Hello!
From the whole Eugen Systems team, we hope you are doing great. It sure feels good to be out in the open! We can’t wait to show off more of WARNO.
Today, in our very first “Hello World” post, we are going to detail some of the new gameplay features and mechanics you can expect in
WARNO.
Now, before we dive in deep, a couple of housekeeping remarks.
You veterans out there might know the drill. We will try to have one
WARNO blog post, or Devblog, out every week. Not only before the
WARNO’s Early Access launch on
January 20th, 2022, but also for long, long after. Expect them to drop on the same day, which will be determined in the new year, so sync your watches and set your alarms!
Please keep in mind that we foster a respectful and professional environment around these parts. We know our player base can be very passionate, with a dedicated community across our titles, but we want to see things calm, cool, and collected. Keep it easy, no trolling or flame wars, and respect the development team (very hard at work, mind you) and your fellow players. Simple as that!
With that out of the way, read on for all the new, juicy
WARNO details!
[h2]And so it came to pass[/h2]It’s been almost eight years since the release of
Wargame: Red Dragon, and here we are with
WARNO, the spiritual successor, ready to launch.
We achieved quite a lot with our
Wargame series; a high satisfaction rate on Steam and still attracting new players each day. The whole Eugen Systems team is super proud of what we have accomplished. We have been trying something new with every title, whether to expand or deepen, aiming to add even more realism or a better gameplay experience.
It began with the original R.U.S.E (ah…the
memories!), which set up the foundation of our combined arms tactical RTS game. With
Wargame: European Escalation, we took this concept even further, respecting the core but deepening the realism and military accuracy (of course, also focussing on a completely new conflict and timeframe).
Wargame: AirLand Battle expanded this and brought air power to the battlefield, as well as increasing the number of units, while
Wargame: Red Dragon was the pinnacle, further refining the experience and bringing naval combat to the series.
But, as game development can be a tricky beast, sometimes we got it right, and sometimes we decided to go back to the drawing board.
With
Steel Division: Normandy 44, we went more intimate, trying to bring out a close-up tactical dimension of combat. And with
Steel Division 2, we changed course again and went big, returning to a
Wargame scale of the fight. Most importantly, with our World War II RTS, we tried to deliver some profound changes to the available tactical tools, reduce unwanted micromanagement, improve the AI, and increase the pleasure of exercising command on an immersive and detailed battlefield.
[h2]Where do we want to go?[/h2]Foremost, with
WARNO, we want to bring the combined arms tactical real-time strategy genre (quite a mouthful) to a new level. In our opinion, this means making our new game clearer and easier to understand, with a further reduction in micromanagement. This also means refining the mechanics of in-game combat, allowing them to be more natural and intuitive to comprehend. What it doesn’t mean is to detract from the complexity and deep strategy of the game itself. These elements are not mutually exclusive.
Compared to our previous titles, with
WARNO, we are bringing a vast range of enhancements and improvements to the tactical experience. Three areas are particularly important to us.
[h2]Number 1# - New Tactical Visual Icons[/h2]Let’s look at the first new
WARNO user interface tool:
Tactical Icons. It is a way for a player to check, at a glance, the composition and function of the units under their command. It’s a highly optimized approach to display a unit’s key indicators in a handy UI label overlay on the battlefield.
We can read quickly:
- What is the function of the unit?
- What is its strength?
- What are they doing?
- What is its status?
We have redesigned all the unit icons to make their category more explicit. For example, they now show the size or type (infantry squads, half-size infantry squads, tracked, helicopter, etc.), as well as role (anti-tank, air defense, support, recon, etc.).
A unit’s
Combat Value is now displayed clearly. The value of a unit is its strength within each category, denoted by a colored triangle (blue, green, etc.)
For example, if you can check the U.S. and Soviet tanks in the image, you instantly get a clear idea of how well certain tank models and variants stack up against each other.
There is more: icons now better merge (the so-called
Aggregation system) on the battlefield, which optimizes the screen space available. It allows you to find your units quickly, even when zoomed in or out.
[h2]Number 2# - Enhanced Combat Mechanics[/h2]A detailed look into how
WARNO combat plays out is something we will examine in the future. However, we still want to outline some specific ideas we intend to incorporate.
Let’s look at the new
Smart Target cursor. This mechanic allows for more clarity and information at a glance in the heat of combat.
Smart Targeting
You select a unit, hover over the enemy target, and
bam! get a whole slew of key details. These will inform how well your unit will perform when engaging the targeted unit.
For each weapon, we will display detailed info on the type of weapon, the damage according to distance, the orientation of the enemy armor, the accuracy, etc. The force ratio indicator will tell you if your unit can destroy the target.
We will also precisely show all the data influencing the firing process when targeting an enemy unit. For instance: the chance to hit is now shown when firing from a stationary position, shooting when moving, without line of sight, etc.
If the weapon cannot shoot, for one reason or another, such as line of sight being broken, the unit featuring an incompatible weapon, or a lack of penetration power, the
Smart Target cursor will show this.
Suppression is out; Welcome to CohesionAnother game mechanic changed is
Suppresion. We have updated this element to become
Cohesion in
WARNO. We found it more intuitive and interesting to include the notion of a unit’s morale coupled to losses or damages suffered, but
also to the idea of fatigue linked to prolonged combat.
Cohesion has four states: High, Normal, Poor, and Low. The idea is this: a unit that arrives on the battlefield is fresh and has a high level of
Cohesion. This gives them a 25% speed bonus. Then, inevitable degradation due to active combat, a unit will suffer various modifiers such as reduced movement speed, more time to reload, more time to aim.
Cohesion levels will drop to a point where the chance to rout will increase more and more.
[h2]Number 3# - New Tactical Control Tools[/h2]
Steel Division 2 veterans know this next one:
Smart Orders and
Rules of Engagement. Expect updated versions of these AI-assisted micromanagement tools in
WARNO.
A quick recap but
Smart Orders allows you to give orders to units and let the computer execute them. For instance, seizing a particular point, holding it, or managing your artillery with automatic counter-battery strikes or defensive fire missions. The computer considers the group's composition, the terrain, and the visible enemy forces when following these orders.
Smart Orders let you comfortably hand off control as you spend your attention on other parts of the battlefield.
Rules of Engagement allow your units to execute their actions more independently and adapt to changing conditions more intelligently. They follow a set of rules closely, such as when to advance along roads or when to seek cover. You can determine these rules at the start of a game or in the options menus.
In
WARNO, you get to play with both of these mechanics in a much deeper way. Depending on armament and movement type, you can completely configure a unit’s behavior. It will also be easier to change and consult each unit’s
Rules of Engagement set by simply selecting and adjusting the variables on the panel on the right.
We will go more in-depth into
WARNO’s new
Smart Orders in a future blog post!
Updated unit AIIt is now possible to configure a unit’s behavior when targeting different units. It might be wise, for instance, for a unit not to use its limited missile load-out against a light vehicle, instead of saving them for more dangerous targets. Another example is for unarmed transports to order them to return immediately after disembarking, allowing you to recover their command points.
New Line of Sight Tool We’ve also updated the important
Line of Sight Tool, giving you all the critical details on what a unit can see. We all know the importance of a unit’s stealth capacity (size, type, and the means to camouflage when in cover), as well as its optics levels (the means to detect other units). With the updated
Line of Sight Tool, you will now be able to check if a unit can spot hidden targets across various types (infantry, tanks, etc.).
[h2]That’s all for today[/h2]We have come to the end of our first blog post. Let us know what you think! In case you haven’t, don’t forget to wishlist
WARNO on Steam.
Keep a track of
WARNO and join the community. You can check the latest news on the
Steam News page or visit the
Steam Forums. Join the excellent
Discord server and the new
Reddit page.
Now, as is customary, we will log off for the upcoming holidays; we will be back, hitting the ground running, in the first week of 2022!
From the whole Eugen Systems team:
Happy Holidays and wishing you a prosperous
New Year.
