looked also and couldn't find hardly any of the scenarios. So much content here, I'd be like a kid in a sweet shop. It would be fantastic if there were independent links to each of one these scenario files on TSD3.
  21. Those that went to Iraq in the 90s as complete, or later as spare parts.
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