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Panzer Corps 2
Asid:
A new story begins... Panzer Corps 2 has been announced!
Posted: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 by Alberto Casulini
When we released Panzer Corps six years ago, our goal was to revive a genre by going back to its roots. We worked with Flashback Games and The Lordz Games Studio and with the help of a vibrant community to create a new classic that would start a new era in wargaming. We had goals, hopes and objectives, but we couldn’t possibly imagine the impact this game would have had in the wargaming and strategy gaming communities.
The release of Panzer Corps marked the return of a long-neglected gaming formula, which we knew still had a large and loyal following. Its spectacular success brought an almost forgotten genre back into fashion, it inspired multiple clones and literally gave new life to an entire market.
After over five years of expansions, mods, challenges and tournaments, a brand-new instalment of the franchise is ready to take the strategy gaming segment by storm again. This time, with even bigger ambitions.
Panzer Corps 2 is currently in development using Unreal Engine 4, to allow an impressive leap forward in both technological capabilities and visual impact. Hundreds of World War 2 units will be shown with a level of quality and detail never seen before in awargame.
The move to a fully 3D engine is a natural evolution of the game, but the core gameplay will always remain true to its roots: pay tribute to the classic gameplay of a distant golden age of strategy gaming, refine it, perfect it and use the most recent technologies to enhance these experiences and bring them to a new generation of gamers. In other words, strike the perfect balance between tradition and innovation, both in visuals and gameplay.
We will disclose more details about the game as we move through the development process, so make sure you follow us on the forum and on the Flashback Games site.
Asid:
Panzer Corps - Follow the Twitch!
Are you still thrilled over the recent announcement of Panzer Corps 2? I can understand why. I was thrilled myself when I first heard of it.
But in the meanwhile, there's no better way to spend the time than good old Panzer Corps! Join us tomorrow on our Twitch channel at 5 pm CET / 4 pm GMT / 11 am EST. Agrippa will lead the Soviets in the defense of Stalingrad!
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Asid:
Panzer Corps 2 - Dev Diary #1
Welcome to the first issue of Panzer Corps 2 Developer Diary. The initial announcement of Panzer Corps 2 was a little while ago now, and we understand that it left many people waiting for more information. In this issue we will try to provide a general overview of where we are going with this project and what to expect from it. We will provide much more information on each individual aspect of the game in future diaries.
Gameplay changes
Panzer Corps was intended as a spiritual sequel to the classic Panzer General series, and we were very careful to preserve the traditions of that series that made it so great for its day. We are taking the same very careful approach to game design in Panzer Corps 2. We are not trying to fix things which are not broken in the first place. Many aspects of the game, including the list of unit classes and unit stats, remain unchanged, and Panzer Corps veterans will feel themselves instantly at home with the new game. At the same time, we are giving the player a number of new tactical options, which will make the playing experience even more interesting and engaging. Here are some examples of these options:
Overrun. This was probably the most requested feature in Panzer Corps, and we had no other option other than to include it. Overrun is a unique ability of tanks to run over crippled enemy units and destroy them in the process, without spending their move or attack action. This feature not only helps to better represent the role of tanks in WW2, but also gives many interesting tactical implications from a pure gameplay point of view.
Encirclements. Panzer Corps is a “wargame” in the first place, and for most players its “war” aspect is the most interesting of all. On the other hand, moving around non-combat supply units, counting supply points etc. is much less fun. For this reason, we decided early on that the new game would not include a full-blown realistic model of supply. However, we felt that cutting enemy units from supply was a very interesting and useful tactical option, so we have included it in the game. It works like this: when a group of units is encircled by the enemy (only “passable” terrain needs to be blocked), it no longer receives any supply, and on top of this, encircled units will get a progressive combat penalty every turn. So now, the player has a choice: tackle the next objective head on, or try to encircle it and weaken the defenders before dealing with them.
Infantry unit is isolated on a small peninsula by the sea and the enemy. It does not get any supply here.
Splitting units. In Panzer Corps 2 any unit can be split into two equal halves (of course, at a cost of additional unit slots) which will act on the battlefield as two independent units. Splitting has countless tactical uses, especially in combination with encirclements as described above. Certain unit classes can especially benefit from it, like recon.
Captured units. Captured units in Panzer Corps campaigns were so popular, we’ve decided to make them a part of core game mechanics. When you force enemy unit to surrender, its equipment is captured and added to a pool. Later you can use this pool to create new units or replenish existing ones for free. This adds yet another tactical consideration: shall I destroy this unit, or try to make it surrender instead? Unique hero abilities. Unlike Panzer Corps, where heroes only gave stat boosts to units, in Panzer Corps 2 they will have many unique tactical abilities, and some of these abilities will be synergistic. So, using your heroes in the best way possible will be a different task in every playthrough.
Air and Naval Warfare. Other major changes will happen in air and naval warfare. Ground combat was the most sophisticated and interesting part of Panzer Corps. With so many different rules, unit classes and terrain types, ground war was a varied and rich gameplay experience. We felt that air and naval warfare was somewhat lacking in comparison. Our ultimate goal in the sequel is to make them interesting enough to allow dedicated “naval only” and “air only” scenarios, and to achieve this goal, we are looking at various “naval only” and “air only” hex-based wargames for inspiration.
The most important change in the air war is that all aircraft act from airfields now, and return to their base automatically at the beginning of their turn. Also, just as in real life, the effectiveness of aircraft drops as the distance to their base increases. This means that all air rules and mechanics from Panzer Corps (like mass attack, interceptors etc.) remain in place, but at the same time the airfields, their location on the map, timely capture and proper defense become key elements in air warfare.
As for naval war, naval terrain is “by definition” less interesting than ground terrain, with endless sea hexes going in all directions. To compensate for this, ships themselves will be more complex entities, with various factors (like orientation and position of turrets) affecting combat effectiveness, and a damage model (inspired by Pacific General) going beyond the simple “strength number” under the ship. Carrier and submarine classes will be much better fleshed out to represent their unique roles in naval war. A more advanced naval model will allow this series to branch out into any theatre of war in the future, including the “naval-heavy” Pacific, something which Panzer Corps never did.
Asid:
Panzer Corps 2 - Dev Diary #2
Content and play modes
Big branching campaigns with lots of interconnected scenarios and unit carry over have always been a signature feature of this genre, and they will remain the key feature of Panzer Corps 2. The initial release will feature a brand new Wehrmacht campaign that will be a middle ground between Panzer Corps vanilla and the Grand Campaigns in terms of size, and will feature both the European and African theatres in a single interconnected tree of scenarios. Our design goal is to make various historical and fictional branches well balanced in terms of length and interest, in order to improve campaign replayability. We hope that the new campaign will offer a sufficiently fresh and different gameplay experience.
Besides this classic mode, we also want to give our players new experiences to try, and they will be based on our new random map generator. The generator is able to generate maps of different size and type (continent, island, archipelago etc.) with up to 8 players struggling for control, various mission objectives, starting conditions and play options. So, the number of combinations to try is virtually endless.
With such a random generator in place, the next logical step will be to generate full-blown random campaigns, based on date range, number of scenarios and opposing factions selected by the player. Another possibility is to integrate a few random scenarios into a classic, human-designed campaign.
Factions and units
The list of factions in Panzer Corps 2 is, of course, very similar to its predecessor and includes most of the nations which fought in WW2. But the list of units will be more extensive. The initial list of units is based directly on Panzer Corps with all its patches, DLCs and expansions. So we start where the prequel finished, and we are adding a few things on top. Firstly, we are adding a lot of historical ships instead of generic “battleships”, “destroyers” and “submarines”. Together with new naval rules mentioned above, we felt this was important for more interesting and authentic naval experience.
Watch the units video!
Secondly, we are trying to give smaller factions some more substance, so that they are better represented in the game. It does not mean that these factions will be able to fight the “big four” (Germany, USA, Great Britain and USSR) on equal terms, but we hope that they will become interesting enough to get their own content (scenarios and campaigns) as the series progresses.
Multiplayer
The classic PBEM++ multiplayer in Panzer Corps was very popular, and we will of course keep this option in the sequel. At the same time, some players felt that PBEM++ was not interactive enough and in fact “too old school”, compared to a “true” online multiplayer experience offered in many modern games. For these players we are adding a new Multiplayer mode which allows the players to be online at the same time, connect directly, and see each other’s moves in real time.
Most importantly, PBEM++ and online modes are not separated. All games are still kept on the server, and you don’t need to commit to a single play mode when creating a new MP game. You can play a few turns of a game in online mode, then revert to PBEM++ for several more turns, then play online again etc. We hope that this new system will make multiplayer even more popular in Panzer Corps 2.
Other changes in Multiplayer result directly from supporting up to 8 players on the same map. This gives us a lot of options to create competitive and cooperative games between several human and/or AI opponents.
Asid:
Panzer Corps 2 - Dev Diary #3
Welcome to the third Dev Diary of Panzer Corps 2! This time we'll focus on aspects which were left out in the previous two diaries. As previously, though, we'll treat them in a rather generalistic way, but from the next dev diary onwards you can expect more indepth information about specific areas of the game.
Graphics
Despite a significant change in underlying technology (3D and Unreal Engine), we have tried to preserve the same general approach to graphics which always worked so well in past games. Terrain is clean and unobtrusive, and units are big, crystal-clear and stand out well from the map. This is important when the game has hundreds of different units, and the player must be able to distinguish them all at a glance. That’s why we never considered showing several smaller models for a single unit, which might look more “real”, but ultimately is not usable in this kind of a game.
As for terrain, we have drawn a lot of inspiration from Panzer General 2, which was widely considered the most beautiful in the old Panzer General series. At the same time, our maps are not hand drawn or otherwise constructed from small atomic elements, and so they are much quicker to create.
Watch the video
UI
The UI in Panzer Corps 2 is a huge step forward in terms of functionality and usability when compared to its predecessor. It can scale to any monitor size (all assets are done in 4K and scale to the required size), adapt to any screen ratio, and allows scaling of certain elements (like the unit list and the minimap) to make the best use of screen space on any monitor, from square to super-wide or multiple monitor configuration.
We are making sure that all information about unit stats, traits, game rules etc. is available directly on screen or in the tooltips and is easy to find. All commands will also be available on the screen and easily discoverable, without relying on hot keys and other obscure means to invoke a function. We can’t wait to show the new UI in action.
Panzer Corps did not require the player to do a lot of routine micromanagement, but in the sequel we have tried to reduce it even further. For example, the player no longer needs to use “Supply” button manually. All units will receive their supply (fuel and ammo) automatically, as long as supply is possible.
AI
The AI in Panzer Corps 2 is a complete rewrite, it does not reuse any code from Panzer Corps, and it uses some more advanced approaches. This means that the sequel will feature a new, completely different AI opponent.
The new AI is designed and implemented with random maps and random campaigns in mind. This means that it cannot rely on AI scripting at all. It must be able to figure out the structure of any map on its own, achieve any kind of scenario objective and try to prevent the opponent from doing the same. It can also purchase and deploy its whole army in case there are no preconfigured units in a given scenario.
On the other hand, AI scripting options in Panzer Corps 2 are also richer than in its predecessor. This means that it is possible to fine-tune the AI to exact desired behavior, which can be useful in a historical setting.
Editor and modding
Modding community of Panzer Corps was always strong and vibrant, and we are fully committed to making Panzer Corps 2 a modder-friendly game as well. Panzer Corps 2 will include the editor from day one, and this editor will be even easier to use than the editor in Panzer Corps. Although the new map engine is 3D, scenario designer still only needs to specify terrain type for each hex, and the rest of the map will be generated by the engine automatically. Other useful features not found in its predecessor are full support of Undo/Redo, group operations on hexes and units and much more streamlined interface for scripting and AI. At the same time, the designer can bypass all UI and write scripts directly in Lua language which requires a certain skill but gives immense flexibility and power in return.
Just like in Panzer Corps, gameplay data tables will remain in open text format and can be easily edited. People familiar with Unreal Engine can download Unreal Editor and create much deeper mods, which includes adding new units, new terrain types, changing map generation rules etc.
Also, we are working on a proper mod manager which was sorely missing in Panzer Corps.
The main point we were trying to make in these three introductionary dev diaries is that Panzer Corps 2 is far from a mere facelift. While staying true to traditions of the series, our goal is to improve playing experience across the board, and every single aspect of the new game receives a lot of thought and attention. It’s a huge and very ambitious project for our small team, and we really want to make it right, so it is taking a lot of time. In fact, much more time than originally expected. In hindsight, we were a bit too optimistic with our estimations and should have probably delayed the announcement. So, please bear with us, and we sure hope that once the game is released, it will be worth the wait.
See you in the next dev diary!
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