Pelican Pal

The CM AI is almost nonexistent except for the local tact-AI which is passable.

This is currently true. More so if you have the 3.0 update. 32 sq. KM maps are now possible and presumably they will only be getting larger with each new game.

You are essentially describing Kickstarter. It would be interesting to see if some folks would put money where their mouth is with that. However, unless BFC wanted to higher newer programmers/artists this would probably not be super helpful. I suspect the primary limit is not monetary, but the number of man hours available. So unless enough money is raised to higher new people I don't see us getting much.

Having some sort of SOP options would be a godsend for these situations.

No, but BFC did release an update to bring everything up to 3.0, but did a poor job explaining that it really wasn't 3.0. Just pretty close to it. Generally speaking BF is not good at detailing what changes are being made in their game (and which aren't). For example, AT guns can now be moved short distances without packing up. This is a potentially very important change but no one would ever know it happened. While tank riding was an assumed part of 3.0 for a number of people, but we didn't get it. We also weren't told we weren't getting it. I understand the technical reason for not having tank riders, but that is really the only reason. Hopefully once CM:Bulge comes out with tank riders then CM:BN can get them since the models will have been updated for that game. The 3.0 patch was also a great opportunity to make the Italian squads more realistically flexible.

They are different titles but that doesn't mean everything that is different is historical. There are quite a few programming limitations and a few poor design decisions. Tank riding belongs in CM:BN. It doesn't belong in the same fashion as CM:RT. Men should dismount almost immediately when fire occurs. Because, as people have said, troops didn't ride them into combat. However, there are tons of opportunities in CM battles for men to be riding them administratively. Hell even look at the possible size of a CM map now. 8 KM long. The possibility exists for a 5KM tank ride, dismount, 1 km walk to the jump off point and then a final attack. Cm maps aren't just 800 Meter arenas anymore. In CM::FI Italian squads should be able to split and suffer a corresponding morale hit. I'm not sure why it wasn't changed because it is an obvious one to make. Sure doctrinally they didn't, but I also don't see how it is unrealistic for me (the SL of an Italian squad) to tell Mario and Luigi to fight from the second floor while I fight from the bottom, or alternatively to stand on the left side of the road while I will stand on the right. CM already unrealistically depicts infantry spread and there is no reason to cause that problem to be exacerbated.

Since when did CM:BN have three modules?

I've been wondering about this kind of. So far if BFC finds that the game is broken they'll fix it. However, did the HMG fix ever get back ported into CM:BN and CM:FI? As far as I know it didn't and I would consider that as something that would be patch worthy.

You get the target briefly command and some command lines. Those are iirc the only real gameplay improvements that you will personally see. Behind the scenes 3.0 adds AI triggers and more AI commands. This are a lot more important and will make singlep[layer games a lot better. However, you are relying on people making scenarios using them. So while this might be a reason to upgrade it won't really until the new scenarios hit.

Oh no, I don't. But I won't skip on a deal like that.

Apparently I've been summoned. What I would like to see next is CM:BN given free to everyone. But actually I'm interested in seeing a battlepack happen. They are currently an unknown factor as far as cost and content go. It will be interesting to see what one actually entails.

That is a very reasonable time frame given $1 will get you 5-10 (ofen very good) games.

Awww I'm sorry! Did my reasonable complaints about the poor webstore front end get to you?

It is a collection that has been built up over 7 years. its not like I went out and just bought 400 games in one day. Most of them were from my highschool time. Small 4,000 person town and 20-30 a week gets you a lot of disposable and nothing to do with it. I am also very good at getting store credit at certain places. Green Man Gaming and Steam being two of the primary ones. At one point I had $400+ dollars in store credit at GMG and in total I've probably gotten $100 in store credit for Steam. Generally I have a core group of maybe 20 games that I play regularly enough to keep installed, and to put any time in. A mix of multiplayer games, new single player games, a few of my go to sandbox games, maybe anew artsy game that I think are interesting. Most of them were also less than a dollar per game. (thank you bundles)

Reasonably priced restaurants in the midwest :cool:

I was burnt out on CM when 2.0 came out and missed that. My mistaken assumption was that the upgrades were for previous owners and all new customers would get the best version of the game available. I'm currently happy playing any of my 400 odd Steam games and CM:RT. I've been burnt out on the content in CM:BN for a long time now so I don't want to waste money buying the upgrade for a game I won't play. However, I would consider getting an expansion if it came bundled with the upgrade.

Where in the hell do you go?

Because coffee is a perishable it does make sense. When you buy foodstuffs/perishables you know pretty accurately what you are getting and how it will improve your life at that moment. Software (or really any other non-perishable purchase) doesn't provide that.

I'm fine with no mod support. Like I'm not arguing for it. However, there are good arguments for not having and bad arguments. BFC has stated that modding would be a lot of work to setup, cause a possible slew of technical problems and make those problems harder to correct, and eat into their business model. So they aren't going to have it. ^Good argument for why. The other argument is that there wasn't a (insert obscure vehicle) in Normandy at 12:00 o'clock June 20th 1944, and if we allowed modding someone might put it there! And then our precious historical realism will go out the window! How dare anyone have fun that isn't sanctioned by me! ^ This is a bad argument. And I will argue with someone that presents a bad argument for why something isn't included. The way BFC is doing versioning and purchasing/pricing is poor, but they can be engaged separately to an extent. Versioning the software into something more coherent would just make everyone happier. I understand that is a long term thing, but I don't think that means I need to shut up about it. Purchasing and pricing can be bandaged over with some better web design. The versioning system has created a bigger mess for the whole thing, but some intelligent store front design could cover them up pretty well. At the top of any given store page list all the products that are being sold. So: CM:BN CM:CW (CM:BN required) CM:MG (CM:BN and V2.0 required) V2.0 (A upgrade to CM:BN *features*) V3.0 (a upgrade to CM:BN, v2.0 required *features*) The user immediately knows what all is available. Then breakdown the list into coherent groups. Edit: Coffee and Software aren't comparable items. Everyone stop doing it. Please. Like actually. I'll give you an award.

No. Arguing that the community can't mod things in because "God forbid if it isn't accurate" is idiocy and pure elitism. It doesn't hurt anything to allow modding in absurd things into the game if users want to. There are plenty of good arguments BFC has for why modding isn't in the game. They are all perfectly legitimate ones. Your argument isn't any of those things. Now onto complaining about the price!!! everyone's favorite game! As someone who has already purchased CM:BN the upgrade makes sense for me (although some sort of upgrade all your families bundle should probably be looked into). However, for a new user the current purchasing scheme is confusing and overly complicated. There are currently 17 different purchasing options under the CM:BN store page. Ten of these make no mention of version number. Six make mention of V2.0 (two of which are straight v2.0 upgrades), and one is the v3.0 upgrade. If you just heard about CM:BN from some website or something and came here to purchase something you are almost required to spend hours researching what the hell each of the options are and writing a mini report to adequately understand what each option contained. Some don't say a version number. So are they the newest and most up to date or not at all? Some say v2.0. Do I need v1.0 to get 2.0? Wait there is a v3.0. Isn't that better than 2.0? Why can't I buy that? Do I need to pay for v2.0 before i can get 3.0? Why am I paying for patches? As someone buying the game new I would expect to have the newest update with that purchase. That isn't true at all here. In fact you might be stuck with v1.0. It would make a lot more sense to leave the 2.0 and 3.0 upgrade option for people who own the games already. Then push every game purchased to the 3.0 version so that every new player very clearly gets the most up to date version. It would also help if each store page had a coherent list of what each family had. Long story short the storefront is an absolute mess and the upgrade scheme is only making it more so. The whole system is byzantine.

A sticky or mention of it in the original update announcement probably would have solved a lot of problems. The tank riding discussion has been occurring concurrently in like 5 different threads in different subforums.

Fun police are here! Run for it! Why don't I just mod up a Maus and drop it in Normandy and use it in my h2h games against friends and against the AI? Does that ruin your game? Modding stuff like that presents a wealth of opportunities to try "what if" scenarios. Much like the CM:FI campaign "what if" exploring the Anzio breakout. Arma 3 is a serious tactical game, and it is sometimes played seriously by people. Others put 50 cals on go karts and have a very violent version of Mario kart. I fail to see the problem. It's also important to note that CM isn't coffee. It isn't comparable to coffee. Let's stop doing it. Anyway I think that forcing users to constantly buy into the 3.0 upgrade is bad business. Any new purchase should include 3.0 as a matter of course. BFC would probably make more money (users spend money that they wouldn't) and it also avoids confusing the absolute hell out of everyone. Right now any new user trying to buy a game needs to spend a day researching what and how to buy stuff. Some bundles mention 2.0 and some don't. 3.0 is sitting off on its lonesome. Why would I buy 2.0 if 3.0 is just better. Does this purchase of CM:BN base game that mentions no update number have the latest update or none at all. It really is a mess.

Okay. So regardless of what I buy I still need to buy 3.0 separately? Even if it is the base game? For example, CM:FI.

I'm okay if tank riding isn't in but let's not say it's because it is unrealistic. This is a programming limitation pure and simple.

Well I'll be darned. Guess we oughta remove trucks and jeeps!