What's next for the Eastern Front?

[kevinkin]

I think "huge" is a mission that in the ends up using a company + in medium or better tanks. Once you balance the OOB with infantry the battle get too large to handle in a enjoyable manner. For me anyway. If you go with a armor only mission I suppose you can go larger. But in either case the map has to account for some movement beyond direct fire range. This will make for really large maps or those with restricted LOS. Faster PCs and user interface enhancements might make these huge armor clashes more manageable. Still CM centered around Kursk would be so cool even today. 

Kevin

 

Edited May 29, 2016 by kevinkin

[Michael Emrys]

36 minutes ago, kevinkin said:

Faster PCs and user interface enhancements might make these huge armor clashes more manageable.

Well, that depends. I am presently taking a break from a QB I set up where a company of armored infantry, two platoons of tanks, and two platoons of mech recc go up against a company of fusiliers. The reason I am taking a break is that spending an hour or more tracing movement commands for every turn was wearing me out. And there is hardly any shooting yet.

Trying to do that for even a regimental sized force strikes me as sheer insanity given the existing game mechanics. Having a much requested follow-the-leader command would greatly ease the workload as well as some kind of move-in-formation command. But trying to give a complex set of orders to each vehicle and each team is, well, tedious on a logarithmic scale.

Michael

[Sublime]

On 5/26/2016 at 5:56 PM, Ivanov said:

I'm definitely going to try the Stalingrad MOD. From what I've seen, it looks absolutely gorgeous! As to the future of Eastern Front titles, I'd be also happy to play the campaign in East Prussia or Berlin - they are rarely represented in the wargaming. But let's face it - people want to see new vehicles and check how they fare against each other. I'd be super happy if I could launch T-34 or KV-1 against Panzer 38 or BT-7 against Panzer III. I'm also pretty sure, that CM Barbarossa would be a hit from the commercial point of view. It's just a pity that the best dev teams have such a small manpower and they are able to release the new titles only at very modest pace...

Ivanov actually BFCs experience has pointed to the exact opposite of early warmor Ost Front doing commercially well at all.

Steve et al. Loved CMBB but said doing it almost "broke them".

I too look forward to early war. But the East Prussia desperate fighting, Seelow Heights, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin have always held a special place in my heart as have the Western drives into the Reich in the same period.

[DLaurier]

At this rate, my daughter will be the one playing the early war scenarios since I'll be too old.

[Michael Emrys]

15 hours ago, DLaurier said:

At this rate, my daughter will be the one playing the early war scenarios since I'll be too old.

You mean you aren't too old now???

Michael

[General Melchid]

I suspect it will be something wintery as they have just made a load of new textures for FB and will want recycle those.

[kevinkin]

Wait. The winter MOD for CMRT is already available in all it's glory. Scenarios too. Check out the Scenario Depot.

Kevin

[Aragorn2002]

1 minute ago, General Melchid said:

I suspect it will be something wintery as they have just made a load of new textures for FB and will want recycle those.

Amen to that. The winter of 1944/45 at the Eastern front will be the best module yet. I'm not at all looking forward to 1941 battles. For me the Eastern front is starting to get interesting from the summer of 1942 onwards, really heats up in the winter of 1942/43, cools off a bit during 1943 (Kursk is interesting, that's it) and get's interesting again in the winter of 1943/44 to explode in the summer of 1944 until the end of the war. I can't wait for the battles in Eastern Prussia, Western Poland, Hungary, Silesia and so on.

[Ivanov]

I'd happily consume anything related to Easter Front, regardless the period of the war. IMO the problem with the 1944/45, is that some talented modder, could already easily make the late war scenarios based on the current CMRT. I can't think of any significant new hardware, that is not already present in the RT. Granted, you could model further decline of German capabilities by adding some cannon fodder formations like Volkssturm, but that's about it. Early war seems to me potentially more exciting in terms of the new ( old ) equipment, that we haven't yet seen in the present module.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Ivanov

[Warts 'n' all]

I agree that the modders are already producing some great winter scenarios. The only things that let down a campaign like "The Last Panzer" which is set in eastern Germany in late winter/early spring '45, are the Russian shops and the onion domed churches.

[Childress]

On 5/26/2016 at 2:56 PM, Ivanov said:

I'm definitely going to try the Stalingrad MOD. From what I've seen, it looks absolutely gorgeous! As to the future of Eastern Front titles, I'd be also happy to play the campaign in East Prussia or Berlin...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The battles in Berlin and Stalingrad will, imo, be better depicted once BF refines city fighting, namely more plausible building destruction and spreading flames. The long held desideratum for 'fire', that was present in CM1 in a rough and ready manner, might be held up by the challenges imposed by the more detailed CM2 engine. We know they 'want to do it'.

One suspects that the latter may, in addition to coding complexities, inflict severe strains on sub-state-of-the-art PCs.

And, o/t, Kursk risks being a chore given the vast Soviet defensive works. The Germans had telegraphed their punch for months. How do you feel about navigating minefields? The sweeping Axis offensives in '41 and '42 seem more congenial for CM players.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Childress

[kevinkin]

I am not a big fan of end of WWII action and think for completeness sake a combined EF/WF module or stand alone would be just fine - for me anyway. Of course that would allow for West vs East post-war what ifs. But those hypothetical battles have been ruled out many posts ago if I recall. Release Barbarossa and then '42 and many players would be very happy - for years. The material for scenarios is almost endless.

Kevin 

[Blazing 88's]

28 minutes ago, kevinkin said:

I am not a big fan of end of WWII action and think for completeness sake a combined EF/WF module or stand alone would be just fine - for me anyway. Of course that would allow for West vs East post-war what ifs. But those hypothetical battles have been ruled out many posts ago if I recall. Release Barbarossa and then '42 and many players would be very happy - for years. The material for scenarios is almost endless.

Kevin 

Yep, been thumping that drum forever...  one of these days...  North Africa (41-43) and Barbarossa /Kursk.  No interest in a Berlin CM or for that matter FB.  The only late war module I am looking forward to is CMFI's.  Luckly, the titles I do own will keep me going until what I mentioned above hopefully happens.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Blazing 88's

[Der Alte Fritz]

Lets be realistic here.

The first CMRT module will be at least 3 YEARS AFTER LAUNCH.

That is way slower than CMN or CMFI and with the new CMN+ (CMFB) out and demanding a module as well....

It is obvious that sales of CMRT were not good enough to put it on the 'fast track'. Any additional items that we may see will be launched first in other modules, snow in CMFB, Waffen SS in CMN and so if we get a Vistula-Oder module it will have a couple of new Soviet vehicles and all the other bits from other modules,

As for early war, that will never come out so go back to CMBB. Best you can hope for is 1943 and Kursk.

 

[kohlenklau]

Play the CMRT Winter Mod and Stalingrad Mods to hold you over til 2018-2019.

[Michael Emrys]

Dear Fritz,

You could be right, but I am not so confident of your analysis and predictions as you. BFC does not release sales figures, so any attempt on our part to estimate them is pure guesswork. There is and always has been considerable interest among wargamers in the East Front, so I would not write that market off. It may be, especially among the CM aficionados at the moment, more of a latent market than an active one. But it could get fired up at the drop of a hat. Additionally, there may be many reasons beyond the ones you cite for BFC's apparent lack of interest in the GPW at the moment. For one thing, their interest in that part of the world for the moment seems to be locked into current and projected events rather than 70+ years ago. But again, what goes on behind the scenes does not always get reported to us.

Michael

[kevinkin]

I think the release path has a lot to do with what gets BFC's design juices flowing. There has been a call for WWII Pacific - not gonna happen. Korea, nope. Middle East, (including WWII) probably never. Not that these would not sell briskly. They are just not in the developer's wheelhouse. This comes from reading these forums over the years. However, there is presidence for Barbarossa and I would expect to see it designed one day. The time frame around Kursk and Stalingrad might come earlier.

Guessing like everyone else.

Kevin     

[Michael Emrys]

1 hour ago, kevinkin said:

I think the release path has a lot to do with what gets BFC's design juices flowing.

I think you are dead right. The boys at BFC are not SFAIK getting filthy rich off of this, so the work is largely a labor of love. Ergo, what comes out their door has to be something they love enough to follow through to completion.

1 hour ago, kevinkin said:

This comes from reading these forums over the years.

Yep.

Michael

[DougPhresh]

I'm thinking since the HG Division was in CMFI, we might reasonably expect them in the next module?

[Jumpete]

Battlefront said when RT was released, that next module will cover till war end, but maybe they have decide to divide this long period in differents modules. In any case, I wish to see in next module lend-lease vehicles and KV tanks for soviets, and latest SP guns and tanks models for germans, 45 TO&E and maybe new nations such as Hungary or Romania.

[John Kettler]

kohlenklau,

I popped over here and happened to glance afresh at your release timetable graphic. That's when I noticed what I'd completely missed before. The SLOD at bottom right. Well done!

Guys,

If we're going to talk about light, mobile forces, then we should have motorcycle formations on both sides and (drum roll) cavalry! The Russians had whole divisions, after all, and I believe the Germans had one, SS Florian Geyer, methinks. Naturally, since most of both sides weren't motorized, we need horses for transport, gun towing, etc. Never mind that horse columns make fabulous targets for marauding tanks! 

Regards,

John Kettler

 

 

[Ivanov]

On 27/06/2016 at 10:23 PM, Jumpete said:

I wish to see in next module lend-lease vehicles and KV tanks for soviets

That would be sweet.

[Jumpete]

17 hours ago, Ivanov said:

That would be sweet.

Of course, KV serie is very interesting and iconic for russian forces. For this period we have KV-85 and KV-1S and, if next module covers the Leningrad area, the KV-1C, which  were used in small number in the Karelian front.

[Meach]

Ummmm I don't mean to butt in here but I have made a scenario which involves around 30 tanks or so on each side in a meeting engagement.    The map is fairly big and about 1.5km x 1.2km if I recall.  Some infantry and plenty objectives to fight over but the briefing and tactical front end stuff is non-existent mainly because it was for private consumption.  I can stick it in a drop box folder if anyone wants to try it out.  I have worked hard on 4 AI plans for each side so you a fair bit of replay-ability is in there.

The battle boils down to a meeting engagement and for a briefing each commander has basically been told "Strike as far in that direction as you can.  Logistical support will be forthcoming when you have fired your last shell and used the last drop of fuel."  You get the idea....  It's a bit of a mash up and blast fest which not in anyway historical gives a couple of hours of good old fashioned fun in my humble opinion!  Be warned it is not particularly well balanced nor is it covered in deep terrain which lots of folks might not like as you can be slugging it out with your Panzers and T-34's in a very short amount of turns.

If that description doesn't turn you off then let me know and I will try to figure out how to get the files to you via dropbox (any help on this would be appreciated as I am not very tech savvy)

Kindest regards,

Meach.

[Ironcross12]

So when will we see the next Battle Module for Red Storm or Final Blitz?

will battlefront give a time frame?