41/42/43 modules ?

[JG53_Jaguar]

Hi All,

I have just yesterday got back into playing Combat Mission again by buying Red Thunder and Normandy 2.x(used to play a lot the old Normandy/Eastern Front series released many years ago). Any idea when Eastern Front years '41, '42 and '43 add-ons will be available in the future?

Thanks!

PS: I bought Normandy 2.12 and 3.0 upgrade pack and installed them...when I run Normandy I get 2.20 version on the screen and not 3.0...did I do anything wrong ?

[sburke]

Hi All,

I have just yesterday got back into playing Combat Mission again by buying Red Thunder and Normandy 2.x(used to play a lot the old Normandy/Eastern Front series released many years ago). Any idea when Eastern Front years '41, '42 and '43 add-ons will be available in the future?

Thanks!

My Tardis is in the shop, no idea.

PS: I bought Normandy 2.12 and 3.0 upgrade pack and installed them...when I run Normandy I get 2.20 version on the screen and not 3.0...did I do anything wrong ?

Nope, that is correct.

[Oddball-47]

Just out of curiosity, what would be the reason that a "3.0" upgrade wouldn't show on the splash screen as being "3.0" as opposed to "2.whatever" ?

Regards,

Odd-CAF

[MikeyD]

41/42/43 would be titles, not modules. The game would have to change drastically to accommodate those timeframes, from entirely different TO&E and equipment for everybody to different terrain and buildings and uniforms and... you get the picture.

[sburke]

Just out of curiosity, what would be the reason that a "3.0" upgrade wouldn't show on the splash screen as being "3.0" as opposed to "2.whatever" ?

Regards,

Odd-CAF

there are game versions and engine versions. CMRT game version is 1.0, engine is 3.0. CMBN game version 2.20 is engine 3.0.

If you look on the splash screens now, they show both.

[76mm]

..game would have to change drastically to accommodate those timeframes, from entirely different TO&E and equipment for everybody to different terrain and buildings and uniforms and... you get the picture.

I don't think terrain and buildings would change very much, why do you think so? Sure, the np maps would be different, but most could be created with the existing terrain/building types.

[Combatintman]

Discounting the terrain and buildings issue, each iteration would still be a massive undertaking. Speaking from the POV of someone who has done TO&E research and formatting the data so that Charles can convert it into 0s and 1s in a way that works in the game it is something that takes a considerable amount of time. So even if BF said that they were going to do 41/42/43 I wouldn't expect to see it/them any time soon, particularly as their announced projects are still WIP.

[womble]

...particularly as their announced projects are still WIP.

Those announced projects include finishing the War in NWE, Italy and the OstFront, which might well involve a couple or three modules, then two new Titles and the modules to complete them. Plus BS modules (let's be kind and count the Title as "done", at least relative to the timescales we're talking about). So "any time soon" means "years away". And they've said they'll be working backwards from Bagration when they get round to it.

[snarre]

i tjust hope they gona make first 44-45 winter and to the end of war first.

[Ales Dvorak]

CMBN game version 2.20 is engine 3.0.

If you look on the splash screens now, they show both.

With VP, CMBN game version is 3.10, game engine 3.

[Myles Keogh]

BF has announced an interest in doing the entire OstFront including 41-43, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for those titles.

As of now, BF's plans for CM are:

1) A modern warfare title which turned-out to be CM: Black Sea and is nearing release

2) Modules for CMRT that will take it to the end of the war. (Lend lease vehicles and partisans for the Soviets and the SS, Luftwaffe, and maybe some Axis minors (Hungarians, Finns ect.) for the Germans.)

3) A Bulge title that will allegedly feature modules depicting the war on western front from October 1944 to the end of the war. (I know a lot of veteran wargamers groan about another Bulge title, but I suspect BF held back on such a popular title so late in CMx2's development in order to hopefully inject new life and sales into what will be a pretty aged engine. Casual gamers, who couldn't give a fig about Commies fighting Nazis, may take a chance on a Bulge title.)

4) Scenario/unit packs for both CMBN and CMFI. I don't know if CMFI ever will get a vehicle pack similar to CMBN's, but BF did hint that its working on a Monte Casino map project so maybe some flame weapons/vehicles will be included in that. BF has indicated that it will sell new scenarios/campaigns for CMBN as either a pack or DLC.

That's a whole lot of stuff on BF's plate. Throw in patches and additional engine upgrades and BF's has got its hands full for a very long time to come. And then there is always the possibility of diminishing returns killing the game especially as the game engine ages and new PCs/platforms and maybe even competition woo away or turn off the customer base. It could be YEARS, if ever, before we see those 41-43 Ostfront titles.

[DLaurier]

At the very least, a Stalingrad and Leningrad module.

Covering from the summer of 42 till the summer of 43.

[LUCASWILLEN05]

If anything I wuld anticipate they would do a 1943 game first perhaps starting with 3rd Kharkov, continuig through Kursk and ending with the battles of spring 1944. Many of the models and organisations will alreadty be avaiable for that. However it could be a while.

I hope to see Kursk as the next project after VBlack Sea alog with modules for Red Thunder.

[Combatintman]

At the very least, a Stalingrad and Leningrad module.

Covering from the summer of 42 till the summer of 43.

Stalingrad ... really?

Given that building interiors are abstracted in CM and that your options for splitting squads and doing FIBUA/MOUT are not optimised in this game engine I would doubt very much whether it would be a satisfying gaming experience.

Likewise ... Leningrad ... from memory it lasted from 41-44 and was a siege. Granted there were a few manoeuvre battles over the course of those years but the operative word is 'few'. The scope of TO&Es alone means that it isn't going to be a module and a siege isn't going to attract much interest IMHO.

There may be a point at which BF come up with an engine that can cater for these battles in the manner that you would expect them to be played out but if CMSGRAD came out tomorrow you would be complaining about your inability to assault buildings realistically and if CMLGRAD came out tomorrow you would be equally underwhelmed by the sameness of all of the missions or a campaign of 12 missions where 8 of them involved just sitting around ducking the odd artillery barrage.

[womble]

Stalingrad ... really?

Given that building interiors are abstracted in CM and that your options for splitting squads and doing FIBUA/MOUT are not optimised in this game engine I would doubt very much whether it would be a satisfying gaming experience.

LOS in urban terrain is also sufficiently problemmatical as it stands to make a module focusing on MOUT deeply unsatisfying.

The '43-'44 family (new base game and modules) is next on the OstFront list anyway (after modules take CMRT to Berlin), according to BFC's averred plan. Working backwards sequentially makes the most sense from a development perspective (having elected to start in the late war at least), since it's an incremental progression.

[LUCASWILLEN05]

To be fair I am a Russia Front fan first and foremost so would like to see that 1943 - 4 family sooner raher than later. However I would want to see Red Thuunder progressed further first inrducing SS, Romanians, Hungarians etc, taking the war into Eastern Europe, covering the autumn and perhaps the winter of 1944 - 5,peraps just up to the end of December. The final module would then cover the Soviet January 1944 offensive and the final fighting for Berlin and Hungary/Austria.