Greetings! Over the past two weeks we’ve been hammering away on the Reinforcements update, due to release during the final week of July. Today we are happy to present a sneak-peak at the upcoming Paris map, and its sub-maps, Somme and Seine!
Paris:
Size: Large (50x50)
Terrain: rivers, open plains, light forests, urban sprawl
The idyllic grasslands, woodlands, and river basins of northern France present an excellent battlefield for mechanized warfare and protracted sieges alike. The northern third of the map, around the Somme River basin, is a paradise for armored vehicles that lacks many natural obstacles. Conversely, the map’s south-eastern and western sectors contain many light forests and river valleys that create natural defensive hardpoints. However, these obstacles pale in comparison to the sprawling metropolis of Paris itself. Paris and its suburbs comprise over 20 major city, city, and town hexes; any battle within its historic streets will undoubtedly be a brutal, protracted affair.
Paris beautifully compliments the new requisition system coming in the Reinforcements update, since most large-scale battles on the map begin as mechanized blitzkriegs and stagnate later into urban sieges. Fortunately, with the new ongoing requisition system you can safely spend your initial deployment points on mobile forces and then bring infantry and heavy artillery in later in the game once the battle for Paris enters full swing. Or perhaps more accurately, full meat-grinder.
Somme and Seine:
Being a large map, sometimes you’ll want a much smaller battlefield and that’s where the Somme and Seine maps come in handy. Both these maps are created from sub-sections of the larger Paris map selected for a specific theme.
Here’s a quick map showing the boundaries of the Somme (blue) and Seine (red) maps compared to the larger Paris map.
Somme:
Size: Normal (32x24)
Terrain: rivers, open plains, isolated cities
Click here for Full-size Preview
The Somme map is perfect for blitzkrieg warfare. The road network is excellent, forests are few and far between, cities are numerous but easily isolated, and the many minor rivers crisscrossing the map are easily crossed. If you are looking for a quick battle with large armored armies and little disruption from terrain, then you’re going to enjoy Somme.
Seine:
Size: Duel (26x22)
Terrain: major river, light forests, urban sprawl
Click here for Full-size Preview
Seine focuses on urban combat amidst the sprawling suburbs of Paris. The Seine River runs through the center of the entire map and can only be crossed at bridges. However, bridges across the Seine are never hard to find and even the most determined defender will struggle to control every crossing point. Most battles on Seine inevitably revolve around Paris or its suburbs. Mechanized and armored forces help secure the flanks around the metropolis, but ultimately the battle for Paris itself usually falls on the shoulders of infantry, engineers, and overwhelming volumes of artillery fire. While you’re clawing your way through Paris, district by district, you’ll be very glad Reinforcements adds ongoing requisition, because you're going to need it.
July Plans
The Reinforcements update is due to release in the final week of July, but in the meantime, we have more dev blogs and events planned! We’ll bring you another dev blog detailing the various new requisition modes later this week. Next week we’ll be releasing a gameplay video showcasing the new update between NS2 Xenophon and one of our senior beta testers, Joe. Finally, in the final days before the update release we will be holding another live stream!
Stay tuned for more Reinforcements dev news!