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CMBB FAQ -- The REAL DEAL

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Panzer Leader Senior Member

Panzer Leader

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Okay folks, after a fifth of Jack I got Madmatt to splill some secrets on the upcoming game. I am posting this DIRECT and unedited as post numero uno as an interim solution to the new FAQ. Basically read it and weep folks, cause this is as close as we're going to get to heaven until I can afford another fifth.

Oh, incidentally, this Q&A has been in the works for some time and is NOT related for some crazy calling for a bone. Well, maybe that last bit is, but generally... Matt wanted me to make sure I said that the bone-throwing threads were pointless and he made a point of ignoring them. They have an INTERNAL schedule for information decimination.

Also, this information is offered AS IS with no gaurantee, no returns or refunds, and no further responses will be forthcoming.

From the Horses Mouth:

Questions for the UP-dated CMBB FAQ:

Units:

Will we have on-board artillery?

If you mean artillery batteries then no, the scale of CMBB, which still focuses on tactical engagements, would mean on-map artillery batteries is out of scale. As with CMBO, there will be individual artillery pieces in the Support Unit list that cover a broad spectrum of gun, cannon and howitzer types that can be deployed on map.

Will mortar vehicles still require LOS to fire?

They can now gain spotting through an HQ unit like normal mortar teams

Terrain:

What new terrain tiles are there? And what different affects on units?

Cemeteries

Fences

Soft Ground

Rocky

Open Steppe

‘Build Your Own’ Factory complexes

Peasant Shacks

How will rubble be modified - specifically damaged and ruined buildings?

We are keeping this a secret for now, but we think you will be very pleased on how we have modified rubble. ;)

Will fires be modeled differently? Will fires spread?

Yes, fires can now start small and grow bigger so there's a

lapse of time between when the fire starts and when it's a major blaze

which units cannot pass through.

Will water be treated differently? (Streams?)

Due to the new variety of weather, water and ice will be getting an enhanced treatment. Streams are not modeled as they are too small of a terrain feature however we do have a new “soft ground” texture which models irregular and somewhat water logged terrain regardless of the overall ground condition.

Will there be new weather affects?

There are many environmental enhancements including, separate Dawn and Dusk settings, wind strength and direction, various temperatures, and blizzards. We have also added a new EXTREME setting for display of rain, snow and other graphic effects to enhance the look of the game.

Are there any other tweaks being made to quickbattles, such as victory location placement and map size and shape? (Long maps instead of wide)

There are many tweaks including allowing a RANDOM setting for almost every parameter. All new parameters and now maps are better shaped and allow a new HUGE setting.

Gameplay:

How will artillery be modeled differently? Will we be able to specify a) number of rounds fired?, B) pattern of strike area?, c) rolling barrages?

Artillery now has more realistic fire delays based on the formation the artillery is attached to. A Battalion asset will have a much smaller delay than an Army or Corps asset. For Soviets, that means they get access to some very heavy artillery support but it comes at the penalty of very long delays. This is offset by the addition of Prep Barrages for both sides.

Prep Barrages allow a Zero Time Delay barrage if the FO plots the barrage on the first turn of the battle. This represents coordination between the battery and FO prior the battle. This zero delay barrage MUST be plotted on turn one. If a player waits to turn 2 he loses that bonus and will get the normal delay associated with the battery type (in some cases those delays could be longer than the battle itself!)

A Prep Barrage Target is plotted as normal, it does not need to be within LOS of the FO but it will be a more accurate pattern if it is.

The barrage itself will begin to fall almost immediately at the beginning of turn one and will continue until the FO re-targets the barrage, stops the barrage or the battery runs out of ammo.

And YES the enemy TacAI can and will call in Prep Barrages and they can really really hurt!

Will units be able to specify whether they only fire at hard or soft targets?

There is a new function called Cover Arc that will do this. Basically there are two cover arcs commands available. Cover Arc for all units and Cover Armor Arc for anti-tank capable units. The CA command replaces the older AMBUSH command. Cover Arc ordered units will engage pretty much any enemy that enters the arc and Armor Cover Arc is limited to engaging armored vehicles

Now a user definable wedge of the map can be designated that will focus a unit’s attention and targeting bias. The arc can be unlimited in range and up to 180 degrees wide. Units in CinC will be more rigid and focused and will not be as likely to engage units out of their cover arc or of a different unit type. Cover Arc’s also have the added effect of giving turreted units an effective “rotate turret” command. For turreted vehicles they will also now retain turret facing even while on the move so you can move them out with the turret off center, continuing covering a specified direction.

More on this will be forthcoming.

Will winter be handled differently, specifically drastic cold, ice, storms and difficulty in carrying out actions in these conditions?

Yes, we have new weather conditions, types and temperatures that will all affect combat operations.

Graphics:

How many more polygons will the vehicles have? Is there a big difference in looks?

Everything graphically in the game is being enhanced. Simple as that.

Miscellaneous

Oh yeah, how about some more info on the "Command" factor in tanks? Will there be a command tank, and will it be a non-gunned befelswagen or just another tank?

When tanks are purchased (or setup by designer) to be in platoons there will be a HQ tank. The tank will be fully armed. When individual tanks of a platoon either lose their HQ tank or wander to far from the HQ they will be penalized with higher delays and less rigid Cover Arcs.

And last, and hopefully least, will it run on WinXP?

Yes.

We are also well aware of the current XP/nVidia graphics issue and are working with nVidia to resolve this problem as well as taking steps on our end to try and reduce/eliminate the issues all together. Current testing on XP/nVidia platforms has been very encouraging and corruption has been all but eliminated in-game.

Extra Bones!

There many new commands for both movement and combat including:

Move to Contact

Seek Hull Down

Advance

Assault

Sneak (uses all new behavior over older command)

Human Wave

Shoot and Scoot

And more!

The entire Command and Control system has been overhauled for all units. Too much so to go into detail in this FAQ. Literally, every facet of command and unit behavior has been tweaked and overhauled. Much more than most people would have thought possible! ;)

Battles are much less compressed than before and have a more natural flow to them. This has been accomplished due to a combination of the new tactical tools available to the player as well as more realistic associated unit behaviors, TacAi, unit fitness and a newly implemented fatigue model.

The new Casualty option available in the QB parameters also adds a thrilling new game element. Some of the testers have taken to calling it the “Game Before The Game”.

The setting is chosen as a Percentage of Casualties to be dealt out to either side (they have separate settings) prior to the battle commencing.

Basically the computer will add the % you select to your total force allotment and then selectively delete men, machines and entire units to get back to the original point amount. For example, if you want a 20% deleted force and choose to make the game a 1000 point battle, you would actually have about 1250 points to buy units.

Once you (or the autopurchaser) bought your units it would then go

through and delete enough stuff to get you back down to 1000 points. Be

advised there is no limit to what you *could* loose including that costly

FO or Fighter-Bomber, or a particularly expensive tank platoon.

The computer also uses logic in deleting units. It wont delete a King Tiger, for example, if it only needed to reduce your force total by another 10 points.

That’s why its called the Game before the Game, care must be taken to use the “extra” points granted to you with the understanding that there are no guarantees of what you will end up with. This has the effect of awarding the player who chooses a coordinated force while potentially penalizing a player that depends on victory being delivered by one or two specific units.

[ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ]</p>

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Panzer Leader Senior Member

Panzer Leader

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Man, I keep reading it over and over. I am VERY surprised at how many improvements there will be, especially things they said would probably not make it until the rewrite.

Build your own Factories!

Cemeteries!

Spreading fire -- that was a surprise!

Shoot and Scoot -- first time that's even been mentioned!

I have a feeling that with rubble, they have a BIG sruprise waiting for us.

Incidentally, I sent in about 50-60 questions. Granted some were pretty dumb, and Madmatt made a point of scoffing at my lamest attempts, but some I think were left unanswered because the answers were TOO COOL for us to handle.

As Jack would say, "You can't HANDLE the truth!"

Thanks to BTS for the info, and thanks especially to ol' Baldy for organizing this. I'd also like to thank the people who helped me come up with some questions on short notice.

It was quite a surprise when Matt emailed me with the offer to submit a list of questions about the upcoming game, and I had only a few hours (knowing how impatient he can be) to scour the board for the more prominent questions, followed by a massive email to all the CM'ers in my adress book imploring you all for stuff we'd like to know. It was a pretty exciting night last week, and I think it came out pretty good all in all.

Read this a few times, there's good stuff in here. I will update the FAQ with the older stuff and the other nuggets of information that've been dropped soon

[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ]

[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ]</p>

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argie Senior Member

argie

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Hoopenfaust 101:

My god they've answered my prayers.....

BTS is gonna do a great job on this game. I'm buying a new G4 today!<hr></blockquote>

Wait! The G5 is almost at 6 months from release!!!

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GriffinCheng+ Senior Member

GriffinCheng+

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PL,

I think I have posted some questions before...humm, have they been passed?

Some more:

1. It is possible to mix two national troops together in a scenario/QB/operation? Can axis minor powers turn their back on Germany? I read that after Romania "got liberated", they turned their guns onto their former allies.

2. BTW, would there be any changes in the way operations get handled from CMBO?

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Panzer Leader Senior Member

Panzer Leader

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For anyone interested, here is the complete list of questions that I sent out. I know there are gaps, and I am sure that many of you can think of better or more important questions. If you would like (though I am not insinuating anything) I would welcome any questions you had, either posted here, or sent to me by email, perhaps with the subject "CMBB FAQ". I don't have the answers (unles it has been covered before) and Madmatt made it clear that this would not turn into an orgy of qestions/answers but it WOULD be nice to have some questions on hand if... any more "opportunities" present themselves.

Anyhow, here is what I asked:

Questions for the UPdated CMBB FAQ:

Units:

1.) What are some of the rarer units that will make it into the game, both late and early?

2.) For Late, Specifically, the Panther 2, the Maus, the E-100, the Strumtiger, Brumbarr, the kugelblitz, the IS-2 and IS-3, the SU-152?

3.) For early, the GAZ jeep, the BA-6, the BA-20, the PSW 222, 232, the 250 series (like especially the 250/10 and 250/11)

4.) What was the final word on captured equipment?

5.) What about the Sig-33?

6.) Will we have on-board artillery?

7.) Will mortar vehicles still require LOS to fire?

8.) Can you give us some examples of lend-lease vehicles used by USSR?

9.) Will the following units be included: luftwaffe field infantry, NKVD, Gaurds troops, Russian Naval Units?

10.) Can we get a complete list of Axis and Allied allies that will be included?

11.) Will partisans have any different unit structure than regular infantry?

Terrain:

12.) Tell us more about the new terrain tiles!!

13.) How about anti-tank ditches and dragon's teeth? Are they in?

14.) What new terrain tiles are there? And what different affects on units?

15.) How will rubble be modified - specifically damaged and ruined buildings?

16.) Will cover and concealment be handled differently or modified from CMBO?

17.) Will fires be modelled differently? Will fires spread?

18.) Will water be treated differently? (Streams?)

19.) Will vehicles be able to ford water obstacles?

20.) Will there be new weather affects?

21.) What new defences and fortifications will there be?

22.) How will trenches be different (and better) than the foxholes?

23.) Will buying defensive fortifications be handled differently than in CMBO

24.) Are costing tweaks being made to quickbattles, such as the 1.75:1 for Assault?

25.) Are there any other tweaks being made to quickbattles, such as victory location placement and map size and shape? (Long maps instead of wide)

Gameplay:

26.) Will we have an Order-of-battle in-game screen? And what usability will it have?

27.) How will artillery be modelled differently? Will we be able to specify a) number of rounds fired?, B) pattern of strike area?, c) rolling barrages?

28.) What's up with optics? Are they in?

29.) Do we get the full movie play-back?

30.) Will units be able to specify whether they only fire at hard or soft targets?

31.) How will MGs be modelled differently? Will MG teams abandon their MG if they are routed, instead of the last man walking away with the MG on his shoulder?

32.) How will the "human wave" be modelled?

33.) Will there be pontoon bridges? Any other "engineerring" improrvements?

34.) Will there be any changes in the way operations are modelled, specifically the new start lines after each battle?

35.) How exactly will the "area of operations" work? Will it affect all aspects of play including unit availability and rarity? Will terrain be different?

36.) Will winter be handled differently, specifically drastic cold, ice, storms and difficulty in carrying out actions in these conditions?

37.) Will there be a "follow" or "convoy" command for vehicles, so that they "follow the leader" without ramming into each other?

Graphics:

38.) How many more polygons will the vehicles have? Is there a big difference in looks?

39.) DO the wheels turn? Tracks move?

40.) Will the wheels be ROUND?

41.) Will trees and other "objects" still be flat?

42.) Can we get a winter screenshot?

43.) A shot of Stalingrad?

Errata:

44.) Things I would LOVE for you to "drop" for us:

45.) Can we get an example Availabilty listing for a given time, like June '42, for example, with a list of German and Soviet units available at the time?

46.) A little more info on how Airforces will be improved -- come on Madmatt, I know you know!

47.) What can you tell us about the scenarios? Have any been started yet? Is anyone "famous" involved?

48.) Oh yeah, how about some more info on the "Command" factor in tanks? Will there be a command tank, and will it be a non-gunned befelswagen or just another tank?

49.) How else will command be changed, and what about the radio factor?

50.) And last, and hopefully least, will it run on WinXP?

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aka_tom_w Senior Member

aka_tom_w

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VERY Cool

But no comment on the NEW Extreme fog of war

have they covered any of the details of the NEW

Extreme Fog of War elsewhere?

smile.gif

Thanks

GREAT Post

-tom

PS Thanks for asking my favourite question:

"28.) What's up with optics? Are they in?" smile.gif

[ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]</p>

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