Why micromanagement in a company-level game is not desirable

[dalem]

We can check this thread in a year or so, assuming there is a Normandy game out of BFC, and see if I'm right, but I think that no matter what they release it's going to hit with a quiet "sploop" as opposed to a healthy "splash!" and sink right to the bottom of the pond.

-dale

Hmm... Found this looking for something else. Still no CMN forum, although there is now a CM:A forum.

Question: Have they even announced the real name of the Normandy game?

-dale

 

[Mad Russian]

Does CMAK or CMBB save plots so that you can make moves and then send to another player who then makes his and then can advance the game turn?

If it does, people should be able to play multi command games in CMAK or CMBB with two-three players per side for larger games.

Cheers!

Leto

I have a CMAK scenario that is designed for 3 players. One Allied player does his move and saves it. Sends it to the other Allied player and he does his moves and sends it to the Axis player. Axis player responds and they start all over again.

Works out okay. It was fun to play. A LOT OF TRUST GOES INTO PLAYING THAT WAY THOUGH.

In my scenario the two Allied commanders had no contact. So you have to set the map to where you only look at your own forces. No communications and no looking at the other players orders.

A lot of trust issues. When played that way though it was tremendous fun.

Good Hunting.

MR

 

[Jeph]

Even if BFC can't implement the sort of complex Co-Op play that was talked about in the past, I think at least a referee functionality would be very useful.

A referee in PBEM could place or modify orders coming in and decide whether the players are playing their units in a realistic manner. You could then have things like units getting lost, firing at shadows or friendlies etc. You could also have any number of players controlling either a single squad or a single company.

The already present friendly spotting would make it easy to see who belongs to whom and what spotting and targeting info is available. Because there is currently no AI area fire, and no area fire or arty fire outside of LOS, this C&C spotting info currently only has any usefulness if it is used by a human to role-play what a unit can see and do.

Without more complex coding a referee situation is a good way to make more use of that.

 

[Sgt_Kelly]

I can't see that working at all.

How is the referee going to judge if a set of orders was done with the player only using his 'own' knowledge ? There's no way you can tell. Besides every game would break down into a gang-up on the referee. "You had no reason to nix my orders !". Good luck with that.

 

[Jeph]

Maybe so, but it really depends only on the goodwill of the people playing. Probably it wouldn't have much broad commercial appeal anyway, which is the reason I'd guess any form of co-op multiplayer will never be implemented in a CM game.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Hmm... Found this looking for something else. Still no CMN forum, although there is now a CM:A forum.

Question: Have they even announced the real name of the Normandy game?

-dale

Just started rereading this thread, wondering why someone would bump this.

I was browsing BFC yesterday and noticed pleas for a CM:N forum again, and a response from Steve saying they preferred conversation to stay grouped. I think I may have stumbled on the answer in January 2009 though. As soon as they split the Normandy conversations off, the CM:SF stuff becomes truly orphaned. Theoretically, the NATO stuff will still be on the horizon, but it might be embarrassing if the majority of traffic switches to the 'bread and butter' forum.

 

[Elvis]

Just started rereading this thread, wondering why someone would bump this.

I was browsing BFC yesterday and noticed pleas for a CM:N forum again, and a response from Steve saying they preferred conversation to stay grouped. I think I may have stumbled on the answer in January 2009 though. As soon as they split the Normandy conversations off, the CM:SF stuff becomes truly orphaned. Theoretically, the NATO stuff will still be on the horizon, but it might be embarrassing if the majority of traffic switches to the 'bread and butter' forum.

I have been given a different explanation about the forum but either way I would assume you are correct about the traffic decreasing in the CMSF forum when that CMN one opens.

 

[Geordie]

I have been given a different explanation about the forum but either way I would assume you are correct about the traffic decreasing in the CMSF forum when that CMN one opens.

Looking at the traffic over the past couple of weeks shows that theres not much activity about either game at BF. If they made another forum it would just mean two dead spaces instead of one. I noticed that even the CM-A forum is pretty much dead.

It seems theres just nothing to keep much more than the hard core few interested. The few that are left seem to have a remit to defend the faith at every turn though!

Once CMN is released some time in 2050 all will be rosey again though. Im beginnng to wonder if BF may go broke before they manage to get another game out, cant be easy trying to do everything and buy food for the table and its a long time since the Brit Module came out.

 

[Elvis]

Looking at the traffic over the past couple of weeks shows that theres not much activity about either game at BF. If they made another forum it would just mean two dead spaces instead of one. I noticed that even the CM-A forum is pretty much dead.

It has been an extremely busy time so that doesn't surprise me. Without new information being released conversations either stop or end up being about things covered already. Once things slow a little I would expect more info to be released.

On a similar topic, my recent computer crash lost a DLC for Dragon Age. I posted a question on the tech forum and my post was at the bottom of page 2 in about an hour. And that was just the tech support forum. Talk about forum action. I haven't even peeked into the regular forum. If I thought us war game people were geeks I can only imagine what things are like in there.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

It has been an extremely busy time so that doesn't surprise me. Without new information being released conversations either stop or end up being about things covered already. Once things slow a little I would expect more info to be released.

On a similar topic, my recent computer crash lost a DLC for Dragon Age. I posted a question on the tech forum and my post was at the bottom of page 2 in about an hour. And that was just the tech support forum. Talk about forum action. I haven't even peeked into the regular forum. If I thought us war game people were geeks I can only imagine what things are like in there.

Clientelle is only part of the equation. Forum administrators having clear respect for the people who post there make up a large part of the difference about how well a forum is frequented. We've talked about BFC in that regard but there are better examples. I noticed boardgamegeek just reformated and put all the wargame stuff in a "subdomain". Not a bad idea in itself, but there are no intuitive visible cues in the main site and forum areas, so it's like a puzzle hunt to find the new forum area. There was no discussion that I recall with forum members. They just kind of "Facebooked" everyone and redesigned without any notice. It's their prerogative, and it isn't a horrible change, but users can feel marginalized pretty easily without at least a tiny bit of consultation beyond vague "news notices" in the support sub-forum. The most popular image uploads there also seem to be the ones where losers - I don't like that term and tend not to use it much but I can't think of a better word for it - take photos of their teenage girlfriends in tank tops or unbuttoned blouses sitting at a gameboard, and the horny admins feature said photos on the main page of the site. Basically, cheap stunts to drive up the page views, I am guessing, and increase advertising revenues. The forum stats in the wargame section there have been dropping off in recent weeks, and the most recent events will, I think, further serve to subdue them - and of course, we're heading into summer in the northern hemisphere which will also dampen enthusiasm for indoor pursuits, or at least one would hope.

The best forums are the ones where the administrators have some respect for the users. Don may have reformatted here a bunch, but the level of communication has been high and is actually improving each time, and the moderation in this sub-forum is consistently good. But of course the traffic volume is low so that's probably easy to do.

 

[Elvis]

The most popular image uploads there also seem to be the ones where losers - I don't like that term and tend not to use it much but I can't think of a better word for it - take photos of their teenage girlfriends in tank tops or unbuttoned blouses sitting at a gameboard, and the horny admins feature said photos on the main page of the site.

What's that URL, again?

 

[Michael Dorosh]

What's that URL, again?

How old are your daughters again? Too soon to post revealing pictures of them in order to get GG, I think. Unless your spouse is game. The appropriate tag there is Wife_Sploitation once they're uploaded.

 

[dalem]

Wrong kind of grog porn.

Apropos of nothing I just played a CMAK attack in the snow QB vs. the AI and it handed me my butt-parts.

Play realistically and the AI is still a good game.

-dale

 

[Elvis]

How old are your daughters again? Too soon to post revealing pictures of them in order to get GG, I think. Unless your spouse is game. The appropriate tag there is Wife_Sploitation once they're uploaded.

My daughter is 5 and who is this GG and why do I want him(her) so much? The day my daughter was born my mother-in-law said to me "you now have only one job in this world....Keep her off the pole" (that is a stripper pole for those who don't know). So far I have done a good job of it. What we need to count on are the parents who got a "FAIL" on that assignment.

 

[KG_Jag]

My daughter is 5 and who is this GG and why do I want him(her) so much? The day my daughter was born my mother-in-law said to me "you now have only one job in this world....Keep her off the pole" (that is a stripper pole for those who don't know). So far I have done a good job of it. What we need to count on are the parents who got a "FAIL" on that assignment.

Back in the 50's it was to get her through college. My, my have we progressed in 55 + years.

 

[Sgt_Kelly]

If BFC has a policy regarding which forums they open and close it is rather a bemusing one. Surely embarrassment doesn't come into it, else why would they have the long since defunct CMC forum still up there. Perhaps it's so they have something to point to every time somebody brings up the wish for an operational layer on top of the tactical one.

 

[KG_Jag]

If BFC has a policy regarding which forums they open and close it is rather a bemusing one. Surely embarrassment doesn't come into it, else why would they have the long since defunct CMC forum still up there. Perhaps it's so they have something to point to every time somebody brings up the wish for an operational layer on top of the tactical one.

CMC wasn't their product. If someone can pick up the pieces, it can only help BF. At this point, however, that appears unlikely--unless someone has been secretly working in his basement.

 

[KG_Jag]

Double post due to forum or internet problem.

 

[Sgt_Kelly]

CMC wasn't their product. If someone can pick up the pieces, it can only help BF. At this point, however, that appears unlikely--unless someone has been secretly working in his basement.

That's not really an argument for anything, is it ? If it had come out it would have had their name on it. It is as much their product as ToW, for which they also have sections on their forum.

 

[Redwolf]

If BFC has a policy regarding which forums they open and close it is rather a bemusing one. Surely embarrassment doesn't come into it, else why would they have the long since defunct CMC forum still up there. Perhaps it's so they have something to point to every time somebody brings up the wish for an operational layer on top of the tactical one.

Some of us people in there have asked them not to delete the posts. For anyone who wants to pick up the source code the information in there is vital.