Close combat - Panthers in the Fog

[MajVonRyan]

The title sounds promising

Could it be a Steel Panthers remake using the close combat system as the foundation for the new game?

[Wodin]

Well I do hope it's packed full of new features, if not then I can't get very excited as there are plenty of superb mods out there for CC series already. I remember playing a Stalingrad one which was amazing, just as good as a new release, plus it was free.

I suppose if this had been announced five years ago or so I'd be alot more excited. However after going back and playing CC again it didn't hold up to the memories I had of it sadly.

[MajVonRyan]

[quote="Wodin"]Well I do hope it's packed full of new features, if not then I can't get very excited as there are plenty of superb mods out there for CC series already. I remember playing a Stalingrad one which was amazing, just as good as a new release, plus it was free.

True, if it is the same game with a bit of makeup but hopefully it will as you suggest have some great new features. I would like to see much more detail in the units, an increase in the scale of the tanks and squads.

Any chance of posting the stalingrad mod website if that is ok with Slitherline?

[Destraex]

Fingers crossed its an entirely new engine in 3D. I'm thinking company of heroes with a much larger scope for numbers than the original close combat.
Maybe a little like a highly polished theatre of war.

[Wodin]

I was bothered about 3D, camera controls issues can ruin a 3D game so I prefer top down really. Infact everything you want I wouldn't, more units equal click fest city for me. However it's all mute. Looks like it's just the last game remade with the latest updated CC engine. Oh well. Nothing exciting for me in the recent announcement of games. More of the same really.

[Wodin]

double post

[MajVonRyan]

Panthers in the fog - sounds like a game set in the Winter - such as the Russia front or the Battle of Bulge. It would be great if it was new release of Steel Panthers

Well I was wrong - 'Close Combat: Panthers in the Fog -Last Close Combat game using current engine , aiming for Q4 2012'

My top picks would be:
Commander: The Great War.
Panzer Corps: Afrika Corps - Q2012 - Q4 will have Allied Pack.

[Wodin]

It is a new game suing the old engine which is cool. I'm more worried about them going 3D for the outing after that. A 3D RTS WW2 game has alot of competition. If they'd decided to use a 3D engine but designed it from top down only perspective now that would have looked great and still felt like CC. Games in 3D played top down never work well as you never see enough of the battlefield, you can tell it they weren't designed to be played top down.

Fingers crossed anyway, a massive job to get it to stand out from the pack though. Also if it's not good enough to be seen as a classic like the old CC games I see a big backlash from CC fans. Thats some pressure.

[manoi]

though I have drawn a lot of maps for Close Combat (and especially the stalingrad ones), I'm happy that the new engine after panthers in the fog will be a 3D one. The restriction with the 2D and the last engine was too restrictive (one thing that always bothers me was the fact that the original scale was too small and that we finally play with soldiers, vehicles and even maps that are not at the right scale (5 pixels by meter) . Now I cross my fingers that they will succeed in transposing this game in 3D with all its difficulties (floor repartition, combat in houses, building damages, crossable walls or not, scale). I have seen a lot of good look alike close combat 3D games as TOW or achtung panzer but neither were able to produce the same good gameplay as CC.

[Wodin]

Manoi as I mentioned over at Matrix it appears that the new game is to scale going by the screenshots.

By the way your Stalingrad mod gave me hours of fun.

[MajVonRyan]

though I have drawn a lot of maps for Close Combat (and especially the stalingrad ones), I'm happy that the new engine after panthers in the fog will be a 3D one. The restriction with the 2D and the last engine was too restrictive (one thing that always bothers me was the fact that the original scale was too small and that we finally play with soldiers, vehicles and even maps that are not at the right scale (5 pixels by meter) . Now I cross my fingers that they will succeed in transposing this game in 3D with all its difficulties (floor repartition, combat in houses, building damages, crossable walls or not, scale). I have seen a lot of good look alike close combat 3D games as TOW or achtung panzer but neither were able to produce the same good gameplay as CC.

Any chance of posting a link to your website, re: close combat mods?

[Wodin]

Von Ryan the Stalingrad mod is amazing. I can't remember which CC you need though. Might be CC5.

[IainMcNeil]

The 3D version will be top down so will look very similar to the current game but just much better. It will also support any resolution. There are a huge number of advantages to going 3D.

[Wodin]

Ian so is the game being designed with top down being the the main viewpoint? Or are you saying you can move the camera to a top down position? As pretty much every 3D game I've played and set the camera to top down just doesn't work well, mainly because that particular view point was the focus of the design so you end with a restricted view as you can't see enough of the battlefield. Even games like Combat Mission. Playing it from topdown view just doesn't look right, yet a game like CC that was designed top down looks great and works in a practical way.

I'm having difficulty trying to explain what I mean here.

I feel a game with a 3D engine but designed to be played from the offset topdown would look superb keep the CC feel and work well.

[IainMcNeil]

The details are TBD but the aim is to have a game that plays and looks like CC but is in a 3D engine which will be much faster, scale to any resolution, and have all sorts of other advantages. We may allow users to tilt the camera to get in close to some action they want to see but it is not intended to play the game from this view point.

[Wodin]

That sounds superb and is exactly what I'd have wanted. Thanks Ian. All fears now gone.

Excellent news.

Also Ian please don't get disheartened over the Ipad\Mobile issues. None of it is aimed at you or Slitherine, I imagine it must be rather depressing having all the recent news to announce only for us to moan. Again it's not aimed at you, more the announcement sparked it off rather than it be about the actual games you announced.

[Hemul]

Classic real-time infantry combat wargame Close Combat is on the march towards a tablet release. It’s the second day of Slitherine/Matrix Group‘s press event: yesterday they announced that they had acquired all of the intellectual property associated with Close Combat, and today they’ve laid out their future plans for the franchise.

Close Combat: Panthers In The Fog (quite a saucy name, that) is set in the Ardennes in 1944 and will be out in Q4 of 2012 – but that will be Matrix’s last game based on the 15-year-old engine they’ve acquired. Work has already begun on its successor, a new game from the ground up based on the Unity engine. Unity gives the devs quite a lot of flexibility and they intend to make Close Combat for Android tablets and iPad – “probably not next year” but “possibly” in 2014.

Slitherine/Matrix technical director Iain McNeil was cagey when asked about the setting of the new Unity-based Close Combat but he made it clear it would be a World War II game. No Close Combat game yet has taken place in Africa or the Pacific – it would be interesting if that’s where they went. God knows any veteran CC player has seen his fill of top-down views of French hedgerows at this point.

That is quite a while away but the Close Combat series is one of the best-regarded wargames ever and probably my personal favorite. I await it’s release with equal parts excitement and fear for my social life/personal hygiene.

http://pockettactics.com/2012/04/24/clo ... a-comments

[manoi]

you can download the stalingrad mod here : http://www.closecombatseries.net/CCS/mo ... ads&cid=25
If you want to see some features and previews, it's there http://www.closecombatseries.net/Hosted ... index.html
The mod works only with the original CC5.

[SteveMcClaire]

To be clear on the 3D issue -- Panthers in the Fog will be using the current 2D Close Combat engine. The new 3D engine is planned for the subsequent release.

And as Iain has said, we're aware of the potential issues with going to a 3D engine and will be working to find the right balance. The goal is to get as much of the benefit of 3D (and being able to see the lay of the land) as we can without losing the 'situational clarity' that the current top-down 2D camera view gives you.

[Wodin]

Steve that sounds spot on. As the development is in the hands of hardcore CC fans I have no worries, please though make the Infantry a little tougher, it seems they've become fairly vulnerable in latter games which is a shame as their survivability is what made the game. Nothing ruins a tactical game for me more than Infantry dropping in their droves.