The very chunky Mud and Blood 0.3.8 patch has dropped!!
Good day commanders, urb here. It's been a little while folks, but the wait is over and I am super happy to finally drop this massive patch just in time for the upcoming weekend.
There is a fair amount of new elements so let's get started.
Loot items QoL
First and foremost a minor detail but of a fairly significant impact is that lootable items such as med kits, panzerfaust and various grenades will drop from soldiers as soon as they are disabled instead of upon death. This is also true for allied soldiers! Additionally, clicking once on an item will make the selected soldier move to the item and pick it up automatically once he is there.
It is important to note that now the med kit is a one-time use item (heals 10hp instantly when right-clicking on a soldier) rather than a passive area of effect equipment. This is mostly due to the gear now dropping on death for allies.
New Vehicles and targeting distance changes
We have 2 new vehicles in this patch the Flak Panzer for the Germans and the Bofor for the Allies. The Flak panzer is the fastest firing vehicle in the game currently with a rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute. An absolute beast. The good thing however is the gunner can be killed with a lucky shot. In this case, the flak panzer is likely to retreat and try to get another gunner from the troops remaining. Note that not all troops know to fire a FlakPanzer however so the recrewing is not guaranteed.
Secondly, the Allies are getting the Bofor a hefty 40mm stationary autocannon manned by 2 crewmen. It is currently available in Classic mode and cost 12 TP. The Bofor has a limited burst length due to its substantial recoil but deals a decent amount of damage to infantry at a range of 1200 pixels (roughly a screen length)
I'm currently trying to find good ways to squeeze the Bofor in the campaign somehow as support and will try a few things in the future from being towed in to being airdropped.
Vehicles have been modified in preparation for the upcoming vehicle pass the engine is about to get. In a nutshell, every vehicle has its effective engagement range modified to reflect its combat capability. (Details to be uploaded by the wiki crew) It adds more depth to the vehicle combat putting more emphasis on deploying the right vehicle for the right job. I will let you guys experiment with this and let me know how it feels. It also makes the M5 very potent and brings the gun back into the long-range engagement bracket.
It is also important to notice that grouping for all vehicles has been tightened by half. This means the explosion dispersion for successful and missed shots will be closer to their targets. Mechanically wise the effect on infantry is not too drastic but cover and vehicles getting fired upon will feel the difference. The intent is to make the vehicle more effective at what they do without being systematic game-enders.
Ammo dumps and various unexploded ordinance
One thing I wanted Mud and Blood to cover a little more in order to give the battlefield a more authentic and emergent experience was the often overlooked abundance of UXOs in any given combat zone that has been fought over for quite some time. In order to implement this, UXO will be dispersed from vehicular explosions according to what type of ammo they carry and calibre. Also, crates and often even full ammo dumps will be appearing in the world. Commanders will have to pay attention since unexploded ordinances can change the dynamic of a fight by their unpredictable nature.
There is 5 type of ammunition in 3 calibres (light, medium and heavy) that can be found on the battlefield currently. they can be identified by keen commanders by the colour of their warheads:
Red: fragmentation round, when exploding these rounds are fairly hazardous to infantry and hard to contain. They do however rarely chain detonate nearby rounds.
Black: Armor piercing/Anti Tank round, also somewhat limited in explosion power, they still contain some punch and definitely can harm close-by vehicles and troops.
Yellow: White phosphorus, used to deploy fast short lasting smoke, phosphorus round will cause fires when exploding.
Green: High Explosive (HE), these rounds pack a decent explosion in their respective calibre and can start some nasty chain reactions if they detonate nearby other explosives such as mines, stashed Fausts or even other UXOs.
White: Smoke, these rounds when detonated generate smoke and rarely fire. A heavy smoke round is particularly interesting since it may generate quite the smoke wall by itself.
Also on the topic of chain reactions, fire will now cook off mines, and rounds that are laying around.
New weapons
There are 4 new infantry weapons introduced in this patch. The SVT 40, the VG 15 and the Sten MKVI and the IR STG44.
SVT 40: Semi-auto rifle of Russian manufacture, it can be seen extremely rarely in the hands of Wehrmacht soldiers. As with any Russian weaponry, however, it is more common in the hands of the hardened Eastern veteran troops.
VGI-5 Commonly called the Volkssturmgewehr, The VGI-5 is an unusual and rare firearm that only saw use in the late stages of WWII as part of the Volksturm series of weapons, and was used on the Eastern front as German Armies and Home Guard fought to defend their homeland from the onslaught of the Red Army. This weapon starts appearing in the campaign mostly after Hurtgen forest and will be carried by the upcoming Volkssturm troops.
Sten MKVI This is the third-tier weapon for the commando troops. It is basically a functioning Sten with most of the flaws of its predecessor removed or fixed. So significant lower jam rate, slight range improvement and most noticeably, equipped with a silencer. When a stealth unit is firing the new Sten, they will have the ability to remain hidden. The chances to be detected are 5% chances per round fired per enemy within line of sight.
IR STG44 This is an STG 44, an already potent mid-range damage disher, but with an IR optic on it. This is an extremely rare and exotic weapon to be seen in combat but they are out there. The particularity of a IR STG44 is that it allows the user to unveil hidden troops, see through smoke, and detect ambush sites just like a scout if the wielder is immobile. Finding an IR STG44 in a crate is quite the game changer.
On the weapon topic, The FG42 issue rate has been drastically reduced for regular troops. It is however quite common in the hands of fallschirmjagers (FJs) making our tactically inclined friends even more interesting to fight.
Classic TP cost changes
After looking at the metrics some changes have been made to the cost of defences in the classic mode. Trenches are now 4TP, Wood bunkers 5 and concrete bunkers 6. This brings back the trench as a very fast and reliable early defence and also a cheap fallback position in case of a shift in your defences.
And finally the icing on the cake,
Special Event: Classic Urban Warfare!!
For a limited time, we decided to change things a little bit and include urban combat in the classic mode. Upon deployment, commanders opt to participate to the special event and deploy their defences in Brest and fight a cutthroat mix of long-range street sniper exchange combined with the house-to-house quick stand-offs. During testing, the event was very fun to play and watch since it changes the dynamic of the map entirely. Vehicles largely remain on the road while troops tend to seek shelter in the bordering city blocks. Players have been experimenting with long-range M5s covering the road backed with a Bofor. blowing up city blocks with TNT to open arcs of fire and such. It is very exciting to see you guys' criminal minds at play trying to find better ways to kill the enemy.
If you guys dig the special events let us know and we can make this a monthly thing. In any case, if you are looking for good fun and a hard fight definitely check it out.
There is also a handful of other changes that this patch brought up you can have the details in this list:
- New German vehicle, the dreaded Flak Panzer added - Fixed the rifle position when a soldier call or observe - Tweaked the enemy AI to be a little more fire conscious - Cam nets are now properly vulnerable to fire - Tighten the AI decision-making for flanking maneuvers - Fixed a debug key exploit - Changed the name of the "short K98" to G33/40 - Allied .50 Heavy Machine guns will decrew if nearby a fire - Fires in pillboxes do 2x the damage and their burning time is regularized. - Changed the coax fire alignment on the greyhound so it is aligned with the mg now - Changes to screen scroll speed will carry from Campaign to Classic - New Axis weapon, Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr VG.1-5 rifle a hard kicking unreliable heavy but compact semi-automatic rifle mostly used by the VolksSturm troops - Dramatically reduced the amount of FG42 in the hands of regular troops - Incorporated the VG-15 into the weapon spawn tables after Hurtgen forest - New Axis weapon, the captured SVT40, medium range semi auto light rifle that packs quite the punch.. when it works. - Removed sanity checks on tank traps in classic which would relocate the construction if built at a non-valid location. - New allied weapon, Sten MKVI a silenced SMG with decent stats which allow the user to remain stealth if used on isolated enemies (5% per shot per nearby enemies of being detected) - Fixed Sapper ribbon trigger in classic - Allies will now drop their loot when they die. - Both factions will now drop their loot when they are disabled - Some requested QoL stuff, If a soldier is told to loot an item that is too far from him, he will move to it and then pick it up - Added Stg Mag sprite for STV40 and STG44 weapons when reloaded - Firing with non-silenced weapons will now remove camouflage provided by a personal camnet. - Loot will not despawn if there is an allied soldier at least 100 pixels from it. - Changes were made to fix some maps generation algorithms notably "the void" on some occasions. - Fragmentation from explosives is more effective at stun/kill passengers aboard soft skin vehicles within the radius. - 81mm heavy mortars in the campaign (command ability) will now prompt for a target when selected. - Medkit is now a useable item and will heal up to 10 hp upon use on a soldier - Number of Attempts on a map will be displayed correctly on a map success. - Increased the chances to have jagers per enemy left behind in the campaign from 1% to 3% per soldier. - Added placeholder units for the enemy in intel brief until we got time to research the specifics. - Floaty text will not spawn outside of the screen anymore. This would happen when intel would read a document close to the top of the screen. - Added ribbon for the Rhine campaign scenario - Stugs, Tigers and Flak Panzer now added to the open warfare spawn tables - Targeting for vehicle revamp which will pave the way for the upcoming vehicle dev pass. Basically, all vehicles will have their own detection ranges for infantry and vehicle separately according to their real-life capability and functionality. This now positions the M5 anti-tank gun as a vehicle with the longest range of engagement with the 88. - Classic: German Armored Recce (SDKFZ222) will pass on the number of troops you have under a camnet if they have a chance to take a good look at your defences. - Medkit used by xp/10 and Med - Heavy rounds (fired by vehicle and emplacements) tracers will now stun troops when flying by. - Live rounds of ammunition are spread across the battlefield now. Careful for chain reactions and learn the colour codes! - Emplacement might have crates of live ammunition laying around them - Destroyed vehicles will have a chance to spread unexploded ordinance as well - New German weapon, the advanced IR STG44 which allows the soldier carrying it to see thru the smoke and detect stealthed units. The soldier will also be able to detect ambushes just as good as a scout if he is not moving. - Mines can now be cooked off and explode by fires that generate enough heat to trigger the fuse. - Trench now cost 4 TPs in classic - Wooden Bunker now costs 5 TP in classic - Concrete bunker now costs 6 TP in classic - Brest Biome in classic as a special event! Madness!
Well friends, this wraps up the patch notes for this one. I really hope you like the new stuff and looking forward to seeing all the madness this will generate. Allow me to thank you all again for taking some time out of your day to read my ramblings. I will never say enough how grateful I am to have you guys following and supporting the making of this lil ball of angry chaos that is Mud and Blood. I wish you all a good upcoming weekend and stay safe out there.
Mud and Blood 0.3.7 and the Jager troops are here!!
Good day Mud and Blood commanders. I hope you guys are having a decent Friday and enjoying the summer. It has been a little while indeed since 03.6 brought in multiple new mechanics to the game and needed some tweaks. I've lost counts of hotfixes but the first 3 weeks were pretty busy hot fixing the game and tweaking balances issue with regard to the new dynamics.
This said all that time I was really eager to start on the new enemy type that is finally introduced in 0.3.7 to be consistent, a different look in MNB steam means that the unit is significantly different than the others notably with behaviour.
Today I present you the jagers, which mean hunters. The Jagers are considered light infantry which means they are primarily faster infantrymen. They also have the particularity to spawn behind your lines and conduct hit and run tactics on your lines.
In classic, they will spawn as a blitz wave assaulting your support troops from the rear in a coordinated fashion. Jagers due to their nature of already being behind your squad will not attempt to cross the start line but instead, remain on the map and coordinate a short and fast series of assaults on your rear flank.
In Campaign, the Jagers will start appearing if you finish patrols and leave enemies behind. We all know at times things get hairy and pushing thru the last few yards in order to finish a tough fight can be a life saver. This is a viable tactic, however, every enemy left behind adds 1% for Jagers to start appearing in subsequent maps. We can lower this rate by 1% per Jagers killed. You will never have more Jagers attacking you than the number of enemies you left behind.
This new troop type comes with a new weapon as well. The shortened K98 is a less bulky bolt action that allows a decent amount of range and damage while sacrificing range due to a shorter barrel and lighter weight. The short K98 can also spawn in German crates hidden across the battlefield as well.
Jagers's AI drives them to group up and perform hit and runs on your section. If they sustain a lot of fire or get hit they attempt to retreat, reorganize and try again with the troops that are available to them (tactics will depend on numbers). It is important to note that Jagers are not considered special troops and will behave conventionally towards combat and casualties. This means that a Jager assault can be successfully broken if you manage to hurt them enough. In this case, you will see the Jagers quickly losing their initial 'pizaz' and revert back to self-preservation and hopefully some confusion.
This said let's take a look at 0.3.7 change log:
- Fixed a fault in classic when you would deploy close protection and start calling vehicles without infantry - Fixed a fault in the range-finding functions of some of the vehicles - Disappearing visuals for shells crape and mortar pit - Germans will not count as occupying troops in HQ for bonus TP generation - Engineers will not fix nearby enemy vehicles - Vehicles should not engage stealth enemies but can detected them just like normal troops now - Fixed cleaning function deleting mortar pits, pillbox and shellscrapes - Removed the idle frame for the mortarmen which would create some issues and was confusing at times - Fixed a fault brought in by the Opel spawn function when there is no infantry around - Fixed the shell shock ribbon requirements - Fixed the blitz wave message not displaying the right amount of tp - Barb wire will not spawn in the starting area anymore. - Fixed a pause/wave exploit in classic - Fixed some inconsistencies with the looting of some items. [4:57 PM] - Loot range for items has been reduced from 200px to 50 px, no more telekinesis. - Fixed an issue where vehicle main guns would have no sounds - Fixed a ribbon exploit with barbwires - Classic snipers for both factions can only stealth if they are holding rifles - Classic Pillboxes can't be built too close to other buildings - Fires last longer in pillboxes - Stun effects for explosions last twice as long on occupants of a pillbox ** still working on it, bbq stats on mnb2 are not representative - Removed airbursts from counterattacks - Primarily fix for Opels not driving forward in some situations - An allied soldier that has been disabled by wire more than once will stop providing Gallantry bonuses - Fixed a fault where the flak 30 would fire higher calibre ammo when engaging vehicles - German snipers and the szfdk222 will see stealthed units - When engaging a unit that is under a camnet, the 222 has 1% chance to relay the true amount of soldiers hidden under that cam net. - Classic mode, changed the sound of the 6 men rule special wave for something more dramatic! - Added a few variations to the unnecessary complex yet fun procedural sound generation when a reload is performed. - Added voice lines from Yusti for the dismiss actions - Added a little notification if you try to dismiss a disabled soldier - Classic snipers that are performing "loud" actions (using a recoilless, throwing a grenade) will unstealth now. - Fixed some typos (Thanks Skaen) (edited) [4:57 PM] - New classic Ribbon Ranger Graveyard (dig 250 shell scrapes, future shell scrapes have 10% not to consume the shovel) - New unit Jagers complete with all animation frames and custom AI! The new unit can spawn during blitz waves, regularly or during special events in the campaign. - New enemy weapon (used by Jagers but can spawn in boxes) Short K98, a low bulk hard kicking bolt action rifle. - Emplacements (such as Paks and other crewed vehicles) will need to have a line of sight with a nearby enemy in order to decrew their guns and fight. It is not sufficient to just stand in a tree near a gun in order to decrew it. - New item: Camo, this elaborate camouflage unit once used allows any soldier to become stealth for 30 seconds + (xp/5). This camo has its limits, however. A camouflaged soldier has a 75% chance + xp/4 to remain hidden when spotted by an enemy.
As you can see a lot of small tweaks in order to assimilate the recent mechanics of 0.3.6 in the eco system and make sure everything plays a part in the emergent combat experience.
I'm currently working on the next patch as we speak and I got a few nice surprises to add since now the code base is stable and solid enough to bring new madness into the mix.
- Then let's take a look at MT's adventures in Hurtgen forest. Take a good look at how he handles the intricate line of sight challenges fighting in a dense forest brings. MT plays in a deliberate manner with his tested fireteam method.
- Master Chow, the author of this very good guide. back behind the gun and going thru the first few missions. We can all learn a thing or two by watching him play, granted we can manage that mountain dew level micro.
- Speaking of guides let's not forget Maxi's excellent field manual which is up-to-date with 0.3.6!
That would wrap the patch notes of this MNB update folks. Thanks for taking the time to read this and playing Mud and Blood. I appreciate the opportunity that you are giving me to make my dream game. I wish you all a safe weekend and I'll catch you on discord or in the next update patch notes.
respectfully,
urb
0.3.6 hotfixes
Good day folks, urb here. I've uploaded around 5 hotfixes since the last update. Today I'm dropping another one and this should solidify the game in order to get it ready for the new major content update coming up shortly. Here's the change log in the recent fixes:
- Fixed a fault in classic when you would deploy close protection and start calling vehicles without infantry. - Fixed a fault in the range-finding functions of some of the vehicles. - Disappearing visuals for shells crape and mortar pit. - Germans will not count as occupying troops in HQ for bonus TP generation. - Engineers will not fix nearby enemy vehicles. - Vehicles should not engage stealth enemies but can detect them like ordinary troops. - Fixed cleaning function deleting mortar pits, pillbox and shell scrapes. - Removed the idle frame for the mortarmen which would create some issues and was confusing at times. - Fixed a fault brought in by the Opel spawn function when no infantry is around. - Mortars can't fire when stacked on top of each other.
I will monitor the condition of the game for a little while and see if we are good to go for the next content drop. Help me out with bugs and issues by dropping a line or a two in our discord if you have time.
respectfully,
urb
Mud and Blood. DDAY patch 0.3.6
Hey guys, urb here. Hopefully, you have a decent start to the week time to kick back and check out what's new in your favourite chaos simulator. Something of mention, however, today is the 78th Dday anniversary. Pretty special date as far as I am concerned so the Mud and Blood tradition of dropping a decent-sized patch will continue. This update brings pretty cool new mechanics and additional tactical options to the player. Let's check out what's in there.
The first phase of this patch brought in some fixes that were required after the last influx of mechanics. Most of them were addressed in the last stability patch but a few minor details needed some work. The details are in the patch notes.
Secondly, the focus was to bring additional buildings to classic mode. I've added 6 new construction for the classic mode ranging from tank traps to defensive positions. Notably, we have the pillBox, a large very sturdy bunker which can resist (75%) a direct hit that would have destroyed a normal bunker.
A popular request was a line of sight blocker for the classic mode. So quite naturally the palisade made a comeback. For 1tp you can have an improvised tall wall that will block the line of sight. Be advised the Germans will actively try to take down that wall either with explosives or recoilless weapons.
We also have a few new obstacles that can immobilize a vehicle for some time unless an engineer of that faction is nearby and perform a fix. If a vehicles run over an obstacle it will spawn a bunch of cogs and gears and depending on the nature of the obstacle will be stuck in place for a min or less. The vehicle will still be able to engage targets.
Additionally, we have a new lootable, or should I say the shovel lootable has been modified now to be useable. If a soldier has a shovel right-click nearby he will be able to dig an improvised trench, also called shell scrape (or colloquially named ranger grave). This is a 40% saving throw small defensive construction and this shall be useful in a pinch either in classic or across the Western front in Campaign mode. Digging a shell scrape will consume the shovel. Soldiers who have a shovel will retain their passive ability to disarm Mines, Tnt and UXOs that are nearby. A soldier needs to be stationary in order to perform these actions. The shovel also gives a 3% saving throw to incoming fire (ping!).
We also have an antenna that cost 1 tp which boosts the chances of success (+20%) of any nearby signallers or soldiers in an HQ tent making a call. This should give a hand to 0xp signallers just showing up for their first day at work and having to vector a creeping barrage. Antena also spawns in classic and can improve any nearby soldiers (German or Allied) communications by 20%. This should be a quick cue for fast and decisive actions if we notice an antenna beside an HQ in a campaign game since they tend to get very busy on the radio on those occurrences.
We have a mortar soldier now and the accompanied Mud and Blood mortar pit has been added as well. A mortar pit is a good alternative to a trench since it is bigger and can accommodate a bigger squad. Mortarmen will fire 3 rounds (4 if they are in a mortar pit) of mortar per wave. Mortar men will not fire if inside of a bunker, under a cam net or under a tree. They will also use their rifle if the enemy is under 400 pixels from them. this makes the mortar crew able to defend themselves in a pickle or even act as an infantryman if required. If a mortar soldier doesn't fire his 3 shots during a wave he accumulates them, there is no maximum on how many rounds a mortar man can accumulate currently so a crafty commander can stash a fair amount of rounds in the prediction of harder times to come (post wave 50?)
0.3.5 has dropped
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. - Winston S. Churchill
Good day folks, urb here. Today 0.3.5 has dropped and pushed Mud and Blood closer to its final stage. I've introduced a couple of mechanics in the last patch and it was essential to take a look and see how all these new elements were behaving in the MNB ecosystem.
This said I coded a few fixes in order to keep the base game stable and get ready for another content push. I also took the time to review the MNB2 ribbons and include the majority of them in the classic mode. There are still some that aren't in the game yet such as the infamous victoria cross since airborne troops still need to be coded. This pushes the ribbon count to 86 currently.
Let's take a look at the changelogs for this bad boy:
- Hedgerow ribbon will properly add extra time to armour in the campaign. - Added notification and sound when casualties are replaced due to ribbons abilities. - Added notification and sound when ribbon abilities prevent a soldier to bleed. - Luttich ribbon will now function as intended and will announce when it drops loot. - The outskirt of Brest ribbon now working as intended and give bonus rounds on heavy mortars calls and light mortars skills. - Brest ribbon now working as intended giving up to a 30% bonus on explosion damage. - Siegfried ribbon now working properly giving the correct amount of XP after successful patrols. - Hurtgen forest ribbon will now work properly having up to 20% chances to prevent retreats to take a day. - Flaming soldiers will not take the time to read propaganda since they are busy dying. - AI will not extinguish fires that are too small to hurt them. - M5 and Jeeps are now recrewable (again). - Fixed occurrences where the flak 30 would spawn mid map. - Bikes will no longer trash houses when driving thru them. Calm down Michael Bay. - The taunt timer in classic has been increased to 30 sec. - MNB Classic commandos now spawn with +20 health. - MNB Classic officers now spawn with -10 in combat skill. - MNB Classic Added Wehrmacht Blitz wave. - MNB Classic Added Sniper Blitz wave. - MNB Classic Added special weapons Blitz wave (Bikes come and drop flammers on your positions). - MNB Classic Added Panzer Grenadiers Platoon Blitz wave (3 half-tracks drop grenadiers on your positions). - MNB Classic Armory, Armory Mastery and Armory Command Ribbon added. - MNB Classic Shell Shock Ribbon added. - MNB Classic BBQ Ribbon added. - MNB Classic chain of command Ribbon added. - MNB Classic Defence Expert Award added. - MNB Classic Distinguished Service Ribbon added. - MNB Classic Field Commander Ribbon added. - MNB Classic Gallantry Ribbon added. - MNB Classic Infantry specialist ribbon. - MNB Classic Sapper Commendation ribbon added. - MNB Classic Special Operations Ribbon - MNB Classic Combat excellence Ribbon - MNB Classic Tank Killer Ribbon - Officers in classic have -10 to combat skill - Sten gun now cost only 1 tp in classic - Fixed a crash introduced in the latest patch - Added Skaen's typo corrections
The requirement for the new ribbons can be seen in the wiki as Wanderjar is putting put the details as we speak. Spoiler alerts though I know some of you like to discover ribbons as they go.
Looking ahead, I'm experimenting with some QoL options and art to be injected into the game. I'm also tinkering with some pretty nasty mechanics that will make their way into the game both in classic and campaign but it is a lil bit early to confirm the goodies yet. On this, I thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you will enjoy the new blitz waves :)
Check out our community for tactics and combat goofiness:
Take care folks, get out there and fight with everything you got!!
respectfully,
urb
Mud and Blood 0.3.4 is live
Good day, folks urb here,
Thanks for taking the time to stop here and check out on Mud and Blood. The game is live in early access for about 5 months and looking back it is pretty incredible the amount of progress we have done. I want to personally say thanks to all of you for giving the new Mud and Blood game a spin and being such an active and supportive community. As an indie, I'm very blessed to have this amount of people interested in and playing my game.
Patch 03.4 started as a hotfix, since the last patch was of a fair size I expected a small rise in blue screens :) for the most everything was taken care of in the first week or so. Tape a few content additions in and there and voila we have a patch. Let's have a look at it.
0.3.4
- Fixed a crash caused by the master sniper battle condition not displaying the right icon - Fixed a crash caused by the pak38/40 - Fixed some occasions where the vehicles would be recrewed extensively. - Fixed an issue where the sdkfz 222 would fire a round of 75mm (sorries) - Fixed extinguisher not dropping when looting an additional item - Fixed an occurrence where non-sniper engagement range would be greater than intended when attacking vehicles. Especially the scout. - Implemented a fix for a rare bug that would mess the squad panel or bring you to the options menu when selecting classic. - A soldier hit by a bullet will do a cover save check before spending a veteran save. - Tanks firing at nearby targets and miss will generate a large tracer which will explode further downrange rather than close to the tank. - Cleaned up the recrewing algo so Germans would not step into the driver position of a vehicle that has technically no driver (such as the ZB60) - Increased the range in which fire can affect cam nets - Optimized the propaganda particles to become decals when not moving which will help on slower rigs. - Fire will now burn nearby propaganda pamphlets. - You can now create buildings under a camnet. - Changed the Bar sprite when held by a soldier to represent RL dimension. - Soldier who leaves the HQ while doing a call will cancel his call action. - The game will prioritize available signallers over normal soldiers hanging in a HQ tent for calls. - In classic, the mine action has been reduced to 1 tp and will deploy one mine only. - Reworked the art for the trees. - Added the "old wall" new asset to Aure Valley, Brest Outskirt and Hurtgen. This is an indestructible walls that has a value of 65% (for now). - In campaign mode, fixed an issue where the rarity of a skill card for supply drop wasn't accounted for. - Ranger training is now available in the campaign Commander abilities (we have 19 now!).
This stuff will polish the game a little further in order to retain a respectable level of quality while I pile new content and mechanics in on the next patch. I'm forward to adding a bunch of QoL elements we have been discussing on the discord lately, ribbons and steam achievements. I've released the patch on both branches so if you find funky stuff make sure to check us out on discord.
Community stuff:
If you are new to the game I invite you to check out some of our good players at play. Just like other commanders in WW2, looking at the archives and lessons learned from other units who fought in similar conditions to ours may allow you to uncover a few tricks of the trade you weren't aware of.
Check out our resident expert Zeterman a veteran of the campaign mode pulling a wave 78 game of classic.
If you need help with details of the game you are unsure. Check our wiki Wanderjam has been slamming some good info in there lately.
Also, you can come to our discord we have a new player section where you can ask anything from games mechanics to tactics. Often if you have time some of us can look at your streams and give you a few hints on how to fight your way through a tough spot. It's a good time.
This said folks, thanks for reading this and let me know what you think!
Stay safe out there. Respectfully,
urb
0.3.3 is now live
Good day folks, urb here,
Hope you all had a good winter. Again, thank you all for the great energy from the Mud and Blood community, feedback, suggestions and bug reports. I'm very fortunate that you guys enjoy Mud and Blood and want to be part of this adventure as I make my dream game.
I had a few objectives with this patch. The first one was to augment the diversity in some of the campaign maps, so I injected more art assets in the composition of mid-game (almost end game) biomes Ardenne and Hurtgen Forest. This was the first time the seasons were altered in the engine and had precipitations (snow in Ardenne) and it turned out pretty good. These 2 new biomes have different grounds which will generate new sounds when soldiers walk around. Cold temperatures now make the soldiers generate condensation when breathing.
I've also added 2 new battle conditions (BC) to the 50 ones already present in the games augmenting the variation in campaign mode by one notch.
The first BC is called Hard Case. I particularly like this one since it almost gives Recon vibes to the game. Hard case will place all enemies in a fortified field base at then of the map. The nice touch is that you really have to approach the Hard Case with a solid game plan based on the layout of the ground and your current squad composition. Conducting the attack on a concentrated enemy force is very enjoyable as the events unfold at an amplified rate and scale. I've seen players bringing the full might of the US army into the mix with arty and airstrikes and others sneaking their way into some fancy angle fights with a squad of green troops. It is also quite enjoyable to see the Germans acting as a platoon size element.
The second BC is Master Sniper, which spawns an elite German sniper in the game. This sniper has a very long range of engagement and is generally smarter in his approach. The player has to run from cover to cover in a more expedited way which brings an interesting aspect to the game dynamic. The player still maneuvers forward but now less under his own terms and every dash in the open is a potential dice roll. It gives a good layer of tension, especially in certain map configurations. Counter sniping and the use of smoke also evolved because of this condition.
I've added a few new assets including an HQ tent. In classic, this can be built for 3tp and will allow all soldiers inside the tent to act as a signaller regardless of their class. Additionally, a tent can generate an additional 1tp per wave at a rate of 5% per soldier in the tent (up to 6).
In Campaign, any German who is in a tent can act as a signaller. This makes the tents a considerable factor to consider when mounting your attack. A choice between fighting for good ground or disabling the enemy's abilities to drastically change the fight will have to be made. This adds some depth to the fight since usually the prioritization of targets was mostly done in conjunction with direct lethality rather than potential hazardous and substantial shifts to the dynamic caused by German support calls. Fun stuff!!
Classic had some options added, the first one is the Air superiority call. This will vector US fighters to fly over your AO. It cost 1 TP and will prevent any Axis fighters to operate in your area for 60 seconds. It can also cancel incoming plane calls from the Germans if done in a timely fashion. This is where experienced Signallers come really handy compared to 3 green soldiers in an HQ tent.
The second option is a SitRep. This is a 1 tp call that if successful can harness you (10% chances) a 5 tp reward. It is a fairly simple and easy action to perform all you need is a signaller and 1 TP. The interesting part is ( in my opinion) reflective of the real-life counterpart. An updated chain of command can make decisions based on its updated reality of the situation on the ground. Which at times, will directly improve your situation. But a sitrep, as critical as it can be doesn't have guaranteed returns nor should it be expected, since resources in war are limited and priorities can and will change at a greater scale.
The last thing I wish to talk about is a new lootable, the extinguisher. It started with the idea that the player and the AI would beneficiate from affecting fires around them. In Mud and Blood fire is very unpredictable and destructive. With the addition of the extinguishers, areas considered interdicted can become available again and on short notice. This changes the dynamic of the fight and creates new possibilities for emergent gameplay and clever tactics. Burning soldiers can be saved by extinguishers. Also, using an extinguisher on individuals at a short-range can create some confusion for a short time. Definitely not its primary use but in a pickle, you never say never.
AI soldiers will use the item to the best of their abilities either to save burning soldiers or to clear a path.
This sums up the specifics I wanted to communicate with you but 3.3. has more features (new support calls for Germans) added which are described within the patch notes below.:
0.3.3 change list
- Fixed an additional fault with the precision strike on tigers - Added an extra measure in bazookaHit() function to be properly represented in the directional hit function when triggered by infantry - Germans will carry more fausts if you have more vehicles - Changed the timings for hand-to-hand combat so the bulk of the weapon used affects the speed. - Fixed a fault caused by the game loading when an SDFKZ222 was turning its turret. - Added German Combined forces. This has chances to trigger when the Germans are seeing their troops being dispatched very fast by large squads. - Soldiers with first aid kits will not be able to get medic medals anymore. - Increased medic bag rarity by 2% - Cargo drop item count will now be randomized so a normal rarity cargo drop will drop 1 to 4 items instead of a steady 4. - Reduced the explosion crater of the Pak88 by 50% to represent a more AT-driven capability rather than HE. - Germans have purple smokes which call heavy mortars. Similar to the player ability, heavy mortars will start firing fairly fast after the signal has been deployed. - Germans have grey smoke which calls propaganda pamphlets which if read by your soldiers will demoralize them. Propaganda can be "disarmed" by intel soldiers. - Fixing a fault where Goliaths would spawn on the player's frontline - Asset added Mortar pit. Acts as a trench but larger and round. Found in the Hurtgen forest. - Assed added dead trees x 4 - Asset Standing dead tree which is used in Ardenne - Asset added piles of planks, 50% cover 150 px long cover - New sounds added for footsteps in Hurtgen forest - Pine trees will now drop pine branches when destroyed - Mud backdrop colour for Hurtgen forest maps. - Snow backdrop for Ardenne. - Fixed an occasion where a vehicle would remain hidden even after firing - Fixed an occasion where the stationaries would not fire if close to the edge of the map - Preliminary biome for Ardenne and snow particles - Added snow effects for Ardenne - Fixed an occurrence where the Stug would retreat if not engaged after an ambush - Added condensation clouds when soldiers breathe in Ardenne - Fixed a few occurrences where the Commando class would panic despite being immune to fear - QoL changed the selection circle to a more discernable colour, especially on cobblestone or snow backgrounds - Fixed the global timers for duplicated allied radio calls to not reset on a map restart - Vehicles will obstruct other vehicles if too close. - Standing on top of a rock will make you visible and vulnerable to explosions now. - New asset, Tent provides 15% cover, used in the Hard case battle condition. - Campaign tent mechanics: any Germans standing in an HQ can act as a signaller. - Classic tent mechanics: any Allies standing in a tent count as a siggy for call purposes. Must remain in an unrestricted tent for the duration of the call or call is cancelled and TPs are lost. - New battle condition, Hard Case. Germans have built defences at the end of the map and wait for you there. - New battle condition, Master Sniper. A smart and deadly German sniper with an unlimited engagement range. - Obstruction (when a soldier moves within the personal space of another while shooting) maluses have been increased by x5 for both factions - Scout plane command ability has been changed. In addition to spotting all enemies, it will also deter German troops to fire artillery as per historical accounts. The no arty coverage would be 1 min in classic and Campaign +10 sec per rarity tier in classic command abilities. Scout planes will not cancel arty calls already in play, however. - New command ability, Air superiority. This can be called if you have a signaler in classic mode and will cost 1 tp. This will clear the axis sky of any fighters for a min. - The procedural battlefield soundscape is back!! - Idle troops voice flavour chat back - New lootable: Extinguishers. This item can be used to quite effectively extinguish fires up to 300 pixels away and or burning soldiers. Extinguishers will also stun for a short time. AI will also use extinguishers to the best of its abilities. - Decrewed gun will recrew if there are no enemies nearby. If crews are killed but the gun is not destroyed, Germans that are familiar with this weapon (roughly 10%) can recrew the stationary. If guns are left behind and the player retreats it is possible that Germans will recrew the gun as well. - Added Camnet outline when attempting to build in classic mode - Buildings cannot be built too close to each other anymore in classic.
From community:
Are you having a hard time finishing the beach map in the Campaign? Check out Puguasu DDay with honour while facing SS troops to catch maybe a tip or two.
Well, this is it for me folks, I hope you dig the new features and changes. There are a few in here so we will be fixing issues and adjusting as we go in the next few days.
respectfully,
urb
Mud and Blood 0.3.2 has dropped
Good folks urb here,
Mud and Blood 0.3.2 is an integration patch that focuses on the backend of the game, notably rich experience. I'm talking here about steam integration. This combined with the latest great news we received from our main slice Gabe, saying that MNB was confirmed steam deck compatible let's just say that our beloved chaos simulator is now well integrated.
Turns out that it took me a few hours to figure this out and thanks to steam's excellent API, Mud and Blood stands with its pairs when it comes to achievements and leader boards. I've implemented a couple of token test entities and more will follow as development continues. Expect more content on that front as the game keeps evolving.
We also have rich presence enabled, which describes to your friends list what you are doing in Mud and Blood when playing it.
This said here's the list of changes for 0.3.2
0.3.2
- Debuff per Germans crossing - Germans not ambushing at the line - Moved the version label to the left a little to allow the NG+ frame to display properly. - Fixed a crash with Tiger tanks sounds. - Fixed a fault where explosions would not link appropriately to their parent (mostly when finding the angle of attack on a tiger) - Adjusted AI behaviour when facing allied soldiers hiding in trees. - Fixed some fonts mismatch - Fixed an occurrence where special enemy troops would spawn when resuming a campaign game. - Adjusted the position of the enemies in the first bunker on the beach. - Corrected some typos. - Changed text for engineer flamer skill to proper time (60 sec). - Moved the locations of ambushes so they don't proc right at the starting line. - 29th Let's go skill in classic has been reduced to 1 tp. - Fixed an occurrence where the precision strike (something that has no direction!) on directional armour (mostly tiger tank) would break the game. - Fixed an occurrence where the bazooka or enemy Faust would be confused with decrewed vehicles. - In the campaign, from now on, veterancy will be given to any soldier that has crossed the finish line at least once. - Added a fix for trenches art (but not cover) to vanish during the classic gameplay - Steam implementation with 5 achievements for now (let us know the achievements you would like to see) - Steam leader boards implementation (reset from beta) - Steam rich presence
Also, we have seen a fair amount of good content in the community lately:
Puguasu fighting a bunch of SS in a very clean advance, almost finishing D-Day with honours.
We got a new guide from Zeterman on how to commando properly
Also, we can follow Lance's progression thru the campaign.
Special mention to atoue for pulling a 200+ wave during the beta test of the boards!! pure insanity.
On this, my firends, the community and I will catch you on the next update. Hit us up on the boards or on our discord if you have suggestions for achievements or any questions. We're a good bunch and are always happy to help new players with tactics or any questions you may have.
respectfully, urb
Mud and Blood 0.3.1
Good day folks urb here,
First and foremost thank you all for the absolute blast of love MNB is receiving since the launch. Very humbling. As some of you may know, I've been doing this for a lil while and it always takes me off guard how much MNB means to some of you. I take this responsibility seriously and I am grateful for all of you guys.
This said the 0.3.1 patch comes after the classic patch stabilization about a month ago. I took this time to sit back and reprioritize the sequence of work. One of the main items on this list was to be able to close the loop in campaign mode. Which introduces this new feature:
MNB NG+ Upon finishing the campaign the player will get to keep his/her profile and the game will cycle back to a beach day but this time with increased difficulty. In the same fashion Dark soul does if you will.
Some details about NG+
- The next cycle starts back at the beach with the player retaining all his awards, squad and command abilities (You'll need them)
- There are 4 cycles which are represented by difficulty modes in MNB, Hard mode, Unfair mode, Brutal mode and Masters.
- Every mode increases the Combat skill of the enemies by 15% and their hitpoints by 25 and their Experience by 10
I would personally say that on hard mode MNB feels like it should to me in terms of challenge and lethality but I will let you judge by yourself (if you get there). Just today we saw a very good MNB player called Finjor doing 4 maps on the hard mode. It looked very intense and punitive, however, he finished them all on the first try and with only 4 casualties total.
Next, let's now take a look at the patch notes for this one:
- Fixed a fault when hidden Stugs would spawn on the Beach or Aure valley. - Added an extra measure to ensure supply boxes don't get despawned (to increase performance). - New German unit: Added SDFKZ222 recon vehicle, this light armoured vehicle has a pretty good detection range. - German radio operators can now call goliath mines. - German radio operators can now call V1 rockets. - New German unit: Added Flak30 autocannon, slow firing 20 mm tomfoolery. - Troops that are burning or disabled troops will not get the lone wolf medal upon the end of a campaign map. - Reinforced save structure around classic mode sub-menu in order to prevent partial profile loads on lower-end machines. - Officer rally skill will now unpin everyone and make these soldiers unpinnable for 10 sec - Enemy vehicles are now revealed by scout planes. - Reversed the sound channels in the Johnny rifle sound. (pet peeve: The echo was going left which is more than often not where the soldiers were) - Vehicle movement will not be interrupted by fire in classic mode. - Improved ability for vehicles to detect infantry with turrets when targets are behind them. - Fix for "backsliders" - You cannot tactically withdraw disabled soldiers behind the starting line anymore. - Panicking soldiers will not be hotkeyable anymore - Uncrewed jeeps (and crewable vehicles) will not spot any more - Tripled the speed of decals cleanup on lower settings - New map asset: Deep Craters, are created by very powerful explosions and can be used as improvised defence locations. Currently, the explosions that create deep craters are V1s, B17 bombs and TNT. - New German unit: Tiger tank A tough armoured opponent that if fired upon, has 50% of deflecting the incoming attack (Glancing Blow), unless it is shot in the back where its armour is the weakest.
- Passengers in Zundaps (German bikes) will not ride sideways anymore :) very uncomfortable I heard. - Vehicles can now spawn on both ends of the map during open warfare adding to the chaos. - Increased usage of smoke screens by the Germans by 1% in Classic mode - Increased the number of troops in late-game higher waves - increased usage of radios by Germans by 2% - XP factor increase to win streaks capped at 25 - Added an end-game placeholder loop so folks that already beat the campaign can keep playing. Beating the campaign will unlock harder modes (NG+) and start the campaign over. - Added a fail state if you pass the cap of 333 which will bring you back to the beach with your current profile. - Crate drops are a little more dispersed now and Germans can capture the supplies in both modes, spawning additional troops. - Changed the sound for the basic sniper rifle for something more snappy. - Intel soldiers are not affected by the standardization Battle Condition anymore (they get to keep whatever German weapons they found) - 0.3.1a fixed a fault triggered by the Opel sound.
It is a decent patch in terms of mechanics since it brings new vehicles that are not behaving like the other ones. We will let these guys cycle through games and see how all this mesh together.
Community heads up
There was some pretty cool stuff in the community lately to check out:
- Check out this amazing in-depth guide made by a tester. Either if you are a pro or you are struggling there is something for you in this.
- Check out our latest rising star Zeterman, his channel is brand new and his tactics are aggressive and crisp.
- Puguasu is doing it again but passing through St-Lo for the first time with all the surprises it includes.
That'll be a wrap for this patch folks, I will take a day or two off and get back at it with a few surprises for the next one which should drop within a week or two depending on how stable everything is.
Respectfully,
urb
MNB 0.3.0e hotfix
Good day folks, urb here,
While I'm working on 0.3.1 it was brought to my attention that some folks out there had issues with the classic mode button in the main menu. This would only affect folks who bought the game post 0.3.0.
After some investigation, it appears that a player that had a fresh profile and clicked the classic game button would trigger an empty map and non-responsive troops. This is now fixed.
If for some reason your classic game save is still messy just head in option -> reset profile this will now definitely resolve the issue.
Thanks to the community for being on top of this and my apologies for those who couldn't access their daily dose of unfair random brutality.
