August Storm - Soviet-Japan New Style Campaign Pack Concept

damn this is some really high quality stuff. +1

2 Likes

Very interesting indeed

1 Like

Updated with pt2, research tree. Of course comments, suggestions are welcome!

4 Likes

Nice work on pt 2! The medical trucks are cool but definitely not practical, both nations could probably get an apc instead.

I also included some additional Japanese weapons if you ever consider expanding this, as Japanese weapons can be somewhat difficult to dig up:

hino-komuro-1904-japan-experimental-rifle-v0-wiv4j276kofa1
Hino-Nambu rifle

20922155_25250
Japanese hotchkiss machine gun with heatshield, it was the predecessor to the type 11.


soldiers-of-the-fengtian-warlord-faction-with-a-german-mg-v0-i95ux8m1otta1
Bergmann MG 15 n/A
Bergmann MG 15 n/A machine guns were imported to China by Fengtian warlord Zhang Zoulin during the early 1920s; many of the arms sales that equipped his forces were brokered through Japanese dealers (the Fengtian Army was heavily backed by the Japanese government).

3 Likes

Re medical trucks; honestly not sure of their use, but it definitely adds flavor and prob works in lower tiers better, (although a Clan would prob break them if coordinated). Helps role-playing chiefly I think, and lots of ppl like to do that (look at all the sniper players).

Re the weapon additions; Im all for them, I just wanted to keep a limit on how many items to add from a design concept perspective. Also these would need a corresponding Soviet weapon in the tech tree and I think it would make them a little too strong. However, they make perfect sense outside of this design; prob as just regular tech tree additions (Jap deff needs more flavor).

2 Likes

I recommend looking at the work of @SzepWaxweiler for additional inspiration for russia guns, he has managed to find a lot of interesting stuff. Also the warthunder wiki has plenty of vehicles to pull from.

4 Likes

Love the “Death of Stalin” reference ! https://i-enlisted.cdn.gaijin.net/original/3X/5/6/56266826bede926054e31a2d541c6fbbf4056728.jpeg
Such a good performance from Jason as Zhukov !

2 Likes

Yeah I thought it fit here perfectly as an easter egg :sweat_smile: Such a fantastic performance too , my profile pic for a reason
meddles

2 Likes

DF and Gaijin pls

1 Like

Hello. Thank you for referring to me) The article is excellent, although I disagree with some points. I didn’t see some of the photos. It’s nice that the topic of the Soviet-Japanese War attracts people to the English forum. I will still make a few comments.

1 Sakhalin operation is more suitable for 1-3 BR. Of the high-level tanks, only the T-34-85 is found there. It is clear that Sakhalin will be an althistor anyway, but if you look at the range of equipment, you will see that the Red Army actively used outdated tanks like the T-26. In addition, Sakhalin is a rather mediocre province of Japan, the presence of experimental piece machines 4-5 BR of Japan looks strange.

2 There were no real fights in Mukden. There are several possible options here. First, the desert mountains of the Great Khingan.

image

Secondly, the Khutou fortified area on the Ussuri River, known for huge pillboxes and underground galleries.

https://www.photo-war.com/ru/archives/album4430.htm?page=1

Thirdly, some impoverished town (Hailar, Mudanjiang), for which fierce battles were fought.

image

image

3 I do not like the experimental T-26-4 and BT-7m, which differs from the conventional BT only in speed and cross-country ability. In Enlisted conditions, armor and cannon are important. Therefore, if you want to add something for 1-2 BR of the Soviet Union, then the BT-5 is better. Although it is worse, it still differs from the existing version of BT.

4 I am not ready to judge the Japanese 4-5 BR, but the Red army definitely does not need new 4-5 BR tanks. These are all experimental fakes that did not take a real part in the war.

1 Like

Thank you for the detailed reply!

Re Sakhalin Operation/map. The BR can be wider ofcourse; I presume it being end war pushes expectations of higher BR naturally; but it doesnt have to be the case. Normandy for example is BR 1-5. I think Khalkhin Gol definitely fits as majority of terrain of August storm being far eastern steppe so deff makes sense as BR1-5 matchup.

Re Mukden; picked it for its focal strategic importance, but also the ability to have 3 different terrains, (steppe of Mongolia, sea and mountains of Sakhalin, Manchurian architecture urban area). As a replacement Hailar or Mudanjiang would fit very well.

Re armor; BT-7M I think fits representing the mobility of the desert operations but its flexible spot I agree. Japanese tanks are of course prototype or low production at best but fit the further BR brackets of the tree in terms of game balancing.

Of the high tier Soviet versions; ISU-152 and T-44 partook in the Far East operations, Objekt 248 is here for balancing/options reasons so that Soviet high tier no longer suffers the lack of choices (only IS2 which is fine but Boring).

Armor choice wise the options present BR5 as a variety of big gun/bad mobility (ISU152)
fast brawler (T-44), Heavy hitter (IS-2) and IS-100 for a balanced hv choice. Goal here is to appeal to vehicle players but also present a range of options to encourage variety. For Japan ChiRi 2 vs Ho-Ri give interesting options as well, with lower tier suitably furnished with low production SPGs + Chi-To.

Lastly no IS-3 here (in case anyone asks), even if there is some support of it ending up in the Far East, due to balancing. It automatically becomes the go to choice for Soviets instead of the multiple options outlined currently; which is bad for flavor. Also forum helpers mentioned they feel its not necessary yet; and aiming for concept realism.

1 Like

Update: Added additional vehicle focused pre-purchase pack idea as well as balancing to make previous medic class premium squads relevant.




Added to OP #1.



O7

1 Like

Another well made addition, making the existing medics mechanized with the ambulance trucks is interesting. The Japanese tiger is a bold pick, I have seen how controversial it is, would probably cause a lot of drama. Maybe it is inevitable given Japans general lack of options for premium content.

1 Like

Hello again. As for the use of Khalkhin-Gol maps, you can look at the pictures that I gave in my article, and then compare them with Manchuria. We don’t need a bare steppe, it’s not interesting to play on it, so I chose a riverine area that approximately corresponds to the real places of the 1939 battles. Manchuria is not just a steppe. These are dry mountains, with powerful Japanese fortifications in the west; the Ussuri taiga (also with fortifications) in the east and industrial areas in the central part. They’re just different places.

In addition, there is another factor. In principle, I am against the distribution of cards for 1-5 BR. Firstly, it destroys their connection to a specific battle (I don’t want an abstract German city, but I want Berlin, I don’t want the steppe, but I want the battles for Hailar or the battles for Khalkhin Gol). Secondly, it is necessary to let the player manipulate the cards. It is not normal when a player, no matter what set of weapons he collects, will be doomed to fight in the Solomon Islands, Stalingrad and Normandy. It is impossible for the Soviet-Japanese war to turn into the “Pacific Ocean”, which falls to the Americans in 70% of cases. Therefore, Manchuria is only for 3-5 BR, Khalkhin-Gol is for 1-2 (3 BR is superfluous there).

As for Mukden, the USSR is already fighting in 2 major cities, I’m afraid there will be a repeat here + there were no serious battles there. A small ruined town is better. If you want monumental urban architecture, then there are many photos of Harbin. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was a truly unique city.

I am not against Japanese tanks (if you approach Japan from the standpoint of history, there should not be 60% of weapons there at all). But the tank branch of the USSR is more or less filled with good and interesting cars. We can talk about adding only famous and iconic tanks. I agree with the ISU-152, but the T-44 and, moreover, the Object are not needed. They will only break the entourage of the Second World War even more. And yes, the participation of T-44 and IS-3 in the Manchurian operation is nothing more than an urban legend; there is not a single photo/the document.

I have already explained about the BT-7m: the only difference from the basic version is a more powerful engine and improved suspension. In Enlisted conditions, a regular BT is no worse than a modernized version. The latter makes it meaningless.

1 Like

Premium ambulance add on is a way of making the medic squads more relevant, just like the OP research medic 2 teams. The truck models are already ingame, so addition of medical skins to them would not take much development time. Im unsure how much added value they create but I can see at least at low BR this change making sense; the premium squads become 5 man rider teams with an engineer who can provide spawns/ammo and truck itself reheals squads; it could be quite powerful combination!

Re premium choice; agree its controversial about 3/5 on realism scale but BR5 deals with what if 1946 type weapons to a large degree at this stage; Hv No.6 is already weaker than the HoRi, so only adds slot flexibility at this stage. Its about presenting credible choices but also what playerbase wants; and hardcore realism ppl already have a hard time with 50% of Japan’s infantry lineup.

Good day!

Re Khalkhin-Gol; I very much like your map idea; it should deff serve as a base from which to create a map if that’s the case. The terrain chosen is very relevant for all types of game styles and matches the more open spaces.

Re Map BR; the BR selection is up to the developers ofcourse; the rough layout of the 3 maps with different terrain is to create variety; Soviet union deff needs less urban maps at BR3-5 hence the K-Gol map inclusion into high tier. Personally Id like to see a BR1-2 mission for K-Gol as a specific event.

As for the urban Mukden map, I agree that potentially sub-urban replacements you mentioned earlier (Hailar etc) might make more interesting choice. Idea of Mukden map came as a potential new map type (VIP capture/rescue) in regards to the Manchurian Emperor’s failed escape. I havent explored it however in the write up.

Japanese machmaking would be happy to see anything other than tropical islands, so theyre more open minded in this regard.

Re vehicles. Here we’ll have to slightly disagree. Im more or less going with current Darkflow policy of limited production vehicles where available/ necessary. I play Soviets as a main faction and I hear complaints about BR5 to no end. Stuck with only IS-2/2M, when other options are available and would be welcome by playerbase very much, at least by their claim. AS-44/RD-44 exist in Soviet faction even when they were not “Necessary/realistic”. A faster firing vehicle such as T-44 fits in this regard perfectly especially with 1000 produced in 1945 (if not deployed). To a large degree BR5 is now dealing with “what if” war scenario and not including a vehicle with quad digit production numbers feels wrong. Here I’m not necessarily speaking about just the Manchurian campaign but the game balance overall. The IS-100 here falls as a hypothetical upgrade to the IS-1; since its development was discontinued due to severe decline in Nazi armor quality; in Enlisted we have the Ho-Ri and Chi-Ri if it arrives to deal with for the Manchurian scenario; as such it fits the logical reason for Ob248 existence in real life if that makes sense.

Hope this helps explain my line of thinking. This is still meant as a concept of course, exploring it with current state of the game.

If I had to choose between the two, I feel that the Ho-ro BR4 would be better than the Chi-Ha LG BR4

1 Like

T-44-122 would be extreme trash. Literally the 100mm is way better.

1 Like

I know, thats why its a premium…, so no P2W crying :sob: :ok_hand:

At minimum its a mobile 122mm, I like it in WT, Id buy it here if it was avail.

Edit: since campaign focuses on 39 & 45, youll notice the tech tree is somewhat focused in both early and late war eras. Currently poverty minded DF wants ppl to be stuck to IS-2 only , but with this tree were representing the progressive increase in maturity of the soviet tanks during very late war.

T44 with APCR, fast flexible, weaker gun. (1,000 made in 1945)
IS-2 slow and punchy.
IS-100 (which was supposed to be upgunned IS1 but for end of war, thankfully HoRi here represents solid “what-if” threat) slow but perfect BR5 gun.
prem T-44-122, fast and punchy but ofc the painful reload.

Best of soviet tank design is represented, no need to bring IS-3 into it and magically give a superior Tiger2H to soviets that makes all previous choices shite :handshake:

Hmm tough call, right now LG packs 10sec reload with 100mm of pen;
HoRi 55mm pen + 13sec reload but MG/better HE effect etc;

I think as a glass cannon Id stick to Chi-Ha LG but even its BR might fall to 3, as the Dicker Max which has better armor coverage is already there

Will do a pass over, already noticing some imbalances (P1Y1 in, Ki-109 out)