Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom
Winter Sale Last Call
Glad to see everyone in the year 2023. The last few days were very eventful in Ukraine - I will tell you more in the next War in Ukraine despatch.
Just two days left to grab our games at the all-time highest discount.
Here are all our titles and discounts on them:
Strategic Mind: The Pacific - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/
Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/
Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism - 40%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom - 35%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
Save up an additional 20% on top of the discounts above if you get Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
Support us by adding Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Winter Sale ends soon
We hope that your holiday is going well and you were able to spend some great time with your family and friends.
If you planned on getting any Strategic Mind games during the Steam Winter Saler all-time largest discount and forgot to do that - here is your chance. The sale ends on January 5th, so there is only a couple of days left.
Here are all our titles and discounts on them:
Strategic Mind: The Pacific - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/
Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/
Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism - 40%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom - 35%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
Save up an additional 20% on top of the discounts above if you get Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
Support us by adding Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Starni Games 2022 Report
It’s been a difficult year for everyone in Ukraine. So, our key achievements for this year are:
- Everyone on the team is alive and safe (to the extent you could be safe in a city that occasionally suffers missile strikes)
- The company survived - we continued our operations, managed to keep the team together, and returned to our Kyiv office
That is already good enough on its own, but we are happy to say we managed to do even more, despite all difficulties we also managed the following:
- We made good progress in the development of Headquarters: World War II and kept working on Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty
- We self-funded and self-published a fully free charity project about the war in Ukraine from civilains points of view - Ukraine War Stories
- Our team grew from 15 to 25 people. Now we are quite a large team (which we are still getting used to)
- Installed a power generator and heaters to make sure we have a power supply and internet connection even if the whole city or our district is out of power - ensured our office is autonomous. This allows us to look more confidently into 2023.
- Donated substantial amount of money to help Ukraine both as a company and as individuals
Starni Games team
Now let us look a bit closer at our team. Here is a Starni team introductory video made by Slitherine team for the Headquarters: World War II presentation.
We are very excited that despite the war our team has only grown stronger and is ready to deliver more and better content in 2023 than ever before.
Starni Games Q&A #3 - ask us
We remain very open to our community - so we would be more than happy to answer any and all of your questions. Please, send your questions through this form.
We will record a video answering all of your questions in early January.
Previous Dev Q&As:
Dev Q&A #1
Dev Q&A #2
Also, join our Discord server to talk with us and other players at any time.
Headquarters: World War II
Throughout the year our biggest project was Headquarters: World War II and we are making really good progress with it. You can see that yourself if you watch the recent presentation at the Slitherine Next event.
Also, if you like the project and want to help us with the final polish - sign up for the Beta test of the game here.
Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty
We keep working on the project, but we have to admit that we have some difficulties in organizing the VO as most of teh people we worked with are now unavailable for various war-related reasons and we do not have the budget to just order it somewhere, so we are looking to solve these problems while also working on the remaining levels and aspects of the game we could. We have concrete plans for release in 2023, but we cannot announce it yet, as some aspects of the development remain unresolved at this stage.
We will continue to make regular updates about our development progress, Here is one of the historical music tracks from the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty for your listening pleasure.
To support us, please, add the Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
Ukraine War Stories
We are really happy we managed to create a highly reviewed project (88% Positive reviews at the time of writing, which is a miracle in itself considering the sensitive nature of the project) about the war in Ukraine in the middle of the said war. It is a fully free charity project that our whole team is really proud of - so we invite you to have a look and spread the word:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985510/Ukraine_War_Stories/
Check out our recent report about Ukraine War Stories.
War in Ukraine
While the war in Ukraine continues, we managed to adapt and keep working even in these difficulty conditions. You can learn more about how that went by checking out our War in Ukraine Despatches on the community hub - there is the most recent one.
We hope that Ukraine’s territories will be liberated by UAF and the war will be over as soon as possible. With that in mind, we also should not be overly optimistic or careless and should be ready and resolved to work in wartime conditions as long as it is required.
Stand with Ukraine!
Extra details for newsletter subscribers
We want this report to be concise, so if you are looking for even more details and insides about the Starni Gamers team - make sure you subscribed to our newsletter (Subscribe button could be found in any of the Strategic Mind games, and if you already subscribed you do not have to do anything extra, just wait for the letter) to receive a letter with an extra addition to this report.
The letter will be sent out on 30th January.
Happy holidays!
Our team wishes you all happy holidays and looks forward to seeing you all in 2023. We hope you will spend a great time with your family and friends, while also refreshing your body and soul and getting ready for the new and exciting year 2023.
With Best Wishes from Kyiv
Oleksandr and the Strani Games team
War in Ukraine - despatch 13 | Power generator saves the day
Last two months have been rough for our team, same as for just about everyone else in Ukraine, due to the constant missile and kamikaze drone attacks on the power supply system across entire country. As I explained in previous despatches this led to working from home with a very unsteady working hours (often at night) and communication delays as different people would be available at different times.
To be able to participate in Headquarters: World War II live presentation I had to go to coworking space with my laptop, as there was Stralink internet access unaffected by unpredictable power cuts. This was necessary to make sure I would not drop out in the middle of the livestream.
Now, all these problems are tackled, as we finally got ourselves a decent power generator installed near our office. It allows us to run all PCs and a couple other devices while there is no power, and then switch back to main supply when its back up, There is still problem with the cold though, as the temperature outside could go as low as -10 *C, while the centralized heating in the office building does not work this winter. When the centralized power is up, we can use various heaters to make it nice and warm, but when the power is off and we run the generator - we cannot use much more than our PCs alone. So, to counter that we installed a powerful gas heater as well. The first few days it was cold, while we were still working out everything with the heating, but now the situation should improve.
The best thing though, is that we are together again and can work out any issues and discuss things very fast and efficient as before. That means we should be back to our normal production speed after the holidays period, despite the ongoing war. We often lack the power at home, which is uncomfortable, but at least now our work is secured and we can continue uninterrupted.
Starni Games news
Sign ups for Headquarters: World War II Beta now open
Make sure to watch the recent Headquarters: World War II presenation during the Slitherine Next event and if you want to help us make the game better before the official trelease - make sure you sign up for the beta here.
The Headquarters section of the event had the following structure:
- Intro video
- Strani team presentation
- Single-player operation gameplay video with dev commentary
- 4-players multiplayer match highlights with dev commentary
So, there is really a lot of juicy content there and a quite in-depth discussion of the game. I think that is the first time our team prepared a footage of a multiplayer match by 4 Devs recorded by each person to create the shortened “highlights” version and present the multiplayer to the audience.
Please, let us know what you think about the project and its presentation. Your feedback is really important for our team
Submit your questions for Dev Q&A #3
We will soon hold end of the year Q&A, so if you have questions about any of our projects (Strategic Mind series, Headuarters: World War II, or Ukraine War Stories) or about our team – please send them to us through this form.
Ukraine War Storiers 2 months after release review
Check out how our fully free charity project covering the war in Ukarine from civilians point of view is faring here.
Scenario overview #2: The Battle of Tolvajarvi
If you have missed our recent Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty scenario review, you can found it here.
Steam Winter Sale has begun!
Last but not least, Steam Winter Sale is ongoing with all Strategic Mind titles at there all-time biggesrt discounts up and running until January 5th. We know that Strategic Mind could be a very tricky Chirsmas present to figure out, but if you know some hardcore wargamers (including yourselves) who are up to the task, consider making their holidays even more exciting.
See all discounts
Save up an additional 20% on top of the discounts above if you get Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
Support us by adding Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
Merry Christmas!
Our whole team wishes you, your family and friends Merry Chistmas and hopes you will have great time during the holidays.
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Steam Winter Sale BEGINS!
Christmas holiday is about to start, it’s high time to expand your collection by taking advantage of the all-time largest discount on all Strategic Mind series titles.
Our team is living through difficult times in Ukraine, so we would truly appreciate if you support our team by grabbing one or two copies as a gift (only if you think that would be a good gist, of course). We will keep you updated on how we work in these difficult times for our country in the follow-up Steam community news.
Strategic Mind: The Pacific - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/
Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg - 45%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/
Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism - 40%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom - 35%
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/
Save up an additional 20% on top of the discounts above if you get Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
Support us by adding Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
Stay tuned for more news from Starni Games and our end of the year summary.
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Dev Q&A #3 – submit your questions
We will soon hold end of the year Q&A, so if you have questions about any of our projects (Strategic Mind series, Headuarters: World War II, or Ukraine War Stories) or about our team – please send them to us through the form below:
https://forms.gle/sSXz2uxpzazifJZa9
We will also have more news and end of the year news updates for you in the coming days.
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Headquarters: World War II at Slitherine Next event
On December 13th our project Headquarters: World War II was presented at the Slitherine Next event along with a video about Starni Games team. So, if you would like to know more about Headquarters: World War II or the Starni team - we invite you to watch the broadcast recording here:
https://youtu.be/JksoUf2eh1I?t=7373
The Headquarters section of the event had the following structure:
- Intro video
- Strani team presentation
- Single-player operation gameplay video with dev commentary
- 4-players multiplayer match highlights with dev commentary
So, there is really a lot of juicy content there and a quite in-depth discussion of the game. I think that is the first time our team prepared a footage of a multiplayer match by 4 Devs recorded by each person to create the shortened “highlights” version and present the multiplayer to the audience.
Please, let us know what you think about the project and its presentation. Your feedback is really important for our team.
Also, feel free to send your questions for the upcoming Dev Q&A #3 where we will be answering any and all of your questions on all of our projects before the New Year.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfb9kxr6wnSVgDakaybefNIQqVLyxP_v9LlGAKPBs4EMpwGTw/viewform
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Scenario overview #2: The Battle of Tolvajarvi
Through numerous war games conducted in advance Mannerheim had identified several potential weak points in the Finnish defense, if the Soviets had attacked. One of them, near the village of Tolvajarvi, could potentially allow the Soviets to bypass the main Finnish defenses entirely, and strike the Mannerheim Line into the rear.
Complicating matters, when the Winter War did break out, the defenses at Tolvajarvi were being attacked by an entire army. Against 6 rifle divisions with artillery support and a massive armored brigade, an asymmetrical response was the Finns' only hope.
The task was given to the already-legendary Colonel Paavo Talvela, who employed the help of his old friend Lieutenant Colonel Aaro Pajari, also a storied veteran. And legends like them were needed badly – the battle of Tolvajarvi was off to a very shaky start.
Upon arrival Pajari's men came under friendly fire from an allied unit, who confused them for the Soviets. Luckily, the incident produced no casualties, but did a blow to the troops' morale, which later turned into a humiliating route when the Soviet forces indeed attacked. Here Pajari decided to seize the initiative – he took volunteers from his battalion and led them in a devastating raid behind the enemy lines, slowing down the Soviet advance. This time, a deadly friendly fire broke out among the confused and frightened Bolsheviks, who did not expect to see Finns so deep in their midst.
The following day produced another bizarre incident. A Soviet detachment managed to capture a Finnish position, but couldn't capitalize on their success – starved and exhausted, they got too busy devouring the sausage soup from the Finnish field kitchen. This allowed the Finns to launch a deadly counter-attack. Thus, a minor episode of the Battle of Tolvajarvi came to be remembered as the Sausage War.
On the next morning, the assault on the Soviet HQ, the well-fortified "Hotel Tourist", met further complications. Not all of the forces had arrived in position on time, and some had to take a dangerous shortcut to quickly rejoin the rest. This took them over open ice, which made them easy targets for the Soviet artillery. Pajari, however, was able to turn the situation around with clever maneuvering and timely artillery support.
The true test of wills came when the Soviet and the Finnish forces clashed in close combat, sometimes as close as a knife's stabbing distance – and now it was the Soviets' turn to be broken and routed. The Finns quickly encircled the Hotel Tourist – any tanks the Soviets dispatched to assist the defenders were ambushed in the thick surrounding forests.
The fighting inside the hotel took 2 hours, but the results spoke for themselves – the Soviet HQ was wiped out, an entire rifle division ceased to exist, and the Soviet attack at Tolvajarvi had to be abandoned for good. The Finns captured 20 tanks of various kinds and numerous anti-tank weapons and machine guns. Last but not least, this was the first successful Finnish offensive of the war – where Taipale had shown the nation that the Soviets could be stopped, Tolvajarvi proved that they could be beaten back.
The news spread across Finland, then across the globe, and the entire world had something new to look forward to: not the swift Soviet victory (which was definitely off the table by then), but an even worse beating, until Stalin would be forced to abandon his conquest for good.
In the game
This is the third scenario of the historical campaign - you have to take charge and start a Finnish counterattack, and potentially capture a Soviet HQ.
The fighting is happening over the frozen lakes and rivers and it is critical to use terrain to your advantage. You can even try to use ice to sneak into the enemy rear, but if you do that risky move in the wrong place and get spotted - the enemy artillery will wreck your troops. This best be avoided as, unlike the Soviets, you have no extra troops to spare.
Will you be able to win this tough battle and make the Soviets question their overly ambitious conquest plans?
👉 Support us — add the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
War in Ukraine - despatch 12 | Power cuts will not stop us
This post was supposed to happen much earlier, but it is really hard to keep up in terms of workload and communication due to the following events:
Starting in October Russia started targeting the power supply infrastructure across the entire Ukraine, conducting hundreds of missile strikes (as much as 70-100 missiles a day on some days). This led to the deterioration of the power supply in Ukraine, which did not have been the case in Kyiv during the first 7 months of the war. Even when the Russian army was 3 km from the city, and their artillery could target the outskirts, I had both a power and internet connection in my apartment. Now, I often do not.
First, the power supply was offered at one schedule, and we adjusted our office hours to fit that. Then the schedule became even worse, and we had to switch to working from home to try and catch the hours with a power supply whenever we can. So, throughout November we were struggling to catch our rhythm and keep our work and communication efficient despite all the problems with power and the internet. We keep working on all our projects, but our team was obviously affected. I would say that November was the most difficult month after March when the war just started, no one knew what to expect and enemy troops were near Kyiv.
There is still hope though. We are working to install the power generator and all the necessary equipment to make our office self-sufficient. We expect that we will be able to return to office work soon. We do hope that it would help us bring the work back up to speed. So we are really looking forward to that, while still doing everything we could under the difficult circumstances.
Now let us move on to other news.
Join Headquarters: World War II Discord server
We invite you to join the dedicated Headquarters: World War II Discord server where you can talk with other players and ask the devs whatever you like. We hope that you will also be able to find players for multiplayer matches there once the game is available.
Click to join
Watch Slitherine NEXT on 13th December
A good opportunity to learn more about Headquarters: World War II. More information is here.
Ukraine War Stories wins Uncut Gems award
We are happy to share with you yet another token of recognition for Ukraine War Stories at the GevGAMM Awards - the Uncut Gems award.
News updates recap:
Units In Spirit of Liberty #2 | Landsverk L-182 Armored Car
Scenario overview #1: The Battle of Taipale
Units In Spirit of Liberty #3 | Jaeger
Screenshot Saturday #19
The day the Winter War began 83 years ago
Units In Spirit of Liberty #4 | Karjalan pelastaja (“The Saviour of Karelia”)
Starni Winter sale ends soon
Do not forget to grab the missing Strategic Mind titles for your collection - the discount will end soon.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/
More news coming up.
The whole team is really thankful for your support - that helps us keep our spirits high and continue working hard on the upcoming games.
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team
Units In Spirit of Liberty #4 | Karjalan pelastaja (“The Saviour of Karelia”)
There is a famous adage that Russia's biggest problems are her fools and her roads. The former problem remains very much exclusive, but the latter was omnipresent across the Russian Empire and its holdings, and only somewhat contained by its railway network. When the Empire collapsed in 1917, railroads were the backbone of logistics both in Russia proper and the surrounding states, and Finland was no exception.
In these circumstances, the armored train was an ingenious and efficient way of moving vast firepower across vast distances, and fast. During the Finnish Civil War, the Reds entered the war with Soviet-donated armored trains, and so controlled the railroad. The White Finns didn't have them, and so they needed to either sabotage the railroad (which could backfire dramatically) or quickly get some armored trains of their own. They chose the latter, and gave it their best shot – the Savior of Karelia was the result. Armed with only one 76 mm mountain gun, it had an ironclad locomotive, but the artillery carriage's armor was quite literally a brick wall, reinforced with boards on both sides.
It was surprisingly effective. Used for infantry support, the Savior of Karelia led to numerous victories, to the point where its mere appearance boosted the troops' morale. Often, its incredibly skilled crew and highly precise artillery managed to deter Red formations on their own, routing the enemy even when the train operated on its own.
And in April 1918, the Savior's cannon was finally heard on the Karelian Isthmus, as the last of the Reds were being dealt with. A month later, the Whites won the war, and the Savior of Karelia had completely lived up to its name.
And in Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty, the legendary armored train makes a repeat appearance in the Finns' most desperate hour of need.
In the game
Unlike many other Armoured trains, The Saviour of Karelia holds more symbolic power than actual firepower and thus boosts the capabilities of nearby units. It appears at a very critical moment - as Finns utilize whatever they can to stop the Soviet advance, including an old armored train, that served them well back in the Civil War. Of course, its high mobility and artillery support would also come in handy.
Also, see our previous unit posts:
Landsverk L-182
Vickers 6-ton tank
Jaeger
👉 Support us — add the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty to your wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1474770/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty/
With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team