Close Combat - The Bloody First, dates update

[mooxe]

Thanks for screenshots. An improvement over the last engine for sure.

Hoping the team monitor is relocated. Position of it here and in Gateway to Caen does not make sense. It adds a third obstacle (map and soldier details) over top the battle when it could be placed in the classic position.

[Nomada_Firefox]

Hoping the team monitor is relocated. Position of it here and in Gateway to Caen does not make sense. It adds a third obstacle (map and soldier details) over top the battle when it could be placed in the classic position.

I do not agree by one very important reason forgotten by Mooxe. It is 3D. The team monitor will not be a obstacle if it can be moved. The same for the map image and even if it can not be moved. Mooxe, you must think how the amount of terrain seen is set by the zoom. You can see the battle close or far away where you will see a lot more of terrain than in a old CC game.

[mickxe5]

I prefer the vertical Teams monitor over the old horizontal as long as it can be docked on the screen edge. Easier to scan at a glance and easily toggled off if it obstructs the map. Plus vertical screen space is more valuable than horizontal since vertical is roughly only half the horizontal at 1920x1080.

Mockup of the Team status indicator embedded in the toolbar:

[Nomada_Firefox]

ORIGINAL: mickxe5

I prefer the vertical Teams monitor over the old horizontal as long as it can be docked on the screen edge. Easier to scan at a glance and easily toggled off if it obstructs the map. Plus vertical screen space is more valuable than horizontal since vertical is roughly only half the horizontal at 1920x1080.

Mockup of the Team status indicator embedded in the toolbar:

I prefer the vertical Teams monitor over the old horizontal as long as it can be docked on the screen edge. Easier to scan at a glance and easily toggled off if it obstructs the map. Plus vertical screen space is more valuable than horizontal since vertical is roughly only half the horizontal at 1920x1080.

Mockup of the Team status indicator embedded in the toolbar:

I see other guy ignoring the zoom..........

You are thinking how you will play always looking the same amount of terrain but it is not true. You can increase or reduce the amount of terrain.

All your discussion about the reduction of view has not sense at this game.....

However I prefer a panel which I can change from position than one set as the older games in the bottom where you lose 250 pixels or more from 1080.

[Buck_Compton]

Hello Steve,

Very fine and promissing screenshots. I'm looking forward to the final release product. And obviously i'm hoping for a very 'modable' setup of the game.

Looking at the two screenshots one question came to mind. Is the camera set at a fixed angle or is the player allowed to freely rotate the camera in each desired angle on the X, Y and Z axle?

Secondary i'm also wondering if you have focused the vehicle set just solely on whats needed for these theatre of operations or did you keep in mind that modders would like to go for project with other nations etc? I'm also wondering how we are allowed to mod the game?

Keep up to good work! Looking forward to buying this version of CC!

Cheers Buck

[SteveMcClaire]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I'll answer the questions I can in brief:

Multi-story buildings: As I've said previously, we won't be doing multi-story buildings for this first release.

Unit bases: Under discussion. We will probably go with outlines around soldier/vehicles.

Unit icons: You can mod this easily by replacing the icon files.

Zoom levels: The camera height can be zoomed up and down freely/smoothly. There are no 'zoom levels' just a min and max height on the camera.

Soft map edges: We're experimenting with this. Allowing an angled and rotating camera means you either see off the map edge or there will be parts of the map you can't see with the angled / rotated view -- if you look at the outline of the 'visible map area' on the mini-map you'll see it's a trapezoid rather than a rectangle. Feedback so far is that people really want to be able to rotate the camera and aren't as concerned about seeing the edge of the map.

Gap between row houses: This won't exist in the final game on this map as we will replace the models with 'capped' houses that abut each other. That said, if you create your own map and deliberately create a situaiton like this, you will be able to move and fire down the gap, and move down it if its wide enough.

Unbuttoned Vehicles: Yes, vehicle can unbutton and you will see some of the crew. For open vehicles like a jeep you'll see the driver all the time. Exposed crew members can be shot/hit.

Camera angle: The camera has two angles -- top down and a set angle of about 70 degrees. You can rotate the direction it is facing but not tilt it beyond those two states.

Vehicles in game: We're shipping with the vehicles needed for our campaigns (US 1st Infantry in Tunisia, Sicily, and Normandy.) But with the Archon engine you can mod the game and add new vehicles, however.

Steve

[mickxe5]

ORIGINAL: Steve McClaire
Zoom levels: The camera height can be zoomed up and down freely/smoothly. There are no 'zoom levels' just a min and max height on the camera.

As you zoom out will there be a transition from 3D models to unit icons?

ORIGINAL: Steve McClaire
Feedback so far is that people really want to be able to rotate the camera and aren't as concerned about seeing the edge of the map.

Agree. Free rotate or incremental?

[SteveMcClaire]

ORIGINAL: mickxe5
As you zoom out will there be a transition from 3D models to unit icons?

Agree. Free rotate or incremental?

Yes. At closer zoom the unit icon / handles are offset to keep them from blocking your view of the troops /
vehicle in the unit. As you zoom out and the 3D models get smaller the icon shifts toward the unit's actual location. Once you're far enough out the icon is at the unit's location and the models are 'covered' (and too tiny to really see anyway.)

You can rotate the camera freely.

Steve

[Nomada_Firefox]

Feedback so far is that people really want to be able to rotate the camera and aren't as concerned about seeing the edge of the map.

I agree with this. At the end, at all the games where you see the edge of the map, it is not a problem. Do not rotate the camera can be a problem because you feel as if you are losing part of the view, specially thinking how everything is 3D.

Unbuttoned Vehicles: Yes, vehicle can unbutton and you will see some of the crew. For open vehicles like a jeep you'll see the driver all the time. Exposed crew members can be shot/hit.

A surprise. Never I thought about this.

But with the Archon engine you can mod the game and add new vehicles, however.

Clearly the modding capabilities will be great. Do you go to release a new plugin for 3Dmax and perhaps blender? or the old plugins released with battle academy are they enough?

And one questionm more. Is there maps with more elevations? people are saying how the maps shown are too flat.

[Jugger]

[:)]Looks great keep up the good work. Will late war German Vehicles have camo?[:)]

[LeeChard]

You've got me all excited now [:)]

[Hexagon]

ORIGINAL: Steve McClaire

Multi-story buildings: As I've said previously, we won't be doing multi-story buildings for this first release.

Unit bases: Under discussion. We will probably go with outlines around soldier/vehicles.

Unit bases: Under discussion. We will probably go with outlines around soldier/vehicles.

Thanks for the info.

Related with bases... if you want use outlines like in previous CC you can use them for morale and bases to show health status... a base is allways visible like a outline and both at same time more.

I am curious if multi-story buildings added in future could be introduced in game using a patch.

[mickxe5]

Will enemy icons always show team type or will there be some version of the 'unknown unit' (ie. the ? icon) shown until positive identification is made?

If unit icons are always going to be visible per Steve's reply about zoomed out view, hard to see the need for soldier bases with the exception of team leader circles or their BF equivalent.

If soldier outlines are used hopefully they'll indicate the classic CC range of statuses (Command, Suppression, Cover etc.) rather than serving only as visual aids. And useful if the chosen outline status was more readily shown in the UI rather than buried in Settings.

[Hexagon]

Well, in the old CCs i used the small icon (a star or a german cross) to show unit morale and outlines to show supresion of individual soldier, here i suggest add a 3rd info point, to have the unit NATO icon with a bar in a colour to show morale of unit, outlines show soldier supresion and base the soldier health status and at same time you made more visible soldiers.

[SteveMcClaire]

Vehicle skins will change through different theaters, yes. So there will be different camo schemes in Sicily and Normandy.

Multi-story buildings will be added in a future version. Modding them in isn't really practical.

Steve

[Nomada_Firefox]

Thanks by the answers.

Do you know what will be the last minimun requirements for the game?

[PipFromSlitherine]

We have not nailed down the system reqs as yet, but you will not need a cutting edge system to run the game.

Cheers

Pip

[Nomada_Firefox]

Thanks.

Can we know what is the normal amount of polygons for a CC BF model?

[UnderThunder]

Thanks for uploading those 3d screenshots... it looks great ... but I have a question:

Are you also working on improving the AI? In the older Close combat games, many times the AI does not focus on getting the Victory points, especially those on the edges of the map. Overall, the AI needs to be more aggressive on attack. Also the tanks should act smart and closely support the infantry. Many times in the older close combat games, you see the enemy tanks walking forward then go backward and turning in place for no reason at all, while their main task should be to be supporting the attacking infantry.

[Nomada_Firefox]

I am curious about one thing. Panzer Corps 2 has not a single screenshot but it is in the coming soon section from the Slitherine forum. However, CC BF with years of development continue in the in development section. Very curious.