A few days ago we ran a survey about the importance of the various elements of the game. Many thanks to everyone who found the time to delve into it and share his thoughts - we have studied your feedback and found lots of valuable insight there.

At the same time many players complained that the survey was too large and unwieldy to complete. We listened to your feedback, and decided to make it more user friendly by using google form and changing the rating system to an easier one. We invite everyone to participate in the survey 2.0 as we need more participants to get a fair representation of all players' views on the subject.

👉Take part in survey 2.0 - what is your favorite element of Strategic Mind games?

Do not worry, your previous participation still counts, but we also encourage you to fill the 2.0 version as well, as it uses a different rating system.

We will post results after some time. We are really looking forward to what would come out of this survey as we have no idea how you will vote. :)

Have a great weekend!

Starni Games team

As developers we cannot help but feel attached to virtually all aspects of our games. Yet we are curious which of them are the most relevant for the players. So, we decided to ask the community what are the most important elements of the game for you. Please, help us out by sharing your thoughts on the subject - that would be a great help.

Below you can find the list of key aspects of the game in our view. They are presented in a randomly generated order to avoid bias. Please choose up to 8 key elements and put them by the order of significance:
1 = 8 points = most significant
2 = 7 points = very significant
...
8 = 1 point = less significant
9-17 = 0 points = not very significant.
Please, explain your reasoning if you can. You can also add your own points under the list in case we have missed anything.

We hope that your answers will help us promote the series more effectively and increase the players community. That in turn will help ensure longevity and further improvement of the series, so your support is very important for us.

1. 10) Both historical (75%) and alternate history (25%) operations.
Because I love history but without alternate scenarios it is a bit dull.
2. 15) Advanced naval combat system.
Since I enjoy naval combat, this system is really different from any other game.
3. 3) Lots of unit classes.
I enjoy combined arms operations and the tactical flexibility/diversity it allows.
4. 7) Different victory types, awards and ranks.
I dislike games that do not give me a sense of achievement. I also like that the achievements are meaningful in the Strategic Mind.
5. 4) (hi)story-driven gameplay.
I like that I also learn something new about history while playing, and often it is really interesting.
6. 17) All units gain experience and can learn additional skills every time they level up.
I like that my army is getting more powerful and experienced as the campaign progresses.
7. 9) Advanced supply system - great depth with little micromanagement.
I think it is something many games miss - a proper supply system.
8. 13) All types of units can get special equipment.
Once again the more customization and control I have over my units - the better.

1) All unit models are historical and become available at historically accurate time of the campaign. Same with the enemy troops.
Example: Historically Finland had very limited military equipment and was purchasing it from different countries, so you will get to create your own mismash of historically available units: Command the Finnish Infantry and Bofors AT guns, Swedish Recon cars, captured Soviet vehicles, including BT-7, T-34, and KV tanks. Make use of pre-war British Bristol Blenheim bombers, covered by Dutch Fokker and US Buffalo fighter planes. Purchase German Pz-IV tanks, StuG assault guns, and Ju-88 bombers.

2) Between the battles you can learn Headquarters skills that allow you to get unique tactical advantages. Command points system allows the flexible balance of the number of deployed troops - the more you deploy the less active HQ skills you can use.
Example: Your artillery could fire twice per turn, or your Aircraft units could land and take off without losing movement points.

3) Lots of unit classes: Infantry, Tanks, Artillery, Anti-tank guns, Anti-aircraft guns, Assault guns, Armoured trains, Reconnaissance cars, Fighters, Tactical bombers, Strategic bombers, Submarines, Destroyers, Heavy cruisers, Battleships, and Carriers. All units have their unique skills and set of level-up abilities and equipment.
Example: You can even use Armored trains (including the legendary Saviour of Karelia) or Railroad artillery installations that are rare guests in digital wargames.

4) (hi)story-driven gameplay
Example: Lots of primary and secondary objectives with in-game dialogue by historical figures. Completing certain objectives provides unique global bonuses or trophies.

5) Classical wargame with modern 3D graphics created with Unreal Engine 4.
Example: You can see close up shots of tanks and other units moving with real physics across uneven terrain and enjoy the realistic 3D unit models instead of the usual counters.

6) You can gain Heroes throughout the campaign and assign them to chosen units. All heroes are historical figures and allow units to get special powerful skills.
Example: The deadliest sniper in WW2 history - Simo Häyhä - will join your troops
With 542 confirmed kills, and an unconfirmed total number of 705, not only was Simo Häyhä the deadliest sniper of World War II, but perhaps the deadliest sniper of all time. His nickname “the White Death” was well-earned.

7) Different victory types, awards and ranks. You get different victory types based on your performance throughout the operations. That determines what awards you get and when you will be promoted to the next rank.
Example: All awards and ranks are not just an insignia, but provide gameplay bonuses - higher ranks means more Command points, while awards also provide discounts for units and make the HQ unit stronger.

8) Cinematics - around 70 minutes in each title
Example: Before and after every operation you watch a cinematics sequence with historical characters delving deeper into the events of WW2 and the historical flow.

9) Advanced supply system - great depth with little micromanagement
Example: There are different types of Infrastructure across the map. Supply points transport the supplies across the map. If you break the supply chain by damaging, capturing or cutting off (blocking with ZoC) its elements - the enemy troops will be left without supplies.

10) Both historical (75%) and alternate history (25%) operations.
Example: You can enjoy both real historical battles and explore “what if” outcomes based on real plans and were never realised, like Sea Lion, or Operation Unthinkable.

11) Improved combat system - lethal vs nonlethal damage, 4 levels of spotting, various skills and equipment, significance of terrain, LoS and ZoC, different weather conditions and nighttime.
Example: The tactical moves feel quite diverse thanks to the original Panzer General mechanics that went through a very significant rework and upgrade.

12) Advanced transportation system - ground transport (trucks and APCs), train, aircraft or ship transportation.
Example: All ground units can be assigned truck or APC they board if they have to move far - at the same time they are vulnerable while in transit. Additionally, you can board trains, ships and aircraft for large distance troops transfer and landing operations.

13) All types of units can get special equipment, allowing you to finetune your troops to better tackle the task at hand.
Example: Units can get diverse equipment such as: flamethowers, sappers squad, mortars, recoilless rifles, smoke generators, torpedoes, incendiary shells, or even dummy tanks.

14) Upgrade units to newer models to carry over crew’s experience. Out of line upgrades are more expensive.
Example: Upgrading Pz IV C to Pz IV F is much cheaper than replacing it with a Tiger II.

15) Advanced naval combat system - all ships have parts such as all sorts of armament, hull, engine, flight deck, etc. with their own HP and functionality that deteriorates as they are getting damaged.
Example: Ship has extra defense when its Engine part is operational. When the engine is damaged the ship loses its movement points and the extra defense it had due to mobility. Same with all types of guns etc. The maintenance team repairs the ship overtime, but you could also use the emergency repair team in case your ship is in dire straits.

16) You can play some of the enemy units as well, if you manage to capture them during the battles.
Example: In Spirit of Liberty Finns can get their hands on Russian BT--7s, T-34s, KV-1s, ISU-152 and other cool stuff.

17) All units gain experience and can learn additional skills every time they level up.
Example: Infantry can get a Forced march level up skill allowing it to move 2 extra Move points 3 times per operation. Artillery can learn to move 1 tile after firing to quickly change its position etc.

Looking forward to discussing the community survey results with you
Starni Games team

Hello, dear community! How was your week? Today we will share with you new Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism community screenshots created by one of the players — the Fire Eagle.

To share great moments from your own playthrough with the community - add them to our community hubs or send them to our Twitter or Discord server. We will post regular news reports with the best ones.

General! Here is the top news for this week.




We asked the Strategic Mind community for help and got tonnes of useful feedback and advice from you guys. Here you can find the summary of the community discussion results:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/5528721339196403220


September comes and it is time to enroll in the military academy for Higher Command and Staff Course and brush up on your strategy and tactics. For seasoned commanders only there is a special "government support program" offering solid discounts. All theaters of war are available:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2983060284913029705


A 20 min compilation of Market Garden playthrough by Bruchminati is quite entertaining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF3X-Az7h60

Do not forget to wishlist our Free Prologue app for the Spirit of Liberty:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1683420/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty__Prologue_1939/
With best regards
Starni Games Intelligence Service

Starni Games New Academic Year sale is about to end! Get all our titles with nice discounts before September 25.

Don't miss your chance to grab the Panzer Strategy now - it is a real bargain! Save 85% off the full price:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/769950/Panzer_Strategy/

🎁 Save up to 40% on Strategic Mind Franchise:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/

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

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


https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/

Hello, guys!

Last week we asked for your thoughts about the best fitting Store page screenshots types for the upcoming game Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of feedback we got. You have provided a detailed analysis of existing screenshots for previous Strategic Mind titles' and useful ideas for future screenshots. As developers, sometimes it is hard for us to see the game through the players' eyes, so your feedback is invaluable for us. Now we want to believe that we understand you a little bit better. So we appreciate all of your efforts, guys! We will try to heed your advice when working on the Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty screenshots revamp soon, as we now have more materials for them.

We want to share with you some quotes from the community on Steam and on Reddit about the Strategic Mind screenshots. Maybe it would be interesting for you to read and compare your ideas with the other players' perceptions, or even find your own commentary here:


Likes: 5
Quotes:
-I like #1 - it shows a strategic view or something like that? I like to know what kind of tools a strategic game offers.
- The first one should be a little less zoomed out
- Looks like a different game.
- Don’t highlight interesting parts of the game.
- #1 is lovely. it shows you can have different combat arms of the army (air, navy, land/marine), and shows you can have more than just tiny snippet of forces.


Likes: 9
Quotes:
- #2 is something I would not appreciate on a strategy game page. That's a neat visual for a menu but that's not what I'm going to actually play, so it's kind of just noise.
- I'd avoid anything like 2. that sort of stuff could just be done with photo likeness written dialogue like other games have handled it.

I know it seems like some sort of special feature of these games but for me personally it is a put off a bit as I'm more interested in the challenge of the scenarios or the campaign than wading through some sort of' 'marionette' cut scene where a simple military style 'old school' dossier of the assignment or objective would be more immersive if done authentically maybe with a voice over like some game leaders in this field have done in the past because it's efficient for the player and adds enough immersion to get to the 'real' game
- Some people are looking for fast-casual playing similar to multiplayer game but many other people when play a single player campaign don't want just a chain of battles with a poor and forgetable introduction between them. They look for a full story and want to "make the difference" with their choices and actions. On the other hand, most games just show an "intro video" and a final "victory video". I love the work you made to create a screenplay and a background to connect every battle and the consecuences of the previous clashes like the image of Picture Number 2 and the mini-videos between battles. Screenshots should reflect that your game is more than a chain of battles with an "excuse-plot".
- Looks interesting, Using that would be good.
- I love this shot. Shows that there is more to the game than just standard RTS fare and clicking/moving units.
- Great, but maybe highlight the campaign map though instead of a general.
- I think this kind of image should always be included to the screenshots. Player spends a lot of time in this room, so it should at-least be represented (also it would remind the player that it's mostly story-driven).


Likes: 7
Quotes:
- I always appreciate when a strategy can boast atmospheric screenshots like #3 and #7. As much as strategic games are about maps and figures, many people still prefer games that let you feel "in the moment" rather than being purely schematic.
- Beautiful.
- Looks like an animated sequence? This one is confusing. Because there is no grid.
- This shot looks very Indie. Some people like that, some people don't.
- Not a fan sadly. It looks without UI like it's just a image where we arrive into, when departing from a cut-scene.


Likes: 9
Quotes:
- This is really good and helpful picture! It shows you have plenty of options to customize your units (and their secondary roles due to it).
- I think #4 is a great UI screenshot - it's not too simplistic like basic overlay, and it looks like it's well-readable.
- I like your efforts to customize units with skill upgrades, special equipment addition, etc. as it can be seen in Picture Number 4.
- I can't read or undestand that info so I wouldn't use that one.
- Obligatory "under the hood" shot, but a good one, I think. Gotta let people know that there is depth to be found here and this pic does it.


Likes: 15
Quotes:
- From my point of view 7 and 5, this gives me more information about features of the game, such as the grid system, the types of buildings in the game, as well as these are the most atmospheric pictures for my taste
- I liked 5 the most. Not too less, and bot too much information clustered at one spot.
- Seems to be another good shot of the game.
- Show me exactly what kind of game this is.
- This pic covers what you'll be seeing most of the time, I believe, and that's important. A great "first-impression" shot. I would lead with this one.
- Might suggest injecting the mouse cursor, showing some highlighted units or something, show me a little more of how the game works.

6. Close up units view type of screenshot:

Likes: 8
Quotes:
- I'd probably go for looking up close and detailed like in 6.
- I wouldn't use that, doesn't seem like the game you will be playing.
- Pretty but not something I care about. Some others would though!
- In your provided examples the 2 and 6 ones really call out to me.
- Graphic quality is not the most important for hardcore and veteran players (if we have played with prehistoric 3D graphics of "Alone in the dark" or "Colonization" pixels we can play everything) but for casual players and young people it could be a decisive factor so you should include some screenshots like Picture Number 6 showing units closely with zoom to satisfy these people expectations about graphics.


Likes: 19
Quotes:
- Me personally I like screenshot 7 the most:
1) it shows (at least that's what I assume) where your game camera is mostly focused;
2) It looks pretty polished and clean (not to much the viewer can focus on);
3) Would be a good image to place a logo on top or something.
- Image 7 makes the game look best imo.
- I think this is my favorite. Another grand-scale pic showing the expanse of the map, along with the grids on the ground showing me a little bit of how the game works and a tiny piece of what to expect. This one makes me want to try the game.
- This should be your lead off shot IMO.
- 7.
- 7 looks the most attractive for me.
- I like the 5th one and the 7th.
- Is really nice screen shot, even for one without an UI. It's atmospheric. It shows more nations than one (telling that there's a chance to fight more than just Germans/Soviets!) And in general looks good, but it probably better to let fans take these ones than to have at a store front?


Likes: 10
Quotes:
- Looks like how you'll be playing most of the game?
- This one shows exactly what type of game it is with a little extra complexity.
- This image is way too early taken. Everything is in their static starting positions and it looks more like a chess game than how the game plays. Please let at-least one turn be done before screen-shots as it looks more like a staring match than an active battlefield.

Please, let us know what you think about this whole discussion. Do you agree with the fellow players?
Is there any screenshot type that is really needed but is missing from our selection? Looking forward to further discussion.

Starni Games team

Starni Games New Academic Year sale begins!

September comes and it is time to enroll in the military academy for Higher Command and Staff Course and brush up on your strategy and tactics. For seasoned commanders only there is a special "government support program" offering solid discounts. All theaters of war are available.

Don't miss the chance and grab Panzer Strategy with a great deal! Save 85% off the full price. Get the game before September 25:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/769950/Panzer_Strategy/

🎁 Save up to 40% on Strategic Mind Franchise:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/

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

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


https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/

General!

Here is the top news for this week.


We asked the Strategic Mind community for help. And help you did! We have got tonnes of useful feedback and advice from you guys and are now digesting all of that knowledge. If you have missed our discussion of storefront screenshots - it is not too late to join in and share your bit of knowledge with us.
You can find more details here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2983060917589298724

Remember the World War II end with us and look through the key episodes of the war for different countries in our news update:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2983060284895359998

Check out the latest submission of awesome screenshots made by the players community here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2981933839781922309

TheEdmon continues his heroic struggle Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom campaign on Insurmountable difficulty with the operation Compass:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-myHgmONofw
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0beejKk80Do
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDoJ5CNzchQ
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYglZpOKBXw
Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovOVIAovhlk
Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eSn0qRyxK4
Do not forget to wishlist our Free Prologue app for the Spirit of Liberty:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1683420/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty__Prologue_1939/
With best regards
Starni Games Intelligence Service

Dear Strategic Mind community!

We need your help and counsel. We are working on updating the Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty and Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty Prologue 1939 store pages. We want to add new screenshots to give you a better idea of the games and to attract new players to the franchise.

So we really need your help, because as developers, we are not always able to see the game from your point of view. Also, sometimes we are not sure what is the best way to show TBS games visually. Please, let us know in the comments:
- What type of screenshots attract more attention, when you search for a new strategy game to play?
- Do you prefer to see the UI on screenshots? Or do you pay more attention to the visuals and vibes of the game?
- You watch trailers more or screenshots more when you check out the new game?
- Is there is something specific that you would like to see on the screenshots for the Spirit of Liberty?
- Here are some of the screenshots that we usually add to our store pages. Please check them out and let us know which ones give you a better idea of the game and inspire you to play it:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Looking forward to reading all of your feedback! Have a good day!

Starni Games team

Hello Generals!
We hope that everyone is doing well and staying safe. Today we want to share with you new community-made screenshots from the Strategic Mind series. We think that some of them are good enough to be added to the game's store pages. So, if you think that some are indeed worthy to represent the game on the Store page - please let us know in the comments. We will consider adding it there. Have a nice weekend!

To share great moments from your own playthrough with the community - add them to our community hubs or send them to our Twitter or Discord server. We will post regular news reports with the best ones.