Proposal: Using Battle Ratings and Weapon Costs to Restore Historical Immersion in Enlisted

Suggestions
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:pushpin: Overview

The recent campaign merge in Enlisted has introduced a Battle Rating (BR) system that improves matchmaking flexibility and progression. However, it has also created two significant issues for historically-minded players:

  1. Historical immersion is compromised – Prototype or late-war weapons frequently appear in early-war battles (e.g., Tiger 2s in Stalingrad, volksturm gewhr in moscow).

  2. Grinding still encourages unrealistic meta-loadouts – Players default to equipping entire squads with top-tier weapons, even in settings where those weapons were rare. (e.g., Fedorov avtomat in berlin).

This proposal introduces a simple and historically grounded fix that solves both problems:

:arrows_counterclockwise: Step 1: Recalibrate BR to Represent Actual Years of WWII

:dart: Concept:

Each Battle Rating (BR) corresponds directly to the real year or phase of WWII, e.g.:

|BR|Year(s)|Context|

|BR 1|1939–1941|Invasion of Poland, France, Moscow|

|BR 2|1941–1942|North Africa, Leningrad|

|BR 3|1943|Stalingrad, Sicily, Kursk|

|BR 4|1944|Normandy, Market Garden|

|BR 5|1945|Berlin, Okinawa, final offensives|

:brain: How It Works:

  • Maps will restrict BRs to the years they represent.

    • Battle of Moscow → BR 1–2 only

    • Battle of Berlin → BR 1–5 allowed

  • Players can still build loadouts freely, but will only be able to bring squads that fall within the historically appropriate BR range.

This ensures that weapons and vehicles appear only when they would have existed in reality, restoring immersion and narrative consistency.

:moneybag: Step 2: Introduce Weapon Cost-Based Loadout Limits

:dart: Concept:

Each weapon is assigned a “supply cost” based on historical production complexity, rarity, or battlefield availability.

|Weapon|Cost|Historical Rationale|

|Mosin-Nagant| 1 |Cheap, mass-issued, remained in service 1939–45|

|PPSH-41 (drum)| 4 |Higher cost, prioritized for elite troops|

|SVT-40|3|Complex, limited early production|

|MP40|3|Issued to NCOs, not line infantry|

|STG-44|5|Very rare until 1945, complex design|

|Lee-Enfield No.4|1|Durable and common|

|Bren Gun|3|Complex and issued in limited numbers|

Each squad has a point cap depending on role and BR. Players can mix weapons creatively, but no more full squads of elite weapons in early-war loadouts.

Example:

Soviet Rifle Squad (BR 2, 10 points total):

  • 1x PPSH-41 (4 pts)
  • 1x SVT-40 (3 pts)
  • 3x Mosin-Nagants (1 pt each)

This reflects historical doctrine: elite troops get elite weapons; line infantry use standard gear.

:gear: Benefits

:white_check_mark: Historical Accuracy

  • No more immersion-breaking mismatches (e.g., stg on 1941 maps)

  • Weapon distribution reflects real-world doctrine and production capability

:white_check_mark: Fair Grinding Without Meta Spam

  • Players must think tactically, not just equip top-tier weapons

  • Bolt-action and semi-auto rifles remain viable and meaningful

  • Premium squads can still exist — now clearly tied to their BR and role

:white_check_mark: Customization with Constraints

  • Players keep freedom of choice, but within realistic boundaries

  • Encourages diverse and historically grounded squad builds

:white_check_mark: Scalability and Monetization-Friendly

  • Easy to balance over time with new BR tiers and costs

  • New premium squads can be themed to historical events (e.g., Free French guerrilla squad)

  • Cosmetic bundles remain unaffected

:wrench: Optional Additions

  • “Historical Loadout Mode” toggle in matchmaking for purists (uniforms, camo, and equipment filtered by BR)

  • Role-based squad budget modifiers (e.g., riflemen squads get fewer points; commandos get more)

:loudspeaker: Conclusion

This two-layered system — BR = Time + Weapon Cost = Availability — offers the best of both worlds:

  • Immersion for history lovers
  • Depth for strategists
  • Balance for gameplay
  • Retention for both casual and hardcore players

If Enlisted aims to be the premier squad-based WWII shooter, then anchoring its systems in historical logic while preserving player agency is the next natural step.

6 Likes
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I don’t like this. Playing historically should be an option but not forced. My opinion I don’t give a shit how rare a gun was or when they were used. I want to use weapons because they are fun and not need to factor in how often it was seen. This also makes balance completely worse as in your examples you put the second best bolt action in the game the same tier as the worst bolt action in the game. To me this just makes everything needlessly complicated to very little benefits.

I don’t play this game to reenact how it was to fight in World war II, I play this game because I like the mechanics(no matter how jank it is)

11 Likes
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When are people gonna realize that asking for historical accuracy is a fool’s errand. Historical authenticity is what this game should be striving for and is doing a pretty damn good job with. Also the game is already pretty well balanced so don’t suggest throwing all of it out the window.

4 Likes
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Are you referring to Mad Hans Führer Road in gas mask and a sleeveless shirt running around with PPSh obrez alongside Volkssturm guerillas in fedoras and fur hats in Tunisia, as Pz IV J “Zombie” with Reindeer decal is rolling through to face Sherman “Zombie” with Halloween Devil decal, while Chinese troops are defending it alongside Free French partisans?

Or Panther disguised as American Ersatz M10 appearing in Stalingrad only to be bombed by Su-9 (1946)?

I wouldn’t want to see T-26 and PPD-34 in Berlin (yes I know this can happen even now)

5 Likes
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Nothing screams historical accuracy other than making two historically cheap SMGs at least as expensive as a semi auto rifle the Soviets stopped producing because it was too expensive to produce.
Also, the MP40 was issued to frontline troops
main-qimg-dc7617ee04ca69b73f57a5f2a66f7a65-lq
and the PPSh was NOT a elite weapon.

1 Like
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The idea of a spawn point system would be cool, and I know I would love it, but I dont know if it would fit into the arcade nature of the game, certainly as a new more HA gamemode yes.

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Yeah the PPSh was a weird one, but thats more because of Red army organisation, I mean you had units liek the automatviczi or however its spelt who only used PPSh’s, and on the flip side you had units only using mosins.

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You can’t have imaginary historical accuracy without Fedorov Avtomat and PPSH-41 box/drum at BR1-3 and playing Moscow campaign.

So we either have game balance (it’s still bad) or complete disaster with Soviets having the best guns in a game at BR1-3.

3 Likes
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I laughed hard, good job

2 Likes
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no

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A cool idea, but it sadly won’t work for this game, if you want historically accurate loadouts, there are plenty of mods for that. I mainly make and play realistic historical mods.

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They would need to wipe out all GO/premium/event weapons and vehicles from the game plus countless examples of inaccurate TT unlocks to implement their beloved HA. Have fun playing BR5 only as STG44 vs PPSh-41 box/drum for eternity with some boltiers/semis sprinkled in and couple of mgs.

2 Likes
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It’s an interesting Idea but I don’t think it’d work all that well. While encouraging people to use different guns is nice, forcing them to isn’t all that great. The supply cost is something that forces people to play in certain ways (Also the costs are a bit off. The USSR produced more than 5 Million PPsh-41s during the war, in the same time they produced 19.8 Million Mosin Rifles and only 1.6 Million SVTs. So the PPsh-41 should be far cheaper than the SVT not more expensive)

1 Like
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It’s funny to see this kind of thing, that in your head you think this is “great or it would magically fix everything” meaning I have to play with weapons that I don’t like just because? It would be fine as an option but being forced to use a generic squad with default weapons, how disgusting and where are the battle pass weapons? Are they magically discarded? And the event squads, premium, wind vehicles, premium etc? Just because it sounds good in your head doesn’t mean it will work in the real world

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Man, you destroyed his argument in such a serious and funny way haha ​​pz IV zombie vs sherman zombie haha ​​good one

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Thank you for your post.

I am in two minds about this.

I agree completely with the intention/sentiment of historical accuracy.

I am concerned however that this suggestion maybe goes too far.

Like limiting Bren guns? Really? My understanding is that in UK and Commonwealth armies Brens were reasonably common. I am not familiar with the exact ratio but the general idea of at least one LMG per squad makes sense to me.
Australia we used the Lewis gun as well, Ive been asking for that to be added to the Western Allies tech tree.
New Zealand specifically invented the Charlton rifle so that Brens could be prioritised for frontline troops.

As for maps, again I agree with the idea just not sure about the execution.

One of my concerns is being locked to certain maps like at the moment Im grinding USSR, Im still playing BR I but Ive basically unlocked all of BR II (waiting for my squadmate to catch up). I would hate to be limited purely to Moscow maps.

What I will say is that I previously suggested matchmaking by theatre. So we would keep the current tech trees, but players would have the option to choose certain theatres depending on the faction.
For example my squadmate and I like desert maps a lot, and hate Eastern Front maps.
So as Germany we could choose ‘Desert War’ so we only get maps related to that theatre.
This choice could be changed each match by the player so youre not locked in as such it just helps with selection.

Now regarding your ideas, when I had theatres I thought they could be broken down (roughly mind you) into timeline appropriate battles, like you suggest.

For example for the Allies consider the ‘Pacific’ theatre

BR I-II
Malaya-Singapore
Dutch East Indies (early war)
New Guinea
Philippines (early war)

BR III
Solomon Islands
New Guinea
Burma

BR IV/V
Okinawa
Iwo Jima
Dutch East Indies (late war eg Balikpapan)
Philippines (late war)

As we can see these groups of maps roughly align with the real timeline. Late war weapons like the M2 Carbine or heavier Shermans for example would be limited to those late war battles like Iwo Jima.
Whereas early war weapons would be limited to say Singapore-Malaya.
Early war battles could also see all Allied soldiers in British/Commonwealth uniforms while Okinawa or the Philippines would be US specific.

Similarly in Europe, for early war Battle for France we could focus on early war weapons and have all soldiers be BEF (or French Army), as the Americans hadnt joined the war yet.

For specific weapons, look I agree that its silly having Volksturm weapons outside of late war Berlin for instance but ultimately I dont want to be tooo picky about it.

For myself it was more separating drastically different weapons like keep all the automatic rifles out of early-mid war Pacific (the M2 was only used in the final stages of the Pacific War). Jets especially should be limited to very late war battles and high BR.