Sim1943

BFC Are there any plans to bring back any form of the QB 'Combined Arms' setting from CMx1? For those who missed out on CMx1, 'Combined Arms' was a QB setting that limited the played to so many points of infantry, support weapons, vehicles, armor, artillery and fortifications. The effect of it was that you had a lot of infantry supported by some SW, some vehicles, a few tanks and a little artillery. In other words, it forced the player to create a pretty balanced force. When combined with the 'Short 75' rules, it made for some great QB PBEM games that were very competitive and great for ladder games since the OOB rules were enforced by the game. The game currently has no way of doing this, outside of a huge list of house rules that can not be enforced. Currently you can do 'Infantry Only', 'Mech Only', 'Armor Only' or 'Mix'. Problem is, 'Mix' is anything you want - ie. a force of all AA guns, or a force of all Scout Teams. The added side benefit of 'Combined Arms' is that it would greatly help the AI in its QB purchase. I have given up with letting the AI purchase for QB's - all AT guns, or all AA guns, or five FO's with artillery and that's it. When I play QB's, I have to purchase for the AI which honestly takes away significantly from the experience. Not knowing what you face is a huge element of this game. All I am wanting to know is if a QB Combined Arms setting is even in consideration for upcoming titles. Personally, I would love to see it return not just for QB PBEM, but also for AI PBEM games. Thanks in advance Chad

And the other is hand to hand combat?

Great idea. Thanks for the effort also.

Master maps is one of the greatest ideas to come out of BFC post CMx2 release. Great idea! I too would love to see some released for Normandy - any of the five invasion beaches, St Lo, all/any of the drop area, Mortain, Caen - the list goes on. BFC, I would be more than happy to pay for these as part of the unit packs planned for later on. Keep up the great work. Chad

Exactly. There are those who prefer 100% random and no restrictions. Which is already in there under 'Mix' and/or 'Random'. I dont see a need to change that. I only see a need for balanced forces in QB's. Against the AI this is currently not possible. For PBEM it would require lengthy house rules that are not enforceable. So again, BFC, any plans on adding a form of the original Combined Arms?

And if someone wants this experience, then 'Mix' is great for that complete randomness. While not having 'Combined Arms' can be corrected for PBEM games with lengthly house rules and doing the math ourselves and trusting your opponent to do so, unless you pick the AI's forces yourself, I have yet to see a balanced force under 'Mix'. Which means your only real choice is to pick the AI force yourself, or play 'Infantry' only - which is what I have resorted too, and you then get a bunch of AT guns, mortars that fire all their rounds on the first turn and unsupported MG's. So if you resort to buying the forces yourself and know exactly what the other side has, it eliminates the entire point of AI QB. If your picking the force, might as well make it a scenario. By no means am I saying that the current QB system is broke. Its wonderful and a huge improvement over CMx1 QB system. Theres just this one missing element that would greatly enhance both AI and PBEM play for those who are interested in more balanced, realistic forces that are fun to play against and offer much more of a challenge than 10 MG teams, 5 AT guns and INF guns that start firing all their ammo on the first turn.

Still wondering BFC.

If you want to have a free-for-all battle just for fun that puts an all MG force against an all Puma force, thats what 'Mix' is for. Its not an either or scenario. 'Mix' has plenty of uses, but so does 'Combined Arms' - the biggest is competitive PBEM. The next biggest is AI battles - just finished a QB where the AI picked a 88mm AT gun and a bunch of MG42. I cant play against the AI and let it pick with 'Mix' because it tends to have all tanks and picking them for myself ruins the entire point of AI QB. Steve? Moon? Any comments?

Just to be painfully clear, as I stated above, currently 'Mixed' is *not* the same as the CMx1 'Combined Arms'. Currently, under 'Mixed', you could spend all your points on MG42's. Or 81mm mortars. Or sniper teams. Or tanks. No enforced balance from the game. Which is fine if thats what your looking for, but if your looking for a more realistic (ie. infantry supported by armor, not a few sniper teams scouting for a mass of armor), balanced, and competitive system it is currently not possible under 'Mixed'. Obviously this could be addressed by lengthly house rules, but even then, you could not ensure your opponent was being honest until after the game when you could see their stuff.

Any plans to have a form of 'Combined Arms' for the new CM v2.0? In other words, currently you can have only infantry, or only armor, or an unlimited amount of either within your point limit. With 'Combined Arms', you were limited to a certain proportion of your points for Armor, Artillery, Fortifications, Vehichles, Infantry and so on. Kept the forces really even for competitive PBEM play. With the new category setups in CMx2 games, there could be a limit to Infantry, Mech, Armor, Artillery and Fortifications. Any plans to include some form of this?