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Combat Mission: Shock Force 2

Cholo

Arcane
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Messages
766
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Val Verde
 
Joined
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http://kriegsimulation.blogspot.com/2018/12/combat-mission-shock-force-2-is-released.html

Combat Mission Shock Force 2 is Released

Battlefront's main web page may not say so, but Combat Mission Shock Force 2 is reporting for duty.


One of the old scenarios (Circle the Wagons) has bee re-written and "RPG City" continues to be a handsome challenge for the virtual Marines.

Not only the base game has been brought to the newest generation game engine but all the modules (US Marines, British Forces and NATO [Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands]) are also available. The amount of gameplay and diversity of equipment is astonishing.


From the same scenario mentioned above. Irregular forces attempt to overrun a US Marines platoon guarding two Abrams immobilized tanks.
From a cursory look at my favorite scenarios, I can see many changes on how the computer opponent behaves. There was a massive effort in re-writing old scenarios and also a new crop of fresh ones. Some of the NATO module old campaigns are not available at this time, I read somewhere, and if solo campaigns are your thing, please check the official forums for this information.


A US Marines medium MG team on top of a roof. An AAV is on the street below, without proper infantry guard.
The Gulf and Iraq Wars overtones plus the obvious thematic proximity with the current events in real life Syria will likely result in a multitude of user-created scenarios, campaigns and mods. The scenario and map editor in Combat Mission continues to be a source of fresh quality content.


Well, these Canadians have been ambushed and now dwell -not so happily and under fire from every corner of the map- at the "Crossfire Inn". Reinforcements coming soon. I hope.


The British Challenger tank, with its distinctive armor skirts, is a magnificent piece of armor. In this armor-only scenario, Challies shown seconds before contact against Syrian counterparts.

If you own any content for the original Combat Mission Shock Force, you can take advantage of a discounted price. I got the whole enchilada of game and modules for $35.00 (compare against the non-discounted price of $160.00).

I'm off to finish up my video AAR of my match with Olav. Then, more Combat Mission Shock Force 2.

Cheers,
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,321
Infantry movement animations are still janky like they were over a decade ago. Everything else seems okay, but not exactly worth full RRP.
 

Sir37mm

Novice
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
14
very clever mod. Well, aside from chinese radio calls mixed in with the vietnamese ?????
Thank you, it's a WIP but coming along nicely.

As for the voices? I'm not going to lie, I never noticed.

However, one of the team did & he's gone through all the hundreds of voice files & has identified the ones using the wrong language.

One of my jobs, for this week, is to update the voice mod.
 

Sir37mm

Novice
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
14
Thoughts on the patch?

Also are those your vids? I was watching a few just the other day.
Yeah, my vids.

It's early days but, so far, I think the patch is great... infantry are very hesitant to leave good cover now.

This is making urban fighting appropriately grim.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Coming to Steam and GOG via Slitherine.



https://www.slitherine.com/news/combat-mission-shock-force-2-out-on-august-25th

Combat Mission Shock Force 2 - Out on August 25th

We are proud to announce that we’ve partnered with Battlefront to bring Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 to our stores. The game, and all its DLCs, will be available from August 25th on Matrix Games, Steam, and other digital stores.

We already work with Battlefront on some very engaging professional projects where Combat Mission is used for training and analysis purposes. We are now genuinely excited to be able to bring it to our wargaming community.

screen_5f2917257098b.jpg


What is Combat Mission Shock Force 2

Shock Force 2 brings you to a hypothetical conflict in Syria between the forces of NATO and the Syrian Army, in which you can play either in real-time or with the innovative turn-based WeGo system. Take command of US Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCT) and Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (HBCT) to fight against Syrian Army Infantry, Mechanized and Armored units in an arid setting. Experience the full range of modern threats to conventional military forces, including irregular combat forces, terrorists, spies, suicide bombers, IED's and other deadly tools employed in the asymmetric warfare of the modern-day. Play the Task Force Thunder campaign, more than a dozen carefully crafted battles, or unlimited Quick Battles. Shock Force 2 focuses on tactical platoon-level action and features both a single-player campaign and multiplayer (Hotseat or PBEM).

screen_5f29170c01dab.jpg
 

Stone Dog

Novice
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
32
Well, fuck me, the dev was one of those backward grogs believing that selling their niche game on Steam at reasonable prices was a non-viable business model (while proven wrong by stuff like Graviteam Tactics or fucking CMANO/CMO).
I'm sure the drama on the official forums will be an entertaining read.

EDIT: Also, I wonder what happens to the scheme of asking for money for updates.
 

some funny shit

Scholar
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
388
Location
nowhere
Wow, Matrix Games (Slitherine) and Battlefront were mortal enemies for decades.

It's really end of the world that Matrix Games will be publishing Battlefront.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Developer
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
4,346
Location
Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Wow, Matrix Games (Slitherine) and Battlefront were mortal enemies for decades.

It's really end of the world that Matrix Games will be publishing Battlefront.
I guess it meant one was utterly vanquished by the other...
It is a good thing it was the one with the anti consumer business model.

It is not only Battlefront. Approaching Infinity also left its Shrapnel Game exlusive nonsense to come to Steam.
 
Last edited:

sser

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
1,866,661
Holy shit, I was edging close to buying SF2 just recently (been playing a lot of Normandy, too).

This is actually huge news. Not only the announcement, but apparently some new sales strategies.

Battlefront is happy to announce a new commercial sales partnership with Slitherine Publishing. The new arrangement puts Slitherine’s considerable marketing muscle to work getting Combat Mission into more hands than ever before through its Matrix Games online store and Steam. Combat Mission Shock Force 2 is the first CM family to make the move to Slitherine with more to follow over time. Battlefront’s online store will remain unchanged, except that pricing will stay in synch with a coordinated sales strategy. Yes, that means Battlefront will finally offer periodic sales to its customers! On the development side of things Battlefront remains fully independent as it has for the past 20+ years.


I imagine the sales for SF2 weren't too hot (especialy given it's just SF1 more or less), and they're gonna use it as a test run to see how their games operate on the Steam platform. It could also be the case these guys are becoming old geezers. They've already offloaded development to third parties (with bad results), and this could be more in line with just offloading the business side of things as well.

The Slitherine pairing isn't too surprising; Matrix/Slitherine if you recall had the exact same "fuck Steam" mode of thinking until they eked out a few titles and realized it was a goldmine.

Here's the forum's discussions:

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/137351-exciting-news-about-battlefront-and-slitherine/

Also interesting:

Hi all,

To answer the immediate question... existing Battlefront CMSF2 customers will get Steam keys for whichever products are owned. We're not exactly sure yet how we'll get the keys to you (couple of options), but we'll let you know when we know. Brand new Slitherine customers will get their Steam access along with their purchase.

Steve


Battlefront is emerging from the caves!
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
Well, fuck me, the dev was one of those backward grogs believing that selling their niche game on Steam at reasonable prices was a non-viable business model (while proven wrong by stuff like Graviteam Tactics or fucking CMANO/CMO).
I'm sure the drama on the official forums will be an entertaining read.

EDIT: Also, I wonder what happens to the scheme of asking for money for updates.

When the sales number go up, they'll realize that it's much more profitable to bring more titles to steam and earn more bucks, than continue with their way of surviving via paid patches.
Or they won't, and they will crash and burn and return to the vegetative state they were now, not really doing anything new, but slowly improving the existing formula and re-releasing the same game over and over, just with different equipment and ODB options.
 

Wyatt_Derp

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2019
Messages
3,062
Location
Okie Land
I hope this Battlefront deal with Slitherine/Matrix isn't just a one-off. Someone on their forum asked if they planned on releasing any older games other than Shock Force 2 and they said they didn't have any plans yet.

I was a huge CM fan and bought every one until they changed over to their arbitrary limited installer DRM bullshit. And I know I wasn't alone. Obviously time and decreased sales must have changed their minds.
 

passerby

Arcane
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
2,788
Also, I wonder what happens to the scheme of asking for money for updates.

Nothing, works great for Paradox, maybe they'll pack a patch together with a horse armor, to pretend it's not just a patch, but that's about it.
 

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