Matrix Games Forums

Not mentioned as a feature in the list but in one of the screenshots there appears to be a burning hut/shack, which looks the worse for wear?

Also, in the same screenshot, an infantry unit is occupying the church steeple. Are there multiple height levels in buildings?

Yes, there are multiple height level buildings.

Good Hunting.

MR

No you cannot destroy buildings. The map designer can place rubble, destroyed building models, fire, smoke on the map.

Not yet on the destructible buildings, that's probably the only major feature request we didn't get in here, though we do have more "active" ruins now as far as smoke and fire goes. Destructible buildings are planned for the release after this one.

Not having owned any of the previous games, I am very tempted by this.
 
However, looking at that lovely Russian village in your screenshot of the day, I'm minded as to what it would look like after an intense arty bombardment, an airstrike and a tank battle in the streets. Exactly the same is the answer! - and that is the problem for me.
 
I will watch this game unfold and, who knows, may be tempted if everything else is as good as it sounds. However, the next couple of months could be used to get destructible buildings in and then what a product you would have!

I hear you and I appreciate that this is a very important feature for you, but there is only so much we can fit into a release! [:)] Did you see the feature list?

I posted this at GameSquad and I'll repost it here:

On the question of destructible buildings, that's planned for the next release. However, we did improve how buildings are handled. Infantry can auto-mount buildings as part of their movement now and every building will tell you if it is "light" or "heavy" and how many squads it can hold if you click on it on the map. Light buildings provide less cover than Heavy and all buildings have a chance of providing no cover (modeling a shell that penetrates the exterior and explodes inside) which increases based on the size and power of the shell. That 350mm HE shell someone mentioned would have no problem blowing squads out of buildings in Panzer Command: Ostfront.

We absolutely do want destructible buildings and we expect that will happen with the next release after Ostfront. I should add that the eye candy in this release is significantly upgraded from Kharkov, but there is more we can do in the future. First we need to finish this release though, which we are in the process of wrapping up and polishing.

I can say that the modeling of large shell effects on buildings means that combat in villages does feel realistic, even if destructible buildings would make it better.

Regards,

- Erik

Good stuff Erik - have replied on the games squad forum.

Destructible buildings are something I can live with for now.

The difference in "game terms" in tactical games is basically one of a slightly different modifier - rubble vs. building walls. Collapsed buildings offer no LOS height advantage (or block to LOS). But other than that, the differences are minor. AFVs still can't drive through them; they still impede infantry moving through them. etc.

I think it should be ok. In fact, the animations of destructible buildings in CM:SF were mostly goofy and kind of pulled you out of the game - did more harm than good, really.

ORIGINAL: James Crowley
However, looking at that lovely Russian village in your screenshot of the day, I'm minded as to what it would look like after an intense arty bombardment, an airstrike and a tank battle in the streets. Exactly the same is the answer! - and that is the problem for me.

Many of the houses were made from pictures of after action shots from a town battle (Niemirow) someone posted over at Gamesquad forums last year. There were a number of destroyed houses but I only made models of the intact ones. The battle raged for hours and the houses that were lost were mostly burnt out not blown down to rubble. (They probably were ruins when they cooled down next day or so.) Turning a village to rubble takes more than a few shells into the market place.

Many scenarios in Winterstorm and Kharkov start with units in contact with each other at the start. Will Ostfront offer more scenarios with room to maneuver before first contact?

Yes.

There are tremendously more maps available and the ability to make new ones easily. What that gives you is a wider range of terrain types and more covered terrain on those maps. Units don't have to start in LOS of each other.

In addition to that there are different map sizes available. PC has been restricted to 1km maps in the past. PCO has map sizes from 500 meters up to 2km per side.

The choice of ground to fight over now is much more diversified.

Good Hunting.

MR

Thanks for the quick reply.