Be sure to drop by and check out what's going on in the world of Squad and Post Scriptum; we think you'll like what you see. There might even be some other fun stuff in the booth with us, not counting our developers and community volunteers, of course!

You'll find us in the bottom left corner of the Expo Hall Map, Booth 10126:




We've selected and notified our chosen volunteers. Which means that if you haven't received an email from us, you weren't selected... this time. The response to our call was overwhelming and the amount of love each application showed for Squad and Post Scriptum was amazing! Alas, we could only choose a few of you, but we know where to look for the next show. Thank you all for the outpouring of support and being part of our community! =)

We're looking forward to seeing everyone at PAX East 2019!


PAX is an exciting event and you'll want to do as much as possible! You'll enjoy it more if you prepare a little. Consider a water bottle, personal hygiene kit, and small quality of life items like moleskin bandages for hot spots and blisters. Remember that you can't see and do everything, so be sure to pick your priorities.

In other words, always secure your logistics, squaddie.

(Want more GIFs in your news post? Visit https://joinsquad.com/2019/03/04/february-2019-recap/ for the media-rich version!)



Hey soldiers!

Just 'cause February is the shortest month doesn't make it any less busy! We've been hard at work bringing the Unreal Engine 4.21 update to Squad, smashing all the bugs, and polishing up some brand new goodies for you. But wait, there's more! Dig into the preview of Alpha 13 for some explosive action!


Just in case you missed it, back on February 5th, we had Merlin join us on the r/JoinSquad subreddit to answer, well, anything! You can access the thread directly here, or search for your favorite topics by joining our community Discord server and looking into the #ama-answers channel. With some help from the rest of the team, we covered topics ranging from 2019 plans, granular rearm, right on down to shovel animations. Extracurricular reading? Check!



Destructible Tracks

Tracks and Wheels are now fully destroyable in the upcoming alpha version, enabling players to inflict more granular damage to vehicles. For wheels, depending on the vehicle, they can be taken down by small arms fire, while tracks require something with a bigger punch, typically .50 cal or greater. With each wheel that gets destroyed, more friction gets applied, reducing the vehicle’s maximum top speed. The destroyed wheel’s rim still functions but at reduced drive effectiveness. In addition, the vehicle will lean over as the supporting wheel is now gone. With tracks as each gets destroyed the drive input from that track no longer functions. That means that if both tracks get destroyed, the vehicle is completely immobile.


Animated Animations!

General visual and immersion improvements have been done to our animation system, including:

• An including an overhaul to our ragdoll system
  
• Visual hand signals for Squad Leader and Fireteam orders
  
• Hand actions when SLs are talking over command VOIP
  
• Head-turning for vehicle passengers; moving mouths while talking over VOIP
  
• More immersive animations when operating open turret and emplaced weapons
  
• Idle animations for handheld weapons
  
• Secondary animation on vehicles such as antenna and mud-flaps
  
• A number of optimizations

Overall the net result is that much more polish on our characters and vehicles.


Engineer on the Move

A new role that we’re introducing for Alpha 13 is the Combat Engineer. We’re moving the infantry deployables that were associated with some Riflemen roles earlier to this new role, as well as outfitting him with anti-tank mines and small demolition charges. The intent for this role is to perform quick demolitions on deployables and light vehicles, as well as to ambush enemy vehicles and set no-go zones with their anti-tank mines.

For the Militia and Insurgents, the role that the Scout previously played will now be given to the "Sapper." So, in addition to the normal Combat Engineer loadout, Sappers will be able to lay IEDs.



Destruction is a spin-off from the Insurgency game mode, involving the conventional factions. The attacking side has a certain amount of time and resources to attack two separate weapon cache objectives. As each pair of objectives gets destroyed, a new phase of the operation will begin, spawning two more objectives and additional time and tickets are given. These objective locations are localized to a fixed area, but its precise location is randomized with rough clues given to the attacking side. In order to destroy these objectives, the engineer’s demolition charges are required.




Interactive Demo

With 4.21, a new LOD generation method is available, and we plan to make full use of it for most of our larger, more costly assets. Using this method, texture draw-calls per mesh can be decreased significantly, in some cases reaching a 40:1 ratio between the old mesh and the new proxy LOD mesh. This system has been put into place on Narva as a testbed, so be on the lookout for performance improvements there, and be sure to report any pesky LOD bugs you notice!


Granular Rearm UI

As described in an earlier recap and coming to Alpha 13, we’re dramatically improving the function of rearming your kit in the field by giving you the ability to pick which item in your inventory you wish to rearm. If your ammunition requirements exceed that of the supply source, you will be unable to rearm, in addition to using ammo points greater than necessary. This should help free up “extra” ammo points for other players when needed.


Request a Role Interface

Another quality of life improvement for ground infantry will be the ability for APCs & IFVs to allow all roles to be requested just like FOB Ammo Crates. The ammo contained within the vehicle will be consumed when that new role is requested. For Light Vehicles & Tanks, they will allow crewman roles to be obtained. This will now enable all vehicles to have access to field repairs via the Crewman kit’s repair tools.




As previously mentioned in our Monthly Recap for January, the Unreal 4 Engine upgrade has been completed and we’ve been getting used to the development related upgrades it brought to Squad. Having run a number of internal play-tests as well have proved very promising and we’re hoping to see the benefits (and also potential bugs that need to be addressed!) in full come wider scale community playtests as we did back in January. Note that we have not fully taken advantage of the optimization capabilities of this upgrade yet, so please adjust your expectations accordingly.



T-62 Advancing

One of the new vehicles that will be appearing on the scene is the T-62 Main Battle Tank, intended for the Militia and Insurgent forces. A Soviet vehicle dating back to the heat of the Cold War, a few surplus models have fallen into unconventional hands and can deal a devastating punch against heavily armored targets.

The T-62 comes equipped with a turret-stabilized 115mm smoothbore cannon, firing the usual complement of armor penetrating sabot, high explosive anti-tank and fragmentation rounds. While this armament might not perform as well as its more modern counterparts, still do not underestimate its ability to deal death at range. The commander seat has access to a simple cupola mounted periscope with high magnification optics.


Spandrel Taking Aim

Another new vehicle variant is the BRDM-2 Spandrel, basically an anti-tank guided missile variant of the BRDM-2 scout car. It comes with five wire-guided ‘Konkurs’ missiles and can fire them in relatively quick succession, dealing a devastating amount of damage against heavy armor at range. Its mobility combined with its anti-tank firepower makes it a potent battlefield tool, though with its light armor it won’t fare well in head-on engagements against enemy tanks. This vehicle will be available to Russian and unconventional factions.


MATV TOW Firing

One more vehicle that we have coming is the American counterpart to Spandrel in the form of the MATV TOW. Basically a TOW with wheels, it has 5 spare TOW missiles and the same level of mobility and armor of a conventional MATV. Definitely packs a punch, but light on protection.





The Vz.61 "Škorpion" is a Czech manufactured .32 ACP machine pistol developed in 1959, produced and exported throughout the 60s and 70s. The Škorpion is a select-fire, straight blowback weapon that operates from a closed bolt for additional accuracy while still maintaining a very high rate of fire. Its extremely compact nature even with the extended wire stock makes this machine pistol a favorite as a personal defense weapon for vehicle crews. This weapon will be issued to Militia and Insurgent crewmen.




The M-15 Anti-Tank blast mine is an American design originating in World War 2 and is activated via a mechanical pressure switch. When sufficient downward pressure is applied it will activate the fuze and trigger detonation. Containing about 10.3 kilograms of Composition B explosive, it is capable inflicting mobility kills on heavy armor or dealing critical damage to lighter vehicles. This will be available to the US Army and British combat engineers.


Arming the Charge
An array of different timed explosive charges have been added to the game. These come in various different forms but their explosive yields are the same for gameplay purposes. These charges are used for demolition purposes ranging from destroying wrecks to clearing deployables. While they are on a 30-second timer, they can be defused with your entrenching tool before they explode.




Being introduced to all British Army kits, the standard issue bayonet has been designed for use with the L85A2 family of rifles. Its special mounting system over the barrel means the blade is offset from the center of the handle, making it an effective tool favored for deployment.


Whether you're more the stabby type or the blasty type, that was definitely some good news! We're hard at work getting Alpha 13 ready for public testing, so keep your eyes peeled for updates and testing opportunities -- gotta smash all those engine update bugs. Thank you for being part of the Squad community!

- Offworld Out

With the ink still drying on all the plans, we wanted to get a headstart on some exciting news: we’ll have a booth at PAX East this year. Even better, we’d like to bring a few of you along with us!

We’re seeking a few Offworld Industries fans that will be in the Boston-area to be our community ambassadors on the show floor. Yep, you get to come to PAX East with the developers and talk about games all day! Oh, you’ll also be attending one of the largest public gaming events featuring panels, concerts, and hundreds of new games across every platform — including actual platforms. Not bad, eh?

Before you get too excited, there are a few requirements:

• You must be a legal adult (18+).
• You must be available from March 28, 2019 through March 31, 2019. (The duration of PAX East 2019.)
• You must provide your own transportation.
• You must have a strong knowledge of Squad! Post Scriptum would be a big bonus too.

If you’re still in the running, go ahead and


If you’re selected, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible — the PAX schedule isn’t even available yet.

Thank you so much for your interest! We’re looking to forward to seeing your smiling faces in person at PAX East!

(P.S. We’re hiring.)

Hi Squaddies,

Modding is back! With the SDK freshly back in action, we’re doubling down in February to make up for lost time! We hope you had a great start to the new year and we’re already convinced 2019 will be a very exciting year for all us, modders and players alike. So, without further adieu, let’s dive right into what you’ve been working on.


Join us on the Community Modding Discord where you can join discussions and meet the modding community. It’s a great place to share your ideas and passions with like-minded people that will happily help you create something awesome.




Have you ever looked at the T-72 and thought: “This thing needs more guns”? Well, the Russians have and SPECTR_Eternal as well. He has started working on a mod that converts it to a BMPT-72 Tank Support Combat Vehicle: Armed with twin 30mm 2A42 autocannons and four individual 9M120-1 “Ataka-T” guided missiles this will make everyone on the business end of this beast very unhappy.









Elvedalen’s design is mainly focused on bringing intense combat to the river valley at the center of the map. It features the US and Russian forces squaring off over strategic objectives in the aforementioned valley, sure to cause skirmishing. Heavy vehicle combat and open areas mean that those who do not maneuver properly will be floating downstream later on. You can find it in the Steam Workshop here.








A very ambitious project that wargr and Rincewind have decided to take up here: They are working on creating the most authentic and detailed model of the Russian Mi-24V. Utilizing photoscans of the real helicopter, you can see the attention of detail these modders are capable of. Certainly looking forward to progress updates as this famous vehicle comes to life in their hands.




With the skies over the battlefield quickly becoming a little crowded, Mike is working on a helicopter friendly training map with a lot of ranges for his future one-life event organization.



Focusing in on each area should let players new and old brush up on the skills necessary for survival in Squad.







WW1 Yeho Flyby

When a clanmate suggested a World War 1-style trench affair, Papasmurf7676 found the perfect spot in Yehorivka to, er, dig in. He decided to fill it with some balanced trenches for both teams to kit out with FOBs and defend themselves. There are no vehicles; it’s pure infantry combat. You can find the early version of the map on the Steam Workshop here. Over the top, lads!




Popping up from Downunder, this newly formed mod team wishes all us, “G’day!” Since their hospitality knows no bounds, they’re also giving us a first gander at their newborn faction. Work has already begun on 2 new vehicles, 8 new weapons, new character models, and 2 new maps! They’re even making some adjustments to vanilla assets for a better fit. If you want to help out, or simply keep updated, check out their Discord.








We wish we all had the raw energy of SPECTR_Eternal, who has submitted not one, but TWO impressive projects for this edition of the Wrench! Who are we to not applaud such dedication? This time, he’s updated Operation Homestead with a new area dubbed “The Burnt Forest” and a little hint to a far-away Red Forest, where one may be able to find some Ukrainian-game-inspired easter egg.




Arcade (Tank) Fire Test

Always want to man vehicles in Squad, but your friends are sick of you flipping the logi? Steffenbk1 to the rescue! He is working on making vehicles in Squad more arcadey by being able to one-man them, including driving and shooting at the same time!




Our fine, friendly foreign French friends forge forward (Sorry, we got carried away.) on their mod to deliver a working and playable build soon! In the meantime, the production of assets also continues unabated. They’ve sent along a glimpse of that by showing off their progress on the FRF2 by Biohog that will be given to the Marksman class.






Back by popular demand, the NG Custom Modded server returns and is currently running a special with reimagined Battlefield 2 maps that are working together with the helicopter mod. NG is keeping the server up 24/7, so be sure to check it out, no matter your timezone. Sounds like great fun for some nostalgic moments!

Questions? Join their Discord server while you download the mod(s) from Steam Workshop! You can, of course, find modded servers under your Custom Servers tab for the time being.

Damn, it’s great to be back guys and girls, and we’re already looking forward to your submissions for the March edition of the Wrench. Early birds can already submit here.

(For the media-rich version of this post, please visit our website)

Hey soldiers!

We're back with a recap in a brand new year! Hopefully, you're off burning those holiday feasts at the gym, but if your New Year's resolution is running out of construction points, maybe we can distract you with some Squad news! Let's hit the recap:




Engine upgrades bring long-awaited improvements to the development of Squad. We've jumped a number of versions this time around, from 4.16 to 4.21 to be exact. A detailed list of the changes and updates in UE4.21 can be found here. Engine upgrades are always a tricky task, but the rewards far outweigh the cons and the team is making swift progress. Once we are upgraded, the entire development team can benefit from the new tools and bug fixes, which leads to improved quality of Squad overall. 

In fact, the Alpha 13 test last week was the first version we played in the new 4.21 Unreal Engine version, a test designed to identify all the bugs associated with the migration. Keep an eye out for more testing!




Having seen the light of day in the Alpha 13 test last week, we can confirm this is a welcome improvement to the Ammunition resupply mechanic. The update will give you the ability to pick which item in your inventory you wish to rearm.

In the Alpha 12 implementation, if your ammunition requirements exceed that of the supply source, you’re unable to rearm, in addition to using ammo points greater than necessary. This should help free up "extra" ammo points for other players in need. You’ll have the ability to rearm exactly what you need when you need it. How well you use it is still up to you, of course.


Rocket to Abrams track

As described in an earlier development update, we’re also putting into testing the last major upgrade to the vehicle component damage model: destroying the wheels and tracks. This allows the attacking side to better score a mobility kill by giving another potential target as the tracks and wheels are usually more exposed and less armored than the engine. 

Mine damage

Ambush weapons like mines now have an additional, slightly different purpose by targeting the tracks/wheels, scoring mobility kills, allowing for some degree of counterplay on the part of the victims. We'll be keeping an eye on how effectively the new components are used, so keep your feedback coming!




We have in the works a ton (pun unintended (Editor: I don’t believe that for a minute.)) of new ground vehicles, including the higher tier Russian APC in the form of the BMP series of infantry fighting vehicles, the British Challenger 2 main battle tank and the Soviet-era T-62 main battle tank for Militia and Insurgent forces. The Challenger 2 and BMPs are still very heavy work in progress at the moment, but they’re definitely coming together!



An extensive redesign of the Challenger 1 main battle tank, the Challenger 2 should provide a considerable upgrade to firepower and protection for the British forces in Squad. Though it looks similar to its predecessor, less than 5% of the parts are interchangeable, and it is 100% meaner.



A Soviet workhorse that rolled onto the field in 1961, the T-62 became the standard tank in their arsenal. It’s staying power has left it a capable vehicle with thousands in use around the world today.



T62 Ejection

We will be introducing a number of vehicles from the venerable BMP series, in order to give Russia and the unconventional factions a boost in firepower. We will initially be rolling the BMP-1 as well as the BMP-2 across a number of factions and layers.



Later on the plan is to upgrade the Russian faction to use the BMP-2M variant instead of the dated original version that will continue to be used by the irregular forces. The BMPs should offer a little better protection than the BTR based vehicles. The BMP-1 has a rather interesting main armament in its 73mm recoilless gun. This is essentially an SPG-9 as its main armament.



In contrast, the BMP-2’s main armament is the 30mm 2A42 which has an even more ridiculous fire rate than the 2A72 found on the BTR-82A. If that wasn’t enough, both of them will have the option of equipping ATGMs if it is appropriate for the layer and faction.




We’re also working on the aerial UAV feature that is accessible by the Commander. With the ability to zoom right into the action from above, this should give an unparalleled level of observation and scouting power to the top. We’re also working on functions like target tracking and marker interactions via the UAV camera, further streamlining the experience.

Drone camera






We're aiming to make Fallujah the densest map we’ve created yet. The most difficult part in making such complex environment is balancing many different gameplay paths, areas, and scenarios.



To achieve that we’ve implemented a new system using gameplay markers, allowing us to focus on bigger picture and leave the detailing to a later stage of production. This way we can effectively iterate in designing each flag; speeding up and streamlining the creation process. Stay tuned for more as we move into testing. We're going to need the grizzled veterans and newbies alike to test out a renewed favorite.




Progress is also being made on Skorpo, an upcoming new map based on a tranquil village on the western coast of Norway. Since the playtest last year in mid-December, work has been done to incorporate those findings into a more streamlined gameplay flow.



Changes incorporated after the playtest include adding more alternative routes, making roads more traversable, and reworking the flag layout, among other gameplay considerations. A big challenge with this map has also been optimizations and, luckily, the 4.21 upgrade brings new tools for larger environments. It should help to bring a smoother experience for the players.







Youtube Link

And last, but not least, we had the opportunity to sit down with Squad’s lead producer, Dave “Drav” Mason. Drav shared his insights into Squad development, took your questions, and chatted with us for about two hours. A huge thank you to everyone who attended! (P.S. We’re aware of the audio issue — skip ahead to six minutes. We promise you didn’t miss any leeks.)



Hot damn did the team come up with some cool stuff for this Recap! Until next time, keep your friends close, and your air support closer.

Hey soldiers!

We're proud to announce we've joined the era of modern web design! Please welcome the brand new http://JoinSquad.com! It's been redesigned feature more news, more community events, and look a whole lot more modern.



It just launched, so head on over to http://joinsquad.com and let us know what you think.

Hey soldiers!

Just a quick note to let you know the last Wrench of 2018 has dropped on the official blog!

We've got updates from of your favorite teams, a couple of beloved maps revived, and we're pretty sure Alac is suffering from ergot poisoning again, as there's a short stop on Rainbow Road.

Head on over for The Wrench!

Hey soldiers,

Another batch of fixes is hot and ready to go. Here's to Squadtastic weekend!

• Fixed damage and effects bugs on the following projectiles: AT-4, Refleks, Kornet, TOW, M1A2 HEAT, T-72 Frag, Mortar HE & smoke
  
• Fixed bipod movement getting stuck on upper/lower pitch limit
  
• Fixed a bug in the role selection causing server performance issues
  
• Fixed an exploit where you would have a model and weapons from the team you switched from
  
• Fixed a bug preventing role selection on deployment screen after map change
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause weapons on vehicles to be upside down
  
• Fixed turret stabilization pitch not working for certain turret rotations
  
• Fixed gearbox shifting into reverse at high forward speeds when braking
  
• Fixed US IFV turret smoke launcher optic
  
• Set flag names on the map to have higher contrast
  
• Fixed capture point names on Kamdesh skirmish and Mestia
  
• Removed large M4 and calibration cube on Sumari
  
• Fixed several floating assets on Yehorivka
  
• Updated Yehorivka minimap
  
• Fixed issue with vehicle wheel fx shooting random dust forward while speeding
  

Hey soldiers,

We've been working on getting the most heinous issues beaten in Alpha 12 and we're happy to present the patch notes for the 12.1 patch! This update addresses a number of issues, but first and foremost would be the slow/no load issues that popped up with Alpha 12. That's not all, though: there's plenty of tweaks and fixes for everyone. Let's check 'em out:

• Large number of optimisations to foliage and UI texture sizes and streaming in of textures.
  
• Optimised audio assets and sound cue variations in order to have a much lower memory profile.
  
• Reduced individual .PAK file sizes by breaking the large content .PAK files apart into smaller chunks, which speeds up loading into the game as well as installing updates from Steam. As the file structure has been changed, this patch will be quite large.
  
• Performance optimisations to the Squad Leader order widget.
  
• Performance optimisations to the main menu map.
  
• Removed player collision interaction on infantry ammo bags.
  
• Tweaked the first person offset to closer match where the head and eyes are in third person when leaning left and right.
  
• Unified the sub role drop-down interaction style across all role selection modes.
  
• Increased Steam connection timeout from 60 sec. to 120 sec.
  
• Updated layering of icons on the map. (Top to bottom: Spawn Points, Infantry, Vehicles, View cone, FOB Radio, Capture zone flag, Deployables, HABs, other Map Markers)
  

• Turret damage has been implemented to all closed turrets. Should a turret take damage, the damage will be passed on to its parent vehicle. In addition, if a turret is below 50% health the turret will begin to suffer a penalty in its maximum turn speed. The more damage taken, the more severe the penalty. Stabilised turrets also suffer by having its stabilisation disabled below 50% health. A cracked screen will appear when turret health is below 50%. Repair tools will be able to repair its health up to 25%, requiring vehicle crews to take their vehicles back to a repair station to restore full turret functionality. Open turrets like MAT-V .50cal turrets or Technical DSHK are not affected by this change.
  
• WSAD keyboard controls now can control traverse and pitch of all vehicle turrets with the exception of the KPVT, NSV-T, PKT turrets, and open turrets.
  
• Fixed an issue in the physics code gear mapping preventing the 6th forward gear on vehicles to work correctly and made sure RPM thresholds for shifting out of neutral gear are being respected, making driving up slopes in first gear much more manageable.
  
• AT-4 HEAT projectile set to use Heavy Anti-Tank type damage. Increased AT-4 HEAT armor penetration capability from 350mm to 500mm. This is a temporary placeholder change to the AT-4 to give the US and GB factions an infantry HAT weapon system. When the actual GB and US HAT weapons are implemented, the AT-4 projectile specs will return to their original "light/medium" AT role.
  
• Damage tweaks to guided missiles and rockets:
  
  • Trucks: 1 TOW to instantly kill, 1 HAT to burning, 2 LATs to burning
    
  • MATV/BRDM-2: 1 TOW to instantly kill, 1 HAT to burning, 2 LATs to burning
    
  • BTR, MTLB: 1 TOW to burning, 1 HAT + 1 LAT to burning
    
  • IFVs: 1 TOW to burning
    
• Slightly decreased .50cal's armor penetration capability at medium (100-800m) ranges.
  
• Made unarmored vehicles slightly more resistant to 25mm/30mm Autocannon High Explosive ammunition.
  
• Increased Heavy Anti-Tank rocket armor penetration capability from 630mm to 900mm RHA penetration.
  
• Light Anti-Tank standardised to 320mm RHA penetration.
  
• Simplified armor distribution on the BRDM-2.
  
• Tweaked camouflage netting on the M1A2 Abrams woodland cannon to not be as visually obtrusive from the gunners point of view.
  
• Reduced armor thickness on the M1126 Stryker.
  
• Increased carrying capacity of Logistics Technical to 1400 points.
  
• Simplified the collision mesh and distribution of armor on the T72-B3 hull slightly.
  
• Increased coverage of heavy front turret armor on the T72-B3, but added a weak spot where the base of the gun attaches to the turret.
  
• Tweaked BTR82As 30mm turret armor, introducing a weak spot where the gun connects to the turret, but buffing its overall frontal armor.
  
• Removed physics kickback on all 25mm/30mm autocannons and the KPVT when firing.
  
• Decreased overheat penalty on BTR/MTLB 30mm and ZU-23.
  

• Narrowed L85A2/L22A2 and M4 series ironsight front post for better target visibility.
  
• Lowered ammo point cost of LAT weapons (M72A7, RPG7 HEAT, RPG7-V2 HEAT and RPG-26) from 50 to 40.
  
• US and British HAT roles have been set to 2 per team, one frag grenade added to their inventories.
  
• Reduced deviation on the RPG-29.
  
• Unique Identity: Continued from the A12.0 release, weapon behaviour and handling has been tweaked in several ways to improve response and give each weapon family a more unique identity, as well as improving the effects of attachments like foregrips and UGLs.
  
• Unique Identity: All weapons have received a pass based on their caliber and barrel lengths. E.g., the AK-74 and L85A2 families now have less recoil than the M4 family.
  
• Focus Sway (ADS, focused) has been reduced.
  
• Weapon Sway (ADS, non-focused) has been reduced.
  
• Foregrips now decrease vertical recoil but increase horizontal recoil.
  
• Underbarrel Grenade Launchers now decrease vertical recoil but increase Weapon Sway (ADS, non-focused).
  
• Light Machine Guns and General Purpose Machine Guns have received a recoil and sway pass similar to Rifles in A12.0.
  
• Fixed some issues related to bipod deployment.
  
• Removed suppression ability from knives and pistols.
  
• Reduced all types of Sway on Binoculars - they should be more accurate and easier to use now.
  

• RAAS/AAS ticket gain/loss for flag changed: When a flag is capture, capturing team gains +30 tickets and losing team loses -30 tickets (was +20 and -40). This change is in combination with the reduction of overall ticket counts, so overall rounds will be slightly shorter, but rounds that have a lot of movement along flags wont end as suddenly.
  
• Reduced Counts on all AAS/RAAS map layers:
  
  • Tallil, Yehorivka - 350 Tickets.
    
  • Basrah, Belaya, Chora, Gorodok, Kamdesh, Kohat, Narva - 300 Tickets.
    
  • Fools Road, Kokan - 200 Tickets.
    
  • Logar, Mestia, Sumari - 150 Tickets.
    
• Reduced ticket count for Skirmish map layers to 100 Tickets (from 150).
  
• Reduced ticket count for Invasion map layers to 150 Tickets for Attackers/600 Tickets for Defenders.
  
• Fixed various Maps having incorrect map descriptions on team select screen.
  
• Fixed Main Base flipped vehicles for: Kohat AAS v1, Basrah Invasion v2, Fools Road RAAS v1, Mestia AAS v1, Mestia AAS v2, Mestia RAAS v1.
  
• Fools Road RAAS_v1 moved Fortress flag to OP.
  
• Fixed RU Main Base resource pool on Gorodok Invasion_v2.
  
• Fixed crashing on Jensen's Range Skirmish v1.
  
• Fixed incorrect flag setup Kokan Invasion v1.
  
• Fixed some map layers having incorrect faction descriptions and faction insignia.
  
• Added Vehicle depots further down the valley on Kohat RAAS v1 for faster logistics for both teams.
  
• Fixed incorrect CP names (Mohd Zai & Bahadur incorrectly labeled) on Kohat AAS v2.
  
• Fixed odd ammo caches on Logar INS v1.
  
• Fixed floating road segments in the north-west part of Mestia.
  
• Fixed lighting on Mestia AAS v2.
  
• Fixed Staging Zone boundary issues on Mestia Invasion v1 and Invasion v2.
  
• Fixed ambient visual effects on Tallil Skirmish v1 and v2.
  
• Fixed ambient wind audio not playing on Tallil Skirmish v1.
  
• Fixed map naming on Tallil Skirmish v2.
  
• Fixed US Main Base resource pool on Tallil Skirmish v2.
  
• Fixed Insurgents DShK Technical not being accessible on Al Basrah RAAS v1.
  
• Fixed missing materials for several assets on Chora.
  
• Fixed floating house forcing players to vault to get to the staircase on Kamdesh.
  
• Fixed Aircraft Bunkers culling too early on Tallil.
  
• Fixed incorrect collision setting in Protection Zone preventing players from leaning in Main Bases after the Staging Phase ends on all Tallil layers.
  
• Fixed trees and other foliage on roads, smoothed out areas with jagged terrain and tall lumps on Gorodok.
  
• Fixed collision and scaling issues by removing offending assets on Yehorivka
  

• Fixed a crash when a Squad Leader attempts to invite a player who has disconnected.
  
• Fixed damage issues on several vehicles (including both tanks) caused by bugs in turret setup, mesh collisions and decoration configuration
  
• Fixed being unable to move the camera in the FV510 commander seat.
  
• Fixed missing turret turning sounds on a majority of vehicle based turrets.
  
• Fixed T72-B3 fragmentation rounds dealing no damage to infantry on non-direct hits.
  
• Fixed low-health/bleeding post-processing screen effects not playing during ADS.
  
• Fixed UB-32 Rocket Technical's ammunition being treated as if it was an emplacement.
  
• Fixed dead players not showing as dead in the Squad list UI.
  
• Added a check for 'foliage.LODDistanceScale', to force exit the game if players modify this value to hide the foliage similar to the other .INI checks.
  
• Fixed extra apostrophe in the deployment confirmation message when spawning on rallies.
  
• Fixed mines not playing an explosion effect or sound when a vehicle drives over them.
  
• Fixed some team based mismatch issues relating to Roles and force revert of your role to default when it becomes unavailable.
  
• Fix emplaced weapons not usable by other team when a player is shot out of it.
  
• Fix emplaced weapons having incorrect bounds leading to weapon models disappearing occasionally.
  
• Fixed main menu music not looping.
  
• Fixed zeroing on the 300m and 400m settings for the RPG-29.
  
• Fixed zeroing on the M4 series Red dot sight and M150 Optic.
  
• Fixed Neutral Technical DShK spawned near Village on Al Basrah RAAS v1 cannot be entered by either team.
  
• Fixed a number of statics either having missing collisions or missing textures.
  
• Fixed stationary SPG-9 doing slightly more damage than technical-mounted variant.
  
• Fixed some vehicle explosions showing broken explosion animation effect.
  
• Fixed vehicle wreck collisions being desynced from their visual wreck model.
  
• Fixed the FV510 Desert variant having a non-charred wreck model.
  
• Fixed snow on Belaya not producing snow related interaction sounds.
  
• Fixed Vehicle Driver UI RPM indicator showing incorrect values.
  
• Fixed an issue where a selected but now locked role inside a drop-down list forces an unusable UI state.
  
• Fixed Map & Team info mismatches in team select.
  
• Fixed first person view being offset after leaving emplacement when entering an emplacement while freelooking.
  
• Fixed Insurgent Radio ammo limit, now increased to 20,000.
  

Mmm, those gearbox fixes speak to the logiboi in all of us. Get patching! We'll see you in-game!

(For the media-rich version of this post, please visit our website.)

Hey soldiers!

We know this doesn't look like your usual Recap, but while we are finishing up the last parts of a hotfix update for Alpha 12, we thought we'd lay out what we have planned for the next stage of Squad development, similar to what we did earlier this year.


https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/a-12-1.jpg

So, first up is the performance, bug fixing and balance patch that we are working on right now, which should be with you all shortly. We have looked at all the community feedback and improved what isn't quite working as intended, fixing as many bugs as we could in three weeks (obviously) as well as starting on the optimisation work that we'll talk about in a minute.


https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/4-21Unreal.jpg

After that, the team is planning to upgrade Squad to Unreal version 4.21. We have been on version 4.16 since August 2017 and a year of NOT upgrading has been very useful, allowing our programmers a lot more time to concentrate on features. However, the recent success of Fortnite (a large multiplayer 100 player game) has brought so many cool and useful features into UE4 that it is worth the time to upgrade now.

Just as a very brief overview, some of the 4.21 for engine features that are relevant to Squad: there have been big improvements to the landscape system, making it cheaper and faster, networking has been overhauled, a lot of bugs have been fixed, a proxy system for statics, better profiling tools, and a whole bunch more. Check out the Unreal site for more information.

Our current status is that we have a buggy version of the upgrade working in Editor now. The next steps for us are to fix these bugs, test, and release. There might be some extra content, bug fixes, and features included, but it will be mainly about getting the engine upgrade in place, so we can start using the tools.

This will be the next major Squad patch released after Alpha 12.1.

The rest of the following is what we are working on right now and going into next year with the aim of getting the game fully featured to leave Early Access.


https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/shadercomplexity.jpg

After Alpha 12, we are switching more developers to working full-time on optimisation all the way to release from Early Access. Not all systems developed for Squad over the years turned out to deliver the expected performance; engineering mistakes have been made and need to be corrected. The same applies to UE4, as bug fixes and performance improvements done on the engine level need to be carried forward into Squad's codebase. We have expanded the team to approach these issues more thoroughly than ever.

The first step is finding and understanding performance issues. This includes writing analysis tools to detect the cause of performance issues.

The second step is addressing these problems, which always requires a custom tailored solution. Sometimes, even at this point, tools need to be written to transition existing game data into new systems. We have already made a start and hope to have some of the first results in the hotfix, but will be aiming to include optimisation improvements in every patch from now until the end of Early Access.

We hope to share some articles on the issues we are finding and fixing, but we intend to focus on the fixing first, then the talking later!

Optimisation is a big task with a lot of crossover into features and bug fixing. Just to be clear, specific aims we are targeting are:

• 100 player servers with good performance
  
• An indepth improvement of the ragdoll system
  
• Better frame rates for players both with low-end and high-end systems
  

We have read a lot of community posts asking us to stop with new features and just optimise the game. We hear you! However, there are a few features we think you might like still...


https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/mi8.jpg

Yep, it is time. Not much to say beyond the obvious here: they're coming to Squad!

Currently, programmers are working on the flight model and we have a temporary flyable vehicle in-game. All of the art and interaction-based features can be worked on in parallel.

The current flight model is far from final, but looks awesome! Expect more updates in Monthly Recaps as development continues.


https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/commanderflowchart.jpg

We want to introduce a basic commander system before we leave Early Access, as it really completes the concept of a true coordinated teamwork-focused military game. With a player on each side driving team-wide strategy and aiding squad leaders with the tools at their disposal, the Commander will be an essential factor in victories.

https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/su25.jpg

We won't be aiming to include every awesome idea we have for the commander role, but it will lay the groundwork for expanding on after we leave Early Access. Features we are aiming to roll out on introduction are:

• Making use of the new Command UI to facilitate giving orders and keeping track of your team.
  
• Airstrikes, artillery barrages, offensive fire support capabilities.
  
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), non-pilotable high altitude observation for the Commander.
  

While the first iteration of components was introduced in Alpha 12 in a limited capacity, damageable turrets, tracks, and wheels will complete the vehicle fidelity we wanted, offering more ways to disable parts of vehicles without outright destroying them. Turrets are in and working with wheels and tracks in progress.


We are trying to find ways to make it easier for groups of friends to easily join the game in a single squad, on the same team. This is quite a complicated task as it involves working with not only with Steam, UE4 and Squad code, but getting them all to play nicely together.

This is something we have wanted to do for a while but always had higher priorities. However, for a social game based around friends and teamwork, being able to play easily with your friends is long overdue. No promises on this one as it is not the easiest feature to implement, but we have very talented people working on it.


There are some big milestones for Squad in the near future, but we've put together a team more than capable of taking it on. In fact, we're already getting excited for what comes after release... There is actually quite a lot of extra content being worked on that we haven't talked about and we'll update the progress of these (Including Fallujah! It's not ready for the spotlight just yet.) In the meantime, have a sneaky vehicle teaser below!

https://media.joinsquad.com/2018/Dec/SquadNextPhase/t62.jpg