Add Sub-faction system: new factions can be added without changing the current tech trees.
With French, UK, and Chinese squads in the “USA” tech tree. Italian, Hungarian, and Finnish squads in the “German” tech tree, these two tech trees already function more like the Western Allies and European Axis tech trees.
New factions (UK, France, Italy…) can be added to the game as sub-factions of these two main factions, without splitting the current tech trees and changing the fundamental mechanics of the game too much.
These new sub-factions can access the non-premium infantry weapons from the main tech trees (USA and Germany) using a transfer function, if those weapons were, historically, made by them (for the UK and Italy) or supplied to them via lend-lease or arms trade. They also fight alongside the main factions and other sub-factions if they have the same maps in their possible map selections.
These newly added sub-factions can be considered extensions of the current tech trees. They don’t need to have a “complete” tech tree, or unique campaign. Meanwhile, the main factions’ tech tree (USA, Germany) can function as catalogs for the most commonly used weapons across the factions.
This allows the game to have new factions that provide their own uniqueness, new gameplay possibilities, and new customization options. At the same time, avoiding most of the common concerns about adding new factions.
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Transfer weapons to the sub-factions.
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Some infantry weapons can be transferred between the main faction and the sub-factions. But not between the sub-factions.
Icons on the tech tree weapons indicate which factions the weapon can be transferred to.
A button can be added on the inventory page and tech tree to transfer weapons to different factions, and this function can cost the player a small amount of silver.
Also, the players should be allowed to purchase weapons directly from the main faction tech tree that is available to this faction on the change equipment page.
This weapon transfer function only works between the main faction and sub-factions on the same side, the players don’t need to unlock MAS-36 for France in the German tech tree.
Vehicles
Vehicles should NOT be transferable from the main factions. Unlike firearms, the number of vehicles for each tech tree is limited.
Also, giving the same type of vehicle in different factions different ammo set up or BR can be a way to give these factions unique strengths and weaknesses.
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Campaign, Matchmaking, and possible improvement to the current system.
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Just like the current 4 factions, the new faction will have their own selections of possible maps. Factions with the same maps in their possible map selection will queue and fight together, avoiding spreading the player base into more campaign maps.
(For example, France will join the Normandy and North African campaign maps but not Pacific maps; Poland will be an interesting faction if added, they can join Normandy maps and Berlin campaign maps)
There can be unique map selections for the sub-factions (which do not overlap with the possible maps of the main factions. For example, the Battle of France maps). When the current players-online number is low, the game will prioritize queueing the player into “shared” maps, keeping the queue time short.
With the number of factions increasing, the random queue function also needs to be changed accordingly. Instead of just selecting “join any army” when joining the queue, allow players to choose the factions they want to queue as, selecting at least 2 factions on each side will give the player bonus XP and silver after a battle.
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Unlocking the new factions
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Because these sub-factions are, in terms of gameplay, extensions of the current tech trees, these sub-factions need to be unlocked by completing research in the main faction tech tree.
For factions like Britain and Italy that already have a lot of their own weapons in the main tech tree, the unlocking condition can be to research all the British/Italian weapons at least in the low BR. For others, it may be to finish research of a certain rank in the tech tree.
These new factions will have their own squads, some of them are automatically unlocked when the faction is unlocked. The number of them can depend on the difficulty of unlocking the faction or depend on which type of weapon the faction lacks in their own tech tree.
There are several solutions to the unlockable squad slots for these new factions.
1, Share the number of unlocked squad slots with the main faction.
2, The faction can have additional unlocked squad slots from the beginning
3, Lower the cost of unlocking the squad slots.
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New Possibilities
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Although the balancing of the current 4 factions is approached with the safer method, asymmetrical designs are avoided.
Since the new sub-factions fight alongside the old factions and with the main factions as the baseline for balancing, the design of the new factions can be approached with a more strategic game mindset.
New sub-factions can have an asymmetrical design and have something more unique to them, different squad structures, unique soldier types, and much stronger or weaker choices of weapons from certain categories.
Example tech tree
Example tech tree to show what could be seen in a sub-faction tech tree.
Using China as an example, though may not be a faction with high priority to be added, it can be a tech tree that is weird enough with most of the potential problems and opportunities.
1(Red). Weapons that already exist in other tech trees; some as premium or event guns, or exist in a major faction tech tree but belong to the Axis side instead of the Allies side, these weapons could have different attachments when appearing on different tech trees.
For example, Thompson 7.63 can have bayonets instead of bipods in this case.
2(White). Lacks high BR weapons, which means this faction is NOT recommended for playing on high BR. However, the players can still use weapons from the main tech tree to form a high BR lineup.
The matchmaking of the unique maps for this faction can also be designed around this. For example, the unique maps for this faction are only for BR3 and below battles. When players queue using this faction while playing BR4 or BR5 they can only join the maps this faction shares with one of the main factions.
3(Green). Unique soldier type for this faction, and the weapons for them. The unique soldier type for China is the militia, which partially replaces the guerrilla soldiers in the guerrilla squad, and makes the squad size larger. Unlike the current in-game guerrilla that represents more organized and supplied partisans or even recon troops in history. This soldier type represents that most of the partisans in WW2 China were just peasants who HAD to organize and arm themselves to survive the war, only later incorporated into the NRA or CPC organization.
In terms of in-game mechanics, they are basically guerrillas but can only bring much weaker, improvised weapons to battle. Which, needs to be unlocked on a specific branch of the tech tree. In the battles, they have to pick up weapons from the battlefield to have any meaningful fighting capabilities. Squads other than Guerrila can also have part of the squad replaced by militias but have larger squad sizes.
The weapons for this soldier type range from rifles and SMGs historically made by militia gun workshops or small factories that were primarily used by militias on high BR (which are much weaker compared to other weapons on the same BR) all the way down to pike and shot in low BR.
Of course, this is just an example of how unique soldier types for the sub-factions can look like, not all of them need to have a specific branch of the tech tree dedicated to them. They may have different stats, different soldier skills, or can use more types of weapons.
4(Yellow). A complete lack of AT weapons on the tech tree, but can use AT weapons from the main tech tree, so won’t be a problem. The AT squad and soldier type can be unlocked either whenever the faction is unlocked or by researching a certain rifle. This also means the unlock condition for this faction needs to involve unlocking the AT weapons in the main tech tree.
5(Blue). As mentioned in the previous part, the BR placement of vehicles can be a way to give a faction its unique strengths and weaknesses. In the case of China, this can be a faction with extremely weak vehicle selections, both air and ground. The same vehicle in this faction, compared to its counterparts in other tech trees, is placed one BR higher. In compensation, this faction can have stronger infantry, either by having a larger squad size or having stronger weapons.
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What change needs to be done for the current factions?
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USA and Germany
Other than maybe changing the faction’s name to Western Allies and European Axis (Or USA and Allies / German and Axis, IDK), and being able to transfer weapons to other factions, no other change needs to be added.
Though pure USA and German can be added to the game just for the uniform customization and roleplay, and it mechanically works in this new system, is not necessary at all.
Soviets and Japan
In terms of UI, they should be kept in the same way as now (not put in the sub-faction category), to avoid confusion for the new players, since they are automatically unlocked for the new players, and have unique campaigns that don’t overlap with the other main factions.
In terms of game mechanics, treating them as sub-factions in terms of inventory mechanics might be the best solution, Soviets will be able to use the Thompsons and BAR (early variant), which they historically purchased during the interwar era, from the Allies’ tech tree; and the Japanese will be able to use multiple types of firearms from the Axis tech tree, which they historically either purchased or captured. None of these will change the current balance of the game too much but they will give the players more choices in terms of weapons.
If these two factions are made into “secondary” main factions, allowing them to transfer weapons to sub-factions, it probably ONLY works for the Soviets and ONLY after China (some Soviet weapons were sent to Nationalist China either as military aid or arms deal before Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed) or Poland (the Polish People’s Army armed by the USSR and fought in the eastern front) are added as factions