Hi, friends.

You asked us to tell about the development tree, about the difference between common and premium units, and how many grinds and level-ups you need to make every day to make your fighters strong, smart and with ruddy cheeks. All of these questions already have answers, because most of the mechanics are implemented. At the same time, the system is still being improved, so your wishes and comments will be welcome. The whole concept of the player's development is difficult to explain in one diary, so today we will talk mainly about the development tree, types and groups of units, commanders - the metagame in general.


At the very beginning, you can play with three starter commanders: an artilleryman, a tankman, an infantryman. Each with a small number of base units that will help you get acquainted with the game and understand which class is best for you. After playing several games with the base commanders and having completed the training, you will already have enough experience to open a couple of new units and several commanders with an explicit specialization. Commanders were created to emphasize the unique gameplay of different kinds of troops, which each have their advantages and disadvantages and their priority goals on the battlefield. For example, a sapper battalion is good at building defenses and strengthening positions, and a heavy tank commander is indispensable in breaking through this defense, while howitzer battalions will erase any fortifications to dust. The trouble is that as long as these guys will break through and erase to dust, sabotage-reconnaissance or motorized battalions will already be in their rear to destroy the artillery. This plan would be torn down of course, If only medium tank battalions were ready at hand to stop them on the approach to the front line... and so on.


link

During the battle, each unit that takes part in it earns a certain amount of devtree experience. As soon as the riflemen recruits get enough, you can open snipers or sappers. It is only possible to open new troops successively. To get stormtroopers your machine gunner vets need to work hard first. Of course, the more effective the unit was in combat, and the more you used it, the more it will earn experience. All as in the proverb - ‘As the days grow longer, the Nebelwerfer comes closer’. In addition to the devtree experience, after the battle, some amount of free experience will be available to you, which can be used to open any conventional unit (the rule of successive opening is preserved). A free experience can be added to open a unit for which there is not enough devtree experience or a unit in a branch that you don’t play often. For example, you are a tankman to the core, but would like to have a pair of infantry squads for reconnaissance and assistance in breaking the front line. In that case, when running along with feeble basic infantry below your own dignity - use free experience. Also, experience will be required to open perks for squads, which we will discuss next time. In a nutshell - it's an opportunity to rearm and customize the units for your playing gaming style.


Part of the development tree, as it is presented above, are not final or even currently in-game, but an example was created to show the available German infantry squads. The development tree is common to all commanders, but this doesn’t mean that you will be able to pick all the tanks using your sapper battalion, hoping to surprise the enemy. The inscription and the number on the bottom of the unit plate are its type and level. They must match the type of slot in which you want to put it and its maximum level so that the commander can use it. The game now features such types of units as: support, artillery, firing point, special firing point, support, basic, special and heavy infantry, independent infantry units, armored cars, light, medium and heavy tanks, SPG and AT-SPG. In addition, the units are divided into: common, premium and collector. The overwhelming majority are common units which you can open with devtree experience. Premium (yellow background), as it happens to be, opens with real money and gives the opportunity to start in a new branch not from the very beginning (as you might have noticed in the tree they have a connection with common units). Prem-units are not super cool, but represent some modified versions of usual ones and introduce variety into the gameplay. In case you are bored with Nashorn and Jagdtiger, you can try new tactics with premium Ferdinand. However, without premium you still have more than fifty units for each faction. Collector’s units are not represented in the tree at all and can not be opened. So we want to put some rare units into the game, which would be very strange to see in every fight and make their presence realistic. Among them are Luchs, Willys with a Maxim machine gun, KV-1 with a ZIS-5 gun and so on. The player will receive a reward for every fight played, in which there may be common or premium units from those not yet open, and rarely collector’s units. It is worth noting that this will not unblock the unit forever, but only grant the possibility of using it in several battles. So far this is the only way to get collector’s units, but as you remember, the system is still changing.


There is one more important point that we would like to dwell on. A couple of months ago we updated the information on the Steam page, but most likely many people did not pay attention to it. This is not unusual, because who will re-read the description of the game? Among other things, we indicated there that we plan to sell the Early access version. We did not abandon the f2p model and after the full release the game will be free. Early Access is aimed towards the community that is tired of only reading about Soldiers: Arena and requires the opportunity to play. In this version of the game, bugs and work-in-progress elements will be unavoidable, its development will continue at full speed. In general, it will not be for everyone. So we want to invite more people from the community to participate in the creation of the game, but to slightly limit the number of those who are not quite aware of what we have been doing all this time. In addition, we would not like to go completely to support and fixing balance and bugs, but have time to add new features, models and other content, which, with our small team and a large number of players, could become an impossible task. So Early access for us is the ability to continue to develop the game in a relatively narrow circle of ‘bro’, stopping by to receive letters from you with threats such as ‘Either you filthy scumbag release the game and let me play with my friends, or I’ll buy a train ticket and a baseball bat. And believe me, I do not aim to practice good passes and home runs.’ Seriously, guys, stop it. For you, Early Access is an opportunity to play before others and in fact to be among those who created the game.

This is all for today. Write your suggestions in the comments, fill all the space under this post with your polite and respectful holy wars and we wish you all the best. And we have a pleasant surprise for connoisseurs of our games and the GEM engine.

Here is the link in case you can't see the image.

Hi, friends.

It's also such cloudy and rainy in our hearts, cause we did not have time to prepare a diary and need to postpone its publication to next Thursday. What would you like to know from it? Which of the veils of secrecy have to be opened? Dilute your resentment with wishes.

Wish you all the best of luck!

Hi, friends.

Today is a jubilee, fiftieth diary. This much all over again - and we can start the Early Access :) When speaking seriously, we look with pleasant surprise at the work done for this time, we think with joy about the perspectives and with thrill about the opportunity to show the game to you. And, of course, we hope that, like us, players will rejoice at victories, feel harshly because of defeats and work hardly on creating the ideal setup for your very best commander. And today, as you already guessed from the title and BA-20 render, we'll talk about the place of armored vehicles in Soldiers: Arena and the commander of a motorized infantry battalion, which may be the best choice for those who feel an apparent lack of mobility when playing infantry.


In comparison with other types of armored vehicles, armored cars had weak armament and inferior protection, but they were much cheaper to manufacture, easier to service, and in speed they were superior to light tanks. Without armored personnel carriers, which were intended primarily for the transport and evacuation of personnel, any offensive operation could be overwhelmed. In Soldiers: Arena emphasis is placed on the cheapness, speed and multifunctionality of armored cars. Further on the text, we will talk about armored cars as a group of units, which in fact includes APCs, some cars, self-propelled units based on armored cars, etc. Almost any commander can use these units, but they will be most useful in supporting the infantry, compensating its main disadvantages: speed and low survival rate. Considering that infantry commanders can’t use tanks in the battle, armored cars can become a very important reinforcement. However, it would be a wrong move to perceive them as a budget-friendly substitute for light tanks, because the range of their use is much broader. And how can you transport a squad of riflemen with your tank in one ride, uh? If you want to have at least some kind of armor while playing with the infantry and the ability to transfer detachments quickly to the other end of the battlefield - the motorized battalion is the right choice.

The main advantages of armored cars in the game are: mobility, low cost and a good line of sight. Using them correctly you can stop infantry rushes, and with a good roll of the dice you may win the fight with the light and some medium enemy tanks, carry out reconnaissance, find weaknesses in the opponents’ defense, and send sabotage squads there to capture the territory and neutralize the firing points. But most importantly, you can support your own and allied infantry in almost any fight. A wide selection of cars will help with that, starting with the self-propelled mortar Sd. Kfz.251/2, and ending with an always reliable Willys with two bazookas. The game focusing on armored cars is a game with a high risk share, given their weak protection, but also a big share of fun. What could be more pleasant than exchanging a expensive enemy unit for a cheap one? Quickly reduce the distance to some sluggish heavy tank, drop an infantry squad from your APC, send a pair of AT-grenades and prove that no one is large enough to frighten your men. Victory is built from such moments, isn’t it? Or capture the building in the rear, breaking through the front line and spoiling the enemy blood for a good half of the game, bringing the enemy out of balance and force him to make mistakes. And if on the way back you can capture and hijack an enemy cannon, we can assume that the day is not for nothing. You turn on your PC for such moments, my friend, don’t you?


Each of the game factions, in addition to similar has its own unique units. This means that the game for the same commander will be seriously different depending on the chosen side of the conflict. Balancing and correctly picking up units is quite difficult, but damn interesting. For example, when introducing the above-mentioned Willys, we are not trying to attach bazookas to GAZ-67 or add flamethrowers to BA-20. Each side has its own advantages, and they will be shown in the game. Self-propelled flamethrower Sd. Kfz. 251/16 is especially useful because the Allies and USSR does not have it, which creates interesting situations on the battlefield and the variability of the gameplay. Speaking about Sd. Kfz.251... Let's look at the German armored cars and some units based on them that are already in the game.



As you can see, here are presented the lightest units such as BMW R12 and Kübelwagen, and the eleven-ton Puma with a 50-mm cannon. Here you can see Italian Autoblinda 41 and seven modifications of the most successful armored car of World War II: Sd. Kfz. 251, among which we can highlight the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Sd. Kfz.251/17 with an anti-aircraft gun Flak 38, and a self-propelled howitzer Sd. Kfz.251/9 with a short-barrel 75-mm gun KwK 37 mounted on it, and an anti-tank version Sd. Kfz.251/22 with a 75 mm Pak 40/1, capable of spoiling the armor of the medium tanks and nerves of tankmen. Most of these units, despite being part of the same group, are used for different tasks. Light and cheap Sd.Kfz.222 and 223 are well suited for reconnaissance, and the flamethrower version of 251st - for the destruction of infantry both in the field and in buildings. Heavy armored cars can withstand light tanks at long ranges and armed with anti-aircraft guns are very good at close ones, where maneuverability and speed plays a decisive role. Mortar and howitzer modifications of the Sd. Kfz.251 are simply created for artillerymen who do not want to wait for the returning fire. We will expand the list of armored cars in the future and now we are thinking about adding a heavy self-propelled MRLS Wurfrahmen 40 based on the same Sd. Kfz.251.



And what armored cars do you personally lack, guys? Feel free to share your thoughts and, quite possibly, will soon see their implementation in Soldiers: Arena. Still wish you the best!

Hi, friends.

Today is a jubilee, fiftieth diary. This much all over again - and we can start the Early Access :) When speaking seriously, we look with pleasant surprise at the work done for this time, we think with joy about the perspectives and with thrill about the opportunity to show the game to you. And, of course, we hope that, like us, players will rejoice at victories, feel harshly because of defeats and work hardly on creating the ideal setup for your very best commander. And today, as you already guessed from the title and BA-20 render, we'll talk about the place of armored vehicles in Soldiers: Arena and the commander of a motorized infantry battalion, which may be the best choice for those who feel an apparent lack of mobility when playing infantry.


In comparison with other types of armored vehicles, armored cars had weak armament and inferior protection, but they were much cheaper to manufacture, easier to service, and in speed they were superior to light tanks. Without armored personnel carriers, which were intended primarily for the transport and evacuation of personnel, any offensive operation could be overwhelmed. In Soldiers: Arena emphasis is placed on the cheapness, speed and multifunctionality of armored cars. Further on the text, we will talk about armored cars as a group of units, which in fact includes APCs, some cars, self-propelled units based on armored cars, etc. Almost any commander can use these units, but they will be most useful in supporting the infantry, compensating its main disadvantages: speed and low survival rate. Considering that infantry commanders can’t use tanks in the battle, armored cars can become a very important reinforcement. However, it would be a wrong move to perceive them as a budget-friendly substitute for light tanks, because the range of their use is much broader. And how can you transport a squad of riflemen with your tank in one ride, uh? If you want to have at least some kind of armor while playing with the infantry and the ability to transfer detachments quickly to the other end of the battlefield - the motorized battalion is the right choice.

The main advantages of armored cars in the game are: mobility, low cost and a good line of sight. Using them correctly you can stop infantry rushes, and with a good roll of the dice you may win the fight with the light and some medium enemy tanks, carry out reconnaissance, find weaknesses in the opponents’ defense, and send sabotage squads there to capture the territory and neutralize the firing points. But most importantly, you can support your own and allied infantry in almost any fight. A wide selection of cars will help with that, starting with the self-propelled mortar Sd. Kfz.251/2, and ending with an always reliable Willys with two bazookas. The game focusing on armored cars is a game with a high risk share, given their weak protection, but also a big share of fun. What could be more pleasant than exchanging a expensive enemy unit for a cheap one? Quickly reduce the distance to some sluggish heavy tank, drop an infantry squad from your APC, send a pair of AT-grenades and prove that no one is large enough to frighten your men. Victory is built from such moments, isn’t it? Or capture the building in the rear, breaking through the front line and spoiling the enemy blood for a good half of the game, bringing the enemy out of balance and force him to make mistakes. And if on the way back you can capture and hijack an enemy cannon, we can assume that the day is not for nothing. You turn on your PC for such moments, my friend, don’t you?


Each of the game factions, in addition to similar has its own unique units. This means that the game for the same commander will be seriously different depending on the chosen side of the conflict. Balancing and correctly picking up units is quite difficult, but damn interesting. For example, when introducing the above-mentioned Willys, we are not trying to attach bazookas to GAZ-67 or add flamethrowers to BA-20. Each side has its own advantages, and they will be shown in the game. Self-propelled flamethrower Sd. Kfz. 251/16 is especially useful because the Allies and USSR does not have it, which creates interesting situations on the battlefield and the variability of the gameplay. Speaking about Sd. Kfz.251... Let's look at the German armored cars and some units based on them that are already in the game.



As you can see, here are presented the lightest units such as BMW R12 and Kübelwagen, and the eleven-ton Puma with a 50-mm cannon. Here you can see Italian Autoblinda 41 and seven modifications of the most successful armored car of World War II: Sd. Kfz. 251, among which we can highlight the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Sd. Kfz.251/17 with an anti-aircraft gun Flak 38, and a self-propelled howitzer Sd. Kfz.251/9 with a short-barrel 75-mm gun KwK 37 mounted on it, and an anti-tank version Sd. Kfz.251/22 with a 75 mm Pak 40/1, capable of spoiling the armor of the medium tanks and nerves of tankmen. Most of these units, despite being part of the same group, are used for different tasks. Light and cheap Sd.Kfz.222 and 223 are well suited for reconnaissance, and the flamethrower version of 251st - for the destruction of infantry both in the field and in buildings. Heavy armored cars can withstand light tanks at long ranges and armed with anti-aircraft guns are very good at close ones, where maneuverability and speed plays a decisive role. Mortar and howitzer modifications of the Sd. Kfz.251 are simply created for artillerymen who do not want to wait for the returning fire. We will expand the list of armored cars in the future and now we are thinking about adding a heavy self-propelled MRLS Wurfrahmen 40 based on the same Sd. Kfz.251.



And what armored cars do you personally lack, guys? Feel free to share your thoughts and, quite possibly, will soon see their implementation in Soldiers: Arena. Still wish you the best!

Hi, friends.

The last time we posted feedback diary almost two months ago. During these two months, we have changed a lot in game balance, defeated lots of bugs and introduced several worth saying features that aren’t big enough to write a full diary about. Now Soldiers: Arena is already in the phase when the main functionality is almost ready and some time has been freed up for non-critical, but still important, changes which we want to implement before the start of of Early Access.

We did the context menu of actions for the selected unit and began to configure it. By holding the LMB on a target or surface, you will bring up a menu that shows possible actions for this target / surface. We continue to supplement statistics and information with the outcome of the battle. Now you can see how much damage in the session caused each type of your units, how many opponents he killed, how much experience he got etc. In near future we want to add the win rate for each unit. Added a menu of quick chat phrases, without reference to the point on the map and markers. Pressing Y, you can wish 'Good luck' before the fight, scream 'Help' into the emptiness of you teammate’s hearts, give the ‘Attack’ order which your allies most likely will ignore :) We also changed the loading screen and started creating hints for it. It will show you a screenshot and information about the specifics of use and technical characteristics of units, tactical decisions, features of the game mode, etc. This is how the working version of the new loading screen looks like.



Changed the logic of behavior and movement of the new infantry squads. Now they are moving in the given direction until someone starts to shoot them. Having encountered resistance, they will lie down or crawl into the hideout if there any in close proximity. A few seconds after the cessation of the shelling, the squad will stand up and continue moving. Independent infantry squads began to take into account the forces of the ally and the enemy on the territory closest to them. Having received the order to attack the fortified positions without adequate support, this squad will lay down and will hold the position. In order for them to begin the offensive, you can either eliminate the threat, or bring more forces to the attack zone, or send them to kill themselves in an irretreivably stupid (or brave) attack by using the ‘Charge’ order. Also we have added ‘Entrench’ order, after receiving which, the detachment will begin to dig trenches and dig into the ground.

We also:

• Created a new commander with an emphasis on anti-aircraft guns, which is especially good now in countering light tanks and armored vehicles.
  
• Gave the ability to land at any point of the map some paratroopers, including in enemy territory.
  
• Had been working the damage of shells, the chances of one shot kill using the armor-piercing projectiles, the principles of high-explosive and fragmentation action. Now the damage from the high-explosive action on the infantry is considered separately. Damage from high caliber shell also ignores the protection from shelters, trenches, buildings in the epicenter and close range of the explosion.
  
• Added dependence on the position of the fighter when calculating the shell damage. The clever and attentive infantryman had time to lie down and survived the shelling. And his inattentive standing comrade - no.
  
• Removed annoying braking for vehicles overriding the small stumps and fences when using direct control.
  
• Set up the rotation angles and path search for some units so they did not have to deploy the field headquarters and gather a military council to solve the problem of 'bypassing the stone'.
  
• Added new models, including Panzerjäger I from the cover and a five-tower infantry annihilator T35.

As always we fought with bugs. Minesweepers, for example, exploded on mines. The shells, not wanting to restrain themselves with frames, fell outside the circle of dispersion, saying decisive ‘No’ to conformism. Improvements almost always give birth to bugs. For example, after some works on optimization of tanks movement and target selection, the AI ​​became so clever that, having mastered the essential works of humanist writers, refused to fire on most targets, and often did not even turn the barrel toward the enemy, so as not to inflict either physical or even moral trauma. And the blast wave from the explosive action of the projectile, rounded the component of the armor closest to the epicenter of the explosion and inflicted damage through the hatch cover or some other weak point.

Although we have not written about this for a long time, but we are constantly working on replacing effects and animations. The gif below shows special effects from the explosion of the Sturmtiger projectile. New models of vehicles and cannons received animations of interaction with them: climbing to the armor of the tank, animations for additional units in the increased artillery crew. Added animations for infantry, lying down after running with different types of weapons, installation of AT-hedgehogs, barbed wire, barriers from bags, repair techniques, some idle and death animations. Added textures of burning iterations for trees, shrubs, vineyards and much more. Wish you the best as usual!

Hi, friends.

Today, we'll talk about working process on a new map that has already been mentioned here. Its working name is Polesie, so you can easily guess which region is taken as a basis for it. We wanted to create another village map, which could be used in the future for cooperative missions about the first months of combat operations in Ukraine during WW2. But stopping at a particular village would mean - putting yourself in a tight frame. First of all, this is a map for a team multiplayer game, which means that it should give the same opportunities for both sides. In life, this happens rarely.



An additional argument in favour of the village map was that some of the resources and models were already completed, so we would not have to make it from scratch. At this stage, this argument can not be ignored, because there are still a decent number of models that are waiting for a replacement in the game. Now we sometimes use old maps like Depo or Bazerville during the tests to slightly change the process and simplify the bugs search, but we can’t fully use them in Soldiers: Arena. Lots of work need to be done before that. Perhaps even more than with creating new ones. The map should not only be atmospheric and beautiful, but still meet the standards that dictate the new gameplay. We have different commanders in the game, so there must be zones on the map for the use of each unit: open areas for tank battles, areas with dense buildings for infantry fighting, bottlenecks for mining and using engineers, etc. Fighting for territory requires the presence of places of increased interest, where you can get a serious advantage if you gain a foothold. In addition, the height map should be easily readable so as not to cause irritation when player’s shell hits an inconspicuous elevation. And everything should be equally balanced for both sides of the conflict. Once we decided the region, we began to discuss its plan. This is how the rough draft version of the map looks. It will be corrected and refined in the process of work, that’s for sure.



A large village in the center of the map, as the subject of the main dispute. Surrounded by fields and wide forest belts, where tanks and artillery can move freely. On the right side you can see the mill and miller's house (with the possibility of strengthening it), which are located on a raised platform. This is the main point of interest on this flank. Infantry can climb to the hill without problems, but the vehicles can only do so through narrow entrances, so that the player who is fortified on this island gets a good advantage in the defense. At the top and bottom of the map you can see abandoned farmsteads (forts on the map), which, like the mill, are on a small hill and have a clearly marked entrance. These locations are particularly interesting for artillery, since the entrances to them can easily be blocked by anti-tank hedgehogs or mined. However, this is not a secret for your enemy so he can shoot you with howitzers, send saboteurs, or simply surround. And there is not much place for maneuver, so artillery will start to unmask faster and faster because of the noise mechanics. The left part of the map is a swamped forest, in which tanks and infantry move slower, and the battle will go over the parts of solid ground. Only on them the player can dig trenches, install mines and barrages, so you always have to choose: advance slowly with the risk of getting into an ambush, or with the usual speed and explode on the minefield. On the left flank of the map we want to realize interesting opportunities for infantry gameplay.

Once we have decided the region and the initial layout of the map, it is time to look for references to convey the atmosphere of the area and show it believable. After all, buildings and entourage are seriously different from region to region. Someone even had to sacrifice a piece of vacation to visit the outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, look at the huts with his own eyes and collect more information. Here are a couple of examples of implementing these references in the game.









So that’s all for now. Maybe you have favorite maps from past games that you would like to see in Soldiers: Arena? Also, feel free to write your wishes about zoning of Polesie, while work on it is still under way. And as usual we wish you the best!

Have a great weekend, guys!

Hi, friends.
We noticed that much more often we write about changes in artillery and tank gameplay, but much less often about infantry. Which is quite strange, because in battle it’s the infantry who suffers most but still does most acts of bravery. So in our games, it has always kept an honorable place, and Soldiers: Arena is no exception.


We also often write that we want to reflect in the game the real behavior and cooperations of the armies in real combat. Maybe even too often. But what to do, if it is an idee fixe for our team? If someone could look at falling asleep game designers, he would see how their lips moved, repeating: troops behavior, teamplay, competitiveness, skill-oriented, variability. And all of the above we are trying to reflect in the infantry gameplay.

That’s how, for example, the Infantry tactical manual of the Red Army (1942 edition) describes the main tasks of the infantry:
- in offensive combat, - skillfully combining fire and movement, approach the enemy, attack it, destroy it in hand-to-hand combat or capture, and secure the captured territory;
- in a defensive combat - by powerful and accurate fire and resolute counterattacks to repel attacks by enemy infantry and tanks, inflict heavy losses on him and retain the defended terrain.



In the game, the infantry commander performs all the above tasks and some others, considering that in his submission there are still sabotage, reconnaissance, engineering detachments, etc. The infantry have a lot to do, because it is applicable to ANY task in the game. The main thing is to choose the right squad for the right task. The statement ‘the land is not considered liberated or conquered until the infantryman set his foot there’, in Soldiers: Arena is literally reflected. Infantry is the best for occupying territories, but as for the fortifications, buildings, trenches and previously freed from enemies, cannons and vehicles - it is exclusively infantry that can do that. However, it would be strange to control a cannon sitting in a tank ... In defense, the task of the infantry is to strengthen and entrench, to stop the enemy's attack, and in the worst case to hold out until the relief comes from allied artillery and tank units.

Infantry commanders are the most demanding of microcontrol and the gaming skill due to the greater number of units and their reduced survivability. We, of course, are working to improve AI and try to make the infantry smart, saving the player from unnecessary clicks as much as possible, but it won’t be able to win by itself. Infantry is always the first to take a blow, it is not protected by armor and is often in sight of the enemy. Its survival depends on you. Most likely the gap between a novice and an seasoned player will be most noticeable among the infantry commanders. Only your reaction, microcontrol skills and ability to read the game will determine whether your units will turn into ‘meat’ enemy troops, or become ‘meat’ themselves. Probably, it will be little bit of this and that.




Now we have the basic, stormtrooper, motorized infantry, engineering and sabotage-reconnaissance infantry battalions in the game and each of them can force the enemy to ‘slow down’. At their disposal are four types of infantry: the base one (riflemen and submachine gunners), the support (miners, medics, engineers), special (spotters, scouts, saboteurs) and heavy (flamethrowers, grenade thrower, stormtroopers). Of course, in addition to infantry, commanders have a number of slots for support cannons and armored vehicles. Each of the commanders is strong in its own way and has different priorities in the battle. But also some restrictions on the types and the number of units in submission. Choosing a commander, you actually choose what type of infantry he will have more of, and which of the ‘elite’ units he can use.

For example, a basic commander is needed in order to give you a feel for the infantry gameplay before choosing a specialization. He does not have some actual accents in the development, but a little of everything. The engineering battalion has a defensive specialization, so he has the most slots for support infantry. He can create a deeply echeloned defense faster than others, and in the future will receive mechanized engineering units capable of evacuating damaged and unmanned vehicles in the rear. But with a clear advantage in defense, such a commander will be very inferior in attacking, especially in comparison to the stormtrooper and motorized infantry battalions. In turn, the motorized infantry commander has very few special units, less base infantry and absolutely no support cannons, but he compensates these shortcomings with his mobility and the availability of specialized armored cars that are inaccessible to other battalions. A fire-flame armored vehicle is worth a lot! The reconnaissance-sabotage battalion spends most of the time behind the enemy lines, therefore, it hardly has heavy infantry. But it has elite snipers, scouts and saboteurs, which are kept stealthy until the unit penetrates half of the line of sight distance. And, most importantly, the opportunity to drop the paratroopers to any point on the map and create a zone of increased unrest there.




Despite the fact that the main purpose of infantry is to fight for territory, there are lots of tactics and ways to achieve this purpose. To be effective in combat, you need to consider which commanders are playing against you, which ones in your team; which front line breakthrough you need to react and which one to ignore; where the enemy attacks, and where it tests you for strength. You can, while playing for a basic or engineering commander, try to ensure the presence of your team at the maximum length of the front line and control every building and dig out every possible trench, react to each appearance of the light enemy vehicles and saboteurs, stopping them and defending allied artillery. Or you can organize small detachments along the front lines, lead enemy light tanks into ambushes and do everything to exhaust the opponent. You can play through fast rushes with motorized infantry or assault battalions. Break through the sectors of the front that are least defended, trying to move as far as possible to pull the enemy's forces into this area and later retreat when further efforts will lead to unbearable losses. Or you can fill the armored car with submachine gunners and AT-gunners, to go as deep as possible into the enemy territory, to occupy the buildings there and hold ground until the last fighter, showing the position of enemy cannons, distracting the foe from the place of the main attack and keeping the opponent in constant tension. And how many more tactics will you have to invent, my friend, to emphasize your unique style?

By the way, how do you feel about commander portraits? Did you notice the utter sad sight shining through the artilleryman? This is a strange coincidence, because the artist was not aware of suffering memes. If this post gets at least modest 150 likes - it will be a sign that you are interested in seeing portraits of a sapper, a sniper and a medic. And we will post them without delay. As usual, we wish you the best!

Hello, friends.

When you compare the state of the game mechanics in their first mention in the Diaries with how they currently are, you realize how much time and effort has been invested in the game and how far Soldiers: Arena has advanced. Just remember the trenches. We could write a medium-sized epos about how they were created and how many times they have changed. But we are not tired and we are not going to stop. And today we will tell you about a new type of infantry squad, on which we recently started to work. It’s Difficult and promising. Just as we love it.


As it was written earlier, in Soldiers: Arena we want to strengthen the role-playing component and make the gameplay unique for each army type. But whoever you play, you can not forget about the infantry. Tanks need intelligence, and artillery constantly needs defense from saboteurs and everybody needs someone to capture and hold their rightful territory. Your team is unlikely to go into battle without an infantry commander, but the allies help those who help themselves. Friends may not have time to help, may not have have free troops or they might simply be engaged in something they deem more important than protecting your positions. If you don’t want to be helpless in a game, it's worthwhile to take not only big guns, but also a couple of infantry squads to cover positions, conduct reconnaissance or assault relatively safe sectors of the front.

Tank and artillery gameplay is very different from the infantry one and have different focuses of attention, goals, requirements for micro-control and the game tempo. The player constantly has to switch focus of interest, which makes the gameplay uneven and complicates the immersion and playing the role. In addition, in Soldiers: Arena the skirmishes go all along the entire front line and often the player needs to be present simultaneously in several places, placing his infantry to protect one sector of the front and attacking in the other, while still using direct control sometimes. So we developed the independent infantry units that can partially relieve you of the hectic affairs and allow you to settle your sight on your centre of interest. The squad leader will command the soldiers and direct their attack, leading the bitter fighting that will relieve the player of constant attention gaps in the front.




Independent platoons, companies are used to perform special tasks and do not directly obey the command of the military unit in which they operate. So in the game you can take them to the "deck", spawn in battle, and give the basic order. How to complete the orders is better for the squad leader to consider. Such detachments are more numerous and cheaper than the usual ones, but they have some limitations. You will not be able to select a specific target for them to attack, only a general direction. Such a squad can not be divided or controlled with DC. They carry out only basic orders. Now they are ‘Attack’, ‘Retreat’ and ‘Charge’. For example, receiving the order ‘Attack’, the squad will advance in the given direction until it meets serious resistance of the enemy and begins to incur losses. In this case, the advance will stop, and may turn into a retreat if the losses are too big. If you give the Charge order, then it will advance in spite of the losses, until it completes the task, or falls entirely. In the future, we plan to add orders like Capture the territory / building / trench and Strengthen, according to which the infantry will begin to dig trenches and prepare for the defense. Independent infantry units consist of the same units as the regular ones (recruits, regular army soldiers and vets) and will be both homogeneous (submachine gunners, riflemen) and combined. The inability to fully control them can be both their strength and weakness, depending on your micro-control skills. If you do not have time to be on all sectors of the front at the same time, call such a squad and switch your attention to something else. Yes, most likely they will not capture the Reichstag by themselves, but it will try from all its artificially intelligent capabilities!




For the first time we tried this mechanics on the orders of sappers and engineers. The player only gives them an order to place mines or dig trenches (put hedgehogs, barricades from bags and so on) and indicate the place, after which the squad spawns, executes the order and fall back all by itself. In the case of independent infantry units, we had to refine the logic of their behavior and prescribe a lot of dependencies on the situation on the battlefield, but we are sure that it's worth it. After all, now you can balance your battalion based on your own capabilities, wishes and chosen tactics even more precisely. And there are enough options for using them in combat. For example, you can give an order to attack and switch to direct control with your tank. Did you see your squad stopped moving? Help them kill the enemy and move on. Do you like to crush with quantity? Send a few independent infantry units forward and, hiding high-level infantry among them, you will get a chance for the direct assault even on well-fortified positions. Do you want to concentrate on the game with artillery, but you are afraid of saboteurs? Summon a pair of such squads and give orders to strengthen your positions. Of course, it is not necessary to use independent infantry units, and if you have enough time for everything and can skip on them - that’s great. However, you still can’t fill all slots with such units, because the number of them will be limited. There is no chance to sin in Soldiers: Arena while watching it with popcorn.

This is all for today. We are grateful for your activity in the comments and we hope that this will continue. What do you think about the new infantry squads? Do you have any questions? We are ready to respond.

Hi, friends.
This is one of those diaries in which we report on the work done over the last couple of months. What kind of balance changes were made, what was added newly and how we are working on the game, which is worth waiting for. Read below about all these and some more.


Community required the option to hide healthbars and we are ready to provide it. Now in the game settings you can remove them over your, allied and enemy vehicles, permanently or until selection or aiming. And highlights, markers and almost all the elements of the interface also. So it's more difficult to understand what is happening, but we know that a truly hardcore player with a gentle soul might be scared of healthbars much more than the 1st of September :)



Worked with the trenches, so you could bent them and choose the distance between the shooting cells while building. We taught the infantry to use and treat them as a friend, because at first, units build their way avoiding trenches, preferring to die with proud head and clean boots. After visiting the lecture "Trench - my winding way into a happy tomorrow", the infantry learned to shoot, move, throw grenades, fight hand to hand, but not leave the shelter without unnecessary need. In case when enemy infiltrate the trench, the infantryman knows what to do without player’s orders. If enemy armored vehicles are approaching the trenches, a unit with a AT-rifle will stand for shooting. Same unit that didn’t stick out when his comrades fought with the infantry. Unfortunately, you can’t hide in the foxhole from all the sorrows of the world. The trenches can now be destroyed by drifting on them with your armored monsters, or in the old manner, - sending a land mine. We made a separate seismic wave so that we could set up the damage to the trenches for each projectile. Yeah, yeah, we made this for you!




We continue to work on the "Front Line" gamemode to make the fight more interesting, added several factors that affect the victory. Twice during the session there is an order for each team to attack on a certain section of the front line. For the breakthrough and seizure of this territory, the attacking party receives additional points, thereby bringing his victory nearer. Now the victory is also affected by killing enemy units. Even if you have little infantry and have nothing to capture the territory, you can stop the breakthroughs, blow up tanks, put mines. Sometimes it’s more useful to stop the enemy than to mindlessly attack. And we did some more…

• Set up machine guns, increasing their rate of fire to real indicators, but slightly reducing the damage and suppressing effect to keep their effectiveness at the same level and the infantry did not feel helpless.
  
• Changed the rules of armor piercing, so that shells with a caliber much larger than the thickness of the armor have more chances to pierce and less to ricochet.
  
• Set up the shell normalization, so now armor piercing projectile change it’s trajectory for 4.5 degrees.
  
• Did nonlinear aiming. At close ranges, cannon aiming is at the maximum value after the first shot. At longer ranges, the number of shots to aim and the minimum radius reduction both grow.
  
• We set up the noise mechanics, which we talked about earlier for snipers, and the aiming with time for riflemen, so that at long distances they have a clear advantage against the submachine gunners.
  
• We created a test polygon in which you can shoot from everything, and a marker that allows you to see the armor rate under the cursor. That helped a lot with finding bugs in models.
  
• Added new commanders with their unique style gameplay: light mechanized brigade and reconnaissance-sabotage battalion.
  
• Entered into the game new units, such as T-28 from the cover image, lend-lease Valentine to the USSR tree, elite snipers for each of the factions with self-loading rifles and camouflage, and others.

As always, fixed bugs, one of which we want to share with you, because it’s ... pretty creepy. We started work on creating bots for coop gamemodes. And we wanted the bot to win not by cheating, but by unpredictability, so that they went through many revisions and iterations, refinements, improvements, and sometimes worsening, disputes, anger and cats hecatombs, until one day the chosen ones rose up, that didn’t want to die. Well, you know that what is dead, may never die. We tested a new adaptive spawn system that adjusts to the situation on the battlefield and calls the units based on what is missing. At the time of the explosion of the gun, the crew sometimes flies up from the blast wave and the health of the infantrymen goes into minus, but they are dead only when they fall to the ground. As you may have guessed, the bot spawned these lucky ones with minus health, so that they took their places by the cannon. Hell, even death did not relieve the artillerymen from suffering! Over time, it turned out one more detail, complementing the picture of the zombie apocalypse - they could be killed only by snap-shooting on the head or by fire, as these actions cause the script to "die" regardless of the amount of current health. So even if you actually were not going to make a game about zombies, you still have no choice!

This is all for today. Maybe a couple of questions more. Do you need other tasks like attack orders in the session? If so, which ones? Wish you the best!