Der Zeitgeist

I agree. Something about "Operation Unthinkable" might be interesting to a few players, but I suspect it'll be rather niche for most people. Battlefront will have to think about the potential market for each title and potential DLC packages. I expect CM:CW will sell very well once it hits Steam, because Cold War scenarios set in the 80s are exactly what a lot of the potential playerbase grew up with (also through books, older videogames and movies). Building on top of the base game with DLC set in the same time period might be a good strategy for Battlefront going forward.

It doesn't work like in CMSF though. The FO team riding as a passenger in the MT-LBu doesn't actually use the optics of the vehicle, and it doesn't get the same contacts the vehicle spots with its optics.

Fascinating interview with a former US Army Pershing II launch officer in Germany.

I guess it would be possible to develop this within the game engine logic in some way, maybe even as a type of pseudo-precision artillery unit with instantaneous call-in times, but it takes a lot of development resources to implement of course. In comparison, Western Germany as a module would be pretty straightforward from a development perspective. As far as I see, they'd have to design a bunch of new vehicles from scratch, specifically the various types of Raketen- and Kanonenjadgpanzer (Jaguar 1, 2...), the Gepard SPAAG, and the Luchs armored recon vehicle, but from an engine perspective, they would mostly work the same as what we've seen so far in CW. That is why I would expect a German module as more likely to be the first one.

The NTC campaign is great, but I think the game would benefit if you eventually include some sort of simpler tutorial campaign, similar to the tutorial campaign in CM:BS. Just for people to get a general feel for unit commands, spotting and general game concepts. One could even use the large gunnery range map training map that was in CM:BS and CM:SF2 to provide an interesting ground for a simple delay/defend training scenario.

BTW, my comment about the high rises wasn't meant as a critique of the ingame maps. These are highly accurate (with some understandable engine limitations) and have some geographic details I wouldn't have imagined to see in a CM game. My point is, if someone wants to build crazy urban combat scenarios within the general scope of the hypothetical CM:CW war, there's a lot of suitable locations to play in, even fairly close to the Inner-German Border.

Heh, yeah, he had an amazing carnage going on there.

Huh? Fulda has a lot of high-rise apartment blocks.

It would be nice if Battlefront.com did at least a little bit of marketing. There's only so much the players can do via word-of-mouth. I mean, Battlefront doesn't even have a Twitter account or an official YouTube channel.

The missile was designed in a way so that the launcher vehicle could stay completely behind cover while the sights and guidance package would be deployed slightly away from the vehicle (like on a hill). The missile launched upwards at a 45° angle and then came back down into the sightline of the soldier who was guiding it. It could also do horizontal dogleg swings if the launch vehicle and the deployed weapon sight weren't on the same line towards the target. It's very different from the various ATGM tank hunter vehicles we've seen so far in CM.

Yes, I was wondering about that myself during the first Soviet campaign mission. A combat reconnaissance patrol with hardly any binoculars. Seems fishy.

Don't forget that British forces would need to have the Swingfire ATGM adequately modeled, which might be difficult with the current engine.

The US still uses them occasionally, but much less often than they did until the 90s. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the use of ICM and regular cluster bombs (not SFWs) was already heavily restricted because using them essentially means that you're creating a minefield of duds that you have to clear later and can't safely advance through.

The Steel Beasts community should have some people able to help with OoB & equipment details in the different time periods of the game.

I'll just leave these here. Today we’re talking to Neil Gussman who trained on the M60A1 tank in the 1970s. This was the standard main battle tank of the US Army from the 1960s through to the 1980s. Today we talk again with Neil Gussman who was an M60A1 tank commander in West Germany tasked with defending the Fulda Gap which was a key likely Warsaw Pact attack route. We talk about his rushed initial deployment where he faced Warsaw Pact tanks across the border, details of various exercises he was in and how the US troops interacted with the West German population.

What about the M48A5 on the US side in the 1979 campaign? I always assumed that it had been mostly used in the National Guard at that time.

Absolutely! And the maps are very accurately built, if you compare the places to their real counterparts with Google Maps.

NVA and Bundeswehr seems quite plausible as one module, yes. Still, there's quite a few assets to build for the Bundeswehr. Jaguar, Gepard, Kanonenjagdpanzer....

See you on the Rhine, comrades!

May 6th.

Anything new on that issue from the developers? It would be nice at least to know if this behaviour is intended or if it is indeed considered a bug.

Another great video of 1980s Cold War porn to put you guys in the mood.

Yes, from a stationary Stryker.

So, is there a fix for this bug coming at some point? It's been well over a year since this has first been reported.

No problems for me (from Germany) either. The new online shop works great, with very fast download speeds.