Barbarossa

[Aragorn2002]

8 hours ago, danfrodo said:

I wonder if Brexit means that UK & France can start fighting again, like in the good old days.  Actually, whatever is left of the UK after N. Ireland and Scotland leave over their anger on Brexit.  Though Neither May nor Marcon seems ready to fill the shoes of the likes of Napoleon or Wellington.

Britain will find it's way, even after the Brexit. It will still be there and it will still need other countries. But perhaps it won't even come to that.

[Warts 'n' all]

Never Mind The B-word, Here's Barbarossa, as The Pistols once said. Personally, I hope that BFC go straight to Barbarossa rather than going back in stages. We already have people in the community making Kursk and Stalingrad scenarios.

[Ales Dvorak]

12 hours ago, Aragorn2002 said:

What's the EU without Britain?

 

[danfrodo]

That John Oliver bit is great, especially the Churchillian speech at the end. 

So maybe BFC will bring out Barbarossa for the 80th anniversary.  June 22, 2021.  Until then I'll take the occasional short break from CM to play barbarossa in Operational Art of War.

[wadepm]

15 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Never Mind The B-word, Here's Barbarossa, as The Pistols once said. Personally, I hope that BFC go straight to Barbarossa rather than going back in stages. We already have people in the community making Kursk and Stalingrad scenarios.

We are really close for Kursk.  Just need some PzKpfw IIIs and maybe earlier IVs.  I think we have all of the T-34 models that are required.  A small vehicle pack would do it (?).  I don't know enough about the earlier infantry formations to say what would be needed.  

[Blazing 88's]

17 hours ago, wadepm said:

We are really close for Kursk.  Just need some PzKpfw IIIs and maybe earlier IVs.  I think we have all of the T-34 models that are required.  A small vehicle pack would do it (?).  I don't know enough about the earlier infantry formations to say what would be needed.  

I assume you have the two campaigns (that I know of) for Kursk that were created ('Thunder Over Ponyri.cam' and 'Zitadelle.cam')?  I can dropbox them if you like?

[wadepm]

2 hours ago, Blazing 88's said:

I assume you have the two campaigns (that I know of) for Kursk that were created ('Thunder Over Ponyri.cam' and 'Zitadelle.cam')?  I can dropbox them if you like?

To be honest, Kursk itself doesn't interest me.  But the early spring (retreat to the Donetz) and late summer (retreat to the Dneiper) of '43 had some great action with evenly matched tank forces - T-34 Model 1942/1943  vs PzKpfw IIIL and PzKpfw IVF2.   The IVF2 is essentially the same as the G model, which we already have in BN.  And the IIIL is virtually the same as the M which we have in FI.   Of course, we already have the T-34 M1942 in FT.  So close...

[Mord]

On 3/5/2019 at 10:24 PM, wadepm said:

Steve has said on several occasions how much he likes the Eastern Front.  But I can't see then doing anything earlier than Kursk, your average gamer doesn't know about anything before that.  Except maybe the name of a city on the Volga...

He's an OCDed completest that loves the East Front. LOL. I am not worried.

 

Mord.

[Frenchy56]

9 hours ago, Mord said:

He's an OCDed completest that loves the East Front. LOL. I am not worried.

 

Mord.

I can't see how he's got OCD if my Red Thunder "inaccuracies" thread has some issues that are glaring. But then if he really did have OCD we probably would have seen Red Thunder only last year or something, hahah.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Frenchy56

[Mord]

5 hours ago, Frenchy56 said:

I can't see how he's got OCD if my Red Thunder "inaccuracies" thread has some issues that are glaring.

Well, that's the difference from being a player screwing around in the game at one's leisure and being a tiny developer dealing with a couple hundred thousand lines of code across six titles, with multiple nations, during multiple time spans, in multiple settings, while keeping track of hundreds of uniform, weapons, vehicle and troop formation variations along with a thousand other things, while trying to run a business. Try doing all that without making some mistakes. It's all perspective. A handful of TO&E, texture and model mistakes over 8 years across six games doesn't make Steve any less obsessive and dedicated to accuracy, it just shows he's human, like the rest of us and can **** up like the rest of us. The fact that BFC fixes these things when they are pointed out proves that obsessive dedication. I've seen textures corrected because a friggin' bolt was incorrect on a rifle. So, there ya go.

 

Mord.

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by Mord

[Frenchy56]

Absolutely agree. I doubt Steve and all have as much time as me to play the games and notice these kinds of things. Even with all the messing around with mods I do.

Though the lack of patches for two years has been felt, we got a spanking new Shock Force out of it, thanks to them.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Frenchy56

[MikeyD]

Its human nature to most want the thing that's just beyond our grasp. If BFC came out tomorrow with a '41 Barbarossa title it would be followed by poster demands for a '45 Berlin battles title. If they released a '43 Kursk title there would be demands for '42 Stalingrad. If they released an 80s Cold War title posters would want a 70s or 60s Cold War title instead (I'd personally love to play M47s vs T55s in the mid-1950s, myself). That's because the product you've got in your hand in a known quantity. The product not in your hands yet is made of dreams and fairy dust.

[Bulletpoint]

On 3/6/2019 at 4:24 AM, wadepm said:

Steve has said on several occasions how much he likes the Eastern Front.  But I can't see then doing anything earlier than Kursk, your average gamer doesn't know about anything before that.  Except maybe the name of a city on the Volga...   

How many average gamers are playing Combat Mission? How much is being done to attract average gamers? I think the answer to both questions is pretty close to zero...

[slysniper]

30 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

How many average gamers are playing Combat Mission? How much is being done to attract average gamers? I think the answer to both questions is pretty close to zero...

Nor should we think that this game would ever really be attractive to the average gamer. because it will not.

If nothing else can prove that, just look at war gaming throughout its history. It shows that it has a appeal to only a certain part of society.

 

I think the likeliest exception to that would be the close combat series. it would be interesting to see the numbers on it as to sells.

 

But for sure, BF is not having to cater to the general public. Most of its market does and would appreciate any period they sell to. But there still has to be a difference in sells or they would not care at all.

[slysniper]

Well, I did find this little statement : If nothing else, it shows that for sure its a different market.

 

I think how BF sells, they make more per unit sell for sure. As for numbers in sells, you can guess as well as I can.

 

Close Combat was commercially successful,^[1] with worldwide sales of roughly 200,000 units by 1999. Zabalaoui said that the game outsold Atomic Games' earlier efforts by around ten to one.^[2]

Like its predecessor, A Bridge Too Far achieved worldwide sales of roughly 200,000 units by 1999. Atomic Games' head Keith Zabalaoui said that the first two Close Combat titles each outsold the company's earlier games by around ten to one.^[2]

In the United States, Close Combat III sold 45,438 copies during 1999,^[3] and was the year's best-selling wargame.^[4]

The first five Close Combat games totaled 1.2 million units in sales by the mid-2000s.^[5][6][7] By 2018, the combined sales of the series' 17 entries had surpassed 5 million units.^[8]

[RockinHarry]

On 3/7/2019 at 11:26 PM, wadepm said:

We are really close for Kursk.  Just need some PzKpfw IIIs and maybe earlier IVs.  I think we have all of the T-34 models that are required.  A small vehicle pack would do it (?).  I don't know enough about the earlier infantry formations to say what would be needed.  

not that bad an idea actually. Add some small vehicle pack and otherwise let mission creators do their stuff for 43, even if the mission date reads 44. But who cares.

Edit: Formations can be adapted, or things added/removed in the editor, so shouldn´t be big problem either me thinks.

Edited March 15, 2019 by RockinHarry

[wadepm]

On 3/13/2019 at 9:11 PM, MikeyD said:

Its human nature to most want the thing that's just beyond our grasp. If BFC came out tomorrow with a '41 Barbarossa title it would be followed by poster demands for a '45 Berlin battles title. If they released a '43 Kursk title there would be demands for '42 Stalingrad. If they released an 80s Cold War title posters would want a 70s or 60s Cold War title instead (I'd personally love to play M47s vs T55s in the mid-1950s, myself). That's because the product you've got in your hand in a known quantity. The product not in your hands yet is made of dreams and fairy dust.

I disagree.  I think what we are seeing is that among all of the CM community there are different groups who are interested in different periods.  While one group gets "their" game the other groups continue to lobby for their period.  I am an early East Front guy, the earlier the better but '42-'43 is my sweet spot...

[Warts 'n' all]

Spot on, we are all different. I want Steve and the boys in the band to pour everything into early-WW2. But, the amount of people who are lapping up Black Sea and Shock Force 2 deserve their fun too. Although I am having words with the Witchfinder General about them as we speak.

[Blazing 88's]

3 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Spot on, we are all different. I want Steve and the boys in the band to pour everything into early-WW2. But, the amount of people who are lapping up Black Sea and Shock Force 2 deserve their fun too. Although I am having words with the Witchfinder General about them as we speak.

2

+1 for...

On another note, unrelated perhaps...  I have somewhere a clear lp of the metal band Witchfinder General... I'd probably be banned if I posted the album cover. lol.

[danfrodo]

witchfinder general.  Isn't that from Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett?  Just finished it.  Soon to be a series from amazon prime.

[danfrodo]

I can't imagine anyone interested in eastern front, like steve doesn't want to have the whole thing, 41-45.  But takes time.  As mentioned above, also have to do SF, Black Sea.  And the upcoming late WW2 packages for italy & east front. And a very small crew to do it all.

[Warts 'n' all]

22 hours ago, Blazing 88's said:

+1 for...

On another note, unrelated perhaps...  I have somewhere a clear lp of the metal band Witchfinder General... I'd probably be banned if I posted the album cover. lol.

I have it on good authority that The Witchfinder General was more of a psalms man himself. He takes a very dim view of people performing the Devil's Music in his name. Sadly, ill health prevents him from taking the matter to court.

In the meantime when i send my Ivans into battle on the Eastern Front it is to the sound of "Stalin wasn't stallin'", whilst the Fritz's get a blast of Charlie's version of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon"

[grungar]

as a consumer of bf products with a considerable investment. Battle Front better release a Barbarossa! or I sell all my stock  

[grungar]

On 3/13/2019 at 7:11 PM, MikeyD said:

Its human nature to most want the thing that's just beyond our grasp. If BFC came out tomorrow with a '41 Barbarossa title it would be followed by poster demands for a '45 Berlin battles title. If they released a '43 Kursk title there would be demands for '42 Stalingrad. If they released an 80s Cold War title posters would want a 70s or 60s Cold War title instead (I'd personally love to play M47s vs T55s in the mid-1950s, myself). That's because the product you've got in your hand in a known quantity. The product not in your hands yet is made of dreams and fairy dust.

maybe so but whats wrong with a Barbarossa to the Carpathians. that out of the way we can dream about more esoteric and unimportant fronts and time scales. not that there is anything wrong with those

 

[bweiß]

CMx2, x3, et., al.  Barbarossa! Now that's the ticket laddie. Only thing I can imagine would hold my interest as much as the Eastern Front would be the Pacific. Been dreaming of a CM2 level platform for New Guinea, Okinawa, or the Philippines. And or the void of anything approaching a CM2 level engine for Vietnam.

At my age, I'll settle for Barbarossa. Likely never make it long enough to see a CM2 Battle of la Drang.

California dreamin...