After seeing a great update on the User Interface today, Tannenberg marches towards release from Early Access - and coming reinforcements for the Central Powers make their first appearance in the announcement trailer!
https://youtu.be/iyUjCk03a0Q
Bulgaria will officially join the game at release! There will be more updates to the game as we get closer to release of course, as well as more sneak peaks and …we have a special launch event planned!

Mark your calendar for February 13th and prepare yourself for a very special Winter Offensive!



The new UI has arrived - download the update now and try it out!
Everything both in the menus and in battle has been revamped - these screenshots and video will give you a taste. It creates a far better feeling of WW1 atmosphere than the old UI, as well as bringing several improvements! For instance, we have adjusted and streamlined the spawning interface based on your feedback.

New map and spawning UI!

The UI overhaul comes with new audio feedback - those all important clicks and thunks as you navigate around have been refined too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfnOYoBHcK4
We have also adjusted how player names work - your name will now be your Steam name, and you can add clan tags via the options screen.


Here you can see the clan tags used to identify Mike as a dev.

Another take was made on the order interface as well, check it out:

The new UI is here not only to increase the feeling of immersion, we also want to make sure the game is more intuitive for players to play. It was a lot of work and although this is a good first pass, we’re not done yet. For the squad and weapon selection for example we still want to improve the newbie experience.

New squad selection interface!

We already have some ideas ourselves, but we would love to hear your feedback as well – on all of it! Tannenberg is in Early Access until February 13th, which means that in these last months you can expect lots of changes - also in the gameplay - in order to capture the true Eastern Front warfare experience. Your opinion matters, so please share it in the hub or our Discord! You can report bugs on our support website.

Join the war on the Eastern front and let's get in shape for a surprising winter offensive on February 13th…

Cheers!

Both Tannenberg and Verdun enjoy an update today, including loads of fixes, improvements and sound tweaks… but also a brand new prestige system! On top of that, Tannenberg also sees exciting changes to maps, call-ins, and spawn flow!

The highlight in this update is the next step on our roadmap: the new prestige system! When our veteran players reach level 100, they can now choose to increase their prestige rank. This earns a new icon emphasizing their veteran status. Then, while keeping all accumulated XP, their player level is set back to one, along with resetting their unlocks and squad roles specialization. They can then level up to 100 again… and there is more than one prestige rank to unlock for the truly dedicated!


We had a close look at the issue of lone-wolfing and a feeling of emptiness in the maps. Looking at the map size, most Tannenberg maps had an average width of around 350 meters. In Verdun the biggest map called Flanders has a width of around 220 meters, and playing this with 32 players can feel rather empty. When playing this map with 64 players however there is a lot more action going on and less lone-wolfing. This is why we came to the conclusion that Tannenberg maps are simply too big and required an overhaul in size to bring more action to the game. All maps have now been adjusted to be around a width of 200 meters. This change also streamlines the maps so it is more obvious to the users which direction they should go in order to be part of the battle.


Roumania


East Prussia

The old call-in system had a few issues such as phone camping, artillery spam, and overpowered artillery when owning two artillery sectors. We have revised the system of call-ins with the following changes:

• Only NCOs can use telephones. This replaces their mortar strike ability.
  
• Telephones are now available in all sectors.
  
• The Artillery and Recon are now Regular sectors, since every sector has a telephone. We are still looking on how to differentiate sectors again in the future.
  
• Strength of the explosive call-in has been reduced to what used to be the ability call-in.
  
• Enemy HQ sector can no longer be targeted by telephones.

Feedback on these changes is welcome - feel free to share your thoughts in our Steam hub!

The previously introduced spawn flow wasn’t yet achieving what we intended. Therefore in this update we’ve addressed some of the annoyances with the current spawn flow:

• You can now spawn alongside all squadmates.
  
• You can now spawn in all sectors.
  
• A spawn is picked by default.
  
• A fallback is added when a spawn becomes invalid.
  
• Allow spawning in friendly sectors that are being capture (if the spawn is safe).
  
• When all clusters in a sector are unsafe: then allow the edges of a next friendly sector as spawn so that there is always 1 frontline spawn.
  
• When the HQ is being captured, always allow "safest" spawn (even when all are unsafe).
  
• Visualization of spawns that are not/no longer possible because they are unsafe (they were completely invisible).
  
• Double Clicking on spawn should spawn you in.

The spawn flow is still in a WIP state and this is mostly caused by the fact that the spawn flow does not really communicate its status graphically to the users. This is something we will fully address in the new UI. Feedback on the new spawn flow is appreciated, and our Steam hub is the place to do it!

We’re running another small survey, this time on your playing habits around Verdun and Tannenberg. Once again it’s a 5 minute questionnaire, and by taking part you’ll be entered into a giveaway with a chance to win a key for Verdun or Tannenberg. Take part in the survey!

Of note are several improvements to bot behaviour, a rework of the telephone system, and better selection of multiplayer game hosts. Some other key changes in this update are:

• Determining the match host will now also take ping variance into account.
  
• The game will switch to a better host quicker.
  
• Optimized rendering of first person view.
  
• Standing in a fire isn't healthy anymore, affected maps: Prussia, Poland, Carpathians, Roumania.
  
• A range of sound changes.
  
• Fixed weapon 'Time Used' not getting recorded.
  
• Fixed outside sector material for Rifle Deathmatch and Attrition.
  
• A range of improvements to bot behaviour.
  
• Fixed rare issue where HMG would become unusable while no one was using it.
  
• HMGs are now available in all sectors.
  
• ...and more!

Check out the full changelog on our Steam hub. As always, if you encounter bugs or other issues with the new version, please submit them to our support website!

In other news, the UI update is coming along well, and we hope to have some more teasers to share with you soon, and to get some feedback as well!

The three new guns we showed off in last week’s Frontline News are now in-game for you to play with!

The Austro-Hungarian Frommer Stop and Roth-Steyr M1907 are available for the K.u.K Trupp squad, while the Russian S&W No.3 is available for both Russian squads.




With a long bolt and integral magazine loaded from the top with 10 round stripper clips, the Roth-Steyr stands out on the battlefield. Despite the name, Steyr didn't contribute much to the produced design, instead primarily providing production facilities that Roth didn't have.




Firing a .44 cartridge, the Russian S&W No.3 revolver offers greater firepower and a faster reload (as you can see below), but the downside is that you need to manually work the hammer each time you want to fire.



The Frommer Stop is a Hungarian pistol, unusual in using a long-recoil operation more commonly found in shotguns. It also saw limited use by the Ottoman Empire.



While already live in Tannenberg for a bit we wanted to show what progress has been made on this front. Our audio engineering team at Game Audio Squad has been working in parallel to redesign the audio from scratch. Since April this year the community was brought and has been polished since.

For the weapon audio they were working from recordings supplied by our friends over at C&Rsenal (Thank you Othais & Mae), who fired and reloaded most of the available weapons, which have found their way ingame. Check out a large selection of fired weapons here

There are many features in the new system, some are tied heavily to the gameplay such as:

• A dynamic weapon fire system now handles distant gunfire and gives a spacious and roomy feel to gun battles when you advance up a line
  
• A dynamic breathing system based on the fatigue / stamina of the soldier
  
• Gas mask now affects the breathing of a player when sprinting
  
• Vegetation now makes a noise when running through it
  
• A sonic ballistic system now determines the whizz and cracks of bullets as they pass by, sub or supersonic
  
• A suppression system will muffle audio out based on incoming fire
  
• The tinnitus effect will occur if the ears are subjected to enough pressure
  
• Impacts on different surfaces are now accurate for melee, bullets, grenades and bodies
  
• Footsteps were reworked and now allow you to hear better on which terrain surface players are walking, from the mud into the grass
  
• The off-map artillery now creates a sense that a battery of fire is opening up on the players
  
• Combat ambient is now dynamic, with higher and lower intensity gun battles in nearby sectors
  
• Nature ambient is based on the weather of the map (crickets at night for instance)
  
• Explosions were reworked, they now sound more powerful and bassy to give you a kick in the stomach
  
• Grenades now have accurate bouncing sounds
  
  
  Many thanks to everyone who has given feedback on our forums and the support website, it's been very helpful. Curious how it now sounds? Here is an overview video to give you an impression of the new sound effects:
  
  https://youtu.be/VyIZ2TCCwAQ
  
  
  You can read the full changelog here.
  
  Let us know what you think of these new firearms!

Our work on the new user interface continues apace, but to tide you over until then we have several new guns for you to play with, to be released soon!

Following up from the recent networking update, we're going to be adding more firepower to the game with the Frommer Stop, Roth-Steyr M1907, and the Russian S&W No.3!


The Roth-Steyr M1907 was the first self-loading (semi-automatic) pistol adopted by a major army.


The Frommer Stop is unusual in using a long-recoil operation more commonly found in shotguns.


The Russian S&W No. 3 was designed by Smith & Wesson under contract to the Imperial government, but then reverse-engineered by Russian gunsmiths and produced in European arsenals for a substantially lower price.

Three different styles of reloading!

We recently pushed live our improved networking code, which should mean smoother movement for players suffering from bad ping or packet loss. Player positions are more accurate, and some networking lag has been removed. The exact effect will vary depending on your connection, location, and which servers you typically play on. Please let us know if you notice changes!


A laggy player seen through the old networking code.


The same level of lag under the new networking code.

There are more fixes and improvements as well - read the full changelog, or get some highlights below:

• Fixed a bug which could cause third person models to be at a different height to the first person view, particularly when prone (this stops other players appearing to be ‘buried’ in the ground).
  
• Trade kill checks now take into account how far a bullet has travelled, which should improve trade kill accuracy for long range shots.
  
• Improvements made to melee stabbing, with better locking on, better handling for stabs from above, and a slight speed boost during stabs.

After receiving feedback from both the in-game community and some dedicated reenactors from Romania (thank you Alex!) we adjusted the colours of the Roumanian uniforms. Firstly to match better with references (M.1912 green-grey pigment), and also to address several other points of feedback such as piping and helmet colours.

Green-Grey is quite distinctive from Pike-Grey.

In addition, and this was a big point of feedback from the community, it is now easier to distinguish Roumanians from the Austro-Hungarian early war uniforms:

With the variety of lighting conditions in tannenberg, uniform colours appear different. Wernd vs Bogdan, 1916.

If you spot issues in the game or have suggestions on gameplay or balance, you can post on our support website - vote up the topic if someone else has already made a post, or create one yourself!
If you want to see what’s coming next for Tannenberg, we have a WIP roadmap at on Favro - it also includes the Verdun roadmap.

Finally, thanks to everyone who joined us this weekend for one of the two 128 player Tannenberg battles! It was great fun - we’ll certainly look into planning a few more events like this. We’ll see you on the (smoother) battlefield!
YouTuber HylianVoice made a video of Sunday's event: https://youtu.be/TZXQuAECk8Q

We’ve been making good progress on the networking update, which should make the game smoother and reduce the amount of stuttering characters, especially for those with weak internet connections. Our data currently suggests that player positions are now twice as accurate compared to the old networking, which should reduce the chance of being shot while behind cover and ping advantages.


A laggy player seen through the old networking code.


The same level of lag under the new networking code.

There are also a range of other bug fixes on our open testing build, which you can help out by testing right now - of particular note:

• Syncing of players made instantaneous - this prevents heavy lag at the start of matches and lag spikes when new players join.
  
• Fixed a bug which could cause third person models to be at a different height to the first person view, particularly when prone.
  
• Trade kill checks now take into account how far a bullet has travelled, which should improve trade kill accuracy for long range shots.
  
• Improvements made to melee stabbing, with better locking on, better handling for stabs from above, and a slight speed boost during stabs.

Read the full open testing changelog - with links to the support forum cases where applicable.
Note that you may encounter minor issues on the open testing build, and reporting them on the support forum will help get everything fixed for when the update goes live!

Activate open testing by following the simple instructions below and don’t worry, it’s easy to switch back to the regular game afterwards.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=572388553
There are two historically themed 128 player events happening this weekend! Join us around 7pm CEST on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 for the Kerensky Offensive, 1917 and the Battle of Lemberg, 1914. Players will be limited to particular squads and uniforms, but there will be no weapon restrictions. All you have to do to join is hop on the maneuver game we’ll convert specially for the occasion - no password or anything required! Read more here.

We’ve been working hard over the last few weeks to focus on bug fixing, and today’s update with 60+ fixes is the result of that! Many of these will be familiar to those of you trying out our open testing branch.



There are too many fixes to list in full here, but these are a few of the most significant:

• Fixed bug where you would spawn with a gray screen
  
• Fixed case where you could get stuck in ADS
  
• Fix two achievements that were never achievable: "Before the Leaves Fall" and "Strength in Numbers"
  
• Fixed bug where ammo crates in HQ of your own side were hidden untill you switched side
  
• Spawn time penalty for when the teams are unbalanced is now correctly displayed in Maneuver mode
  
• Fixed a specific syncing issue where calling in an ability was not allowed
  
• Fixed a case of third person machine gun animations not playing correctly which resulted in weapons being held wrong
  
• Allowed more trade-kill time for melee hits which should make close combat more reliable.

Read the full changelog for Tannenberg.


Smoothed out first person weapon movement


Tweaked distance shadows and overlap with realtime


Tweaked gasmask goggle FX and how light falls into the mask


This wouldn’t have been possible without the reports made to our UserEcho site where we’ve been managing feedback. Many of the fixes seen on the full changelog link back to UserEcho cases, so you can see how helpful the reports are! We are aware there are still some unanswered bugs and feedback but we are working on this and we will catch up soon.

Thanks everyone!

A small Frontline News, but a big testing update today! Our current open testing branch already contained a substantial number of fixes and improvements, but we’ve just added another large batch. The open testing branch is open for all players to try out.

Here’s some highlights from among the 79 changes and fixes currently on open testing:

• Fix two achievements that were not achievable: "Before the Leaves Fall" and "Strength in Numbers".
  
• Allowed more trade-kill time for melee hits which should make close combat more reliable.
  
• Fixed various first person weapon animation bugs/stutters.
  
• Fixed ghost colliders appearing in standalone builds blocking areas that ought to be walkable.
  
• Fixed being able to access the roof of a house on Poland, and a sometimes deadly pole roof in Prussia.

You can find the full changelog on the discussion boards, including links to cases on our our UserEcho support forum where appropriate. If you happen to see an issue which hasn’t been resolved, dropping a note on the UserEcho case will allow us to look into it again. It’s also helpful to let us know if issues have been fixed.

It’s a very simple process which is part of Steam itself, so it’s also easy to switch back to the regular version of the game. Here’s a guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=572388553

Everyone’s had time to try out the new Roumanian map that recently arrived in Tannenberg, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about it. In particular, people liked that it’s quite different from the other maps in the game so far. Let’s talk a bit about our process for building new maps and where we get our inspiration and reference materials. But that’s not all - read on for topics from sounds to spelling!



Our latest update added the new Roumania map to the game. We put a lot of time and effort into creating maps that capture the reality of WW1, while often bringing together elements from several different places in a cohesive whole. This culminates in the ‘moodboard’ you see above! But how is the overall concept of the map formed, and where do those images come from?

We started out with the goal of making a map which would be different from the others in Tannenberg so far. The Roumanian front in 1917 was ideal for this, since it had effectively become classical trench warfare - something that wasn’t represented in Tannenberg yet. That meant we could include trenches and heavy destruction of the surrounding area.

Videos and images are very useful for both inspiration and reference, of course. Here are a few example posts.



However, written reports (by contemporary historians or memoirs) can also be highly effective at giving a sense of what it was like to fight in particular battles or areas. This excerpt from Erwin Rommel’s Infantry Attacks talks about fighting for Mount Cosna. He mentions details like grenades thrown down against attacking Romanian troops rolling further than intended, or how to shoot down you needed to expose your head and upper body which was far from ideal. This might not help with creating props or creating authentic trench lines, but it’s invaluable for understanding what kind of situations you are trying to create with your map design.


A sketch made by Rommel.

Stories and accounts of significant combat actions are often a great starting point for deciding what to include in a map. The fighting for Mount Cosna provided the starting point for the Roumania map, which meant putting the peak of the mountain at the center of the battlefield. From there the rest of the map could be planned based on ‘mini-themes’ like the trench lines, an artillery position, the clear slope leading up to a treeline, and so on.



Finally, we base our maps on other maps… meaning paper maps, of course. Well, some more modern online maps too. Everything from plain maps showing height and terrain to detailed battle plans can be useful in different ways.



What do you think of the new Roumania map?

The FMOD sound effects were implemented in the main release version of Tannenberg in the same update as the Roumania squad and map. As well as improved individual sounds, the sound system itself changed in a few subtle ways. The most notable difference is probably being able to hear which directions sounds are coming from more clearly, as well as having a better sense of the distances between sounds.

We’ve had feedback from the Romanian community that our current voices are too ‘commercial’ sounding and we will look in to re-recording the Romanian voices so it does not break the immersion. Thanks to the native speakers who let us know their thoughts!

Testing of the FMOD sound update for Verdun is ongoing - you can try it yourself and leave feedback via this thread on the Steam Hub.

We’ve had a lot of questions about the spelling on our new Roumanian squad and map. The issue comes from the difference in how various foreign countries spelt the name during the early part of the 20th century.

Of course the modern day spelling is Romania, we aren’t arguing that. However, during World War One, it was commonly spelled differently outside of Romania itself, alternating between Rumania and Roumania, as discussed in this thread.

Names change over time, and we thought that using the older spelling would create a better sense of period than using the modern spelling. We didn’t intend any offense, and if you think it should be changed, please vote on the topic we’ve made on our support website.

Our first War Correspondent competition finished earlier this week, and we had a lot of good entries! But there could only be two winners… here they are:

Player Votes Winner: Thomas Friedrich Grump
"War Correspondent: Today the German High Command announced plans to combat recent British gains in Ypres with Unrestricted Submarine Warfare"

Mods and Devs Choice Winner: SOVIETDOGE "OUR WAR CORRESPONDENT IN FRANCE - Our French allies have commenced their attack to retake the fort of Douamont. Over the top mon amis!"

Another War Correspondent contest will be starting soon - keep an eye on our social media or Steam Hub to find out when. For now, check out both entries on our Facebook album.

The latest update brings the Roumanian Infantry squad and a brand new map! On the 100 year anniversary of Roumania signing the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers in May 1918, their valiant efforts against the odds are now represented within Tannenberg. Download the new content now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7mzfUizDE&feature=youtu.be
The centerpiece for this update is the new Roumanian Infantry squad and their accompanying map. You voted for them to be the next squad in Tannenberg, and here they are!


Roumanian Infantry squad: Subofițer (officer), Puşcaş (rfleman), Vânător (gunner) and Grenadier (grenadier).

Their weapons include the Mannlicher M1893 rifle and carbine, the Revolver de 8 mm modèle 1892, and the Grenade Mle 1916 Billant F1.


A fine weapon!

Although the equipment of the Roumanian troops is fascinating, their geographical location is also significant. With that in mind, we produced a new Roumania map. Inspired by the fighting around Mount Cosna at the Battle of Oituz, as well as western and northwestern Roumania in general, it features trench lines on the slopes, oil wells, and blasted trees and rocks.


Roumanian oil fields - a potentially valuable prize for the Central Powers.

Join the Roumanians at war today!

Improved sounds are something we’ve been working on for a while - you may have tried out the beta versions of our new sound system. We have now implemented this new system in Tannenberg for everyone. It includes new sounds, but it also makes faraway noises sound better and makes it easier to tell where sounds are coming from.
The new sound system will be implemented in Verdun later - there’s already an open beta for you to test with launch command FMOD FMOD_WIP! You can test out the beta version and give feedback on this thread in our forums.

The new squad, weapons and map for Tannenberg isn’t the only thing we’ve been working on - our programmers have been dedicated to fixing issues reported by all of you on our support website. This means a big update with a ton of bug fixes and gameplay improvements for both games.

Take a look at the Verdun news post for the highlights there, or check out the full Tannenberg changelog on the hub. And don’t forget to continue posting your bugs and suggestions on our UserEcho support website as this is the best way for us to track your input and respond to it. If issues aren’t posted we can’t effectively reproduce and fix them.



Cheers!