It's that time again, time for a new Development Update!
As with the bridge between Development Update 12 and Development Update 13, we've got a large amount of new content to go through, so instead of laboriously going through each addition in this short summary, how about we just go right ahead and show you some of the highlights?
First off, we're not going to play coy, we know what a lot of you are here for: Our New T-72B tank!
This is the first of what we hope to be many highly-detailed tank models in Afterconflict, ready to storm over the battlefield and batter enemy lines to bits.
The T-72B is fitted with "Контакт-1" (Kontakt-1) Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) bricks that vastly improves its resistance against most conventional attacks NATO forces may mount against it!
If they actually hit the ERA bricks, that is.
Over time we plan to add an assortment of tank models for our different factions that we think tank aficionados should be happy with; if you have any pointers or suggestions you'd like to bring to our attention, do not hesitate to make a note of it here, on Twitter, or on our Discord server!
On an infantry level, we've made various improvements to our ballistic simulations, the first of which we'd like to show being bullet fragmentation, which may occur if a bullet strikes a hard surface and subsequently shatters, potentially meaning an injury for anyone unfortunate enough to be close enough to get struck by the fragments.
Bullet Fragmentation Example from an MPi-KM Firing 7.62x39:
We've also improved tracers in various ways, from carefully studying the properties of various kinds of tracers and how they work (Colour, Colour Shift, Duration, Etc.), to now simulating tracer bounce, which sometimes occurs when a tracer round doesn't penetrate, ricochet, or shatter upon hitting a surface, which often results in it "bouncing" and continuing to burn on the ground (which can become a fire hazard if you're not careful, always practice proper range safety!).
Improved Tracers Being Fired from the BMP-2, AKM, and G3A3 Respectively:
Tracer Bounce Demonstration:
But don't think that bullets are the only projectiles susceptible to bouncing and ricochets; projectiles that have a profile that may make them susceptible to ricochets such as the warheads of Soviet RPGs (which, at low angles, may have their body hit a surface before the fuse), are now able to ricochet in Afterconflict!
RPG-22 Ricochet Demonstration:
On a slightly less lethal front that's more receptive to gun range safety, we also have the Soviet "Б-8" (B-8) binoculars for all most of your battlefield observational needs, a hardened design in service since 1930s; why fix what isn't broken?
On the environmental front, we've been implementing various additions that'll make Afterconflict feel as true to life as possible; this time we have 2 main additions:
Improved wind effects, which not only affects foliage, but projectiles too, meaning you'll need to account for wind speed and direction when taking longer shots in high winds:
...especially when taking precise shots with scopes and slower projectiles such as sub-sonics:
Fog, which can be a blessing to the more infiltration-focused player just as much as it can be the bane of a trigger-happy marksman's existence:
For our fans of East German gear, we have a new preview for you too; as some of you may know, in the late 1980s the DDR developed a new uniform, ranking system, and webbing set commonly abbreviated as "UTV" to be introduced in the year 1990, and a large amount of the new pieces of gear were produced between 1986 and 1989 and could often be seen worn by East German officers inspecting NATO forces during that time.
As Afterconflict's timeline takes place in the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Nationale Volksarmee forces in Afterconflict will have UTV gear as an equipment option to be selected while playing as them- so here's a preview of just that!
We've taken note of how much positive feedback we've been getting regarding our addition of vehicles, so just as we started with it, we'd like to cap this development update off by focusing on just that!
Starting off, we have a follow-up to our showcase of the Mi-24P in Development Update 13, specifically showing off a WIP version of a simple S-8 rocket barrage- simple, but effective.
Continuing with the theme of destruction, we also have a WIP preview of the 9K111 Fagot, known as the AT-4 Spigot to NATO forces, a fierce Soviet ATGM introduced during the 1970s.
On a less destructive but nevertheless tactically important note we have the first highly-detailed vehicle model we've introduced to Afterconflict, the US's M939 series of trucks, specifically: the M923A1!
And, to finish, here's a short and simple demonstration of a burning BMP-2!
On our Discord server we discuss everything from the game and Cold War history to posting photos of hedgehogs!
We hope you enjoyed reading this development update, if you wish to keep up to date with all Afterconflict updates, be sure to follow our Twitter feed too.