BFC - Time to Rethink the 'Roadmap'?

[A Canadian Cat]

2 hours ago, sburke said:

Well that is certainly one way to try and be part of a discussion. Go straight to jerk mode.  

This thread is interesting and fun. Let's all put sonar on our ignore lists and keep this conversation going in a good direction.

If we all ignore the "disruptors" we can contine to have a good conversation.

[mjkerner]

Pfffft! I have an IPad, I post from the shytter when the mood strikes!

Edited November 1, 2018 by mjkerner

[A Canadian Cat]

TMI, TMI

[MOS:96B2P]

7 minutes ago, IanL said:

+1    If we all ignore the "disruptors" we can contine to have a good conversation.

So maybe Combat Mission North Africa for the first CM3 title?   

[A Canadian Cat]

7 minutes ago, MOS:96B2P said:

So maybe Combat Mission North Africa for the first CM3 title?   

That would be awesome.

[Offshoot]

8 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

I admit I don't understand the "won't have the same content" statement.  

The comment about "content" was made in the context of the game engine, so I think content refers here to game code. Steve was replying to earlier questions about how much of the code could be recycled and I think he was saying that a lot of the code content could not just be lifted and reused in CM3.

[MOS:96B2P]

2 minutes ago, Offshoot said:

The comment about "content" was made in the context of the game engine, so I think content refers here to game code. Steve was replying to earlier questions about how much of the code could be recycled and I think he was saying that a lot of the code content could not just be lifted and reused in CM3.

Hmmm, maybe.  It makes more sense than what I took from it.  

So what setting would you like to see for the first CM3 game?  Normandy? Stalingrad? Fulda Gap? etc..........

[A Canadian Cat]

Just now, MOS:96B2P said:

 So what setting would you like to see for the first CM3 game?  Normandy? Stalingrad? Fulda Gap? etc..........

Yes

[Ultradave]

What he said. Seriously. I'd take anything and I know it would be many hours worth, no matter the actual subject.

 

[General Jack Ripper]

8 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

SPACE LOBSTERS OF DOOM!!!

I've been waiting for so long.

[Glubokii Boy]

1 hour ago, MOS:96B2P said:

 

So what setting would you like to see for the first CM3 game?  Normandy? Stalingrad? Fulda Gap? etc..........

CM Operation Barbarossa ❤

 

[MarkEzra]

2 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

So maybe Combat Mission North Africa for the first CM3 title?   

It's my favorite era

[Battlefront.com]

5 hours ago, sonar said:

Really..Ha, along comes one of the self appointed forum commissars..so predictable. Oh and the only Jerk on here is the sound of your Little fanboy chain being jerked. 

Keep up the abusive behavior and you’re going to get an official time out.  If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, re-read the rules of conduct you agreed to when you signed up for posting priveledges.

Steve

[Battlefront.com]

Now back to the serious discusion...

9 hours ago, DerKommissar said:

This being said, I'm quite excited for RT module. Hoping for Polish Home Army, First Polish Army, Royal Hungarian Army and maybe some of the more "unique" SS units..

Yesh, that’s quite a list on top of all the other stuff we’re doing   Definitely no Polish Home Guard, Hungarians, or other “Axis minor” nations.  The CMRT module will have German and Soviet TO&E updated through to the end of the war, Waffen SS, Luftwaffe (including scratch forces), Volkssturm, Kriegmarine, and most like 1944 Partisans.  This not only extends the timeframe of CMRT through to the end of the war, but it also fills out the Bagration timeframe.  Obviously new weather, a Germany Region (terrain), new textures, and highly detailed Master Maps as well.

When will it be done?  Not sure, but it’s pretty far along already.  Once CMSF2 is out the door we hould be able to knock it out fairly quickly even though we’ll be fnishing up CMFI R2V at the same time.

Steve

 

 

[slysniper]

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 2:30 PM, slysniper said:

CMSFII partial release  (in a month)

CMSF II completely out and Game engine 4.0 update for all games (6 months)

CMFI Rome to victory (6 months)

MOD for CMBS (12 months)

Mod for CMFB (12 Months)

Oh no, My shot in the dark on possible time frame missed CMRT mod

so here is my new guess

CMSFII partial release  (in a month)

CMSF II completely out and Game engine 4.0 update for all games (6 months)

CMFI Rome to victory  & CMRT mod (11.25 months) and lets put CMRT first (its long over due)

MOD for CMBS (12 months)

Mod for CMFB (12 Months)

 

I also place a vote for Russian front year 42-43 being the first CM3 game, even though they claim western front games sale better.

I can only imagine a new third engine will be at a point when they will want to do many things that they have not been able to do in the past. Along with all the years of learning how to program this type of game. The first game will change at least as much as we saw from CMX1 to CMx2 if not more.

It will not matter what the choice is, it should be a big success. ( But Russia does need their love, that front have become the step child in the CM2 series) and as we know, all true war gamers, its their favorite area of history.

Forget the money Steve, Please the true fans. 

[Battlefront.com]

21 hours ago, stikkypixie said:

One could imagine the TOE could carry over as well which is also a bottleneck.

Even if a hypothetical new engine would use its own TOE format, the information can be stored in an engine independent format and conversion to the correct format can be automated.

Not really feasible.  A game engine has a certain way it wants data to be presented and interact with other game elements.  For example, in CM1 there was no individual soldier concept at all, just a weapon.  No point having generic TO&E detail things at the soldier level if there are no soldiers

Game engine limitations also mean tailoring real world TO&E to fit those limitations.  So a generic TO&E format written for CM1's needs would not be very useful for CM2 (and in fact it wasn't).

Even within CM2 we've had some massive TO&E changes which required major revisions to the existing TO&E.  It's one of the reasons CMSF2 took so long. 

Now, if you mean keeping a generic spreadsheet of TO&E data... sure, that can be done but that's about 1/10th of what it takes to make TO&E work within the game.  So it's useful, but not very useful.

13 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

I admit I don't understand the "won't have the same content" statement.  Maybe because CM1 was before my time.   My interpretation of "content" is armor, light armor, infantry etc. arranged in their historical TOE by nationality.  However it doesn't seem like my simplistic interpretation is really what was intended.  So, I'm not sure what content means in the above quote.     
 

"Content", as I'm using it, is a generic term to cover what you see and hear when you play the game.  While we can definitely move some CM2 stuff to a new CM3 engine, a lot of it won't work "as is".  Most of CMSF1's stuff didn't work "as is" for CMSF2, and it's the same basic engine structure.  The point of this is to dissuade anybody from the notion that we could make a brand new game engine and quickly turn around CM2 games in a new form.  It took nearly a year to port CMSF1 to CMSF2.

11 hours ago, RepsolCBR said:

Hopefully it does not mean that the scope of the individual basegames/ modules will be even more narrow then we have now with CM2. Something like 3-4 months timescale, fairly limited formations to chose from as well as somewhat limited to what theatres/ locations that can be simulated with each CM2 product.

Definitely not our intention.  However, I did say somewhere else that if we do something like scale down a particular release the price will be scaled down as well.  Kinda like how Modules and Packs are not priced the same as each other or full games.

Steve

[Xorg_Xalargsky]

I cannot overstate how eagerly I am waiting for those modules! So many unique scenario opportunities, especially for CMRT.

[Glubokii Boy]

1 hour ago, Battlefront.com said:

 

Definitely not our intention.  However, I did say somewhere else that if we do something like scale down a particular release the price will be scaled down as well.  Kinda like how Modules and Packs are not priced the same as each other or full games.

Steve

Thanks !

Sounds reasonable...

[Aragorn2002]

1. Eastern Front 1942-1944 (Stalingrad-Charkow-Kursk-Cherkassy)

2. Tunesia/ North Africa (Kasserine-Tobruk-El Alamein)

3 Fulda Gap (including dutch army)

In that order please.

But at the moment I can think of little else than the CMRT module.

Edited November 2, 2018 by Aragorn2002

[Erwin]

7 hours ago, MarkEzra said:

It's my favorite era

It is very refreshing to get away from the dense terrain and relatively small/claustrophobic euro-centric game maps to the large more open desert spaces of CMSF and CMAK.  Larger maps are more playable with less built-up terrain.  CMAK/CMSF allows for more mobility, recon vehicles become more important etc.

Later battles in Tunisia could feature the units already present in CMFI, and the desert terrain of CMSF2.  Altho' I loved the fluid and highly mobile early desert war in the "east" with Rommel vs "whoever preceded Montgomery".

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Erwin

[General Jack Ripper]

8 hours ago, slysniper said:

I also place a vote for Russian front year 42-43 being the first CM3 game, even though they claim western front games sale better.

If we're voting, then I vote for CM: Korea.
You can have Western Front, and Eastern Front at the same time, without those pesky Germans getting in the way.

 

8 hours ago, slysniper said:

( But Russia does need their love, that front have become the step child in the CM2 series) and as we know, all true war gamers, its their favorite area of history.

Now, now. Let's not be discriminatory.  

[General Jack Ripper]

14 hours ago, sonar said:

Really..Ha, along comes one of the self appointed forum commissars..so predictable. Oh and the only Jerk on here is the sound of your Little fanboy chain being jerked. 

"Why don't you work on the game we all know everyone really wants! Err!" - The sound of rabid fanboys everywhere.

I'll bet you put anchovies on your pizza, and can't understand why no one else wants anchovies.

"Seriously guys, it's the best ingredient! Only pizza fanbois like pepperoni!"

[Bulletpoint]

9 hours ago, slysniper said:

possible time frame missed CMRT mod

Not to be that guy, but I get confused every time you say 'mod' and mean 'module' instead of 'modification'.

Ok, I am that guy.

[MOS:96B2P]

10 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

and most like 1944 Partisans. 

Steve  

YES!!!!! 

[Michael Emrys]

38 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

Not to be that guy, but I get confused every time you say 'mod' and mean 'module' instead of 'modification'.

Ok, I am that guy.

You're not alone. I get really tired of people who make up words and usages as they go along and act as if there are no rules of grammar or such rules if they exist are unimportant and can be discarded at will. Yes, I am an English language fanboi!

Michael