First off, the big news!
Demo Available at Steam Next Fest
Broken Arrow will be part of the Steam Next Fest.
What does this mean? It means that everyone starting on February 6th at 10 am Pacific time will be able to download and play the Broken Arrow demo, consisting of one playable scenario from the single player story campaign.
We’d love to hear your honest feedback on the game, so don’t refrain from hopping in the game, giving it a try and letting us know what you think. We’ll be collecting the feedback through a special survey that you can access from within the game.
We will also be streaming the same scenario live on Twitch on Tuesday February 7th at 8 pm GMT. Furthermore, join us at Tea Time on February 9th at 4 pm GMT for an exclusive live interview with Félix Habert, Creative Director for the game.
Motostrelki Battlegroup specialization
Motostrelki or motorized/mechanized infantry is a specialisation focused on ground mobility and aims to achieve superiority through numbers rather than quality.
Offensively, this specialisation allows you to deploy a large quantity of cheap infantry squads equipped with older weapons and spread them rapidly over the battlefield with light wheeled armored transports (BTR). Each squad and its transport might be outclassed if they encounter stronger enemy units but some BTRs might find undefended routes of approach. This allows their infantry to pour through enemy lines and end up destroying weak and expensive support units like artillery and anti aircraft platforms and compensate for earlier losses.
Defensively, the BMPs which are tracked armored vehicles equipped with anti-tank guided missiles and autocannons will pose a threat to the enemy. However, they remain light vehicles that are no match for a tank. So it is generally a better solution to spread them in order to shoot missiles from multiple directions and hit the tanks weaker side armor.
Having more units to manage than the opponent can be an advantage but can also become a burden in some situations as it is harder to keep track of all of them so it’s hard to prevent losses.
RECONNAISSANCE
Razvedka: This 5 men squad has better observation equipment than the regular infantry squads and trades the usual machine gun for a stealthier SVD marksman rifle. They are equipped with several RPG-26 lightweight anti-tank rocket launchers that can damage light armored vehicles.
They have access to standard BTRs and MT-LBs as transport but also BMPs which can bring a lot of punch to this reconnaissance unit.
Snaipery: This is an entire squad of soldiers equipped with precision rifles of different calibers. Rather than being spread in different squads these marksmen work together as a team to totally deny an area to enemy infantry. This fire power comes at the expense of stealth that is not on the level of other snipers.
Spetsnaz GRU: An elite squad of 7 men equipped with suppressed weapons, advanced observation equipment and top tier rocket launchers. They can also provide laser designation for planes and artillery.
In addition to these infantry units this specialization gives you access to BRDM-2 and BRDM-3 wheeled recon vehicles as well as the FORPOST UAV, a reconnaissance drone that can be equipped with 2 kornet anti tank missiles.
INFANTRY
Motostrelki: This is the backbone of this specialization. This squad of 7 men is equipped with Ak-74M rifles, 2 GP-34 underbarrel grenade launchers, a PKP machine gun and a RPG-7 anti tank rocket launcher.
Reservisty: An under-strength squad of 6 men equipped with old AK-74, PKM and RPG-7 transported in BTR-80 or MT-LB. They have a limited amount of ammunition so they won’t put up a fight for very long. It’s best to have them patrol your rear to detect infiltrated enemy units that might run into them or guard your flanks and act as a speed bump in case of an unexpected enemy attack.
AGS squad: Automatic grenade launchers and their serving crew that can provide fire support against infantry and light vehicles. They are extremely vulnerable to helicopters however.
PZRK Igla: Soldiers equipped with Igla man portable anti-air missiles. These small missiles lack range so they are better at shooting down helicopters than planes.
PTRK Konkurs: A squad dedicated to anti-tank duty equipped with Konkurs ATGM. These units don’t have access to BMPs as transport as in the Russian doctrine the anti-tank capability comes from the vehicles themselves in BMP equipped units so they don’t have dedicated ATGM teams.
SPG-9: A squad equipped with SPG-9 recoilless rifles to provide fire support against infantry and vehicles. They lack the power to really damage tanks' frontal armor though.
Engineer Shturmoviki: A squad of heavily armored soldiers specialized in explosives that will clear buildings from enemy presence in no time.
FIGHTING VEHICLES
Transports:
- All these troops have access to BTR-80 wheeled armored personnel carriers that can be upgraded to BTR-82A model with 30mm autocannon or BTR-82AT with a remotely controlled turret with improved optics and 2 konkurs ATGMs. It is also possible to add a cage armor to increase the protection against rocket propelled grenades but this removes the amphibious capability of the vehicle.
- The MT-LB is a tracked transport also available to all troops. It is lightly armored, but can receive a cage armor just like the BTR at the cost of the amphibious capability. It is only armed with a single machine gun by default but can be upgraded with a turret similar to BTR-80/82A with KPVT or 30mm autocannon.
- The BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle is available to all troops except the anti-tank teams. It is armed with a 30mm autocannon and a konkurs ATGM by default, but can receive an additional grenade launcher or be upgrade to BMP-2M standard with better optics and 4 modern kornet ATGM that can be guided 2 at a time on the same target. It is also possible to upgrade the armor while retaining the amphibious ability.
- BMP-3 is the next generation of IFV that comes with a 100mm low pressure gun in addition to the 30mm autocannon for additional long range fire support. The turret can be upgraded with better optics and shtora jammer or be totally replaced by the epokha turret with a 57mm autocannon, kornet and bulat ATGMs. The armor can be upgraded with explosive reactive armor that substantially improves the resilience against explosive damage.
Fighting vehicles:
- 9P148 Konkurs: An anti-tank vehicle with 5 konkurs ATGM mounted on the roof of a BRDM-2 chassis that can be upgraded with a new turret equipped with 4 kornet ATGMs.
- 9P162 Kornet: An anti-tank vehicle based on the BMP-3 chassis equipped with 2 kornet ATGMs anf be upgraded to the 9P167 Khizantema with better optics and missiles that can be guided on 2 different targets independently.
- T-62M: One of the oldest soviet tanks still in service available in multiple variants with additional armor, optics, with or without ATGM…
- T-72B: The workhorse of the soviet army is available to the motorized infantry specialization with the possibility to upgrade the armor with different generations of ERA and the fire control system to guide more modern gun launched missiles or rather remove this ability to field the tank for a cheaper price.
SUPPORT
The Russian army in the game is globally support heavy compared to the USA and the motorized specialization is a good illustration of that:
- 2S23 Nona-SVK: A BTR platform equipped with a 120mm mortar. It’s wheeled chassis allows it to rapidly reach its destination and relocate after shooting but the loadout is rather low with only 30 rounds carried.
- MT-LB based mortars: the basic configuration called “Deva” is a standard 82mm mortar transported in the MT-LB but it is possible to upgrade it with a Vasilek mortar shooting rapid bursts of 4 rounds or a 120mm mortar.
- 2S4 Tulpan: This is a massive 240mm mortar shooting 130kg projectiles. The rate of fire is low as a crank system is needed to reload it but the effect is devastating when the shell lands.
- 2S3 Akatsia: A classic 152mm howitzer. The low accuracy is compensated by the high availability and low price that allows you to buy multiple batteries and saturate the area. It can be upgraded to the M2 standard with better reload time and accuracy.
- 9K58 Smerch: A powerful LMRS shooting 300mm rockets with multiple possible warhead types. The rockets must be reloaded one by one with a crane after shooting which makes the process extremely long.
- TOS-2 Tosochka: One of the newest equipment available to the motorized infantry specialization. This wheeled MLRS can shoot up to 18 220mm thermobaric rockets per salvo with deadly effect against infantry and light vehicles.
- Ural ZSU-23-2: This is the most basic air defense system you can get: a truck with a twin 23mm autocannon bolted to the rear platform. The ZU-23-2 can be upgraded with improved optics and Igla missiles to improve its performance.
- ZSU-23-4 Shilka: A self propelled anti aircraft artillery armed with 4 23mm autocannons resulting in a massive rate of fire. The basic variant doesn’t have any radar and is mostly used as a fire support vehicle but it can be upgraded with a radar to increase its range against helicopters and Igla missiles can also be added to threaten aircrafts as well.
- OSA-AKM: This old surface to air missile system is the most basic anti aircraft unit of this specialization able to engage aircrafts in high altitude. Its old radar makes it back at tracking low flying helicopters.
- S-350E Vityaz: This truck mounted surface to air missile launcher is no laughing matter for planes:.Its 12 ready to fire missiles have massive range and deadly accuracy. The only downside is the inability to track low flying helicopters so you need to escort it with a unit dedicated to that.
HELICOPTERS
Only the oldest helicopters are available to this specialization:
- Mi-8MTV-2: The classic workhorse of the Russian army in its oldest version still in service. This helicopter can carry a mix of troops and supplies as well as gunpods and rockets on 4 pylons.
- Mi-24P: The famous attack helicopter armed with a fast firing twin 30mm autocannon attached to the fuselage. 6 pylons are available to equip the classic gunpods and rocket baskets but also Kokon anti tank missiles and R-60 anti air missiles. The Mi-24 is able to carry a full squad of infantry even if this is not its primary role.
- Mi-24V/VP: Similar to the Mi-24P but with a chin turret instead of the fixed gun. The turret is armed either with a Yak-B 12.7mm minigun (Mi-24V) or with a twin 23mm autocannon (Mi-24VP)
- Mi-24K: This is the recon and fire support variant of the helicopter. It loses its ability to carry troops because observation equipment takes the space in the compartment. It also loses the ability to guide Kokon missiles because the aiming system has been replaced by a laser designation system
PLANES
- Su-25SM: This is a rather slow ground attack plane that can carry unguided bombs of different weight and types: general purpose, retarded, cluster, incendiary, thermobaric. Rockets of different calibers up to the massive 340mm S-25 can also be carried as well as Kh-25 anti tank missiles, the massive Kh-29 missiles or Kh-58 anti radiation missiles. Out of 10 pylons, 2 can be equipped with electronic countermeasure pods to increase the survivability of the plane or be equipped with short range infrared anti-air missiles to hunt down helicopters or as self defense against other planes.
- Su-24M2: This is a supersonic bomber with variable-sweep wings that delivers a lot of unguided bombs of every type and weight. Will you prefer quantity with up to 26 OFAB-100 (100kg) bombs? Or size with up to 3 FAB-1500 (1500kg) bombs?
- Su-24MP: This version equipped with additional electronic sensors is dedicated to suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD). It hunts radar equipped enemy units and destroys them with its Kh-31 anti-radiation missiles.
- Mig-29SMT: This is a light fighter designed to engage enemy aircrafts with short range infrared R-60 and R-73 missiles and medium range R-77 and R-27ER missiles.
The number of missiles it can carry is low and its autonomy is short even with additional fuel tanks so it is best used for interception rather than air patrol.
It can also carry rocket pods and small bombs but air to ground is clearly not the domain where this plane shines.