GameStop updates ETA release for....
Battleground Europe Forums - GameStop updates ETA release for....



Damm, looks like I lose that bet it'd be out late September, though an October release in Europe is still on. The silver lining is I'll be able to afford the boxes when they come out then.
- posted by Comstar @ Wednesday, September 28, 2005 0 comments

 
Some War News
I just bought Falcon 4.0+7 YEARS. I still have the 600page manual. The new version has 717 page manual. I'm going to be busy doing the 37 training missons and learning ther 32 radar modes.

In war news, CinC AHC has fired multiple people and the beating will continue until morale improves. Judging from the map, it should be around the time we reach Dunkirk.
- posted by Comstar @ Wednesday, September 28, 2005 0 comments

 
"A Long Way Home"
Crescent makes a movie

Fairly good movie. Bombing and air action as usual for a WW2OL movie, but very well editied and shot (he had the buzzard to do it it seems). Starts slow though.

I give it 7/10. It needed another bomber to go down, and a panzer to lose a turrent is all.
- posted by Comstar @ Sunday, September 25, 2005 0 comments

 
New Churchill pic


A bit too light green though. Oh well.
- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 24, 2005 0 comments

 
This weeks VERY interesting newsletter
Much more interesting for once than the production notes.

WWII Online- Cornered Rat Software/Playnet.com

10meg Speedtree GRASS in dev! This will add a LOT to the infantry game, and add atmosphere too.





Q. Will approved contact reports go out to all players sharing the same objective or only those on the same mission?

A. The current beta implementation has players sending contact reports up to their mission leader who can then confirm them and ship them out to all the players on his mission. We would like to have that information also go out to all players sharing the target as well but have not yet added that feature.
- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 24, 2005 0 comments

 
Online gaming forum's mood turns from fantasy to storm's reality
Well isn't that cool. Im'm guessing the reporter is a player :)

Online gaming forum's mood turns from fantasy to storm's reality

Looking for help, advice or just sharing their worries, some in Hurricane Rita's path are turning to Internet game sites for information.

On the forums for the World War II game simulation, www.battleground europe.com, players posted weather maps, offered tips on how to get out of Houston and invited other players to come to their homes.

....Cornered Rat Software, based near Dallas and the makers of World War II Online, Battleground Europe, offered space in their offices for those fleeing the storm. Words of concern and good luck were posted from players around the world.

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 24, 2005 0 comments

 
This weeks somewhat boring Production Update
Bits of interest, mostly "coming soon" stuff.

This weeks production notes

Q: What type of changes can be expected to continue to improve the UI’s new player friendly feel?

A: I think that list will be really long and constantly changing as we get feedback from you guys but let me tell you a few of the things we’re working on right now. We’ve redone the brigade selection and vehicle selection screens o not only include more relevant information and discard some fluff but also made them much easier to navigate for instance telling you what vehicles are available to you and why others are not. We’ve also rewritten the flow for vehicle reservation to be much more intuitive and we’ve completely redone the multi-crew functions to be super simple to understand. Further we are adding the ability to more easily locate friends and will be working on ways to connect with them seamlessly. In game, we’ve added mission and brigade panels to the HUD to keep you abreast of the action and we are of course adding tools for the Mission Leader to more easily direct the action so that when feet hit the dirt, it is readily apparent what to do. Along those lines, we are working on a system that will allow MLs to pick from a pre made list of missions that will include pre-made descriptions of what to do. Past that, we want to change how missions work so that the ML can dynamically change the origin and objective of the mission so that once a mission gets together they never have to separate, in effect becoming a smaller cohesive unit within the brigade. Tool tips and help info are also a big priority for us and along with streamlining the UI these are a big priority for 1.20.
- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 24, 2005 0 comments

 
KFSONE: ORDANANCE SERVER IS OTW!!!
Theres some other stuff about in game squad stuff, but this is the big news for me. KFS1 is SOON going toi start working on the ordanance proccess/server/whateveryouwanttocallit.


kfsone's pittance: How hard is it to add in-game squad management?

Next in my queue are Server Tracked Objects (STO). Hrm. I've just noticed how "duh" that sounds. Well, internally "Object" has the unfortunate honor of having been used to mean a collidable, non-player controlled entity within the world - i.e. buildings, trees, etc. STO will be the basis for the ordnance server (which won't be a separate server, infact it will probably lead to the merger of three existing processes).

Initially it's going to be used for mission-leader mobile spawns (MLMS) and then (I hope) for emplaced truck mobile spawns. Once we've gotten that far, we're about ready for the last piece we need for T.O.Es -- mobile firebases.

Hopefully we'll also be able to spin-off things like artillery, bouncing grenades, etc, off the STO system. I'm not sure where that stuff falls compared to getting back to the TOE/Deployment track.

- posted by Comstar @ Friday, September 23, 2005 0 comments

 
Utinni's War Diary
Utinni's War Diary: "Utinni's War Diary"

I've added Utinni's blog/war diary onto my list to the right. I hope he can keep updating it. It's a diary of his WW2OL experiences in story format. Utinni was the newbie who posted his wounderful experiences (see post below
- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 17, 2005 0 comments

 
The C-47..and Doc says the wrong thing
First, the good news.



Battleground Europe Forums - C-47

And now, Doc shoots his mouth off again, I suspect he was "the fourmlites are persacuting me again" mode. I think the bit that's annoying everyone is that the french STILL are stuck with the Blen after all these years.

I don't really blame them for not doing a French transport right NOW, (though Doc's seeimgly lack of knowlage vs Patchy is worrying) but everyone assumed the French would get the C47 too.

The silver lining for me is it means I can still just the Ju52's as a burning "white horse on fire" in my never to be made ShrekWW2OL movie.

DOC
CORNERED RAT
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 7,201
Re: C-47

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So your real problem is that, in a dev. cycle SWAMPED by demands of our pending gold release to the publishers ... for the biggest single product launch of WWIIOL since it's inception ... we only had time to do the C-47 while also doing the other 3 tanks (this is in addition to a mountain of release orientated work we had also to complete using the same guys on the team) ... and that a dedicated French transport plane will have to wait until a little later when ... realistically within these demands we dealt with ... that's the issue ?

That we couldn't do a French transport plane at the same time as all this and decided to worry about it later on ?

Well sorry, but that doesn't seem like a disaster from our point of view. A good product launch of WWIIO: BE does assume a slightly higher profile in our concerns and the French transport plane will just have to wait like a lot of other things.

The only reason we didn't "wait" to do the C-47 is that it was partially completed already, and was just sitting in the project waiting to get the attention of people here able to finish it. We thought this was a good chance to squeeze a partially completed aircraft into the heavy schedule we already faced and see if we couldn't get a little extra bang for the BE box release.

That doesn't mean we deliberately are sending you a message that we will never do a French transport plane. That's your assumption, and a poor one at that.

And Donner fights back

donner
Member
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: ArFr, Corps Cavalarie, 101e
Posts: 3,071

If you want to turn my post about disappointment into an object lesson in how I don't know what best for the game or how I am being selfish, be my guest DOC. I freely admit that I don't know whats best for the game and I also freely admit that there are 100s of things more important than a French specific transport plane.

I also think that you comprehend that this is not my point but rather simply another decision in which the French playerbase will be represented last. Its not the ned of the world, I'm not quitting the game, etc.

It is more disappointing that it serves to reinforce the development paradigm regarding in what order equipment is chosen to be modeled.

My post has absolutely nothing to do with your point of view. I am merely posting my feelings of disappointment that it is continously the French who are chosen to be the last to receive a representative example of an aircraft.

Nowhere do I mention or imply that CRS will never do a French transport plane. However I think it would be unusual for me not to be less than enthuisiatic about the time-frame in which it might be modeled, considering we have been using the Blen IV as a stand-in for other aircraft for years. But I don't even mention that in my post.

I'm at a loss as to how to take your response DOC. I certainly don't think being disappointed in this situation or expressing it a mature manner is unreasonable. I might even have been able to avoid this disappointment if at any time I had read anything that would ahve lead me to believe that the C-47 wasn't going to be used by the French. I'm certainly not advocating that it should be were it not, but I would not be disappointed now if it weren't suddenly clear that we will be using a white German transport plane for the forseeable future.

Though Kamel summed it up in a 2 line answer.

kamel
Member
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Arse end of Oz and up a mountain.
Posts: 4,338

Maybe because the FAF is still waiting for the stand-in blen4 to be replaced with a French light bomber?

Once passed over as 'good enough for now' the FAF has sweet F-all chance of seeing something done properly before the mythical 'second pass'.

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 17, 2005 0 comments

 
Gophur talks about 1.19.6 Gold Build
GOPHUR
CORNERED RAT
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Republic of Texas
Posts: 4,372
1.19.6 Gold Build

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1.19.6 Gold

Yesterday we patched out a small client update for 1.19 to fix a couple of shortcut issues and a tree bug. Today with those things live we are finalizing the Gold headed to Europe for release by GMX in the coming month. This is not my first GOLD but it is certainly the first with so many changes and so much importance to the future of the game. I just have to say that I am ecstatic about the pending release and much of that has to do with what’s going on for 1.20.

Waypoints and contact reports and show friendlies.

I think this feature is going to be a huge change for game play. We’ve built a system that allows a mission leader to place waypoints on the map for all of his soldiers. There are currently two types of waypoints, red attack waypoints and blue rally waypoints. I’m pretty certain we’ll add to that dramatically as time goes on. Each waypoint has an auto generated name (A1, A2 for example) but the mission leader has the option to add a custom name if he chooses. This allows for placing waypoints that advise what to do, giving the mission leader a lot of flexibility. With time, we’ll probably categorize many of the more popular ones for each branch so that we can translate them automatically but we’ll still offer custom options. In addition to the name, mission leaders can add custom notes to the waypoint that are available as a mouse over and give information that is more detailed.

Contact reports are another type of waypoint where soldiers can right click on the map and send a contact report to their mission leader who can then confirm and send it out to everyone on the mission. These reports have a limited lifespan so as not to clutter the map. In addition, the mission leader can use the waypoint system to advise players where enemies are as well as what the mission leader thinks should be done. For instance an air flight leader can place a waypoint telling his men where an enemy flak battery is and if they should avoid or destroy it.

Showing friendlies rounds out this feature with each member of your mission appearing on your map. This will help not only ground units get together but pilots will be able to see where their mission members are and using the waypoint system will be able to go to a rally point to wait until more planes have shown up before moving out.

Coupled with this system are some changes to the identification system. Mission leaders will now have a custom icon and chat color and members of your mission will also have a unique color to separate them from other friendly units.

I haven’t got to talk today about changes to the mission launch screen or the new squad tab and tools going in, not to mention performance. I guess I’ll have to save some for next week as I need to get a beta out today for the weekend and see how these new features are progressing.

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 17, 2005 0 comments

 
Play World War II for a Year
The Wargamer's Play World War II for a Year Contest

About Battleground Europe

What is Battleground Europe? It's the latest edition of World War II Online, a game we've reviewed extensively here at The Wargamer. Here's what GMX has to say about this World War II massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG):

Report for duty to this first-person, online action game where players choose to fight alongside and against thousands of other players on the battlefields of Western Europe. Grab a rifle and experience heart-stopping infantry action or choose to advance your skills in one of dozens of accurately modeled combat vehicles, naval vessels or aircraft. Succeed and help the cause of the Allied or Axis forces. Fail and watch your side get pushed back and struggle for a foothold.

* Thousands of online players sharing a single world
* First person perspective in all gameplay
* Huge game world measuring more than 350,000 square miles
* Character advancement and career paths for rich RPG layer
* Strategic systems driven by player missions and command
* Growing list of 80+ historically accurate weapons including aircraft, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, trucks, rifles, machine guns and more!
* Groundbreaking physics and damage modeling

Three (3) winners will be randomly selected by The Wargamer on September 30th to receive a retail copy of Battleground Europe and a free, twelve-month subscription to the game, valued at +$150! Ten (10) more winners will receive a retail copy of the game plus a one-month free trial to the game.
The Contest

To enter for your chance to win and play World War II for a year, simply answer these five easy (yes, really!) questions regarding Battleground Europe. We'll pick the winners based on the number of answers correct. Make sure to enter your email address: we have to have a working, valid email address to contact you should you win!

Q1) True or False: Battleground Europe will be released in both Europe and the North America:

True
False

Q2) In Battleground Europe, players can:

Fly planes
Drive tanks
Be a sniper?!?!!?
All of the above

Q3) What phrase best describes Battleground Europe:

Just another MMO with dwarves and elves.
A World War II virtual battlefield.
Like Call of Duty, only with planes. LOL
An enjoyable MMO with arcade-like gameplay.

Q4) True or False: World War II Online is more of an arcade shooter than a simulation.

True
False

Q5) The original development team behind Battleground Europe and World War II Online previously worked on what PC game?

WarBirds
Medal of Honor
IL-2 Sturmovik
Diablo Now thats funny

- posted by Comstar @ Friday, September 16, 2005 0 comments

 
I have no reccolation of this
WORLD@WAR
Comstar Recognized for Outstanding Effort!

British military officials recognized Comstar for an outstanding effort on September 14th. Comstar killed 5 enemy units and attacked multiple targets during a mission that lasted 20 minutes long. After the mission, he was listed as Missing in Action.
- posted by Comstar @ Friday, September 16, 2005 0 comments

 
Some newbie experiences to share
utinni

Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Doodle Bug Alley, England
Posts: 18
Some newbie experiences to share

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Not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I thought I would share my experiences of the first few days in this great game...

I had heard of WW2 Online a couple of years ago, the concept of a persitent battlefield with all arms of the forces open and in game at the same time was very appealing. I remember at the time, there was some issues (I guess I don't need to tell the vets here) but it seemed to be based mainly in the US and there were reliability issues.

At the time, I was a big Day of Defeat player (a HL mod for those who haven't heard of it). Again, based in WW2 - but much more of a dip in and out deathmatch feel to it. People tried to claim there was a squad level tactical element to it, but even being in a clan for a long time I never really saw this to any extent, it never took too long for people to compare scores and go for the flags contrary to their designated role.

Anyway...to the present day and I was really excited when I saw details of the Open Beta posted on the OcUK forums (respect to Stolly over there for promoting the game). First of all I thought, great another trial for an online game - first thing they are going to ask me for is my credit card details, so when I forget to unsubcribe at the end of the trial I get stung for the subscription. I was pleasently suprised by the ease of sign up and how quickly I could get involved with the Beta. Score one up to CRS at this stage!

So I played the Beta for 3 days, and once it had finished just had to subscribe - I had to admit to becoming jaded to the gaming scene over a period of time - fair enough all the stuff coming out these days looks pretty, but I hdan't found gameplay like Day of Defeat for a long time. Suffice to say the Beta whetted my appetite like no other game, and promised much to come.

So In my first few days of subscription I've played a bit (not as much as I would have liked) and had some great experiences, these are just a few. I apologize in advance to those of my brothers in arms whose names I have forgotten, too many faces have fallen to remember them all.

Day One - The Defence of Jabbekke

I logged on and fancied joining the defence of a small town, maybe a part of a small scouting group ahead of the lines. I found exactly what I wanted in Jabbekke. When I joined, I found a picturesque little town, very quiet and tranquil. There were three others there keeping watch for what was certain to be the German probes. It's at this point when I thought of this strength of the game, the slow steady building of tension that comes from the anticipation of what is to come.

As a rifleman, I started with a quick scout of the N of the town in the surrounding fields, thanks to thesarg for all his help in guiding me through the early minutes. It wasn't long before thesarg alerted me to the sound of what his trained ears knew was an Opel to our NE, no doubt a small squad of EI preparing to probe our defences. I heard the report of thesarg's gun, followed shortly aftewards by the huge explosion that told me that the Opel and her deadly cargo had been despatched to their maker.

We retreated to the town and I took up a position in the church tower to get a good view of our surroundings. (I really would have felt the benefit of binoculars at this point - why isn't there a scout class, with scoped rifle or binoculars?). It wasn't long before the EWS alerted us to enemy armour in bound. Sure enough, an Axis PZ approached and began destroying the AI protecting the town, and I had a feeling we were next! He saw me in the tower and set about trying to knock me out. As the PZ stood on the road, a heroic run by our sapper rans got him to the PZ and he used his satchels to disabled the tank, which despawned shortly afterwards. With no contact for the next hour it seemed the defence of the town had been successful...for then.

Day Two - The Airborne Assault on Dunkerque

This mission was in the final days of the last campaign and I joined a small squad of 15 men, a band of brothers, on a plane in Ramsgate - our target...Dunkerque. The tension on the plane was palpable, every man quiet in their own thoughts of what awaited us - a coastline in complete control of the enemy...we would be on our own when we arrived.

Our pilot skillfully guided us over the coast, avoiding heavy flak as we bounced around in the back. We landed about 1km S of our objective and split into 2 squads, excellently led by bionicg and another commander and approaced our assigned objectives. I lost my team mate in the confusion of the landing and attempted my part of the attack on my own.

My heart raced as we all lay hidden a short distance from the CP's - a seemless feat of co-ordination by bionicg. The order was given to attack and I approached the CP, checking for enemy - fear gripping me as reports of casualties started to come in, explosions, small arms fire and cries of young men wounded and dying.

I managed to get 10m from my CP before my campaign was ended by a single shot from an enemy sniper hidden in the shadows. As I faded out my ears rang with the sounds of fierce fighting all around me.

Day Three - The Attack on Spontin

I joined the attack on Spontin from a mobile spawn point just outside the town, the enemy were pinned into 2 CPs and the AB. This was street to street fighting at its worst, dirty, dangerous and absolutely terrifying. I was doing well, having seen 2 enemy infantry die in my sights, when I entered a building and on turning the corner, was faced by an enemy MG just going prone, panicked I realised I hadn't reloaded and fumbled for a grenade. I threw it at the MG, knowing that it was almost certainly the end for me, but knowing I could not let my comrades be at the mercy of this bringer of death. The grenade exploded and by some miracle I was only knocked on my feet with some flash burns. When I came to the MG was motionless and his weapon beyond use.

Emerging into the bright daylight I joined the attack on the AB, taking my final position in the 2nd story of a building overlooking the AB, picking off enemy infantry trying to take up defensive positions. With some incredible bravery shown by our attacking troops the AB was soon ours!

Day Four - Rat Run

I forget the name of the town we were attacking here, but it was very large and had a Willenhaven and Boz depots? I spawned for the first time as an ATG and managed to get a tow to the western fringes of the town. The enemy held the NW CP and I positioned myself in a bush about 200m outside the town. I watched our infantry fighting house to house up the street towards the CP, when I noticed a sniper in the church tower. I knew that if I opeed fire I almost certainly risked giving away my position, but could see the sniper preparing to rain fire down on our advancing infantry. I began to pour fire into the tower and soon the body on the roof was still.

As I expected my actions hadn't gone un-noticed and soon I was being outflanked by infantry. Switching to commander I could see 2 infantry skirting me to the N, switching to gunner I opened fire and forced one to go prone behind a bush. I poured fire onto the bush, and soon saw a huge cloud of red mist which told me I had found my target. The other infantryman made a run behind me and I managed to hit him on the run before he dived behind a large bush. I fired a few times into the bush without report of success or failure.

My attention was distracted by the sound of an Opel leaving the CP, and sure enough he was racing down the western side of the town, with an ATG in tow, bouncing furiously as the Opel floored the accelerator. I opened up and score at least one hit, but he was disappearing fast, and eventually got away. Meanwhile my infantryman foe, had sneaked up behind me and before I knew it my gunner and commander were both critically injured....I just hope we took that CP.

So after a few days of playing I have to say I am addicted, to the gameplay, to the tension, to the suspense, and mostly to the sense of community. I have never asked a question without being inundated with help from all the vets. Good work all!

Sorry to bore you all, and see you in game! If you see me feel free to say hello!

- posted by Comstar @ Thursday, September 15, 2005 0 comments

 
Willyt: Episode IV: Teh New Dope
Battleground Europe Forums - Top Opel has Returned

Flash Movie: Episode IV: Teh New Dope

WillyT up to his usual high standard. I give it 8/10, could have used some more obvious jokes that could have made is all. The star wars story using WW2OL.

I really need to make a movie like "Trench Run" but on TESB. Churchills for the AT-AT's, Vickies for the scount walkers, stukas for the Speeders, 20mm AA for the Turrents, pak gun for the radar gun, British Imperial Troops, 88 for the Ion Cannon and an opel speeding past a sinking RN DD.

The allies would win of course.
- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, September 13, 2005 1 comments

 
Allied News Network Primetime (Video)
kbar
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 607
Allied News Network Primetime (Video)

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Hey,

So I was bored Saturday and decided to make a 'newsreel' style flick showing the BEF and RAF in action from earlier this week. It's a 6 minute flick, about 63 MB in size and includes a couple of 'surprises'. :wink:

Right click and save as ...
Allied News Network Primtime


Let me know what you think ...

That was very good, I give it 9/10. The ad break went a bit long, but I supose finding a short one may be diffulcut.

The combat shots were very well done, and the actual NEWS part was very cool (eg: Geel fell Friday Night). I hope he can do it again.
- posted by Comstar @ Monday, September 12, 2005 0 comments

 
1.20: He who is the best commander, wins
Think about it.

1.20 will proably adds waypoints. The ability see where friends are on the map. The ability to mark enemy postions on the map for all on the misson to see.

This means battlefield commanders just won the game.

Example: The badly lead side is defending a town. The attackers have a leader. He can now be told where the enemy is AND IS NOT. He knows where HIS men, tanks, guns, air support and trucks are. He can direct them with waypoints and misson updates and tell people WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO.


The side without a misson leader does not stand a chance. Bascialy a platoon with a leader vs a army without one will win everytime. I'm sure Sun Tzu said that once.


As as in game battlefield leader, I'll be able to TELL people:

Ok, rally HERE. Yes HERE, not THERE. And hey you, yer YOU, bring that tank HERE and not THERE. I know you're taking that matty to certin doom, so go THERE where there isn't any enemy AT. Now stay there until HEY YOU IN THE A13, GO THERE, next to the matty. And hey VIKCY, go behind them THERE. And watch out for the PZ over THERE hiding behind THAT.

And what's more, the clowns drving these tanks can see EACH OTHER and know there's a method to this madness and mabye, just MABYE might start working together without needing someone else to direct them.


And now recon is REALLY good. The guy calling out targets and LOCATIONS can really shine. You won't have to fire a shot, just get on the high ground and mark the targets on the map for everyone else.

I hope friends on the ground can mark targets for friends in the air and vice versa. We NOW have a use, ney a DEMAND, for recon planes and FAC's. And missons for them too.


But this all won't help much without a misson commander who spends his time directing everything. And the side that DOES have such a player, will win. Pure Gameplay too

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 10, 2005 4 comments

 
Breaking news! BE Release date of Oct 14, 2005
BADGER
CORNERED RAT
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 4,426
Re: BE Release date of Oct 14, 2005

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Yes it is true, and Rafter will be putting out information in the newsletter tomorrow on this subject. It was a tough decision but one that looking at it there is some good stuff.

If we were to release next week, 1.20 would not be ready by then. As many of you experience the stutters and performance issues, along with other things we noticed during the test a couple of weeks ago. This will allow us to release 1.20 before the release, and this is good news.

We are making good progress on the performance issues. We have tried a couple of things in beta and found somethings that helped, and we also found somethings that did not do aswell, but we have made some progress on this issue and the handle is in the hand and the door is about to be opened.

We also have new technology in beta that allows you to see where your current mission members are. Some will call it gamey, but it will be great for organizing on the field. Lots of stuff is lost in a game when compared to real life, and keeping up with others is much tougher. So this should be a good thing.

We also have some cool stuff in the works for waypoints. In fact the behind the scene first stuff went into beta and is looking very promising.

In my own mind, yes I was disappointed at first, but I started to think about it, and I was kind of glad. 1.20 will bring performance enhancement, and some new features, which will help new players. This is good to have in the game before the release. It also gives more time for the marketing to kick into gear at a higher rate. Another thing that it will allow happen is for our publishers to pick up a couple more distributors prior to the release, which could mean more countries.

So while it is a disappointment to us all, it also has many good things around it.

Look for the newsletter tomorrow, rafter will cover much more in it.

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 10, 2005 0 comments

 
NEW OFFICIAL GAME TRAILER RELEASED
Battleground Europe Forums - NEW OFFICIAL GAME TRAILER RELEASED

Feed back for Rafter:

Needed to show more Weapon Systems. You've got 90 of them. Shot them, 1 a second if need be. Very few games can do THAT.

Needed to show the scale. No other game does this. Show it, in a speeded up travel show if need be. The scale of crawling as an infantry on the ground to the speed of a Spitfire from 3 inches off the ground to flying at 30000 feet. No othe game can do THAT.

Land, Sea, Air Warfare, all in the same world. And you can be a commander too! (Though showing people that being a game commander is just as tough as being a real life commander, including paperwork, might be hard to video). Very few games can do THAT, and none of them are a single MMOG. A EQ raid or a WoW 30 minute battle is pathetic compared some of the epic day battles we have.

EXPLOSIONS! Tank turrents flying off! Planes disintergrating! Ships Sinking! Buildings Blowing up! Dozens of Bombs Bursting! WW2OL has THAT!


Some of these were covered in the trailer (The JU with it's wing flying off for example). Also, the eiditing needed to be a bit tighter, there was some slight cuts that could have been done better (yes, I'm not an expert at doing it, just watching it ).

The bit with the Spit flying over the airfiled was cool

- posted by Comstar @ Thursday, September 08, 2005 0 comments

 
Battleground Europe - Trailer [Hi]
Battleground Europe - Trailer [Hi]


battlegroundeurope_large.zip
Filesize: 38.56 MBytes
- posted by Comstar @ Wednesday, September 07, 2005 0 comments

 
Community Report 9-02-05
There's some other stuff, this is the interesting part

Battleground Europe Forums - Community Report 9-02-05

BADGER
CORNERED RAT
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 4,408
Re: Community Report 9-02-05

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COMMUNITY NEWS & NOTES
Well we had a great test of the network over the weekend, and we are pleased with the data that we collected. We had a couple of network issues with server performance, but overall it was a very successful test for us. We are currently reviewing the data that we obtained from the test. We appreciate everyone who helped in the testing.

The test not only allowed us to test the server, but also review some of the community programs like the Training Corps. The community really did a great job on helping the new players and it is greatly appreciated. It did stress the learning curve of this game. We monitored the Help Channel from time to time, and did not step in since the players were doing an outstanding job helping the new folks.

While there are many folks that stand out for their effort to help, one really did go above and beyond the call of duty many times. Throughout the weekend this one player would be found on the help channel in the main arena, or in the training server holding a special training session. Wolfiejr did an outstanding job in helping new players either through helping answer their questions or taking time to personally walk through things with them on the training server. Again, there were many others who did a great job in helping others, but Wolfiejr was one who really stood out in the minds of many when talking with others on what they saw over the weekend. Thank you Wolfiejr!

Well, the testing is now over, and the team here is working on 1.20. We have developed a new toolset that has given us lots of data for performance related issues. While running this internally we gathered lots of information that has been turned over to the coders and they are currently working through that data and making strong progress in the performance area. We realize this is an issue for many of you and we are working on getting these issues wiped out quickly.

We have reviewed the Brigade Performance since the release of 1.19. We have some brigades doing very well, while other brigades remain inactive most of the day. While we review this data, we are faced with the realization that all brigades must be active the majority of the day, which many brigades fail to meet this. The active brigades are key to deployment, TOE, and other things that we wish to bring in. A little over a year ago we organized the brigades that would be in the game. We will call them HQ3 so that we do not upset the KG folks and make it easier to follow. When we set up the units for the game we told the HCs that we would not make any changes for at least a year. We needed to review the unit's performance on the field and see how well the number worked on the field. Well we have seen it, and everyone can agree that we have lots of inactive HQ3's throughout the day. So on Sunday we will be meeting with as many HC Commanders to review the numbers of each HQ3 and Corps/Korps and trimming some weight in the OrBats. The minimum number we will retire is 6 brigades, or one Corps/Korps.

Many of you have mentioned we needed less units in the Orbat over the past couple of months. We kind of agreed, but wanted to give a little more time to insure that our data was sound enough to say which units are the best performing on the field as far as players following them. We also wanted to see if they would start to fill up. Our goal is to have each brigade full and able to perform as a unit on the field at any time of the day.

We will be meeting with the High Command at a meeting on Sunday. During this meeting we will be communicating the information we have with them, and taking their input on the decision process. We will be making the changes next week in order to have the orbat down to the size needed prior to the release that is now about two weeks away.

We realize that it is not easy to retire a unit. When we organized the units in the game last year, it was our hopes that we could fill the units and keep as many as we could. Our hopes did not work out as I am sure that you can see. I know the discussions will be from the heart when we meet with the commanders, and I know in the end that we will be making some tough decisions together. Some units will be retired when it is all said and done, and that is sad to me. After this reorganization is completed we will have the ability to move ahead with many things. We will also be able to enhance the features in the game and give more command ability to the HQ3 unit. This includes and is not limited to the placement of their AO at any time, with no restrictions other than the Commander, or Acting Commander feeling that they have the ability to do so safely. This may be the Commander of the HQ3, or in the event they are not on, the highest-ranking member of the HQ3. This could be your squad CO, your buddy, another HQ3 mate, or another of the HQ3 back up commanders.

This will also eliminate many commander slots that are unable to be filled. For the last year we have been begging for folks to step up into the command and fill over 200 slots available. This will help us make sure the command system is filled to the level that it can operate the features that are coming. We will be able to review the HQ3s in the future, and add to them as the player base expands. These changes are expected to last for the next six months, and longer is possible depending on the player base in the future.

Today I announce changes to the CinC terms as well. We will change the CinC terms to a term of one campaign. If they win that campaign, they can take on another campaign if they wish. They will only be able to serve a total of two campaigns if they have won their first. This is done for many reasons. One of those reasons is to allow more people the ability to be the Commander in Chief of their side. It will also speed up the process of promotions up through the rank and allow players to get into the position prior to reaching burn out. This policy will go into place at the beginning of the next CinC term, set to be at the end of Campaign 23.

A Discussion Thread has been started at this link:
http://discussions.playnet.com/show...1818#post751818

The part about brigades is sad, but it was going to happen. I wounder howerver, which units get the chop...and where. Afterall, the numbers were DEISGNED to have X amoiut of brigades cover Y amout of towns. Now X will be less than Y for deployment.


- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, September 03, 2005 0 comments

 
Gophur lays out a plan
Sunds like a good idea to me...though I don't know how many people will be willing to do resupply or "light" attacks.

Battleground Europe Forums - The Green Tags are coming!

GOPHUR
CORNERED RAT
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Republic of Texas
Posts: 4,362
Re: The Green Tags are coming!

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Actually those are all things that should probably go in. I'll put them on the discussion list as they have been bantered around already quite a bit in the office.

Finding fun should be easy. But also creating fun should be easy as well. Once you can choose to tie yourself to your brigade and your brigade is somewhere, you don't have the opportunity to go looking for action, you have to create it. That's really what Deployment is about.

Killer and I had a long talk last night about what would happen if you couldn't go looking for action. Would players create it? We both think so. Here's a scenario.

Youlog in and your brigade is pretty well populated. (We discussed that ist might be necessary to reduce the number of current brigades to achieve this). You're on the front where brigades always are but you don't seem to be under attack. The defense objective of the brigade is pretty dull atm. Ok what do you do since you can't just go running off looking for a fight. Well, you decide to blow all the incoming firebases and plan an attack to move you deeper into enemy territory. Those are local misions tied to the defense objective. You still have an attack objective so the brigfade commander looks at the objectives coiming from on high and chooses to attack a town that will move you closer to one. You start the attack and there is no defense, obviously there are no enemy near. You probably know where the enemy brigades are anyway, and Killer and I both feel that showing you the enemy on the map (not his objectives) promotes fighting. So you capture the town pretty easily. Everyone involved in that has had an accomplishment. They get some bennies and some warm fuzzies for having achieved something and the brigade in whol gets some bennies for capturing the town and thus improved the rankings. We both agreed that achievment and recognition both on the brigade adn individual level are great and that achievment doesn't always come from just a kill or a capture but that those are great things to emphasise.

So, now you have the town but you can't spawn there because you need to move your brigade up. The commander issues the move command and your HQ is now at the new town. Supply starts to trickle in but its gonna take a while but since you just moved the resupply obj gets placed on where you were. Now your guys start moving equipment up. Great news, for every char you bring up, 5 appear in the spawn list. Since you had 7 chars, it takes 2 guys to move them. At this rate if your brigade does some light defensive and some light offensive (blowing FBS) while most everyone moves stuff up, you'll be fully ready to go much sooner. This also gives everyone a task to do. They feel like a team and are accomplishing goals and recieving recongnition for thier contribution.

You haven't really done any fighting in an hour but you have had tasks to do and you have achieved them. Now the good news is that the enemy brigade has seen you move and they have countered, moving into position to attack you. If they succeed you'll be sent to your fallback position. Once you are matched up in this manner, you're likely to have days of this fighting.

This concentrates on making the game about finding and defeating the enemy. It also means that finding the action is about vreating the action and making sure that there are tasks to do that are involved in finding that.

It also means that other changes, like victory conditions based on taking key cities are very important. It's less important who holds Dinant than it is who hold Lille or Paris.

In order to achieve this manuever warfare we need to get people to enjoy sticking with their brigade, fighting for their personal prestiege and the prestiege of thier unit, more than they enjoy hunting and pecking around for a mobile spawn. Not that MS isn't a key to fun in the game for infantry. In fact we like it so much we want to add the ability for every mission leader to drop his own MS at any time, giving every missionn a MS almost all teh time. We'd also like to add MS for Navy.

It might be too much to ask. We'll see.

- posted by Comstar @ Thursday, September 01, 2005 0 comments