Hello everyone!
First of all, a big thank you to the many of you that hopped on to test on the Community Test Branch during the open server weekend. We learned alot and your feedback is always invaluable to us!
We are currently looking to release the full 1.09 update mid next week (but subject to change due to unforeseen issues that may crop up). As a Quality Of Life update it is targeting the following:
- Full release of two map variants
- Territories Quang Tri
- Territories Operation Forrest
- Map Specific optimizations
- One-Handed Sprinting for the Northern Factions
- New Folding Stock gameplay functionality
- Faster Movement speed
- Faster Iron Sights
- New Third Person Character Animations
- Spotting
- Disarming Traps
- Jumping
- Falling
- Improved Key Binds
- Persistent Weapon Preferences
As well as other changes and bug fixes (many based on player feedback and requests)!
Part of this update however will be mostly out of sight of the players (for now), but equally important to the future. Much of the framework for the upcoming Multiplayer Campaign will be part of the code base starting with update 1.09, as it is in heavy testing and iteration.
Today we wanted to take the opportunity to share more on how a Multiplayer Campaign game plays out in its current iteration (which does mean subject to change as well!).
A Campaign can take up to 11 years, going through three distinct War Periods (by default and subject to admin modification):
- Early - 3 Years, 1965-1967
- Mid - 5 Years, 1968-1972
- Late - 3 years, 1973-1975
As players join the server, they will join either the Northern or Southern factions, which will be their team for the remainder of the campaign (barring any balance features enabled by the server). The armies available to each faction to use during the campaign will be based on several factors:
- War Period (ex: Non ARVN armies will withdraw by late war, leaving the ARVN as the sole army for the Southern Faction)
- Region/Map is being fought over (ex: The US Marines are available only in 3 provinces close to the DMZ)
- Faction Abilities to use doing the Campaign (ex: The Northern Faction can use the Ho Chi Minh Trail Campaign ability to attack any region adjacent to the trail vs the Southern Faction ability to use Search and Destroy to inflict heavy combat power penalties on the North with a battlefield win)
The Faction Abilities of Ho Chi Minh Trail and Search and Destroy can only be used once every three turns (and up to three times in a default length campaign). Factions can win in one of several ways:
- Control all Battlegrounds
- Force the enemy faction out of Combat Power
- Control the most Victory Points (each battleground is worth a certain number of Victory Points)
- In the case of a Victory Point tie, the team with the most Combat Power left will become the winner
Multiplayer Campaign Map (WIP)
In the coming weeks, as development and iteration continues, we’ll walk players through an example campaign as well as any new or changed functionality from the current implementation.
We look forward to playing update 1.09 with your all later next week!
Tripwire Interactive & Antimatter Games