World War II Online
Encyclopedia
Also known as "World War 2 Online", "WW2OL", "WWIIOL", "Battleground Europe", "BE".
World War II Online: Battleground Europe is a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) computer game. It was released was on June 6, 2001 for Windows, with the Apple Macintosh version being released in 3Q 2002. The game is set in 1940-43 World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It is a virtual battlefield
Virtual battlefield
A virtual battlefield is the digital simulation of a war, generally accomplished by the combination of differing simulators into a digital environment. Each soldier, or vehicle in the environment is controlled by a human being. A functioning virtual battlefield has long been sought after by DARPA...
, a combined arms war simulation
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
. A player can command or crew a variety of accurately modeled aircraft, armored fighting vehicles, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft artillery, and three naval vessels, or fight as a foot-soldier with a variety of infantry weapons. The game is played in real time alongside or against other players as German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
forces in a persistent world. Command structures and missions provide strategic
Strategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
and tactical
Military tactics
Military tactics, the science and art of organizing an army or an air force, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. In...
layers while ranks provide a RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
layer by demonstrating leadership roles. WWIIOL online uses a ½ scale map
Scale (map)
The scale of a map is defined as the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.If the region of the map is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, then the scale may be taken as a constant ratio over the whole map....
of Western Europe with 30000 km² (11,583 sq mi) of accurate terrain (800 m resolution satellite data). It is commonly recognized as the first MMOFPS. It is also one of a very few MMO's that will run natively on Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
.
World War II Online was re-released in 2006 under the new name of World War II Online: Battleground Europe.
Gameplay
There are two sides: AxisAxis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
vs. Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. The Axis consists of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
forces and the Allies are the combined British (UK)
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
forces. The rest of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the rest of the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
or Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
have not been introduced into the WW2 simulation yet. Players can choose to play Axis or Allies and may switch sides after waiting a mandatory period of fifteen minutes that begins when they resign from their current side.
Gameplay takes place in a single game world, which is a 1/2 scale map of Western Europe. It is the largest MMOG game world map, at over 350000 km² (135,136 sq mi), with most play occurring in a 30000 km² (11,583 sq mi) central area in which most capturable cities
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, airfields
Aerodrome
An aerodrome, airdrome or airfield is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo, passengers or neither...
and port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
s have been placed. Two alternate servers are available for training events and beta testing the next version respectively.
The general organization of the forces is historical. SS units
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
are excluded, along with all political elements (for example, the Nazi Party, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
).
WWIIOL is team-oriented. Players are various troops, pilots, gunners, tank commanders, naval destroyer captains, mission leaders, high commanders and are organized into brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s. Everyone plays in the brigade of their choice. Smaller military units of heavily-themed squad
Squad
In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
s are independently managed by players and can use their own tactics but follow the brigade and strategic rules set by the high command players and cooperate with other squads and non-squad players. Being a squad member is optional but encouraged. Some squads have vigorous membership rites
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
. Anyone can, however, form their own squad, solicit members and register the squad with the high command for brigade assignment.
Each player holds a title of rank, based on the military ranks of the time. Ranks are gained through a performance-based scoring system. Rank is never lost as a result of an unsuccessful mission or death.
Detailed statistics are tracked by the server, and made available through a web interface, known as 'Combat Statistics and Records', or CSR. Statistics are very detailed, recording a history of every mission the player has attempted over the campaign. Summary statistics are available to compare player performance to those of other players. Statistics include elements such as number of kills, damages, deaths, time spent on each mission, and depot captures. The top 100 players for several categories are updated regularly.
The game takes skill, teamwork, tactics, strategy, planning, patience and perseverance
Attrition warfare
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
to win battles, make progress and individually rank upward.
Communication between players via text is supported by a variety of communication channels for messages exchanged between players. Default channels are Target (players will communicate with others whose missions target a town and its linked facilities), Mission (all players who chose a mission created by the same person), squad (a voluntary group similar to a clan in other online games), Brigade (not commonly used), Operations (for Tactical/Strategic information and discussions) and Side (for more general and sometimes off-topic chat). There is also a Help channel which can be tuned. Numbered text channels can also be manually connected to. Each side's Air Force and Navy have designated numbered channels, some squads who often play together use specific channels for intersquad communication, and a particular coordinated effort between many the side's High Command, players, various squads and/or various military branches may decide to use a specific numbered channel, as their Target channels may be quite different. Additionally, it is common for players to communicate via TeamSpeak
TeamSpeak
TeamSpeak is a proprietary Voice over IP software that allows users to speak on a chat channel with other users, much like a telephone conference call. A TeamSpeak user will often wear a headset with an integrated microphone...
since cooperation with other players can be critical for success (WWIIOL uses a TS3 server).
Playable equipment
In total, there are currently 130 different playable weapons. WWIIOL has a variety of playable equipment, each modeled with data from historical references. Like in many other RPGs, more equipment that becomes available as the player gains more experience. New recruits start with a limited equipment selection. As the player progresses in rank, better vehicles and more infantry classes become available.Damage model
The ballistic model is also detailed, taking into account drag coefficient
Drag coefficient
In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment such as air or water. It is used in the drag equation, where a lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have less aerodynamic or...
properties, muzzle velocity, and mass of each individual type of ammunition. The game engine considers the physical details of all rounds in flight and at point of impact, calculating the angle of impact and energy of the round, and the thickness and slope of the target vehicle's armor. Rounds which manage to penetrate may go on to cause damage to components or crew members in the path of penetration. High energy rounds that do not fully penetrate may still cause spall
Spall
Spall are flakes of a material that are broken off a larger solid body and can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure...
(high velocity metal fragments) within the vehicle, if close enough to penetration. Rounds that penetrate a vehicle will usually leave a visible hole on the outside, while rounds that don't penetrate may leave a scuff mark where the round bounced off. Small arms fire will also often leave bullet holes or scuff marks on buildings or vehicles.
Strategic Layer (High Command)
HC players have abilities that are not available to the rest of the playerbase, namely in the placing of Attack Objectives (AOs).
When an AO is placed on a town, the other side gets an automatic Defence Objective (DO) on that town allowing all players to know that it is under attack. 10 minutes after an AO is first placed on a town, the town's Depot Office building, City Office building, and Rail Road Office buildings all become captureable. These capturable buildings are collectively known as Capture Points (CPs). Entering the Flag building linked to an Office building (marked with a large flag) will show an attacker how long it will take for the building to become capturable
To capture a building, attackers must remain inside the Flag Building until the capture bar has hit 100%. If more than one player (up to eight) are inside the flag building, the bar will move faster. Additional attackers past the eighth have no affect on the capture speed. Defenders must kill all attackers in the flag building to start liberating the facility. Any attackers who enter the building (even if it is currently being liberated) start the capture bar moving up again. Captuing a flag gives the attacking side control of the corresponding building linked to the Office. If the Office links to a Depot that has a link to a friendly town, the Depot is referred to as "Spawnable" and players may spawn from new missions there, making them an important objective. Players may also despawn near a friendly depot and respawn inside it, called "Warping". This allows attackers to setup a Mobile Spawn Point near a non-spawnable depot and warp directly into it, avoiding any heavy defenses around the spawnable depots.
Ten minutes after an Office is captured, the town's Army Bunkers, Airfield Bunkers, Docks and Factories become captureable. The attacking side must continuously hold one flag in the town for this to happen. It does not have to be the same flag, they may capture two, lose one, capture another, lose the first, in any combination as long as they continue to hold at least one flag for ten minutes. Once all the town's Office buildings, Army Bunkers, Airfield Bunkers, Docks and Factories are captured, the AO and DO are lifted and the town changes ownership to the attacking side. All towns have an Army Base, some on rivers have Docks, some with large historical airfields have Airfields with a command bunker, and some important industrial towns have Factories.
AOs can also be placed on bridges. An AO on a bridge enables that side to destroy it, while a DO allows it to be repaired. Bombers and Naval Destroyers are usually tasked with blowing up bridges, while sapper (engineer) units must repair them. Bridges repair slowly if left alone.
High Command players are able to move their side's "brigades" along road links between friendly towns. Each brigade can be moved once every Hour if in a frontline town, or every half an hour if in a non-frontline town. A friendly brigade in a town allows players to spawn in that town to either defend or attack. Naval and Air Force brigades are considered "Self-Deployable" and can move directly from any town to another with the right Docks or Air Field facilities, as long as the destination town is held by friend forces and is not cut off from the main friendly-held area.
Each army division has a Head Quarters (HQ) unit and three combat brigades. Two of the brigades are Infantry brigades (with a high proportion of infantry and artillery, with only light tanks) and one brigade is classified as an Armoured brigade (with a high proportion of heavy and medium tanks and fewer infantry and artillery). The HQ unit is mostly used to resupply the other three brigades, and is vulnerable when placed on the front line by itself. It is common practice to attach the armoured brigade to one of the infantry brigades and use the HQ unit to resupply both.
The game's movement rules only allow the brigades to be moved to a friendly town that is no more than 1 town away from another brigade or the HQ in its own Division. The rule though does not apply in the case that the brigade is the only one left in its division and if this occurs it is free to move to any surrounding town. This occurs through the routing of brigades. Routing removes brigades from the game map for 6 hours and can happen in a few ways. Brigades in a division will normally "fallback" if the AB is captured, but only if the game's movement rules allow it, that is, move to within 1 link of a brigade or HQ in its own division. If none of the surrounding friendly towns are within 1 link of a brigade within its own division when the AB is captured, then the brigade will be routed off the game map for 6 hours.
High Command players that are Commanding Officers (CO) of a Brigade or higher can give out side wide messages known as dot Axis or dot Allied messages. They are named thus as the command to type one out is, ".axis" or ".allied". These messages are seen by all players on a side and are used for a number of purposes. The usual purpose of the message is to inform players of important battles. The message will tell players what town is being attacked or defended, what brigade or brigades are involved, who the Officer in Command (OIC) of the attack or defence is and what chat and possibly Team Speak channels are being used. Most high command players liven their messages up beyond just the generic and quite humorous messages can often be seen. These messages can also be used to boost the "morale" of the troops by telling them how well they have been fighting and to announce future Operations that are being planned.
Requirements
For current game system requirements, visit the Official Battleground Europe Wiki. JoystickJoystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
s are optional, but are recommended for players choosing to fly airplanes.
Learning curve
The game has a challenging learning curve. This is due to a large selection of user controlled weapons, systems, and a large human-opponent combat environment. In 2008, version 1.29 added the beginnings of a in-game tutorial system to ease the learning curve. In version 1.30 the tutorial system was expanded to encompass many aspects of the game. An official game wiki is also now available for user reference.
History
Initial release
After a lengthy closed beta stage, WWIIOL went live on June 6, 2001 under the campaign title Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
. The release was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the D-Day:
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
invasion of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
.
Like most online games, WWIIOL is a continual work in progress, and so has a history of updates that are frequently released to add new features, fix problems and improve existing features. Updates, or patches
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
to the game code, were released every 6 weeks, on average; but recently have moved to a less frequent but larger content format of 3 or 4 times a year. These patches generally include a wide range of features and problem fixes. Everything from new weapons and vehicles to audits of the performances of existing weapons and vehicles are part of the patching process as well as terrain, structure, game play and performance improvements.
The initial launch had a number of technical difficulties. The game required that players download a 70 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
update before they could play online. At the time, the majority of users had 56k modems
56K modem
56k modems are voiceband modems nominally capable of download speeds up to 56 kbit/s . In the late 1990s, they were the most popular access method for personal Internet usage, but their use had declined as broadband technologies such as DSL gained wider availability.-Speed:The 56 kbit/s...
, requiring around three hours to update the game. As the developers worked feverishly behind the scenes to complete other promised features and fix the software bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
s on the gold CD, even more updates became necessary.
Three days prior to release, the colocation
Colocation centre
A colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
network
Wide area network
A wide area network is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area . Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations...
facility had a bad fiber optic
Optical fiber
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
cable. This failure reduced the player capacity of the server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
cluster, from 10,000 players down to only 1200 players. As a temporary workaround, Playnet set up multiple copies of the game-world on different servers, distributing the network load, but at some cost in game play. This solution lasted for several months while the developers resolved the server-side issues, after which all servers were merged into a single game-world.
Some features advertised on the game box were partially implemented, or missing, such as rank and high-command strategic features.
The combination of the above problems resulted in game returns, complaints from customers, and a drop-off in sales as word spread of the game's state. Subscription fees for the first several months were waived, until the major problems with the game were resolved. This helped to retain many of the players, especially the long-term fans of the project, but it was not long before Playnet had financial problems. They filed for Chapter 11
Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
bankruptcy protection in late 2001, and cut costs, resulting in a number of lay-offs within the company.
Statements from both the developer (CRS), and publisher (Strategy First
Strategy First
Strategy First is a software company based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1988, the company has published numerous well-known games, such as the Disciples series, Jagged Alliance series, Space Empires series, and Galactic Civilizations....
), indicated that CRS wanted a longer open beta, but the game was launched anyway, due to financial reasons.
Accolades
World War II Online has received numerous industry press awards including GameSpyGameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's 2001 Gamers' Choice Sim of the Year and IGN's 2001 Persistent World Game of the Year.
2002-2006
Despite the problems in the early release, the CRS development team continued to support and improve the game, through frequent patch releases, upgraded servers and periodic investment in improved network infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
.
A number of patches have been issued, introducing significant gameplay improvements, including:
- Expansion of the in-game map (continuous)
- New vegetation and terrain (continuous)
- New buildings (continuous)
- Authentic sounds when possible (continuous)
- Macintosh version (3Q 2002)
- Introduction of ranks
- Introduction of combat statistics (accessible through a web interface)
- Introduction of new vehicles and weapons (continuous)
- Introduction of paratroopers (Christmas 2004)
- Introduction of naval combat (2002)
- Introduction of the "high command"; functionality for high-ranking players with a strategic focus
- Introduction of brigades that regulate force movement (directed by high command)
- Additional in-game support of squads
- Improvements to the graphics engine (higher-polygon object models, improved shading, fog, performance improvements, SpeedTreeSpeedTreeSpeedTree is a group of vegetation programming and modeling software products developed and sold by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. that generates virtual foliage for animations and in real time for video games and simulations...
(tm) technology) - Improved cover and concealment
- Replacement of impassable "hard forests" with navigatable forests
- Multiple user interface revisions
- Server tracked mortar rounds & objects (allows for persistent player placed objects such as hulks)
- Variable weather states
- Introduction of player-led missions (OIC system)
- Semi-persistent Corpses and vehicle hulks
Re-release
Blitzkrieg (computer game)
Blitzkrieg is a real-time tactics computer game based on the events of World War II. The game allows players to assume the role of commanding officer during the battles of World War II that occurred in Europe and North Africa. Each country has its respective historically correct military units...
. The Battleground Europe re-release was distributed across Europe in late 2005 and in the US in early 2006 by the game's new publishers GMX Media (Europe) and Matrix Games (USA).
World War II Online: Battleground Europe was largely a compilation of fixes already available through patches to the original game. However, compared to the initial 2001 release, the game was drastically different due to these changes.
The launch of Battleground Europe included an extensive open beta, and was based largely on a proven product. As such, it was met with considerably more favorable reviews in the media.
2007 to 2010
Some of the features released in WWIIOL from 2007 to the present day include:- Addition of mortars as infantry units
- Six new medium tier planes (Hurricane IIb, Spitfire IIb, Hawk-87b3, Bf109F-1, Bf109G-6/U4 and Bf110F-B)
- 500 lb MC bombs to augment the Allied GP bombs
- TOEs (Tables of Equipment), allowing better control of weaponry assignment at a strategic level.
- Persistent supply based on dynamically attrited and resupplied from the rear Divisions and Brigades
- Air Warning System, to help airborne players better locate enemy aircraft.
- Personalized vehicle markings.
- Differentiated army brigades - Every division has two infantry brigades and one armor brigade.
- Tutorials, improving the accessibility for new players
- Predefined mouse/keyboard controls for vehicles
- Improved performance
- Improved town layouts and building designs
In 2008, CRS began design on a version of the game for the Chinese market. This version will include Chinese language support, "anti-addiction" software, and in-game tutorials. The Chinese game-version will be played on physically separate servers managed by the Chinese marketing partner. There will be no in-game interaction between US and Chinese game worlds. The Chinese product is currently in beta, as of September 2009.
2010 to Present Day
In late August 2009, Cornered Rat Software unveiled what they had been working on for patch version 1.31. The patch was introduced into the game in June 2010, after two months of beta testing. It adds ragdoll physicsRagdoll physics
In computer physics engines, ragdoll physics is a type of procedural animation that is often used as a replacement for traditional static death animations.-Introduction:Early video games used manually-created animations for characters' death sequences...
and blood splatters, variable weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
, new building graphics, improved foliage, removal of the remaining "2D" box buildings, and capture mechanics. Its graphical improvements are based on an overhaul of the graphics engine, labeled Unity 1.5, redesigned to take advantage of modern graphics card features. This is in contrast to the current Unity 1 engine which was written in reign of the Voodoo 3 using OpenGL v1.2. The Open Beta for testing was released February 22, 2010, and there has been infantry based and setup battles to test bugs.
To provide financial support for new features, devoted players have taken the initiative to organize their own private funding for the game, and private contributions are recognized by the developers through a program known as the "Builder's Program".
Battleground Europe, like many MMOGs is a continual work-in-progress. The game continually expands in terms of gameplay, equipment, cities, etc., often introducing changes to gameplay.
On June 6, 2011, ten years after the game was released, Battleground Europe said it would be placing "Rapid Action" into the game and that they would place American units in the game as well.
External links
- Battleground Europe WWII Online homepage
- Battleground Europe Wiki Official Battleground Europe wiki
- World War II Online community page
- Axis High Command Axis strategic coordination site
- Allied High Command Allied strategic coordination site
Tools
- Battleground Europe Wiretap. Service exposes dynamic battleground data of Battleground Europe.
- Battleground Europe Game Monitor Third party Battleground Europe game monitoring tool based on Wiretap service.