Dear Tankers!
Welcome to our 89th Development Status.
Force Pool Creator
Over the last two weeks, we’ve also been working on introducing a customisable resource pool for both the campaign and procedurally generated missions. We started by prototyping such a panel.
When creating a procedural mission, we’ll initially be greeted by a screen where we can choose which factions are to fight each other, along with basic settings such as prestige, whether we want a limit or not, how long the campaign should last, and the multiplier for the enemy resource pool.
On the left-hand side, there will be a list of available units to add to the custom resource pool. These units will be divided by type. The central panel will display the companies, squads and units that are already assigned. You will be able to remove them there and add others. You will also be able to add new companies and create new squads. Currently, we have a limit of 9 companies, each comprising 9 squads/platoons. A squad can contain up to 4 tanks, and infantry squads can contain up to 20 units.
Why 9? Everything is based on the numbers on the tanks, the German ones. The first digit is the company, the second is the platoon, and the third is the unit. So it won’t go higher than 994.
On the right-hand side is a purely informational panel. This shows a preview of the selected unit/squad/company, its name, description and prestige cost. At the bottom, there will also be buttons for adding and removing units, and for modifying squads and companies, e.g. their names or emblems.
We’re also thinking of allowing editing of the enemy resource pool, so that you can switch between resource pools to make changes.
Filters
You will be able to filter units by year. This will help you build a resource pool for a specific time period. We are considering extending this to include months as well, so that, for example, when creating a resource pool for a campaign set in the early months of 1943, Panther tanks would not be available.
Presets
We are considering enabling the saving and loading of resource pools as presets. These presets could also be made available as mods on the Steam Workshop.
Procedural Missions
We have started working on procedurally generated missions. The types and number of objectives, the map, the starting location, the direction of attack and the positions of the troops will all be randomly generated. However, we plan to provide players with filters so they can customise the options as they see fit, including the participating factions, the maximum number of objectives and the maps on which the scenario is generated. Each mission created in this way will be unique — we plan to use existing maps, as well as locations that were rarely visible or overlooked during regular missions. It's also worth mentioning that you'll be able to create a procedural campaign, i.e. a series of procedural missions with access to repair stations.
Currently, we have a working prototype in which gameplay proceeds without player intervention — both sides of the conflict clash in a battle for a capture point. This AI commander will be used for both procedural and standard missions, providing automatic support to players by utilising the available force pool, which will eliminate the need for unit management for those who prefer not to manage units. We are convinced that completing this stage will be a significant step forward, making it easier for us to implement other new game modes in the future.
The map shows the distribution of objectives and their relative positions on the Luchki map (the first mission of the campaign). The blue points (A–D) are potential starting locations and the red points (1–7) are objectives. As with regular missions, there will also be opportunities to receive side missions.
Main menu changes
We’ve added new buttons for procedural missions to the menu and tweaked the layout slightly. The ‘Create a Session’ tab has been removed. Instead, there’s now a section on the left-hand side categorising game types—namely Campaign, Skirmish, and Procedural—and only after selecting the relevant type can you choose to play in single-player mode or host a session. The session search function at the bottom remains unchanged.
Steam Spring Sale!
Our game is now 25% off. The sale will last till 26 of march!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1498130
Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals
