Hello and welcome to the thirty-fifth field report!
Today, we’re very excited to announce the release of Skirmishes Phase 1 - our first combat oriented test phase and also the move from Technical Alpha to Alpha!
Skirmishes Released
It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here. We’d like to thank all of our backers and followers for the patience the vast majority of you have shown the past several months. From today, Skirmishes Phase 1 will be available to all Captain tiered backers and higher. Haven’t pledged yet? Our crowdfunding campaign is still up and running over at: our crowdfunding campaign
This first, and very much work in progress release of Skirmishes will feature three different Skirmish areas located on the Antietam battlefield for you all to fight on! It features our very first gamemode (attack & defend with team tickets, base spawn waves & a round timer). The game systems will be expanded upon to support features such as the flag bearer spawn system in the near future. The Skirmishes release (update 50) will also feature a number of other content additions such as our new artillery shelling system, first version of the new UI as well as a lot of overhauled game systems.
As this release marks our very first big test of Skirmishes a number of bugs & issues, especially with balancing, should be expected. If you encounter any problems please post a detailed description of the issue over at our bug report section and we’ll look into it.
Below are the patchnotes of today’s release:
Alpha Release Update 50 Skirmishes (Phase 1) Patch Notes
Characters
- Added several dirt map variations for character heads & hands.
- CSA soldiers are generally less clean than Union soldiers.
- Several updates to the character rig in order to optimize performance.
- Added additional blanket roll patterns.
- Added animated blood pools under dead players.
- Overhauled all zouave uniforms.
- Overhauled sack coats.
Sounds
- Added new gunshot sounds with different variants for Springfields, Enfield, Whitworth & Sharps rifles.
- Added new breathing sounds.
- Added hit & breathing sounds for dying players.
Skirmish Areas
- Added Sunken Road/Bloody Lane skirmish area. In this skirmish area, taking place at 9 o’clock, confederate forces will have to push through Piper cornfield in order to take up defensive positions at the Sunken Road. Union forces are deploying close to the Roulette farm and will have to charge over the rise in the landscape, disrupting the visibility of the Sunken Road.
- Added Dunker Church skirmish area. This skirmish area is inspired by the half past 10 o’clock push made by Greene’s division from the direction of the burning Mumma farm towards the church which would eventually become the high-water mark of Union forces in the West Woods.
- Added Lower Bridge/Burnside Bridge skirmish area. In this skirmish area, taking place at noon, Union forces, having deployed at the Rohrback farm, will have to push across what is to be one of the most iconic civil war battlefield landmarks to date, the Lower Bridge or Burnside Bridge as it would be known after, as well as Antietam Creek only to be faced by a steep slope of heights where the defending confederates will be waiting.
UI
- Introduced first version of the new UI overhaul, resulting in a much nicer user experience.
- Added drop down menus to the UI for easier option selection.
Animations
- With the intensive drilling on the Drill Camp, both armies have now advanced their skills enough to reach three shots a minute with their muzzleloaders.
- Slightly increased the transition speed from shoulder arms to the ready stance.
- Slightly increased the speed of entering melee mode with no bayonet attached (rifle club mode).
- Added new recoil animation to characters when firing. Should result in a less “stiff” look.
- Greatly reduced the number of instances where animation glitches would result in a framerate drop.
Game Systems
- Introduced the initial version of the Skirmishes gamemode featuring: team tickets, capture objectives, round timers and base spawn waves.
- Added first, early version of the officer command “Form line”. When spawned as an officer, press Q to place the first end of the line and Q again to place the other.
- Added initial version of the artillery shelling system currently being fired from off-map positions in Skirmishes. Take cover behind a fence or inside a building to increase your chances of surviving a barrage.
- Overhauled the dynamic depth of field system, making it much better at detecting if the player is indeed looking at a single beam of a fence or not (until this fix, taking cover behind fences and aiming through them was close to impossible due to the dynamic depth of field kicking in). The dynamic depth of field system will also detect glass properly and allow the player to look through it.
- Overhauled the freelook system, resulting in no more weird arms placement when using freelook at extreme angles.
Misc.
- Added several suppression effects related to the new artillery shelling system.
- Moved away from the experimental graphical feature “Global Illumination” due to a number of bugs. Players should notice a more consistent game visually because of this as well as better performance.
- Added different screen effects depending on where you get hit.
- Tweaked how the camera effects work when low on stamina.
- Reduced radial blur when running.
- Tweaked the draw near value for the first person camera resulting in far less clipping when standing close to objects.
- Added 3rd Arkansas & 2nd Georgia regiments.
- Expanded the focus area slightly when aiming.
- Lots of additional fixes & tweaks.
- Added lots of new and exciting bugs!
To Be Added
- Here is a short list of features to be added in the near future:
- Personal reinforcement tickets & flag bearer spawn system.
- Class limitations in regiments.
- Continuous updates of the UI, showing correct skirmish area maps in the deploy menu, more regimental info, more detailed winning & losing screens, sound options.
- The ability to choose what specific rank & weapon loadout you’d like to spawn with.
- Spectating.
- Additional Skirmish areas - we have 10 planned and laid out for the Antietam map alone so far.
- Balancing! Expect the first release of Skirmishes to be lacking any sort of balance initially.
That’s all for today. We’re all looking forward to be fighting with you - and against you, in Skirmishes! Until next time, have a good one!