New Combat Mission titles released

[LukeFF]

For those that don't know, Battlefront released two new titles this week: Combat Mission: Cold War and Fire and Rubble. The latter is an add-on to the Eastern Front that takes the game to the end of the war in 1945, while Cold War takes place in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

I wish I had more time for all of these games, because they are great fun. ?

Edited April 30, 2021 by LukeFF

[RNAS10_Oliver]

Used to play them but no longer. And I would have considered an Cold War scenario with SLR's to be awesome.

 

Discovering that one of the best parts (imho) of the game (the features around C2) was broken combined with the developers attitude to patches rather took much of the enjoyment out for me. And these issues were not things I could ignore when playing as I was reminded of them on every scenario that I played upon.

 

They never seemed to produce patch notes for their updates so that the players could see what has and has not been fixed (and see what good work they might otherwise have been doing) just leaving the players guessing instead. And the interval between those updates was years and various issues that were resolved in those updates were not done across the board and consisted of work arounds (malfunctioning mortar on various units swapped out to another mortar that would work in the situation and that change carried out to one unit but not the others).

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Oliver88

[danielprates]

The three original CM games still rank in my all-time favorites top ten list. This is all good news.

 

But damn, that download policy and methods of battlefront.... I wish they would just put it all up on steam already.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, danielprates said:

I wish they would just put it all up on steam already.

 

It is

[danielprates]

8 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

It is

 

Nope. Put it "all", I said. Well some titles, like shock force are there. Not all of them. Not any of the more modern ww2 titles like normandy etc, which are the ones I care the most. I don't understand why some were left out of steam. It feels like they have different market strategies for different products or something like that.

Edited May 1, 2021 by danielprates

[Trooper117]

I love all the WWII stuff so I'll be getting 'Fire and Rubble' for the Eastern Front, but the cold war title is just a no go for me... yet again it's a game of US v Russia, and as someone who served in the BAOR out in Germany for 4 years in the 80's, I'll be holding off until they eventually decide to put some British and German battle groups into the mix...

[LukeFF]

18 hours ago, Oliver88 said:

They never seemed to produce patch notes for their updates so that the players could see what has and has not been fixed (and see what good work they might otherwise have been doing) just leaving the players guessing instead.

 

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137274-cm-final-blitzkrieg-v203-patch-has-been-released/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137273-cm-fortress-italy-v211-patch-has-been-released/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137295-special-211-patch-note/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137272-cm-battle-for-normandy-v403-patch-has-been-released/

 

Those are all from within the past year, so I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say when you state they "never seemed to produce patch notes."

 

18 hours ago, Oliver88 said:

Discovering that one of the best parts (imho) of the game (the features around C2) was broken combined with the developers attitude to patches rather took much of the enjoyment out for me. And these issues were not things I could ignore when playing as I was reminded of them on every scenario that I played upon.

 

I watched your two videos and I'm still wondering why/where you think C2 is broken. If you think it is, have you reported it somewhere on BF's forums?

 

18 hours ago, Oliver88 said:

(malfunctioning mortar on various units swapped out to another mortar that would work in the situation and that change carried out to one unit but not the others).

 

I never have heard of that. Care to point me to a topic where that is discussed and addressed by the developers?

[RNAS10_Oliver]

9 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137274-cm-final-blitzkrieg-v203-patch-has-been-released/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137273-cm-fortress-italy-v211-patch-has-been-released/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137295-special-211-patch-note/

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/137272-cm-battle-for-normandy-v403-patch-has-been-released/

 

Those are all from within the past year, so I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say when you state they "never seemed to produce patch notes."

 

I last played more than a year ago (can see that last posted on the forum about the game in August 2019) so much of what I've said has been from memory. But searching on the forum again and your right as seems am misremembering as there was patch notes for v401 (and the later v402) though for issues sorted in the time between v400 (December 2016) and v401 (May 2019) seemed rather limited and neglected to mention things that were then discovered to have also been also changed. But your right there was some sort of patch notes.

PS: the third one you've linked are not patch notes.
 

Quote

I watched your two videos and I'm still wondering why/where you think C2 is broken. If you think it is, have you reported it somewhere on BF's forums?

 

I'm on about how information on contacts is gathered and then moved around the chain of command in Combat Mission. Maybe C2 is not the correct term? But that's what this was referred to as in the Engine 4 Manual. The sorts of things that this guide covers are what I mean as that's what was awesome about Combat Mission but then ended up considering was broken. Needing to have your units spot the enemy and then share that information around the chain of command so that other units are clued up on their most recent positions, and you the player being able to select particular units and see what it does and does not know.

 

The issue with the first video (which has voice audio in the video) was more so about being an issue for cheating on multiplayer where the fog of war could be circumvented. The tentative icons for units disappeared once those units move out from the screen, so enabling someone to discover where enemy units are even though their own units cannot see them (just need to have known about them in the past). No need to require your troops to find the enemies new position and share that information around the chain of command when you can find them through one units outdated tentative icons and order mortars/suppression on that new position. I tended to be more of an single player guy back then and when moving around the map was hard not to notice this issue occurring and ruining the experience through now knowing where the invisible enemy units were.

 

I did post up in order to report the issue in An Possible Exploit - Combat Mission - General Discussion - Battlefront.com Community but as was worried at the time about making the information public I was advised in that thread to contact some Beta testers instead (though I copied the developers in also). Here are the private messages; 

 

 

As for the second video that I've posted the 12 Platoon HQ has had information that the enemy are in Zone 1. But 3 Section have more up to date information (less transparent icon) that the enemy are in Zone 2 instead. And to begin with they are just in Visual C2 but then move closer into Voice C2. After some moments 3 Section have provided their more up to date information to 12 Platoon HQ and the "age of contact" for the icon has updated (become less transparent) but the position does not update. 12 Platoon HQ appear (at least to the player) to continue to believe that the contact is in it's old out of date position in Zone 1 not in the up to date position in Zone 2 that 3 Section would have shared with them.

 

As you cannot determine the manner that an tentative contact was gained (whether through the units own eyes/ears or via C2 links from other units) and given that those gained through the C2 links are prone to being incorrect this meant that anything other than an definite contact is worthless information to the player. As a side note this issue was also the reason you would see tentative contact icons flickering between positions when you had no units selected because iirc when no units were selected the most recent gained information (including shared through C2 links) was presented to you.

 

I along with others did report this one also. Test indicates C2 contact sharing is broken when enemy moves - Combat Mission - General Discussion - Battlefront.com Community And seemed that Beta Testers believed that this one was squashed for v401 patches but found out that was not the case when the patch was released (that's what the video was, proof that continued to exist).

 

 

Quote

I never have heard of that. Care to point me to a topic where that is discussed and addressed by the developers?

 

I cannot point you to anything that had any discussion from the developers themselves, during the time that I played I never knew them to get involved in the public side of the bug reporting, was just the community Beta Testers involved in that. The bug that I was hinting towards was one where British WW2 units had 2 Inch Mortars in their vehicles available but could not acquire them, the mortars seemed to just vanished when trying to do so. 

 

https://community.battlefront.com/topic/126467-british-army-2-inch-mortar-bug/?do=findComment&comment=1738524.

2inch mortars in CW Carrier platoons bug - Combat Mission Battle for Normandy - Battlefront.com Community

 

This had not been included in the changelog for patch v401 along with other things but players had reported in the patch thread that the issue was no longer the case in v401 for the Carrier Platoons but not the Anti-Tank Platoons. It was resolved through giving them the 2 Inch Airborne Mortar instead of the standard 2 Inch Mortar, the former had the functionality of an grenade launcher rather than mortar in the game, this seemed to get around whatever the issue was that prevented them acquiring them.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Oliver88

[Juri_JS]

I love the gameplay of the CM games, but I wish they would finally move to a new graphic engine. Especially terrain graphics and animations look a little bit too dated by now.

[danielprates]

And put all of it on Steam.

 

I have a similar beef with matrix games too btw. Some great titles but an awkward download/activation procedure. For me thet are only losing business without a benefit to compensate it.

[DetCord12B]

On 4/30/2021 at 12:30 PM, LukeFF said:

For those that don't know, Battlefront released two new titles this week: Combat Mission: Cold War and Fire and Rubble. The latter is an add-on to the Eastern Front that takes the game to the end of the war in 1945, while Cold War takes place in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

I wish I had more time for all of these games, because they are great fun. ?

 

All I need is Red Thunder to be added to Steam and I'll be happy.

 

Annnnnnnd for them to fix their RNG like LoS system where random die like rolls take place. Sorry, but it's just absurd that their Line of Sight system works like that. As @Juri_JS pointed out, they really need a new engine. Theirs was antiquated a decade ago.

[danielprates]

17 hours ago, DetCord12B said:

All I need is Red Thunder to be added to Steam and I'll be happy

 

You see? Itsl is this that makes me crazy. Some titles are there, some aren't.... it just feel like such a bad business move. I would instantly buy the second generation ww2 titles. Instead I only have "normandy", and it's cumbersome 400m zip installation file somewhere on my HD.

[Varibraun]

On 4/30/2021 at 1:30 PM, LukeFF said:

For those that don't know, Battlefront released two new titles this week: Combat Mission: Cold War and Fire and Rubble. The latter is an add-on to the Eastern Front that takes the game to the end of the war in 1945, while Cold War takes place in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

 

Thank you Luke for posting this.  After spending some of my teen years in the 1970s with AH Squad Leader, I had never really found anything in the virtual world that gave me that same small unit SP feel (Graviteam's scale was a little larger than what I was seeking).  I also guess I never had the time to dig too deep past Steam since I had never heard of this 20 year old series.  So, I decided to look into it thanks to your post, and actually did more a little more background than I normally would because of the other thoughtful posts above.

 

Ultimately, saw enough on YouTube to finally decided it was worth a try to learn and downloaded the Normandy demo.  It did give me that Squad Leader vibe, so I decided I would buy a module - the question then was which one?.  I decided to stick with WWII, but didn't want to learn it in the hedgerows.  So I went East with Red Thunder and added Fire and Rubble since it was a bundled sale. 

 

I am still in the tutorial learning the U/I, but for an old guy used to clunky and 2d "counters", the interface is fine and the graphics are entertaining enough for me.  I also really like the one minute simultaneous turn system because I can actually watch the action unfold without worrying about the other side of the map.  I will likely stay off their forums since I won't MP and don't need to learn about the flaws someone will point out that I likely wouldn't notice otherwise. 

 

I think it is going to be a great diversion when not flying.  However, I do agree that it would be nice just for updates if it were all on Steam though.  Bottom line - Thank you! 

[danielprates]

8 hours ago, Varibraun said:

I think it is going to be a great diversion when not flying.  However, I do agree that it would be nice just for updates if it were all on Steam though.  Bottom line - Thank you!

 

If someone here is a regular on Battlefront's forum, it is well worth mentioning over to them how often this comes up. 

[DetCord12B]

On 5/3/2021 at 4:34 PM, danielprates said:

 

You see? Itsl is this that makes me crazy. Some titles are there, some aren't.... it just feel like such a bad business move. I would instantly buy the second generation ww2 titles. Instead I only have "normandy", and it's cumbersome 400m zip installation file somewhere on my HD.

 

Yeah, their business model makes no sense. Other than charging for patches, that's brilliant.

[Varibraun]

10 hours ago, DetCord12B said:

Other than charging for patches, that's brilliant.

 

FWIW as a "Johnny come lately," to this party, it appears that they charge for Game Engine Upgrades, but not actual game patches. 

 

I am agnostic on whether that approach makes sense from their business perspective, but I am willing to forgive it considering it appears they are an extremely small developer who fought for a couple of decades to keep another niche genre alive.  But remember, this comes from someone willing to pay $19.99 for a board game with a massive rulebook and using a string to determine LoS back in 1977 (which equates to around $90 in today's $$).  It also makes me appreciate @Jason_Williams and 1C's approach to updating all the GB modules for free when they release updates and new content.  Anyway, I am still in tutorial and optimistic mode for now.

 

For anyone else in decision mode, here was the best recent overview (including how the paid Upgrades work) that I found in doing my background before purchasing Red Thunder:

https://www.wargamer.com/combat-mission/games

 

  

[LukeFF]

5 hours ago, Varibraun said:

FWIW as a "Johnny come lately," to this party, it appears that they charge for Game Engine Upgrades, but not actual game patches.

 

Yes, that's right.

[danielprates]

As far as patches and DLC go, I have no qualms. PDX made me callous about those issues. I do mind having some titles available on other platforms and others only on theirs. Makes me buy less titles than I could be buying. 

[LukeFF]

A really cool video that was posted recently featuring Cold War:

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by LukeFF

[DetCord12B]

On 5/5/2021 at 9:39 AM, Varibraun said:

 

FWIW as a "Johnny come lately," to this party, it appears that they charge for Game Engine Upgrades, but not actual game patches.

 

Plenty of developers upgrade or completely revamp their current or previously released titles engines all without charging for it. BI, 1C/777, Eugen, Massive, and others. I understand they're a small company and all, but other indies have done it all without charging for it. Let's not forget that these are the people (BF/Steve) that said he'd never, ever, though perhaps only if "...hell hath frozen over" even considering selling his products via Steam. We all know how that turned out...

 

Plus the official forums are a bloody cesspool.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

7 hours ago, LukeFF said:

A really cool video that was posted recently featuring Cold War:

 

Did you pick it up? Is it any good?

[LukeFF]

16 hours ago, DetCord12B said:

Did you pick it up? Is it any good?

 

Yes, I have it - I've actually been a tester for Battlefront for a few years now, so I've been playing it since about February of this year. 

 

Anyways, yes, it's very good - lots of good scenarios and campaigns (including NTC training missions and campaigns), and there's a lot of room for growth in the future with it. 

[DetCord12B]

On 5/12/2021 at 3:04 PM, LukeFF said:

 

Yes, I have it - I've actually been a tester for Battlefront for a few years now, so I've been playing it since about February of this year. 

 

Anyways, yes, it's very good - lots of good scenarios and campaigns (including NTC training missions and campaigns), and there's a lot of room for growth in the future with it. 

 

Have they said anything about a Steam release or is it sticking to the BF storefront for now?

[LukeFF]

14 hours ago, DetCord12B said:

Have they said anything about a Steam release or is it sticking to the BF storefront for now?

 

Yes, it is going to be released on Steam: https://community.battlefront.com/topic/139042-combat-mission-cold-war-is-now-available/?do=findComment&comment=1867640

 

For what it sounds like, you can expect that to happen around June.