Combat Mission status

Started by RyanE, May 27, 2018, 02:09:59 PM

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RyanE

And that's seven drivers in six months that I have had no issue with in any other game.  CM is the only game I have ever had to downgrade my driver for.  Beating a dead horse again that BFC is becoming very narrowly limited with the systems it can play on out of the box.

Graviteam, Stealbeasts, ARMA2/3, X-Plane (OpenGL), IL2: BOS, Command, and a number of smaller titles on Steam and with Matrix.  Not a single one have I ever had to retro any drivers, regularly contact support, turn off my AV, or whitelist a directory, or have to limit the game to one CPU core. 

Are all of them perfect, no, they aren't.  But since Graviteam gave up its bizzare patching, and discounting SB's stupid dongle policy, BFC comes out on top for the most effort to reinstall.

Bletchley_Geek

#391
Breaking a long radio silence just to say that CM2 has been for me a vehicle to gain insight into WW2 tactics and how that fitted within the greater operational and strategic picture. This even with all the very well documented shortcomings of the engine.

Same thing with GT, as they have matured, their games give other type of insight or a different viewpoint. They also have still several limitations even if they have improved up to a point that I split my attention 50-50 between CM2 and GT.

In terms of gameplay though, nothing beats CM2 head to head, on a George MC map, commanding a well thought out force and pursuing sensible tasks to accomplish.

Modern period games kind of suck. Matchups are ridiculous uneven, playing red vs red is writing off like three quarters of the content of the game... I find them good to study hypothetical scenarios in modern warfare. But I am not interested in that personally.

Arguing with BFC is an exercise in futility - you can make a difference reporting bugs which may get fixed eventually... and that's it. If you expect devs to allow you steer the shopping trolley you're going to be disappointed.


dinsdale

Quote from: WargamerJoe on August 21, 2018, 03:15:55 AM
QuoteI understand why people give up, but don't let the collective poor experience influence you.

I mean... that sounds exactly like what you should let influence you. If you're unhappy with an experience, you don't buy into it.

But if that was the case, no one would buy anything. If you look at any product on amazon and only look at the negative reviews, even the most perfect item will have customers with a bad experience. CM may not be perfect, but I don't see their communication and forums to be something that bothers me. I understand those who do, but for new players thinking about getting the game - the likelihood of either Steve or the DRM being a gamebreaking issue is low.

HoodedHorseJoe

Quote from: dinsdale on August 21, 2018, 08:55:18 PM
Quote from: WargamerJoe on August 21, 2018, 03:15:55 AM
QuoteI understand why people give up, but don't let the collective poor experience influence you.

I mean... that sounds exactly like what you should let influence you. If you're unhappy with an experience, you don't buy into it.

But if that was the case, no one would buy anything. If you look at any product on amazon and only look at the negative reviews, even the most perfect item will have customers with a bad experience. CM may not be perfect, but I don't see their communication and forums to be something that bothers me. I understand those who do, but for new players thinking about getting the game - the likelihood of either Steve or the DRM being a gamebreaking issue is low.

You say that like it's a bad thing - the world would probably be a better place if more of us did have a little less tolerance for things like this and spent a little bit less. But I was more referring to people who've bought-in once already and are dissatisfied - just don't buy in again.
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z1812


I find myself agreeing with some of what has been said..................however I find it to be such an excellent game that I am willing to put up with the odd issue in order to play it.

I think it is about 18 years that I have been playing CM and 51 years altogether I have been wargamimg. I have not found any other modern era wargames with such fidelity in regards to tactics. The other thing that I quite like is it's flexibility in game play. RT, PBEM, WEGO or SP, MP, HS. All in one game. Not to mention the editor.

I know it is not every ones cup of tea but it is certainly mine.

stolypin

Quote from: z1812 on August 22, 2018, 04:32:26 PM

I find myself agreeing with some of what has been said..................however I find it to be such an excellent game that I am willing to put up with the odd issue in order to play it.

I think it is about 18 years that I have been playing CM and 51 years altogether I have been wargamimg. I have not found any other modern era wargames with such fidelity in regards to tactics. The other thing that I quite like is it's flexibility in game play. RT, PBEM, WEGO or SP, MP, HS. All in one game. Not to mention the editor.

I know it is not every ones cup of tea but it is certainly mine.

I want to be clear since I'm the one who brought up the issues of crashes that I too love the CM games.  I have NOT made the switch to the Graviteam series because, for me, the CM interface is so easy and familiar that I can totally focus on tactics without struggling to figure out the mechanics of the game. 

And the DRM issue has (so far) not been a problem for me.

It's the lack of regular patching that irks me.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by my other favorite game, Command: Modern Air and Naval Operations which seems to release a patch/new version almost every month. 

RyanE

The trend for the last few years for a lot of SW companies is faster, smaller, and more frequent updates.  It is kind of disappointing the lack of patches.  But at the same time, CM2 hasn't had any real game killing issues, just a few annoying ones that have put me off a little.

RyanE

Its that time of year for the natives to start getting restless and the devs to not care.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/133207-they-meant-september-of-next-year/

While I have no issue with BFC not making promises and missing mentioned deadlines, a few good points in that thread about the patch, people who pre-ordered with no transparency to delivery, and general lack of communications.

In other words, same old and same old.

Grim.Reaper

Really no surprise....did anyone actually think they would make their date?  Did anyone think they would actually spend a total of 1 minute creating a post to inform people of status (whether not going to make it or make it)?

Still (5) days left in September so who knows what happens, although they did indicate the demo would be released "soon" after their last message that the game would be ready by end of September....and that didn't happen.

Such a shame....

stolypin

Quote from: RyanE on September 25, 2018, 03:06:58 PM
Its that time of year for the natives to start getting restless and the devs to not care.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/133207-they-meant-september-of-next-year/

While I have no issue with BFC not making promises and missing mentioned deadlines, a few good points in that thread about the patch, people who pre-ordered with no transparency to delivery, and general lack of communications.

In other words, same old and same old.

Did Battlefront actually make an official announcement that September 2018 wasn't happening?   I would certainly not be surprised if they missed that timeframe but all I saw in the cited thread was someone claiming that they really meant September 2019. 

Grim.Reaper

Quote from: stolypin on September 25, 2018, 03:39:24 PM
Quote from: RyanE on September 25, 2018, 03:06:58 PM
Its that time of year for the natives to start getting restless and the devs to not care.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/133207-they-meant-september-of-next-year/

While I have no issue with BFC not making promises and missing mentioned deadlines, a few good points in that thread about the patch, people who pre-ordered with no transparency to delivery, and general lack of communications.

In other words, same old and same old.

Did Battlefront actually make an official announcement that September 2018 wasn't happening?   I would certainly not be surprised if they missed that timeframe but all I saw in the cited thread was someone claiming that they really meant September 2019.

No, they have announced nothing....but they did indicate the demo was supposed to be released well ahead of the actual product release and that would seem unlikely with onlu a few days left in September.  Problem is not whether they actually make the date or not, its their continued stance not actually informing their customers one way or another.

Michael Dorosh

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 25, 2018, 03:31:18 PM
Really no surprise....did anyone actually think they would make their date?  Did anyone think they would actually spend a total of 1 minute creating a post to inform people of status (whether not going to make it or make it)?

Still (5) days left in September so who knows what happens, although they did indicate the demo would be released "soon" after their last message that the game would be ready by end of September....and that didn't happen.

Such a shame....

I wonder if it's time to more seriously revisit the conspiracy theory that Steve and/or Charles have taken up paying day jobs and are working on CM in their spare time...

Their paid staff have been reduced (I don't follow that closely but is it correct that their PR guy is gone, their second coder is gone, and their IT help desk guys are unpaid volunteers?), while their output lately has been slow and of minimal significance to the overall development of the series. Game Engine 4.0 was nearly two years ago. CMSF2 is - again, correct me if I'm wrong - the final piece of upgrading all the original CMX2 titles to Game Engine 4.0 status. Yes, a big deal for the CMSF fans but really doesn't move the series as a whole forward, just finishes off a missing piece of the status quo.  There was a battle pack for Black Sea in 2017 as well, though that was a couple of campaigns, some scenarios and a couple dozen quick battle maps, all of which could have been done by any volunteer. (With a minimal bit of effort they could probably have done packs like this for all their titles in the last couple of years.)

Not to revisit the "BFC is dead" chatter, as I suppose they could go on indefinitely on life support if it is simply hobby time for them. The "About Us" page was last updated - two years ago. And no more staff biographies.

Ah well. They still have five and a half hours left in Maine to make good on the statement that something would be out in September. Given how often they let these dates slip, I don't think anyone can seriously suggest there would be any repercussions for missing this one, as it's pretty much expected now, and there is no real backlash from the community.

I understand Lock'N'Load is putting out another computerized version of their LnL Tactical boardgame. I enjoyed Heroes of Stalingrad on the PC, both solo and head to head. Played a face to face game at my kitchen table today of Heroes of Normandy. I have a feeling LnL may be getting more of my money in future than BFC, but you never know when BFC will hit you with some big surprise announcement, either. Hey, maybe they're working on a decent campaign layer with persistent unit and map damage... Probably not, but speaking for myself the next upgrade would have to be something spectacular to attract me to it.

Ubercat

Quote from: Michael Dorosh on September 30, 2018, 05:37:13 PM
I understand Lock'N'Load is putting out another computerized version of their LnL Tactical boardgame. I enjoyed Heroes of Stalingrad on the PC, both solo and head to head. Played a face to face game at my kitchen table today of Heroes of Normandy. I have a feeling LnL may be getting more of my money in future than BFC, but you never know when BFC will hit you with some big surprise announcement, either. Hey, maybe they're working on a decent campaign layer with persistent unit and map damage... Probably not, but speaking for myself the next upgrade would have to be something spectacular to attract me to it.

Were you at WBC 2018 last July? I thought I heard that you were there in 2017 (unless I'm confusing with someone else) LnL were there and I got to spend a few minutes playing an early build of the PC game. It looks much better than HoS.
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RyanE

Usually, BFC let's this fester for a month or so and springs a release on us.  Then we forget until the next time.

RyanE

But on the topic of BFC's longevity, I kind of agree.  Since Chris (marketing) and the Phil (2nd programmer) left, everything, including releases, patches, website changes, communications, etc. has come to a near halt. Releases and changes all seem to half-assed and troubled.

I think it might be the new reality.  As I have said before, I play very little CM now.  I go back and play every now and then, but it bores me pretty quickly.  CMSF was always my favorite because of the number of countries in it, so I am intrigued by CMSF2.  By big waits are CMBS and CMRT modules.  Until then, my regular play is Steel Beasts and Command.