Battlefront.com Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Hi everybody! It’s that time of year again where I do my best to lay out what the next year means for Combat Mission. Well, half a description in this case as I need to make this a two part update. There are a couple of things that need a wee bit more time to get ready for you. You’ll see the second half of the update sometime this month. Before talking about what’s coming up next, I’m going to continue with my tradition of summing up the previous year's outlook with where we wound up. Last year there were 5 areas listed out in detail, so here's how each went: 1. Steam/Matrix Releases This all went nearly exactly as planned. At the end of this month all existing CM2 products will be available through Matrix (Slitherine) and Steam. All releases have Slitherine’s PBEM++ player matching system as well as support for Tournaments. 2. New Content for CM2 Games When it comes to the new content announced last year, we hit a bunch of snags. Many of you might know that we outsource most of the Packs to the very same folks who have made lots of awesome stuff for you in the past. You get the best of the best and the authors get some well deserved spending money for beer or haggis. In the end everything works out great, but these guys work on top of their normal jobs and whatever else is going on in their lives. This means that if something important and unforeseen comes up, there can be delays. Not only that, the way real life works means people don’t really know when things will get firmly back on track. We had a couple of those delays last year. Fortunately, everything is back on track and humming along nicely. See below for more details. ADDITIONAL NOTE - the planned expansion for CMBS has been permanently shelved due to the ongoing war. This decision was our own, however Slitherine was 100% in agreement with us. It is nice to work with people who don't value money over all else. 3. Upgrade 5 Engine Upgrade 5 is the free upgrade designed to bring some of the slowest legacy code up to current technical standards. This has been a bit of a technical and scheduling struggle to deal with. The code we most need to change is, unfortunately, some of the hardest to deal with. There’s been some false starts which have cost us time. Also costing us time is this has to be done on top of everything else that needs to get done. I really don’t know when we’ll have something ready for you. Releasing patches for all CM2 games at one time really sucks (think of all the testing that has to happen!), therefore we try to do it only when we have something huge to role out. However, because Upgrade 5 is taking longer than expected I’m going to try hard to get you something significant as soon as it’s ready instead of waiting until everything is done. Know that I’m aiming for this even though it might turn out not to be feasible. 4. CM2 Professional Update CM2 Pro development work was, as promised, paused last year so we could concentrate on commercial stuff for you all. Other than me writing a few white papers for one customer and making sure everybody is happy with what they have, we’re still very much focused on the commercial side of things. That will not change for the very near future and, thankfully, our professional customers are OK with that. 5. Patches! All the patches we had in mind at the beginning of 2023 were released, including adding the ability to use the PBEM++ and Tournament features for existing CM2 games (CMFB coming up in a couple of weeks!). Of course there were a bunch of unplanned for patches and for sure there are known bugs that still need to be addressed. That's the downside of having so much detailed content to maintain... seems there's always something to fix! Now for the fun stuff... where things are going from here! CMBN - Utah Beach Battle Pack We are getting to the end of the process for the next addition to CMBN - Utah Beach Battle Pack. This is a pretty big one for a Battle Pack. It contains two large campaigns played from the perspective of the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions, plus a short campaign featuring the 101st Airborne and 17th SS PzGren divisions. There are a number of stand alone battles as well as the infamous Master Maps to play with. Here are some screenshots to ooh and ah over (I know I did!) CMFI - Battle Pack 1 This is coming along nicely and we will make some more noise about it soon. I wasn't able to confirm some of the details with the guy heading this project in time for this post so it's probably best to make a more detailed announcement a bit later. What I can say is the focus is on giving the various oddball forces in CMFI some time to shine. CMCW - BAOR Module We're well underway with this one. Now that our artists are freed up from Downfall and other work you can expect some juicy Cold War bones very soon. With that will come a more detailed laying out of what you can count on in the final product. I'll also make sure the guys behind it are the ones to answer your questions as "that's not my department" And finally... CMFB - Downfall is Released! If you didn't pick up on it in the above, as of right now we have just opened preorders for the much anticipated Module for CMFB - "Downfall". This is a massive Module that brings CMFB right through to the end of the war, including adding Commonwealth forces and the plethora of the Third Reich's last gasp formations and equipment. Some of which you've seen fighting on the Eastern Front, some unique to Downfall. I'm not going to post any images or details of Downfall because all of that is available by heading over to the CMFB section of our website. https://www.battlefront.com/final-blitzkrieg/cmfb-downfall-module/ The EXACT release date is up to Slitherine, but we're on track for an end of month release. And yes, you cheeky little buggers, I do mean this month And with that, I shall end Part 1 here. Thanks for staying tuned and looking forward to 2024 with us! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertFox Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 4 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said: CMCW - BAOR Module We're well underway with this one. Now that our artists are freed up from Downfall and other work you can expect some juicy Cold War bones very soon. With that will come a more detailed laying out of what you can count on in the final product. I'll also make sure the guys behind it are the ones to answer your questions as "that's not my department" And finally... CMFB - Downfall is Released! If you didn't pick up on it in the above, as of right now we have just opened preorders for the much anticipated Module for CMFB - "Downfall". This is a massive Module that brings CMFB right through to the end of the war, including adding Commonwealth forces and the plethora of the Third Reich's last gasp formations and equipment. Some of which you've seen fighting on the Eastern Front, some unique to Downfall. I'm not going to post any images or details of Downfall because all of that is available by heading over to the CMFB section of our website. https://www.battlefront.com/final-blitzkrieg/cmfb-downfall-module/ The EXACT release date is up to Slitherine, but we're on track for an end of month release. And yes, you cheeky little buggers, I do mean this month Excellent news! I am a happy camper now! Thanks for the update! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM Stuff Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Just, woaw !! beautiful time is coming !! thank you for this detailled update ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) Great news, Steve, thank you. P.s. the screenshots of gallery 2 for the CMFB module don't seem to turn up. Edited January 5 by Aragorn2002 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danfrodo Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) my dog sometimes pees on the floor when excited. I just did the same. Embarrassing but an authentic emotional moment at least UTAH BEACH BATTLES!!!!! F YES! And new FB & CW & FI! Heading over to pre-order land right now aaaaand..... ordered Edited January 5 by danfrodo 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 38 minutes ago, Aragorn2002 said: P.s. the screenshots of gallery 2 for the CMFB module don't seem to turn up. Fixed. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckdyke Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Will keep me happy for Xmas 2024, in my new abode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanonQM Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 For Downfall, will the battalions' stock of reserve 2 inch mortar ammunition be present in their lorries for British formations (or their half-tracks/Kangaroos for Motor Battalions)? Also for that matter will there be Motor Battalion orgs mounted in Kangaroos instead of half-tracks to represent 8th Armoured Brigade's 12th KRRC 1945 organisation? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdeath Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Thank you for the update. Downfall preordered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Last year was a good example of no plan survives contact with the enemy (Real Life™ in this case). I'd be willing to bet that the 25th year of CM will be pretty damn good. A pre-order is an excellent start. I know I'm thankful that they're going to keep doing what they do for the foreseeable future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 2 hours ago, BFCElvis said: Fixed. Thank you. Just FYI, Volkssturm is spelled Volksstrum on the TO&E page. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arprince31 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Great news! Good luck for 2024, don't let the haggis slow you down (this was a little known land based equivalent of the hedgehog (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_(weapon))) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus544 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 I checked my version of CMFB and it indicates engine 4 2.03. Then I read that, if I understand it correctly, the I need to have version 2.10. Or is that the new version. I must say I am somewhat confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarre Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 can we expect any improves to editor ? example more AI plans or more AI groups , be side whit engine 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jaros Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) Thank you Battlefront and yes i am buying blitzkrieg and its module tonight finally and buy it directly from battlefront to support you guys not from steam ! Edited January 5 by Jarosak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OBJ Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 What a wonderful way to start the New Year. Thanks Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jaros Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) Still hoping for patches for shock force2 and black sea . Just fix few well know bugs please . Good luck Battlefront God bless you Edited January 5 by Jarosak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gkenny Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 I couldn't see any images of British vehicles with infantry riding on them externally, will that be possible in the module (like you can with US and German tanks)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thewood1 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) This is good news. Noted that the M-26 is in. Are there plans to bring all of the CMBN vehicle pack units into CMFB? I'm mainly thinking of the Sherman Crab. It was very useful in mine-infested scenarios. Nevermind...saw that the crab is in CMFB already. Edited January 5 by Thewood1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slippy Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Great news, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurent 22 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 "all existing CM2 products will be available through Matrix (Slitherine) and Steam." CM Afghanistan too ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurian52 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) Pershings!!! Edit: I'm excited about everything else as well. I'm really looking forward to the BAOR module, and to fighting through Utah beach and Carentan. But we were just talking in the 2023 thread (a couple months ago) about whether or not Pershings would be included in the CMFB module. So I'm excited to see that they have been. Edited January 5 by Centurian52 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Wonderful news! Thank you Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornGinger Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 3 hours ago, snarre said: can we expect any improves to editor ? example more AI plans or more AI groups , be side whit engine 5. Steve has earlier said that the new engine update is only to solve performance issues while playing. Although there is a thread about engine 5 upate wishes, there's not much hope to see any of it. Edited January 5 by BornGinger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurian52 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 8 hours ago, Vergeltungswaffe said: Just FYI, Volkssturm is spelled Volksstrum on the TO&E page. So it is! I hadn't even noticed until you pointed it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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