Steel Beasts 4.5 Thread

[Rinix]

https://www.steelbeasts.com/topic/17753-steel-beasts-content-wish-list/page/359/#comments

At the moment our clear priorities are to advance as fast as possible with the new engine, but we're working on a number of groundbreaking elements. It's not entirely trivial. We have really good people in the team and I'm in good spirits that we'll have the first reference implementation of a combat vehicle with crew positions by about summer 2027. No doubt, we'll run into a couple of snags on the way to that point. Once the first reference implementation is complete, converting the other fire control systems and combat vehicles will become "relatively easy" (not the least because we can look up how it's supposed to work in version 4).

Every hour that we spend on more version 4 development
- is an hour not spent on V5
- is a technological debt of at least half an hour of extra work on V5

We still are working on V4 features. There will be a version 4.5 in 2026 with, I think, a number of cool new features. But we have to be very selective in what kind of features are worth the V5 opportunity costs plus extra work for later conversion.

The goal is a new release in the first half of 2026, no earlier than late April but probably more like June. There'll be a handful of new playable vehicles, sure, but the main effort is elsewhere.

https://www.steelbeasts.com/topic/17753-steel-beasts-content-wish-list/page/360/

The new engine, GUI etc. are long-term goals that you'll see come to fruition in version 5. Until then, there's still the short-term demand by our customers to stay relevant in the current operational environment. In short, the coming version will put a considerable focus on drones. That much I can tell at this point.