2022, the Year In Preview!

[SlowMotion]

Ukraine 2022 module would be really good.

[DerKommissar]

6 minutes ago, SlowMotion said:

Ukraine 2022 module would be really good.

Gonna be real, not too excited about the idea. I've got relatives and friends that lost everything because of this war. Lots of grief. Not sure I'd want to spend a lot of leisure time dwelling on it. I've been avoiding playing Black Sea, for the same reason. Although, I can sort of rationalize playing that one as an "alternate history".

I heard that BFC is postponing the Black Sea module until the fat lady sings. Hoping they shift focus to the Final Blitzkrieg. (Scheldt, anyone?) Looking forward to CM:CW stuff, too!

[Erwin]

22 minutes ago, DerKommissar said:

I've got relatives and friends that lost everything because of this war.

My sympathies.  I know folks in a similar situation - altho' they may not have lost "everything".  I don't see there being a military solution - more probably global political-business maneuvering that will result in something we won't like.  Best wishes...

[DerKommissar]

11 minutes ago, Erwin said:

I know folks in a similar situation - altho' they may not have lost "everything".

My sympathies, as well. Not Everything everything, no. Yeah, there are lots of people who have -- but their way of living has changed completely. And I thought the virus was bad...

[Massinissa]

Besides cm black sea , any news an combat mission battle for normandy with the new battle pack coming to steam ? 

[Ghost of Charlemagne]

No news. 
The timeframe in the OP is completely off. 

[waffelmann]

I think that was more of a guide than a strict plan....

[Massinissa]

God damn porting a game to steam is it so difficult at least telle us what are the stats of combat mission battle for Normandy to start come on guys we can t wait 5 or 4 months for the first game at least respect the time frame you mentioned in this topic , give us news at least ,I hope it not combat mission cold war all again which was planned to be released back in April 2021 and was released on November of the same year 

[Glubokii Boy]

7 hours ago, Massinissa said:

I hope it not combat mission cold war all again which was planned to be released back in April 2021 and was released on November of the same year 

A 6-8 months delay is nothing strange around here...better get used to it 

[BFCElvis]

7 hours ago, Massinissa said:

God damn porting a game to steam is it so difficult at least telle us what are the stats of combat mission battle for Normandy to start come on guys we can t wait 5 or 4 months for the first game at least respect the time frame you mentioned in this topic , give us news at least ,I hope it not combat mission cold war all again which was planned to be released back in April 2021 and was released on November of the same year 

Ugh. I had written an long winded reply and then accidently deleted it. Lemma see if I can recreate it.

The war in Ukraine has altered some of our plans. There will be a Black Sea module but it will not be released until the time is right. Anytime soon would feel ghoulish and we don't feel comfortable about seeming to try and cash in on the tragedy. How long will it be until we feel differently? It depends. 6 months? A year? 2 years? Hard to tell right now.

The definite next release on Steam will be CMBN. We are not going to delay it for Battle Pack 2 to be finished but we are holding it back until the tournament feature is in. I think Slytherine has it penciled in for June but my hope is that it is May or late April.

When the tournament feature is finished it will be added to CMSF2, Cold War and Black Sea on both he Steam and Battlefront version. The first tournament will not be Cold War or Black Sea. 

After that on Steam will be Red Thunder. Probably 3rd quarter. The release change from Fortress Italy to Red Thunder is because the CMRT Pack is close to being finished already. 

That will put Fortress Italy as the 4th quarter release. It's Pack should be done by then.

We hope to for a CMFB with new module in the 1st quarter of next year.

Looking back at Steve's post, not much has changed other than the Black Sea module and the tournament feature not being finished yet. That about sums it up.

[BFCElvis]

7 hours ago, Massinissa said:

God damn porting a game to steam is it so difficult ..........

I meant to add. That scheduling isn't because of porting to Steam. It's the marketing department at Slitherine. In theory, all currently existing games could be released at the same time on Steam. But we're going to space them out.

[Simcoe]

41 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

Ugh. I had written an long winded reply and then accidently deleted it. Lemma see if I can recreate it.

The war in Ukraine has altered some of our plans. There will be a Black Sea module but it will not be released until the time is right. Anytime soon would feel ghoulish and we don't feel comfortable about seeming to try and cash in on the tragedy. How long will it be until we feel differently? It depends. 6 months? A year? 2 years? Hard to tell right now.

The definite next release on Steam will be CMBN. We are not going to delay it for Battle Pack 2 to be finished but we are holding it back until the tournament feature is in. I think Slytherine has it penciled in for June but my hope is that it is May or late April.

When the tournament feature is finished it will be added to CMSF2, Cold War and Black Sea on both he Steam and Battlefront version. The first tournament will not be Cold War or Black Sea. 

After that on Steam will be Red Thunder. Probably 3rd quarter. The release change from Fortress Italy to Red Thunder is because the CMRT Pack is close to being finished already. 

That will put Fortress Italy as the 4th quarter release. It's Pack should be done by then.

We hope to for a CMFB with new module in the 1st quarter of next year.

Looking back at Steve's post, not much has changed other than the Black Sea module and the tournament feature not being finished yet. That about sums it up.

I respect your decision and I’m glad you choose ethics over a quick buck but man I was so excited for the new Black Sea module. Will there be more work put into it in the meantime?

[Massinissa]

1 hour ago, BFCElvis said:

I meant to add. That scheduling isn't because of porting to Steam. It's the marketing department at Slitherine. In theory, all currently existing games could be released at the same time on Steam. But we're going to space them out.

Thanks for your reponse i really feel sorry for what hapenning in ukraine we have to get used to it because it is a reality some things happened in Iraq in Syria in Libya and so an , so combat mission battle for Normandy is going to be the first released in Q2 then red thunder in Q3 fortresse Italy Q4 and final blitzkrieg Q1 of the next year ,I'm y correct ? 

[BFCElvis]

19 hours ago, Simcoe said:

I respect your decision and I’m glad you choose ethics over a quick buck but man I was so excited for the new Black Sea module. Will there be more work put into it in the meantime?

Nothing more than originally planned. It isn't finished but work continues.

  

18 hours ago, Massinissa said:

Thanks for your reponse i really feel sorry for what hapenning in ukraine we have to get used to it because it is a reality some things happened in Iraq in Syria in Libya and so an , so combat mission battle for Normandy is going to be the first released in Q2 then red thunder in Q3 fortresse Italy Q4 and final blitzkrieg Q1 of the next year ,I'm y correct ? 

Correct.

[HerrTom]

I know there's not likely to be an answer but is there any plan for a patch to CW and BS that would include a fix for things like the literally years old problem of the 9M114 not guiding from Mi-24s in either title?

[BFCElvis]

5 hours ago, HerrTom said:

I know there's not likely to be an answer but is there any plan for a patch to CW and BS that would include a fix for things like the literally years old problem of the 9M114 not guiding from Mi-24s in either title?

It's been reported but not marked as resolved yet. If it is by the time the tournament feature is done it will be in the patches containing the tournament stuff.

[HerrTom]

6 hours ago, BFCElvis said:

It's been reported but not marked as resolved yet. If it is by the time the tournament feature is done it will be in the patches containing the tournament stuff.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to it! Didn't mean to come across as aggressive by the way. You guys rock!

[Geoff-Ludumpress]

On 4/6/2022 at 3:35 AM, BFCElvis said:

The war in Ukraine has altered some of our plans. There will be a Black Sea module but it will not be released until the time is right. Anytime soon would feel ghoulish and we don't feel comfortable about seeming to try and cash in on the tragedy. How long will it be until we feel differently? It depends. 6 months? A year? 2 years? Hard to tell right now.

Thanks for the update m8. The CMBS delay is the right thing to do. CMBN on steam next sounds ace, may all the team stay safe and keep the good work chugging along.

[Battlefront.com]

Just a quick update on the timing and order of things.  Yes, the war has caused some changes, but not as much as people might think.  Here's our new concept for the order and rough timing of Steam/Matrix releases for the next year:

CMBN = June 2022
New Battle Pack (might ship a bit later)

CMRT = Q3 2022
New Battle Pack

CMFI = Q4 2022
New Battle Pack

CMFB = Q1 2023
New Module

The new Module for CMBS is on indefinite hold as is the planned Module for Cold War.  We need to play this one by ear for reasons that have already been stated.  CMBS Module can be released fairly soon after we determine it's the right time.  The Cold War Module is still be worked on, though it was always going to be late 2022 at the earliest so it's not likely going to experience a delay.

All releases will be on Steam with the PBEM++ and Tournament systems.  Patches to update CMSF2, CMBS, and Cold War will come out as soon as the Tournament system is ready to go public.

We are not sure when the Engine 5 Upgrade will be released.  It will be for all games at the same time and a free Upgrade.

Steve

[SlowMotion]

On 3/22/2022 at 2:31 AM, DerKommissar said:

Gonna be real, not too excited about the idea. I've got relatives and friends that lost everything because of this war. Lots of grief. Not sure I'd want to spend a lot of leisure time dwelling on it. I've been avoiding playing Black Sea, for the same reason. Although, I can sort of rationalize playing that one as an "alternate history".

Well WW2 games are much the same but in MUCH larger scale.  Many people know or have known people who fought there, whose cities have been bombed or otherwise damaged during the war etc. So I don't see why this would be different from other CM games based on real events.

[ViperAssassin26]

I can't wait to see what Engine 5 will look like!

[HUSKER2142]

7 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

We are not sure when the Engine 5 Upgrade will be released.  It will be for all games at the same time and a free Upgrade.

When will the first news about Engine 5 come out, what will we expect and what new features will there be ? 

[ratdeath]

Why put Cold War module on hold?! Guess I know, because of the war in Ukraine, fictional conflict 40 years ago is still to close for comfort with current events.

I looked forward to the module a lot though, but that's nothing to complain about, compared to the real suffering going on in Ukraine.

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by ratdeath

[BFCElvis]

6 hours ago, ratdeath said:

Why put Cold War module on hold?! Guess I know, because of the war in Ukraine, fictional conflict 40 years ago is still to close for comfort with current events.

I looked forward to the module a lot though, but that's nothing to complain about, compared to the real suffering going on in Ukraine.

 

As Steve mentioned, the delay in releasing the module for CMBS is unlikely to affect when any Cold War module would be released anyway. What's going on in Ukraine would have to take serious turn for the worse for it to drag out beyond what our timeline would be for Cold War module. As he mentioned, if the war never happened, the earliest we'd possibly see one would be the 4th quarter of this year and that would have had to have been a moonshot.

A good way to consider these things is to think about whose time is most taken away for what duties. An example of that would be using Battle Packs as a point of comparison. Battle Packs take little time away from coders, TO&E and artists (2D and 3D) because, by definition, they are created using existing units. A Battle Pack does take a lot of time but that time is, comparatively, significantly less for those 3 groups of producers. Modules however take up a lot of time by all 3 of those groups. The CMFB module will be coming next. Which means completion of the CMFB module, then (hopefully) the 5.0 Upgrade and (probably) the CMBS module would happen before a Cold War module would become the focus of those 3 groups.

[Warts 'n' all]

9 hours ago, ratdeath said:

Why put Cold War module on hold?! Guess I know, because of the war in Ukraine, fictional conflict 40 years ago is still to close for comfort with current events.

No, it has been put on hold until you learn the difference between "too" and "to".