When combat mission make it back to Eastern Front what battle do want it cover ?

[Hannibal]

Since the new formart is to have a much more focused time frame what Battle or time frame do yo think would be the most interesting .Would you rather see Pz-38 and Panzer 3's vs t-34 and kvs or would your rather see the late war stuff P:anther tigers is-2 and t-34 85's

[Paper Tiger]

I believe the smart money is on Operation Bagration. I'd be happy to start there too and work backwards.

100% pure speculation by the way

[Mike Churchmoor]

Dunno when eastern front is coming (2009 too early?), hopefully soon.

I would like to see stuff from early days of Barbarosa or maybe time just before Tigers ('42). Some T-26's/T-28's(woot!) etc. versus Pz38's/PzII's etc.

However I won't be suprised if we see 1943-44 timeframe game. Actually, was it already mentioned somewhere that first east front game will cover battle of Kursk? Of course from the marketing perspective this may be wise thing to do. I bet 10 € that there's Tiger/Panter on the dvd-cover...

[Cpl Steiner]

One thing to remember is that the Western Front game and a few modules will already have been done, so models for many German vehicles such as the Tiger I and Panther will already exist. The Panther went into service in mid-1943, so I reckon the Eastern Front will be 1943 to 1945 for the main game, with 1941 to 1943 being a module.

[Topo]

I hope 41-42; i like old fashioned panzergray tanks, and early russian tanks too.

Saluti.

[kipanderson]

Hi,

I find what is these days called the Battle for the Ukraine… August ’43 to April ’44…. is the most interesting period in terms of the balance of forces and such.

However… it would be a shame not to set the game in winter… winter warfare is one of the defining differences between the Eastern Front and others… one of many differences but one of the main ones.

I would go for either winter ‘42/’43 or winter ‘43/’44… if the latter then Korsun Pocket is the one to simulate. A scaled down and more balanced version of Stalingrad.

All very go fun,

All the best,

Kip.

[Sgt Joch]

I also think Operation Bagration is the most likely bet, since the 1944 German forces will already have been done for the western front game and most players prefer the late war german armor (King Tigers, Tigers, Panthers).

[Wrath of Dagon]

I like chronological order, but from commercial point of view later stuff makes more sense.

Edit: CMSF already has super tanks, I want something as primitive as possible.

[H.W. Guderian]

. . . I don't care if it's Tigers or Pz III's . . . as long as I can play it native on my MacBook.

[Berlichtingen]

If they are going with the tight focus of the first WW2 game, I'd think Stalingrad would be a logical choice

[panzermartin]

Stalingrad 42-43 would be a good starting point. Summer/winter landscapes, infantry focused urban combat, interesting combo of hardware and no overkill tanks. A more complex damage model for buildings would be welcome as well as improved visual damage on walls etc. Then perhaps Kursk, and lastly Summer 1944 till Berlin. Pre 1942 plays a bit dull at least in CMBB terms. Closer to the assymetrical CMSF, with hordes of conscript russians, invicible KVs, might be hard to balance things in QBs etc. Still, those panzer grey tanks are cool.

[Canada Guy]

I have never liked the later war period. Watching my men get cut down by JS-IIs or SU-100s is not my idea of fun (though I do love the PzV). I like games where the infantry is still a potent force and the tanks still have to be careful.

My money would be on Bagration but I would like to see either

1. Case Blue - 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia that lasted between 28 June and 19 August 1942. You get some decent tank vs tank action PzIV vs T-34 which isa mainstay.

2. Operation Typhoon. Sept-January 1941 in front of Moscow.

Germans - 90,000 men in 70 Divisions

USSR - 800,000 men in 95 Divisions (plus reinforcing Siberians)

Fall - winter weather.

[Lethaface]

I think that 90.000 men in 70 Divisions should be 900.000 men?

[Battlefront.com]

No need to speculate... we've already said Bagration will be the starting period for the Eastern Front The reasoning is simple and already mentioned by a few on the previous page. And that is we will have much of the German equipment and TO&E for that time period already simulated so it's a matter of rounding it out and then adding all new Soviet stuff to the mix. This shaves months off of development time, which means it shaves months off of the release time.

Think about it this way... would you rather have a 1944 simulation of the Eastern Front on X Day and get earlier war stuff some months later (because it takes us that long to make it), or would you rather have nothing for the Eastern Front until X Day + 4 months and get the 1944 stuff some months later (because for marketing reasons we have to hold it back artificially)? Pretty easy call for us to make, me thinks!

Steve

[Earl Grey]

We don't midn as long as we see "CM: Space Lobsters of Doom" one day! :-P Throw in the guys from the good ol' 'StarCom: The US Space Force' and we're ready to do some SERIOUS gaming!

[luderbamsen]

No need to speculate... we've already said Bagration will be the starting period for the Eastern Front

Good. I may fancy late-war stuff, but really anything from Zitadelle onwards is fine with me (I have an aversion against short-barreled Pz IV's and StuG III's).

Also *cough*E-100 please*cough*

[kipanderson]

Steve,

“No need to speculate... we've already said Bagration”

Wow… I had missed that… shockingly as I am so unhinged I regard all other versions of CMX2 as R&D for the Eastern Front version … plus… Bagration, in fact Lvov but who’s splitting hairs, was the ultimate example of the operational art in the history of warfare.

People sometimes forget that the German Army of June ’44 was the best most powerful they ever fielded. Fully trained and nearer to fully equipped than any pervious. However the Allies had improved even more.

Lots and lots to look forward to…

All the best,

Kip.

[benpark]

Bagration is good by me, in fact the most awaited of all of the new titles. Please reconsider the Hungarian and Romanian forces, at least infantry and a few support vehicles.

Any chance that all of the WWII titles can be interchanged as far as forces go- ie. Brits and US forces vs. Soviet?

[Canada Guy]

From what I understand, a game and all of it's moduels will be able to intermix all troops together but play between games will not be viable. This makes sense as I imagine that each game will be introducing new technologies and improvements to the engine and they may not want to go back and recode an entire game+modules to take these new features into consideration.

This there will be no water crossing tacAI in CMSF and no modern British army (from CMSF) laying waste to the hordes of Soviets in Bagration.

[c3k]

Will I be able to import my T-90's into Bagration? If not, why not?

I'd missed the Bagration reference as well. The sooner, the better.

Regards,

Ken

[MikeyD]

"we've already said Bagration will be the starting period for the Eastern Front"

Makes sense, in the Normandy game they'll need to assemble typical mid-44 German equipment. Bagration also started in June 44. Sounds like the WWII titles will be pressing in on Hitler from both sides!

[Battlefront.com]

Canada Guy has it correct. One of the things that separates each game "family" is our ability to change fundamental aspects of the systems without disrupting previous work. Backwards compatibility is just too hard to maintain over time. Therefore, the Modules for the Eastern Front "family" will not be cross compatible with those of the Western Front "family".

Steve

[kipanderson]

Steve,

Bagration means break-through operations… and break-through operations mean mine rollers.. .

You know you want to… I know you want to…. We all know you want mine rollers in the Eastern Front release… .

Imagine them rolling forward with mine detonations, dust and all….

They were six small regiments of 16-18 rollers in each used in Bagration…. But that is a reasonable number… they were very real…

All very good fun,

All the best,

Kip.

[MikeyD]

Mine rollers/plough would've been nice in CMSF too. But they've only got one disembodied brain in a jar to do all the work so some stuff had to get left out.

I remember waaaay back (last century) BFC's initial stated '5-year plan' included an early war title. Germany vs Poland & France (with Spanish civil war thrown in). But the original game engine wasn't being very cooperative with quick turnarounds of titles. Plus there's the minor quibble about the 'bad guys' winning all the battles around that time. I'm assuming they're planning to start in the middle (June 44) and work backwards & forwards with subsequent titles. Heck, on that schedule they may not need to bother modeling snow for the game til sometime next year! Here's hoping the base game engine has been mostly nailed down and all that's left for new titles is to assemble the 'fun bits' for us to play with.

[Dakuman]

I'm hoping somewhere down the line we get a game with winter textures. East front, west front, doesn't matter. I enjoyed playing in the snow