2022 Mid Year Update

[Combatintman]

1 hour ago, Centurian52 said:

Returning to Cold War Module speculation, it probably won't take very many modules to get in all of NATO. There are really only four NATO countries that I can think of that have their own unique equipment. The US, UK, West Germany, and France. The tank fleets of a lot of other countries are made up of a mix of Leopard 1s as their latest and greatest tanks, and Centurians as their previous gen tanks which are in the process of being replaced (Belgium has some French AMX-13s). So, for the most part, once West Germany and the UK are in the rest of NATO can probably be done all at once, since most of their equipment will already be in the game (except for France and, by extension, Belgium). I believe Spain and Turkey both have M-47s, which aren't in any game yet. But Spain doesn join NATO until 1982, so probably doesn't make the timeframe cut. It would be interesting to see fighting in the Balkans (Greece and Turkey vs Bulgaria and Romania) and the Caucuses (Turkey vs the Soviets in the mountains), but central Europe is the priority for me.

Obviously all the equipment for the Warsaw Pact is already in, so they might potentially be done all at once. So a potential roadmap could be West Germany, then the UK, then France, then all of NATO (insert Warsaw Pact at any point). Or the UK, then West Germany and all of the NATO countries that have a mix of German and British equipment, then France and Belgium (insert Warsaw Pact at any point). Or the UK and West Germany, then all of the NATO countries that have a mix of German and British equipment, then France and Belgium (insert Warsaw Pact at any point). Or West and East Germany, then the UK and France, then the rest of the Warsaw Pact and the rest of NATO together. The possible permutations are endless and I keep thinking of more plausible ones, so there is plenty of room for BFC to surprise us.

edit: Just reviewed my information. The Netherlands also has AMX-13s. Greece has some AMX-30s. And Italy, Greece, and Turkey all have M-47s. So French equipment is needed to fully represent Belgium, the Netherlands, and Greece. That's enough countries that a French module will probably be needed ahead of a general "all remaining NATO countries" module.

Which army-sized research team is going to do the TO&E research for that lot for every single year spanning the game time span?  One of the dramas with the CMFI expansions was the additional TO&Es for a two-year time frame for a theatre and forces that is a lot better documented than the Cold War period.

[Centurian52]

33 minutes ago, Combatintman said:

Which army-sized research team is going to do the TO&E research for that lot for every single year spanning the game time span?  One of the dramas with the CMFI expansions was the additional TO&Es for a two-year time frame for a theatre and forces that is a lot better documented than the Cold War period.

They managed it for the US and the Soviets, so it's clearly not impossible. I assume it will take the better part of a decade to get all of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in. And even then the Balkans, Scandinavian, and Caucuses fronts may have to be neglected (although interest in seeing the US Marines in this time period may see some prioritization of the Scandinavian front). I don't necessarily expect them to get every branch of every army on every front, but I assume they will eventaully get all of the most important forces for the main central European front.

[Duckman]

19 hours ago, Combatintman said:

Which army-sized research team is going to do the TO&E research for that lot for every single year spanning the game time span?  One of the dramas with the CMFI expansions was the additional TO&Es for a two-year time frame for a theatre and forces that is a lot better documented than the Cold War period.

I think this is where you use all the community volunteers who can't program, paint, or do anything else useful but who have some skillz in the useless facts area. I count myself among those.

[Ghost of Charlemagne]

How about bugs in CM: Shock Force 2, like the T-72AV missing the smoke launchers. 

Will these be fixed as well?

[massinissa97]

Any news on the upcoming combat mission on steam guys ? 

[Sorcerer117]

See post #1.

all are delayed to next year

[Artkin]

48 minutes ago, Sorcerer117 said:

See post #1.

all are delayed to next year

Read closer, the dates listed were for this year and Steve went through each one shedding light on each.

[Vacillator]

18 minutes ago, Artkin said:

Read closer, the dates listed were for this year

Yes I started writing a similar reply, but you beat me to it.

[massinissa97]

so battle for normandy and red thunder are still planned for this year ? 

[Artkin]

On 9/12/2022 at 6:21 AM, Ultradave said:

and folds in the ground.

This is exactly what prompted me to write about how good Der Ring Der Panzer was. If you really paid attention, and got down low for every section of troops (Which is hard to do sometimes at the battalion level unless you're in a pbem.. funny how that works) then you would see that many fields have walking paths which, when combined with the tall grass provides your men opportunities to bound to safety right in the friggen open!

It helped solve some initial puzzles involving the panzer recon platoons

[Vacillator]

1 hour ago, Artkin said:

you would see that many fields have walking paths which

And having just done my setup turn in 'Battle for Chaumont Second Round' against Dave, that is a very good point. 

I tried, but the map is a tough one for LOS issues.

Which is another way of saying, it's great.  Edit: Or that I'm not.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Vacillator

[Artkin]

14 minutes ago, Vacillator said:

And having just done my setup turn in 'Battle for Chaumont Second Round' against Dave, that is a very good point. 

I tried, but the map is a tough one for LOS issues.

Which is another way of saying, it's great.

Is chaumont a georgemc map? I recall having that from CMFB

[Vacillator]

I'm not sure how to tell? 

It could be, if my memory of every @George MC battle I've ever played is correct.  The 3D nature of the map and its impact on the battle is always outstanding.   Anyway I've tagged in the lovely legend that is George to confirm or deny. 

[Artkin]

On 9/21/2022 at 7:58 AM, Duckman said:

but who have some skillz in the useless facts area.

[Ultradave]

19 hours ago, Vacillator said:

And having just done my setup turn in 'Battle for Chaumont Second Round' against Dave, that is a very good point. 

I tried, but the map is a tough one for LOS issues.

Which is another way of saying, it's great.  Edit: Or that I'm not.

I did a lot of that checking too, to (hopefully) avoid losing a bunch of Stugs to M4s on the first turn or two 

[Artkin]

20 hours ago, Vacillator said:

I'm not sure how to tell? 

It could be, if my memory of every @George MC battle I've ever played is correct.  The 3D nature of the map and its impact on the battle is always outstanding.   Anyway I've tagged in the lovely legend that is George to confirm or deny. 

Yes I see now, the map has a ton of rolling hills. You wouldn't notice it unless you loaded the map up in the 3d editor and checked it out. Nice little hidden gem. Then again FB is my least played title.

[Vacillator]

1 hour ago, Artkin said:

You wouldn't notice it unless you loaded the map up in the 3d editor

Yes, and it focuses the mind if you start placing your units in the knowledge that someone more skillful is going to punish any stupid mistakes.  Even if their speciality is of the airborne nature .

And I'm thinking spending ages doing this is not so realistic, but the set-up phase is such a great part of most battles and adds the surprise factor.

This time however, some extra time has been taken in the unrealistic or otherwise 'acquire shuffle' which for some reason I had previously missed the possibility of, as I didn't even imagine it would be possible.  Doh!  Thanks to whoever hinted at it in another thread the other day, one of you kind gentlemen.

[Artkin]

6 minutes ago, Vacillator said:

Yes, and it focuses the mind if you start placing your units in the knowledge that someone more skillful is going to punish any stupid mistakes.  Even if their speciality is of the airborne nature .

And I'm thinking spending ages doing this is not so realistic, but the set-up phase is such a great part of most battles and adds the surprise factor.

This time however, some extra time has been taken in the unrealistic or otherwise 'acquire shuffle' which for some reason I had previously missed the possibility of, as I didn't even imagine it would be possible.  Doh!  Thanks to whoever hinted at it in another thread the other day, one of you kind gentlemen.

I would imagine the officer corps would be studying the land whether it be on paper or in person. I wouldnt be surprised if the side that had the best staff work usually did better in battle. I know thats what made Paulus from a battalion(?) commander straight to an army level commander back in 1942. 

Maybe it was me? I mentioned Ukrainian javelins. The acquire feature is a pretty useful one. I wish it was more fleshed out, i.e. ammo on 2nd or 3rd stories.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Artkin

[Ultradave]

3 hours ago, Vacillator said:

Even if their speciality is of the airborne nature .

Well, yeah, but I was field artillery, not a maneuver type. But in artillery school we had to learn all the mech stuff, then when I arrived at the 82d had to learn the Airborne way. There used to be a joke (probably still is) that it was the 82d Airborne Army, because we tended to have so many of our own procedures, tactics, organizations.  

When you get right down to it though, Airborne units are light infantry. We just arrive in style.  (and probably better trained and higher readiness than average).

Dave

Edited October 1, 2022 by Ultradave

[Sorcerer117]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:26 PM, Artkin said:

Read closer, the dates listed were for this year and Steve went through each one shedding light on each.

yeah but none of the dates schedules are completed, we are at octoper and still not even Normady out.

[Vacillator]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:55 PM, Battlefront.com said:

Red Thunder for Matrix/Steam (September/October) - as you might expect by now, Matrix/Steam with PBEM/Tournament features.  A simultaneous release of a new Battle Pack is also planned.  The Pack focuses on Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp's attempts to keep the Soviets from moving westward in July 1944.

Well, what do you know… we got this one out on time

True but a clue is in the one above.  It is ready now thanks to great work from George.  Of course it is not strictly 'out on time' just yet .

Edited October 4, 2022 by Vacillator
Back to typing school for me.

[Artkin]

1 hour ago, Sorcerer117 said:

yeah but none of the dates schedules are completed, we are at octoper and still not even Normady out.

Welcome to the community buddy.

Unfortunately sometimes you do need to wait, this wasn't as much of an issue when I first joined, but after Battlefront nailed quite a few government contracts a couple years ago then it seemed like the work on the public games slowed down.

[Aussiegrit]

9 hours ago, Artkin said:

Welcome to the community buddy.

Unfortunately sometimes you do need to wait, this wasn't as much of an issue when I first joined, but after Battlefront nailed quite a few government contracts a couple years ago then it seemed like the work on the public games slowed down.

That was my impression also. I as much as anyone am looking very much forward to the transition across to Steam of the CM WW2 titles along with all this new upcoming content such as the Final Blitzkrieg module. Why don't we all channel some Guns and Roses with their track Patience, "Need a little patience, yeah
Just a little patience, yeah. Some more patience, yeah (I've been walking the streets at night). Just trying to get it right (A little patience, yeah)".   

[massinissa97]

12 hours ago, Aussiegrit said:

That was my impression also. I as much as anyone am looking very much forward to the transition across to Steam of the CM WW2 titles along with all this new upcoming content such as the Final Blitzkrieg module. Why don't we all channel some Guns and Roses with their track Patience, "Need a little patience, yeah
Just a little patience, yeah. Some more patience, yeah (I've been walking the streets at night). Just trying to get it right (A little patience, yeah)".   

lol we are waiting from march until now still no battle for normandy nor red thunder even if this one is complete and until now we are waiting for something hhh

[Vkhani12345]

23 hours ago, massinissa97 said:

lol we are waiting from march until now still no battle for normandy nor red thunder even if this one is complete and until now we are waiting for something hhh

At this rate it'll probably be September 2023