BFCElvis Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 That's right folks. In case you didn't know it already there is an official Combat Mission Discord channel. Here's where you can get in on the action:Combat Mission on Discord 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
com-intern Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 What is discord? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geist Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 It is a chat like instant messenger but you can also stream video 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelican Pal Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 1 minute ago, com-intern said: What is discord? Yea its similar to Microsoft Teams for those of use of working age. You can chat in various channels, share your screen, join voice channels. Its a pretty nice service. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelican Pal Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) For CM its particularly nice since you can discuss a tactical problem with someone in real time and even see someone work it out in front of you. So I'd say it has a lot of utility that a forum does but with a faster response time and a better focus on micro issues. E.G. You can ask how someone would handle a scenario while you actively play it. Whereas forums tend to be more asynchronous As a more real example I was talking to someone who was having trouble with the controls and rather than painstakingly describing the series of buttons he needed to press I was able to launch the game and stream the action to him. He was able to immediately see exactly what he needed to do and see the results in action. Edited January 28, 2022 by Pelican Pal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
com-intern Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 I see… I’ve been pulled into Slack over the pandemic. It is nice to have that water cooler talk and now it looks like we can have a combat mission water cooler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelican Pal Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 There will also be some official tournaments run on the discord by, presumably, Slithirine. Not sure how they are going to be run but that might be of interest to folks. But for that to really take off we'll need to see the PBEM++ system improved quite a bit. I've tried it once and while it worked alright it wasn't so much better than just manually transferring files that it was worth the risk of losing the game to a random bug with the system. Problems like that being worked out are going to be critical to getting a PBEM++ tournament running well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
com-intern Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Do you know what game? I’m not much of a cold warrior but I’m sure battlefront will want to show off their newest and greatest. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelican Pal Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Steve mentions that February will have an Update for Cold War with the tournament system and later in the 1st quarter SF2 and BS will get the system. Because the tourney is in Feb Cold War would be the only option. CW is also the obvious game since its (arguably) the most balanced of the 3 currently on Steam. For my money I'd argue that Black Sea can get fairly close but ymmv on that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 1 hour ago, Pelican Pal said: There will also be some official tournaments run on the discord by, presumably, Slithirine. Not sure how they are going to be run but that might be of interest to folks. But for that to really take off we'll need to see the PBEM++ system improved quite a bit. I've tried it once and while it worked alright it wasn't so much better than just manually transferring files that it was worth the risk of losing the game to a random bug with the system. Problems like that being worked out are going to be critical to getting a PBEM++ tournament running well. Before Matrix can fix anything they need to collect data. I haven't seen a Matrix person picking up responsibility for the code and/or engage with the community about PBEM++ on any comms channel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelican Pal Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 True. I've said this before but I'm primarily basing my optimism off of the PBEM++ system for other games which don't seem to have CM's problems. So i'm hoping its just an extensive teething process for the CM games and that we'll get a good system in a years time or so. All that being said there is some short term stuff that would be nice like announcements when the server goes down (which could be automated). As it is I'm not playing PBEM with the PBEM++ system but I hope to in the future. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 20 hours ago, Pelican Pal said: True. I've said this before but I'm primarily basing my optimism off of the PBEM++ system for other games which don't seem to have CM's problems. So i'm hoping its just an extensive teething process for the CM games and that we'll get a good system in a years time or so. All that being said there is some short term stuff that would be nice like announcements when the server goes down (which could be automated). As it is I'm not playing PBEM with the PBEM++ system but I hope to in the future. What have I been missing, lads? What problems are people having with PBEM++ on Cold War? Now is the time to speak about specifics because we aren't actively working to fix anything with it, other than add the Tournament feature (along with other unrelated bug fixes). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 5 minutes ago, BFCElvis said: What have I been missing, lads? What problems are people having with PBEM++ on Cold War? Now is the time to speak about specifics because we aren't actively working to fix anything with it, other than add the Tournament feature (along with other unrelated bug fixes). 1) only one side can see the end screen. The game is terminated one file too early. 2) frequent hangs or other conditions from which a game cannot be resumed, the game is lost. This could be fixed by leaving the PBEM files on the user's disk (they are already there, just don't delete them when done with a turn). 3) there was a phase where people using 1.03 were rejected from playing, PBEM++ saying they need 1.03. This was obviously a code update gone wrong server-side, then silently fixed. It should be communicated when the server side code gets updated, and it should be communicated when a problem is fixed. 4) cases of server down or otherwise not answering for users. There obviously is no monitoring of server status done by Matrix. 5) at least one case of a game disappearing before being finished. Also, the timeline when idle games are deleted is not communicated. Not a bug, but it is annoying that the Matrix password is neither remembered nor does it support copy and paste. This forces the users into trivial passwords, which then in turn apply to their entire Matrixgames account, including game serials. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 21 hours ago, com-intern said: Do you know what game? I’m not much of a cold warrior but I’m sure battlefront will want to show off their newest and greatest. The tournament will definitely be with Cold War. That is the only title that has PBEM++ right now. I expect that when Battle for Normandy goes on Steam (scheduled for March) it will be the next tournament. There is no reason to expect that Normandy won't be going up on time. The heavy lifting is getting the PBEM++ and tournament systems to work with Combat Mission. That job is almost finished. After that it is a matter of bolting it onto CMBN. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 3 minutes ago, Redwolf said: 1) only one side can see the end screen. The game is terminated one file too early. That's the first that I heard of that. Thanks. I'll have it looked into. Quote 2) frequent hangs or other conditions from which a game cannot be resumed, the game is lost. This could be fixed by leaving the PBEM files on the user's disk (they are already there, just don't delete them when done with a turn). That sounds like a Matrix server issue. I'll ask them aboot that. Quote 3) there was a phase where people using 1.03 were rejected from playing, PBEM++ saying they need 1.03. This was obviously a code update gone wrong server-side, then silently fixed. It should be communicated when the server side code gets updated, and it should be communicated when a problem is fixed. That was an isolated instance where someone at Matrix hit a wrong button....it's been addressed. That shouldn't have just affected PBEM++. That should have affected anyone playing the Steam version. It had to do the version check. Quote 4) cases of server down or otherwise not answering for users. There obviously is no monitoring of server status done by Matrix. HHHmmmm......That'll be part of my conversation for #2. Quote 5) at least one case of a game disappearing before being finished. Also, the timeline when idle games are deleted is not communicated. Not a bug, but it is annoying that the Matrix password is neither remembered nor does it support copy and paste. This forces the users into trivial passwords, which then in turn apply to their entire Matrixgames account, including game serials. If a Challenge untouched for 30 days the system deletes it. Next time we update the manual we'll include that but I have turns that have been idle for much much longer than 30 days in my In Progress list. Another question for them I suppose. Also, after my last post I did find a thread that mentions PBEM++ issues. Thank you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Thanks @BFCElvis. Overall, the communication (or lack thereof) is most annoying. Reports popped up in the official discord (which Matrix runs) and the Matrix forums. But so far there is no Matrix person who has ever participated in discussions. The bug list I have above should have been communicated to Matrix directly, but there is no communications endpoint for users. Thanks for stepping up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Oh forgot an important one: 6) for challenges listed, while there is a decent amount of info available about the proposed battle: - it doesn't say which side you will play if you pick it up - it doesn't mention which forces have been selected (SS, airborne etc.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 3 hours ago, Redwolf said: 1) only one side can see the end screen. The game is terminated one file too early. I just played a whole PBEM++ battle against myself. Both sides got to see all the turns and both sides got to see the end game AAR screen. Everything that you mentioned should be looked at but this would have been the one that kept me up at night because you can't score a tournament without the game ending as it should. If it was doing it then it isn't doing it anymore. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umlaut Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 On 1/28/2022 at 10:46 PM, com-intern said: What is discord? That´s what I used to ask my guitar tutor all the time 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Kulin Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 What is PBEM ++ and is there a link that describes what it is and how it works? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 4 hours ago, Andrew Kulin said: What is PBEM ++ and is there a link that describes what it is and how it works? It is on page 30 of this manual CM Engine 4 Manual.pdf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Kulin Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkchapuis Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 That discord link doesn’t work for me. Is there another one? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Canadian Cat Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 Here is a new link. I created it with no expiry and no sign up limits: https://discord.gg/n5wSQu3YQc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckdyke Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 Screenshots posted on discord can be copied and placed here. By URL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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