I’ve noticed that not many people delve into the topic of adding Vichy France/Free France and Poland as new factions. Therefore, I started analyzing the feasibility of including these factions and how to prevent their addition from negatively impacting matchmaking.
Poland
1. Invasion of Poland (1939) — Poland vs Germany
Possible Maps
Warsaw (defense of the capital)
Westerplatte (coastal garrison defense)
Bzura (Polish counteroffensive)
Mokra (defense against German armored forces)
Rural villages and forests of western Poland
Uniforms
Regular Polish Army uniforms (1939)
Cavalry units
Officers
Police and reserve formations
2. Soviet Invasion of Poland (1939) — Poland vs USSR
Possible Maps
Grodno
Brest Fortress
Eastern border villages
Forest and countryside environments of eastern Poland
Uniforms
Standard 1939 Polish Army uniforms
Early-war Soviet uniforms
3. Warsaw Uprising (1944) — Polish Resistance vs Germany
Possible Maps
Old Town of Warsaw
Wola District
Mokotów District
Destroyed city center
Sewer networks as alternative routes
Uniforms
Civilian resistance fighters
Armia Krajowa (Home Army) partisans
Armbands and improvised equipment
Captured German and Soviet weapons
France
1. Battle of France (1940) — France vs Germany
Possible Maps
Maginot Line
Sedan
Border battles in Belgium
Dunkirk
Ardennes forest sector
Uniforms
French Army 1940 uniforms
Colonial troops
Engineers
Officers with Adrian helmets
2. Operation Torch (1942) — Vichy France vs Allies
Possible Maps
Casablanca
Oran
Algiers
Uniforms
Vichy French forces
American troops
British troops
3. French Indochina (1945) — France vs Japan
Possible Maps
Lang Son
Hanoi
Hue
Colonial forts near the Chinese border
Jungle and mountain routes in northern Vietnam
Uniforms
French colonial troops
Foreign Legion units
Colonial infantry formations
Imperial Japanese Army troops
Why France and Poland?
Unlike many minor nations, both France and Poland can fight multiple existing factions already present in Enlisted:
Poland
Germany (1939)
USSR (1939)
Germany again during the Warsaw Uprising (1944)
France
Germany (Battle of France)
United States and United Kingdom (Operation Torch)
Japan (French Indochina)
This would add historical variety, new maps, unique uniforms, and new weapons while minimizing matchmaking fragmentation, since both nations can participate across several fronts instead of being limited to a single campaign.
I’m sorry if I made any mistakes, I’m not a native English speaker.
You failed to touch on what is the biggest problem with additional factions, how would you fill out their techtree? Both of these potential factions would have giant gaps in their higher tier equipment.
Both ideally. While it would result in some repeated weapons both Vichy and Free France relied on weapons and equipment from other nations to outfit their soldiers. Vichy France used a large amount of Thomspons because of a lack of domestic SMGs.
I’d say they should only be a max of BR3. While you might be able to scrounge up some equipment to fill higher BRs it’d result in a Japan TT with huge holes, 1 weapon per BR and exclusively prototypes, if there even were functioning weapons at all.
That would be their entire TT. The game doesn’t need more half baked, minimally existing prototype slop. You want more Japan high tier? One weapon a BR per class. Not all vehicle classes filled.
The need for 5 BRs for a new faction is something that only hurt Japan and any future additions to the game. It’s better to have 3 properly fleshed out BRs instead of trying to fill 5 with the same amount of weapons, because there are none for higher BRs but something has to go there.
A French or Polish TT would have 3 BRs, locked from meeting BR4 as Japan was until recently, filled with weapons and vehicles that actually exist, unlike some Japanese TT items, and were produced in more than minimal numbers, unlike most of the Japanese TT after BR1.
If they don’t have enough equipment to fill a full techtree then they can’t be added into the game. We have no reason to believe that the devs would tolerate the existence of a trucanted techtree as shown by the fact that Japan’s techtree only existed as that for a short period of time, and probably only did so because the devs weren’t in a position to immediately add items that would push them up to BR5.
The focus on 5 BRs for factions that can not fill them, including Japan, is a huge mistake. It has always been a mistake and will stay that way.
Moving away from that would be an impovement while opening the way for factions that are heaviliy requested without forcing more half baked prototypes into the game.
Yea I could see the argument that forcing every faction to go up to BR5 is a mistake but I’m afraid it’s a fait accompli, any hypothetical future faction is going to have to stick with it.
How about creating a BR research tree under the ‘Various Forces’ category, where different factions and maps can be used for each BR? For example:
BR1: Poland
BR2: France in 1940
BR3: French and Poland forces participating alongside the US Army on the Normandy map
BR4~5: North Korean and Chinese forces during the Korean War
The idea is for them to be independent factions, so that Vichy France/Free France and Poland have their own tech trees and can fight against the Allies and the Axis. I’m mainly saying this to avoid splitting the player base too much, since these factions fought both against and for the factions already in the game. France specifically fought against Japan, Germany/Italy, and the US/UK, and Poland against the USSR and Germany/Italy. This would give them more versatility when creating their tech trees.
Of course, neither France nor Poland could ever have captured or borrowed vehicles and weapons from other factions for their tech tree, since this is a 1000% historical game, without prototype weapons and vehicles, and jets don’t even exist in this game.
Even if we include captured weapons there are still going to be gaps in the techtree (like I’m not aware of either the French or Poles capturing King Tigers or FG-42s for example). Even if that wasn’t the case, what’s the point in adding a new faction in if they’re just going to be some other faction at higher BRs.