BK Mod Fireside Chat - 5 October 2023
Hey all BK Fans!
I know it's been quite lately so I just wanted to touch base with you guys and tell you our beloved mod is very much alive. Join me by the fire, won't you?
Development continues apace, albeit at a slower pace. This is because two of our dev members have had things come up in their personal lives that take precedence over their online lives. Despite that, the dev team has been busy. There is a small patch in the works, mainly concerned with bug-fixing. It should release sometime soon and when it does I'll post the announcement both here and on discord along with the patch notes.
But that's not the only thing that's in progress. There have been changes to the BK Mod Steam Forum, BK information is being collected and collated to improve player knowledge and understanding of the BK Mod and its systems, and I want your screenshots! There is one more thing in the works but I will save that for the next dev diary.
[h2]BK Mod Steam Forum Changes[/h2]
First you will see that there are three new BK Steam Subforums.
I've made some changes to the BK Mod steam forums. There are now three new subforums:
[expand][/expand]
The first two sub-forums are incomplete now but when I am done with them, they'll have every patch or beta patch cross-posted into them and a thread that lists every patch and beta patch ever released. The bug-reporting and technical support sub-forum is self-explanatory. I'm doing this as part of one of my directives as dev communications specialist, to make the development of the Blitzkrieg Mod less opaque. That is, it will be easier to see the progression of patches, what was changed when, and why (if possible - many discord conversations that inspired dev patches are lost to the sands of time). In theory, this will help players and devs by answering typical questions related to patches or changes like "Why was X changed and when did that happen?". I expect that the beta sub-forum will become more busy with feedback in the future as all future BK betas get posted in it. As always, I'll be monitoring all these forums and will answer questions as best I can. If I can't answer the question, I'll find out the answer to the best of my ability.
[h2]The Beginnings of a BK Wiki[/h2]
I have a pet project that I've been working that was borne out of my frustration with having to go into Corsix or the game every time I wanted to know a piece of information whether it was how much a unit costed, its weapon stats, its build time, its veterancy bonuses etc, or wanted to compare its stats to any other unit in the game. I realized that I may not be only one who's frustrated by this and also that this barrier to knowledge of the actual stats of the game hamper discussion in the community. Much of dev time is wasted when they are asked to look up stats in Corsix for players who find it difficult to parse corsix or tedious to parse through patch notes. A lot of discussions often go nowhere when people argue about balance when they don't know the actual stats and argue about how things feel in game rather than how things actually are. When it comes to suggestions or proposed solutions to problems, this issue rears its ugly head again because players often suggest things that sound reasonable but are unrealistic or unintended when one considers the actual numbers behind things. I'm not saying this to criticize players but simply stating a fact. It's hard to propose realistic or concrete suggestions when one doesn't know what the numbers behind abilities or stats actually are.
For example, let's say a player has an issue when using the BAR-equipped rifleman squad's suppression ability on an enemy Volksgrenadier squad. He finds it ineffective or too weak for its 40 munition price. It feels like more often than not, it doesn't suppress well enough, if at all. Not knowing how the ability works or what it does number-wise, will cause someone to suggest changes based on feel rather than numbers. They'll suggest changes that will over-tune the ability or that may be completely unnecessary. "Unnecessary - what do you mean?", you ask. I mean that perhaps the player who has an issue with a rifleman squad's suppression ability doesn't know the actual numbers behind cover bonuses. We all know that you can't suppress a squad in a building (building cover) or a trench (trench cover), but did you know that green cover reduces suppression by 90%? If that player knew about cover bonuses, they might then understand they shouldn't use the BAR's suppression ability on enemy squads in green cover. And that is before one factors in received suppression buffs from any other factors such as Officer auras, veterancy bonuses, or doctrinal abilities!
In short, I'm working on a BK Mod wiki that eventually will have all the information you could want about BK Mod, its units, it's patches, various doctrinal abilities, etc. When I make more concrete progress on it I'll put in an update with a link. Here's an example below of some of what I have (it's out of date).
[expand]
[/expand]
I hope this helps alleviate your fears about BK's apparent lack of development. Chat again soon!
Wald
P.S. Send me your screenshots or post them in the community hub for a chance for them to appear as the next dev diary's cover image!
I know it's been quite lately so I just wanted to touch base with you guys and tell you our beloved mod is very much alive. Join me by the fire, won't you?
Development continues apace, albeit at a slower pace. This is because two of our dev members have had things come up in their personal lives that take precedence over their online lives. Despite that, the dev team has been busy. There is a small patch in the works, mainly concerned with bug-fixing. It should release sometime soon and when it does I'll post the announcement both here and on discord along with the patch notes.
But that's not the only thing that's in progress. There have been changes to the BK Mod Steam Forum, BK information is being collected and collated to improve player knowledge and understanding of the BK Mod and its systems, and I want your screenshots! There is one more thing in the works but I will save that for the next dev diary.
[h2]BK Mod Steam Forum Changes[/h2]
First you will see that there are three new BK Steam Subforums.
I've made some changes to the BK Mod steam forums. There are now three new subforums:
[expand][/expand]
The first two sub-forums are incomplete now but when I am done with them, they'll have every patch or beta patch cross-posted into them and a thread that lists every patch and beta patch ever released. The bug-reporting and technical support sub-forum is self-explanatory. I'm doing this as part of one of my directives as dev communications specialist, to make the development of the Blitzkrieg Mod less opaque. That is, it will be easier to see the progression of patches, what was changed when, and why (if possible - many discord conversations that inspired dev patches are lost to the sands of time). In theory, this will help players and devs by answering typical questions related to patches or changes like "Why was X changed and when did that happen?". I expect that the beta sub-forum will become more busy with feedback in the future as all future BK betas get posted in it. As always, I'll be monitoring all these forums and will answer questions as best I can. If I can't answer the question, I'll find out the answer to the best of my ability.
[h2]The Beginnings of a BK Wiki[/h2]
I have a pet project that I've been working that was borne out of my frustration with having to go into Corsix or the game every time I wanted to know a piece of information whether it was how much a unit costed, its weapon stats, its build time, its veterancy bonuses etc, or wanted to compare its stats to any other unit in the game. I realized that I may not be only one who's frustrated by this and also that this barrier to knowledge of the actual stats of the game hamper discussion in the community. Much of dev time is wasted when they are asked to look up stats in Corsix for players who find it difficult to parse corsix or tedious to parse through patch notes. A lot of discussions often go nowhere when people argue about balance when they don't know the actual stats and argue about how things feel in game rather than how things actually are. When it comes to suggestions or proposed solutions to problems, this issue rears its ugly head again because players often suggest things that sound reasonable but are unrealistic or unintended when one considers the actual numbers behind things. I'm not saying this to criticize players but simply stating a fact. It's hard to propose realistic or concrete suggestions when one doesn't know what the numbers behind abilities or stats actually are.
For example, let's say a player has an issue when using the BAR-equipped rifleman squad's suppression ability on an enemy Volksgrenadier squad. He finds it ineffective or too weak for its 40 munition price. It feels like more often than not, it doesn't suppress well enough, if at all. Not knowing how the ability works or what it does number-wise, will cause someone to suggest changes based on feel rather than numbers. They'll suggest changes that will over-tune the ability or that may be completely unnecessary. "Unnecessary - what do you mean?", you ask. I mean that perhaps the player who has an issue with a rifleman squad's suppression ability doesn't know the actual numbers behind cover bonuses. We all know that you can't suppress a squad in a building (building cover) or a trench (trench cover), but did you know that green cover reduces suppression by 90%? If that player knew about cover bonuses, they might then understand they shouldn't use the BAR's suppression ability on enemy squads in green cover. And that is before one factors in received suppression buffs from any other factors such as Officer auras, veterancy bonuses, or doctrinal abilities!
In short, I'm working on a BK Mod wiki that eventually will have all the information you could want about BK Mod, its units, it's patches, various doctrinal abilities, etc. When I make more concrete progress on it I'll put in an update with a link. Here's an example below of some of what I have (it's out of date).
[expand]
[/expand]I hope this helps alleviate your fears about BK's apparent lack of development. Chat again soon!
Wald
P.S. Send me your screenshots or post them in the community hub for a chance for them to appear as the next dev diary's cover image!