First Impressions

[General_solomon]

BFC did you really have to release this while i am at work until friday???? hopefully you will allow the full release by the time i get home friday evening.

[GhostRider3/3]

They won't just spontaneously pick up the weapon, but if you buddy aid the dead and wounded there's a reasonable chance they'll grab the MG while they're applying bandages and injecting morphine.

To use Buddy Aid... do you simply move Alive soldiers over the wounded, or move them next to the wounded to perform buddy aid?

[Sergei]

To use Buddy Aid... do you simply move Alive soldiers over the wounded, or move them next to the wounded to perform buddy aid?

They need to be in the same square, but they might hesitate if they are under fire or demoralized or if they know there are enemies within about 100 meters. So it works best in safe conditions, and it might take time to activate.

[xian]

I'm loving the demo a lot so far... soooo good to get CM back on Mac!

this isn't a gripe - just a query...

Just wanted to know what the reasons were for not including the following ?

1) clicking on a waypoint to move it - including this feature would improve gameplay, by not having to re-issue an order for minor movement changes.

2) show all targets hotkey - there is a hotkey to show all movement lines but not for target lines? I am finding this difficult to get used to (I end up having to click on every single unit when my memory of what is targeting what fails me)

3) Last known positions of spotted enemies - these sometimes disappear (there is probably a good reason for this that I haven't worked out yet)

4) Armour penetration tables - loved this feature in CM1. It didn't get in the way unless you wanted it - and I usually did.

I'd love to know the reasons behind the decision to leave these features out of CM:BN.

Good Work Battlefront.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

OK ... guys... playing the game with spotting tied to difficulty means that the game is more annoying.. not harder

1. if I playing on veteran and a rifle squad sees and enemy unit and then I click on another on my units, say a scout car. Just because the scout car is to far away to see or hear what the rifle squad can does not prevent ME - "the player" the one who is issuing orders every turn to "know" where the enemy is.

2. If even one of my units can see or hear an enemy it should always be marked on my map so that i see the overall tactical situation.

3. Since I can give orders to ANY unit at ANY time in real time play or every turn in turn based play... the idea of making me click on each unit to see what it sees does not add challenge or alter my tactics since I still retain the "GOD MODE" camera abilities to look all over the battle map and make decisions. WHAT it does is make me take extra time and slow down the game...

4 . Please make spotting a separate option so I can play the game against higher level AI without the time consuming BS of clicking on each unit every turn to see what it can see.

Uh, there is no higher level AI.

The "difficulty" level are realism levels instead. One hand not knowing what the other is doing is very much the way armies do things. This relative spotting models that difficulty to coordinate between units.

Part of your task as a commander is to use your omniscient presence to ensure everyone is in position to support the others when push comes to shove.

IMHO it is preferred to every unit on the map instantly seeing and taking out a well hidden opponent even though only one unit ever really "saw" it. That frequently devolves in to shoving firepower at the enemy. Relative spotting requires tactics.

Once you get used to it I hope you will learn to use and enjoy it because the enemy AI suffers from the same thing.

Oh, and hi and welcome to the forums.

[Barrold]

Giggety...just giggety...giggety, giggety...giggety...

BFS5

[Elmar Bijlsma]

I'm loving the demo a lot so far... soooo good to get CM back on Mac!

this isn't a gripe - just a query...

Just wanted to know what the reasons were for not including the following ?

1) clicking on a waypoint to move it - including this feature would improve gameplay, by not having to re-issue an order for minor movement changes.

2) show all targets hotkey - there is a hotkey to show all movement lines but not for target lines? I am finding this difficult to get used to (I end up having to click on every single unit when my memory of what is targeting what fails me)

3) Last known positions of spotted enemies - these sometimes disappear (there is probably a good reason for this that I haven't worked out yet)

4) Armour penetration tables - loved this feature in CM1. It didn't get in the way unless you wanted it - and I usually did.

I'd love to know the reasons behind the decision to leave these features out of CM:BN.

Good Work Battlefront.

1,2,4 are indeed much requested feature. The first two are on BFC's to-Do list. But it is a long list. 4 is more doubtful if we ever see it again. AFAIK apparently a lot of work for a bit of UI BFC thinks we don't really need.

3) They disappear over time if I recall, but mostly it will be because that unit was seen elsewhere.

[vincere]

Late work night and slow download so only had a go at tutorial and look at others.

Love the look and feel including briefing.And objective points in briefing.

Loved a slowly developing and then attritional infantry firefight over many minutes.

Found it cool my tank crew panicing, bugging out saved their skin 'cause then next AT round brewed the tank.

Seemed to be more stationary animations going some way to bring pix troops to life.

Forgot it was not modern US and mortars Hq ran out of c2 so delayed fire mission on AT.

Very impressive and enjoyable. Thank you Battlefront and testers.

addition. Had a brief graphic glitch of white squares in briefing and game text. Reloading sorted it.

[Vinnart]

Still playing around with it, but first impressions are very good. I like the way the on map arty works. The GUI looks great too. Olive green color, and some more integers for exact numbers of ammo are improvements. Briefing screen is laid out better, and more informative than CMSF. Also is easier to read. Return of Hit text is great too. Now, just have to add some other great things from Cmx1 like floor/passenger status.

On the negative side I was hoping I would see better draw distance performance over CMSF, but it is not horrible. Same with fame rates. Seem to get better with CMSF. Unit Icon size is better size as they look a bit smaller than CMSF, but prefer red for Germans since it makes silluette pop better. When gray is dull it is a bit hard to see silluette. Not sure of all the grass terrain, but the one for demo training mission looks a bit too vibrant in color and unnatural. The grass color for Syrope terrain mod looks more realistic IMO. Stuff like that is no big deal as I am sure there will be plenty of mods for changing terrains. The last thing I wish were different is the hit/armor information. It just seems a bit too cut and dry for WWII where range had to do with being able to penetrate or not. Personally I prefer the Cmx1 approach with the color coded system, and hit/range info given via the enter key.

Overall look forward to getting the full game!

[Vinnart]

1,2,4 are indeed much requested feature. The first two are on BFC's to-Do list. But it is a long list. 4 is more doubtful if we ever see it again. AFAIK apparently a lot of work for a bit of UI BFC thinks we don't really need.

3) They disappear over time if I recall, but mostly it will be because that unit was seen elsewhere.

Bump to ALL those features. 3. would be especially great for RTS play when the player can miss enemy icon identifications that the WEGO has no problem seeing via rewinding.

[hoolaman]

OK ... guys... playing the game with spotting tied to difficulty means that the game is more annoying.. not harder

3. Since I can give orders to ANY unit at ANY time in real time play or every turn in turn based play... the idea of making me click on each unit to see what it sees does not add challenge or alter my tactics since I still retain the "GOD MODE" camera abilities to look all over the battle map and make decisions. WHAT it does is make me take extra time and slow down the game...

You will never be able to get away from the god effect without an AI that plays the game for you while you play the batallion CO and sit in a tent and get garbled status reports. This would make the game a "command" game which is not the intention.

Relative spotting prevents you from firing directly on an unspotted unit, and also allows you to "roleplay" a little bit. Set yourself a rule to not area fire with a unit unless a ? is achieved, or whatever. Or don't divert from your original plan unless more intel is received etc.

The relative spotting does prevent the TacAI from responding to a threat it hasn't spotted with its own "eyes".

As JonS said the view when you have no units selected is the "global" view, which shows any fully spotted units and all ? icons.

[sross112]

Thank you.

I am especially happy with the ammo numbers instead of a gauge.

Looks very nice overall and can't wait for the release!!

[Sgt Schultz]

Lovin' it.

Working 10+ hours a day six days a week now(ofc), so not too much time to play with it.

I am as happy as I knew I would be, and am glad I pre-ordered.

-

[DaveyJJ]

I'm now only 1/3 for tutorial mission ... pesky Germans. Loving this. Must pay attention to HE ammo for the mortar's through as I managed once to run one of the teams out. But great firefights in the bocage my last run through.

[gunnersman]

Cmbn

Winning!

[aka_tom_w]

OK ... guys... playing the game with spotting tied to difficulty means that the game is more annoying.. not harder

1. if I playing on veteran and a rifle squad sees and enemy unit and then I click on another on my units, say a scout car. Just because the scout car is to far away to see or hear what the rifle squad can does not prevent ME - "the player" the one who is issuing orders every turn to "know" where the enemy is.

2. If even one of my units can see or hear an enemy it should always be marked on my map so that i see the overall tactical situation.

3. Since I can give orders to ANY unit at ANY time in real time play or every turn in turn based play... the idea of making me click on each unit to see what it sees does not add challenge or alter my tactics since I still retain the "GOD MODE" camera abilities to look all over the battle map and make decisions. WHAT it does is make me take extra time and slow down the game...

4 . Please make spotting a separate option so I can play the game against higher level AI without the time consuming BS of clicking on each unit every turn to see what it can see.

OK

this has sort of been answered already, but again there is NO higher level AI.

Period.

There is a scenario editor and the scenario designers give multiple attack or defense plans to each side in a scenario so the game JUST executes what the scenario designer sets out in the scenario editor. When you get the FULL game you too can try your hand at this black art. All actions of the opposing AI (if its not a human opponent) are programed by a human scenario designer. ALWAYS

The full Game comes with many, many premade QB maps that have AI plans sketched out for that given map for both the US and German side, and most maps have multiple plans for each side, so the game is not inventing grand strategy on the fly, it's programed by the scenario designer (a human thinking strategy guru presumably ).

The Fog of War levels are intended to be JUST that, FOG of WAR levels meaning a more realistic experience can be enjoyed if you chose the FOW level of Iron or Elite.

Basic Training helps folks learn the basics of the game is more "gamer" friendly because it speeds up the action of recovery and things generally happen at a fast pace BUT the AI is not less smart or stupid. (it can't be.)

Basically when playing against the computer in a scenario or QB (in the Full game) a real person has already directed the activity of the AI to do certian things and move in certain ways at certain times. The AI cannot be made more difficult or any less challenging with a user defined choice or option.

BUT the user does have the opportunity to CHOOSE the level of Fog of War (or spotting) they are most comfortable with. I prefer the reality of Elite personally, because I find the lack of friendly unit identification in Iron to be a little annoying. IMHO FWIW YMMV

[BroodingPhobos]

I can not believe how awesome it is. I was so worried about the fundamentals. Playing in real-time will take some getting use to, but turn-based is amazing. I maxed out the graphics and only noticed a little dip in my FPS and only when all hell has broken loose. Cheers friends, this is the only game I will be playing for a long, long, long time.

[MikeyD]

if I playing on veteran and...

Ah, there's your problem right there. There's no shame in playing the inexperienced levels, especially when you're inexperienced. You've been playing the game for less than 24 hours so far.

[Coaxial Puppet]

I have been having a blast with the demo.

I never played any of the CMSF as I am now a mac user.

its good to be back in Normandy.

Time sure has passed, I was just a young teen when the CMBO beta demo was released.

I'm just happy it runs on my computer and so I went and put my order in.

I look forward to getting destroyed by all of you once the full game is out.

[Federico]

I try it a couple of turns on we go and it runs very well. Im waiting for the full version.

A question: we don´t have the info of the casualties inflicted by a particular unit right?

Tks

[akd]

I try it a couple of turns on we go and it runs very well. Im waiting for the full version.

A question: we don´t have the info of the casualties inflicted by a particular unit right?

Tks

Yes, if you click on a unit while reviewing the map at the end of a scenario, kills for that unit during the battle will be shown in the lower left of the screen.

[Ranger33]

What can I say, it's everything I expected and more. Honestly I was just expecting CMSF with a WW2 skin and few new features (which would have been fine). This game is definitely a step up from CMSF in every way. Everything simply has a better flow to it, from the trees to the improved animations, to the slight changes in the UI. All of this along with improved overall performance, I'm totally in love already.

I beat the training scenario without much trouble and managed a rather ugly victory in the Falaise (?) Pocket mission as the Germans. Saving the last scenario for tomorrow, as something to play while the full game downloads (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

If there is one tiny area I could criticize it would be the sound, some of it is great, but some of it feels very generic and meh. But there will be mods for that so no worries.

Edit: Okay couldn't help myself and tried out the Busting the Bocage scenario, where things promptly went sour and I decided it was time for bed lol. But I noticed one definite bug, one of my Rhino tanks tore out a hole in the bocage as expected, but the others either went through or simply created (I'm not sure) the smaller holes (door sized) that the soldiers use. In both cases where I saw this I had edged the tank right up to the bocage and then gave it another order to move through to the otherside.

I also had a question about the surrendering, I seem to remember from the AARs that their comrades can come back and free them, but I was also under the impression that if enemy forces move close then they are "disappeared" from the map and can't be recovered. I might just be mistaken about this though.

[sburke]

it is almost cinematic. Just finished my first run through of the tutorial. Successfully leveraged the Germans out of position and learned how bad it can be to be flanked in a hedgerow. Pretty much a shooting gallery as they flee looking for a way out. However the best part (worst for me) was when two of my squads were pinning a couple fleeing Wehrmacht units in the sunken road at the end of the map. I thought they were pretty much down and out as units were already surrendering. This one team of 5 guys has 4 of them surrender. The last guy who was safe on the other side of the hedgerow tosses a pair of potato mashers, one at each squad and takes out 4 of my men including a squad leader. He wasn't allowed to surrender :-P I have to give my guys credit - they allowed the other 4 to surrender. LOL I had already seen a couple not surrender fast enough and die with their hands in the air. Just absolutely awesome guys, I really can't say much more than that, just absolutely stunning.

[Sixxkiller]

Ah, there's your problem right there. There's no shame in playing the inexperienced levels, especially when you're inexperienced. You've been playing the game for less than 24 hours so far.

I play on warrior by default. Its the best mix of fun and realism IMHO. I still lose or eek out slim victories regularly.

[Waycool]

I noticed the German soldat have gaiters very cool to see as I think the beta screens had all as jack booted. The demo is a blast love the look and feel of the battles. An awesome job by all concerned and I know it will only get better.