Disclaimer
I acknowledge that this is an alt-history scenario and that nothing like this will ever be done.
This purely mental experiment is not fully based on current Enlisted balance and weapon stats, meaning that in this alt-history scenario all stats/squad systems could be adjusted to achieve the best balance/playability (this mental exercise is not about making the UI/UX/economy worse, there’s a solution for everything).
“Balance” the way I see it is also not 1:1 mirror match-up between every single weapon (type), but a general 50/50% win distribution between the two factions.
Introduction
For those who are new, Enlisted started off as a game with separate Campaigns, which eventually divided the playerbase into 6 separate lobbies.
All campaigns had levels you needed to progress through, players were unable to choose what they wanted to unlock next, and e.g. if you wanted to play Germany in all their campaigns you needed to unlock the same stuff (e.g. MP-40) 5 times.
Another problem was the lack of BRs, so e.g. a Soviet Moscow main would sit comfortably in the Moscow campaign with his T-34, PPSh-41 (drum) and AVS/AVT sealclubbing new German players and never wanting to go be the new player himself in other campaigns, which lead to the lopsided nature of each Campaign (there were ‘OP’ sides in every Campaign).
To add insult to injury, while the Campaigns started off more or less balanced when they launched, the developers kept adding newer and more powerful weapons and vehicles, which eventually led to the destruction of the original Enlisted’s concept of historical authenticity (NB: not full historical accuracy).
For example, MkB 42 (1943) and Pz IV F2 (1942) were added to the Moscow (1941) campaign to offset the Soviet historically authentic but oppresive weaponry, even though in reality they appeared much later in real life, and never used in WW2 prototype/WW1 items like Fedorov Avtomat, AS-44 and RD-44 were added to the Berlin campaign as mirrors to authentic German late war weaponry.
To sum up:
- the playerbase was split into 6 campaigns, 2 factions each
- there were no BRs, so you’d start Normandy in a Stuart and could be put up against a Tiger
- faction mains hogged their Tigers and FG-42s, not wanting to go be the cannon fodder in other campaigns
- progression was linear, with mandatory duplicate researches for the same faction in different campaigns
- the original historical authenticity concept of Enlisted was suffering due to the ‘arms race’ with each update
Curiously enough, I found my own topics from as early as April 2021, pointing out some of those crucial issues:
Core problem I see with meta/balance
What Enlisted Did to Fix All That
Some kind of merge to unify the factions and progressions, as well as some kind of a balancer (e.g. BRs) were clearly necessary.
And I also was one of those players who proposed such changes as early as 2021:
Add “play any faction, any campaign” option with +20%XP progeression
As you all know, later on Enlisted devs implemented the Merge, where they:
- did unify all the factions into four ✓
- did unify the progression trees ✓
- did introduce a balancer (BRs) ✓
However, they also did it so lazily and crudely that:
- BRs were completely messed up with maps (Stalingrad with Tiger 2, Normandy with Crusader) ✕
- era-based campaigns were completely destroyed (last-ditch Volkssturm weapons in Moscow, interwar T-28 in Berlin, orange Bf 109 trop over snowy Ardennes)
- “subfactions” were completely randomized (Italians in Ardennes, Brits at Guadalcanal)
What Could Have Been Done
I believe that when the campaigns launched, before the powercreep and the “arms race” started, which lead to anachronisms and prototypes introduction into the game, the balance between factions was more or less fine, and only required certain individual stat adjustments.
I believe that we could have unified the campaigns, unified the progression trees, introeuce BRs, but keep the weapons/vahicles selections separate for each New Campaign / Map Set.
For example, Moscow Map Set would only allow weapons and vehicles which were present in that campaign up until the level which started anachronisms/balance issues:
Normandy Map Set selection could look somewhat like this (with M4A3E2 changed for e.g. 75mm M4A3):
Berlin Map Set could be somewhat like this, with certain adjustments, such as Germany’s starting tank being Pz IV H (as it was BR4 again same as T-34-85) and Suomi SMG potentially introduced to offset PPSh-41 (drum):
How Campaigns 2.0 Could Work
Tech tree items would have Map Set logos, as it was briefly tested without any BRs back in 2023 on test server.
Every faction could have several separate loadouts/presets with the selection of available squads, weapons and vehicles
Meaning that a German BR3 player, for example, would be able to equip:
- For Berlin: Pz IV J, Puma, VG 1-5, MP 3008, K98k Kriegsmodel
- For Stalingrad: Pz IV F2, Pz III J1, Gewehr 41, MP 26, K98k Pre-War
Campaigns 2.0 Mechanics
- It is possible that you would be able to use the same squads for different Map Set loadouts, or that all legacy squads would be kept ingame and you would have access to correct divisions with correct emblems on proper maps.
- It is possible that soldiers could be sahred between different Map Set loadouts or that soldiers/weapons would cost much less, to allow you to equip all squads in all armies and all Map Sets.
- Starter gear from each campaign would be provided to all players for respective Map Sets, so that every player would have the ability to start matchmaking in every Map Set.
Campaigns 2.0 Matchmaking
I see two possible ways matchmaking could work in this system:
-
You choose the faction and the BR, the game assembles a lobby and randomly selects the map available for this BR bracket and loads the corresponding Map Set loadout/preset for each player (preferred)
-
You choose the faction, the BR and specific loadout (e.g. Germany BR2 (Moscow)), the game assembles a lobby of other players who have selected BR1-2 or BR 2-3 (Moscow) presets (only viable with sufficient player numbers).
Conclusion
I believe such a system, or an improved variant thereof using our professional game develoipers’ skillset, would have solved all the issues of the Original Campaigns system while keeping the immersion, atmosphere and authenticity many players were attracted by and came for in the Old Enlisted.
What Can be Done Now?
Since this is only a mental exercise and this can’t happen anymore, I believe we can at least have an offcial Even Fight event on constant (bi)-weekly rotation, where we’d always have map/era-appropriate gear, but now with BRs balance, not only recreating the nostalgia of the Original Campaigns, but also introducing new factions and eras we can’t have with the New Enlisted’s “4 factions by 5 BRs system”:
- Yes
- No
Thank you for your attention.
All constructive feedback (beyond “history=bad”) is welcome!