Most of you are aware that this very long development cycle was nessesary because we rewrote much of the back end of the game, both client and host side, and created some things that work in a totally different fashion than before.  1.30 lays the foundation for things that would have been impossible to create previously.

A lot of this was so that instead of just updating content like a lot of continued game developments focus on, we can actually attract more players to the game; and from markets that would not have previously given the game much thought at all. We'll still be adding content to the game and we actually added some to the game this time around as well as all the redevelopment we did behind the scenes.

TRAINING

Let's look at some of that redevelopment work because this is what a lot of our current players feel will impact them the most; the tangible things, things that they can see. For starters, the new training tutorials. While it's true that most "veteran" players of the game will not at first (or maybe even later on) see much worth in this, it counts for more than what may seem immediately apparent. Back in November, we introduced the beginnings of the new training program. That has now been expanded to include a Combat Training scenario, and continues to expand.

The immediate impact is the ability to better prepare the new player so that once he graduates training and enters the warzone he will have a better understanding of the fundamentals of the game mechanics, relying less on using chat to ask "How do I do this ?" and "What does that mean?". These actions can be a distraction that often gets the new guy killed; not to mention the veteran player that might be typing back to him at precisely the wrong time to be chatting.

You Rats certainly made this old and former Community Trainer smile. What you mentioned here sounds a lot like what I used in my greenhorn Boot Camp sessions back in the day. I'm ecstatic training is finally taking off in game. S! Rats - Gunnie

Let's face it, this is an extremely tough PvP game environment to master, and the training programs we can expand on with the building blocks we have put in place with v1.30 will help us, will help you as well get new players up to speed with understanding their environment and the tools at their disposal much quicker. With the new toolset currently in planning for a future release, custom training scenarios can be created, giving players the ability to create unique situations to cover a wider variety of ones that you are likely to encounter in-game.

BINOCULARS/RANK

Binoculars will now be available to low ranking, and usually new, players to give them a better chance at survival in their first forays out into the battlefields. Chganges have been made to the ranking levels. Instead of the current 5 levels of infantry rank progress, we've expanded it to 7. this means that players don't run out of rank purpose quite as quickly as before and this also gives have more room for new infantry weapons and equipment to be introduced to the game as they are developed.

AIRCRAFT

As you may recall from my earlier article, we have re-balanced RDP progress for the aircraft tiers now so that we no longer need rely on the Bf109E-4 doing double duty as the ranked veteran fighter in both Tiers0 and 1, the Bf109F-1 now taking it's place in Tier 1.

On the content side, there is a shift towards the final skill and rank tree changes we brought into their first incarnation with the aircraft list. This required some new planes and the retirement of some old ones. - DOC

Of course the Bf110F-B works better as a fighter in the fighter-bomber aspect of it's role than the old Bf110C-4/B did, which was always a bit too much to ask of the poor old Bf110C-4 varient.

THE END OF ALT +F4

You read it right: 1.30 wil eliminate the ability for less than scrupulous players to use that nasty little method to avoid getting a KIA on their stats. This "tactic" has been something that has driven our air boys buggy for some time, and we're happy to see the end of it.

TANK DAMAGE

We also reviewed the tracking function on tanks, and the loss of wheels on wheeled vehicles. If you manage to track a tank on both sides, there is a variable chance of a kill or not depending on where you did the damage. If you just break a track link, or destroy a track plate, you won't get a kill for that effort because in a real life situation that damage is not catastrophic. If you destroy the drive wheel or the idler wheel on both sides, you will be awarded a kill, as the suspension/drive components now turn the tank into a stationary target, with the majority of it's vital components rendered useless. 

However it's not as easy as it used to be. Trucks and armoured cars will record more catastrophic damage to their wheels now to help prevent them "driving around on 3 wheels" as often happened in the past when you only managed to destroy 1 wheel. It's not exactly overmatch but it is a more representative level of damage to components that should be very durable in reality.

RANK TITLE FIXES

In addition to a new UI pop up when you get a promotion showing any perks you receive and points to your next rank, we corrected and updated some of the Rank titles.

PLAYGATE

We've reworked the new Playgate that but will significantly to fix several connection and error message issues
We also fixed a firewall checking error. Some changes made to the netcode2 behavior will reduce the number of CTHLs caused by packetloss. Good news!

TERRAIN

Work on changing some of the town layouts has continued.  What this means is that the tactics of town fighting are going to become vastly more interesting and entertaining.

THE FUTURE

While 1.30 may not be sexy on the surface, her underpinings have gotten a major revamp.  Redoing and tweaking some of our old code will strengthen the game and open the door to so many future possibilities. The long anticipated UNITY 3D® engine upgrade will be the primary focus of 1.31:

But the most significant achievement of 1.30 is that the backbone work has been laid and our Unity game engine upgrade will to go into closed testing IMMEDIATELY following! And boy, the presents we have in store for you with that upgrade are pretty sweet.  New capture facilities, new textures, new urban buildings... - GOPHUR

We know it's been a long road, it's been as long for us as it has been for you, believe me. 1.30 was a huge undertaking. But the doors it opens for future development are staggering. We're excited and energized about what's coming next. We can only thank you for your patience and hope you're looking forward to what's coming next for WWIIOL:Battleground Europe.

S!

FULL 1.30 README AVAILABLE HERE

1.30 WIKI ENTRY HERE