Some Final Blitzkrieg basic details

[Bud Backer]

Well, after getting brutalized by the sudden and very violent deaths that result in Black Sea (and nevertheless mostly enjoying it, though I think I prefer Mech Infantry over Armour), I think this will be my first proper (purchased as opposed to demos) foray into the CM WW2 offerings, and I am most excited!

I doubt you'll be disappointed.

 

[Duckman]

Omigawd! And Aachen too!

[kulik242]

Some new gameplay features?

[CarlWAW]

Although I am mostly interested in gameplay and realism improvements I think I will buy CMFB. German W-SS and Mountain units and their TOE, tank riders for all and some new vehicles on both sides, should offer new tactical experience.

 

Hopefully a new game engine will lift this already very interesting title to a new level in the not too distant future?

Edited December 8, 2015 by CarlWAW

[GhostRider3/3]

Awesome stuff, cant wait.

[CPC922]

Although I am mostly interested in gameplay and realism improvements I think I will buy CMFB. German W-SS and Mountain units and their TOE, tank riders for all and some new vehicles on both sides, should offer new tactical experience.

 

Hopefully a new game engine will lift this already very interesting title to a new level in the not too distant future?

I too hope a new game engine is coming in the future! Excellent games Battlefront!

[J Bennett]

The game's been really behaving itself with forest cover lately, I've entirely forgot about my old problems with CMBN v1.0 heavily wooded maps. Of course I also quadrupled my computer's RAM.   

What kind of frame rates do you get with settings maxed out?

[Sequoia]

I'm curious about the new aa batteries Chris mentions. Does this mean things such as the 90 mm AA gun? They were in CMBO where iirc one could use them as AT guns but I recall some debate as to if they were ever modified to be used in a AT role. Not much use for Allied AA by Fall '44.

[MikeyD]

What kind of frame rates do you get with settings maxed out?

I never max out my setting, except when I'm taking screenshots. Why go looking for trouble?  Geez, I do dislike these new emoticons. I couldn't find an appropriate one to place after that sentence.

[Sequoia]

Do we get Brummbars? We haven't seen them in Western Europe yet.

[MikeyD]

Two - count them - TWO types of Brummbars.

[Rokko]

I wonder how this game handles water. Does water freeze when the temperature setting is low enough? And is marsh traversable by vehicles when the ground is frozen?

[Agua]

.

• US Campaign gives the player command of the entire Combat Command Reserve (CCR) of 4th Armored Division from December 23-26, as they strive to bash through the German encirclement of Bastogne from the south. Command Lt. Col. Abrams's tank (yes, THAT Abrams). Battle the 5th Fallschirmjäger Division and 26th Volksgrenadier Division. Be the first to reach the 101st at Bastogne in the historic armored dash through Assenois.

My absolute favorite CMBO mission of all time: Assenois.

[MikeyD]

Does water freeze when the temperature setting is low enough?

 There was a lot of back-and-forth on this, Eventually the consensus was NW Europe is not Lake Ladoga next to Leningrad. Rivers in Belgium just aren't freezing over to the point of being traversable at this time of year. There's also the awkward prospect of finding yourself on a Rhine river map that troops can simply walk across. There would be complaints. I do wonder what they're going to do when CMRT goes winter. Freezing rivers sounds slightly more plausible.

[RockinHarry]

 There was a lot of back-and-forth on this, Eventually the consensus was NW Europe is not Lake Ladoga next to Leningrad. Rivers in Belgium just aren't freezing over to the point of being traversable at this time of year. There's also the awkward prospect of finding yourself on a Rhine river map that troops can simply walk across. There would be complaints. I do wonder what they're going to do when CMRT goes winter. Freezing rivers sounds slightly more plausible.

The winter of 1944/45 in western europe, particularly the Ardennes/Rhineland region, was quoted to be one of the coldest in a very log time. The point is that in these regions most and many the small rivers and creeks have fast flowing currents and thus do not freeze over that easily. The coldest periods probably weren´t long enough either. Standing waters or slow flowing waters might be a different matter in the coldest parts of that winter. I´ve not read much into the accounts of the winter battles taking place in the Netherlands in 1944/45, but so far I do not recall anything related to frozen rivers and waters, that had significant influence on any these battles.

Would be interested to know about "frozen marshes" as well, although if a map maker wants to, he can substitute known marches with any other terrain he finds suitable. There´s also the possibility to mod terrain like fords and low water to something looking like frozen (if the animation effect can be suppressed), but the looks would likely be little convincing.

[ChrisND]

My absolute favorite CMBO mission of all time: Assenois.

I've never played the CMBO mission, so I'll be interested in seeing how it compares. Name of the CMFB scenario is "Concentration Number Nine".

[ChrisND]

I wonder how this game handles water. Does water freeze when the temperature setting is low enough? And is marsh traversable by vehicles when the ground is frozen?

No freezing water terrain features, it's just not appropriate for the setting. In "Light Snow" or "Patchy Snow" ground conditions, the marsh remains as usual. In "Snow" or heavier conditions, the marsh is replaced with snow.

[ChrisND]

One of the beta testers had a few internally raised points to make that I thought I would repeat here:

- German Heer and Waffen-SS have new Gebirgsjäger Battalion and Gebirgsjäger Aufklärung Battalion formations.

- Other news formation include the Volksgrenadier divisional Fusilier Company, and the Panzerschreck Company.

- New equipment for the Germans includes the LeIG 37 infantry gun.

- Some of the formations I mentioned aren't actually new to CMx2, such as the AA batteries, paratrooper demolition group, pack howitzer batteries and SP cannon batteries. These were introduced in the Vehicle Pack or Market Garden module. However, they will all be part of Final Blitzkrieg from the beginning. As I said in the first post, our basic starting point for Final Blitzkrieg's equipment and formations is almost all of the US/German stuff from CMBN (where appropriate for the setting) plus new equipment for up to Jan 45. I hope that very soon I can share a very detailed list of what is included in the game, in the form of the game manual.

Edited December 11, 2015 by ChrisND

[Lille Fiskerby]

The game manual would just be awesome ChrisND, hours of reading to do!

[Aragorn2002]

I think it is time we get more details about the coming release. We all have been pretty patient, so tell us what the present status is and what we can expect and when. Please.

[Rokko]

No freezing water terrain features, it's just not appropriate for the setting. In "Light Snow" or "Patchy Snow" ground conditions, the marsh remains as usual. In "Snow" or heavier conditions, the marsh is replaced with snow.

Aknowledged,

I guess for the future to give scenario designers the option, since you can also portray lakes and ponds, which probably did freeze in Belgium and Holland, too.

I remember the dread in WITE when in 1941 all the nice defensive lines along major rivers would all become more and more under attack as the rivers froze and lost their crossing penalties as the blizzard raged on.

[Cobetco]

Do those new Gebirgsjäger have g33/40s? or just k98s? eh either way mountain troops are going to be fun.

[AttorneyAtWar]

Do those new Gebirgsjäger have g33/40s? or just k98s? eh either way mountain troops are going to be fun.

Cobetco are you the artist of your profile picture, and the panzerfaust girl?

If so there awesome!

Edited December 13, 2015 by Raptorx7

[RockinHarry]

One of the beta testers had a few internally raised points to make that I thought I would repeat here:

- German Heer and Waffen-SS have new Gebirgsjäger Battalion and Gebirgsjäger Aufklärung Battalion formations.

 

Do the Gebirgsjager class formations have any new capabilities, like beeing more adept in crossing and moving in difficult terrain (cliffs...)? Not that it counts as there weren´t any battles fought in real mountainous terrain in western europe in 1944/45 and steep slopes have little to no effects on movement of any units in the game, yet I appreciate this OOB expansion.

 

[sburke]

Aknowledged,

I guess for the future to give scenario designers the option, since you can also portray lakes and ponds, which probably did freeze in Belgium and Holland, too.

I remember the dread in WITE when in 1941 all the nice defensive lines along major rivers would all become more and more under attack as the rivers froze and lost their crossing penalties as the blizzard raged on.

well you can pretty much do that now, just put down plain clear terrain in snow conditions. No river or lake is gonna freeze over in 4 hours so it isn't like it is gonna happen during a battle and with the snow you'd still have that flat expanse of white. Creating a decent looking map that depicts a frozen river or lake is a pretty interesting idea.  Hmmmmmmm. May have to wait for the CMRT module though to consider it.