CM:N OoB, TO&E Approach??

[ChrisND]

A moderate size +1.

Though I fear the worst.

Hey there is always the possibility of some independent company like Snowball picking it up. I hope to see a lot more of that.

[Gpig]

Steve wrote: "But June 1944 TO&E for US Airborne will be in Normandy and not Bulge because by the time Bulge is set that particular unit organization was no longer in use."

I'm guessing there will be a December 1944 US Airborne TO&E with which we'll be able to recreate the 101st Airborne holding Bastogne?

Gpig

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Third parties are welcome to make things I don't care about, like Afghanistan.

As for North Africa, however, if tis nae Scottish, err...Battlefront, tis crrrrrrrrrrrap!

[Battlefront.com]

There are some Epochs that are more popular than others or are more extensive than others. What we've decided to do is focus on Western Front, eastern Front, and Modern as our primary "bread and butter". Other things, like Afghanistan and North Africa, would come on top of the three primary Epochs.

The list of possible "Wildcards" is pretty long. For example, 1940 Western Front, Winter War, PTO, Vietnam, 1980s Cold War, Korean War, etc. are all theoretically possible to do. But unlike Western, Eastern, and Modern these things more or less lend themselves to a single Games without any Modules (like Afghanistan) or perhaps a single Family with a couple of Modules (like PTO or Vietnam). We would like to see at least one Wildcard in development alongside of the three primary Epochs. At the moment we have Afghanistan, which is for almost all practical purposes a finished product.

Steve

[Battlefront.com]

The issue about customers purchasing content or features or both is an old one that is not limited to games or even software. Be it a car, MS Word, iPhone, a laptop, etc. there is always an argument to be made that existing customers should be able to "upgrade" (for free or fee) to keep up with improvements going forward. Some customers think it should be forever, others want a more reasonable timeframe.

With some products this is more practical than others. For example, "upgrading" last year's iPhone basically means getting a whole new iPhone. A car can have some things practically swapped out, but generally such swaps are inordinately expensive or engineeringly impossible. Software, on the other hand, might appear to be easier to upgrade but that's often not the case in reality. Some companies devote resources to offering customers of the last released version a path to upgrade to the current version, but that's usually for software that is priced in the hundreds of dollars. And those upgrades are usually pretty pricey and don't extend back more than one or two versions.

For us, we have decided that a Family is a self contained unit that can not be expanded/extended. This allows us to make certain engineering assumptions during development and eases production problems associated with backwards compatibility. This is even more important when you consider that we're development several Families concurrently. It's already challenging enough to pursue this sort of concurrent development. Adding big headaches and seeds of potential disaster isn't exactly appealing to us

Our strategy is the best possible model. You get more content, quicker, with more improvements at a price that is quite reasonable. True, for someone who is really only interested in one particular Family that person is not going to experience game improvements as frequently as someone who is interested in more than one Family. Since we're focused on supporting a wide range of customer interests, we can not allow ourselves to curtail our broad product release strategy for any one particular interest group.

As someone said, this strategy of ours isn't new. CMBO fans weren't able to experience the improvements of CMBB except by purchasing CMAK a year+ after CMBB's release. And even then, CMAK was not an upgrade for CMBO. It was its own game with its own setting.

Steve

[Battlefront.com]

Steve wrote: "But June 1944 TO&E for US Airborne will be in Normandy and not Bulge because by the time Bulge is set that particular unit organization was no longer in use."

I'm guessing there will be a December 1944 US Airborne TO&E with which we'll be able to recreate the 101st Airborne holding Bastogne?

Gpig

Yup. Off the top of my head I think the December TO&E for 101st was largely the same as the TO&E used for Market Garden, with some equipment allocation changes. The Market Garden TO&E, however, was not the same as the Normandy TO&E.

Steve

[Chops]

Wow, Steve has resurfaced! I guess he is back from his fieldtrip to Normandy where he was recording native birds for the CM:N background sounds. Welcome back and thanks for the latest information on your projected plans for software development.

[Wodin]

Steve,

Just keep plugging away....I have never looked forward to a game the way I am with CMx2 WW2 series...and thats a long game career aswell...

I hope once Normandy is released it's modules come along quite quickly....my only fear is not being around when the East Front games\modules have been done or you all decide to quit or retire before they are released\made.

Thanks for the little update...I hope to be playing Normandy this time next year...I'd be happy with that....with at least one module by the Xmas of 2011.

[Michael Emrys]

"Originally Posted by Sgt Joch

Its not on the drawing board now, but I am hoping we will eventually get North Africa 1940-43. It did not work very well in CMAK, mostly because of borg spotting, but would be great under the CMx2 system."

A huge +1 to this!

Ditto. I was disappointed with CMAK for all the usual reasons, but I would dearly love to see a family of games set in NA and the Med in general. I would even gladly surrender Joe Shaw into slavery for such a family.

Michael

[Clavicula_Nox]

Yup. Off the top of my head I think the December TO&E for 101st was largely the same as the TO&E used for Market Garden, with some equipment allocation changes. The Market Garden TO&E, however, was not the same as the Normandy TO&E.

Steve

Yeah. The main difference was the 12 man squad, compared to the 9-man squad that was authorized for the Normandy jump. Some units in the 82nd, however, were already using 12 man squads for the Normandy jump. Another difference, I believe, was the loss of the 2nd Platoon leader (due to casualties).

The 82nd had stockpiled large amounts of Panzerfausts and operating manuals and was actively using them shortly after jumping into Holland, and they retained their stock during the Ardennes and beyond.

I don't know anything about the 101st; they have always been that "other" Airborne Division.

[Michael Emrys]

I don't know anything about the 101st; they have always been that "other" Airborne Division.

Yeah, as I posted somewhere else a few months back, I find it a little ironic that the 101st. has been hogging the limelight for a while now. I view them as real johnnie-come-latelies as they didn't enter combat until D-Day. The 82nd. was involved in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before they too jumped into Normandy.

Michael

[ChrisND]

Yeah, as I posted somewhere else a few months back, I find it a little ironic that the 101st. has been hogging the limelight for a while now. I view them as real johnnie-come-latelies as they didn't enter combat until D-Day. The 82nd. was involved in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before they too jumped into Normandy.

Michael

I know why they get so much more attention. Two words: Easy Company.

[Barkhorn1x]

I know why they get so much more attention. Two words: Easy Company.

Oh I think the legend was cemented w/ Bastogne and "Nuts!"**

**No doubt cleaned up for the censors.

[Pvt. Ryan]

I don't know anything about the 101st; they have always been that "other" Airborne Division.

A Band of Others

[Wodin]

The 101st is also known for Veitnam...thats where I first heard of them when I was a kid....reading novels and watching films... then many years alter Band of brothers came along...

[mike_the_wino]

Ditto. I was disappointed with CMAK for all the usual reasons, but I would dearly love to see a family of games set in NA and the Med in general. I would even gladly surrender Joe Shaw into slavery for such a family.

Michael

But you would as equally gladly deliver said Joe for a grilled cheese sandwich. Your 'gift' is cheap and cheaply given.

[Michael Emrys]

But you would as equally gladly deliver said Joe for a grilled cheese sandwich. Your 'gift' is cheap and cheaply given.

I was hoping you wouldn't notice. To tell the truth, I'd be happy to give you the grilled cheese sandwich if you would just make him "disappear". I'd even throw in the pickles and potato chips.

Michael

[MarkEzra]

I know why they get so much more attention. Two words: Easy Company.

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82nd James Gavin

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