I have seen several posts now suggesting that some campaigns be divided into separate factions. Examples being Commonwealth + USA in Normandy, Italy + Germany in Tunisia, and Germany + other axis forces in Stalingrad. I am a fan of adding more content and factions to explore in each campaign as it allows for more variety without splitting up the player base further.
I went ahead and designed what I think a multi-faction campaign would look like, choosing Stalingrad because it had the most factions. There may be some historical inaccuracies in the faction icons. The goal when designing this was to keep the additions to the menu as minimal as possible while making it readable.
On the left side of the screen is squads available from the german roster. Theses available squads would change based on what faction was selected. This system would allow you to mix and match squads from the different factions.
I also designed what the campaign screen might look like. There would be different campaign unlock trees for all factions. I would prefer that simply playing as axis would level all campaign trees at once instead of individually. Getting more xp for the german tree if using german squads and vice versa. Leveling all the factions at once would be exciting and lead to more unlocks, potentially keeping people invested in the campaign for longer. However I don’t think campaign trees for factions other than the main faction (germany), necessarily need to be as long.
I hadn’t considered that, I suppose you could have hungarian/romanian/italian soldiers in german divisons. I am not sure if that happened historically. In theory, you could have completely separate logistics/soldier menus for the factions. An example would be swapping to Hungary to recruit Hungarian soldiers and get Hungarian guns.
Having Squads composed of soldiers from different factions could be cool, you would certainly have a unique squad at the cost of cohesion. You could really run wild with it if each faction got unique soldier customization too. But again, I am not sure this happened historically.
One other thing I should specify, a potential problem with this system would be with leveling up soldiers/squads. It would be really annoying if you have four different anti-tank 2 squads you have to level to get your anti-tank soldiers to max stars. I think the soldier types should be universal, all factions share assaulter 1s, 2, etc unlocks. However, in order to upgrade guns you would still need to level the squad that unlocks it. Example - You can’t get high-star Hungarian SMGs without leveling your Hungarian assaulter squad.
Maybe the soldier unlocks would be tied to the main faction (Germany) or simply unlocked with whatever faction you unlock them with first. Allowing you to play Romania exclusively should you choose to.
This system is pretty similar to war thunder. Personally, I like it more because war thunder forces you to only play one faction while this system would let you play several at the same time. But maybe I am missing something, how do you suggest this system would be improved?
Branches, for example. It will allow to put more guns between levels, that we already have.
Also, one tree of progression for the same faction in different campaigns (from gewehr 33/40 to STG/FG-42-2/Patronnentrommel) because it’s not so interesting to get an MP 40 like 5 times…
You’ll just need to play soviets/germans/allies, and it doesn’t matter which campaign it is. (As i see it)
Branches are an excellent idea. I should have included that in my concept, but I am not sure what the best way to design it would be. Compressing the current images of the soldiers looks really bad. It would probably be just an image of the squad emblem and the unlock.
I totally agree though, a warthunder style unified branching unlock tree for all factions would be ideal. The only problem I see with it would be upgrading guns. I also don’t like unlocking the mp40 5 times, but what dictates if I can upgrade it? Would the squad weapon upgrade tree only matter for the first squad you unlocked the mp40 with? Are you suggesting that the squad weapon upgrade tree be replaced with something in the tech tree? The best solution I can come up with is creating a unified weapon upgrade tree for all the assaulter squads that would have unlocked the mp 40.
Example - You play two campaigns with german assaulter squads that unlock the mp40, one in moscow the other in tunisia. Both squads share a weapon upgrade tree for the mp40 that you can spend the squad points on.
I think they could move weapon upgrades from squads and link it directly to the weapon. Why should i play radio ops squad to upgrade garand if i don’t like the class? I’ll better equip garands to each soldier and go.
P. S. We have some french weapons in normandy, shall we make a “Vichy France?” faction, or could it be included in german tree?
P. P. S. Not each weapon could be included in certain campaign, PPS-43 in moscow for example, we need some limits as well.
I don’t know much about vichy France, I assume they used french stockpiled weapons or german ones so they would probably be included in the german tree. Limits on certain unlocks would definitely be necessary to maintain balance. No IS-2 in moscow PLS.
Interesting ideea and simplistic yet amazing UI implementation but what you’re asking is a little overboard.
At best you will get the option for players to purchase soldiers from a nationality face/body type sets and some extra paid for nationality specific clothing assets in the customization tab.
Yes, I agree that asking for unique campaign trees for the 3 more factions in stalingrad is a stretch. But I think its an interesting concept. This idea has more potential if it was included in a larger campaign overhaul, similar to universal campaign tree @I_Garmata_I was suggesting. The factions would not all come out at the same time, maybe there would be a “hungary” update that would include the hungarian tree for moscow and stalingrad.
Since we already have too many campaigns and a split player base, simply copying the war thunder system with multiple factions fighting together wouldn’t even be that bad anymore - as long as we don’t get Japanese fighting in Tunis tho. Well maybe as a separate game mode but that would again split the player base…
don’t get me wrong, the maps and locations are very well done and truly add to the game, but still dang enlisted should have stayed a max 3 campaign game. Guess it is what it is.
Nah, seeing Japan in Tunisia is within (drunk, but still there) realm of possibility.
When we will start seeing them in Normandy/Moscow/Stalingrad/other Europe-centered campaigns, then I can truly claim that we entered wet dreams of hoi4 territory.
