absolutmauser
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Posts posted by absolutmauser
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On 4/27/2019 at 8:41 PM, BletchleyGeek said:
I totally agree with all of these observations, and I am pretty sure the guy blogging does too. I think gatekeeping is a rather ungenerous characterization, motivated by many indie developers being a bit pissed off at the law of large numbers, that point at the rather obvious fact that Steam is sitting at the door of the biggest PC games market. People resent the "tax", especially when they get no service they are interested in getting in return. Steam is very pro-consumer (within the strictures of DRM, of course), and not every pro-consumer feature (like reviews, forums) is a pro-developer one (like auto patching, secure anonymised multiplayer, etc.).
I wasn't posting to start a discussion on Steam and its suitability to BFC - that was settled by Steve ages ago as he said he would monitor the situation and see if his assessment would change. To be honest, seeing how things are going, I don't think the environment has become any inch easier for a niche developer.
Graviteam has an "ace in the hole": they are based in Kharkov, Ukraine. Even after the Steam tax, and the publisher tax (the dodgy Canadian outfit, Strategy First), I am pretty sure that our dollars and euros convert to hryvnias (sp?) just fine. And quite sure too they get a pretty good salary for Ukrainian standards
<removed link because of dodgy clickbait at the end of blog>
Maybe some of the Ukrainian forumites can comment on this in a more informed manner.
Got it. Steve needs to move to Ukraine. You're making a lot of sense!
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On 4/17/2019 at 3:53 PM, Gafford said:
IMHO these games are AWESOME. If I had a Shelby Cobra I would just drive the hell out of it and never complain about the tune ups
I guess the analogy is, now the Shelby Cobra is in the shop and they are waiting on a part.
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22 hours ago, Sequoia said:
Tom, start her out with Crusader Kings 2.
I was going to say just go straight to VASSAL modules for ASL.
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On 4/10/2019 at 2:30 PM, DerKommissar said:
Sehr gut! We need them to reinforce the depleted pixeltruppen!
The allies have suffered a series of critical mechanical failures that have crippled the firepower of their squads! Now is the time for a counter attack --
Oh, no. The're not in their trenches -- they panicked!
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20 hours ago, Kevin2k said:
This planned patch is rather troublesome it seems. Though I figure; Shock Force 2 seems to play very well, so the good AI code is right there since november last year, ready to go into the other games, whatever that may take...
The delay has given me a chance to catch up in other areas of my life. I have two kids it turns out! Who knew??
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On 3/30/2019 at 5:59 PM, JoMc67 said:
No Silly, Steve, grew-up in the 70's...Just like half the rest of us
Whatever OLD MAN, I might have been born in the 70s but I grew up in the 80s!
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3 hours ago, HerrTom said:
WRT the patch. My guess is it's going to release during my wedding or honeymoon this month, such that I won't be able to play for half a month!
That's how these things go, right?
What better time than to establish with your new bride that she has married both HerrTom and Combat Mission and should expect that between 10 and 40 hours per week will be dedicated to small unit actions?
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10 minutes ago, wadepm said:
Tap, tap, tap. Still nothing...but very soon.
I recently happened across my copy of PanzerBlitz when reorganizing my games. Your avatar just reminded me. I found some supplemental counters in the box I made out of index card stock and very shaky 12 year old penmanship. An assault bridge or something from a General article or book I must have found in the library as a youth. =D
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Walter Seifert's "Waffen-Arsenal" book on the 251 gives the range of the 251/16 as 35m with both 14mm flamethrowers firing.
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20 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:
Another thing to consider is that they actually made 300 of these things. If they had been a mistake, I think they would have stopped much earlier, just like with other rare limited edition test runs. They started making them in 1943, and in 1944 they made an adjustment (removed the small rear hose-based flamethrower). But they didn't stop making these strange halftracks, even though there was a great lack of normal halftracks for the Panzergrenadiere - which were meant to ride halftracks, but many never received any.
The Osprey book on the Flammpanzers does mention a StuG-based one that used a different flamethrower system. They only made a handful of them and stopped because they kept setting themselves on fire!
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Ah, according to the Osprey book, when firing BOTH 14mm projectors at the same time on the SdKfz 251/16, the effective range of the pair was reduced. That may be where the shorter range is coming from?
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Tank encyclopedia has many of the same photos as the Osprey book.
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-germany-panzer-iii-flamm/
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According to the Osprey New Vanguard book on Flammpanzer, German Flamethrower Vehicles 1941-1945, the SdKfz 251/16, Panzer III, and Hetzer flame vehicles all used the 14mm Flammanlage Bauart Koebe (or Koebe-Gerat) flamethrower system. It had a max range in all applications of about 60m for burning fuel, and 50m for unlit fuel. Early versions of the SdKfz 251/16 had a 7mm handheld projector tied into the same system but that could be used "dismounted" by trailing a hose. It had a shorter range. The book has a lot of info on the topic and includes combat reports, design history, etc. As far as Osprey books go, it's a good one!
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1 minute ago, JSj said:
But, can you guys imagine how many times we have experienced mischief just like that? It must be dozens of times! So it was you all along causing this to happen deliberately!!! Oh, those thousands and thousands of times when this did not happen? Meh, those must have been just coincidences.
If you were wondering why CMx2 requires an always online connection, it's so Steve can personally login and mess with your game. =D
...
(It doesn't you guys, chill)
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5 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
Can you guys imagine how much mischief we could cause if we did have the AI cheat? "Hmm. So the Human just called in 3 batteries of 155 artillery on my rifle platoon that is out in the open, eh? Well, let's see how well that works if we kill the FO unit seconds before it makes the fire for effect call". Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun
Update on the patches. We're still fixing things. Found out yesterday that MacOS Mojave treats some of the installer stuff a little differently so that had to be addressed to avoid people double clicking and getting a blank screen.
At the moment we're doing some last minute TO&E fixes. While making Rome to Victory I got into some retro revisions which had a ripple effect. Almost done with it.
These last minute fixes do delay things, but worth it IMHO. I'm still thinking that we can have them out before March (yes, of 2019).
Steve
If you need to take extra time for the Mac edition, please do! I murdered my Windows box recently by having it substantially overclocked on stock air for a long time. Hey, it lasted six years! =D
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In the spirit of fraternal love and harmony, I also apologize. I was just making a joke, but really it didn't add anything valuable.
Cheers to you both. *hugs*
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3 hours ago, Ultradave said:
Maybe I'm wrong, but this doesn't seem like something you'd want to admit in a public forum.
Why? Are you a COP, cop?
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15 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
Testing of the patches is going very well. Er, now it is at least. We had some difficulty getting CMFI and CMRT prepped because the TO&E was already set for the two Modules that are in the works. The coding wasn't set up for going backwards so it took a little while to work through cutting everything out. And no, the thought of just giving you all that stuff in a patch did not occur to us, though it did occur to us that someone would likely make that suggestion
We're going to give the testers a little more time to beat on them and out the door they go.
Steve
Thanks for the update, Steve!
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5 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:
They already do. You can order a team to target a spot on the other side of a tall wall, and they will throw across grenades even though there's no LOS. However, they only throw about 1-2 grenades every turn, which is usually not enough.
Just need more teams! =D
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31 minutes ago, sburke said:
Not true. During the Normandy invasion they were using Michelin maps and once the breakout occurred they were largely off the grid of the maps they were provided. Spot on about the proximity item there though.
I stand corrected, having consulted the relevant sources!
DESPITE the lack of good maps, though, the Allies were very fond of map shooting in the Normandy campaign, especially the British forces. Nonetheless, at the ranges depicted in CM:BN I don't think I'd want a lot of predicted fire put that close to my company!
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6 minutes ago, sburke said:
Not true. During the Normandy invasion they were using Michelin maps and once the breakout occurred they were largely off the grid of the maps they were provided. Spot on about the proximity item there though.
That being said I think a lot of us would like some adjustment to arty capabilities- keep in mind in any wish list however is they have to work to some degree for the AI as well. Most of the requests I see these days do not take into account most folks are still playing single player and that obviates a lot of issues for BF as to good game design versus RL requests. They do conflict frequently.
For example the OP posted again on an AAV breaking down walls ignoring responses on his other thread that in game that would mean heavy vehicles constantly hitting high walls and immobilizing (not to mention the one tanker who responded and said no way does he want his tank being used as a battering ram.)
I shall defer to your tongue sticky out and keep reading, then!
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20 hours ago, ASL Veteran said:
Well, that and 'map fire' was notoriously inaccurate during WW2. For one thing, especially on the Eastern Front, the maps that a unit might be using could date from surveys done in the previous century (assuming a unit could obtain a map at all). I have even read accounts where units were using tourist maps with no grid instead of actual survey maps in order to figure out where they were. German units frequently complained that their maps had almost no bearing to what they were actually seeing with their own eyes either because the surveying wasn't done as well as it could have been done or because the area in question had changed over the course of the fifty or one hundred years that the map was originally made. You combine bad maps for the calling unit with bad maps for the artillery unit and your map fire mission could be falling almost anywhere.
The western Allies had quite good maps and survey data, though, and "map shooting" definitely was done. I don't know if you'd want map shooting done at a target within a few hundred meters of your infantry though, especially if a spotter was on hand!
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It would be cool to have a CM set in the 80s for Cold War gone hot type scenario, but also then we could do stuff like Grenada. That would be pretty neat.
I just like PASGT and ALICE gear, maybe
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16 minutes ago, Firehead said:
Take any number of scenarios from the Flames of War series games(15mm tabletop). Those provide plenty of action, and there are a ton of them available. Hell, you could just take their generic battle maps that give you deployment zones and rules to abide by.
Alternatively, Ambush Alley games makes a series that has a ton of scenarios available as well.Yes, tabletop wargames are rife with opportunities!
That's how these things go, right?
Update on Engine 4 patches
in Combat Mission - General Discussion
Posted
Downloading on my Mac now. Will play this evening and report back. Very exciting! I've had enough Tom Clancy's The Division 2, which is frankly abusing the name of a dead man.