Strategy and Wargaming

Twenty tons of metal mayhem thundering from our servers to your computer, crushing all false wargames, Camo Workshop and Shrapnel Games raises once more the crimson flag of glory with the 2017 WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT upgrade patches! Unleash a storm of new content, revisions, and bug stomping that will leave you breathless. Clear your calendar and plunge into the fire of the most intense tactical wargaming available on your PC!

The WinSPWW2 upgrade patch updates the game to version 10.0 while the WinSPMBT version updates that game to version 11.0. These patches are applicable to both the FREE and the Extended CD versions. Owners of the Extended CD version will be excited to hear about some of the new features that are only available for you, so be sure to keep on reading.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the upgrades it’s time for that annual public service announcement. DO NOT apply the upgrade patches while in the midst of a secure PBEM game as the game will fail. You have been warned.

As to be expected, both patches add plenty of additional content to the games. So, by the numbers we have the following bits of greatness…

WinSPWW2, upgrading to version 10.0 includes:

• 20 new scenarios, 17 revised scenarios, and 2 revised campaigns.
• 4 new maps.
• 134 new or revised photos.
• 36 updated OOB files.
• 73 new or revised vehicle/aircraft icons.
• 135 new or revised icon and terrain graphic files.
• 3 revised text files, 71 campaign text files.
• 7 new or revised sound files.
• 7 new terrain sets, 10 revised terrain sets.

And WinSPMBT, updated to version 11.0 has:

• 15 new scenarios, 6 revised scenarios.
• 10 new or revised map files.
• 77 new or revised photos.
• 176 new or revised vehicle/aircraft icons.
• 93 updated OOB files.
• 138 new or revised icon and terrain graphics files.
• 6 new or revised text files.
• 2 revised picklist files.
• 18 new or revised sound files.
• 7 new terrains, 10 revised terrains.

While all of the above is nothing to sneeze at there is also the long list of bug fixes, enhancements, new features, and more. Click here to read the full press release. There you will find links to the respective game forums for full list of changes and links to download the upgrade patches.

Execute Real-World Tactics with Historically Accurate Units in Big Multiplayer Battles 

Paradox Interactive, a publisher on the front line of gaming, has announced that it has partnered with Eugen Systems, a renowned developer of games such as the Wargame-series and R.U.S.E., to release Steel Division: Normandy 44, a new tactical real-time strategy game for Windows PCs.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 is a game that puts players in command of historically accurate tanks, troops, and vehicles at the height of World War II, and will feature a single-player campaign alongside online multiplayer modes, up to and including 10-versus-10 battles. The game will be available later this year.

Steel yourself for battle with this trailer!

Steel Division: Normandy 44 features thorough attention to historical detail, from the carefully rendered tanks to the in-game maps – based on actual aerial reconnaissance photos of Normandy in 1944. The game runs on the latest version Eugen’s IRISZOOM engine, allowing players to zoom from an aerial, battle-wide perspective all the way down to a single unit, and keep track of the dynamic front line as they plan and execute maneuvers, ambushes, and more. From creating a battlegroup of historically accurate infantry, tanks, and vehicles, to troop positioning and real-time engagement with the enemy, players will need to be clever and cunning in order to win; raw firepower alone will not be enough.

“Few developers appreciate strategy and history as much as Eugen Systems, and that’s what makes this partnership so ideal,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “The level of detail they’ve included in Steel Division is impressive, and I know it will meet the high standards that Paradox fans have when it comes to their historical games.”

Steel Division: Normandy 44 will feature:

• Command Over 400 Historically Accurate Units: Whether fighting for control in intense multiplayer battles with up to 10-vs-10 players going head-to-head, playing alone or working with friends in ranked matches, players will need to coordinate their selection of historically accurate infantry, tanks, aircraft, and support vehicles to counter enemy units in this Tactical RTS game.
• Real-world Tactics: Battles rage over three distinct phases, where different units unlock over time, mimicking the movements of real-world armies and adding variety to the ever-changing theatre of war. A dynamic front line illustrates the ebb and flow of the conflict. Pin down your opponent’s infantry to gain the advantage and force a retreat, or push through with a perfectly executed plan.
• Real-world Setting: Using the latest version of Eugen’s IRISZOOM engine, players can smoothly zoom from a tactical aerial view all the way down to a single unit, and see 400 different real-world vehicles and units designed with careful historical detail and accuracy. Maps are designed based on actual aerial reconnaissance photos of Normandy in 1944, requiring real-world tactics and strategies to cover and control.
• Outplan, Outsmart, Outgun: From battlegroup customization to troop positioning and maneuvering, winning battles requires cunning and strategy, not just raw firepower. Each unit lost presents a growing tactical disadvantage, and players will need to fight to gain — and keep — the upper hand.

For more information on Steel Division: Normandy 44, visit the games official website.

BattleGoat Studios is delighted to announce the development of their upcoming Real Time Geopolitical Strategy/Wargame, Supreme Ruler The Great War. BattleGoat’s Lead Programmer and Co-Founder George Geczy commented, “Supreme Ruler: The Great War adds a new era to the franchise, building upon a game system which has evolved over more than a decade. The combat, diplomatic and economic systems developed for the series continue to offer a unique strategy experience, one which has always been well suited to global conflicts. The First World War remains a topic of great interest to historians and gamers alike, although few games model the strategic challenges that the great powers faced during that era. Adding a World War I title to the series fills a gap in both the franchise and within the PC strategy genre.”

Game Designer and Project Lead Christian Latour added, “Since completion of Supreme Ruler Ultimate, the community has continued to ask if we’ll be developing more content. Most players wanted us to go further back in history, and the First World War remained the most popular request. The scope of an entirely new era goes beyond adding another DLC to one of the existing games, it fits best as its own title within the franchise. Having developed the later eras already, we are able to add the earlier time frame and flow seamlessly into the gameplay experiences for which the Supreme Ruler titles are so well known. With the required development tools and an experienced team in house, we know that we can build the World War I strategy game fans have been asking for.”

About Supreme Ruler The Great War
Expanding on sixteen years of development on the Supreme Ruler series of Real Time Geo-Political Military Strategy Games for PC and Mac. Supreme Ruler The Great War brings players back to 1914, to a world that has little understanding of the devastation that will be unleashed as long-time alliances and animosities drive ever-growing conflicts. Whether leading a major power or a minor nation, players can experience the tensions of a world descending into chaos. Campaigns follow paths similar to historical events while allowing players control of their own destiny, with the opportunity to change those events and chart their own course. Set-Piece Scenarios will provide for a shorter game focused on specific events from the era. As well, the ever popular sandbox mode allows players to customize their gaming experience by picking any nation and choosing their own preferred Victory Condition. With the further option of multiplayer matches, Supreme Ruler The Great War provides incredible amounts of replayability.

• World War I Campaigns for various major powers from the era.
• Take Control of any Nation in Sandbox Mode and impact the outcome of the conflict.
• Start in 1914 and progress well into the 21st century for an Epic Game-play experience.
• Challenge yourself with Set-Piece Scenarios for a faster-paced game.
• The butterfly effect… Influence the timeline and outcome of thousands of historical events.
• Use Diplomacy, Trade, Espionage, and Intimidation to influence the policies of other nations.
• Guide your Nation through the first war waged on a global scale.
• Modernize your economy to support whatever social and military policies you choose.
• Comprehensive Tech Tree features over 100 years of technology and equipment advances.
• Sophisticated Real-Time Strategic and Tactical Control of your Military Forces.
• Detailed historically-accurate Armies down to the Battalion level.
• Choose your level of control. Make all decisions or use your Cabinet Ministers to help.
• Battle the elements! Fully integrated weather model influences battlefield outcomes.
• Up to 16 players in Multiplayer over local network or Internet.

Dynasties come and dynasties go, but China is eternal. An unbroken chain stretches through the millennia, and now this mantle lies on your shoulders. Rest secure in the Forbidden City, husbanding your power for the storms you know are coming. Your neighbors will kowtow and bring tribute to your palace. Does anyone dare challenge you, the heir to the Mandate of Heaven?

Mandate of Heaven is the newest expansion to Europa Universalis IV, the renowned historical grand-strategy game from Paradox Development Studio. Mandate of Heaven enhances the game experience for playing the major nations of East Asia, especially Ming China, Japan, and the Manchu tribes.

One of the centerpieces of Mandate of Heaven is managing the Celestial Empire, similar to how the Holy Roman Empire has been handled in Europa Universalis IV. Increase the power of your mandate by commanding tribute, then use your mandate to reform the imperial system, strengthening your grip on the Middle Kingdom and the continent as a whole. Embrace the meritocracy of China’s civil service to pass decrees that meet your empire’s immediate needs. Can you hold off challengers to your claim?

Mandate of Heaven’s features include:

• Ages and Golden Eras: Earn perks in four historical ages for meeting specific goals, building up to declaring your nation’s single Golden Era – 50 years of prosperity and power.
• Meritocracy: The Chinese emperor can hire good advisers more cheaply, keeping the empire functional no matter who rules.
• Tributaries: Some Asian nations can demand that weaker powers pay an annual tribute, whether in gold, manpower or monarch points.
• Manchu Banners: Manchu provinces can provide cheap and effective Banner armies drawn from the traditional tribe system.
• Japanese Shogunate: Compel the loyalty of your daimyos with new interactions that require them to submit to your authority, contribute to your power or even commit seppuku
• Diplomatic Macrobuilder: Common diplomatic actions are now easily available from the macrobuilder interface.
• New Events and Decisions: Most of these new systems are connected to new event series or decisions, enhancing your historical immersion.

Mandate of Heaven will also ship alongside new Content Packs fitting the theme of the expansion, with new unit designs for many of the East Asian powers and other updated army models. Watch the Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven Announcement Trailer here.

Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven will available soon on Steam and at the Paradox Store.

The first official update of Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe is finally available for download!

The “Garand” Update brings a huge list of bug fixes and improvements, thanks to the extraordinary amount of feedback coming from the community!

Some highlights:

• Fixed a rare disappearing Capitals error;
• Fixed several ‘on_left_button_down’ errors related to unit selection and movement;
• Soviet Shock Army Build Time increased from 1 to 4 months;
• Vichy France will now deploy its navy if it joins the Axis or Allies for the 1939 to 1942 campaigns

The changelog is very long, so be sure to check it out here!

You can download the update from here.

NOTE ABOUT MULTIPLAYER

The “Garand” Update does not include PBEM which is not quite ready but we didn’t want to delay the many improvements and fixes that Hubert and Bill have made any longer. Nevertheless, the multiplayer is almost finished and we hope to release it very soon! Thanks for your patience!

Get more information about Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe from its official product page!

Innovation in wargames is a hard thing to achieve. New ideas are rare and it’s even rarer to find new development studios willing to bring these ideas to life. Nevertheless, once in a while, someone comes along with an innovative concept, a different approach.

Armored Brigade is one of these rare projects that are the best candidates to evolve an entire market.

“Wargaming is one of the longest running genres out there”, says Iain McNeil, Development Director of Matrix Games. “We have been in this market for so long that we know how hard it is to capture a new idea, a new concept and bring it to life. Armored Brigade is definitely a title that aims to keep itself true to the complexities of a traditional wargame, but also tries to enhance the experience with new gameplay ideas. We are very proud to be working with Veitikka Studios on this project and we are looking forwards to helping make this game the success it deserves to be”.

The game uses a real-time engine and focuses on maximizing the realism of mechanized warfare during a possible escalation of conflict between NATO and the WARSAW pact countries during the cold war.

Large maps, modeled upon real terrain make each battle a true test of wits. Weather and visibility all play a role and with several munition types, including air to air combat and artillery, no battle will be the same. Exciting and challenging tank warfare only adds to the level of realism.

There are a variety of different nationalities within the game including US, USSR, West and East Germany, UK, Finland and Poland. Everything is modeled to a high level of detail to achieve a truly original game.

But this is just the beginning!

Get more information about Armored Brigade from its official website.

Nival reported on solving one of the most ambitious problems for artificial intelligence specialists. Company’s engineers created the world’s first neural network AI for the real-time strategy. This challenging task was chased by a large number of leading companies, including the Deep Mind, IBM, etc. AI, named Boris, is capable of playing at the top player’s level while not using any hidden information about the enemy.

Every few seconds general Boris analyzes the gaming session and makes neural network-based predictions of the enemy future behavior. This approach allows him to think up sophisticated counter-strategies and bring them to life.
The video of AI ​​playing against one of the studio staff was published on the the official Blitzkrieg 3 channel on YouTube and on the game’s page on Steam. It stresses the AI’s unusual behavior: Boris constantly scouts the map, actively relocates his units, and changes his tactics depending on the situation. For instance, in one of the episodes Boris started by landing his paratroopers to attack a single enemy tank. But when reinforcements tanks came, his troops immediately took the defensive positions in the buildings and tried to utilize the artillery. The video also states that playing with general Boris will be available for general public at the upcoming March update.

“Despite the fact that the leading companies of the world are working on this problem, we have managed to create the first neural network AI for RTS”, – says Sergey Orlovskiy, founder and CEO of Nival. “It is worth noting that Boris plays fairly. He does not use the information under the fog of war, as well as any other hidden information about the enemy. We gave him only the basic tactical moves, but during his training he invented a variety of strategies. He makes decisions just like a talented military leader. It has become difficult to predict his actions now, and, most importantly, to distinguish them from human behavior.”

Company’s speakers also state that such an AI approximates the not-so-distant future. Sooner or later AI-based generals will surpass their human counterparts and AI-controlled armies will defend the national borders.

You can get more information and purchase a digital copy of the game on the official website and on the game’s Steam page.

About Blitzkrieg 3

Blitzkrieg 3 is the first true online RTS. It is primarily based on online battles with one side attacking and the other defending, just like in a real war. This third game is a continuation of the successful Blitzkrieg franchise, which has earned over 40 Game of the Year and Editors’ Choice awards around the world. As with previous installments, the game is being developed by Nival, which has been creating top strategy games for the past 18 years.

Monks & Mystics Expansion to Crusader Kings II Sets Date and Price in New Video Developer Diary

Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio have set a release date for the newest expansion to its celebrated medieval role-playing grand strategy game. Crusader Kings II: Monks & Mystics will be leaving the abbey on March 7, 2017 and will be found at Steam and the Paradox Store for $14.99/€14.99.

Monks & Mystics expands the religious side of Crusader Kings II, letting characters join monastic orders, forbidden death cults and even worship Satan in the search for greater power. Perform great charitable acts or feats of infamy as you climb the ranks of your chosen religious community.

Crusader Kings Game Director, Henrik Fåhraeus, talks us through some insights into this latest expansion via a brand new video Developer Diary.

Features of Monks & Mystics include:

• Monastic Orders: Join the Benedictines, Dominicans or other monastic society and increase your prestige while doing homage to God.
• Secret Religious Societies: Hold a secret faith in your heart and slowly increase your religion’s power, climbing from discouraged minority to official faith.
• Devil Worship and Alchemy: Join those who perform Black Masses and dark crimes, or use your intelligence to seek out the hidden mysteries of the universe
• Treasury and Relics: Collect religious relics of the saints to raise your status and increase your power, or craft masterworks of weapons or jewelry that increase your prestige and prowess
• New Councilor Actions: Even councilors that aren’t active in your realm will be using their skills to increase the wealth and stability of your kingdom
• And much more

Monks & Mystics is the first expansion to be released for Crusader Kings II since it celebrated its 5th anniversary this month.

Developer Cats Who Play have revealed their new single-player RTS project, Syrian Warfare, is now available on Steam! With the release announcement, a new release trailer is now available. You can view it here.

Here’s some game info:

Our planet has seen to many wars, and that’s a sensitive subject for all of us. That’s the way the world wags, and every day we see consequences of numerous conflicts taking place in faraway lands. We see them in the news, we see them in the refugees at our borders.

This war has been going on for a long time, and it’s hard to say when it will be over. We got so used to it that news from Syria has become trivial. We’ve even already forgotten how it all started, and where the roots of the terrible terror lie – the terror that swept across Europe in recent years.

Syria is all over the news, and it’s become a subject of many documentaries. We, however, want to show the story through the lens of the game, and don’t let the word “game” mislead you. This game does not claim to be a history lesson, but it shows the course of the war in all its seriousness through the major milestones, from the first days till the latest important victories over terror.

Syrian Warfare is:

• Real Time Strategy game with a high degree of realism.
• Detailed simulation of modern weapon systems.
• Close to reality tactical actions of different types of troops.
• Game based on a true story.
• Realistic graphics.

It’s is not a cheap actioner, but rather a game claiming to look and feel like a non-fiction doc. Following the game progress will bring you to better and clearer understanding of the hornet’s nest that has been stirred up in the Middle East. Understanding of how it all started and how all sides of the conflict tend to act now. We do understand the seriousness of the subject and we are not afraid to take on it.

Find out more on the official Syrian Warfare webpage.

Paradox’s WWII Strategy Wargame Conquers the World

Paradox Development Studio is thrilled to announce that Hearts of Iron IV, its World War II themed strategy wargame, has sold 500,000 copies worldwide since its release in June 2016. This milestone follows record sales for Stellaris, Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II, once again confirming Paradox as the premier developer of computer strategy games.

Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, underlines how the continued success of Paradox games justifies the company philosophy.

“The PC remains the primary platform for games of this nature,” Wester says. “Even genres that have traditionally been seen as niche can find a large audience, if a developer is dedicated to quality, variety and learning from both previous experiences and the community at large.”

Hearts of Iron IV recently saw the release of Together for Victory, the first major expansion to the game. Lead Designer Dan Lind is very pleased with the ongoing development of the game, and the team remains committed to continually improving the HoI experience.

“As a result of this success we are able to take advantage of extra time to add tweaks and polish to the game. Our community has high standards, and we will work hard to to live up to their expectations in the coming weeks and months. We really want HoI to be the best it can be for our fans.”

Hearts of Iron IV is currently 33% off at the official Paradox Store. The game is also available on Steam.