Welcome to the Chain of Command Newsletter #4.
A lot of exciting things have been happening since we sent out our last newsletter, so we have lots to talk about!
The single biggest news item is that we have signed a publishing deal for Chain of Command with Slitherine. Getting the backing of one of the biggest publishers in war- and strategy games is essential to making the game a success.
On the development front, work on Chain of Command is moving steadily ahead: various new engine components have been integrated such as the basic unit AI, road networks and road-based routing and work has started on air forces. There are still lots of features to add and we will be showing them off in future newsletters, so stay tuned!
The BitBunch Team
Chain of Command has a publisher!
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We are very happy and proud to announce that we have signed a publishing deal with UK-based publisher Slitherine, the world's leading publisher of digital wargames and strategy games!
For us it is a recognition of our hard work and an indication we are on the right track. The feedback and expertise in marketing and sales from Slitherine will allow us to spend more of our time on the actual development of the game and use that time more effectively.
That's all we can talk about for now, more details about the particulars will come at a later time.
DevBlog #6: Building the AI
In the latest installment of our Development Blog series, we give you some insight into the design driving the unit A.I. in the game. The sheer scale of Chain of Command requires a new approach to building an A.I. system, so that is what we're doing. Read the full story on our website on how we approach the core challenge of making units act sensibly and do it in a way that allows us to have thousands of them active in real-time: Dev Blog #6: Simulating Human Behaviour
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The Luftwaffe - Screenshots
The Luftwaffe was instrumental in securing Germany's early victories during the Blitzkrieg years by knocking Allied air forces out of the sky and providing close air support to the fast-moving Panzer units on the ground. Chain of Command would not be complete without air forces, so in this newsletter we give you a peek at some 3D models of Luftwaffe planes.
Junkers Ju-87B 'Stuka'
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The Junkers Ju-87B became the symbol of Blitzkrieg with its bent wings and typical sound created by sirens mounted underneath its wings. Serving as flying artillery in support of the Panzer formations, its deployment and effectiveness came as a total surprise to the Allies.
Messerschmitt Bf-109E
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The Messerschmitt Bf-109E was the Luftwaffe's primary fighter plane in use in 1940. Capable of outperforming almost every plane the Allies possessed, it proved to be a deadly tool in the hands of German pilots.
Heinkel He-111H
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The mainstay of Germany's bomber force early in the war, the Heinkel He-111H was used extensively for a wide range of missions, but will for ever be associated with the bombings of major population centers like Warsaw and Rotterdam.
That's it from the Luftwaffe for now. In the next newsletter we'll take a look at some Allied planes as they were used in the skies above France and the Low Countries in 1940.
AI: Road-based Routing
During World War 2, operations planning was dominated by the logistics required to sustain an army in the field. During offensives, roads were the main arteries through which supplies flowed from the rail heads to the troops in the fields. Roads were also important to the combat units themselves, since they provided the quickest means of getting from A to B.
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Route-planning in action: 4 different routes, all starting from the village on the right, have been plotted by the routing engine to 4 different destinations using the available road network.
This is why it is important to integrate road networks and route planning into Metis, the engine on which Chain of Command is being built. The map data we use contains a highly detailed road network and we have integrated a high performance route planning engine in Metis. Capable of planning hundreds of routes per second, it forms one of the cornerstones of the engine's ability to plan routes for thousands of units.
What happened to the ''Chain of Command'' RTS game?
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The story of the Phoenix
When we started we knew our goals were ambitious, but considering our simulation background, we were confident. Although the "Metis" engine now delivers our targets and more, we underestimated the time it takes to run a studio while also do the actual development.
The real challenge for us turned out to be community and communication which we were not used to doing.
In our tiny team, everybody was already working 120%, no time for progress updates. Something needed to change. So after a complete restart; new company, new release strategy and new content, we are back! Ah, and this time we have someone dedicated to inform our community about what is going on.
The vision remains the same; vast battlefields with huge amounts of units.
Enough excuses, let's continue with the exiting news!
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Free Benchmark tool on Steam this spring! (http://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/)
It is time for people to have a hands-on peak at what we're doing, to prove we are serious and dedicated.
Why a Benchmark? To pull off what we envision, we need access to some serious processing power. Luckily that is what a modern GPU can provide. But not using the standard graphics biased solutions. We use OpenCL to tap into the GPU's raw processing power. No other game does this yet, so we need to make sure we support the PC setups people have at home before releasing a game.
These are uncharted grounds! But that's one of the things that make this project so much fun.
Not only a Benchmark
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The MilOps Benchmark is a fully functional visualisation. It allows you to be like an Umpire on the battlefield. Move freely anywhere you want, at any altitude. Interact with units and troops. Traverse the OOB hierarchy. Watch combat up close.
New website
The Military Operations website (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=5f80816457&e=39b07911bf) features a blog (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=ad0102fb85&e=39b07911bf) containing in-depth articles on technology, gameplay and development. New articles will be published regularly.
A new Support page (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=fbdedc4921&e=39b07911bf) aims to solve any problem you may encounter as quickly as possible. Please go there first when experiencing trouble with MilOps.
We will cross-post many videos and other content on YouTube (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=9919d405fe&e=39b07911bf) and Facebook (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=ec4dbb7fa8&e=39b07911bf) so you can follow and like us there if that is your favourite social media.
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MilOps teaser
https://youtu.be/YNQIEtJoCvc
Published on 2 Mar 2018
Follow development
While the newsletter is for bigger news and events, the Steam community HUB (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=f05356a921&e=39b07911bf) is ideal for high frequency development and support related news. Expect progress reports every week. Announcements of updates and patches will also be posted here first.
For discussions (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=c74ee0c6a9&e=39b07911bf) and direct contact with the developers, the Steam HUB (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=7ffe2797fe&e=39b07911bf) is the place to go. Join our official group (https://militaryoperationshq.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c763e654fe70acec5027e095&id=80aa45f98e&e=39b07911bf) on Steam if you don't want to miss anything.
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The "Military Operations: Benchmark" Store-page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/?utm_source=Military+Operations&utm_campaign=5c83897278-Military+Operations+Benchmark+announcement&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_23a0220900-5c83897278-34371965) on Steam is available now.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
New Military Operations thread here (http://dogsofwarvu.com/forum/index.php/topic,5938.0.html)