Author: Donster

Nival releases Blitzkrieg 3, an online World War II real-time strategy made for true admirers of tactical mastery.

Blitzkrieg 3 features the world’s first Neural Network AI for RTS. Ruthless machine named Boris plays at the top player’s level while not using any hidden information about the enemy. General Boris regularly analyzes the gaming session and makes Neural Network-based predictions of the enemy behavior. This approach allows him to think up sophisticated counter-strategies and bring them to life. That makes Boris tough and unpredictable, so he can amaze players over and over again.

Game covers the main period of World War II: from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the triumphant capture of Berlin in 1945. Each of three atmospheric campaigns provides a unique blend of PvE, PvP and PvAI missions. In total, game features 60+ historical missions with 200+ authentic combat units. Each unit has performance characteristics reconstructed in detail, such as fire rate, armored capture, field of vision, and others that let players feel like real generals.

In addition to classic Skirmish 1×1, 2×2, and 3×3 modes Blitzkrieg 3 features the unique asymmetric Assault mode, where one player attacks and the other defends his fortifications. 20+ historical commanders with their own specialization and favorite combat tactics combined with dynamic weather system make every PvP and/or PvAI game even more diverse.

“Blitzkrieg 3 was created with the active participation of the player community.”, – commented Pavel Naumenko, head of Blitzkrieg studio. – “We strongly believe that players’ contributions are invaluable and we will continue to develop the game according to their feedback”.

You can get more information and purchase a digital copy of the game on the official website, or via the games Steam Store Page.

Blitzkrieg 3 Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | June 2, 2017 |

500 Years of Conquest: Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome and Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor Launch on June 14

Pre-orders now open for both expansions, duo-pack available for a discounted price

Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio today announced that Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome, the first immersion pack for the best-selling historical grand strategy game, and Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor, a country pack for the World War II grand strategy game, will launch together on June 14th, 2017.

Both packs will be priced individually at $9.99. Fans of both of Paradox Development Studios’ global conquest simulators can purchase both packs together as part of a duo-pack for 10% off at Paradox Plaza here.

Paradox demoed the new features from Third Rome in a live stream on Tuesday. The replay of that stream can be found here.

The new features in Death or Dishonor are demoed in an ongoing stream series. Replays can be found here.

Third Rome expands the governmental, military, and diplomatic opportunities for the Russian empire. The pack includes new ranks of Russian governments that give Tsars the power to claim states, powerful streltsy mercenary units that excel in combat at the cost of the empire’s stability, and new interactions with the Orthodox Patriarchate. These changes give Russian players more ways to maintain control over their sprawling territory using a mix of military might, political touch, and religious conviction.

Death or Dishonor introduces new National Focus trees and gameplay options for the countries caught between the Nazi and Soviet war machines – Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. In addition, Death or Dishonor adds new diplomatic and puppet interactions, new music and gameplay art, and additional national interactions to change the course of history.

Both DLCs will be accompanied by free patches that bring broader updates to the base versions of Europa Universalis IV and Hearts of Iron IV.

For more information on Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome, click here.

For more information on Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor, visit click here.

Europa Universalis IV Hearts of Iron IV Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | June 1, 2017 |

EKWB Fluid Gaming A240G CPU & GPU Liquid Cooling Review

By Hilbert Hagedoorn @ Guru3D

EK Water Blocks today releases three new models CPU & GPU Liquid cooling kits. Good stuff as we certainly are always interested whenever EK released new gear. Today we test their new EK Fluid Gaming A240G CPU & GPU liquid cooling kit. With this series EK introduces a totally new line of products aimed at a gaming audience that wishes a little more than a heatpipe or LCS cooler, yet will want something affordable.

Read The Review Here

Hardware System Cooling | Donster | June 1, 2017 |

Just Announced Hardware for 1 June 2017

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source. Including more coverage from Computex 2017.

Hardware | Donster | June 1, 2017 |

DCS: F/A-18C Hornet Announced

Source: Blue’s News

Eagle Dynamics announces DCS: F/A-18C Hornet, saying the latest addition to Digital Combat Simulator World will be unveiled to the public next month in the Thrustmaster booth at E3. Here’s what they have to say about this for now:

Eagle Dynamics SA and Belsimtek are excited to announce that DCS: F/A-18C Hornet will have its debut showing at E3 2017 at the Thrustmaster® booth. DCS: F/A-18C will be by far the most authentic PC simulation of a modern fighter to date, and it will use unique CFD engine and aerodynamics developed by Belsimtek. Based on exhaustive research in association with Boeing, current fighter pilots and the development of our new simulation engine, the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet will set a new benchmark.

Eagle Dynamics SA senior producer, Matt Wagner, states, “We are happy to announce the cooperation between Eagle Dynamics SA and Thrustmaster® to create the ultimate F/A-18C Hornet simulation experience”. “After the success of our first collaboration with Eagle Dynamic SA on DCS: A-10C Warthog, that lead to the HOTAS Warthog, we are proud to start a new collaboration on the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet”, says Gilles Raulet, Thrustmaster Development Director.

Please stop by the Thrustmaster® booth South Hall #2813 and experience the next level of combat aviation simulation!

Combat Flight Sim DCS World | Donster | May 31, 2017 |

Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Fallen Ghosts Now Available

Source: UbiBlog

With the Santa Blanca neutralized, Unidad forces are struggling to maintain control as various factions the cartel’s remnants in the Bolivian countryside. To help them assert control, they bring in Los Extranjeros – a group of international ex-military mercenaries with the singular focus of taking out any and all opposing forces. You and your team will have to use every tool at your disposal to engage this formidable new foe in Fallen Ghosts, the new expansion for Ghost Recon: Wildlands available now for Season Pass owners (and available June 6 for individual purchase). Watch the Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Fallen Ghosts release trailer here.

What makes Los Extranjeros so dangerous is their tech and expertise. For starters, there’s the Armored unit, a walking tank with a single weak point that will require Ghosts to hone their headshot skills. Then there’s the Covert Ops unit. These cloaked enemies specialize in catching you off-guard, so it might be a good idea to have a squad member check their thermal vision more often. Rounding out Los Extranjeros are the Elite Snipers and Jammers – the former is a constant threat, while the latter causes a new set of problems with their roaming electronic disruption capabilities.

Los Extranjeros present new challenges for Ghost Recon: Wildlands players as the Ghosts undertake 15 new missions and work towards the new level cap of 35 – but for those looking for an even greater challenge, Fallen Ghosts’ tweaked difficulty settings allows players to create an even greater tactical challenge for their squad.

For more information, check out the official Ghost Recon: Wildlands website.

First-Person Shooters Ghost Recon: Wildlands | Donster | May 31, 2017 |

The Operational Art of War IV In-depth Analysis – Naval Warfare

The Operational Art of War IV includes a suite of new naval features that should prove to be a good first step towards a full naval warfare model.

Naval Combat: To recap, naval combat in TOAW had been very crudely modeled. Ships were literally treated as if they were a single piece of equipment – like a single squad. Any AP hit killed them. Their defense strengths weren’t used in that determination, by the way. This surprising discovery meant that it was as easy to sink a Battleship as it was to sink a Destroyer. AP strengths were combined for hit determination – making a bunch of DDs as powerful as BBs. Whether hit ships were permanently destroyed or just sent to the “On Hand” pool bizarrely depended upon a check against their proficiency. Fleet units could “evaporate” like a land unit that had lost cohesion. Embarked units employed their various strengths when attacked. The whole thing had to be overhauled if there was to be any hope of realistic naval warfare. It has been. The new naval combat model has the following features:

Ships now have damage levels, and take damage in combat, if hit by the attacking ordinance. Those levels are displayed in the unit report.
Attacking equipment Anti-ship factors are evaluated as individual shots/planes so that each warhead can be evaluated for armor penetration.
Hit chances depend on a number of checks made involving various factors such as the visibility, attacker proficiency, target agility, aircraft anti-naval strength, gunnery range, and shock levels.
The amount of damage a hit inflicts on a target ship depends upon shell weights of the ordinance hitting them, their armor thickness, and their durability.
Ship armor and durability are derived from the ship’s defense strength, unless the designer has explicitly specified them using the new naval equipment add-on to the scenario’s equipment file. That file also allows ship agility, accuracy, and speed to be explicitly specified.
Embarked units’ armor, durability, agility, and AAA are fixed at 0, 25, 18, and 0, respectively. This means that the strengths of the embarked equipment are no longer used to resolve attacks on embarked units.
Ships that accumulate 100 or more damage points are eliminated – sent to the dead pile.
Ship damage levels less than 100 are saved in the unit on each TO&E line. Those levels debilitate the ship’s AP, AAA, Speed, Nuclear Strength, and Agility accordingly. They do not affect Defense Strength, Armor, or Durability levels. Damage levels of 50 or more turn the ship’s TO&E button silver (for a bit of chrome).
If a TO&E line contains more than one ship all damage on that line is applied to only a single ship until the damage totals 100 – at which point one ship is sunk and the damage level of the TO&E line drops back to zero. Call it the “lead” ship in that line. Other ships in that TO&E line remain undamaged (and invulnerable) – until they become the “lead” ship due to the sinking of the previous one. Note that there is a technique available to designers to split such multiple-ship lines up into single ship lines, if desired.
Naval units cannot be disbanded by players or evaporated by combat short of all ships in the unit being sunk. Combat never sends ships to the “On Hand” pool.
Aircraft Carriers with more than 66 damage points cease to function as aircraft carriers. If that means that there are then fewer aircraft carrier bases than air units in the hex, one air unit will be eliminated.
Carrier-based air units are exempt from combat reorganization.
Damage points incurred by embarked units destroy a weight of equipment equal to those damage points.
There is limited ability to repair some damage while at sea and significantly more while at port.

This new combat procedure only affects combat where the target is a ship or embarked. Bombardment of land units by naval forces is still resolved just as it has always been resolved.

Read the full entry here.

Check out the official The Operational Art of War IV product page for more game information!

Strategy and Wargaming The Operational Art of War IV | Donster | May 31, 2017 |

Wake Up and Smell the Napalm – Rising Storm 2: Vietnam Out Today on the Steam Store

Tripwire Interactive Announces Special 10% Off Sale and Double XP Event for the First Week

Tripwire Interactive is pleased today to announce the release of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam on PC. The highly-anticipated sequel to the smash hit Rising Storm hits the Steam store at 10:00 AM Pacific Time today, and though the Standard Edition will normally be available for $24.99 and the Digital Deluxe Edition priced at $29.99, both editions are 10% off through June 6.

Check out the new Rising Storm 2: Vietnam launch trailer here.

“Rising Storm 2: Vietnam has grown out of all we’ve learned over the years in the Red Orchestra franchise. The weapons, the gameplay, the look – all coming together to generate a really immersive, visceral experience that will keep drawing people in.” said Alan Wilson, Product Director for Tripwire. “The AMG crew have all the experience of designing for asymmetric warfare from the first Rising Storm and, this time, we went through multiple beta waves to gather feedback from the players, act on that feedback and really hone the game to what the players wanted. We’ll continue to do that post-release as well, with a series of upcoming updates – new factions, new gameplay and more. As always with Tripwire, it will be free to everyone who owns the game.”

In addition to the first week sale, early players of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam will also be lucky enough to enjoy double XP for the first week of release. The Shake and Bake Double XP launch promotion will run through June 6 as well, and grant all owners of the game double experience points as they play during the first week of the game’s release.

“At Antimatter Games we’re immensely proud of the work we’ve done on Rising Storm 2,” said Jack Hackett, Producer at Antimatter Games. “We’ve taken what we learned from the first Rising Storm and blended that with the unique opportunities that the Vietnam setting offers to create something that we think is truly special. It’s been a fun journey, and we’re grateful to Tripwire for trusting us to put a fresh spin on the series.“

“Of course, we couldn’t do it without the support and feedback of our fantastic community,” Hackett continued. “They’ve already helped shape the game throughout the Beta, and I can’t wait to see them take it even further with mods and custom maps after release.”

Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is developed by Antimatter Games and published by Tripwire Interactive for PC.

Stay up-to-date with the latest Rising Storm 2: Vietnam news and information at the games official website.

First-Person Shooters Rising Storm 2: Vietnam | Donster | May 30, 2017 |

Just Announced Hardware for 30 May 2017

Hardware | Donster | May 30, 2017 |

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China Leaves Early Access, Full Release Now Available

“The sky was a maelstrom of exploding bombers, twisting tracers, flaming parachutes, and Robert’s own burning fighter… then his engine quit!”

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China (“FTSOC”), the historical air-combat action game based on the events of America’s secret volunteer squadrons who flew combat in Southeast Asia during World War 2, launches today on Steam in 13 languages including English, German, Russian and Chinese. View the launch trailer here.

Published and developed by Ace Maddox, FTSOC was created in Steam’s Early Access program allowing the development team to gather ongoing feedback from the game’s community while iterating, improving and adding new content and features to the game on a near-monthly basis for over a year and a half.

The Digital Deluxe Edition, also available today, contains the Paradise Island DLC which includes the Phi Phi Islands dogfight and multiplayer map, and two amphibious fighters: the Japanese A6M2-N “Rufe” and the US Navy SC-1 “Seahawk”, plus the digital soundtrack OST featuring original music from the game.

FEATURES:

RARELY DEPICTED AIR-BATTLES OF WORLD WAR 2
Action-packed campaign recreates the clandestine operations of the American Volunteer Group in fighter, bomber, gunner, reconnaissance, torpedo, and night missions.

APPROACHABLE TAKE ON AIR-COMBAT
Features TrazerTime™ slow-motion precision firing, arcade-like combat maneuvers, sim-style pitch & roll controls, moody weathers (including thunderous monsoons, beautiful sunsets and misty dawns), 20+ Allied and Japanese planes, adjustable mouse & keyboard, gamepad, and flightstick controls, and more!

MULTIPLAYER FOR UP TO 16 PLAYERS
Steam leaderboards eternalize players’ online rankings across five battle modes! Coordinate devastating air-attacks in TEAM DOGFIGHT while providing cover for your comrades, outdo all enemies using powerful rocket weaponry in ROCKET BATTLE VS, or take to the skies to “Capture the Flag” in the FLAGBUSTERS mode.

PAY ONCE AND PLAY
No micro-transactions or F2P-elements – for a single purchase, you’ll get the full, stand-alone experience – with unrestricted multiplayer!

FLY IN COCKPIT OR THIRD-PERSON MODE
Soar through the skies of Southeast Asia in third-person or cockpit view in a variety of American, British, Russian/Chinese, and Japanese aircraft.

STRIKING RENDITION OF THE FAR EAST
Faithful environments, beautiful graphics, booming sound effects and an epic-orchestral soundtrack create a lasting impression of the China-Burma-India theatre.

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China is priced at $14.99/€14.99/£10.99 for the standard version, with the digital deluxe edition costing $18.99/€18.99/£13.99.

FTSOC is available in 13 languages: English, Spanish, French, Polish, German, Portuguese-Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Italian, Czech, Turkish, and Japanese.

Get more information about the game at the official Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China website.

Combat Flight Sim Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China | Donster | May 29, 2017 |