The legendary T-34 Soviet medium tanks were instrumental in turning the tide of war in Europe against Germany. It had decent armament and medium armor - in 1941 T-34 was superior to the German tanks of the time.



The model was further polished and refined resulting in T-34-85 modification that was used until the end of the war. It was not as powerful as heavy tanks, but its mobility and the ability to cover large distances with relatively minor repairs was what made all the difference.



T-44 was developed in 1944, but its production was suspended to avoid the reduction of T-34 production. Overall, the model was deemed unsuccessful, as its medium armor was easily pierced by all anti-tank guns in use as of 1945.



To compensate for the faulty T-44 model, the improved T-54 tank was developed and introduced in 1946-1947. The rework optimized all aspects of the tank. It was a success - the tank started its service in 1947, and it is still in service in many countries as of 2020. The T-54/55 series eventually became the most-produced tank in history. Estimated production numbers for the series range from 86,000 to 100,000.

In Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism you can use T-54-1 in 1946 to fight the Allied forces in Europe in the alternate history portion of the game. Although not as powerful as an IS-4 heavy tank or Koenigstiger, it is still a viable option, as it has higher mobility and allows it to cover larger distances.

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

With best regards
Starni Games team

Comrades, we want to share with you some nice screenshots from our community.

If you want to share great moments from your playthrough with the community make sure to add them to our community hub. We will post regular news reports with the best ones. You can also send them to our Twitter account.

1. Thanks to Sorgsor






2. Thanks to *猎奇君*


Looking forward to more great community feedback!

With best regards
Strani Games team

Hello, guys!

The first week after the game launch went quite smoothly.

We want to thank every member of our team for their hard work throughout the game development.

We are equally grateful to all of you - the players community. We greatly appreciate all of your feedback, screenshots, videos and reports. Your attention brings us confidence in the result of our work and makes us happier even in this unstable situation in the World. Your game reviews and community hub posts provide us with lots of valuable insights. No single person can envision the perfect game, so your ideas and observations help us immensely in polishing the game.

We, also, watch people play the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism on YouTube to better understand how players perceive the game and what aspects of it are the most troublesome for them. We invite you to watch our top picks for the first operation playthrough:











Additionally, we would like to remind you that only 3 days left before the end of the Starni Games Release Celebration discount. Get Strategic mind: Blitzkrieg and Strategic Mind: The Pacific with 20% and 40% discounts respectively while you can.

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

https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810
Stay tuned for more playthrough videos.

Have a nice weekend!
Starni Games team

Even a war game can be beautiful.

Our cinematic director is doing his best to provide you with high-quality camerawork. What do you think about it? Please let us know in comments.









With best regards
Starni Games team

Hello, guys!

Now that the game is out, we can finally sit down and see what we have delivered :). Of course, there are some issues that need fixing. Many of them already fixed in Monday 1.01 update, but overall the launch went pretty smoothly.

We plan to issue the 1.02 update tomorrow, fixing all of the outstanding reports and adding some visual improvements.

Last week we posted some winter operation screenshots, but that was not the final ice visuals, so we want to give you a couple of fresh ones to show the progress in that regard:









Additionally, we added new attack animation for air-to-ground rocket weapons equipment:



As well as the new Artillery forts model:




All of this will be delivered on Steam in Thursday’s update 1.02.

Overall we are happy with how the release went, but we would like to know your perspective, so please, leave your comments below with your impressions of the release process and post-release support.

Stay tuned for more Developers’ Diaries next week. And don't forget to join our server on Discord.

With best regards
Starni Games team

Glory to the artillery and mortar crews of the Red Army!




ISU-152 assault gun is the next generation of Soviet assault artillery based on the IS tanks chassis that entered service in 1943. It was unofficially nicknamed Zveroboy (Russian: Зверобой; "beast killer") in response to several large German tanks, including Tigers and Panthers. It was armed with a 152.4 mm ML-20S gun-howitzer. It proved to be successful both as mobile artillery and as an anti-tank weapon. A total of 4,635 units were built.




ISU-122 entered service later, in 1944. It had a smaller caliber but was faring better against the enemy armor. The ISU-122 name is an acronym of Iosif Stalin-based - Samokhodnaya Ustanovka (self-propelled gun) 122. A total of 2,410 were built.

While both ISU-152 and ISU-122 were suitable for artillery and anti-tank roles, the ISU was generally used as artillery, and ISU-122 was more widely used in an anti-tank weapon role.



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

With best regards
Starni Games team

Hello guys! Today is a glorious day!

Today, Comrades, Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism was released!
It is now available:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/
To commemorate the release of the new Strategic Mind title we prepared lots of cool stuff for you guys.

Today we start a Starni Games public Discord server where you can discuss the game, give or seek advice, discuss the planning of operations, and much more.

👉Join to the Starni Games Discotd server.

We introduce a new way of purchasing our games - you can get all of our titles you do not currently have at a 20% discount. Make sure you take full advantage of it.

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

For all of you who still miss out on some of our previous titles we offer discounts for the duration of the Starni Games celebration (13-23 November):

• Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg - 20%

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

• Strategic Mind: The Pacific - 40%

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

• Panzer Strategy - 80%

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

Combined with the Collection bundle it is a bargain.

If you have missed the latest news, we have updated both Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg and Strategic Mind: The Pacific with the latest improvements made for the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism release. So, you can now enjoy new features in our previous titles as well. The main features are the Undo button and performance optimization.




We will also update the Strategic Mind Franchise Soundtrack today with the new tracks. Of the 3 community supported tracks (all funds generated by Soundtrack sales), only one is ready at release, but 2 more are cooking soon and will be added in a couple of weeks.

See you on our community hubs and Discord channel.

We hope you will have a great time playing our games!

Starni Games team

Hello guys!

With only one day left before the release, we would like to tell you more about the winter operations in the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism.

In Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg we had the German drive towards Moscow. However, it was set in November and at first, there were heavy rains, then Rasputitsa followed, and only later the Frost would set in freezing all the rounds and solving the issue of Rasputitsa. At the same time, it was only the first snow, which melted quickly and would not result in thick snow until later into the winter. All other operations were spring to autumn.

In the upcoming Spectre of Communism title, we added a number of winter operations, including the Battle of Moscow set in December 1941, where you have to make sure the Germans do not end up storming the Kremlin.



The toughest winter operation is probably the Winter War against Finland. Only here, Frost effect changes to a Severe frost, which applies penalty even for units with Winter equipment. While units without the winterized equipment have their movement points reduced to a maximum of 1 on top of other penalties. So, it is crucial to supply all of your ket units with proper equipment in this operation and be ready that Severe frost will slow down the latter part of the operation.







Before every winter operation, we would warn the player about it in the operation info, below the campaign map.



Can you defend the capital of the Soviet Union? Will the winter be your ally or your adversary? Everything depends on your troops’ equipment and tactics.





In this operation, you will have to break the German encirclement of the city. A couple of secondary objectives involve the action on the “ice roads” - the ways across the ice.



Note: We are still working on making the ice look more natural, so the look of it will likely change.

Let us know what you think of the new addition to visuals and gameplay.

Do not forget about tomorrow’s release:

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

Stay tuned for more Developers’ Diaries next week.

With best regards
Starni Games team

Admiral!

Today we bring Strategic Mind: The Pacific up to date with the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism title. We introduce a most-wanted feature, judging by the volume of players’ requests for it, the Undo move button.

Added the “Undo move” button. It allows you to retrace your unit's last movement. It is eligible, only if you want to change your last movement and the movement did not affect the current tactical situation. It is not eligible if: an attack happened, the spotting has changed, the objective status has changed, the unit embarked/disembarked, etc.

We are working on optimizing the game performance. So, far we successfully implemented a number of improvements. Some are still underway and will be added in future updates, as we keep working on the Strategic Mind series.

This changelog is not an exhaustive list of changes, some minor improvements in other areas were also made, some bugs were fixed, and some localization inaccuracies corrected.
We have also added the widgets of the other games of the Strategic Mind series. While some of you may feel unhappy about it, please, bear in mind that it is the only 100% reliable way for us to let you know about the new title coming up.

We look forward to more feedback from you!

With best regards
Starni Games team

Katyusha multiple rocket launcher is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. It was a surprise for the Germans early into the war in 1941, however, they did not consider it a big threat. Only massive Katyusha fire, the USSR troops adopted in 1943 cand later, turned out to be the effective way to employ this weapon.

The BM-13 model was usually mounted on top of the ZIS truck.




The improved BM-13N model was usually mounted on the US lend-lease Studebaker US6 trucks. There were other modifications, like BM 31, also on Studebaker chassis, but with larger caliber rockets.



Katyusha MLRs have become a part of folklore, making popular the Russian song about a girl named Katyusha (Russian name). It was considered an instrumental weapon of Soviet victory. Although it’s precision left much to be desired, the massed Katyusha’s fire had, according to many accounts, a devastating effect on the German troops’ morale.

In the game, Katyusha rocket launchers, have quite low attack values, but they can attack two times every turn and move 3 hexes away after each attack. Combined with high mobility, that makes Katyusha MLRs a very versatile tool. We had MB-13 in our previous titles, but we added two more models, adjusted their stats, and added special skills. So, now this is a much more potent instrument of war.

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

With best regards
Starni Games team