DLC's

[choppinlt]

I don't have a lot of real meaty details at this point in development, however I wanted to talk about the basic concept of how we anticipate DLC to work. The base game will come with some scenarios from each Front in June of '44 (Eastern, Normandy, Italy). It will then be up to players to choose which DLC's to start building out. Each DLC will be specific to a particular front (i.e. Normandy, Italy or Eastern), and we hope to have some DLC ready to roll out with the base game for players to choose from. MOST DLC will come along after game release.

We anticipate DLC to vary in size based on various circumstances, but it will be priced accordingly. We anticipate smaller DLC packages at first until we get everything established post-release. For example, the Normandy campaign will be at least 3 different DLC's (and probably more) due to the size and length of the campaign. We anticipate DLC to focus less on additional game play features/options and additional playability like some games (though it may contain some), and it will focus more on increasing the database of available units and map area. Said a different way, DLC will focus mostly on playable game map area, time period (i.e. early, mid, or late war), and unit databases.

[Broadsword56]

This sounds like a good plan for DLC.
It will be important to include some original and DLC for ops in Italy, France, Holland, and Russia, in order to draw in the full universe of Combat Mission players and WWII tactical gamers in general.
Let me make one plea for you to make sure you include some substantial Ardennes content -- not only in the initial release, but ASAP afterwards in DLC.
Here's why: The Ardennes is where all the "buzz" will be, since it's the next release and upgrade to the CM system. Players will always play the older theatres, of course, and BFC always does a good job keeping those updated. But I'm sure you saw how activity on the BFC CM:Normandy forum dropped after Red Thunder came out, for example. It's natural for people to gravitate to the latest shiny object." And if they know that's where their friends are hanging out now, that's where the discussion activity and community awareness will follow. Wherever they are, that's where Combat Ops needs to be. So make sure you're anticipating this in your content and your development timeline, and don't leave yourself in the position of trying to stoke interest in Normandy content when "everyone" is talking Bulge.
I'm not saying this for personal bias in favor of any one theater -- just as a suggestion for smart marketing.
Specific tip: If you're wondering what maps and operations to do initially for the Ardennes, pay attention to KG Peiper and the corridor of his attack. You'll be on solid ground there.

[choppinlt]

Hi Broadward56,
The plan is to include a few scenarios from Normandy, Italy and Russia with the base game. You primarily see Normandy examples because that is where the original focus of this game was until roughly 6 months ago. That is why I continually use Normandy as the backdrop until we get a larger database of maps, TOE's created, etc.

That is a solid suggestion regarding the Ardennes, and that has already been discussed. The nice thing about the DLC is that there is no requirement to go in any particular order. So depending on resources (i.e. money and time) we hope to have some Ardennes content available. If it is not ready for release immediately, there is a high likelihood it will be among the first new DLC to be published. Of course the CM Bulge release will likely be a year old by the time this game comes out, so the "buzz" may have worn out to some degree anyway.