Panzer Strategy News

General! Our ever-vigilant intelligence service has prepared a news update, for your eyes only!
Here are all of our spy’s key findings.

[h2]Fight for Freedom free Demo is coming tomorrow[/h2]
Our agents have uncovered that tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. PST (17.00 CET) Starni Games plans to deliver Free Demo (early version) for the upcoming Fight for Freedom title. Some skills and abilities are still not there, but overall it allows you to play through the first operation in the UK campaign. Sounds like a good Christmas present.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/

[h2]Winter sales are coming[/h2]
While Starni Games are not allowed to disclose the exact dates, our spies report that the sales are cooking really soon. It will be a great opportunity to get your hands on all of your games you are missing in your collection. Have a look at the Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle - it could save you some money when the sales begin.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
[h2]Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom gameplay trailer is coming[/h2]
Our infiltrators in the Starni Games team informed us that the first trailer for the game is almost ready. You can expect to see it very soon on our YouTube channel, so subscribe now not to miss it.

Support the project by adding Fight for Freedom to your wishlist:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
This is it for this week’s report.

Ever vigilant
Starni Games intelligence service

Hello guys! Last Friday we offered you to tell us about the episode from your life best described as “I wish I had an “Undo” button”. Here is the link:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1381850/announcements/detail/2945881487873930631
However, we put the wrong email at first and had to correct it the next day. When we realized that, we really wished we had an Undo button ;) .

The stories you sent us are much more exciting though. Thank you very much for sending us your great stories. All of them are very interesting, but we had to pick only two. It was a tough choice, but we selected the two that resonate the most with people’s feelings and make the reader feel compassion for the author. So, here are the two best stories, the authors of which will get free 'Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom keys':

[h2]Story one[/h2]
Okay, well, this is a pretty funny, if not painful story, that happened to me in the third grade. So our school was pretty large and for the third grade classes, they were out in this large field away from the main buildings. (Why, I'll never really know.) So, we were quite a ways from the playground so we mostly just used the large field to play in. One day, most of the male students were all playing football, which I was a part of though my issue was that nobody was throwing me the ball even when I was wide open. Now, it's important to know that this was two-handed touch US Football, so there was no tackling of the sort, but as you can probably guess, that wasn't the case eventually. Towards the end of the recess time, the game took a hard hitting turn as I recall two brothers who were playing opposite teams from each other got into it and the whole thing collapsed into almost all the guys getting into a huge dogpile on each other. And from out of the pile came the football so I thought the play was still live and it was my first time touching the ball all recess so I grabbed it and started running towards what we designated as the endzone. I ran as fast as I could since I was so convinced everyone was behind me and trying to tackle me. I ran into the endzone without being touched and started to celebrate because I was so proud. My undo button would've been not to even grab the ball... in order to spare me from the humiliation of no one even caring that I had the ball in the first place! Everyone was still fighting each other and the teachers were trying clear up the pile! So basically, what was one of the proudest moments I ever felt, was turned into one of pure embarrassment and shame since no one even watched me or congratulated me or anything. To make matters worse, I became the most hated boy in the third grade that day since I was the only boy who didn't get banned from recess.

[h2]Story two[/h2]
When I expressed love to my loved one on QQ, it was not her who logged into her account, but her girlfriend. Her girlfriend pretended to accept it herself, but then she clarified the facts and apologized to me and rejected me. If it happened again, I would never say anything without identifying her. Of course, I hope nothing happens.

The keys will be emailed to you today, but the game will be available only at release in Q2 2021.

If you did not win the contest - do not lose heart. We plan to have more community contests along the road and you will have more opportunities to get a free copy of Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom prior to its release.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

With best regards
Starni Games team

(Matilda II Mk is on the left)

Matilda II Mk. 4 close support tank was a refitted variant of Matilda II Mk. 2 heavy tank, armed with a 75 mm howitzer.

Matilda II tanks, in general, had very solid armoring, making them almost unbeatable to early German and Italian tanks. Their 45 mm gun was decent, but not very powerful.

The Matilda II Mk. 4 variant fitted with a 75 mm gun was created as a close support tank.
[h2]In the game[/h2]
As the British did not have the dedicated Assault gun units, but rather refitted some of the tanks with howitzers, we will add a series of close support tanks as Assault guns class, but with a gun range of 2. Basically, the tanks like Matilda II Mk. 4 will be placed under the Assault gun category but will retain many tanks’ features making them a hybrid between Tanks and Assault guns. We are still working on the exact details, but that is our line of thought so far.

Let us know in the comments what you think about this idea. As our long-time users know, we are reacting to your feedback and do our best to implement the best of players-generated ideas and solutions.

We will keep posting new units that will appear for the first time in the Strategic Mind series, so stay tuned!

Support us by adding Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom to your wishlist:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
With best regards
Starni Games team

Hello, guys! A month has passed since the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism release and we are ready to share some insights into the financial results of the release for our company.

[h2]Bad news for Stalin[/h2]
In the first two weeks since release, Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism has two times fewer copies sold and twice lower gross revenue than its predecessor Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg over the same 2-week period after release. There are a couple of possible reasons:

• End of the year clutter in November with lots of big titles being released. Although, Strategic Mind: The Pacific was more successful during the same period.
  
• The USSR theme is less interesting/popular than the German one. (Seems the most likely reason)
  
• Something else.
  

[h2]Games quality[/h2]
One might think that the game quality was the reason, but that is not the case. The games are quite close in terms of quality and gameplay. Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism has higher Steam reviews score than Blitzkrieg - 94% positive reviews at the moment - and it was more polished at launch. Thus, in terms of quality, we can say that the bar was raised higher this time and the community feedback tells us as much. Does that mean the higher quality of the game does not directly translate into higher sales?

[h2]Wishlists comparison[/h2]
Both games had very close wishlist numbers prior to the game launch. That brings us to the question, what affects the game release the most?

[h2]On the bright side[/h2]
The Spectre of Communism is more popular in China and Russia.

[h2]To be, or not to be?[/h2]
Despite the unsuccessful start of Stalin’s career on Steam, we keep working on our next project Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom that is scheduled for Q2 2021. We hope that the upcoming title will gather more attention from the audience, considering that it features both US and British campaigns, as well as alternate history scenarios.

“It seems that the 5-year-plan will not be completed this time around. Bear with us, Comrades, the next 5-year-plan will most certainly be fulfilled within 4 years.”
Oleksandr Sienin, Lead game designer at Starni Games

[h2]In wishlist we trust[/h2]
Despite the unsuccessful launch of the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism, a wishlist count remains the best way to estimate the game’s potential at release and help the game get more attention on Steam.

You can support our team and help us with the future release by adding the upcoming Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom to your wishlist:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/

Also, if you have missed the previous Developer’s Diaries episode, where we told you how the team went through the pandemics so far - make sure to check it out:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1341170/announcements/detail/2934622488787841394
If you have something to say to us - make sure to leave your take on the situation in the comments below. We are always eager to get all sorts of feedback.

Stay tuned for more Developers’ Diaries next week.

With best regards
Starni Games team

[h2] 🔴 Watch the Developer's Gameplay #1: Khalkhin Gol Scenario[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Hello, guys!

Today we bring you our first ever Dev's gameplay.

The Lead game designer will play the Battles of the Khalkhin Gol scenario from the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism with the commentary, explaining the game mechanics and telling you more about the game development process. What do you think of this idea and the video? Please let us know in the comments on YouTube 😉.

Save 20% on Startegic Mind: Spectre of Communism:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/