Some questions, be gentle :)

[PanzerShark]

Hi there some days ago i noticed this game and i think it's the bees knees.

There are some things i like to know though.

- Compared to other games this one is pretty expensive (especially since i'm from Holland) Why?

- I don't mind pre-order but i did this once and what happened was that my money was taken in 2 days and the game wasn't availible for 5 months....how are you guys going to do this? Is my money taken when ya sent the game or also in advance?

- The mg42 (think it was one)looked kinda weird are the weapon models being souped-up?

- Is there going to be a sharper movie of the game since i can't tell whether or not the models are actually detailed or just a blur of colors.

- Is the smoke (explosions/firing) being bettered? Looks kinda strange right now.

- Is it possible to hide in buildings?

This post may sound negative. Sorry bout that...i have just seen to many WW2 games under construction which turned out to be total crap.

I wish ya guys (and girls?) all the programming-best to make this the WW2-game \

of all time. Good Luck

[Guest Big Time Software]

Hi there. I'll answer each question in order:

1. Price - Combat Mission is actually priced the same as most other top notch games, and even a little less than some. We are also offering posters for US residents and discounts for everybody else. Few offer such things. Unfortunately, shipping from the US to any other country requires paperwork and more expensive shipping. We don't have time to actually ship orders (the game wouldn't get done if we did that <g>), so this is done through someone else and we have to pay for it. The prices are very competitive and we make not one penny off of S&H (some cases we loose money). However, we don't like charging so much for S&H either. We are currently looking into ways around this, but it will take a lot of time and effort on our part. If you preorder Combat Mission now you will be charged whatever the shipping rate is when the game ships. The most you will pay is the current rate.

2. We will not process credit cards until we ship. It would be unethical, and perhaps illegal, for us to do otherwise. We don't even put a "hold" on the card. If we go to ship and your card is invalid, we won't send you the game until we are giving something that works. To prove that we are on the up and up we accidentally charged 5 Combat Mission preorders the other day due to a database scripting error. These charges were reversed within 10 minutes of the mistake. Emails were sent out to the 5 people apologizing and explaining that they might see a charge and then a credit. We wanted to make sure they knew what happened. You couldn't ask for more honesty than that

3. Which shot did you see the "weird" HMG42, and how exactly was it "weird"? The tripod is correct and the gun is quite accurate. Perhaps it was the angle that it was at?

4. We had hoped to make a higher res movie, but I didn't have enough hard disk space free to do one. Of course, I could have tossed out all the tank models I am working on to make room Check out the static screenshots for a better look at the tanks. The vehicles look fantastic in the game, but you won't see every last bolt modeled. There are hardware limitations that are just too easy to overload.

5. The smoke and fire aren't perfect, but they are like that for a reason. See the earlier post about smoke and wrecked vehicles. We could make both look very pretty like Quake or Unreal, but then Combat Mission would be impossible to play because it would be so slow. We are pushing the hardware much harder than these (fine!) games.

6. You can hide in anything, including buildings. Pretty much anything you expect from a wargame (and a WHOLE lot more) is modeled in CM.

We understand your frustration with other WWII wargames (ah, most other wargames for that matter!). However, looking at all the information on our website and this board should persuade you that Combat Mission already beats them hands down. We have been VERY careful to only talk in detail about features that are programmed and running. Look at the LOS/Spotting pages for an example of this. So if you think that looks better than anything you have seen before, it isn't wishful thinking. It is actually in and working.

If you are unsure about making a preorder purchase, we can understand. If that is the case, hang out and download the demo when it is done (probably AFTER we ship, but who knows...).

Steve

[PanzerShark]

Thx for replying guys. I'm thinking about pre-ordering 'cause (although i sounded negative) there are lotsa things this game incorporates that i was looking for in a game for a long long time. But (and i hate to ask this) do ya have an estimated release date ? I don't wanna push ya lot since you should take all the time ya need to finish this product but i like to know when i pre-order when i can expect it to roll in my mailbox. Ofcourse giving a correct or specific date is impossible, could ya give it to me in weeks or even months?

Thx again....keep up the good work (nice soundeffects to btw

[Guest Big Time Software]

We hope to ship CM late summer, but will let everybody know once we hit Beta if this date is realistic. So we should know better in June/July when final will be delivered.

Yeah, the soundFX are really cool! Wish you could have heard them in active stereo like the real thing. Oh, and I was just reminded that the machine I used (a Mac clone) has a beef with CM right now and I am only getting about 1/2 the sound channels I should. Therefore, CM will be a lot more noisy than in the QT movies!

Steve