Dev log #2 - The British campaign in the Market Garden DLC
Hello!
It is Oleksandr from Starni Games with the new Dev log entry. This time we will look at the British campaign around which the entire Market Garden DLC is built.
NEW CAMPAIGN
Market Garden features a new British campaign that follows closely after the Normandy events. Here is the operation list:
1. Road to Valkenswaard 2. Liberation of Eindhoven 3. Liberation of Nijmegen 4. The Battle of Son 5. The Waal Crossing 6. The Elst Assault 7. The Battle of Highway 69 8. Operation Berlin (Arhnem)
The campaign follows a British ground troops unit tasked with reaching the Allied paratroopers that landed in the German rear and are holding key bridges for the main forces' advance.
The operation starts well, but the enemy offers increasingly greater resistance. Due to a number of enemy counterattacks - you have to slow down your advance and even move back to prevent the encirclement. These unfortunate delays put the paratroopers in a dire situation, so your new objective is to help evacuate the surviving paratroopers and help them join main forces and retreat to more tenable positions.
The Market Garden campaign has historically controversial results and we wanted to reflect that in our presentation of these events.
When working on the battle maps we were trying to keep maximum authenticity and present the operation Market Garden as best as we can. We also wanted each mission to have interesting primary and secondary objectives that made sense historically.
Another topic of discussion was to make sure our Market Garden maps look visually different from the Normandy maps, so that you could visually tell you are no longer in France. To achieve that we added a lot of new assets - houses, new buildings, and landmarks. You could clearly see that cities differ a lot, while villages are more alike to our Normandy maps, as there are fewer things we could add that would feel distinct.
The landmarks are a big part of making the maps look authentic and real. We added a number of well-known buildings and structures, such as the Nijmegen bridges and the historical buildings surrounding them. Some maps - like Nijmegen - require a lot of unique assets, while others - like a battle on the road in the middle of nowhere - require no unique assets to feel real.
The campaign features new UK, US, and German units, a new British character, 3 new British heroes, and an updated set of British awards. Although, the awards are a sore point for the team - there are not so many historically accurate new awards we could provide to the player that would fit the character’s rank and achievements, so we had to use some of the ones we also awarded in Normandy - there is just not so many other existing real awards that we could add. Still, we tried to add a few new ones that felt right (mostly from other nations, as key British awards were already explored in the Normandy campaign).
To sum up, 8 new challenging battles await you with new units, environment assets, characters, heroes, awards, and unique combat situations. We really hope that you will enjoy your time in the Netherlands no less than you did in Normandy. While we keep working to improve the game and provide new challenges for your tactical skills.
See you next time!
Join Us at the Ukrainian Games Festival and Unveil the Release Date for new DLC
We are thrilled to announce that Headquarters: World War II will be participating in the Ukrainian Games Festival 2024, running from August 19th to 25th. To celebrate this exciting event, we’re unveiling the official release date for the new DLC, Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden—mark your calendars for September 24th.
The Ukrainian Games Festival is a fantastic opportunity to explore the vibrant world of Ukrainian game development, showcasing an incredible array of titles from large AAA studios to indie developers. Among these is Headquarters: World War II, crafted by the talented Starni Games team based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The team has poured their passion into creating a wargame that is both tactically challenging and visually stunning.
To celebrate this occasion, Headquarters: World War II is now on sale. Get ready to show your support for Ukrainian game developers and let your desktop shine with the spirit of Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden. Thank you for being a part of our journey, and we can’t wait for you to experience the game on September 24th.
📅 Ukrainian Games Festival 2024 Date: August 19th - August 25th Link: Ukrainian Games Festival 2024 💬 Join the Discord Server
Dev log #1 - Introducing new units in the Market Garden DLC
Hello!
It is Oleksandr from Starni Games with the new Dev log entry. I am excited about the Market Garden campaign announcement and want to share more information about it. Today, we will have a look at the new unit models.
NEW UNITS
The operation Market Garden followed right after the end of the Normandy campaign, so there was a small time gap for us to introduce a lot of new models that would be historically appropriate. Still, we managed to add 10 new units. Here are all the new units:
As you can see, there are 5 British units, 3 German, and 2 US ones. Since in operation Market Garden, you will play as UK vs Germany, we focused more on these countries, but we also added a couple of US units for Skirmish and Multiplayer. Moreover, with the Staghound Tulip and Sherman Calliope addition, all 3 countries now have units capable of rocket fire.
UK UNITS
AEC Mk III This lightly armoured reconnaissance vehicle is armed with a 75 mm Ordnance QF 75 gun, similar to the one installed on medium tanks. This unit is highly effective both against medium armoured vehicles and enemy infantry. It can also deploy smoke screens.
A30 Challenger This high-speed medium tank with 76 mm long-range anti-tank Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun is extremely effective against enemy armor but less useful against infantry.
This imposing tank has a great combination of mobility and firepower that is especially devastating on the battlefield, as you can have much more tactical options due to high Move points, while also being able to deal a lot of damage with each hit.
BL 5.5-inch medium gun A medium 140 mm towed howitzer gun with intimidating firepower is a great addition to the UK artillery support capabilities. As with all artillery pieces, it is capable of indirect fire, but can only be moved via transport vehicle.
M7 Priest Now UK troops can also boast the use of M7 Priest guns, alongside the US allies. A mobile self-propelled artillery armed with a 105 mm howitzer M101 is capable of long-range artillery support.
Staghound Tulip This light armoured reconnaissance vehicle is armed with a 37 mm M6 gun. It is also equipped with an RP-3 rocket launcher capable of indirect fire. This unit is suitable for infantry support and fighting lightly armoured enemy vehicles.
It is also the first UK unit in Headquarters: World War II with rocket artillery capabilities, so it could be very useful for suppressing the enemy infantry units, while also having great mobility and reconnaissance capabilities. Just look at it:
US units
G.M.C. M12 This mobile heavy self-propelled 155 mm M1918 howitzer is capable of long-range artillery support. A great addition to the US long-range firepower.
Sherman Calliope This Sherman tank with a T34 rocket launcher additionally installed on its hull is capable of indirect fire. It also has a mounted machine gun for close-range combat against enemy infantry.
It is the first US unit in Headquarters: World War II with Rocket artillery capabilities, so it could be very useful for suppressing the enemy infantry units, while also having regular Sherman tank fighting capabilities. Have a look at it firing its T34 rocket launcher:
German units
Nashorn A mobile lightly armored self-propelled 88 mm long-range anti-tank unit with a Pak 43/1 gun. It is extremely effective against enemy armor but less useful against infantry. Due to its weak armor, Nashorn is quite vulnerable, but its mobility could compensate for that.
Panzer IIL This light tank is armed with a fast-firing 20 mm KwK 38 cannon. Panzer IIL is suitable for infantry support and fighting lightly armored enemy vehicles. It is less effective against tanks because of its small caliber gun.
This is the first Light tank in the game with a fast-firing cannon (there is a British CrusaderIII MkI AA variant, but it is technically considered a self-propelled AAA gun). It combines good mobility and high HE attack value due to its fast-firing cannon but is weak against enemy armor.
Hummel This mobile heavy self-propelled 150 mm sFH 18 howitzer is capable of long-range artillery support. It is a great addition to the artillery units and offers decent protection and mobility for an artillery piece.
These are the new units we are going to add in the Market Garden DLC. In the next Dev log, I will tell you more about the new British campaign that awaits you in the Market Garden, and how we are working to deliver it to you.
See you next time!
New DLC Announcement: Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden
Attention, Commanders!
We are thrilled to announce the upcoming release of the next DLC for Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden.
Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden introduces a new British campaign with eight meticulously crafted battles covering the events of Operation Market Garden. Your force must reach the paratroopers holding the key bridges as soon as possible. However, nothing goes according to plan, and your troops have to deal with the ensuing chaos.
An 8-mission campaign with storytelling elements that will challenge your tactical skills. 10 new units to use in both campaign and skirmish/multiplayer modes. 3 new British heroes. Numerous new visual assets creating mesmerising locations of the WWII-period Netherlands.
Get ready to command, conquer, and liberate with the Headquarters: World War II - Market Garden DLC! Stay tuned for more updates and the official release date.
Headquarters: World War II - First Tournament Ever
Attention, Commanders!
We are excited to announce the launch of a new patch for Headquarters: World War II, which adds new features to the PBEM system and multiplayer. This update allows us to host a beta test for the very first Headquarters: World War II Tournament!
Do not miss the chance to sign-up to the Beta Speed Tournament which will feature 3 multiplayer maps: #1 Riverside Battle #2 Cannonade at Royal Chateau #3 Military Base Takeover
The tournament follows Swiss Tournament rules: you can find the full list of rules here. The first round will commence on Thursday, 4th July 2024. No further entries can be accepted after the tournament has begun.
The tournament will last 3 rounds, 7 days each. Games are paired, so each matchup will be played both ways. All you need to do is sign up, then the system will pair you with opponents and create your PBEM games. You will be notified by mail of when the tournament is starting and when it will be time to play your turns.
And now, a message from the devs.
Hello! It is Oleksandr from Starni Games.
First of all, I am sorry for the issues many players had with the 1.00.06 Update. We just released a 1.00.07 Update that should address all key problems - please make sure you are playing the most up-to-date version of the game. We will keep polishing the game and making sure it runs smoothly for everyone.
Secondly, we are starting to run regular tournaments for Headquarters: World War II. We did a number of internal tournaments for testing, and we found a few issues that were fixed with the 1.00.07 Update. So, we think it is time to start running the public tournaments. However, we would still treat the first couple of tournaments as Beta-tournaments to make sure everything works well for a larger number of players.
We are really excited to see Headquarters: World War II played more competitively, and looking forward to making more and more tournaments in due time.
If you have any questions about tournaments in Headquarters - do not hesitate to ask them in the comments below or at Slitherine forums and Steam Community hub.
Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
Update v1.00.07
Hi everyone,
There is a new update available. This update should fix a number of stability issues, including crashes and some problems players were experiencing with Multiplayer logins. It also improves AI, especially in Skirmish/Multiplayer modes.
The full changelog is:
v1.00.07 – 24th June 2024
Fixed a major issue that was introduced in the 1.00.06 Update, a crash that prevented from finishing the operation with a “TModule::IsStackable()” error message.
Fixed a major issue that disallowed new players to log in to the Multiplayer section.
Improved AI: AI now proceeds better from capturing one flag to another in Skirmish/Multiplayer and can capture more than one flag per turn. (We will continue improving the AI, and more improvements are in the making)
Fixed the Motion Blur setting being reset to default on each launch of the game.
Fixed bug with quick save / quick load sometimes creating extra units with 0 Crew.
Fixed bug with a possible crash if pressing F5/F8 fast enough.
Fixed Gamepad controls for the Awards tab. Now you can see the description of the awards.
Fixed a crash that would happen if damage to Morale exceeded 999. (Possible in Assault attacks)
Fix the Crew member description for Hero when it serves in a unit - it no longer displays the Hero
Bio instead of the Crew bonus.
Fixed the bug with the Transport icon not showing correctly when another unit was loaded into it.
Fixed a multiplayer crash due to the “Hit the track” skill negative effect.
Fixed the “Player eliminated” notification appearing on turn 1 for the “Closed” slots in Multiplayer.
Fixed a multiplayer bug that could lead to crashes sometimes after using the Scouting ability.
Fixed a bug that allowed the AA units loaded into Transport units to intercept the aircraft from inside the Transport.
Fixed the visual issue with unit highlights overlapping with unit models.
Corrected the order of the armor values in the hint: from back/front/side/top to front/side/back/top.
Headquarters: World War II - Update v1.00.06 is out Now
THE NEW UPDATES:
v1.00.06
Fixes:
• Fixed Auto Login system issues: some problems with Steam auto login, and GOG autologin not working. • Now the “Stay logged in” button state is saved correctly and not reset on restarting the game. • Now the “Stay logged in” button for Steam login works correctly. • Fixed a major bug that was introduced in the 1.00.05 update, that caused crashes if there was a truck unit with level-up (that only could happen if the Skirmish/Multiplayer game was set with a starting level higher than 0) on deployment. • Fixed one of the most frequent multiplayer crashes (SendNetworkCustomizedChanged) • Fixed bug with the Closed slots in Skirmish/Multiplayer, where the AI would try to make moves for the Closed slot player resulting in endless wait for your next turn. • Fixed an issue in Multiplayer that caused crashes if the host took too long to connect to the game. • Fixed bug in LIVE multiplayer that caused the “X Turns left” notification to show up when Player 1 turn started for all players, instead of showing up for each player when their turns started. • Fixed crash (TApplicationInitializer::OnInitInWorkerThreadEnd) • Fixed bug that prevented Fog of War update after using the Air Recon HQ Skill • Now capturing the enemy HQ flag in Skirmish/Multiplayer yields an instant victory (it was victory after some delay before). • Fixed a Multiplayer issue that caused the “Player eliminated” pop-up not to show up sometimes.
v1.00.05
Fixes:
• Fixed major bug with units camouflage bonus from buildings that happened in both singleplayer and multiplayer, but was causing a lot of crashes in multiplayer only, due to game events being desynchronized (calculated differently for different players). This should reduce the number of crashes in multiplayer significantly and also eliminate this issue in single-player, where it was hard to notice. • Fixed serious issue with the game crashing is the player does not have access to the folder with save files for any reason. (Now you will get a warning telling you about that and you can play, but you cannot make save files and your settings will not be saved after you leave the game) • Fixed missing option in Skirmish settings to set the cooldown reduction for HQ skills. (It was available in multiplayer, but was missing in Skirmish mode due to this bug) • Added an option in Settings (Game) to disable the unit’s highlight. (A players-requested feature) • Fixed bug with tile highlights sometimes disappearing if you selected an HQ skill and moved the cursor outside the playable zone on the map. • Changed logic of unmoved units (and End turn button hint). Before: a unit was considered unmoved if it still had available tiles to go and/or attacks. Now: if the unit spent at least one move point or attack, it is considered “moved”. So, now unmoved units are only the units that have not moved or attacked this turn. The End turn button hint was changed accordingly. • Fixed bug with mouse and keyboard scrolling speed Settings were reset to default values after each start of the game. • Fixed bug with Review and Leave buttons sometimes being inactive after finishing a multiplayer match. • Fixed Fog of War in Hotseat mode not updating after the next player’s turn starts, until the player did some action. • Fixed UI in Map Editor and Map Generator map selection filters. • Removed the Level up indicators for Truck units. (As they cannot level up)
Headquarters: World War II - Dev log #13 is out now
Hello!
It is Oleksandr from Starni Games with the new Dev log entry. One month has passed since the Headquarters: World War II release, and I would like to tell you more about how it went, what feedback we got, and what our team has been focusing on since the release. Additionally, I will touch on how we plan to move forward with the project.
One month has passed since the release of Headquarters: World War II and we can finally draw our first conclusions.
First of all, most players enjoy the game overall and would like to play it more - which is very important for us as developers to understand. We would not want to develop a game that nobody likes and nobody wants. So, that is a big relief to our team that the overall reception of the game is positive and we can keep working on the project.
Secondly, we acknowledge there were numerous issues in the release version of the game that were detrimental to the players’ experience and enjoyment. We already fixed some of those issues, and we are trying our best to address the remaining problems as soon as possible. This is our top priority at the moment - to make sure the game runs as smoothly as possible.
Thirdly, we received lots of feedback and suggestions from the players on Discord, the Steam community hub, and Slitherine forums. We are looking through all the feedback very carefully, and categorizing all the issues and suggested improvements to prioritize them correctly. So, do not worry if you suggest some new feature and do not see it in the next update - chances are high it is stored for later updates.
Interesting fact: so far we get more improvement suggestions than the actual crashes and bug reports. So, there are lots of things you guys want to add, change, or improve. And it may take us some time, but we keep track of every suggestion.
Lastly, we see a lot of interest among the players towards the potential new content for the game and get a lot of questions about that. We are happy to hear that you want more content and we listen to your ideas and suggestions for it.
What is our plan?
Step 1: For now, our top priority is fixing all the most annoying issues and gradually adding some of the most-wanted quality-of-life improvements. We keep a good pace of 1 update per week and we want to maintain it until all most pressing problems are resolved. Then we will switch to less frequent but larger updates.
AI - We have made some improvements to the AI system since the release, but we are still getting reports of AI behaving passively in some games. We further investigate this issue and will do our best to address it as soon as we can.
Multiplayer crashes - we are gradually moving towards a crash-free multiplayer experience. So far, we are not satisfied with our results, but we are looking to improve the situation very soon.
File system issues - we had some issues if the path to the system folder with save files was in non-Latin symbols, or the game was run by a Windows user who is not an Administrator, and so on. We fixed the folder names issue in the 1.00.04 Update, and a couple more fixes are coming up in the next updates.
There are many other things, of course, but I highlighted the most problematic ones.
Step 2: Since some updates may affect the ongoing multiplayer games, if the players have different versions of the game (all updates we released so far should be compatible, so I am talking about some future updates) - we want to implement a system that would check the game version and warn the players about the need to update their game to continue playing in multiplayer. That is when we will release a bigger update that would also include some stats rebalancing and so on. At the moment we are gathering the data and feedback, but not changing unit parameters for now.
Step 3: Introduce the roadmap for the project to communicate to you our plans for its further development and expansion. We want to be very transparent about our future plans, and we will share our plans as soon as we finish gathering and analyzing all of your feedback and adjust our plans accordingly. Your input is most critical for our decision-making following the release.
Step 4: Start running the multiplayer tournaments. As soon as we ensure that multiplayer is stable and solid, we will start running various tournament events and we hope that you will enjoy playing in them. For now, you have the time to get a better understanding of the game and train against other players on Discord to make sure you can show your best in the competition when the time comes.
Step 5: Work on some additional content for the game. This could be in two forms - free extra content that comes to all players who purchased the full game at no additional cost; or a paid DLC that offers even more content and helps the team to keep working on the project in the long run - as we are speaking of years of additional development here, potentially.
I know many are skeptical of paid DLCs, but I think it greatly depends on how the developers approach them. From our perspective, it helps to produce more content and features for the game in the long run, part of which will become available for everyone to enjoy completely free.
We already got a bunch of questions as to what the next DLC would be. We have some ideas, but we also want to make something that you - the player’s community - want. So, please let us know in the comments or on Steam/Slitherine forums - what future DLC of your dreams do you anticipate the most?
Ah, and one last thing - we are now looking into the possibility of adding the Steam Workshop support, so we will keep you updated on that!
Stay tuned, and see you next time!
Headquarters: World War II - Update 1.00.04 is out Now
Hello everyone!
We keep working to process all of your feedback and ideas and use this information to plan our future updates accordingly.
Here are the key changes in the 1.00.04 update:
The Bias setting is now working as intended. (It allows you to add a modifier to all incoming prestige in Skirmish/Multiplayer for each player. For example, a Bias of 80% would mean that this player receives 20% less Prestige from both Starting Prestige and Prestige Income. While setting Bias to 140%, would mean that the player gets 40% Prestige more than other players (if they have Bias set to 100% for them)
Fix an issue that caused problems when the user had non-Latin symbols in his Windows folder names. For example path to the save files folder, etc. One example would be having some key folder names in the Chinese language.
On Steam Deck the UI scale is now set to 75% not only during the first game launch but at every launch.
Fixed a bug that caused Tile information to sometimes show incorrect Armor and Camouflage values.
Fixed numerous UI issues when using 100% scale on resolutions higher than Full HD. (We still recommend using a higher UI scale on resolutions above Full HD)
Fixed bug where new units that join your army (for example scout unit in tutorial, etc) are only displayed in the unit list after you did one more action. (Now they appear in the list immediately).
Fixed a bug with the AI, that caused it to not be able to use the Clear Wreck ability on the Wrecks that were set in Editor. (It could only clear the ones that appear during the game)
Fixed the problem with Overwatch symbols sometimes showing incorrectly. This issue was due to a rule that units do not overwatch if they are guaranteed to do 0 damage (for example MG vs tanks). The problem was that when displaying the Overwatch area, the armor and attack angle were not always predicted correctly, so you could move a unit thinking there would be no overwatch, but because the angle changed you would get hit and receive some damage.
With this update, the Overwatch icon will be displayed over a Tile even if you are expected to take 0 damage there, so some Tiles could be shown as Overwatch tiles, and then your unit would not get Overwatched if the enemy unit sees that it would deal 0 damage with all types of hits.
Now after generating and exporting a new map in the Random map generator, you will be taken back to the Skirmish/Multiplayer game creation form, instead of the Main menu.
Fixed a bug when the unit could in some situations be dislocated from its tile (be shown in an incorrect tile), potentially causing the game to crash.
Minor localization text fixes. (Added a few missing strings)
Minor UI fixes for Multiplayer screens.
Fixed some environment objects behaving incorrectly when under fire in the “Marshland Clash” skirmish map.
We have a lot more fixes and improvements in the works and will keep updating the game regularly, so stay tuned for the next updates. We are also working on a bigger update that would introduce some balanced changes based on your feedback and our observations.
Please, share your feedback and thoughts with us on Discord, the Steam community hub, and Slitherine forums!
See you soon!
Headquarters: World War II: Update 1.00.03 is out Now
Hello everyone!
We keep working to process all of your feedback and ideas and use this information to plan our future updates accordingly. For the first few updates our main focus remains on the key issues, but we plan to have much more quality-of-life improvements later down the road.
Here are the key changes in the 1.00.03 update:
Fixed one of the most common crashes that could also be one of the main reasons for LIVE games crashing at some point. Fixed AI behavior being sometimes affected by the wreckages of destroyed units. (Now it no longer prevents AI from attacking in some situations.) Improved support for 4K monitors (disabled option that caused the image to look sharpened on High-Resolution monitors and caused flickering of image when the camera moved if Motion Blur was on) Improved Chinese localization Fixed glitch with unit camouflage in multiplayer Fixed HQ skills (Eg. Dive bomber) showing incorrect damage value. (You would hit for 4 damage, but see 1 Damage displayed etc.) Fixed the issue where the player could not deselect the HQ skill with a left mouse click if the mouse cursor is outside of the playable map area. Fixed crash that happened during unit renaming, if you enter (/\*_-=+<>,.&^|`~) symbols and press the Esc button. Fixed unit customization - the “Apply to all” button not working correctly in Multiplayer for all players. Fixed player coloring on units not being displayed in the unit preview. Fixed building destruction sounds not working for Random generated and Editor maps. Fixed Fog of War not updating when the unit is unloaded from a Transport vehicle. Improved support Fixed glitch when selecting several save files and empty slot remaining selected. Fixed glitch where minimap would be replaced by a placeholder during post-game review. Fixed glitch with extra placeholder ability being displayed in the unit info on the 8th USA map. Various UI fixes Various localization fixes
Adjusted some limitations and default values for the Skirmish and Multiplayer settings: 1) Default Victory Points number increased - 40 -> 50 victory points 2) Maximum Victory Points value increased - 100 -> 200 victory points 3) Default turns limit increased - 10 -> 25 turns 4) Default turn timer increased - 30 -> 120 sec 5) Default starting prestige increased - 1000 -> 2500 6) Minimum starting prestige limit reduced - 1000 -> 500 7) Maximum starting prestige limit increased - 5000 -> 30000 8) Maximum Bias value increased - 120% -> 160%*
*Note that the Bias settings are not functional at the moment and we will address that in the next update.
Fixed the Esc button not closing the Credits screen. Fixed windbreak (tree line) being displayed in Editor incorrectly. Added company logos to the Main menu.
In this update, we fixed an issue that prevented AI from moving around the map in some situations. We are still checking how AI behaves after all the fixes - and so far we have not seen it sit idly by during our tests (but got a report from the beta branch player on Discord). So, if you run into any game where AI is still not moving actively around the map - please let us know, as we are still gathering data and trying to pinpoint the potential issues.
We have a lot of important fixes and improvements coming up, so stay tuned for future updates. Right now, the plan is to keep delivering weekly updates until everyone is fully happy with the technical state of the game, and then focus on larger but less frequent updates.
Please, keep sharing your thoughts on Discord, Steam community, and Slitherine forms.
