I’m spit balling and far from an expert on WW2 but an avid reader of its history as well as Enlisted being my favorite FPS in a while. Full disclosure as well… this was inspired by watching this excellent historical documentary on the Manchurian campaign just a couple days ago; Battlefield S4/E3 - The Battle of Manchuria - The Forgotten Victory - YouTube
Personally, I think the campaign could work well for a few reasons (no particular order)…
Formal Introduction of Japanese forces with totally new squads and weapons
Chinese maps with temple complexes, mountainous highways and hill forts, valley villages and rice paddies ETC…
the devs could re use a lot of the Soviet assets which would perhaps make their job easier.
Mongol Cav units?!
I believe Soviet armor would be OP. However, Japanese defenders could utilize mountainous choke points and anti tank infantry weapons such as the infamous, “lunge mine” (BFV utilized lunge mines so it shouldn’t be too controversial of a weapon to implement) or the type 97 AT rifle… Ultimately we’d mostly use explosive packs anyways like every other campaign LOL. https://www.breachbangclear.com/tank-week-type-97-anti-tank-rifle/ (URL features pic of soviet soldier examining captured type 97 rifle)
A large portion of the player base is Eastern European so they can continue to playthrough a unique historical campaign as USSR while fighting a new enemy.
Could bring over even more East Asian players which hopefully could be a catalyst for giving them a dedicated server. (I feel bad for those that continue to play despite terrible ping)
What may be even more popular is the Sino-Japanese War which is also very interesting. Honestly, a less predictable Pacific campaign would be greatly welcome.
Happy to see if anyone else in the community agrees and if you disagree I’ll take that too lol.
I agree and call me crazy, but the American/Japanese campaign seems overplayed at this point; so I would welcome a variation of a Pacific theater like the one you mentioned. So many games have already done Iwo Jima, Midway etc., so why not do something unique and cover the Manchuria? Like you said, it saves the devs the effort of making two entirely new factions as they can just reskin the Russians.
Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed in the area of the Khalkin Gol river in Manchuria. This battle lasted four months and resulted in a significant defeat for the Japanese
I hear ya with the wiki thing lol. Whenever I hear of a more obscure WW2 campaign/battle, I consume everything I can find about it on Youtube and wiki. Also, @Shiivex thank you for sharing more of the history of that theatre!
i think the “allied” (for lack of a better name) side should get a usa p40 fighter as a late-campaign plane, cause the us did send the flying tigers there before wwii
In modern, Manchuria is called Northeast China. Because of Japanese built a puppet country, Empire of Manchuria, this name is unacceptable for Chinese.
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Generally speaking, Battles of Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan Incident) can be a balanced game. However, at least Japanese side does not have semi-auto rifle so perhaps devs dislike it. (More certainly, Japanese had various experimental prototypes but because of start of 2nd Chino-Japanese war such projects were cancelled.)
Also, Kanto Army Special Exercise (関東軍特種演習) in July 1941 will be interesting, too. In that time German army reached to the Moscow, and Japanese want to piggyback it. Actually they did not cross the border, but troops and munitions mobilized for this operation are diverted for Pacific war.
But, to be honesty the invasion of Soviet in 1945 will not be balanced game. Although there are interesting battles like battle of Koto fortress (虎頭要塞, fortress with huge 40 cm cannon to destroy Siberian Railway’s bridge), but generally there aren’t decent battles. Japanese Kanto army abandoned Manchuria and Japanese citizens in there to defend Korean Peninsula. Also, Soviet had IS-2 (120 mm gun) and T-34 (85 mm gun) tanks but Japanese didn’t have decent tanks. At least, Japanese anti-tank cannons/rifles can destroy outdated BT-7 tank but there’s no chance to destroy T-34 or IS-2. In other hand Japanese had tiny Type 95 Ha-Go (37mm gun) and Type 97 Chi-Ha (47 mm gun).
Infantry weapons also have a problem. For example, Soviet had lots of sub machine guns but Japanese didn’t. Few guns are manufactured but they were mainly deployed to Pacific front.
If it would be Philippines 1941-1942 it could be actually balanced and it is not much explored scenario, that would be best one if we get pacific tbh. And i want to see Americans with old M1917 helmets.
I forgot it but they had Type 2 anti-tank rifle grenade launcher for Type 38 / Type 99 rifles. This weapon have enough penetration so it will be enough for game. (pen: 50~60mmRHA)
In other hand, Type 97 AT rifle (they called it “Type 97 automatic cannon”) can penetrate only 30 mm at 220m, and total weight is 59 kg! It will not fit in game.
Exactly what i was thinking. War between soviet union and japan AFTER germany has been defeated would be impossible to balance. Either japan need every prototype/imagination toy possible or soviet will get really gimped tech tree
Yes I believe the Battles of Khalkhin Gol would be equally as fascinating. As a westerner, Soviet VS Japanese conflicts are vastly under studied and zero representation in the plethora of WW2 games. I hope the devs ( @Keofox ) consider these ideas on this thread to form a unique Pacific campaign experience.
Sort of like the developers of the WW1 gaming series. They are well received parly due to the lesser known WW1 battlefields (The Isonzo game is looking like it will be awesome) .
If they did the 1945 campaign, which I admit is a historical accuracy stretch in terms of balance:
the Japanese would atleast have type 100 SMG (produced in larger quantity)
Type 4 Chi-To Tank (prototype)
Type 5 Chi-Ri Tank (prototype)
Ki-84 Hayate fighter (produced in large number, could hold its own in the air during late war)
unique Lunge mine
Yokosuka P1Y Bomber
Type 2 Ka-Mi amphibious tanks (unique and considered a decent amphibious tank)
In my opinion Type 2 anti-tank rifle grenade is still better than suicide weapon like lung mine.
Also, naval bomber in Manchuria sounds very strange. Ki-45 Kai and Ki-102 Otsu are better than it. They have decent 250 kg bombs and good cannons.
Type 2 Ka-Mi is same, too. It’s a tank for Navy special land force, not for army but in border of Manchuria, naval garrison was not existing. Also, specification is terrible: it had huge body, thin 12 mm armor and useless 37 mm gun. (Japanese 37 mm is extremely weaker than other’s)
Well, personally I don’t want to see battlefield with various unhistorical weapons
I like your points. I tried! Ultimately, I just hope that take a new perspective on the pacific. What do you think of a “Fall of the Philippines” campaign like @846391 suggested? Would be very interesting to have US forces on the defensive. I suppose Guadalcanal would also be feasible for Offense and Defense on both sides. But then again, that would eliminate the chances of any Chinese squads which I think is an under appreciated fighting force.
Note on the lunge mine: BFV dev team balanced the lunge mine so that you wouldn’t actually die from suicide, but you would get staggered and take damage. I’m not really making an argument for its use in a potential campaign, but just saying that’s how they utilized it! the Type 2 is more practical.
