sburke Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Since CMBN came out you have clearly turned the corner. From 2000-2004 you released 3 games From 2004-2007 you farted around and thought, what next? From 2007-2010 1 game and 3 modules (not including CM:Afghanistan - it didn't take so much of your resources... I think) From 2011-2013 2 games and 3 modules In 2014 you are looking at 2 games and just to set a longer term average let's assume 2 modules (in 3 years since 2011 you will have exceeded the product of the previous 11 years - not bad). Clearly your business strategy has finally hit stride and your revenue stream is well established. After 14 years you have blown the business survival average for most small businesses away and your only risk right now is complacency. We have clearly seen a fall off in the last two years of people trying to tell you your model is flawed. Sure there are a few loose nut cases out there, but with the government cutback in social sevices there are no more beds in the psych wards for them. Pity them. And remember, that particular forum they spend most of their time in does not provide food or housing. So let's have some fun with math and set a few parameters that are completely arbitrary (thank god this is not some BF run test for game parameters with more rigour than apparently NASA used to test O rings), but can at least help give some direction to our thoughts. Essentially a game = 1 unit and a module =.5 units So let's just say you can produce 3 units a year comfortably. Now let's look at the pipeline. The whole module/pack thing is still in flux (another example of how lax you have been in determining your production effort) and how much material is in any given family is still to be determined. Let's just assume each new family is 1 Game and 2 modules= 2 units. So what you have so far suggested you have in mind is CM EF 1941 = 2 units CM EF 1942 = 2 units CM EF 1943 = 2 units CM EF 1944 = 2 units CMSF 2 = 2 units CMSF = 2 units (yeah that is a wild guess, but it can't be too far off) CM Bulge = 2 units CMFI =.5 units So you at the moment have a production run of 14.5 units/3 = just under 5 years of revenue. Christ Steve, what kind of plan is that to enable you to retire to the French Riviera? And for those in this community, do you realize BF could run out of ideas in less time than between the release of CMSF and CMFI? Gasp!!!! So here are some thoughts on additional items for the pipeline. and note none of these items would result in some nation potentially suing you for predicting or forecasting the breakdown of all rules of social order as seems to be your current practice - (talk about irresponsible financial and strategic decision making!) CM:Paris is Red - The Battle for Europe 1945 This is truly a no brainer. After CM Bulge is out you essentially have everything you need. All that revenue with a fraction of the labor. No way you aren't thinking about it. For those who will undoubtedly say - but I already bought all that material (god damn cheap arses), there is a hook. Module 1- The Poles rise up! With the Russian Army headed for the Rhine, the Allies go for broke. Patton's Third Army which has been cut off pushes North heading for Gdansk to link up with - US Marines and Polish troops landing in the Baltic! Oh man tell me folks wouldn't want to see US Marines fighting the Red Army!!!! Okay 2nd CM Fulda Gap (I heard you Baneman). It would require all new development, but hey it adds another 2 units and continues the pipeline. No one has really done it, but many have tried in the board game realm. Remember MBT? It would pale compared to what you could do. Next CM Blitzkrieg years. Poland 1939, France 1940. Need I say more. Okay think Sedan, Arras, etc etc you get my point. and now the Pièce de résistance . The game we are all waiting for, the pinnacle of your achievement! CM: Vietnam Think about it: -Helicopters (on map of course) with hot LZs and air assault scenarios -Caves and tunnels, bunkers buried into the terrain With FOW- you know you HAVE to have sewers and cellars for East Front 1942 or it will be a total flop for Stalingrad so it HAS to already be in -Prisoner interrogation to uncover intel about enemy fortifications or units (you can just about do that with a touch objective now) Imagine the reaction of players if they were to have men captured. Give your men a reason to fight and a reason to try to take prisoners! -Supply drops via parachute -Parachute infantry (for the Dien Bien Phu module) -engineers ability to lay mines -dogs and blood trails -Napalm ha you think fire in CM Red Thunder is something - pffft -leader animations to match specific command sets -fragging hey what is the point of having commissars in EF if they can't shoot stragglers- so the engine should already have it. No way you can convince me Russian troops didn't occasionally frag their commissars in order to escape certain death and regardless it is CHROME! -riverine patrols with yes- boats! -individual VC sappers able to charge into command bunkers and detonate explosives -trip wires for flares, booby traps etc -different colors of smoke and the ability of the AI to counter with additional smoke to confuse your air support -flares (c3k will be freaking out if you don't have flares by 2018) You need to think of: 1- Your future legacy. Vietnam would be your crowning achievement. Then you could always go back to hum drum crap like the North African desert. Gawd you wouldn't even need a foliage section in the map editor for that ( I am kidding! well mostly) hey a whole section of flavor items of... rocks! and 17 terrain variations of sand! Flavor items of dessicated corpses maybe. wow But you would always be known for having achieved the pinnacle of CM Vietnam. Nothing could ever take that away. 2- You need to think of your employees. You have a great team and by 2018 they will have been running like a well oiled machine for years- do you suddenly just say, well that's it we are done. No! Of course not- so start planning the new projects and features so instead in 2021 you can say "well that's it we are done", but now they will know you have done CM Vietnam and you truly have done it all. 3- You need to think of us. Everybody wants it, even the people like Baneman who profess not to. EVERYONE will buy it. If I am wrong it is only because they are trying to spite me. They truly do want it, the ungrateful bastards. 4- And this is most important. Emrys is getting old. Hell he is old, ancient in fact. However I know that were you to release CM Vietnam it would reinvigorate him! Hell he would seem years younger, decades even. Imagine folks seeing him and saying "Emrys, you don't look a day over 90! :eek: Emrys, Emrys honey, are you awake? Yes we are here to see you.. what? You want to play CM Vietnam again. Geez I think he is stoned... again." You have it in your power to do this. I believe I have made my case. If not for your legacy, your employees, if not for us, do it for Emrys. You are welcome Michael. Someone had to speak up. You are too humble to do it yourself.. or stoned. You are in Washington after all. Hell it isn't even legal here in the bay area and everyone thinks we are the hippies. San Francisco values my arse. CM Vietnam you know you want to do it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destraex1 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Cm Vietnam would be pretty dull unless air warfare and huge maps were shown properly. this was often not a stand up fight. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Cm Vietnam would be pretty dull unless air warfare and huge maps were shown properly. this was often not a stand up fight. see note 3 above and disregard this post 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 CM:SLoD comes before Vietnam sburke. If you want your pet project realised first you'll have to pay for it (and this constitutes a warning to your wealthier relatives). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 CM:SLoD comes before Vietnam sburke. If you want your pet project realised first you'll have to pay for it (and this constitutes a warning to your wealthier relatives). no that has to come after as you know when Steve does that, it will be his final CM project. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db_zero Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Viet-Nam had some epic battles. Tet Offensive, La Drang Valley, The 1970 incursion into Cambodia, the 72 Year of the Rat offensive. The Mekong Delta was also a hot spot. Many skirmishes and battles may not make the history books, but if you were there it was memorable enough. It was not just Guerrilla warfare. The NVA had some very tough and competent regular units and many of the people I know who fought there had a lot of respect for the NVA. They were good light infantry. Some areas saw use of armored forces. Done right, Viet-Nam would be an interesting subject. Unfortunately Korea is a forgotten war, but it holds a special place in my fathers heart. You will never see or read about his little battle in the history books or even online, but it means a lot to him and those who were there. Strange as it may seem I find Korea and North Korea a fascinating subject. As bizarre and weird North Korean is, I find it interesting. I would love to see Asia covered more, but its probably not going to be a good seller. I would like to see BF produce an open ended modern game with various forces from Europe, Asia and North and South American forces with a potpourri of battles and campaigns as well as tools to create your own. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Viet-Nam had some epic battles. Tet Offensive, La Drang Valley, The 1970 incursion into Cambodia, the 72 Year of the Rat offensive. The Mekong Delta was also a hot spot. Many skirmishes and battles may not make the history books, but if you were there it was memorable enough. It was not just Guerrilla warfare. The NVA had some very tough and competent regular units and many of the people I know who fought there had a lot of respect for the NVA. They were good light infantry. Some areas saw use of armored forces. Done right, Viet-Nam would be an interesting subject. Unfortunately Korea is a forgotten war, but it holds a special place in my fathers heart. You will never see or read about his little battle in the history books or even online, but it means a lot to him and those who were there. Strange as it may seem I find Korea and North Korea a fascinating subject. As bizarre and weird North Korean is, I find it interesting. I would love to see Asia covered more, but its probably not going to be a good seller. I would like to see BF produce an open ended modern game with various forces from Europe, Asia and North and South American forces with a potpourri of battles and campaigns as well as tools to create your own. My original post was meant to be a light hearted romp to 1 make fun of all the folks who doubted BF for years - if anyone still doubts BF has a very clear grasp of their business model and consumer base, they are simply luddites. The reference to them out doing over the last three years their actual product releases of the previous 11 is pretty incredible. 2 make a pitch for a couple games. I am interested in all those (and Korea as well, I don't think interest in it is at all strange). The focus was on Vietnam as it was an easy way to draw out some features I'd really like to see even though I know we probably never will - I'd really love sewers and cellars in Stalingrad. The idea of getting intel from prisoners I just thought of. It sounded interesting, what the hell. All that and I really do think a Vietnam game would be fascinating. CM is a tactical game and battle in Vietnam was mostly at that level. In addition to all the points you made. 3 recognize that BF really does have a phenomenal group of people 4 poke fun at Emrys- of course. I hope no one takes any of it too seriously - except the bit about flavor items in a N African game. gawd help me. Oh yeah and the bit on Emrys being Ancient. Man can't even figure out which side of the international date line he lives on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 What I would like next (after all of the East Front games) would be tools that allow people to "unify" the games (ie, use vehicles, troops, maps, etc. from one game in another). Map-making will be a large burden for these new games, especially with the larger map sizes, and it would be great to be able to use maps from Red Thunder for the other East Front games, for instance. Not counting on seeing this, but it would be nice, and I'd certainly pay for it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixxkiller Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I have to admit I didnt understand this either. This is something we usually do internally. Besides, BFC should do a PTO game way before we do Vietnam because I have asked for that many times before you brought this up and well the PTO had atomic weapons used and that trumps agent orange and Pho. Plus by then we will have hand to hand combat and ninja's with samurai swords totally kicks the hell out of little guys in pajamas who dont have samurai swords and cant be ninjas. PWND you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1812 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I have thought that East against West in Europe, 1945 or 46, would be quite interesting. As sburke points out, in a short while all the components required will be available. I suppose it could be a module for CMBN. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schwerpunktgrenadier Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Vietnam would be good. I suspect there is a lot of scope for small unit actions in this theatre. I'm reading The Soldiers' Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966 by Terry Burstall at the moment and that is an excellent account of the type of small unit action which CM portrays so well. PTO would be good as well as long as it was more than just the Yanks and the Japs. There is certainly no need for battlefront to be too chronological about its projects. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 And this is most important. Emrys is getting old. Hell he is old, ancient in fact. However I know that were you to release CM Vietnam it would reinvigorate him! The fact is, I would prefer—would vastly prefer—CMAIW (Arab-Israeli Wars) over a Vietnam War game. Just think of it: sweeping armor maneuvers through the desert; three (or more) generations of weaponry, attack and defense by both sides, multinational involvements and coalitions. Man, you can swoon from contemplating the possibilities. And a lot of the stuff would already be made for other games, which would ease production. Compared to that, your Vietnam game would tank early and be a financial disaster that could destroy or at least severely cripple the company. Sorry, I'm sure you had your heart set on this one, but crushing your dreams is like tromping on peanut shells in the ballpark. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Man can't even figure out which side of the international date line he lives on. I think you have now gone beyond daftness and entered the realm of drooling insanity. I know very well where I am situated in relation to the IDL. What you, on the other hand, apparently have lost track of is that quite a few of BFC's customers live to the west of it, and BFC might feel some responsibility to maintain its commitments to them as well. But being a Californian, you probably feel that the universe revolves around you and your narcissistic wishes are all that count in this equation. Chances are your daddy didn't spank you enough when you were growing up, so you lack that intimate contact with reality. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Wenman Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 What you, on the other hand, apparently have lost track of is that quite a few of BFC's customers live to the west of it Er, don't we all live to the west of it ? P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Er, don't we all live to the west of it ? Depends. If you live west of Greenwich, you are east of the IDL. If you live east of Greenwich, you live west of the IDL. Don't blame me, it's how the world was divided up a few centuries ago. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Wenman Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 but if we go east we will all reach the IDL, so technically we must all be west of it. But I guess I have the best of both worlds as I can straddle the Greenwich Meridian any time I like as it's only 50 miles from here. P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Interesting thread, but to be honest I start to rapidly lose interest whenever the simulated conflict gets outside the WW2 era. I would probably be more likely to buy Combat Mission: Orcs & Elves than a Vietnam CM. Actually, that sounds pretty cool. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 ... and now the Pièce de résistance . The game we are all waiting for, the pinnacle of your achievement! CM: Vietnam ... 3- You need to think of us. Everybody wants it, even the people like Baneman who profess not to. EVERYONE will buy it. If I am wrong it is only because they are trying to spite me. They truly do want it, the ungrateful bastards. .... Pfffft. Don't make me say it again ! I can see it now : "ok, the enemy are going to move into my trap soon" 2 turns later - "I think I have a sound contact" <burst of firing> "damn, lost a squad ... still nothing spotted" <burst of firing> "dammit ! Another one gone." "Spotting's borked !" <burst of firing> "sod it, just napalm the jungle already!" CM:Fulda Gap, CM:Korea, CM:Blitzkrieg. You know you want to. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waclaw Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Bf has everything ready to do the module for "Combat Mission: Red Thunder - Korea 1950 -53" ps. usually complain, but I have to admit that the red thunder is going to be really interesting;) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
para Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 but if we go east we will all reach the IDL, so technically we must all be west of it. But I guess I have the best of both worlds as I can straddle the Greenwich Meridian any time I like as it's only 50 miles from here. P That's cos time was invented here in the UK 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Did I just hear someone mention "flares"? Mmph. Back to the cave... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 One of my first posts all the way back in 2000 was about a CM Vietnam game...therefore I should get one! On a serious note I don't think it'd be a failure at all. How many people told us CMSF was gonna be a complete failure and would ruin BFC? There's guys out there now, 7 years later, still talking about how BFC has failed and is going out of business. I call them the 7-year-circle-jerk. 20 years from now when Steve and Charles retire they'll say "See! I told you they'd go out of business!" What we really need is for a group or groups of guys to put together a team/teams and approach BFC about doing some of these other wars. Kinda like Snowball did with A-Stan. CM is the engine and play style with the potential to tackle them better than any other game system out there. Nam is my wargaming Nirvana! Don't piss on my Nirvana! Mord. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 PWND you! I might rib Emrys about his age, but I gotta admit I had to google this. You kids and your funny words. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincere Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Nam never goes out of fashion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migo441 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 CM Vietnam you know you want to do it. Completely agree! In addition to sburke's impressive list, I can think of one other compelling reason. Ambient noise in the vicinity of American bunkers would include snippets of songs by Jefferson Airplane, Three Dog Night, et al. But I also don't see BF running out of wars and conflicts any time soon. CM: Punic Wars CM: Sepoy Mutiny CM: Saltpeter War CM: Boxer Rebellion 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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