Freyberg

Problem with a Pacific game, as others have alluded to, is that most battles won't be very fun or suited to the CM2 engine.  Iwo Jima might be OK for a first-person shooter, but the terrain and fortifications are not going to work well from a CM2 perspective.  A good comparison is the various attempts to recreate a D-Day beach scenario for CM2.  There have been numerous attempts, but none have been particularly successful.  The beaches aren't good, scaling the cliffs is hard to simulate, and the clearing of the trenches atop said cliffs also doesn't work very well. 

A terrain pack would be awesome. My dream is to have specific buildings one day, like the Grain Factory in Stalingrad of the Kremlin in Moscow. Also more variety in trees, buildings and so on is high on my list. 

I'm in the same camp as Sgt Squarehead where it would be a nice inclusion to play with some fantasy "1946" toys but 'not right now.' There are still so many other historically based 'packs' that can still be explored for the WW2 titles that would and provide us with a lot more variety in gameplay and scenario design opportunities compared to some shiney new vehicles with bigger guns.
Partisans, elite formations and minor nations would be at the top of my wishlist for future packs/modules. I'm probably the only one that's also flagged the idea of a 'Terrain Pack' in the past - again to give scenario designers some increased variety. Playing in the editor in CMBS you realise not having an infantry non-easily passable chainlink fence that doesn't block LOS/LOF is a real annoyance when trying to make a modern urban/industrial map.

Dear Battlefront, please make a CM game set in the pacific theatre, I NEED IT!!! Now, my only Japanese fix is the ones in men of war 2 and I can't really play that after playing combat mission. You can add a Japanese faction and reuse the US/British asset  from other CM games. You can create island themed maps with beaches and palm trees and dense forest. Please make this happen. I love you! 

Over the past few weeks I've been extensively testing the firepower of different American, British and German rifles, SMGs and LMGs in CMBN 4.0. I originally wanted to make a complete series of tests before 'publishing' the results, but I understand that there is an update in the making that will, as a minimum, adjust the rate of fire of some weapons, so for my work to have any impact, I should show them now rather than later. I am posting in general CM discussion. Although the tests were CMBN-specific, I believe that the same patterns in weapons effectiveness will be found in other titles as well.
Method
13 lanes, target troops in foxholes (4-man U.S. medium mortar ammo bearer teams, regular, fanatic, no ammo). Walls are used to separate the lanes over the last 40 meters only, to prevent ricochets from affecting the results. In each lane, one firing team (regular, normal motivation, no leadership modifier) engages the target troop unit using a target arc order. The firing team is so set up that there is only one man in the team with the tested weapon, and he is the only one firing. Ample ammo is provided from supply trucks so the firing unit does not run out of ammunition during the test. There always is a leader in the team with binoculars to aid with spotting at long distances. 13 firing teams with the same weapon are tested in parallel at distances from 40 to 600 meters. The test runs for 10 minutes or until all target troops are eliminated, whichever comes earlier. The total time in action for the 13 teams (between 0 and 7800 seconds) and the total casualties (between 0 and 52) is evaluated. Each test is repeated 26 times, therefore each weapon is tested 338 times at each distance.
An example of the test file is found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d5b7qoex6cmigm0/Weapons effects BAR (Gunner) 400m.bts?dl=0
In total, there are 106 files like that one, each run 26 times for up to 10 minutes. About 10,250,000 rounds were fired by the firing teams and 72,530 casualties taken by the target troops.
Distance to target is the average distance of the 13 firing teams to the target action spot (as the firing team's action spot is 8 m wide, this needs to be adjusted for)
Firepower is here defined as the average number of casualties suffered per unit time by the target troops. Minor wounds do not count. The unit is bpm, "bodies per minute".
Rate of fire is taken from ammo consumption during the test, averaged from 26 instances. The unit is rpm, rounds per minute.
Accuracy is the number of casualties per round fired. It may not fully correspond to the number of hits per round fired as one casualty may receive multiple hits, especially with automatic fire. The unit is bpr, "bodies per round", multiplied by 1000 to make the numbers easier to interpret.
Tested weapons
MP40 (Leader), Sten Mk II (Leader), Sten Mk IV (Leader, Soldier), M1A1 Thompson (Leader) - distances 40-192 m MP44 (Leader), MP44 (Soldier) - distances 40-320 m Karabiner 98K, Gewehr 43, Lee Enfield No 4, M1 Garand (all Soldier) - distances 40-320 m Lee Enfield w/scope (Marksman) - distances 40-600 m MG42 LMG, Bren, B.A.R. (all Gunner) - distances 40-600 m [I am going to break up this post here, results come next]

Ah to dream.  I've been hoping for this since Steve teased it a couple years ago or more.
Would so love to see the whole E series.

"Fantasy" Vehicle Pack for CMFB and CMRT"
*eyes light up* Yes please!   then there's someway finding a way to get IS-3s, Centurions & T-28s to be on the same battlefield.

I know one pack I would buy for sure for BN, that is a "Commando/Special Forces Pack" - pretty please 

Sounds like good news.  And while I can patiently wait for screenshots, I guess the content much be pretty much set at this late stage...can you provide any info?  Such as, will the CMRT module have partisans?  Not asking for a complete list of new units (yet!), but is there generally any exciting content news?

CMFI Module, and CMSF2.

Welp, that's two things I'm going to buy instantly.

Happy New Year everyone.
I've always wanted to see assault boats so we could play the 82nds crossing of the Waal at Nijmegen.
 

Thanks for sharing this with us.

@Freyberg that is sweet. Getting tank kills with artillery in the WW2 games is a challenge so when you get one it is fun. This one is very serendipitous since you didn't know where it was.

With all hundreds, perhaps thousands, of CM games I've played, statistically improbable events should be expected - but it was still fun to watch!

If anyone ever wonders why there aren't more bones, here is the reason. 
No good deed goes unpunished, especially on the internet. 

Hello names Hector. i live in Puerto Rico and you may know what hurricane Maria did to our beautiful island. We have no power only 3 hours a day, and as a CM fan had really missed playing. I had a little problem with the game installation  since they were downloaded (i had the cds also) and tried to contact battlefront but was hard with no internet so I managed to get on for a bit and found a phone number and called Steve whom I really dont know who he is but he answered. I want to say Thanks for the conversation we had. He offered to help and eventhough I got everything working offline after, it was refreshing to hear he was available to help. I really appreciate his gesture and will continue to support Battlefront knowing that behind this company are great and caring people. Again Thanks Steve .
Hector 

Amen to that brother ! 

Looking forward to all the future releases.

Keeping in mind of course that when BFC ported CMSF1 over to the Mac, they offered the total bundle to all us Mac guys for about $55 which was a bargain I happily paid after spending almost $100 for the PC game and modules.  So, yea, I am very excited about this.  If you like CMBS, trust me, you will like this game as well...I mean, now it's almost a historical game with all the Iraq and Afghanistan based content...and mods.  

Believe me, it feels like a completely different game.  So many things have changed that you can't even begin to go through them all - stupid little things like walls with gaps that weren't in CMSF.  Map development will be a whole lot different with all the new capabilities.  Moving flavor items with alt-click.  Moving way points after you've placed them.  Then you get into things like target briefly which didn't exist.  BF reworked almost everything so yeah you have to buy it again at a discount.  You thought it should be free?  Damn I need you to come over and work in my yard digging trenches if you think labor should be free.  Let me know when to expect you.
The big items are ToEs, models etc and ALL the CMSF content that is available.  However don't be fooled. the small things are what will catch you probably more than the big items.  Try building a map with the same level of detail as the later titles and you'll quickly find yourself frustrated by what you can't do that you take for granted now.  Ooh did someone say overlays?
I get that everybody has their favorites and we all want our favorites at the top of the list, but those that revel in CMSF have waited the longest for an update over any other title.  You've been waiting 3 years since CMBS release for a module?  4 Years since Gustav line for CMFI?  It's been over 7 years since the NATO module and NONE of the version improvements have been applied to the BEST CM game.  So get the hell back in line and wait your turn.  If CMSF isn't your fav then so be it, but don't crap on those of us who have waited all this time as the LAST title to get 4.0. 
You know what the title will have.  4.0 and all the stuff that made CMSF what it is.  Not to your liking?  No one is making you buy it.  However if like me you find CMSF as the most appealing game of the CM titles, then you really really want CMSF2.  Even at full price it would be a deal.

I dunno - CMSF has a lot more than just Abrams and T55 - there's a plethora of NATO material, plus there are oodles of interesting scenarios and some quite cool QB maps. Personally I loved playing it until the game engine just felt too old and with the new game engine, more control over QBs and the play enhancements, I think it'll be a great title again.

WOOOHOOOO, love it.  Getting rid of the ol' CMSF QB selection will be worth it alone.  That was by far my biggest complaint about an otherwise awesome game.

It's real.

Just a little something I found under the Christmas Tree
 
P
 

" And as he passed by the bunker and out of our zone
I chewed on the annual Christmas bone. "
SEE? I told you guys! I knew Santa Steve was real!
ON MAP MORTARS!
I see the new stream terrain. And the light/heavy? forest tile looks a bit like ferns (last pic). And the AAVs (and LAV) crossing the river are badass!
Thanks very much.
Mord.