WarNo by Eugen - aka WARGAME 4

[Destraex]

I think you got what Eugen intended you to get out of their statement which is good. A lot no doubt will not and that is the worry.
I think Eugen should have been serious and professional about an apology. Cracking jokes about costing your customers extra money opens them to a lot of criticism and their is no need for it.

The end result of this "light hearted, good natured" screw up, is that early access fans "will" now spend more than they should have to in order to get future content. Some no doubt will not be amused with the "funny" office antics excuse, honest or not.

[undercovergeek]

On the flip side of that I'm sure there are many including myself who will want the game (I have it since very early access) because of its subject, genre and studio and don't really care about all the behind the scenes antics

It's a game they want at a price they'll pay - it doesn't matter if there's non funny jokes about what went wrong

[al_infierno]

I guess it's a difference of perspective because the way I see it, they're a small studio, it was an honest mistake and not some "gee whiz we mismanaged our business and have to charge you more so we don't lay off our staff" kind of situation. I'm willing to cut them slack and be forgiving about their goofy tone.

Getting the game at a lower discount is a bummer for sure, but it's not like that money's getting burned in a pit or going to a Nigerian prince -- it's going to the people who made the game to support further development. I'm sure an extra ten bucks or whatever isn't going to break anybody's bank who was set on picking this up no matter what.

[Destraex]

I am glad you boys understand. I am a big fan of Eugen and know their unique sense of humour pretty well, so it's no big deal for me either. For a few of my friends it will be as they have strict gaming budgets and for those that were already opposed to the endless DLC model Eugen uses it will also be.
 The last thing that bummed me out about them was when they said map making tools were coming to steel division 2. They made it into WARNO though.

[Jarhead0331]

Isn't this the same Eugen that was all but accused of treating its employees like Roman era slaves resulting in a Spartacus-like revolt?  I think some former employees probably would feel like the "coal shed reeducation camp" joke isn't that far off from the truth. 

[Destraex]

Just finished a coop campaign with a friend during some time off work:
Very enjoyable but as always you have to have a friend that can make it at the relavent times and works well in a team.

[Destraex]

Really only just noticed that WARNO will be moving to different environments and terrain sets. This really puts paid to any possability of a SD3. However I guess their will be a lot to look forward to. I have almost settled down to enjoying the tank gameplay now. I am not noticing the penetration messages and more focussing on the "integrity" bars of health as an overall indication. Penetrations I guess could be anything from engines, tracks or even the front guard.
But how was it in real life? Before the Israeli's learnt to suppress enemy ATGM teams, were their tanks taking one hit and being knocked out?
I still have to get back to testing if ATGMs that should not be able to penetrate still do damage, I guess they still burn through some armour, weakening the tank.

"With the current list of Army General campaigns, we have shed a comprehensive light on World War III centered on West (and East) Germany, and even some Czechoslovakia. We will move to other theaters of war, but to do this, we need to create new environments, sets of terrain, new maps, etc. All of this takes time. Our 3D artists have already started to take the first tentative steps; we hope to be able to share the fruits of their labor in the not-too-distant future."

[Jarhead0331]

Very pleasantly surprised to see the next DLC headed to Latin America. A lot of opportunity for great gaming.

Hello commanders!

As teased in last week's DevBlog, the moment has come to reveal the next major expansion of your favorite Cold War-gone-hot RTS... WARNO - Tropic Storm!

That's right: like a hurricane, World War III expands to the tropical locales of Latin America and the Caribbean Basin in this upcoming expansion.

In today's DevBlog, we'll start with the basic outline of the expansion, its features, and the alternative history behind WARNO - Tropic Storm. Later posts will dive deep into all the new divisions.

Let's go!

WARNO - Tropic Storm in Brief

WARNO - Tropic Storm will give you access to 6 new divisions from this brand-new theater of operations, including 4 new nations, and a host of new units, models, weapons, new terrain sets and maps, and more. And equally important: it will contain 1 new Army General campaign. More details to follow!

Now, originally, the WARNO - Tropic Storm expansion was planned to come later down the production pipeline, but as so often in recent years, real life overtakes the fiction at an alarming pace. We've fast-tracked the development due to the US administration's military actions in Venezuela not too long ago, thinking we would be right on the ball with the world's next hot spot. But then, it moved to Greenland, and now Iran...

Regardless, our decision still stands, and we are hard at work on getting WARNO - Tropic Storm into your hands. Now, more on the context and our (alternative) history below, plus a sneak peek into the new environments you'll get to play with. Don't let the palm tree-lined beaches and turquoise seas beguile you...

How WARNO - Tropic Storm Came to Be

So, how did WARNO's World War III arrive on Latin America's doorsteps? We took inspiration from two real-life events to craft our alternative timeline, both centered on Venezuela: the bloodily crushed riots of February 1989 and the failed coup attempt by Hugo Chávez's MBR-200 revolutionary group in 1992.

Within WARNO's timeline, we first shift to 1987, our major inflection year, which you might remember from the game's opening cinematic, in which Gorbachev is ousted as the leader of the Soviet Union by a Stalinist-inspired troika.

With the two power blocs gearing up for war, Soviet and Cuban agents begin to renew the flames of revolution across Latin America. So too in Venezuela, where a disgruntled Chavez's MBR-200 is identified as a potential partner for covert intel and funding. Over the next two years, with communist support, Chávez expands his organization's influence within the Venezuelan military.

The Caracazo
The moment to change the fate of a nation appears in February and March 1989, when deeply unpopular austerity measures result in violent riots and a brutal crackdown by the Venezuelan government, an episode known as the Caracazo.

Within a month, the MBR-200 triggers its well-planned coup: President Pérez's plane is shot down by a Venezuelan Air Force's Mirage, while key sites and buildings in the capital are seized with minimal blood spilled. A week later, Chávez is sworn in as the new president of Venezuela; a new socialist Bolivarian Revolution is at hand! He immediately takes steps to form suspiciously close ties to Castro's Cuba and the Soviet Union.

A United Response
The United States, focused on the Warsaw Pact's build-up in Europe, is taken completely aback by Chavez's coup in Venezuela. While various communist-inspired uprisings and counter-revolutions have wrecked nations in Latin America throughout the 1980s, with Venezuela turning "red", a dangerous new strategic conondrum has developed.

Washington takes the first steps, a continuation of former President Reagan's "New Cold War", to massively increase the military assistance and aid to several "trustworthy" South American allies, in effect creating an anti-communist regional coalition. In the spring of 1989, all eyes are on containing the new Venezuelan regime.

As the first rumors emerge of Cuban "advisors" and the Soviet KGB actively taking part in the Venezuelan coup, it doesn't take long for the CIA to be convinced of Castro's direct involvement.

In June 1989, with war on the horizon in Europe, the USA makes a historical decision for a decisive pre-emptive strike and clear out its backyard of the communist threat. Leaning on the South American allies, and using whatever non-NATO assigned troops it has in reserve, it takes the fight to both Cuba and Venezuela...

New Terrain Set

With WARNO - Tropic Storm, we'll have a new tropical environment, plus new maps. These will also make their way into the expansion's new Army General campaign!

We might not always be ahead of time on our pre-announced schedule, but in the case of the new terrain sets coming to WARNO, our level designers have delivered beyond expectations.

The upcoming new maps will showcase the tropical breadth and scale of Latin America, with exotic new environments: from dense jungle limiting visibility to turquoise coastlines useful for sunbathing or large-scale amphibious assaults, to compact urban terrain. Every element has been carefully crafted and designed by the Eugen team, to really be as authentic as possible.

It's not only the visuals where we improved; we also took the opportunity to further improve map balancing, optimize sightlines between potential defensive positions, and update the urban terrain to make for even more intense tactical fights.