Upgrade for 2015?

[NUTTERNAME]

Looking over the CMBS demo, and the info regarding the "Bulge" module, uh...I mean Family Starter...I wonder if there is going to be an Upgrade for 2015? I really don't see either of these titles generating new features that are applicable. CMBS being futuristical, and Bulge being, well, just the same old 3.0 stuff with artwork.

Perhaps a "Pack"?

I sent 'Moon' an email regarding this situation but haven't heard back from him as of yet. Oh, where or where can he be? Maybe having some beers with Madmatt???

 

[Redwolf]

I thought Madmatt left that show long ago?

 

[NUTTERNAME]

I thought Madmatt left that show long ago?

Yes, he did.

 

[Redwolf]

I had really hoped that by 2015, starting from a 2007 release, there wouldn't be issues with "the tank is so close I can touch it but I can't see it" around anymore.

Disappointing. I don't think that to this day I have any confidence where to point a squad relative to some cover given a certain enemy direction, so that they take advantage of the cover. And that is if the majority of guys in there go where I pointed in the first place, which is not a given either.

The amount of guys that simply stagger around in front of cover is a real immersion breaker. That just doesn't happen. People have natural instincts.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

I had really hoped that by 2015, starting from a 2007 release, there wouldn't be issues with "the tank is so close I can touch it but I can't see it" around anymore.

Disappointing. I don't think that to this day I have any confidence where to point a squad relative to some cover given a certain enemy direction, so that they take advantage of the cover. And that is if the majority of guys in there go where I pointed in the first place, which is not a given either.

The amount of guys that simply stagger around in front of cover is a real immersion breaker. That just doesn't happen. People have natural instincts.

I think the 'cover' issue was part of the Patch for CMRT? Or 3.0 maybe? Supposedly, squads used cover better. They should, since concealment is still an issue. I really wish they would absolutely stop the info-leaks that are in the 'Elite' level of play. Knowing where the HQs and LATW and enemy locations doesn't help the AI defend. I would be OK with the AI having that info, if it helps it fight, but the human needs to be totally dumbed down regarding enemy units.

I read an interesting account of the paras at La Fiere by a bazooka man at the bridge. During the battle, which was intense, he was not even aware of what was happening to his own side's forces. He was not even aware that another bazooka team, on the same side of the bridge as him, had abandoned its damaged weapon and pulled back!

When firing, and being fired at, the whole 'spotting/identification' routines should be curtailed.

In any case, looks like Battlefront has some more pressing DRM issues to attend to before developing 3.0 any further...Maybe Moon is hard at work on this?

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119114-just-bought-v30-and-dont-need-original-cmbn-key/

 

[NUTTERNAME]

I suspect the following is going on with 'Bulge'...

Knowing that this 'Family' starter is very lean on Features, and it is just rehashing vehicles/formations on a gullible market base, BF is actually revamping and fixing the User Interface! This will be such a success that they will make a considerable back-end cash flow from an Upgrade across all CMXX 3.0 Families! This is probably the brain storm from none other than than Moon himself. No wonder he has been so quiet lately. He is hard at work actually doing something!

 

[Redwolf]

I suspect the following is going on with 'Bulge'...

Knowing that this 'Family' starter is very lean on Features, and it is just rehashing vehicles/formations on a gullible market base, BF is actually revamping and fixing the User Interface! This will be such a success that they will make a considerable back-end cash flow from an Upgrade across all CMXX 3.0 Families! This is probably the brain storm from none other than than Moon himself. No wonder he has been so quiet lately. He is hard at work actually doing something!

Hey I would pay for a better UI.

 

[KG_Jag]

Just dropping in. So is the WW2 count for CMx2 = 1 Normandy game, 1 Italy game and 1 East Front game?

Any modules or add-ons? If so are they significant?

 

[Elvis]

Just dropping in. So is the WW2 count for CMx2 = 1 Normandy game, 1 Italy game and 1 East Front game?

Any modules or add-ons? If so are they significant?

That is the correct number of released games. Bulge is being tested now.

Normandy modules
Commonwealth
Market Garden
Vehicle Pack (odds and ends units and no scenarios or campaings...so it's not a module)

Italy
Gustav Line module

Eastern front
No modules

Also, the game engine has been Upgraded twice. Italy was build using the 2.0 engine and the Eastern Front game was made using the 3.0 version of the engine. Both Normandy and Italy can be Upgraded to the 3.0 version of the engine.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Just dropping in. So is the WW2 count for CMx2 = 1 Normandy game, 1 Italy game and 1 East Front game?

Any modules or add-ons? If so are they significant?

2015 has mostly been CMBS as far as family release and two patches.

4thQ 2014 showed a spurt of WWII 'catching up' with CMBN/CMFI getting up to speed with Upgrades. They also did a Pack.

CMRT has been out for a year and a half? They did a patch finally (after 6 months), and that's all they wrote. It is a barren family with no children.

Bulge has not had an announcement yet. It will be "3.xx Technology".

I guess 'The Installers' (sounds like a movie...) was of some note. Another 2014 4thQ spurt.

But, to sum it up, 2015 has been pretty much just play what you bought last year if you like WWII.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Steve addresses the issue regarding what's new and answering questions...

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120161-what-kind-of-engine-improvements-do-you-expect-from-the-bulge-game/page-2

 

[KG_Jag]

Steve addresses the issue regarding what's new and answering questions...

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120161-what-kind-of-engine-improvements-do-you-expect-from-the-bulge-game/page-2

It's like I never left. Can't say I miss it.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

What kind of engine improvements do you expect from the Bulge game ?
Started by Wiggum15 , Yesterday, 11:35 AM
bulge

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#21 What kind of engine improvements do you expect from the Bulge game ?: post #21 Battlefront.com
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Posted Yesterday, 02:22 PM
I am also one who saw this thread and immediately thought "and so it begins, again". Those of us who are observant have noticed, Wiggum, that your threads tend to be pretty much the same:

1. You start off with a random list of whatever floats your boat on a particular day.

2. Your list is presented as "expectations" and they are totally divorced from reality or reasonableness. Or priority or importance or anything else. See point #1.

3. Some people say "yes, I like that! And let me add to the random and impossible list of expectations".

4. Reasonable people come into the thread and explain why the list is random and unrealistic.

5. You don't have a good answer to #4 except to belittle others and us, or simply call people "fanboys". You are sometimes joined by some of the people in #3.

6. This goes on for a while with people who are more reasonable and more informed being attacked for trying to bring some reasonableness to the thread. In the past that has included even people like me, whom you try to reeducate because you think you know more than I do about how to make and market wargames.

7. Eventually it has to be locked because you won't let it go.

8. You start up another thread just like it, often with a completely different list of things and the process starts all over again.

So I'm going to cut this short and go to #7 by locking it.

Note that our patience with this is running very thin. You are extremely aggressive when confronted with anything you disagree with. Which, since you think you know everything, is quite a big area. This forum is not here for that sort of behavior. If you fail to understand this then your time on this Forum will come to an end.

As for what new things are going to be in the game... modest improvements. The Bulge is not the basis of an engine upgrade (i.e. v4.0). We've already stated this.

Steve

Wow. Steve can't take it that he is being called out for passing off a "Family" product as nothing more than a "modest improvement". He muddies up the issue by stating "The Bulge is not the basis of an engine upgrade (i.e. v4.0)". Yeah, no shlt, and that isn't the point. The point is that "The Bulge" is not only lean goods, it isn't even 'Family-Worthy'. Along with CMBS, Bulge just is stretching the old taffy too far.

Steve seems a bit irritable again, maybe a vacation might help? (or did he just come back from one? its hard to tell given the lack of posts....). Anyway, I predict a LONG time till we see some product. And an even LONGER time till we see any upgrade.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Perhaps we can catch Steve in one of his near-truths?

Besides new content we are starting work on Upgrade 4.0 very soon. We aren't sure when it will be ready for release, or specifically what will be in it yet, though we do have a long list based on your suggestions, so no worries there. What I can say is we're focusing this Upgrade on long standing requests. I can think of one that was first suggested sometime around 1998

So, did something just skip a groove?, as I understand it, Upgrades are from Family starters that have features that are retroactively available to earlier Families. So, what's this Upgrade 4.0 again?

There is no product management. And they just lap it up at fanboy-central.

 

[Elvis]

Perhaps we can catch Steve in one of his near-truths?

So, did something just skip a groove?, as I understand it, Upgrades are from Family starters that have features that are retroactively available to earlier Families. So, what's this Upgrade 4.0 again?

Ya never know. Remember how 2.0 was introduced? I have no insider information about it.....just saying.....

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Ya never know. Remember how 2.0 was introduced? I have no insider information about it.....just saying.....

CMFI dropped with the 2.0, so it was a Family starter that rev'd up the game engine. And then CMBN became the first Family starter that received an Upgrade (and finally a decent machine gun patch). But BF has stated, quite clearly, that Bulge is a family starter that is not reving up the game engine (V4.0).

They are rightfully taking some heat for this and it shows in the Steve/Fanboyz attacks on any dissenting voice and Steve banning people. I just laugh at the harassment someone like Kettler takes from LukeFF. I suppose being one of "Steve's Sixty" fanboy/Testers, they get away with murder, while someone like BLSTK (or however its spelled), gets a banning.

CMFI sort of dropped out of the blue. I sense that there are internal factors that have tripped up the whole product schedule. Bulge seems to not bring an Upgrade, yet has had problems that eat up months. Moon has flew away like a Canary, possibly creating actual work for Steve (well, I can't say for sure since I considered him dead weight anyway).

In any case, can an Upgrade be a 'Stand-Alone' product? That is, having original features and content NOT yet put in a Family starter (and installable in all the families?)? Hopefully it will include a better UI and other crap that they say and never really do. I believe they said they will do a 'ambush' type command. Something that keeps the fidgety troops from blowing the ambush. I was hoping for a restricted covered arc angle and the troops put in hide mode, yet they have spotting abilities inside the covered arc. How long has that been said and not done? I really don't care that much for full-movie replays and other pie in the sky eye candy. I want to play this game without the constant drudgery that it takes to command larger formations busted up into sections.

 

[Elvis]

CMFI dropped with the 2.0, so it was a Family starter that rev'd up the game engine.

Exactly. There is a precedent for an un-announced game introducing a new version of the engine. I'm not saying that it is going to happen because I have no idea but, if it did, it wouldn't be the first time.

I'd like a better UI, I'm just not sure what exactly about it that I'd like to see changed. I'm with you regarding full game replay. I can't imagine ever using something like that. Now WeGo TCP with replay? There's something that I would beg for.

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Exactly. There is a precedent for an un-announced game introducing a new version of the engine. I'm not saying that it is going to happen because I have no idea but, if it did, it wouldn't be the first time.

I'd like a better UI, I'm just not sure what exactly about it that I'd like to see changed. I'm with you regarding full game replay. I can't imagine ever using something like that. Now WeGo TCP with replay? There's something that I would beg for.

A better UI is really leaning more towards a 'patch' than some product at this point. The UI is probably the same for all Families. Still, I would fund it. The game gets to be a drag and many times, I just don't feel like it, and it becomes as much fun as sanding furniture. Since the impression is that they are already chugging away with all hands, they should bring in a contract programmer that would just work on the UI.

I would like many things but simple improvements:

1. Move the damn unit panel on the bottom and put it to the sides (split it). The middle of the screen, especially height-wise, is prime real estate for seeing the battlefield. Do it! NOW!!!

2. Fix or make the screen rotation slower or adjustable. Bumping the screen edge jerks the screen around and is just annoying. Fix it! NOW!

3. Make higher HQ symbols representative of the command. Basically have a single bar for Platoon HQ, two bars for Company (Captain), etc. Would that take months of programming? NO! DO IT! NOW!!!

4. Have some means to select a unit and get an approximate area that it can possibly have LOS to. Not absolute, but just a general sense of field of view. The game makes 'seeing' and positioning units excruciatingly time consuming and BORING. Stop being BORING! NOW!!! Stop aleardy, you boring aszholes!!!!

 

[Wiggum]

Hi !

Im the "Wiggum15" from the BFC forums who started all the recent "heat" over there.
I guess without me posting requests and pointing out issues over and over again we would not have heard anything from Steve.
I got some discussions going at the BFC forums about their whole business model and the lack of progress the engine made since 2007 (CMSF).

That came not without a price...
Steve already threatened to ban me two times and im pretty much on every fanboys ignore-list...

 

[NUTTERNAME]

Hi !

Im the "Wiggum15" from the BFC forums who started all the recent "heat" over there.
I guess without me posting requests and pointing out issues over and over again we would not have heard anything from Steve.
I got some discussions going at the BFC forums about their whole business model and the lack of progress the engine made since 2007 (CMSF).

That came not without a price...
Steve already threatened to ban me two times and im pretty much on every fanboys ignore-list...

So, who do you think is the biggest load over there that gets away with shlt? The people tormenting Kettler are mostly fanboy/play-testers I think. Wait till they found out you posted here. Hahahahah.

In any case, I am not sure that Steve really said much. Just the strange order by which they will develop product in a linear fashion. What ever happened to them developing in parallel? Or was that just "Steve-Speak"? Steve talks in parallel, out both sides of his mouth. He claims product is ready when its ready, just like the bridges in Market Garden were ready. I have to laugh at his "We hoped to release Bulge months ago"...So, I take that as the system is not working as planned. It just doesn't jive that Bulge will have minimal improvements, and its taking longer? I could see if there were a whole bunch of features, and the need to look at previous Families compatibility, etc., but it just creates more doubt about what they are doing and when it will be available. People are not asking for his innermost personal details, they are making product and people are waiting to buy it.