Col_Handgrenade

Hello Battlefront. I just discovered the CM series this week, downloaded Battle for Normandy and am very intrigued. I thought that you might be interested in my initial thoughts and opinions of the game. Please note that I write this without any extensive knowledge in the more recent titles of the CM series, so if something I mention below has since been acted on or developed, then please kindly educate me. A bit of background: I am a long-time gamer (40+years old) and one series that incredibly held my interest from 2000 to 2005 was the Close Combat series (CC). After that I got into Battlefield 2 multiplayer and the Total War Series. My first question while investigating the CM series was "Is this a turn based or real time combat game?" I took a surprisingly lengthy amount of time to read reviews and watch several youtube videos, then finally looked through the game manual to discover that it is both! This is something that is not clearly illustrated for dummies like me. Anyway, I was delighted to see that the game is indeed real time. Excellent! My next question was "is the strategic campaign interactive or scripted?" I was disappointed to see that it was scripted. This brings me to the ultimate point of posting my thread here today: Has the development team considered including an interactive campaign map for future titles in this series? If you have no idea of what I'm talking about, then look at the CC series - particularly the difference between CC3 - A Bridge Too Far, and all subsequent CC titles. My intro to CC was A Bridge Too Far. It contains a scripted campaign map in which no player input is permitted. Fair enough, I thought. It was still an engrossing real time combat simulator for its time and I really enjoyed it. Then CC5 - Invasion Normandy was released. It upped my enjoyment of the game. To put it plainly, I enjoyed how the dynamics of the strategic map affected the dynamics of the tactical map (where the battles were played) and vice-versa. Moving battlegroups from sector to sector, assigning support elements, watching supply lines, escape routes and advance paths all put a new grand strategy into the game that I found myself spending as much time on as planning each of the battles themselves. The campaign game is won or lost on the campaign map, but the campaign map is affected by what happens in the tactical maps. Also, if on an adjacent sector on the strategic, the enemy cuts off supply lines during one of your battles, then ammo levels for the affected battlegroup are cut in half for the next battle and remain so until supply lines are restored. In a complex campaign, this can be difficult to achieve or maintain without losing ground. As far as the dynamics of CM:BN goes, I am very impressed by the level of detail in this game's tactical battles. It's very involved with a steep learning curve, but I see that it will be enjoyable and involving once I get the hang of it... well done! I see parallels between your game and the Close Combat Series, except yours is in 3d and much more sophisticated and realistic. What would make this game even more likely to cause my wife to divorce me is if a strategic layer similar to the CC series (4 and up) was introduced. An even more advanced strategic map layer such as those in the Total War Series would be even better! A player-interactive campaign map where I can visually see how my actions in battle affect the progress of the campaign would be a fantastic element to add to this game. I could see THAT particular combination in your future titles keeping my interest in CM for probably another five years! Wish me luck in learning your game and I look forward to seeing this series continue and develop. Colonel Handgrenade "Keep your heads down!"