Panzer Leader Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 Whew, this was a lot of work! Take a look at the original <big><font color=AA0000">FAQ</font></big>! <font color="0000BB"><big>Combat Mission 2 Frequently Asked Questions (Barbarossa to Berlin is gonna ROCK!)</big></font> (thanks to GriffinCheng+ for the nucleus of questions that started this FAQ) Where can I find information & screenshots from CM2? There are two online interviews so far released: SimHQ.com has an interview with Charles up! Take a gander... Gamespot has also released a newer (and VERY informative) Preview of Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, concentrating on many of the new features In addition, the magazine Computer Gaming World (June issue) has a preview featuring a few screenshots and some words by Steve. Computer Games Magazine (July Issue} has a good article with screenshots that include a sneak peek at the new interface by Deanco![urlinterview with Charles ]Now Online! This FAQ will be divided into four sections. The first will be general information, the second will be Game Features, the third will cover Game Mechanics, and finally we will have an errata at the end. <big>General Information</big> What will be the title? The title will be "Combat Mission 2: Barbarossa to Berlin", but the forum members DID provide a few other suggestions... What is it about? "Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin opens with Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, and covers the entire period from there until the end of the war in Europe, including the fall of Berlin. " -Charles When will it be available? "We don't like to give firm release dates for our software so early in the process, but we're aiming for late 2001." -Charles Can I do a pre-order? "Because we won't be taking preorders as such. The main reason is that our new online ordering system, which will be in place fairly soon, processes credit cards online in realtime. Therefore, when you place your order you are charged right there and then. Because of that we won't be able to take orders until about a week or so before we think the game will ship." -Steve Will it be available in stores? No, sorry. Will CM:BO be upgraded to the new standard set by CM:BB? "Patches, as such, are impossible for us to provide. It would involve many months of work to make CM2 backwards compatible with CM1. Much of that time would be spent making a scenario translation tool, if it could even be done. What we are going to do in terms of revamping the Western Front is still up in the air. Check out This Thread for much more information." -Steve <big>Game Features</big> What nations will be included? "The main issue is the large number of combatant nations. We're hoping to include Germans, Soviets, Poles, Finns, Hungarians, Romanians, Italians, and Partisans." -Charles, from SimHQ interview The Finnish Winter War will not be in the scope of the game but "I also suspect that a creative designer could make a reasonable approximation of a Winter War battle since much of the 1941 TO&E for both sides wasn't DRAMATICALLY different than it was in 1939/40. Obviously the terrain is exactly the same." -Steve WIll there be new "Russian" terrain? "You can count on seeing virtually all the terrain fought over on the eastern front made available in Combat Mission. We're adding new terrain types to the palette, including steppe, tundra, birch forests, soft boggy ground, corduroy roads, and more. Further, we'll have each battle be set in a "region" (southern, central, northern, and arctic), and this will determine or influence local terrain, weather, and balance and availability of various military forces and nations." -Charles "There will be three fords; Infantry Only, Infantry and Tracked Vehicles Only, All Units. ... vehicles will be able to cross frozen rivers. We are hoping to have an ice thickness variable for the scenario that will determine which vehicles, if any, can cross. There will be no vehicles breaking through the ice." -Steve Will there be enhancements to the weather system?" "Some of this is definitely beyond the scope of a CM battle. However, winter 1941/42 was too brutal to ignore the things that did happen in the frontline. MGs were especially hard hit on both sides. Not exactly sure what we will do yet." -Steve Different types of snow covered terrain will be included. Trenches will be included and will be placed during set up like barbed wire currently is placed. "we are thinking of having two different height "fields"." -Steve Will CM2 feature captured vechicles? "We're... including the ability for sides to use certain captured enemy vehicle types, like Germans using captured [soviet] T-34 tanks. Plus we'll have lend-lease western tanks used by the Soviets and outfit the armored forces of the Finnish, Romanian, and Hungarian troops too, including their lesser-known and somewhat exotic armored vehicles." -Charles What Vehicles will be included? "We don't have a final count yet, but it's huge--somewhere approaching 300 vehicle types and variants" -Charles "We plan to include the gigantic assault-rocket-firing Sturmtiger [a German armored vehicle] even though only something like 18 of them were ever built. It will have an insanely high "rarity factor" of course." -Charles "We have no plans for mine roller tanks." -Steve (Paraphrased from "lengthy" discussion)IS-3 is probably in (2 textures sets have been done for this vehicle for two years, but the 3D model still has to be done, though). The IS-3 is like the Super Pershing: a production vehicle that existed and was deployed, but never fought. Prototype vehicles (Panther II, Panther F, night vision Panther, E-series) and one-of-a-kind oddities (Maus) will not make it in, however. Other Vehicles spotted: Elefant (with MG) PzIVD StuG III (A or PzIIIJ SU-76 (or SU-76M) T-34 (type unknown) 76mm M1927 gun on a ZiS-5 truck (I think) KV-2 Will urban fighting be enhanced? "We haven't implemented the sewer system yet, but I can outline our goals. It will be abstracted. You'll be allowed to tell your troops to enter the sewer and set a desired spot from which to emerge. But you are not guaranteed that they'll make it! And the time it takes can vary widely. Better-trained troops have a better chance, but conscripts may well get lost and never be heard from again." -Charles "We won't likely have a single tiled building of that size, but instead "building blocks" for people to make their own massive building complexes. There are other plans, but I think this is the only way to deal with large industrial type buildings." -Steve "We don't have specs for the new buildings yet, but they will still be limited to 2 stories. Shape and size will be the primary differences, as well as the textures associated with them. This will make the maps look more varied and offer more interesting LOS possibilities." -Steve Engineers will still not be able to destroy roadblocks or bridges, but will be able to toss explosives into building, and maybe take out barbed wire in the same fashion. "I don't think we will be able to model partially colapsed buildings. It is on the list to try, but it might not be possible until the engine rewrite. This also answers the question about "mouseholing" (i.e. going through walls using TNT instead of going outside and back in). We can't do this unless we can have individual states for individual walls." -Steve Will there be a campaign system added to the game? "We currently have THREE folks asking to make a huge campaign system of one form or another. All three have made multiple detailed pitches to us. All three have started by saying all they need is the file format. All three have then described a system that requires much more involvement from us than just that to make their system work. We haven't rulled any of the three out (yet), but to be honest... I just don't see how it will be possible to do any of them. We know there is interest (though we don't think it is more than a decent minority of customers), but on balance it isn't as important as the other things we have to do. Remember, any campaign system is only as good as the tactical battles they contain. If we skip something major in order to do the campaign stuff, everybody suffers the loss.{correction. I made this sound worse than it really is. Let's just say that we are skeptical that "just an export file" will be enough. So we porceed with caution, but are still looking at the proposals I mentioned seriously." -Steve "We might be able to put in Objective Flags into Ops. But again, Ops work hasn't been hammered down yet so this is only one possibility." -Steve <big>Game Mechanics</big> <font color="0000BB"><big>Gameplay</big></font> Who's working on the interface? deanco! The maker of the wonderful interface mods for CM has been tapped by BTS to design the interface for CM2, so we are in good hands. (A preview of this interface is available in the July Issue of Computer Games Magazine) About new interface features: "An Order of Battle screen that shows what you have is on the drawing board. It is a medium priority item, so it may not actually get put in. However... this will not be nearly as detailed as Steel Panthers and Close Combat OOB screens. See previous threads on this topic. There are many and our basic position on this matter has not changed. Too much easy information detracts from the "seat of the pants" feeling that CM simulates." -Steve "We hope to add this (the ability to use a pre-made map in a quick battle) to the game." -Steve Will there be new Command and Control Features? "Command and control is being entirely reworked for the new game. Tanks may now be organized in platoons, and it's important for leaders to keep their platoon tanks in contact. This is a lot easier to do if they're equipped with radios, but the Soviets often lacked radios up through 1943. That means that the Soviets often must open their hatches and communicate with hand signals, which is very dangerous when people are shooting at you! Without platoon communication, command delay penalties become pretty severe. Worse yet for the Soviets is that early T-34 tanks, with two-man turrets and no radio, required the tank commander to drop down into the turret in order to fire the main gun, automatically taking him out of visual contact with the other tanks in his platoon. This creates a serious command problem for the Soviet player in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin. " -Charles Will there be new orders options for units? "We've added a new rating for troops: fitness. Low fitness leads to greater fatigue unless you stay put, which of course limits your tactical options. This is separate from experience, which now allows us to simulate poorly trained Russian conscripts who are young and healthy men straight off the farm, but who have received little to no military training. We can also simulate depleted elite soldiers, who are low on food and have been in battle far too long. "Assault: The squad moves ahead in "leapfrog" style, with some men prone, offering covering fire, and the others running a short distance ahead. Then the two groups switch--the firers get up and move and the movers stop to fire. This is internal to the squad, so the average overall movement speed is around walking speed (the average of half-sprinting and half-stopped prone). So the speed is only moderate, but the advantage is decent use of available cover and the ability to return fire with most weapons (not the heavy ones like LMGs [light machine guns, as opposed to standard infantry rifles]). This is important because the "run" command in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin allows for much less outgoing fire than it did in Combat Mission, pretty much just limiting it to SMGs [submachine guns] at very close range. "Human wave: Inexperienced troops are not allowed to use the "assault" command, but Soviets can use the "human wave" as an alternate. It involves the troops moving ahead at a brisk walk, firing available SMGs and throwing grenades once in range. Vulnerability is high so casualties are usually brutal, but morale stiffens (to a point) and it may allow you to overwhelm a tough enemy defense at close range through greater numbers. "Hull down (vehicles only): Pick a spot on the map and your vehicle will move toward it until it has a hull-down firing angle on that spot. Movement is rather slow, but higher-experience units can do it faster. "Cover arc: Click on two points and your unit will direct its attention to the triangular area created by those two limiting points and your unit's location. Except in extreme circumstances, your unit will only open fire on enemies inside this zone. So you can set the direction and range of engagement, which is very useful for ambush (which this command replaces), conserving ammo, or focusing a directed defense." -Charles Will there be a full movie replay feature added? "Yes, that is on our plate as an "Important" feature. Only thing that will squash this is if we get going on it and find that there is no reasonable way to implement without rewriting major sections of code. That is, BTW, the best way to do it, so we are already planning on some sort of ugly code hack " -Steve Will PBEM be enhanced? "we are going to add a notification that tells Player 2 exactly what was selected by Player 1. " -Steve Will there be a better "Optics" system?" "The only room for improvement from 1.12, that we feel is necessary, is optics. On the Western Front the quality of optics and aiming systems were about equal all things considered. This is not necessarily the case on the Eastern Front. We plan on coming up with a scientific method for augmenting the current aiming equations with an optics factor. We are NOT just going to make the Germans hit better than the Soviets in all conditions for all vehicles." -Steve <big>Errata (and Pictures!)</big> <small>Originally posted by KwazyDog: Hiya Guys, Just so you know the line up contains from near to far an ISU-152, ISU-122, ISU-122S, SU-152, SU-122, SU-100, SU-76I, SU-76M, SU-76 and an SU-76P...I *think*...just going from memory there. They arent exactly in scale with each other in that shot either so keep that in mind as you check them out. The big tank there on its own (not shown) is an IS-2... ((of course I will have to edit this monster)) [ 06-16-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ] [ 06-16-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ] [ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ] [ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: Panzer Leader ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 Only 18? Firing an 800 pound shell, it will be interesting to see the debate on reload times.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalin's Organ Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 Been done MD - 10 minutes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stalin's Organ: Been done MD - 10 minutes!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> My God, you mean there was a consensus reached? Will wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 16, 2001 Author Share Posted June 16, 2001 ....sigh..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfe Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 PL, you are a sick, sick puppy for taking this on. And we thank you for it. Found a few things that need editing, though: Under the new Russian terrain, you mention the fact that vehicles will be able to cross frozen rivers, and then repeat it a few paragraphs below. Under What Vehicles Will Be Included, you attributed a quote to Steve about the IS-3 probably being included - Steve didn't say that (atleast not that quote), this was my summary of the lengthy *ahem* "discussion". Also, under Will Urban Fighting be Enhanced, the "Engineers wil still not be able to blown roadblocks ..." is also my summary, not Steve's. BTW, I think it might be a good idea to, at the bottom of the FAQ, link to the big posts that most of this stuff came from so people can read through it themselves if they want. The links in the original FAQ, in the CM2 FAQ Update that I responded to, and this page: Holy Cow! New CM2 Preview at Gamespot should cover most all of the pertinent links, so you shouldn't have to search far. Thanks for all the hard work! - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 17, 2001 Author Share Posted June 17, 2001 Back on up there podna! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 17, 2001 Author Share Posted June 17, 2001 yep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedy Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 I absolutely refuse to bump a thread created by panties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 17, 2001 Author Share Posted June 17, 2001 Thanks for the advice Wolfe. I amde a couple of changes, maybe I'll get those thread links up later on. And thanks for the bump lickity-split. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 18, 2001 Author Share Posted June 18, 2001 Let me just slide this back up where it belongs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 18, 2001 Author Share Posted June 18, 2001 Well, since some complete fool has started bumping the WRONG thread, I'll shoot this one up one more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 *action* Points at PanzerLeader and laughes */action* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellmz Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 nice work dude! faq is lookin' sharp... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 18, 2001 Author Share Posted June 18, 2001 Up up and away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedbump Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Speedy: I absolutely refuse to bump a thread created by panties.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I absolutely refuse to read a thread created by panties...oh, damn... Speedbump (not to be confused with Speedy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Aitken Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 You forgot a few questions: Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969 "Große Hans"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/1 "Große Wolfgang"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/2 "Große Dietrich"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/3 "Große Jörg"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/3a "Dicke Hermann"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/3b ausf D "Dumm Ernst"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 969/9z ausf X "Lange Fritz"? Will CM2 include the PzKpfw 970/1 ausf A "Kurze Erich"? Can I blow stuff up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpkr Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 Geez Aitken, you gotta fetish for large, long, thick, short stupid guys or somefink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalin's Organ Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 Pansy litter's abandoned this to page 2 in favour of a bigger, prettier thread on optics just 'cos it's got almost 600 posts in it!! Sheesh - some people are so shallow! Bum-titty bum-titty bum-titty bum-titty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillies Phan Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 I refuse to bump a thread created by the impudent lackwit known as Panzer Leader. Nope. Won't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enoch Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 PL must be lost in the cesspool and unable to BUMP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted June 19, 2001 Author Share Posted June 19, 2001 What the!?! Page two?? ...Get up here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalin's Organ Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Well what a surprise - Pansie Lister's favourite therad is languishing on page 2 again - where it belongs of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 I hope this gets to page 3 where it rightly deserves to languish!... ...DOH! [ 06-20-2001: Message edited by: Mace ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Almost made 3! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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