WARNO News

Hello commanders,

We hope you are well. In today’s DevBlog, we’ll give a sneak peek at the first free Reinforcement Pack, a new map coming to WARNO: Urban Frontlines.

Let’s go!

[h2]Bigger and Better[/h2]
We are pretty stoked to show you our latest map for WARNO: Urban Frontlines. This one is inspired by the West German “railway” city of Lehrte in Lower Saxony. We took extra care to ratchet up the intensity of this particular battlefield, requiring the best of our commanders in terms of tactics and strategy.



One of the things we managed to do differently is our back-end optimization and performance, even on smaller configurations. That has allowed us to create a denser urban city than ever before.



Until now, we always had to position our urban maps on 2x2 grids. Urban Frontlines is, however, using a 3x3 grid, covering approximately 9 km² which is similar in size to popular maps like Airport, Twin Cities, and Rocks. This new scale will allow for even more destructive and all-encompassing urban combat.



[h2]Mechanized Infantry [/h2]
The city’s design has been geared towards letting both infantry and mechanized units duke it out. You can see this with some of the open areas in the city's heart, allowing units to benefit from decent lines of sight. The infantry will, however, excel in the numerous covered zones scattered throughout the town, providing endless opportunities for ambushes and heroic last-stand defenses.



One element that makes Urban Frontlines unique is that it's crisscrossed by several railway lines, reflecting the real-life Lehrte inspiration. This allowed us also to introduce a new railway wagon asset - ta-daa! These can block lines of sight depending on their location.



[h2]Until next week[/h2]
Do you like the new Urban Frontlines map? Let us know what you think!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Join the 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.

Hello commanders,

It’s good to be back! We hope that the dust has settled a bit after WARNO’s official launch out of Early Access and our “lessons learned” roll-out of the deluxe Gold and Expansion variant. There are many great things to look forward to.

In today’s DevBlog, we take an initial stab at the upcoming Nemesis: Airborne Assault DLC coming in the near future.

As part of this helicopter-heavy DLC, we want to rework a rather Cold War-iconic Soviet gunship: the fearsome-looking Mil Mi-24 Hind.

[h2]The Devil’s Chariot[/h2]
So, what’s the deal with improving the “Devil’s Chariot,” aka the Mi-24 Hind? We wanted to update the Hind’s in-game models, which we found to be incorrect and lacking in certain areas, especially the Mi-24D variant.

Thanks to expert research and work from WARNO’s very own Strike Team, the Soviet gunship will shine like new (or old, depending on World War III usage).



Let’s detail each of the variants currently in WARNO, including some sexy new images showing all the latest fine-tuning that has gone into the helicopter’s models.

[h2]A Little Renovation[/h2]
The Mi-24 is the epitome of a “scary Red attack helicopter.” Though it might look crude, its aggressive lines are a sight to behold, putting the living fear into the hearts of combat soldiers and sandal-wearing insurgents alike.

The Soviet attack helicopter is actually a small wonder of aerodynamics, being one of the fastest helicopters in operation in 1989 with a surprising amount of agility. This was achieved with some unconventional design choices, including tilting the entire fuselage with the tail twisted in the opposite direction. Apart from featuring plentiful armament hard points, the wings provide extra lift.

[h2]Mi-24D[/h2]
It might not have been the very first Hind variant, but it surely can be counted as one of its most famous. Entering into production in 1973, the Mi-24D was the first one to have the tandem arrangement of pilot and gunner. The weapons carried were a highlight, with the improved 9M17P Falanga-P being a particularly powerful weapon.



The Mi-24D made its debut in Afghanistan, with additional survivability elements added while in theater, also making its way to WARNO’s model of this gunship. The revised Mi-24D will be present in Soviet and East German armies and future Polish and Czechoslovak arsenals.

[h2]Mi-24V[/h2]
Next up is the Mi-24V. This can be considered an improved Mi-24D produced from 1976 onwards. It received a much more powerful anti-tank missile, the Kokon, as part of the Shturm-V weapon system.

Another defining feature of this variant was the helicopter's speed. Soviet designers realized that an attack helicopter only had a brief window to use its armaments against an armed-and-dangerous opponent effectively. The Kokon was a great example, upping the projectile speed to supersonic flight with increased range, making it one of the fastest ATGMs in the Cold War.

[h2]Mi-24P[/h2]
The Mi-24P from 1981 focused on upgrading its cannon by installing the powerful GSh-30-2 (as seen on the Su-25, but with slightly longer barrels) as its main gun. This autocannon was extremely effective against all types of targets. The example we are showing is a late production variant, which the East German Volksarmee also used.



[h2]Mi-24VP[/h2]
The Mi-24VP, introduced in 1985, is the ultimate incarnation of the gunship as designed by the Soviets. Aside from all the previous improvements, this variant gains the GSh-23L autocannon in a special nose turret, which is a slight step up compared to the brutish gun example in the Mi-24P. The turret is an upgrade, as it can freely turn. An extremely rare variant, the Mi-24VP, was only fielded by the Soviets.

[h2]Mi-24K[/h2]
The Mi-24Kp is a separate branch in the gunship’s lineage, better known as Korrektirovschik or “the one that corrects artillery fire”. Equipped with more advanced optical sights and cameras, it is unable to carry ATGMs in combat. This recon helicopter can still fire a respectable quantity of S-8 rockets.

[h2]Until next week[/h2]
All right, commanders, that’s all for this week’s DevBlog. After last week’s developments, we understand emotions may run high in certain corners. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience - we can only learn from our mistakes and do it better next time.

Once again, thanks for the continued support, commanders. Don’t forget to keep the discourse civil and respectful.

Join the 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.

As always, see you on the battlefield.

Hello commanders,

We bring some bad news… and good news.

Yesterday’s launch of WARNO Gold, the belated deluxe version of our game, clearly didn't go according to the plan (but which plan does in the face of battle?).

The bundle’s pricing and actual discount for our dedicated community were not what we had foreseen. WARNO Gold doesn’t carry nearly as much of a discount for Early Access owners as we would have liked. Coupled with technical problems and back-end discount/sales issues, this makes the “bad news” part of today’s emergency DevBlog.

However, we hope to make amends for this little snafu. Please keep on reading for the “good news”!

[h2]WARNO Gold, 1-2-eh-5?[/h2]
This deluxe bundle of ours is turning into a bigger headache than we expected. We originally envisioned to have Gold launch before the game’s official release out of Early Access. This didn’t happen; we encountered difficulties getting the Gold Steam pages approved and validated. Added to this, there were a lot of “under-the-hood” mechanics to do with Steam pricing and discounts that threw a wrench into our release plan.



This resulted in the inclusion of an Expansion Pass, and with Gold’s release, our calculations for the actual discount price were erroneous. The horror! We have punished those responsible and put them together with the latest batch of interns in Eugen’s coal shed for a much-needed “reeducation” program.

This leads us to:

The discount to get Gold does not live up to a special discount previously proposed to Early Access owners, which, in reality, fell far too short of what we had envisioned.

As the Eugen team, we apologize for this mistake.

[h2]WARNO Gold Technical Issues[/h2]
Making a game is hard, but releasing and marketing a game is even harder, or so it seems. One technical issue was that “officially,” WARNO did not launch out of Early Access until the Gold’s launch yesterday, May 30th…



This technical consideration makes it impossible for us to distinguish between Early Access owners from those before the actual official launch on May 23rd and players who joined the battle after that (so until yesterday).

We also can’t just add an extra discount on top of the current discount or the Expansion Pass (Steam doesn’t work that way).

This left us finding an alternative way to make amends. Here it comes!

[h2]WARNO Gold Extra Extra Goodies[/h2]
So, within the limited playing field we currently have, we wanted to offer the following to all WARNO Early Access owners (that is, those who owned the game before yesterday’s Gold launch).

Digital Guides as a Gift
Instead of an actual extra discount - which we can’t do - we will make for free immediately the Digital Guides with a value of $9.99 / 9,99€ (or $7.99 / 7,99€ discounted in the bundle).

Now, these Guides are pretty kick-ass, and we think this goes part-way to righting the ship, but we understand this gift might not be for everyone. Before you raise your torches and pitchforks again, there is more!

Two Brand-New Early Access Pack Divisions
We will add for free 2 brand-new Divisions as part of the Early Access Pack (containing 5 Divisions already). These Divisions need to be first created, designed, developed, etc. so they will come at a future, still-to-be-determined date. This will most likely be after Nemesis: Airborne Assault.



The Early Access Pack is already automatically and freely available to Early Access owners of WARNO. This means 7 Divisions for a DLC with the value of $9.99 / 9,99€ (newcomers can buy the pack separately from now on).

[h2]Once again, apologies[/h2]
That’s it, commanders. Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience. We hope that we have things put right, with gifts of a combined value of $20.00 / 20,00€ for those caught in the WARNO Gold snafu.



Join the 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, commander.

Hello, hello!

We hope you are well. WARNO’s recent official launch out of Early Access has been the crown of years of hard work, but the Eugen team is not resting on their laurels.

Behind the scenes, we are busy fixing bugs, checking technical issues, updating texts, and tackling a whole bunch of other under-the-hood tinkering.

One of the most pressing problems was, of course, getting the deluxe version of WARNO Gold online as soon as possible. And we finally pulled it off!

Check it out!

[h2]WARNO Gold and Expansion Pass[/h2]
Having had some difficulties getting WARNO Gold online. In order to adhere to new Valve guidelines, we added an Expansion Pass next to our deluxe bundle.



Which means:

• Expansion Pass features future access to 4 DLCs (the NORTHAG and SOUTHAG expansions, plus Nemesis: Air Assault and Nemesis #2).
  
• WARNO Gold features the “vanilla” base game, plus Expansion Pass plus Digital Guides.

If you already own parts of this bundle, these items will be automatically discounted from the bundle! For all owners of WARNO, there will be a special discount.

WARNO Gold
So what’s this hullabaloo about WARNO Gold?

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42053/WARNO__Gold_Edition/

Exactly the same content as the “vanilla” edition, plus:

• Digital Guides containing 2 e-books with almost 200 pages in total! - WARNO's Timeline and Designer's Notes respectively on Army General, Operations plus an in-depth Divisions overview.
  
  • WARNO's Timeline goes deep into “how it came to pass,” painting a frighteningly realistic picture of World War III erupting at the end stages of the Cold War.
    
  • Army General gives not only you detailed insights into our five campaigns but also how we set out to create them. A great sneak peek into WARNO’s development.
    
  • Operations give you an in-depth view of how we designed Operations, the scripted scenarios on specific noteworthy battles in our war scenario, and how they are best played!
    
  • Divisions. An exhaustive list of all WARNO ”Vanilla” and ”Gold” Divisions including historical tidbits, arsenal and unit descriptions, advantages and disadvantages, and how to deploy each battlegroup’s armed forces.

• Pre-Order of the future NORTHAG expansion which will include:
  
  • 2 new Army General campaigns, 4 Operations, 10 new Divisions including new nations such as NATO’s Belgium, the Netherlands and Warsaw Pact’s Poland.
    
  • This DLC will be priced at $24.99 / 24,99€ on release.

• Pre-Order of the future SOUTHAG expansion, bringing:
  
  • 2 new Army General campaigns, 4 Operations, 10 new Divisions including new nations such as NATO’s Canada, Spain and Warsaw Pact’s Czechoslavakia.
    
  • This DLC will likewise be priced at $24.99 / 24,99€ on release.

• Two Nemesis DLCs:
  
  • This will be the first two WARNO Nemesis DLC, a popular mini-DLC series concept we introduced in Steel Division2. The idea behind the Nemesis DLC is that every once in a while, we give the community the option of which set of divisions should be developed next. We typically present three different pairs, after which you will vote on your preferred option!
    
  • Like Steel Division 2, the first Nemesis DLC will be predetermined (to be developed quicker). Nemesis: Air Assault will feature two new air assault divisions: the iconic U.S. 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the Afghanistan War veterans of the Soviet 56-ya OG Desantno-Shturmovaya Brigada.
    
  • The second Nemesis #2 DLC will be the first DLC to be voted on by the community, as described above.
    
  • A Nemesis DLC will be priced at $4.99 / 4,99€.

[h2]WARNO Ranked Highlights[/h2]
We wanted to give you an insight into how WARNO Ranked has changed from its Early Access days to its official Season 1.

No surprise here, but WARNO’s Ranked “Pre-Season” has come to an end. First, we wanted to thank all the players for their valuable feedback and commitment to be the absolute best on the competitive battlefields of WARNO’s World War III. Many a daring commander has stepped into the Ranked arena to prove their mettle, some more successful than others.

Thanks to all of you playing Ranked while WARNO was in Early Access, we managed to improve and beef up our ranking system. But there is more: through all the battles, we saw some rather impressive members of the community ruling supreme (in their own unique way). Let’s do a big shout-out to some of our talented commanders:

• Fortitude Fence: With a very distinctive aerial opening game, this player has established himself as the true specialist of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
  
• avrg blob enjoyer: The nickname doesn't lie; this commander excels with NATO’s 5. Panzerdivision and has demonstrated a remarkable mastery of the strategy in which quantity has a quality of its own.
  
• StoBez: A versatile player who has made a fine comeback at the end of the Pre-Season.

Honorable Mentions

• Tmanplays: stayed in the Top 10 even when playing with less-powerful divisions - and did so in extraordinarily good spirits.
  
• Yukipaw: Winner of the "live-lav-love-1" tournament organized by the WarYes community. This commander has beaten several top players in the current Top 3. Congrats!

[h2]Ranked Meta-Analysis[/h2]
So, which division came out on top in WARNO’s Pre-Season Ranked? The meta was dominated by the fast and agile paratrooper divisions, in particular NATO’s French 11e Division Parachutiste and the American 82nd Airborne Division. These battlegroups offered a gameplay that was straightforward and rapid, based around the Forward Deployment mechanic, allowing players to advance fast and far, set up quickly, and resist long enough to win. Not the most inspiring of strategies.



In WARNO’s Season 1 Ranked we remedied this by making some corrections to the gameplay and underlying map design. WARNO is a game about combined arms, including mechanized warfare, and we wanted the heavier divisions such as the American 3rd Armored Division or the Soviet 79-ya Gv. Tank. to have a better fighting chance. However, we didn’t want an overpowering “tank meta” that isn’t always fun.
Game design is an exercise of juggling systems and finding the right nuanced balance!

[h2]Looking Ahead[/h2]
Season 1 is only the beginning. Keep sending your feedback and suggestions, as many more improvements will come to WARNO Ranked Season 2 and beyond. In the meantime, join the competitive fun and see who can claim themselves to be the top commander in WARNO Ranked. May the best strategies triumph!

[h2]New competitive WARNO Tournaments[/h2]
Talking about being competitive: SD League is back! There are two major WARNO tournaments coming up in June and July. Check out all the details below.



WARNO League Super Tournament 1.0
This tournament will kick off two weeks after WARNO’s release on the 1st and 2nd of June. The format will be a 2-day Single Elimination Tournament filled with intense, fast-paced action. Sign-up info and rules can be found on this dedicated page.

WARNO League SEASON 1
Based on the well-tested Steel Division 2 League, this long-form tournament will be open to all players of any skill level. Up to 64 players will be put into four skill levels, allowing us to organize fair matches for everyone. More information, including a sign-up form can be found here.

[h2]Let’s go to war![/h2]
That’s it for this week’s DevBlog. We’ll keep you up to date with all the latest happenings as soon as they hit the ground. Be sure to tune in next week as we’ll start diving into the new Nemesis DLC, Nemesis: Air Assault.

Join the 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, commander.