One of the great objectives CRS has had for sometime now is releasing the 64-Bit version of our World War II Online client, and I am pleased to report that our team is putting the final pieces together for an Open BETA which will act as the precursor to the official release. Since our original release WWIIOL has always been a 32-bit client and this marks a massive technological door opening. Please continue reading to learn about 64-Bit, Open BETA and how you can help, and what WWIIOL will be gaining by this.
64-BIT RELEASE ESTIMATION
We are anticipating release of the WWIIOL 64-Bit Client between February and March 2020. This will include the Mac and PC versions.
HOW IS TESTING GOING?
Our Quality Assurance team is feeling pretty confident now after some kinks have been worked out and things are looking good. Only a couple of ticketed items are remaining. The real test will be its deployment to the live server and seeing how things go.
WILL THERE BE A BETA TEST PERIOD?
Yes! We will have a BETA server available for users to login and test before it reaches the live server, we are approaching that stage and will require testers to assist.
If you are interested in supporting that effort, please contact our Quality Assurance team lead at scking@corneredrats.com.
WHAT WILL BE GAINED BY THIS RELEASE?
Mac users will be able to upgrade to the latest version of their Operating System and continue to play WWII Online. It will set ourselves up for success with PC users as well as likely the natural trend in the future for Windows will be to rid of 32-bit support, just as Mac recently has done.
But most importantly, it is a massive technological door opening for WWII Online. It will give us the ability to leverage hardware and software going forward in ways that our current 32-Bit client will not allow us to achieve.
It is important to note that the first release of 64-Bit is simply making World War II Online's game client 64-Bit compatible, and that's it. Please set expectations accordingly.
IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP?
YES! WWII Online is 100% community-funded indiegame developed by a volunteering team. Subscribe to support the project and give it a chance to survive another 20 years with an improved gameplay, a new visual look and more content.
Have more questions? Please leave a comment on this article stating your question.
Salute and thanks for your support!
Allies win Campaign 170 & Campaign 171 start!
ALLIED VICTORY
Congratulations to the Allied forces for winning Campaign 170! After 52 days of hardcore fighting by German forces (including pressing the lines back a bit west), the Allies finally cut off many towns and pressed into several key factory towns inevitably leading to the defeat of the Axis.
This ongoing intermission include nimble equipment availability to re-create that old school WWII Online feel. For many players, this may be your first time experiencing this and it will require immense teamwork to bring supply and troops forward. Player Placed Objects will be put to the test for forward fortifications and barriers like we have not yet seen before. Please continue reading for more information on supply availability.
ON-GOING INTERMISSION IS NIMBLE
Instead of doing a free-for-all like we normally do for intermission, we wanted to do some testing to see how players like the "Old School feel of WWII Online."
It will take a lot of teamwork to move forces forward, we hope that you guys will drive some more trucks forward and understand that players will need a lift. Don't forget, you can hop on friendly tanks to for a ride.
The idea of the supply being very nimble is to encourage a more level playing field and unique game play.
SUPPLY AVAILABILITY As the number of AB's go up, so does the supply (fyi). Only British, French and German forces will be in intermission. There will be plenty of trucks to move troops around in on both sides.
INFANTRY: *Rifleman -Brigade: 300 -Garrison: 100 *SMG + DLC: 20 MP40/Mas38/Thompson in brigades, No SMG’s in Garrison *HC Officer 10 *Engineer: 20 in brigades, 10 in garrisons *Sapper: 10 in brigades, 5 in garrisons *Paratroopers: -Rifleman: 200 -SMG: 20 -LMG: 15 -Planes: 50
TANKS *Panzer II C + DLC: 15 in brigades, 7 in garrisons *Vickers + DLC: 15 in brigades, 7 in garrisons *R35 + DLC: 15 in brigades, 7 in garrisons
ATGs/AA *Pak36 / Flak30 / Flak38: 20 in brigades, 10 in garrisons *2 Pounder / cml38: 20 in brigades, 10 in garrisons *25mm / cml38: 20 in brigades, 10 in garrisons
-Hurricane Mk I -Spitfire Mk Ia -Bf-109E1 -Bf-110C -Hawk75 -Dewo 520
Campaign 171
Campaign #171 will start Thursday, 1-23-2020 at about 7:00 PM server time or 10:00 PM EST. This new campaign will see somes changes made to tanks supply: numbers will be lowered to give infantry higher chance to dominate the battlefield.
Prior to the new campaign start the game server (Intermission server) will be coming down for a few hours. The training server will be open during this time period.
Starter account owners will receive access to Destroyers and a heavier ATG as campaign bonus.
Join Operation "Iron Justice" this Sunday, January 19th starting at 12:00 EST or 5:00 PM GMT.
Iron Justice is a free armor focused special event led by the high commands (HCs) of both sides. All tank classes will be unlocked to all players, including f2p.
We hope you will take this opportunity to try multi-crewing with a buddy or teach a new player how to effectively tank in WWII Online! Think of how lethal you can be with two squaddies (players) in the same tank. One player controls the driving and maneuvering and the other player controls the sighting and weapons. It's a great time to try something new!
We hope you will take this opportunity between now and Sunday to rally your friends and squad mates and bring them back to fight in Operation Iron Justice. The event will last several hours and the action will be directed by both of the high commands. In the past these events have drawn big increases in our server pop and created big battles along the map with multiple attack objectives for each side.
Just because this an armor focused event doesn't mean we don't need the full support of our infantry and air forces! Remember we are combined arms game and where there's a lot of tanks it means there's a lot of targets :)
Returning players should re-enlist now. Don't wait until Sunday to re-enlist in case you need support to help you get signed up and active again (support@playnet.com).
Also, don't forget to download Discord for voice comms. There will be "Iron Justice" channels in both the Allied and Axis Discords. Join our Discord Voice Comms server(s) here.
[Dev update] Engineer vs New Combat Engineer
from XOOM: Continuing with last week's discussion (which featured the Modular PPO Trench System), I'd like to put some direct focus on the upcoming Combat Engineer class and what to expect. Today we're going to break down the load outs of both the Engineer and Combat Engineer, and the strategy as to why we're splitting them into two classes. We also have a short mention today of some high priority items that are in progress, like the 64-bit client, packet transmissions and of course what new fixes we've employed to smooth out our new billing system.
ENGINEER VS COMBAT ENGINEER (OVERVIEW)
The primary difference between the Engineer vs Combat Engineer, would be its load out and available PPOs (Player Placed Objects) available for each class. The Engineer is going to be more defensive oriented and focusing on the construction of larger projects (now, and going forward). The Combat Engineer is going to be focusing on offensive operations such as demolition (strategic points such as bridges, buildings, forward bases, heavy enemy PPOs, etc).
The below listed PPOs reflect initial roll-outs. More will be added to these classes as we develop additional placements.
ENGINEER LOADOUT Here's what Engineers will be receiving once we roll out this release:
Bolt-Action Rifle - 60 rounds
Bridge/AI Repair Kits - 4
HE Grenade - 1
Smoke Grenades - 4
PPOs
Foxhole
Modular Trenches (9 pieces)
Barbed wire fence
Barbed wire box
COMBAT ENGINEER LOADOUT Since Combat Engineers are going to be a bit forward and embedded with frontline troops / have an attack oriented role, they'll be receiving:
Rifle
Bolt-Action Rifle (for UK / France / Germany) - 100 rounds
M1 Garand for US Forces - 88 rounds (Justifications are higher rate of fire and accounts for soldiers actual load out on his belt / enbloc clip in weapon)
HE Satchel (Demolition) - 4
HE Grenades - 4
Smoke Grenades - 4
PPOs
Foxhole
All sandbag types
Gun Emplacement
Tank Trap
CURRENT PRIORITY ITEMS IN PROGRESS
We'd like to take a moment to acknowledge some high priority items which are in progress, with some anecdotal information to support each point.
64-BIT Client
QA server is just now getting operational after the move to Portland
Mac Client is currently in testing - Offline testing has occurred during the move to Portland
A new Windows 64-bit compatible client was built on 9JAN2020
This is the QA & Dev Team's top priority in terms of game release
Ping vs Packets
Higher pings do not directly result into worse playability, this is a misconception
If you hit "Num-Lock" you can see your: -Ping (coloration has been added) -Packet transmission (white bar with little dots): This is the focal point. Packets should've improved. If you have a steady stream of packets you're good to go.
New Billing System Improvements
New users signing up are entering into a billing plan and receiving access accordingly
Recurring plan users:
New script developed (WIP) to send critical notice from merchant to our system, thereby activating your account. This remains a work in progress, we're actively working on this daily to remove false-negative notifications. Thanks for your patience on this and for any issues the may arise, continue to contact us at http://support.wwiionline.com.
Daily staff (manual / by hand) review to ensure accuracy
SUPPORT GAME DEVELOPMENT: SUBSCRIBE!
The best way to help us continue efforts like these is to SUBSCRIBE. Our Support Team stands ready to assist you with any needs you may have.
WWII Online & CRS is 100% community funded and your support is what keeps the game operational - thank you for your support.
COMMENT IN THE ARTICLE BELOW - TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT!
[dev update] New PPO Trench System coming!
From XOOM: To kick off the New Year's first, "Developer Update," we're pleased to announce that CRS has been quietly working on a new Modular PPO (player placed object) Trench System, that we think you're going to love! Engineers will be able to select from a variety of connect-able trench pieces to place down on the terrain, and then connect them together based on what the conditions need. Today, we have some pictures for you to review, an early demonstration video, and some commentary in terms of the design implementation. Buckle-up for an awesome update!
WHAT IS A MODULAR SYSTEM?
A modular system is a series of parts that can be connected together (think of a puzzle). The inspiration behind this design was to take on a new challenge by delivering something our players have never seen us do yet, and leverage an incredibly great part of our game called the PPO mechanism.
WHAT DOES PPO MEAN?
PPO stands for, "Player Placed Object." This means that real players who are spawned in as infantry characters, and now even some vehicles, can place objects. Things like Mobile Spawns, Ammo Box, Anti-Tank Pit, Foxhole, Sand Bags, etc.
WHY TRENCHES?
We elected to go with trenches so that we could provide better rudimentary fortifications in the field for our players. In some areas it can be pretty exposed and lacking in natural cover / concealment. This Modular Trench System directly provides both cover, concealment, and a whole different take on how battles could be fought on the outskirts of towns.
MODULAR TRENCH SYSTEM IN-PROGRESS PHOTOS
All pictures may be clicked on to "expand" their view a better visual.
Pictured here is a top photo of a test system we put together. You'll notice there is an end-cap for positions that you want to close off, and other incomplete ends that you can run out of, as desired.
Here is an example of how we could implement a mortar crew and keep them a little safer than our current foxholes. They have a lot more cover, a forward observer (FO), and someone assisting the FO with directing that fire and marking contacts / waypoints on the map.
This picture best illustrates the multiple positions an infantryman can take cover behind, as well as escape as-needed with built in ramps. Do take note that enemy infantry can come in over the tops as well, so you could have trench battles taking place.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATION
This is a raw video demonstrating its usage, as it is currently a work in progress, it may not reflect the final outcome of development.
We're currently looking to make mobile spawns better. If we can make them a little less obvious, we can reduce their camping, improve their survivability and give our players greater options in how they decide to deploy mobile spawns.
We will be incorporating at least ONE mobile spawn with the roll out of the modular trench system, and it will be an infantry spawn point ony. THIS WILL BE DEPLOYED BY TRUCKS - ONLY, just like how all mobile spawns are currently placed. Once that spawn is deployed, your Engineers will be able to build around it connecting more pieces as-needed to help fortify it and make it less obvious for enemy forces where to find it (hopefully).
HOW WILL THEY BE DESTROYED / DAMAGED?
Exactly like how PPOs in-game are currently damaged. Bomb strikes and high-explosive satchels will have a devastating effect on these positions. Specific game rules are still being ironed out, and this remains a work in progress.
ENGINEER CLASS REVISION(S)
Now is a good time to indicate that CRS plans to separate the "Engineer" class into two different classes when this rolls out, which will include:
1.Engineer (Construction) -Creation of bigger PPOs
2.Combat Engineer (Demolition) -Carries High-Explosive (demo) satchels -Creation of some smaller PPOs
This is an appropriate change to create better distribution of units and not make one class really "heavy" in terms of its capabilities. As this is a TEAMWORK based game we need to leverage multi-purpose usages for infantry units, but we can't make one so critical that it could negatively affect game play.
SUPPORT GAME DEVELOPMENT - SUBSCRIBE
The best way to help us continue efforts like these is to SUBSCRIBE. Our Support Team stands ready to assist you with any needs you may have.
WWII Online & CRS is 100% community funded and your support is what keeps the game operational - thank you for your support.
COMMENT IN THE ARTICLE BELOW - TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT!
24-hours Outage & Winter sale!
24-Hours outage
ATTENTION TO ALL PLAYERS: This Sunday, December 22nd 2019, outage and cut-over will START AT 9AM PACIFIC TIME or 5:00 PM GMT. All services will be effected for 24 +/- hours as announced in our previous article.
Game server physically relocated
Website and critical data relocated
Configure the game server all critical services to new ISP's
We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding during this transition, our goal is to minimize server downtime. Unfortunately we could only do it on Sunday and not a weekday.
Official communications/status will be posted via Axis and Allied Discord, and FaceBook during outage.
Once the move is done, depending where were are in the current campaign, our first preference will be to suspend and restart the ongoing campaign.
***Effective that day, server time will become Pacific Standard Time (GMT -8), and no longer US Central (CST) as it is now.***
Winter sale!
Until January 2nd Winter sale are on, -30% on your first month subscription! No rank restrictions: starter/premium subscribed players get access to all the equipment available in their pack!
ATTENTION: We are giving everyone early warning and trying to warn you often that we are moving our servers from Texas to Oregon this month and there will some game downtime. We will keep you updated on the planned outage both beforehand and during the actual outage. Read here for outage plan.
Game downtime
We are moving our servers to a new home in Oregon. This move brings our infrastructure closer to our support personnel and the headquarters of Cornered Rat Software (CRS). The move will be completed by the end of this month. Although most of the work is happening now, behind the scenes, there will be a period of game outage. We hope to keep the outage to a minimum and commit that we will keep you informed of our outage plans and our progress during the outage. All services will be temporarily effected at some point during this process.
As of now, we expect the game servers to be down starting on Sunday, December 22, 2019 that may last more than 24 hours. Continued temporary outages may occur through the end of December, and players may experience increased lag as files are uploaded to the new servers. We appreciate everyone's patience during this transition.
Depending where were are in the current campaign, our first preference will be to suspend and restart the campaign. If the current campaign ends within days of the 22nd we will likely stay in an intermission mode until after the move.
Current state of the map (Day 9 of Campaing 170)
We will keep you updated in the forums (while they are up), Discord, and Facebook.
Thanks for your continued support!
Mission Leader Waypoints
In case you missed the Rat Chat, we unveiled the current progress of the "Mission Leader Waypoints" update which helps mission leader better guide users of all skill level more efficiently in WWII Online. This is still in development but is approaching release, and is one of our Dev Roadmap items we outlined. Continue reading this article to see the pictures, and you can also get involved with our Mission Leader Tools - Forum Discussions to help contribute ideas so we can come up with even more efficient tools.
As you know, Mission Leaders can already create "Waypoints" by right-clicking on their game map, and adding either Rally points, Attack points or Mortar points. However you have to use your game map to be able to see these, until now...
MISSION LEADER WAYPOINTS (GAME MAP)
MISSION LEADER WAYPOINTS (HEADS UP DISPLAY)
The HUD (Heads Up Display) in the near future will show waypoints as shown here to better guide users. Of course if you do not want these to be visible, there will be an area in your settings to remove them, but if done correctly we think users are going to love them and it's going to do a lot of good to direct users accordingly to important priority objectives.
Guiding soldiers in WWII Online is a high priority for CRS and this is in keeping with our mission to provide field leaders the necessary tools to help us achieve that goal.
What do you think? Comment below on Mission Leader Waypoints
Campaign 170 BEGINS!!!
Attention all soldiers, airmen and sailors! An all new WWII Online Campaign (#170) has just started and you’ve been ordered to report to your commander for duty! The Tier consolidation plan has been completed, which will get your more equipment into the war faster while maintaining balance. This is the first Campaign since recently reactivating Free Play and we see a continued rise in population for both Free Players and Premium users. We’re asking everyone to get into game with a renewed sense of purpose and refreshment. We’re also asking for you all to make a point to get on official WWII Online Discord servers (voice communications), which can be found at www.wwiionline.com/discord.
Meanwhile the RATS are continuing the big move from Dallas to Portland, among several essential development items like 64-bit implementation and the UI redo. We also have some great production work underway. See you in the field troopers - SALUTE!
2019 Steam awards & news
The labor of Love nomination
The 2019 Steam awards nominations are now available! The "labor of Love" category fits our project pretty well, doesn't it?
This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years..
Autumn Sale
During the autumn sales on Steam, we offer a -40% discount for the first month of our starter and premium subscriptions!
We have replaced the old "recruit DLC" by a new "mortarman DLC" of the same value. All owners of the recruit DLC got this new DLC for free. It adds the mortarmen of all countries to your personna, including the para versions. Check it out here
After 59 days of battle, Allied Forces are VICTORIOUS! Congratulations to the Allied High Command for their outstanding 24/7 efforts during 2 months! The server are now in intermission mode (free play for everyone to all units). Campaign 170 will start soon.
this has to be one of my all time favorite campaigns [Paddyo] One of the best camps in a very long time [dustyhc]
WWII Online’s Portland Move (Update)
The move to Portland is well underway with servers being configured here locally, our new colocation (server housing facility) established and our new internet service and cross-connect pulled to our cabinet and ready to go. We have a couple of very basic pictures to show you today as installation of network and server equipment approaches quickly. This has been made possible thanks to all of those who participated in the recent fundraiser initiative, and to that end I’d like to thank you and share this update to show your contributions being put to work. All of us at Cornered Rat Software would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.
