Welcome back, commanders!
While the voting for Nemesis #6 is underway, we wanted to take today’s DevBlog to highlight some gameplay changes coming to WARNO in the near future: the artillery rework!
Why, you might ask? Well, we want to balance the impact artillery has on the WARNO battlefield and give players more tactical options. We already lifted a tip of the veil of our thinking in this previous announcement a couple of months ago.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1611600/announcements/detail/497196316182447458
Upcoming Artillery Rework Status
What’s the current status of the artillery rework? Simply put: we are progressing steadily. Our goal remains the same: make artillery less impervious, while enhancing the overall WARNO tactical experience. We’ve got several key improvements in the development pipeline, which we hope to be able to roll out in the not-too-distant future. So, what can you expect?
Set-Up and Take-Down Timer
As already announced, we will introduce a timer on when you can use artillery. After the rework, artillery units will have a set-up delay before they are able to fire, as well as a take-down timer afterwards. Once an artillery unit stops moving, it must remain still for a short period before it can actually shoot. After letting loose its salvo, the artillery unit’s crew needs a moment to prepare before the unit can move again. This two-part delay will be identical across artillery types, whether towed or self-propelled.
This update will ensure that towed artillery, generally more fragile, isn’t further penalized, while self-propelled guns will not become even more dominant.
We’ll be clear: this timer pre-setup and post-firing will make artillery more vulnerable - not less useful. The delay is meant to create windows of opportunity for counterplay or counterstrikes, without removing artillery as the potent long-range unit it currently is.
Artillery Commander
With the upcoming artillery rework, we’ll also introduce the new Artillery Commander, a unit concept we already previewed. It will be a new trait, very similar to the Artillery Leaders from Steel Division 2, but called Fire Directon in WARNO.
These special units will be available in the ART tab of your battlegroup. They are designed to boost subordinate artillery systems within their area of effect. We are creating some new models to represent them accurately, while the actual in-game modifiers are still being tweaked as we speak.
Mortars and Howitzers
In their current form, mortars and light-caliber howitzers struggle to be effective options on the WARNO battlefield. Heavier gun pieces (155mm, 203mm, etc.) are accurate and very destructive when they hit, but ineffective when they miss.
Our goal is to update the binary choice commanders now make when it comes to artillery: “sniper or nothing.” We want all artillery, including mortars, to have a more tangible area of saturation effect, moving away from impact point-focused gameplay and more towards a noticeable area-of-effect experience.
To achieve this:
- Mortars will receive a damage boost and larger splash radius. This will greatly improve their effectiveness as short-range artillery pieces. Their Suppression area of effect will also be upgraded significantly.
- Not being satisfied with the current mortar shell trajectories - which, in our opinion, are excessively high and result in too much time between firing and impact - we will update them. However, several WARNO engine limitations require us to rework deeper, back-end core systems to gain more flexibility in tuning physics and projectile trajectories. This work is currently underway on the development side of things.
- Howitzers will see a slight reduction in their direct damage, but a wider splash radius in turn. Their Supresssion will increase as well. This makes them more potent in suppressing enemy units, even without directly hitting them (you know, shockwaves and shrapnel flying around your ears).
- Mortars will generate greater Suppression splash compared to howitzers of equivalent caliber. This reflects that mortar shells fall more vertically than howitzer shells, which in turn creates a larger area of effect. This adjustment will balance both gameplay intent and realism.
We see the above changes as fundamentally altering the artillery gameplay experience. Mortars and howitzers will affect a wider area with each salvo, making it easier to suppress multiple units, even with smaller calibers. Lighter howitzers (105mm and 122mm) become much more interesting, and mortars gain utility beyond just creating smoke screens.
Napalm Artillery
A short note, but flame effects on the battlefield - as those left by napalm-type munitions - will also be rebalanced. The effectiveness of fire on a unit now scales with armor type: strong against light armor, reduced against medium armor, and minimal against heavy armor.
Anything Else?
That’s not all. We are working on quite a few other changes, which we hope to roll out in stages. For instance, in the first announcement, we talked about adjusting artillery salvos based on tactical needs. This is not something that we have forgotten about, but we have pushed this back on the timeline for a bit.
Keep in mind that maybe not all updates will be included in the initial release. Note that everything we’ve presented in today’s DevBlog is still in development, will affect all divisions, and is subject to change.
The next big question is when? We are very busy getting this into your hands as soon as possible (but with a big Eugen trademark on when exactly). Our goal is to test everything thoroughly with our own QA, plus the excellent Strike Team.
WARNO’s Nemesis #6
As you should know, the vote for Nemesis #6 is currently in full swing. Make sure to cast yours until Tuesday, December 9th at 12:00 (CEST) / 11:00 AM (BST) / 6 AM (EDT). We will publish the results on Thursday, the 11th of December.
Check out the potential offerings below!
- Nemesis #6.1 - The Mountaineers presents the high-fighting mountainous forces of NATO’s French 27e Division Alpine against Warsaw Pact’s Polish 5 Podhalańska Brygada WOWew.
- In Nemesis #6.2 - The Magdeburg Counterstrike goes number #1! with the two mobile armored battlegroups of NATO’s US 1st Cavalry Division and the Soviet 1-ya Gvardeyskaya Proletarskaya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya.
- The Nemesis #6.3 - School’s Out! sees the proposed introduction of a new class of units, Instructors, boosting the battle efficiency of the Nemesis’ two divisions' mass of recruits and reservists to new highs! The battlegroups are NATO’s West German Verfügungstruppenkommando 42 versus the Soviet 71-ya Zapasnaya Tankovaya Diviziya.
Until Next Time
Let us know what you think of the artillery rework. And don’t forget to cast your vote for Nemesis #6. You get until Tuesday, December 9th to do it!
Don’t forget the vibrant WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.
See you on the battlefield, commanders.