***Ask the Colonel - ANSWER VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE!

[monkeyhat]

Just a note to say that the answers to the most of the questions that were asked before the deadline are now available for viewing in this 11 and a half minute video:

Colonel John Antal (US Army ret.) answers questions from the Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 community (ftp://ftp.ubi.com/emea/brothersinarms/video/antalvideo.wmv)

We paraphrased a few of the questions, but hopefully you'll find the answers interesting!

-----

http://www.farcry-thegame.com/uk/images/antalpic.jpg
Next week, Colonel John F. Antal (U.S. Army retired), pictured right, will be visiting the UK as part of a European press tour. He's the Chief of Staff, Historian, Military Consultant and Lead Writer for Brothers in Arms developer Gearbox Software. And we're giving you the community the chance to put questions to him!

To participate, please reply to this post with your questions on the <span class="ev_code_YELLOW">authenticity, history and research</span> behind the Brothers in Arms project. We'll pick the 10 best and put them to the Colonel - his responses will appear in video and transcript form on the new Brothers in Arms website when it launches next month.

Here's some background information: <font size=1>

Col. Antal served 30 years in the U.S. Army from 1973, when he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, until his retirement on July 31, 2003. Antal has commanded U.S. combat soldiers at every level from platoon to regiment. He is an Airborne Ranger and has also earned the Expert Infantryman's Badge. He served in combat units in Germany, Korea, Kuwait and the United States. He commanded an M1A1 tank battalion on the volatile demilitarized zone in Korea, the 16th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Knox, Kentucky and was a special assistant to General Hugh Shelton, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 1998-2000.

In his last Army assignment he served as the operations officer (G3) for the 165,000 man III Armored Corps at Fort Hood, Texas. He has earned numerous military awards and decorations including two awards of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

In addition to his military duties Antal has published six books (Armor Attacks; Infantry Combat; Combat Team; Proud Legions; Talon Force Thunderbolt; and City Fights), contributed to several military anthologies (Maneuver Warfare; Digital War; and By Their Deeds Alone), is the Editorial Director of the Armchair General Magazine, and has written over 50 articles for magazines and professional journals. His seventh book, City Combat will be published in late 2004. He has worked as a military and historical consultant for Microsoft Corporation. Antal has also appeared on numerous episodes of the Brute Force and Weapons at War television programs for A&E and the History Channel.

[monkeyhat]

Just a note to say that the answers to the most of the questions that were asked before the deadline are now available for viewing in this 11 and a half minute video:

Colonel John Antal (US Army ret.) answers questions from the Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 community (ftp://ftp.ubi.com/emea/brothersinarms/video/antalvideo.wmv)

We paraphrased a few of the questions, but hopefully you'll find the answers interesting!

-----

http://www.farcry-thegame.com/uk/images/antalpic.jpg
Next week, Colonel John F. Antal (U.S. Army retired), pictured right, will be visiting the UK as part of a European press tour. He's the Chief of Staff, Historian, Military Consultant and Lead Writer for Brothers in Arms developer Gearbox Software. And we're giving you the community the chance to put questions to him!

To participate, please reply to this post with your questions on the <span class="ev_code_YELLOW">authenticity, history and research</span> behind the Brothers in Arms project. We'll pick the 10 best and put them to the Colonel - his responses will appear in video and transcript form on the new Brothers in Arms website when it launches next month.

Here's some background information: <font size=1>

Col. Antal served 30 years in the U.S. Army from 1973, when he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, until his retirement on July 31, 2003. Antal has commanded U.S. combat soldiers at every level from platoon to regiment. He is an Airborne Ranger and has also earned the Expert Infantryman's Badge. He served in combat units in Germany, Korea, Kuwait and the United States. He commanded an M1A1 tank battalion on the volatile demilitarized zone in Korea, the 16th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Knox, Kentucky and was a special assistant to General Hugh Shelton, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 1998-2000.

In his last Army assignment he served as the operations officer (G3) for the 165,000 man III Armored Corps at Fort Hood, Texas. He has earned numerous military awards and decorations including two awards of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

In addition to his military duties Antal has published six books (Armor Attacks; Infantry Combat; Combat Team; Proud Legions; Talon Force Thunderbolt; and City Fights), contributed to several military anthologies (Maneuver Warfare; Digital War; and By Their Deeds Alone), is the Editorial Director of the Armchair General Magazine, and has written over 50 articles for magazines and professional journals. His seventh book, City Combat will be published in late 2004. He has worked as a military and historical consultant for Microsoft Corporation. Antal has also appeared on numerous episodes of the Brute Force and Weapons at War television programs for A&E and the History Channel.

[anti.hero-]

Will the weapons have realistic recoil and accuracy? In other words will the weapons that are lighter in real life be more harder to control than say a heavier one such as the B.A.R.?

[blindrocket]

When designing a game, game balance is an issue. However in reality, war isn't always balanced between two enemies. What steps are you taking to consider this issue at Gearbox?
Any special consideration when it comes to weapons, such as type availability and behavior, or even map design and who the terrain would favor?

[juv3]

ehm how is the multiplayer modes goin to be?
is it goin to be like single player but more "inteligent" (humans) players?
or is it goin to be like Call of duty with modes like search and destroy, TDM, DM etc etc?

[Laafus]

Is there any good site with stories from the battles in 1944?

[anti.hero-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by juv3:
ehm how is the multiplayer modes goin to be?
is it goin to be like single player but more "inteligent" (humans) players?
or is it goin to be like Call of duty with modes like search and destroy, TDM, DM etc etc? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>i don't know if he can answer that because you have to ask him about the authenticity, history, and/or research. i'm pretty sure my question is fine because it falls under the authenticity group, but he might be able to.

[fafa008]

I would like to know if GIs did Close Quater Battle training before D-Day ? Because I guess that MOUT wasn't a fashion at this time, unlike nowadays. However I think that a lot of paratroopers were close when they fought Germans, especially because of the landscape of Normandy : alot of small field, hedgerows...

[SushiK]

Often times, it seems that major battles are determined by the POV and information coming in to the commander. Radio may tell you what the radio operator or his commander thinks is true, but you really have to see what's going on yourself to get a completly accurate picture of what's going on. So, will radio be used? And what kind of affect will the strategic POV have on gamplay?

[njcl]

my question is a tad sensitive and if the mods feel its unappropiate then please feel free to edit my post."whats it truly like to get a bead or reticule on a living/moving human being {soldier}???

[Three11Rules]

Did the team/developers interview any people involved in WWII or any civilians that witnessed any fights or battles to get a different perspective from someone who actually experienced it? Have any of these interviews actually changed somthing in the game?

Question 2 if my other question doesn't comply with the rules or somthing.

When firing an M1 Garand it seems that it would be awfully easy to lose the little cartridge that holds the bullets. Just firing in tall grass standing still seems like you could lose it really easily. So my question is, did any of this ever happen to real soldiers and when it happened and they had no way to load there bullets did they just use their pistol or what?

[ShakerDeath]

1.Will you have to pick up ammo, food supplies, weapons, etc. from your enemies once you killed them?
2.And talking about ammo, what happens when you run out of ammo?
3.Another question: Can you receive, ask, or get things from your buddies?
4.Will your teammates request, talk, give advice, or whatever in combat?
or maybe say things like: "More jerries on the way!!" with maybe a "FALL BACK!" after that?
5.Will your teammates automatically fall back if they're outnumbered?

Please answer one of my questions..

-Shakerdeath

-ShakerDeath

[gas_ed]

How will Brothers in Arms compare to other WWII games such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor?

[ShakerDeath]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gas_ed:
How will Brothers in Arms compare to other WWII games such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

look in the faq dude...

[Kurtz_]

Is one of the aims of the game to convey the sense of what combat is like. I have wondered about that, how you would react in that situation. I have known veterans from WW2 and Vietnam and they all have one thing in common, they never talk about combat. They will talk about everything else, but, not about combat. What is it about combat experience that stays with you for a lifetime but is not something for discussion?

[jung2k]

I think several of you are missing the point of contacting Col. Antal. Many of you are asking questions of how real things are reflected in the game. Col. Antal advises on the game, the final decision of how these realistic features are implemented into the game is up to Gearbox.

Read this: http://diary.gearboxsoftware.com/

These are the types of questions that forum members ask and what Col. Antal answers. They all relate with real military questions and nothing related to the game.

[wombat50]

Colonel John F. Antal,
What topic was most discussed between you and Gearbox for developing Brothers in Arms?
Thanks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/wombat50/GR2.jpg

[ShakerDeath]

You recently answered a question about bunny hopping, you mentioned the gear of the soldiers, now my question is: what did it make so heavy? what did they excactly carry with them?

[Bf109g-10]

Col. John F. Antal,

On much photos of Normandy 1944, you see allied soldiers who are attacking enemy positions, or you see allied soldiers/paratroopers with much german prisoners or with dead german bodies.
On these photos it seems that the allied forces almost always win every battle from the germans, so it seems that the germans were not very strong and didn't win much battles.
So did the allies have much casualties and was the german defense strong, or could the allies win battles without much trouble?

I hope you will give me an answer.

[DaveTinNY]

Okay, guys, here are some books I HIGHLY recommend reading if you want to better understand the WWII experience as viewed by the men (heroes) who were in combat. No one else can tell it like them:

THE GI'S WAR American Soldiers In Europe During WWII Edwin P. Hoyt

CITIZEN SOLDIERS Stephen E. Ambrose

D-DAY Stephen E. Ambrose

BAND OF BROTHERS Stephen E. Ambrose

PARACHUTE INFANTRY An American Paratropper's Memoir Of D-DAY And The Fall Of The Third Reich
David Kenyon Webster

BEYOND VALOR WWII's Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal The Heart Of Combat
Patrick K. O'Donnell

DOG TAGS YAPPING The World War II Letters Of A Combat GI
M.D. Elevitch

CURRAHEE! A Screaming Eagle At Normandy
Donald R. Burgett

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS James Bradley

SEMPER FI, MAC Living Memories Of The U.S. Marines In World War II Henry Berry

and the best of all of them, in my opinion:

VISIONS FROM A FOXHOLE A Rifleman In Patton's Ghost Corps William A. Foley, Jr.

Start reading guys; you'll appreciate those who gave so much... The Greatest Generation, hands down.

Dave T

[DaveTinNY]

Oh, and thank you for your service to our country, Colonel Antal.

Regards,

Dave Tremper
New York

[Keegan101st]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Three11Rules:
Did the team/developers interview any people involved in WWII or any civilians that witnessed any fights or battles to get a different perspective from someone who actually experienced it? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dude, if you watched the E3 demo, Randy Pitchford said that the developers of Gearbox had spoken to a 70 year old man who witnessed the fighting when he was 10 years old. The level in the game is called Ripe Pickings. but yes, they did interview a few people who witnessed the war there in Normandy.

[Lt.Parra]

Is there going to be detailed training? like raven sheild?

[Keegan101st]

well, im sure there will be training before you go into battle in Normandy. Almost every FPS game now has a little training session just for the player to get the feel of the game and controls before he plays.

[Puss_in_Bo0ts]

First of all, I want to thank Col.Antal and the Brothers in Arms team for spending so many time and effort in making this game. I have great confidence in your skills and appreciate your hard to work wich makes this game possible.

It's clear that the M1 Garand was by far the better rifle in 1944. So my question is: Were the German soldiers with their bolt action Kar98 rifles able to create enough firepower against the American squads who had great firepower because of the semi-automatic firing of the M1? And did the Germans squads in Normandy have the Sturmgewehr44 (mp44) Assault rifle at their disposal?

I hope my question is clear.


Good luck and keep up the good work!

<span class="ev_code_BLUE">Hooah!</span>

- Robin, from The Netherlands

[SpecTre1981]

i guess my question would be. along with others.
how does the game itself fun. on SP or MP. smooth choppy? How much video, mem, Processor speed etc is needed. i know battlefield 1942, BFV and other battlefield games look great but run choppy, how does this run. how big are SP and MP maps. most games i think MP maps are to small. not enough maps to choose from either. How many missions, how many MP maps?

[DavidWaa]

A little proposition here.. Where were the soldiers Ordered to have their hands when about to jump out of a plane? I know the answer, and so do you, John.. Any Airborne soldier does. But I am really looking forwards to check if Brothers In Arms got this correct.. If you could explain to everyone Why and Where the Soldiers had their hands when jumping out of a plane , I would greatly appreciate it, because there are alot of people I know of that doesnt know this important fact.
-David Waade, A person that is very intressed in World War-2,it's "Companies of Heroes" and the Airborne.. (Especially the 101st)

[Airo_spadE_15]

In your opinion (not in gameplay statistics or plans) does the situation awareness add more then the satellite imagery can really tell? would it perhaps change the way a player could deal with the situation? maybe dampening their experience of traditional firefights because they can just switch views and see that guy hiding behind the wall when they didn't know he was trying to flank them? as i said before, in your opinion, is it possible this might take a piece away from the authenticity of the game or does it still feel like anything could happen evein if you could switch to a birds eye view and see the soldiers reloading and firing at you?
Great job in capturing world war II realism here, it looks, and from what i've seen, will feel as close to world war II as the video game industry has ever come, that includes the Medal of Honor series.
Sean Houghton
"What we do echoes in eternity."

[xplosiv05]

Have you ever been wounded in combat?
Do you think Brothers In Arms is anything like real combat?

[Seabee613]

What is the full list of weapons we can use? Also, in the E3 demo, it seemed like the M-1 needed 4 shots to bring an enemy down. Is this final? It seems pretty high considering you would expect 1-2 shots for an enemy with the M-1.

[DaveTinNY]

Yes, one 150 grain projectile traveling at 2800+ feet per second should bring a body down rather easily. I've wondered about these multiple hits myself - it all depends on *where* the bullet hits as to its effectiveness.
The M1 is known as a HIGH powered rifle and
.30'06 is nothing to sneeze at.

[PresidentSkroob]

wilyour game be as realstic a another ww2 game (acually its a ut04 mod) red orcastra. that game is the most realistic fps i have ever played. also will the weapons break over time, get worn, and what kinds of physics (besides ragdoll) will be in the game, for example if u drop a weapon will it bounce and such?

[AlphaLeader88]

Two questions if you have the time:
1)Can you pick up German weapons
2)How realistic will the rifles be? most games i have played have the k-98 in it and what bugs me is the fact that you can put a whole clip in the k-98 when only 2 bullets are fired. Like skorp said you guys should check out the k-98 in Red Orchestra it is the most realistic replica I have seen. By no means copy it because I am sure you guys can bring it up a notch. Good luck

[markiz26]

It was said already that you can use the other team's weapons if you find it.

[Hyperion12121]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Puss_in_Bo0ts:
First of all, I want to thank Col.Antal and the Brothers in Arms team for spending so many time and effort in making this game. I have great confidence in your skills and appreciate your hard to work wich makes this game possible.

It's clear that the M1 Garand was by far the better rifle in 1944. So my question is: Were the German soldiers with their bolt action Kar98 rifles able to create enough firepower against the American squads who had great firepower because of the semi-automatic firing of the M1? And did the Germans squads in Normandy have the Sturmgewehr44 (mp44) Assault rifle at their disposal?

I hope my question is clear.


Good luck and keep up the good work!

<span class="ev_code_BLUE">_Hooah!_</span>

- Robin, from The Netherlands <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't want to sound as a 14 year old wiseguy who just joined the forum to just reply to this, but i have to say that the germans actually HAD a semi-auto rifle, from around 1943 (don't know the exact date), it was called the Gewehr 43 (the other problem is i don't know if it was rly mass produced, so i don't know if they rly used it, i learned it from Call of Duty: United Offensive :P) So all i'm saying is that they had a Semi-Auto rifle, with a 10 round box magazine which WAS able to reload mid-clip

[markiz26]

Will objects have marks upon bullets' impact? And if they do, will the marks dissapear in a few minutes or stay? Thank you.

[markiz26]

Also I wasn't able to find an answer on this question: Can I control a single unit or not? From what I've read and seen it's hard to say. It looks like you control two groups but what if I wanted to separate them and assign each man to particular task according to my own will?
Thank you for your answers!

[JoeyFA18]

Is there another techneical advisor actually in the squad, paltoon, etc, that helped out in the writing process and other things in the story like the movements of the squad around Normandy, and also with the actual people portraed in the story.

[monkeyhat]

Just a note to say that Colonel Antal visited the UK a few weeks ago and answered the questions we took from earlier in this thread. A video of his responses will appear on the full Brothers in Arms website when it launches shortly.

The more recent questions arrived too late for the Q&A session - but we'll do our best to find out whether the Colonel has time to respond!

monkeyhat.

[Buzzgud1991]

OMFG!!!! OMG!!! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!! Of course there were many casuialties on both sides. Germans killed us, and we killed Germans. The only reason you saw us with winnin battles, is because it took days and hours of hard work to get alot of ground. It wasn't just some breeze through the ******* park while eating a cake, this stuff is truely horride. We lost over 20 thousand in WII, I frankly don't know the numbers, but I know that it was way above that. There gear usialy had 9 clips or so, Pvt's, PFC's, and most corps and srg. had M1. Enless you were a Sub machine gunnist, or a Cpt, or LT. Of course you had two canteans, and usialy a M1911 colt automatic pistol. Just so you know, we lost alot of men in out battles, brush up on WWII man, you need it.

[monkeyhat]

Just a note to say that the answers to the most of the questions that were asked before the deadline are now available for viewing in this 11 and a half minute video:

Colonel John Antal (US Army ret.) answers questions from the Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 community (ftp://ftp.ubi.com/emea/brothersinarms/video/antalvideo.wmv)

We paraphrased a few of the questions, but hopefully you'll find the answers interesting!

[WWIIfanatic]

I just want to ask about the diffrence of the sort of run and gun action based combat, as for this game? In world war II i doubt there was anything like such going on.! Now is BIA going to have limits on you "luck" and limits on how far you can run or sprint, considering the reality of all the weight of the gear!

[lvconnor]

Originally posted by lvconnor:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by lvconnor:
1) Can you call in a airstrike with pinpoint precizion. I saw airstike in the demo?

2) Can you or soldiers laydown on the grond and crawl?

3)Can you use your nife to kill someone?

4) Do sound play a roll in the game by the AI (mpc), like the enamy can hear you walking/schooting/coming.

THANKS!!...great forum!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Can some one Please answers my Questions. They are tolaly ingore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I'm starting to think that my questions are invisible to jou. PLEASE REPLY if jou can see this.

[Kirov419]

Colonel i am myself a very into WW2 kind of guy.
I wanted to ask you a couple of questions.

1. I self are from Germany and what i think that the German Soldier himself was painted black by American media i know they did bad things, but its about the Soldiers plain guys like you and me, Will those germans be respected in the game for what they are or are they just for fun to slaughter? Becouse in movies like Saints and Soldiers,they show them a good and bad view of germans i like that.

2. second wil the Germans be able to relocate Heavy Fire like MG-42 ,MG-34 ,Possible Mortar or Flamethrowers ,Panzershrecks ,to really give you a punch or even kick your ***?

3. Can you Fix Bajonet or only a melee whack with your butt end Garand, i think knife should definatly be a weapon or bajonet becouse they all had one, its dumb to just see a knife on his Uniform in the game but you cant use it it messes reality up.

4. Can you pick up grenades, becouse no matter how much "combat gear" you got on when a stielgranate lands next to you, you want to get rid of it

5. Will camoflage be a bigger issue in battles?
meaning, that when you got like Camo cloth on they will see you more difficult, when your behind bushes etc? becouse at Call of Duty UO the enemie shoots you where you stand if your like TOTALY Camo.

6. This relates some of the lesser popular weapons of WW2 that sometimes are forgotten,
German: Fallschirm Jager Gewehr - 42 bipod and scope version. Gewehr 43(Scoped!). Walther pistol becouse Luger is more popular it shouldnt be the only pistol on german side.
American: Greasgun, moveable .30

This may seem a bit demanding but its definatly not! i just want to know everything about this game becouse a Military man like yourself is working hard on it and i like that, not to forget your finally someone who knows what hes talking about you should browse the forum about a .50 being more effective then a MG-42 on ALL-ROUND area some people dont know what there talking about MG-42,34 were the best machine guns ever used!

Thank you for your time i hope you can answer my questions or at least some of them

[gildagr8]

hello all im new hear im frome isreal

[ThomasBelcher]

Col.John Antal

My name is Thomas Belcher and I have replied to this post to ask the following question:

Has much changed in tactics and such between now and then and has modern weaponry allowed for advancements in todays tactics?

[goatee_geritt]

I read somewhere in the past month or so that in the M-12 Garand and Carbine the last two or three rounds were tracer rounds so that the sodier would know when his clip was low and needed to reload. Is this true? and if so, did you include this in the game?

[goatee_geritt]

I recently read somewhere that in the M-1 Garand and Carbine, the last two or three rounds were tracers so that the shooter could know when he was running low and needed to reload. Is this true? and if so, did you include this in the game?

[Born2kill332]

Please tell me that it doesnt take 5 shots to bring a guy down. I experienced this with the game Call of Duty Finest Hour for PS2. It takes 4 shots with a K-98 rifle to kill a man. Disgrace http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-indifferent.gif So my question is how many shots average will it take,and will the placement of the shot matter,such as "head shot".
thnx

[Lt.Parra]

Thank you colonal for answering my question about the training, but i think that when you have a realistic tutorial before you are droped into normandy- or combat in any game really gives it the military sense, of being trained (for years as you said)and getting to know your squad before you are flung into deadly combat together. but i also like the learn how to play gradually as you explained.

[Carlos1123]

Will there be more advanced ballistics in the game? For example, the most common ones are round drop accoriding to the range and the round trajectory due to the wind speed and direction.

Also, does the game in Singleplayer or Multiplayer include many maps/levels or is it the huge map of the 502nd operations area, where the firefights in Multiplayer can be Kilometers apart from you and it is not as simple as in most games, where the maps are very small and just as you start playng you're under fire or about to be.