db_zero

Some need to keep in mind the overall context of their arguments. BF already said no. I agree with last post. Its time to let this thread die... Over and out...

Depends. Direct response to other people engaging you can be viewed as "combative". Keep in mind too that you and others could be viewed as representative of what to expect on Steam-right or wrong that may happen. Put yourself in the shoes of BF who is already predisposed to not favoring Steam. If they get this much flak here, then how much might they expect if they did migrate fully to Steam and be forced to respond to demands for this and that? If I were BF and got this sort of flak here I would become even more resistant because responding to calls for this and that takes away from doing what i do best...design games. Steam and games modded have issues from time to time. Will all the modders too be forced to join steam workshop?

Its one thing to make a suggestion to a business owner of how they might improve their business, but to constantly pester them especially after the fact crosses the line. You then enter the realm of telling a business owner how they Should be running their business. That will almost always envoke a stern response.

We're just a bunch of crusty old gronards who refuse to join the rest of the civilized world on Steam. We sit in our exclusive world sipping $10,000 bottles of scotch, lighting cuban cigars with 100 bills. Steam will change all of that. It will bring Combat Mission to the masses. Now everyone can have quick and cheap access to Combat Mission. The world will be a better place. but don't worry. If you like your Combat Mission the way it is now, you can keep your current Combat Mission, because going to Steam and having BF pay 20-40% to a middleman and catering to the whims of Steam users who refuse to look at or purchase Combat Mission because its not on Steam isn't going to have any effect.

wow 1 post and the first one is this....

I visited the boards at Matrix. Doesn't seem to be much activity, but I did notice the game is discounted to $59 so I went ahead and got the download version directly from Matrix. I wouldn't recommend the full boxed version as the manual is way out of date. The devs are promising a big surprise soon. I suspect its multiplayer. I've seen a few people mention morale and doctrine which would be a good step in the right direction. Too bad its not like CM where you zoom in and actually see real vehicles and grunts. That would be nice. There was a thread where someone mentioned that dropping the price and going onto to Steam is a bad idea. Keeping the price high assures that only those who really want the game will get it. Dropping the price will generate alot of people who will buy it at the discounted price and then demand a return and generate bad buzz when they get frustrated with it. Being a hardcore ex-harpoon layer I'll probably have some fun with it, but if I had to choose only 1 I would pick Combat Mission without hesitation. I have to wonder at a discounted price of $59 and Steam taking 20-30% off the top that must be like taking an Exocet up the backside when it comes to profit margin

I don't think Command will move BF to steam either way. We'll just have to wait and see. Heard good things about Command Modern Air/Naval Ops, but I pretty much stick to CM these days - even though I spent countless hours with Harpoon-both pre-computer version and beyond. While CMANO boasts to be the most realistic I think it has a huge flaw in that boast. There are no morale, experience or training factors involved. A flight of F-16's from a third rate country pretty much behaves and fights like a flight of F-16s from a first rate country. The weapons modeling is impressive, but the training, experience, motivation and morale of the people who operate the weapons makes or breaks a military. I hear the ground component needs some work too.

Playing a game where the tank on tank action is the most intense either of us have seen and I'd like to capture it and send to some friends. Some of the turns were just unbelievable. Don't know if I could do an AAR and I would want to ask opponent first if it would be ok as that was never planned. Its also a mirrored game so not sure if an AAR is a good idea. Its Wittmans Demise and I went Tiger hunting. I just hope my opponent doesn't return the favor on the mirrored game where I'm the Germans. He's giving me a real thrashing in another game. Unfortunately my British tankers didn't do so well and left my 82nd Airborne troopers in a bad situation. One or 2 shell hits on the German assault guns that gone a different way and that game would have went differently...my tankers got off the first shots and hit, but didn't knock out the Stugs

Steam is no mystery to BF. They've already looked into it and determined it was not for them. I'm sure they are tired of responding to requests as to why they don't belong to Steam. In my experience when someone says they are not interested constantly pestering them just makes them more resistant to the idea.

BF has repeatedly stated they are doing fine as is and they have plenty n the works to prove that. If Steam isn't right for them, then it isn't right for them. As for Eugene and Wargame being a big hit on Steam, what does that have to do with Combat Mission? They are hardly in the same category. I have Wargame too and it the sort of game that would appeal to the Steam crowd. Its an RTS, with life bars. Saying Wargame is grounded in realism is laughable. Its hardly realistic. Try playing a tank battle in Wargame and compare that with tank vs tank battles in Shock Force. If Wargame was grounded in realism the naval combat would be closer to Harpoon, than Rome Total War. As for players who won't try out Combat Mission because its not on Steam, I would have to question whether they are the sort of players worth the bother. If they lack the initiative to investigate a non Steam game or too lazy to type in a search n google or just visit the Battlefront website to see for themselves, then they probably are not going to take the time and effort to learn the Combat Mission system and become and good. I don't know exactly how Steam handles business. They are not publicly listed to my knowledge so you don't have to deal with shareholders or a board of directors, but even if privately held you still have to deal with individuals who may have control issues or certain ideas of how things should be done and that may not be in BFs interests. Oftentimes when you enter an agreement with a big entity like Steam you have to bring in the lawyers as you will most definitely be signing a lot of legal documents and you better know whats in the fine print. Maybe BF just does not want to have to deal with this sort of baggage. My impression of BF is they are passionate about their craft and are content with making a decent living while doing what they truly love and just don't want the headaches that come along when you have to deal with corporate types and you can be sure that once you join steam you're going to have to deal with the legions of people on Steam demanding this or that. Nothing is free in this world and sometimes becoming "big" and making more money isn't all that its cracked up to be and the headaches that accompany it just isn't worth it.

Whats a good video editing software to use with FRAP? I had Premier 5.5 , but can't find it. I use the free Microsoft video editing program. I don't want to spend a fortune.

Its all relative. When it comes to Combat Mission head to head against another human I win some games, lose some games. When I played Company of Heroes online they said I sucked. Wargame online was the same thing.

This is a h2h game.

I can understand why things are they way they are, on the other hand it makes for strange behavior. I've witnessed even more strange results that involved walls and it kinda ruins a well designed scenario. Instead of focusing on tactics I'm now asking myself how can I circumvent the game behavior so it doesn't screw me.

I have steam on my computer and if it wasn't for Total War, which I hardly play anymore and Wargame, which I've barely touched, I would get rid of. Combat Mission is the only thing I play these days and the fact I still have steam on my computer when I don't use it is just another reason to NOT go there. Its just another piece of crap that gets loaded onto your system and who knows what or where your personal data ends up. Yes I hate steam. When CA started using it begining with Empire Total War I was pissed. I bought a dvd thinking I could just install off the dvd only to discover I had to sign up with steam and be tied down to them. Steam now sits in offline mode 99.9% of the time and if I don't get interested in Total War again, may just get uninstalled.

I'm playing Whitmans demise and I discovered something that needs to get looked at. My opponents Tiger sticks his barrel through one of the small openings in the tall wall. My Sherman hiding behind it fires 2 shots that go sailing over the Tiger-thats ok, but then the Tiger rotates his turret depresses his gun and kills my Sherman-the problem here is the wall was higher than his gun and the opening is too small for a tank to move through. Basically the Tigers barrel magically rotates through walls...

Usually means bootie...and a nice big fat one at that. Then kind that creates visible shock waves when you slap it. Kinda odd use of the word.

I knew in 41 most Russian tanks had no radios. If the above was true in 44 I would say Red Army players in RT have too much flexibility. I know I've reacted and executed tactics with Russian tanks that would have required good 2 way communications. Poor radios would also affect spotting as one tank that spotted an enemy would have no easy way to relay info.

What type of radios if any did Russian tanks at this stage of the war? We're they as well maintained as Western armies? I don't think they were and were they using throat microphones? Conventional wisdom is by this stage of the war the Red Army was a lot better than it was in 41 to 43. Still I can also say that in h2h I have seen my opponents Mark IVs beat up on my T34/85 at range.

I had a lot of bad results with Russian tanks at first in my h2h games, yet on other games completely trashed my German opponents Panthers, Tigers and other tanks with my T-34's and SU's. I'm leaning towards the doctrine of KISS (keep it simple, stupid) when playing the Russians. Always use them in mass when possible and keep the objective simple. Playing the Western armies I don't hesitate to send off a tank or pair of tanks to do something, but with the Russians I send 3 to 6 to do the same task. I can't say if the spotting is worse for the Russians, but I have had my opponents trash a lot of tanks at range before I could shoot back. I just figured it was more a case of me not knowing how to best employ Russian forces and being patient and learning the best way to do so

Nice AAR. I'm gunna have to download and try this one out.

Got 3 h2h MG games going on and I recently restarted the Campaign with 3.0 update. Market Garden is a very enjoyable module, but I hate facing the paras with their sten guns.

I've had all of the above and just learned to deal with it. I had an 81mm shell explode some distance from a MG and kill it while others have fell nearly on to it and done nothing. I have a mirrored game going on and my Firefly shell hit and do nothing, while my opponent Firefly fires from the same position and kills 2 of my tank with 2 shots. Its just the way things go sometimes. In an ideal world we would have proper infantry spacing and ability to move spread out and shells that are not nerfed, but we're not yet there.

I had to wonder about that statement myself. I was under the impression that even with a longer 76mm gun it was still inadequate against the Panther and Tiger. Now the question is did the APCR rounds make a difference and were Sherman crews issued a lot of these types of rounds or just a few. I thought the tank destroyer units has the tank with the better guns and more silver bullets to fire with. I've been told by other players what makes the M-18 so dangerous is the 76mm gun and ammo it carries.