Dear Tankers,
Welcome to our 70th Development Status.
Hill 252.2
This is the final scenario of the campaign. We are tasked with taking over the Soviet base just before Prokhorovka. This area is marked on the map as the top of hill 252.2.
Players should expect a fierce defence and counterattack by the USSR forces here. After a successful offensive in which they managed to break through the retreating enemy forces at Vinogradovka, Stalin's troops are fighting even fiercer than before.
This will be the culmination of the struggle of the armoured forces led by us. This mission combines open terrain with forest and dirt roads. The Soviet forces will try to keep the player-led troops in the open, relying on their massed fire from safe and camouflaged positions. It will be the job of the squad we command to find a safe route to the objective, and to seize the ammunition and fuel depot.
The map has undergone a facelift, but after internal discussions we have decided to keep both variants of the map. The 'Before' version will be available as a skirmish version, where the 'After' version will be part of the campaign. The older version of this map features more space and better visibility, where the newer version captures the spirit of Soviet Russia better.
Further UI improvements
Several interface elements have been updated, including the quartermaster, the panel for managing wrecks and the panel for managing modules in the tank. Additional work also included elements such as the point-taking screen. Here, there is still some redesign work to be done. But some elements have already been modified, such as the point icon and the takeover status or a more minimalist look.
Wreck management aka “Graveyard” is returning to the repair scene. Here it will be possible to convert downloaded vehicle wrecks into raw materials.
The module management panel aka "tank parts” is first approach to the UI where you will be able to dispose of damaged or unwanted modules of a tank, e.g. the engine because, for example, its efficiency is no longer sufficient. This gameplay element is not there yet, but we plan to add it. That is, to link the modules to the impact on gameplay, so that it makes sense to replace them with new, more efficient ones. There is also a gateway here to be able to manage individual parts within a module in the future.
In the quartermaster panel, mainly cosmetics and further work to make subtitles, e.g. in other languages, look better and to generally increase the readability of the whole.
Other news
Of other novelties, the tank crew, upon detecting an enemy, provides information on the direction, type of enemy and distance.
We have added sounds to the voice over for the NPCs at the repair station. We are also working on Russian voice over for the crewmen.
We tried the first pre-run of playing the scenario against the Germans. It worked despite a few bugs and things like the fact that the emblem was showing German emblems in the UI instead of a red star. This week we've already done the fixes for that and it turns out that our system of configuring sides, factions and setting them up in the mission works very well and we are easily able to set up any scenarios of who with whom and against whom.
On the E version of the Tiger, we removed the side smoke grenade launchers. These versions had a smoke grenade launcher on the turret. It is more historically consistent and the gameplay element remains, mistakenly assumed earlier.
Vehicle parts dissassembly
One of the last features to add is to have mountable vehicle parts. Wheels, tracks etc. need to be mountable/dismountable as well as detachable on damage while in combat. This means that during battle a vehicle can receive damage that will not be critical (not cause a disembark/evacuation order) but will immobilise that vehicle.
During combat, if you have spare wheels or track pins, you will be able to repair the damage right on the spot (although probably under enemy fire). If you dont have the spare parts you have to protect the vehicle untill the battle ends and if it is still acive, it will automaticly be taken back to the force pool. If not then you have to gather it through wreck gathering menu.
Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals
