Steve Mini-Interview by ACG About CM Afghanistan

Palantir

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Nice subtle PR interview, no depth but it at least shows some progress in being made in the CM world which is good news.
 

dalem

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Yeah, I had no idea that CMSF is regarded as a "classic" like the original CMx1 games. :) Learn something new every day I guess.

-dale
 

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I think he meant Classic as in- unusal examples of their kind (type of PC game), not as in the Classic - the best of their kind or he would have certainly excluded CM:SF from the list. But then, SF is a rather old game now.
 

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I notice that he didn't even answer the few questions he was given fully. What was the reason behind the QB system adopted in CMSF?

For me, that interview is simply a free pre-advert for a CMSF spin off. I don't see anything in CMA that's not already in CMSF. It looks simply like some new skins and a few different weapons dialled in. However, I remember Elvis saying it played different but until I try that Demo I won't really know.

Anyways, no substance there for me.
 

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I notice that he didn't even answer the few questions he was given fully. What was the reason behind the QB system adopted in CMSF?

For me, that interview is simply a free pre-advert for a CMSF spin off. I don't see anything in CMA that's not already in CMSF. It looks simply like some new skins and a few different weapons dialled in. However, I remember Elvis saying it played different but until I try that Demo I won't really know.

Anyways, no substance there for me.
Different TO&E and different weapons do make things play and feel very differently. While the difference between US army 8 man SBCT squads and 9 man MOUT squads are small (but noticable), you really notice the difference once you switch to marines, or again to the Brits. The different vehicles also make a huge difference of course, but even if you limit yourself to pure infantry battles you find the capabilities and tactics for each kind of platoon are very different.

And I've probably said before, but all previews and interviews are essentially adverts, and in most cases an interview is probably composed by both people involved as an article in the form of an interview, rather than the result of actually interviewing the person. Although I'd expect the armchair general to have less of an incestous relationship with the game producers than is usual in the industry; wargaming tends to attract obsessive geeks who put a higher value on accuracy (and grudge bearing) so magazines have more to lose by being in the pocket of the publishers.
 

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Doesn't sound like the interviewer ever actually touched any of these games in question.

I think I'll let my ACG subscription slide. Sniff. I am a first-issue contiguous subscribe :(
 

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Different TO&E and different weapons do make things play and feel very differently. While the difference between US army 8 man SBCT squads and 9 man MOUT squads are small (but noticable), you really notice the difference once you switch to marines, or again to the Brits. The different vehicles also make a huge difference of course, but even if you limit yourself to pure infantry battles you find the capabilities and tactics for each kind of platoon are very different.

And I've probably said before, but all previews and interviews are essentially adverts, and in most cases an interview is probably composed by both people involved as an article in the form of an interview, rather than the result of actually interviewing the person. Although I'd expect the armchair general to have less of an incestous relationship with the game producers than is usual in the industry; wargaming tends to attract obsessive geeks who put a higher value on accuracy (and grudge bearing) so magazines have more to lose by being in the pocket of the publishers.
Yes. I fully agre. With everything you say there. I think my meaning may have been lost in my writing. What I meant was I don't see any difference in the game from CMSF. It could be just another Module. It looks exactly the same, there don't seem to be any advances. Why not advertise any of these?

Water, for example, is this not supposed to be in there? Why not give us something about it? Simply put, I'm not convinced that this will bring a different experience from CMSF from playing the Syrians Vs Insurgents.
 

Michael Dorosh

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Yes. I fully agre. With everything you say there. I think my meaning may have been lost in my writing. What I meant was I don't see any difference in the game from CMSF. It could be just another Module. It looks exactly the same, there don't seem to be any advances. Why not advertise any of these?

Water, for example, is this not supposed to be in there? Why not give us something about it? Simply put, I'm not convinced that this will bring a different experience from CMSF from playing the Syrians Vs Insurgents.
The very first image caption reads: "Unlike the more lightly armed and decentralized unconventional forces in Combat Mission's Syrian campaign, the Afghan guerillas are very well organized."

What does that even mean? Conventional company structure? I still don't understand how the communication/C&C works and I'm not sure if many players do. Is this what is being referred to? They mention it again in the article, but don't talk about the actual ways in which this "organization" is modelled in the game or the impacts it has on decision making or how the game is played. Steve is OOB obsessed - we've seen it in the QB system and the purchase screens for DYO - but what does it mean once the game starts?
 

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The very first image caption reads: "Unlike the more lightly armed and decentralized unconventional forces in Combat Mission's Syrian campaign, the Afghan guerillas are very well organized."
It's garbage, plain and simple.

As I said that guy never played the game.
 

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Not much to learn, except that BF thinks it is close enough to a release date to do an interview about the upcoming game--their second using the CM x 2 (2.5?) engine and first developed by a third party.

Link:

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/combat-mission-shock-force-afghanistan-interview.htm
Hooray!!! oh wait...I now see it is CM Afghantistan...

D'oh! I misread the thread title and I thought it was regarding CM Normandy.

Call me Mr. RemedialEnglishComprehensionClass
 

Patrocles

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"Armchair General: The original three Combat Mission games plus Combat Mission Shock Force and its expansions, have been almost universally acknowledged as classics of the PC-war-game genre."

true! 3 out of 4 core games being seeing as a classic ain't baaad!
:)
 

wengart

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The very first image caption reads: "Unlike the more lightly armed and decentralized unconventional forces in Combat Mission's Syrian campaign, the Afghan guerillas are very well organized."
Just due to the first bit
Unlike the more lightly armed and decentralized unconventional forces in Combat Mission's Syrian campaign
I would assume the Mujahideen would have larger formations, more dedicated specialist teams, such as MMG/HMG teams, snipers, AT teams, and a stronger combined arms aspect most likely focusing on mortars and long range AT than CM:SF's UnCons.

But, you know what they say about assuming...
 

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Yes. I fully agre. With everything you say there. I think my meaning may have been lost in my writing. What I meant was I don't see any difference in the game from CMSF. It could be just another Module. It looks exactly the same, there don't seem to be any advances. Why not advertise any of these?

Water, for example, is this not supposed to be in there? Why not give us something about it? Simply put, I'm not convinced that this will bring a different experience from CMSF from playing the Syrians Vs Insurgents.
The list of features for Afghanistan includes several new engine features: Drozd active defense (to intercept incoming RPGs), new terrain (water and snow most significantly, and poppy fields in one screenshot), exit zones as an objective, various new vehicles - the webiste touts "Multi-barreled rapid-fire cannon (e.g. ZSU-23 Shilka, Kamaz ZU-23)" as a new engine feature.

Those all require new features added to the main game engine, and aren't the sort of thing intended to be put out in modules, which are all about new TO&E and equipment (and missions).

But of course, given the high degree of overlap between Soviet equipment and the Syrian stuff already in CMSF - and a fair amount of similar terrain -, Afghanistan does kind of sit on the blurry boundary between module and game release.
 

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The list of features for Afghanistan includes several new engine features: Drozd active defense (to intercept incoming RPGs), new terrain (water and snow most significantly, and poppy fields in one screenshot), exit zones as an objective, various new vehicles - the webiste touts "Multi-barreled rapid-fire cannon (e.g. ZSU-23 Shilka, Kamaz ZU-23)" as a new engine feature.

Those all require new features added to the main game engine, and aren't the sort of thing intended to be put out in modules, which are all about new TO&E and equipment (and missions).

But of course, given the high degree of overlap between Soviet equipment and the Syrian stuff already in CMSF - and a fair amount of similar terrain -, Afghanistan does kind of sit on the blurry boundary between module and game release.
I guess then that the proof will be in the new game, the Demo will be the key for me.
 

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SG: No. That would require merging CM-SF and CM-Afghanistan together into one game. Currently there are no plans to do that—although you’re not the first one to ask. (Smiling).
Does that means no merging of WWII modules planned either........so, then they will all be stand alone modules. That concept is decades old.

I think he may be the only one smiling after that interview....

Good Hunting.

MR
 

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I thought the WWII would be US vs Germany was a game and adding the UK vs Germany is a module. Soviet vs Germany is a game and adding Italy would be a module. And so on. We may find out someday...
 

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I can't believe that anyone still thinks that anything BFC says about their plans is valid for the next 3 months, let alone the next 3 years. As others have pointed out, it's been 3 years since CMSF limped onstage - IF they get a WWII game out, rewrite everything you've read up until then.

-dale
 

Michael Dorosh

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I can't believe that anyone still thinks that anything BFC says about their plans is valid for the next 3 months, let alone the next 3 years. As others have pointed out, it's been 3 years since CMSF limped onstage - IF they get a WWII game out, rewrite everything you've read up until then.

-dale
Are we all seriously still expecting not one, but three releases to occur - and imminently at that? Afghanistan, NATO and Normandy?

I wonder why we're doing that. I mean, everyone but dalem.
 

dalem

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Are we all seriously still expecting not one, but three releases to occur - and imminently at that? Afghanistan, NATO and Normandy?

I wonder why we're doing that. I mean, everyone but dalem.
:)

Seriously, and with zero hate, vitriol, or extremism:

We're coming up on a solid 3 years since CMSF: July something, right? 2 modules (I think) released to mediocre response and a third promised but openly back-burnered since then. A variant game stealth-announced wth a Russian partner designer, also seemingly delayed. Multiple target dates for their presumed flagship release - a WWII game - needlessly announced and shamefully missed with no notice. A few essentially meaningless screenshots produced which hold no H2O: where is water, a bridge, an on-map 60mm mortar team? Not even a title or battle focus announced beyond "Normandy after D-Day", which covers a helluva lot of territory, time, and units, even limiting it to U.S. forces.

At this point a statement from BFC is required. No apologies, no mea culpas are necessary, (but they wouldn't go amiss either), but a "where are we now" update is the bare minimum that BFC owes its few remaining fans and supporters.

Of course, given their track record, a warehouse full of CDs could be waiting to ship tomorrow for a surprise release, but these long periods of "shut up and leave me alone" are NOT professional, and in today's market of Twitter, blogs, open periodic conference calls, and instant marketing, such a dearth of information is, whether they know it or not, embarrassing.

-dale
 
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