The Best Historical Maps of Battlefield 1 - [Flakfire] - General

[video]https://youtu.be/BqHeW7HCVPw[/video]

I think it's a shame that BF1 got the usual treatment of having 4 expansions and being shelved since there's still a lot of stuff from WW1 they could've made expansions from, particularly the African theatre and the involvement of the Japanese in the Pacific islands. There's also the fact that WW1, atleast from how DICE is tacticooling it, has such a unique aesthetic that I just plain want to see more of it. From cavalry pushing in with tanks to the fancy uniforms of the soldiers and to the straight up medieval helmets of the Support classes, it just has enough of that familiar military look fused with the wacky experimental aesthetic that I find to be rad as heck. It may have raised a few eyebrows thanks to its interpretation, but no doubt BF1 managed to make WW1 look cool as heck.

[QUOTE=Derp123213;53200539]I think it's a shame that BF1 got the usual treatment of having 4 expansions and being shelved since there's still a lot of stuff from WW1 they could've made expansions from, particularly the African theatre and the involvement of the Japanese in the Pacific islands. There's also the fact that WW1, atleast from how DICE is tacticooling it, has such a unique aesthetic that I just plain want to see more of it. From cavalry pushing in with tanks to the fancy uniforms of the soldiers and to the straight up medieval helmets of the Support classes, it just has enough of that familiar military look fused with the wacky experimental aesthetic that I find to be rad as heck. It may have raised a few eyebrows thanks to its interpretation, but no doubt BF1 managed to make WW1 look cool as heck.[/QUOTE] Not to mention the amount of incredible detail they put in the maps and the weapons. I still see detail videos of BF1 popping up from time to time on my feed.

I really loved the atmosphere, visuals and sound design of BF1. It such a shame the game itself is pretty miserable to play.

[QUOTE=Derp123213;53200539]BF1 managed to make WW1 look cool as heck.[/QUOTE] WWI was always cool as hell though. People are just starting to wake up to that fact though.

Any period of warfare is cool if you read into it.

[QUOTE=Mifil;53200975]Any period of warfare is cool if you read into it.[/QUOTE] I think with WWI in particular though, cultural memory is too coloured by the ideas of people like Paul Fussell ("The war was a unique tragic event that can not be studied historically"), Basil Liddle Hart, among many others to where the popular memory doesn't really line up with the real history. When you have people saying that an episode of Blackadder is more truthful about General Haig than a documentary made by honest to god Historians on the matter - then there's a disconnect between popular notions of the conflict and its reality. Hence the endless comments of "WWI wouldn't make for a good video game".

For me, the coolest thing about WWI is the fact that it started with rows of soldiers in pretty uniforms marching towards enemy and ended with fucking tank and air battles.

[QUOTE=DaBeaver;53201123]started with rows of soldiers in pretty uniforms marching towards enemy[/QUOTE] Not really. While it's true that the French still had their traditional Blue and Red uniform, plans had begun pre-war to transition over to a new, more camoflauged uniform. Orders were put in in July 1914, before the French government had an inkling they were going to be involved in the war. Indeed, the overarching scandal in the French political world at the time was the Callioux Affair. Mr. Callioux was a French politican, who would have held a position of power in the French government during the July Crisis - if it wasn't for his wife. The editor of Le Figaro was planning on publishing a series of steamy letters between Mr. Callioux and his current wife that had been written while Mr. Callioux was still married to his first wife. Mr. Callioux's second (and current) wife decided to take matters into her own hands and went and killed the editor of Le Figaro. The nation was rocked, and Mr. Callioux was not to take part in the government at that time. It was in this period that the French government had ordered new uniforms - only for the war to delay delivery. Everyone else had transitioned to more modern uniforms - the British Khaki, German Feldgrau, etc... And on tactics, nations were not marching in battle shoulder to shoulder. The reigning doctrine at the start of the war was company sized skirmishing tactics. The only real case of marching into battle was at Mons, but that was more because the Germans didn't realize they were going to hit British resistance. Quickly enough they spread out into Skirmish formations. By late 1915, and certainly by mid-1916, tactics had shifted from the Company down to the Platoon and Squad levels.

[QUOTE=bdd458;53201292]Not really. While it's true that the French still had their traditional Blue and Red uniform, plans had begun pre-war to transition over to a new, more camoflauged uniform. Orders were put in in July 1914, before the French government had an inkling they were going to be involved in the war. Indeed, the overarching scandal in the French political world at the time was the Callioux Affair. Mr. Callioux was a French politican, who would have held a position of power in the French government during the July Crisis - if it wasn't for his wife. The editor of Le Figaro was planning on publishing a series of steamy letters between Mr. Callioux and his current wife that had been written while Mr. Callioux was still married to his first wife. Mr. Callioux's second (and current) wife decided to take matters into her own hands and went and killed the editor of Le Figaro. The nation was rocked, and Mr. Callioux was not to take part in the government at that time. It was in this period that the French government had ordered new uniforms - only for the war to delay delivery. Everyone else had transitioned to more modern uniforms - the British Khaki, German Feldgrau, etc... And on tactics, nations were not marching in battle shoulder to shoulder. The reigning doctrine at the start of the war was company sized skirmishing tactics. The only real case of marching into battle was at Mons, but that was more because the Germans didn't realize they were going to hit British resistance. Quickly enough they spread out into Skirmish formations. By late 1915, and certainly by mid-1916, tactics had shifted from the Company down to the Platoon and Squad levels.[/QUOTE] One of the most interesting things about WW1 is the transition from traditional tactics towards modern squad based tactics that are used to this very day.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;53201569]One of the most interesting things about WW1 is the transition from traditional tactics towards modern squad based tactics that are used to this very day.[/QUOTE] There's basically very little change in how units are organized and operate in the field when it comes to late WW1 and Afghanistan today. Yes, the weapons and equipment may have changed, but since 1915-1916 the idea of a massed wave of men to secure a position is no longer used.

Human Waves weren't really a thing in WWI, not even at the beginning. Again, they did use Skirmish lines, but those aren't really the same thing. What ended up evolving was basically a scaled down version of Skirmish lines.