Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism

[Asid]

New units in Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism | Part #9
Tue, 24 November 2020

T-34 legacy: T-44 and T-54-1 tanks



The legendary T-34 Soviet medium tanks were instrumental in turning the tide of war in Europe against Germany. It had decent armament and medium armor - in 1941 T-34 was superior to the German tanks of the time.



The model was further polished and refined resulting in T-34-85 modification that was used until the end of the war. It was not as powerful as heavy tanks, but its mobility and the ability to cover large distances with relatively minor repairs was what made all the difference.



T-44 was developed in 1944, but its production was suspended to avoid the reduction of T-34 production. Overall, the model was deemed unsuccessful, as its medium armor was easily pierced by all anti-tank guns in use as of 1945.



To compensate for the faulty T-44 model, the improved T-54 tank was developed and introduced in 1946-1947. The rework optimized all aspects of the tank. It was a success - the tank started its service in 1947, and it is still in service in many countries as of 2020. The T-54/55 series eventually became the most-produced tank in history. Estimated production numbers for the series range from 86,000 to 100,000.

In Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism you can use T-54-1 in 1946 to fight the Allied forces in Europe in the alternate history portion of the game. Although not as powerful as an IS-4 heavy tank or Koenigstiger, it is still a viable option, as it has higher mobility and allows it to cover larger distances.

We will keep posting new units that will appear for the first time in the Strategic Mind series, so stay tuned!

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Update 1.03
Thu, 26 November 2020

Further polish



Comrade! Today, we deliver the third regular update. We fixed almost all of the reported issues and added yet more polish to the game.

Update 1.03

Added:
•   Series (DB-3F) for Il4 bombers (cheaper to upgrade)
•   Series (T-34) for T-34-85 (cheaper to upgrade)
•   Series (ISU-152) for ISU units (cheaper to upgrade)

Changed:
•   T-54 and SU-100 now have a higher Hard attack parameter (increased from 17 to 19).
•   SU-122P now has a higher Soft attack and Hard attack. Soft attack increased from 12 to 16, Hard attack increased from 18 to 19
•   Operation Bagration: Polish partisans (Armia Krajowa) are now more powerful, and can survive longer, giving the player a bit more time to reach them.
•   Operation Bagration: After helping the Polish partisans (Armia Krajowa), when they become hostile to the player, the German troops no longer see them as allies, making partisans fight both against Germans and Soviets.
•   Invasion of Poland: Upon finishing the objective to capture Polish troops, the message saying you should be trying to capture them will no longer appear.
•   Marina Raskova’s hero skills. Removed the “Fire discipline” skill that duplicated the Tactical bomber skill set. Instead, the “Communist” skill was added. [Reported by Aero橙子]

Bug fixes:
•   Removed German unit lines from trophy Me-262 and Koenigstiger. [Reported by Foxador]
•   Localization fixes:
•   Added updated Manual texts in Chinese
•   Added some missing localization in German
•   Corrected Ukrainian localization
•   Fixed minor localization issues

Many thanks to all you guys for your continuing helpful comments and feedback. With your help, we will be able to further polish and improve the game much better.

We will keep polishing and improving the game.

Looking forward to more feedback

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

New units in Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism #10
Tue, 1 December 2020

Soviet bombers: Pe-2 and Il-4

Ilyushin Il-4 (DB-3F)



A modification of earlier DB-3 bomber models. Despite being far from the best design as of 1941, these long-range bombers did perform several daring raids on Berlin in the summer of 1941, proving to Germans that their homeland could also suffer from war. Overall, more than 6000 planes of different modifications were built.

Petlyakov Pe-2



A twin-engined Soviet dive bomber, Pe-2 is considered one of the best aircraft models the USSR produced during the war. Its production numbers went over 11 000 units built.

The Pe-2 was designed in a prison design bureau (sharashka); Vladimir Petlyakov (head engineer) had been arrested and imprisoned in 1937 for allegedly delaying design work on the Tupolev ANT-42 bomber. Petlyakov was given the task of designing a high-altitude fighter, which he successfully accomplished. However, operational experience in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 showed that this was not what the Soviet Air Force needed, and Lavrentiy Beria, head of the NKVD and of the sharashka system, ordered that the fighter be redesigned as a dive bomber, with the promise that Petlyakov and his colleagues would be released on its successful completion. The resulting aircraft, the Pe-2 proved to be one of the most successful designs of World War II.

Petlyakov was released in 1940, and was awarded a Stalin Prize in 1941. However, at Kazan, Petlyakov faced increasing difficulties, with many of his trained technicians and machinists conscripted into the Soviet military and sent to the front lines, which adversely affected the aircraft production. He protested to Soviet senior leadership, and was on his way to Moscow in January 1942 (flying in a Pe-2), when he died in an air crash near Arzamas.



We will keep posting new units that will appear for the first time in the Strategic Mind series, so stay tuned!

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Community items added!
Wed, 2 December 2020

Get promoted to a Marshal rank

Comrades, today is a glorious day!

Today, the Community items for Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism were finally allowed into Steam. Today, Comrades, the trading cards of prominent Soviet leaders will establish order in this capitalists’ den.

Meet the Stavka
We have added 7 Steam trading cards with key characters from Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism. Be the first to get your hands on all of the Stavka members:



Collect the Stavka members and get a promotion
If you collect 7 different trading cards from Spectre of Communism you will get yourself a Kombrig rank:



You have to repeat that to be promoted to a Komdiv rank:



Next in line are:
•   Komkor


 
•   General of the Army


 
•   Marshal of the Soviet Union



Additionally, if you collect a rare set of trading cards, you will get a special foil badge — Order of Victory:


 
Exclusive Profile backgrounds, only for the top Party members!
By getting promotions, you will also gain emoticons and Profile backgrounds granted by the Party to its most ardent supporters.

Another way to get all the goodies is to go to the “Beryozka” store (Point buy shop on Steam). Only top brass is allowed into the Beryozka store, where everything could be bought in capitalists’ dollars, and not an honest man’s roubles. So, you can use Points, instead of trading cards to get whatever Community items you want.

Here is an example of colored and black-and-white versions of a Profile background:


 
Let us know in the comments below what you think of the new Community items. Do not worry, the NKVD staff is on holiday today and won’t be reviewing your posts.

With best regards
Starni Games Stavka

[Asid]

Update 1.04
Thu, 3 December 2020

Further polish



Comrade! This is a quick fix update for the issue with the 20th operation.

Update 1.04

Bug fixes:
Fixed crash that would happen in some playthroughs (depending on your actions in previous operations) at the very beginning of 20th operation. If you had this issue, you have to restart the operation from the Headquarters room. Reported by Problem Solver, Liberty-kun (◕‿◕) and others.

We will keep polishing and improving the game.

Looking forward to more feedback

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

List of operations in Spectre of Communism
Thu, 3 December 2020

We were asked to list all the operations in Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism, so here it comes



Hello guys. Some of you have asked us for a full list of operations in Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism on our community hub. So, here is the list. We did not want to spoil all the operations for those who want to find out the exact order of events for themselves. So, we think that the middle ground will be posting the operations using spoiler text .

See here for list without spoilers

All operations in chronological order:

1. - May1939
2. - September 1939
3. - December 1939
4. - June 1941
5. - September 1941
6. - December 1941
7. - November 1942
8. - February 1943
9. - July 1943
10. - October 1943
11. - January 1944
12. - June 1944
13. - January 1945
14. - March 1945
15. - April 1945
16. - April 1945
17. - August 1945
18. - March 1946
19. -
20. -

We wish you the best of luck in completing the whole campaign.

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

New units in Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism | Part #11
Tue, 8 December 2020

Soviet Anti-tank self-propelled guns: SU-85 and SU-100

SU-85



A Soviet self-propelled tank destroyer based on T-34 chassis and armed with a long-barrel 85 mm gun. SU-85 was a fearsome foe for German tanks, designed to counter the German heavy Tiger tanks.

🕹 In the game: you can use these powerful anti-tank units to fight the hard targets effectively. They are both mobile and pack a heavy punch. On top of that, being an armored unit they have a solid defense, allowing them better sustainability on the frontline.

SU-100



A major improvement when compared to SU-85. SU-100 was based on the newer tank chassis of T-34-85. It had a modern 85 mm gun D-10S, which proved to be even more effective against the enemy armor. Additionally, SU-100 had much thicker armor plating.

🕹 In the game: you can upgrade SU-85 into SU-100 taking advantage of its better offensive and defensive capabilities.



This was the last dispatch about new units in the Spectre of Communism. However, in just a few days we will start updating you on the new units in Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom, so stay tuned!

👉 Learn more about the upcoming project and add it to wishlist


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850


With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Update 1.05
Thu, 10 December 2020

Poland fixes
 


Comrade! In today’s update, we fixed several minor issues with Poland scenarios. However, if you started playing the second operation (Poland) before this update, you may encounter some issues due to these changes. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we have to ask you to restart this operation from the HQ room if that is the case. To clarify: the issues can only be with Poland save files made prior to the 1.05 update. To be safe, restart the 2nd operation for the headquarters room save file.


Update 1.05

Bug fixes:
•   Fixed crash in Poland operation when the Armored train objective was completed during the AI turn. For example, if the last unit guarding it was killed by Fire support or Return fire.
•   Fixed several minor issues with the scripts.
•   Fixed major issue with the Command points being lower after loading the save file. The bonus from Global effects was missing.
•   Fixed incorrect reward description in the secondary objective in the 18th operation.

Thank you very much for all the feedback and support.
We will keep polishing and improving the game.

Looking forward to more feedback

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Watch the Developer's Gameplay #1: Khalkhin Gol Scenario
Tue, 15 December 2020

Hello, guys!

Today we bring you our first ever Dev's gameplay.

The Lead game designer will play the Battles of the Khalkhin Gol scenario from the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism with the commentary, explaining the game mechanics and telling you more about the game development process. What do you think of this idea and the video? Please let us know in the comments on YouTube 😉.




Save 20% on 'Startegic Mind: Spectre of Communism':

[Asid]

Developers' Diaries #9
Wed, 16 December 2020



Communist Economy
Hello, guys! A month has passed since the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism release and we are ready to share some insights into the financial results of the release for our company.

Bad news for Stalin
In the first two weeks since release, Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism has two times fewer copies sold and twice lower gross revenue than its predecessor Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg over the same 2-week period after release. There are a couple of possible reasons:

•   End of the year clutter in November with lots of big titles being released. Although, Strategic Mind: The Pacific was more successful during the same period.
•   The USSR theme is less interesting/popular than the German one. (Seems the most likely reason)
•   Something else.

Games quality
One might think that the game quality was the reason, but that is not the case. The games are quite close in terms of quality and gameplay. Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism has higher Steam reviews score than Blitzkrieg - 94% positive reviews at the moment - and it was more polished at launch. Thus, in terms of quality, we can say that the bar was raised higher this time and the community feedback tells us as much. Does that mean the higher quality of the game does not directly translate into higher sales?

Wishlists comparison
Both games had very close wishlist numbers prior to the game launch. That brings us to the question, what affects the game release the most?

On the bright side
The Spectre of Communism is more popular in China and Russia.

To be, or not to be?
Despite the unsuccessful start of Stalin’s career on Steam, we keep working on our next project Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom that is scheduled for Q2 2021. We hope that the upcoming title will gather more attention from the audience, considering that it features both US and British campaigns, as well as alternate history scenarios.

“It seems that the 5-year-plan will not be completed this time around. Bear with us, Comrades, the next 5-year-plan will most certainly be fulfilled within 4 years.”
Oleksandr Sienin, Lead game designer at Starni Games

In wishlist we trust
Despite the unsuccessful launch of the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism, a wishlist count remains the best way to estimate the game’s potential at release and help the game get more attention on Steam.

You can support our team and help us with the future release by adding the upcoming Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom to your wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/
 

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Update 1.06
Tue, 22 December 2020

Winter clean up
 


General! In this update, we fix some of the most annoying long-standing issues to enter the new year with our head held high.

Update 1.06

Changes:
•   Fixed the incorrect awards discount for purchasing units. Now everything works correctly. Huge thanks to all of you who reported this issue.
•   Fixed issue with Command points being lower after save/load. Huge thanks to all of you who reported this issue.

We already have a bunch of new reports and will address them as soon as possible, so do not worry that we missed your issue - it will most likely hit the next update.

Looking forward to more feedback

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Update 1.07
Thu, 24 December 2020

Minor fix 🛠



Comrade! 🌟

In this update, we fix a pesky mistake that slipped through in the 1.06 update. Some mysterious events led to the British flag in the HQ room replacing our proper Red Banner.



We are sure that Comrade Beria will have to investigate this outrage. The NKVD staff is already looking into this matter.


Update 1.07

Changes:
Fixed an incorrect flag in the HQ room that was changed by mistake in 1.06 update.

We already have a bunch of new reports and will address them as soon as possible, so do not worry that we missed your issue - it will most likely hit the next update.

Looking forward to more feedback.

With best regards
Starni Games team

[Asid]

Developer's Gameplay #1: Khalkhin Gol Scenario
Tue, 5 January 2021



Watch the first stream on Steam by our team

Hello, guys!

This is the first stream on Steam by our team. It has already premiered on YouTube, but now we are working on producing Developer's streams on Steam. Let us know what you think of the first episode.

This is a Developer’s gameplay series by Starni Games. In these episodes the Lead game designer of the Strategic Mind series Oleksandr plays our games with the commentary, explaining the game mechanics and telling you more about the game development process. Today, he plays the Battles of the Khalkhin Gol scenario from the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism. The footage was prerecorded.

[Asid]

Watch the Developer's Gameplay #3: Invasion of Poland
Fri, 15 January 2021



🔴 Watch the Developer's Gameplay #3: Invasion of Poland | Spectre of Communism





Hello, guys!

This is the third gameplay by our team and it features the Invasion of Poland scenario from the Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism.

Do not forget to give us your feedback about the game in the comments on YouTube 😉. Also if you leave your questions about gameplay or mechanics, we will record some short tutorials about the game mechanics that are especially tricky to understand.

About Developer’s gameplay series
This is a Developer’s gameplay series by Starni Games. In these episodes the Lead game designer of the Strategic Mind series Oleksandr plays our games with the commentary, explaining the game mechanics and telling you more about the game development process. Watch all the episodes on YouTube.

[Asid]

Happy World Snow Day! ☃
Sun, 17 January 2021

Get holiday greetings and screenshots from Spectre of Communism



Hello, guys! As you may know today is World Snow Day ❄.

Parents all over the world take kids outside and spend some time together: playing winter games or doing winter sports. If there is snow in your country, of course.

In Kyiv, where the Starni Games office is located, it is a true winter right now: a -17 celsius frost (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit), everything is white and snowy and the parents together with their children ride sleigh in all of the city parks 🛷.

We wish you too would be able to spend a weekend with your family and friends, doing your favorite kind of winter activities.



If there is no snow in your country, or you dislike winter sports - you can always play Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism, as it has lots of snow and winter "activities". The game does a pretty good job at translating the harsh winter conditions and makes one wonder about how lucky we are to live in a time when the most popular winter activities are throwing snowballs, riding a sleigh, skiing, and snowboarding.





Happy World Snow Day!