Well now folks, it's been a while since you've seen anything coming out of Blitz II. I made lame and vague explanations earlier, but now I feel the time is right to make the big announcement. A few people may have been suspecting this, some rumors have been spreading, but now, I am very pleased to make the news public!
Blitzkrieg II and The Finest Hour have merged.
The seeds for this merger were planted over a month ago, and within a few short weeks, agreements were made and the TFH team was welcomed into Derelict Studios. The merger has produced many benefits, the greatest of which being the introduction of the TFH team's excellent buildings and many of Killakanz's accurate 3D unit models. Not only will much of the fine artwork be incorporated (those of you who have been begging for new buildings should rejoice) all their artistic talent is now part of the Derelict Studios art team. Some samples of what they can do:
Their website, which will remain online and active: The-finest-hour.net
The immediate ramifications of this merger for R3 won't be that huge; the biggest benefit will be less time required for getting all the art done. All sides will likely get unique command center models. Some of TFH's infantry, such as their flagship mortar soldier, will make an appearance.
The biggest benefits of the merger will become more apparent as we approach R4 and hopefully R5. By R4 all sides should be able to have unique buildings, lots of old and inaccurate unit models will be replaced and fixed up, and there should be a level of visual polish never before seen in a Blitzkrieg II release.
Now I'm sure a lot of you know that one of the selling factors of TFH was it's inclusion of Japan as a warring party, something Blitzkrieg II decided to cancel a while ago. Well, TFH had a lot of work done on the Japanese side, and a lot of research on said nation as well. Though I can't make any firm promises, I will say that Japan, and the requisite accompanying naval warfare, is once again a very real possibility for Blitz II's future.
