Part 1: What’s happening right now?
After they came back from vacation, the team continues to work arduously on Update 0.9. It will contain many innovations that we are going to introduce to you gradually.
Today, as the title suggests, we will tell you about the historical campaign and side missions: how they are structured and connected. Let’s go!
Campaign
The next game update will contain a full-blown campaign for the Axis countries. You can play as any faction. But you will have to play the campaign for Germany.
You can read about the historical campaign and the new economy system in one of the previous episodes of the Developer Diaries.
The PvE aspect of the game in Update 0.9 will represent your progress.
All missions have been carefully selected and are connected to each other so as to best visibly present progression from one era of the war to another. It was important for us to show the player’s progress as a commander from the beginning of the war to its very end.
Each of these periods will have several missions. To complete each of them successfully, you will need a certain fleet of units which you can collect by completing side missions and participating in PvP battles. Corresponding vehicles are assigned to each time period. As consequence, the rewards that you can receive for completing missions in a given period are strictly tied to historical realities.
Remember that if you play PvP, for example, for the Soviet Union, you will get Soviet units as a reward. But if you play historical missions for Germany, you can use them: when you are in combat, all units from other faction armies will be converted to German ones.
Side Missions
Let’s look at side missions in more detail: they will appear on the globe as you progress in the campaign, but, more importantly, completing them is not obligatory and does cause any progression through the eras. You will be able to complete them again at any time. Still, keep in mind that if you reach the end of the war but want to play a mission from the first era, your fleet of units will change to correspond to 1939-41. This system also applies to PvP.
Our team has done their best to make sure side missions are interesting to complete and enjoyable to replay.
Different conditions will be generated in every mission.
For example, one of your objectives will be to find and destroy a partisan camp. Its location will be different every time. This means that completing this mission will require a different approach every time. We are also planning to add different difficulty levels for such missions.
Commanders’ Trust
A new commander trust system awaits you. It will allow you to receive new forces or update existing ones.
If you want to get those bonuses, you need to be effective on the battlefield and attain victories. If you do well, the commander will take note of your accomplishments leading to success in his maneuvers and give you different incentives as time goes by. Thus, you will be able to strengthen the forces subordinate to you.
Depending on the game mode you choose, the model of the trust system will change.
Campaign missions will not let you change your commander, so you will only earn trust points with them. This decision has historical grounds. Battle will feature the actual commander who took part in it in reality.
When you are in PvP, you are given a choice. You can earn trust points for the commander that you have chosen.
And now, as ever, a few words from our development team about their current week of work.
Dmitry Zubachev, 2D/UI Artist
I’ve got a lot of work, it’s hot on all fronts. That’s why I kit out with tea, sharp styluses, armed to squeeze Photoshop dry.
Andrey Zaytsev, Junior Map Designer
My brain is all loaded up with the preparation of side missions. We have a great deal of work ahead of us... And we’re really short of hands.
Part 2: Player Suggestions
Today we are going to discuss Comrade Coelian’s question (from the official forums for our project). Coelian asks if the game will include a mission for the Soviet Union in 1944.
Our answer to this very interesting and important question?
The announcement of the Warsaw mission.
The mission’s historical background is as follows:
Army Groups Centre and North were defeated during Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. The Soviet troops had reached the borders of Germany and Warsaw. But by the end of the operation the premature Polish uprising started. The Soviet troops were already exhausted and were not able to continue the offensive. Their rear forces stayed far behind. Nevertheless, desperate attempts were made to help the insurgent Poles.
In this mission you will have to break through the German forces and get in touch with the insurgents. Your main objective is to find and provide a way out for the commanders of Armia Ludowa (the People’s Army).
Part 3. Coming up...
In our next entry we’ll tell you in more detail about the new economy system, the updated UI, changes to the base, and the enlarged fleet of units.
What do you think, which units will be added to the game? :)
P.S. To keep the excitement going and give you a little extra to discuss, we have this screenshot to offer - a new tank: