Parker Schnabel

Honestly not sure. It sounds full of potential issues. For example deliberately creating FOW situations to cause the AI to waste ammo and give away positions. You can do that now with recon by fire, but at least you are exposing a unit to do so.

Hi !
 
The TacAI is still unable to use some kind of Area target as far as i know.
That would be a really important feature, and it should be possible to script the TacAI in a way so it uses area fire on suspected enemy positions from time to time.
 
What do you think ?

Isn't BFC at every opportunity emphasizing loudly that only they know what is good for business, when customers make suggestions?
IIRC it was already around December that they had announced that Bulge was developed parallel with Black Sea and therefore that Bulge was claimed to be more or less already almost done and only the artistic finetuning was taking place.
Now we are almost three months later, no graphical and atmospheric improvements at all even torwards CMFI can be seen, tactics and realism will not be improved, because the engine will stay the same and one week or so ago we learned, that they not even have started to work on new features for the engine.

Strangely those "pissing and moaning" customers will naver be satsified...

Yes, to pinpoint unspotted ATGs to the exact action spot. Really great...
Chess vs checkers.
Trying to attract checkers players to play chess can only result in losing both in the long term.

CM is WAAAY to complex to be attractive for the masses EVER. It will always be a niche product.
Chess will also NEVER appeal to the masses. NEVER. One could pump up the graphics of chess and make it look like a FPS, but after the initial spike of shallow interest, it will again only be played by chess players who are not interested in explosions and action, but like the challenge of the mind.
The same is with CM. I think the core CM-player was interested in realism above all.

Now what will have the bigger impact on sales: those that like CM more because of hit decals, and therefore will buy the next game, or those disappointed customers who no longer perceive guns as threat after the first shot because of hit decals?
I believe each of a disappointed core customer is a customer who bought all their products - contrary to those who are quickly attracted by shallow visual effects like hit decals and other gimmicks at the cost of degrading realism. Graphical effects attract quickly but the same crowd is also moving on to the next shallow effect in the next game.

But beneath everything the core of the problem seems to be something completely different:
The main game designer plays the game not in the mode the vast majority of wargamers play his products. That's never good, if you develop something and don't know, what your core customers need. There are no ladders, no campaigns, nothing played realtime. One could say: realtime does not exist among the wrgaming community.

The result of this dramatic discrepancy could be observed since CMSF was released.
The spotting problems as a result of keeping the calculation affordances as low as possible to make realtime play possible. Spotting works good enough for realtime but often not good enough for turn based.
And I think this has dramatic consequences for potential new turnbased customers: they try the demo, recognize a strange spotting behaviour and lose interest. The 1:1 representation makes things even worse, since it leaves much less room for imagination than a symbolic representation. So again: 1:1 is attracting the visual oriented player, but if there are discrepances between presented action and results, itdegrades the experience of the customer who is interested in realism.

The majority of realtime customers cannot be attracted, because FPS games offer them the much better quick action and cooler graphics. Additionally the game concept is so extremely different, that 99% will only shake their head. So the core group is lost and the big part of the massese cannot be attracted because it is chess and not checkers.

I will never forget the disastrous relative hotkeys-concept when I tried CMSF the first time. What a punch into the face of WEGO-players that was.
Or the water-effects since CMRT breaking FOW. Sounds from unspotted units? A problem since CMSF. But in combination with hit-decals since engine v3 this problem has been even increased instead to become solved. How easily foxholes can be spotted. Bunkers and trenches breaking FOW. And much more.

I believe all these are results of a design process done from a realtime-player's perspective and therefore many of the problems are only discovered very late in the design process, or even too late after implementation.

Instead that Battlefront had followed their former clear path torwards realism and protected and taken care of their brilliant WEGO-child, they lost this focus and now, with an ageing engine, they are sitting between the chairs, trying to keep new shallow action-customers somehow interested while they lose more and more of realism-focused wargamers which one after the other slowly give up, because the problems persist year after year and game after game and sometimes even become worse.

Rinaldi
 
Some comments on your  earlier post
 
The 79. Volks-Grenadier-Division wasn't in the initial attack echelon on the Dec 16. It was held in reserve by  7. Armee so it's true what you write that the division never got off their start line (if you mean on the first day of the offensive), but it was never meant to.  The division went in to action on Dec 22 near Heiderscheid against the US 80th Infantry. It is true that they didn't make much progress  but they successfully repulsed several American counterattacks. 
 
The division suffered heavy casualties during Wacht am Rhein but wasn't "destroyed" . It fought on till late spring 1945.
 
The same must be said about the 2. Panzer-Division. True, it lost a majority of its combat strenght when fighting the US 2nd Armored Division but still managed to pull back enough units to take active part during the remainder of the war.
 
Words like "destroyed" related to larger units should IMO be used sparingly as they seldom match the historic facts. Heavy casualties and material destruction could surely lower combat efficiency but that's quite different from being fully destroyed.

The problem with the Bulge is that it gets over-focused on the Southern-Shoulder and Bastogne; where the Germans had all their initial scraps of success, and of course where the media ran hog-wild. The Northern-Shoulder is far more interesting, imo. Many German units never got off their start line; like the 79th VolksGren which actually got counterattacked and destroyed after repeated failure. 2nd Panzer also attacked more towards the North and was the closest  to the Meuse, if memory serves, before being blunted and destroyed by the 2nd Armored.
 
Alot of interesting stuff for the community to do between the Bulge and Nordwind, I just hope its not all tired and already-visited areas.

Take your time and make us all proud. Release it on Dec 16th, 2015. Bulge 71st Anniversary.
It will be the very best Bulge wargame ever made. You guys are gonna dig deep and bust outside the box like that Alien chestburster creature.
You're gonna come up with stuff to knock our socks off. 
 
How about for scenario editor a new status for vehicles in the dropdown menu...."immobilized-no fuel"
Then a new objective type on the map in that dropdown....."Fuel supply" and then some of your vehicles get topped off, at least in a campaign....
 
Break
 
Mark Ezra the wonderful guy that he is, just made a no promises offer to take a look at Los's Bulge map. How come BFC doesn't just do that as a matter of course? I mean it could result in some good inputs for QB's if you had some rules for submission into the "Ronco TransMapafication Machine 3000". File names already in Mark's new format. All the set up zones per standards for Attk, ME, etc. If they send it in the wrong format, you reject it right away. Forumites could huddle together to share tips on getting a QB accepted. Just another crazy idea I guess....

Seriously, you are living on borrowed time here posting junk like that.

Well I am not so sure. According to Chris's preliminary info no imortant changes/improvements to the gameplay will be introduced. The screenshots provided look no better than something you could achieve by a decent modding work basing on existing vehicles/terrain (e.g. kohlenklaus excellent mod). And here people are already wetting their pants because a couple of vehicles will be added in the new/separate/full priced release. Yeah and of course the 2 campaigns, some scenarios and new OOB. Well, CM is my favorite game title and I hardly play anything else, but if things remain as they are now in alpha and nothing will be added in later stages of development CM Bulge will be the first WWII title from BF I will not buy.
 
Just my two cents. Sorry that my opinion is not in line with those generally presented in this thread.

In a follow on scenario in this campaign, LT James T. Bull then disguises himself as a Soviet soldier and enters the engine compartment of the T-34 to obtain the cloaking device for his kampfgruppe!
 

Some of the responses here have been as dumbfounding as the actual issue posted!
 

 
 

Ooo, "one core to rule them all" my precision.

...using this as loose inspiration for my Panzer Kp 66 zbV markings....

CMRT Hungarian Mod [WIP]
 

I am dabbling around in my spare time with a rudimentary Hungarian mod.
To hopefully support Team Nyakleves...
 
Sequoia kindly reminded me...(50 years old is way too soon for Alzheimer's!) that CMBB had Hungarian voice files already!
 
Working on a greatcoat...[WIP]...I will change the German Y-straps to Russian style brown leather Sam Browne and cloth fabric belts.

 
I will also do maybe a StuG and/or PzIV.

I have a weird request. after Kohlenklau excellent Bulge mod for CMFI there was some talk of a winter  mod for CMBN. I made a very detailed map for Wardin Belgium for the battle of Wardin (501st). I hate to see the man hours wasted. Can I give it to someone on the team doing QBs, maybe they can convert it to the new Bulge game and use it, I must have spent 25 hours on that map.
 
Los 

@t34577685
 
New uniforms! I sure hope we get some new mdr skeletons.
 
Maybe, right at this very moment, somewhere, some wonderfully talented sweetheart of a guy is working on this file?
 
smod_german_parka-hooded_soldier_uniform
 
or maybe this one?
 
smod_us_mackinaw_junior-officer_uniform
 
Lots of room here for some great 3D art achievements that can kill all the winter birds with one stone.
 
GI cap. German toque. Mittens. L.L.Bean shoepacks.
 
Luftwaffe greatcoat under a 3/4 length camo jacket?
 
 
 
Bulky outfits mdr skeletons made now can have skins to be the quilted east front stuff for Soviets later with the CMRT module....
..I would never ever ever be in a hurry and file swap to get them into CMRT before that...

Jeez guys...when trying to sell bikinis, always put a hot bodied babe in them when you publish an ad!

or at least one with pearly white teeth...

Well, we have it in Steel Beasts... Would be so nice to get it here, too. ;-)

Thanks, as a player since CMx1 one probably needs suggestions where to find a mod.  
A grid overlay is only needed during the turn phase, not permanently like a mod during playback.
Since a toggable grid overlay for the terrain is an old and often wished feature among PBEM-players and it is argued it was technically not possible, I wanted to share my idea to use thrown shadows as grid.

LukeFF,
 
What an adroit sidestep to avoid responsibility for any of your actions, never mind the pointedly malevolent ones! Was that how you operated in the military? If not, why are you doing so here? You are in such a hurry to jump on me you go charging in without bothering to check whether I even said the latest thing you're on about. Additionally, were you to go do actual research, you'd see there  is burgeoning evidence, in places like the Daily Mail, which support my case and badly hurt yours. Presuming you bother to read, and your ongoing outrageous behavior toward me indicates this to be the case, you would know, for I've said it many times, there is a range of topics Steve has asked me not to bring up. I haven't. Which is precisely why you and Wicky delight in tormenting me and cudgeling me with them. Unlike you two, I can't afford to flout the Forum Rules with a campaign of harassment, intimidation, put downs, libel and character assassination, not to mention outright lies. You know there are zero consequences if you do, but if I slip once, I'll have two warnings, quite possibly a suspension. If I may make use of a particularly telling Russian word, your joint and several behavior is nekulturny.
 
Codename Duchess,
 
It's pretty bad when people who normally are driven to achieve to the heights are so profoundly disgusted with the status quo they don't want to because of pols and bureaucracy run amok. I recall reading something many years ago that something like this was happening in medicine and that those WASP types who would've gone to med school instead were opting for other careers. 
 
Razgovory,
 
Fortunately, I was done with my smoothie when I read your remark. Otherwise, I might've ruined my computer!

4TheFront,
 
Welcome aboard!
 
Regret to inform you that wasn't a joke. It was condemnation of and insult to Do Right via association with me. Additionally, it was a not so veiled warning. 
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

The forum has rules.  Please familiarise yourself with them.  The abusive personalities section might interest you most:
 
7. Baiter - someone who purposefully goads another Member into a violation. People who make a habit of trying to needle someone into doing something they ordinarily wouldn't do are a detriment to the sense of community and therefore will be held accountable for their actions. That being said, Members are still responsible for how they respond to a Baiter, therefore it is possible that both parties will find themselves banned (though perhaps for different durations).

LukeFF,
 
I really do wish you'd stop slamming me, both directly and indirectly. It's rude, abusive and cruel. Worse because you keep choosing to attack someone who's not only disabled but also recuperating from a serious injury. Your ongoing pattern of doing this also involves, based on my read, at least, multiple violations of the Forum Rules you agreed to as a condition of being a participant here, the same deal everyone else here made. I think you're grown up enough that you can express an opinion on your own--without having to drag me into it. Please do so. 
 
Do Right,
 
PAL is Permissive Action Link, and it's not a program you load into a computer. The link explains what a PAL is and how it works. As for patches, at 1:07 in the vid I see what used to be the patch for KGB Spetsnaz Alpha, now FSB Spetsnaz Alpha. The patch on the man's left shoulder which, even with my nil Russian, reads ANTITERROR, appears to me to be identical to the one in the upper right at the Lost Ivan link. Here's what I don't know. Is he the real deal, or is he wearing it because he's a member of some sort of separatist Spec Ops unit and/or as some sort of martial fashion statement? Having watched footage of Alpha in action, I'd say he's not the real deal. Those guys carry themselves considerably differently and well, send out a different vibe, for want to a better word. Girkin/Strelkov is a known (cough) retired FSB GRU Colonel. Later, in a since redacted interview posted online, he admitted he was an FSB colonel. 

Alpha in action!


 
Codename Duchess,
 
Is the periodical/site you sort of named some sort of sacred cow that you didn't name it completely? Regarding Captain Heather Cole, the quote I see here refers to "loss of confidence" in her ability to command. Is that the same as a bad command climate, or is that something else? The comments make interesting reading, for some are by people who served under her at other commands. They thought she was a good CO.
 
But directly pertinent to the issue Do Right raised about the purported refusal to launch nuclear weapons is the source of the story is evidently The European Union Times. A bit on that from the Southern Poverty Law Center which, from what I've seen, is extremist in its own way. I strongly suspect the unnamed principal is, in fact, Sorcha Faal aka David Booth. Once in three or four blue moons said "worthy" puts out a story that's actually true. But for all the flak I get here from some, I practically convulse with laughter after encountering one breathless story after another directly sourced to inside the GRU, by implication within the Aquarium. Say what you like about Suvorov/Rezun, but he was in it, and I totally believe what he said about its mania for secrecy. Were there such a source, I'd expect a very short productive period before there was no source, other than smoke from the on-site crematorium! Other commenters talk about the apparent explosion of command removals under Obama. 300 according to one. Nor does the section Relieved of Command make cheery reading. The depth and breadth of commands affected, to me, speaks to organizations under acute stress, with the Navy the hardest hit because it's the Navy as a service which is carrying, and has been carrying, the biggest load for the longest time, and it just keeps getting worse. I have no handle on what Obama's doing and why, other than that he has no respect for the military, can't be bothered to understand it, yet has no compunctions about  demanding ever more from it, regardless of the costs. Moving on.

General question
 
Can anyone say, one way of the other, whether the CO in the Luhansk training ground video is a Russian officer? Whoever he is, he sure has a ramrod straight spine, feet apart bestriding his domain, total confidence and positively radiates authority. He comes across as being used to command and relishes it. Also, I thought I heard the term "komandir brigada," which I took to mean Brigade Commander. If so, I would think, given the way I understand the separatists are organized, he'd be a very big deal indeed.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

This is a vid I found via a Ukraine War search, and while it doesn't show any combat, it shows a great many militarily interesting things: a heavily camouflaged CP with CO in it (him in cammies with what I believe to be latest digital camo helmet cover), complete with panoramic photo of area to front, range card, fire sector markers and such, full-on fighting trenches, AFV fighting positions, MTLBs with tall pintles with MGs atop them, trucks towing mortars, a possible T-64, BMP-1s and a 2S1. HD footage of wonderful clarity. Sky is dark gray, and there's a brooding feel, too. As best I can tell, this is two parts making one program. What I find especially notable is how well these AFVs blend with the background, despite monotone paint jobs. Also, other than a little wind noise, when the T-64BV? (has remote controlled rooftop MG actively moving about) tanks are on the move in the second vid, there is no stupid music playing, only engines and environmental sounds, including birds. Likewise with the BMPs. Maybe someone can take advantage of that for sound mods? These tanks are pretty quiet on the move, but neither are they racing about. The BMPs are noisier than the tanks, and their tracks squeak. A further point of interest is that when the CP displaces, right behind the Komandir's MTLB is another one. With a MANPADS guy standing in the open hatch ready to go while the MTLB is on the move!
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c35kRXK7pM#t=29
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler