Quick battle manual map selection?

[LJFHutch]

Will it be at all possible to select maps for quick battles or is it randomized still? It would be great to be able to choose a specific map for a quick battle and have a description/thumbnail. Being able to choose a setup zone for each force would be a nice touch too

[bodkin]

Yes, from what I saw at the preview you can select any of the QB maps available.

So you can start by selecting a medium sized battle (which gives you your spending limit), you then pick your units (with rarity adjustments), then select anywhere from the smallest map to the largest. The version I saw had accompanying thumbnails with the maps and I think there was a preview function as well.

[Sergei]

Maybe the CMBN FEATURES page might answer that?

[QUICK BATTLES]

* Redesigned Quick Battle Generator that includes the ability to "purchase" and "cherry pick" individual units (similar interface as in Editor)

* Unique new optional Rarity system which allows players to include rare units without degrading their ability to have a viable combat force

* Players can now preview maps before playing

* The map can either be manually or randomly selected

[LJFHutch]

I completely missed that, thanks for the info! Should be a very nice addition

[ZPB II]

This is one of the biggest additions in my opinion, since it allows you to play quick battles on large maps with small force sizes, leaving a lot of room to manouver, not to mention having so much more variety and control in general. CMSF and CMA, while having a reasonable amount of maps, in the end for me started to repeat itself quite badly when the force size was tiny or small. Having access to all the maps while keeping the amount of units as such so you can keep track of who dies and what vehicle is hit and when would have been great.

The new QB system is going to revitalize tournament play. Heck, it's going to change the whole game for me. Occasionally when playing CMBO/CMBB via TCP/IP on the CMHQ chat room, I used to pick the cheesiest possible force, usually stuff like massing fast cheap autocannons, the Stuarts with 75mm etc. and rushing forward while hugging the very edge of the map and just blasting the opposing force to bits in the lamest possible way. I had a screenshot collection of the best chat responses, boy, old men can get really angry.

I was like, 15 or 16 at the time so it was seemed like the fun thing to do!

[Paper Tiger]

I played CMBB QBs almost exclusively for X number of years. The last time I played CMBB, I fired up a couple of QBs. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to give a QB map a spin and I couldn't believe how good it all was. I'll be frank and say that CM:BN QBs are proving to be superior in every way to CMBB QBs. (I never played CMAK) Cherry picking your force to your heart's content and then your map... fantastic. We just need some Russians to play with and I'll be back in QB heaven. Expect to see a considerable drop in my CMx2 output in the future as I know I'm going to spend far more time playing QBs than I did in the past.

[Michael Emrys]

This is one of the biggest additions in my opinion, since it allows you to play quick battles on large maps with small force sizes, leaving a lot of room to manouver...

You are of course at liberty to do as you please. Be advised however that that would be ahistorical for the time and place (except for some post-Cobra scenarios). Normandy was a pretty constricted front for the size of the forces involved. Probably one more reason why the Germans held on to it so tenaciously. Once the fighting moved out of the original lodgment, the amount of front the Germans had to defend increased dramatically.

Michael

[MeatEtr]

Here's some info from my QB thread from awhile back.

All game features are done, but not all are polished. We don't like showing things that aren't polished because people tend to freak out about stuff that we can, and probably, will change before release.

As for QBs specifically, they're done and the testers are pretty happy with the end result. Still some rough edges to smooth over, but most of the significant ones have been addressed successfully. There's more that will be changed before release, others will likely find their way in later on. Remember, if we held back releases until the game was 100% what all players want, you'd still be waiting for CMBO

We're confident that we have a better system than was in CMx1 and KNOW we have a better system than was in CM:SF. We expect some CMx1 guys will complain about this or that part of it, but we think overall they will like it. And as time goes on they'll probably find the things they initially objected to weren't all that big of a deal after all. You know... standard "I don't like it because it's different" reactions are bound to happen.

Steve

After reading through this thread I went and took a brief spin in the QB generator. Between map selecting/viewing options, the formation/specialist team/vehicle cherry picker, and even the handy 'suggestions' button it is a joy to operate now. Everything you could hope for. This from someone who was never much of a fan of QBs. If Steve's electing to not advertise it currently that could mean the final product's expected to be even better than what they got running now!

Two ways to check maps at QB startup. If you 'human' select your map you'll get a list of QB maps to chose from. This shows the usual scenario 'opening shot' image which a conscientious map maker would use to include a preview pict of the terrain. In the unit purchase screen you can elect to 3-D preview your map. This helps make sure you're not buying all armor for a tractless forest map or foot infantry for an objective 2km downrange across open ground.

[LJFHutch]

I'm hopeless at intel gathering apparently, watching BN all this time and I missed just about all of that And it's awesome intel at that.