Battlefront.com Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Here is a modest set of bones for the Holidays. I can't really send anybody lumps of coal, so even the ones on our naughty list will get to enjoy these. Sorry for those on the good list. Life isn't fair, obviously! Because the screenshots are always the attention grabbers, I'll post those first and then get into the text stuff. As you can see from the two pics of German stuff, CM: Normandy offers prepared, reinforced positions for heavy weapons and even vehicles. The graphics are placeholders at the moment, but you get the idea I think. These elements are purchasable and can be placed by the player during the Setup Phase. On top of that, the player can now purchase and place a wide array of defensive works including barbed wire, bunkers, foxholes, and even trenches. That's right, trenches! All of these elements follow the rules of Fog of War, including trenches. Yup! Long time members of this Forum will recall some very long and heated discussions about trenches and what we can, and can't, do from a technical standpoint. While people's passionate calls for FoW trenches didn't magically erase the technical challenges, they did cause us to adopt a new method of representing these elements. We're still working on final graphics for the defensive works so you'll just have to wait a bit to see what they look like and to get more details on how units interact with them. Just know that they do give you guys the game elements you made clear you wanted back into CM. We do aim to please. The last bone is an update on where we are right now with the game as a whole. We currently have one major game element remaining to code. Namely the new Quick Battle system. It's designed and should go into production in January. There's still a lot of things which have to be added, tweaked, and fixed... but we have 30 active testers working to help us with all of that now. Their initial reactions to hunting tanks in the bocage has been very positive (understatement!). Thanks for your continued interest and support. We wouldn't be here without it. And where is that exactly? Well... Winter 1997 Winter 1999 Winter 2009 with comparison to 1999 Happy Holidays! BFC Guys & Normandy Tester Dudes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Cool stuff. Happy Holidays to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Cigar Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Winter 1997 Whose grass mod are you using? Thanks BFC, these are some very tasty bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bergerbitz Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 God bless us, everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chainsaw Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Wonderful news! thanks for the bone Steve! Its really wonderful that we get trenches with FoW, its gonna be really needed in Normandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 There really is a Santa! FOW TRENCHES!!!!! Thank you Steve and all you guys at BF! I have known you guys for almost 10 years?!?!? You aim to please and you hit your mark. PS...if you need 31 people to test Normandy drop me a line! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Those flowers look fabulous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Churchmoor Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 ...prepared, reinforced positions for heavy weapons and even vehicles...elements are purchasable and can be placed by the player during the Setup Phase....The player can now purchase and place a wide array of defensive works including barbed wire, bunkers, foxholes, and even trenches.... All of these elements follow the rules of Fog of War, including trenches.... Very nice Christmas present! And those screenies weren't bad either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sivodsi Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Nice screen shots and great news! ... the new Quick Battle system. It's designed and should go into production in January. "Go into production"?! Does this mean just the 'Quick Battle system' or the game as a whole? And we are talking about January 2010, right? And that would be 2010 AD, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Superlatives fail me - I want to take one of those Marders for a spin. Thanks BFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Because the screenshots are always the attention grabbers, I'll post those first and then get into the text stuff. Ohhhhhhhh! I think I just came! See? That's what I was hoping for way back in '97. You have finally fulfilled my dreams, graphic wise. But don't worry, I'll find something else to gripe about before too long. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Götz von Berlichingen Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 The last bone is an update on where we are right now with the game as a whole. We currently have one major game element remaining to code. Namely the new Quick Battle system. It's designed and should go into production in January. There's still a lot of things which have to be added, tweaked, and fixed... but we have 30 active testers working to help us with all of that now. Their initial reactions to hunting tanks in the bocage has been very positive (understatement!). Happy Holidays! BFC Guys & Normandy Tester Dudes Im thinkin' we aint gonna see this baby til April at least... Keep up the great work BF. And a Merry Christmas to you and all your families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Steve and the gang, Gorgeous! Sure made my spirits bright. Enjoy your holidays (and try to stay warm). Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil stanbridge Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Fantabulous! Thanks very much. I can't wait for it. Having said that, I presume that the Nato module will be out before Normandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topo Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Fantastic! Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and all your families Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spindry69 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 I recently jumpted back into CMSF for a fresh look. I'm presently bleeding my way through the Marine campaign and loving every minute of it. The sheer quality is amazing. No need to really say anything about Normandy, it has classic writen all over it. Merry Xmas everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawk66 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Looks great :-) @Steve: Any chance that you talk a little about the features of the QB system? This is my most favorite feature I am looking forward too :-). Merry Christmas to all of you and let's hope that the next year is more peaceful, especillay for those men and women who do their dangerous service in the known places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futon river crossing Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 FOW trenches = yay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaws Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 CHEER!!!!!!!!! Damn I cant wait for release. I start even playing Flames of War to not lose my WW2 XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhmorneau Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 I never thought I would ever kiss Santa Claus' feet for bringing me barbed wire, but hey, Battlefront made it happen :-) FoW defensive works, blimey, this is a fantastic piece of news !!! I've been following you guys since about 1998 and I'll stick around some more. Am I the only one feeling that we are part of some sort of family? Joyeux Noël à tous ! JHM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammenwerfer Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Thank you, thank you..thank you. So the game title is Combat Mission: Normandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeDog Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Wow; this is great news. I must admit that I was a little bit worried about Normandy without FoW trenches and other defensive emplacements, considering how important they were to the era and the campaign. Now that they're in, that's one more worry off my list! The models look great, too. I know they're not final yet, but you can really see the increased detail, with actual 3D representation of all sorts of bumps and shapes on the hull. It's going to be very interesting to watch how the increased 3D fidelity on AFVs interacts with the armor penetration modeling -- I can't wait to see a round actually hit the main gun barrel and take it out, rather than just an abstract turret front hit followed by a "gun damage" text message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Well this is great news indeed. Aside from all the simulation advantages I expect this will help immersion along. With this greater ability to establish defensive positions the maps will help give a bit of ownership to a battle. Less fighting the designer and more the bastard that had the gall to put a trench right where you as an attacker didn't want one to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Harrison Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Thanks for the bones Steve! The Sherman looks great! You mentioned Bocage. Is it its own terrain? Does it elevate the ground or do you have to do that yourself? I tried 'making' bocage in CM:SF by elevating the terrain and it didnt work too well. The 'bocage' ended up being 8m wide So just curious whether Bocage will be its own terrain (similar to how walls are handled in CM:SF I would assume) and if it elevates on its own. Thanks again for the bone! Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 Thanks for the thanks Here are some quick responses: 1. By "production" I meant that the QB system will be coded, tested, tweaked, etc. starting in January, not that the full game will be flying out the doors to you guys. 2. Yes, after the dust settles from the Holidays I'll shed some more light on the new QB system. The testers have been briefed on the essentials and all seems good so far. Since these guys want the new QBs to rock as much as you guys, their approval is extremely reassuring to Charles and I. We're all very aware how important it is to beat both CMx1 and CM:SF's systems. We are more confident than ever that this will happen. 3. Bocage is its own terrain type with its own terrain effects. We need to work on the graphics some more, however, so we're not ready to start showing them yet. 4. The game's official Title is not going to be CM: Normandy. The title for the game "Family" needs to be more inclusive of its future Modules. We will have an Arnhem Module, for example, so "Normandy" isn't appropriate for the overarching name. However, for now we're keeping it around. 5. NATO has been on hold for the last few months as we have been focused on CM: Normandy and CM: Afghanistan. That will change in January as we start NATO back up again. We do not know if NATO or Normandy will be out first, though we do know Afghanistan will beat both. Another tiny bone for you... We had no REAL idea how the testers would react to CM: Normandy in its current state. Sure, we figured they would enjoy the new setting and have fun playing with the new features. We would have been perfectly happy with that since all current testers are grizzled testing veterans. So imagine our smiles when we actually got huge, positive emotional reactions to all kinds of stuff! We weren't expecting half the reaction we got. That's a good sign that the basics are already in place for exactly the game you guys expect from us. Heh... now we just have to grind our noses for a few months Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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