Hello again.
As you can see we have been chugging along nicely making good progress for our next big update that you may see very soon. Check out the screenshots and videos section as well as going to our steam profiles to see any screenshots we may upload there.
One thing we have wanted to give mappers the ability to use are SS uniforms. As the SS had a large presence in the western front. Of course there is all the controversy surrounded them and the laws in Germany preventing this sort of thing. As there are neo-nazi nutjobs out there who get off on this sort of thing. Role playing is something many do in this game and role playing as the SS can be taken in so many different ways. So I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
In other news we are looking to get the mod off the workshop and made into an official steam mod. Sorta like how Darkest Hour works for RO1. The workshop has a 200MB file limit which is pretty easy to exceed. Its already 150MB with a separate assets pack as well. But this new way means we can stick everything in the mod all in one download.
We also haven't forgotten about the american uniforms either if you have noticed that we've only been posting German uniforms or screenshots of the British. A few new ones are being worked up and they will be done in great detail. I've even been practicing giving the Americans Camo face paint for airborne troops. Oi61.tinypic.com. It's a WIP obviously and may need to be made slightly less obvious. But it'll all be good in the end.
There's a bunch of other new stuff we could show you but we have to have some secrets don't we.
It's a nice optional ability to give mappers the option to place SS on their own accord.
After all, you should aim for historical accuracy. If people don't like SS, they can shoot at it after all!
Do it, forget the haters. The Waffen SS were some of the best fighters of the war and were a major part of the Western Front. To leave them out would be like leaving out the American/British Airborne as well. So just go for it.
Be like Nike; just do it
I'm not a hater, but i would argue that it would attract even more nazis to RO2 like flies to horseshit. Still, historical accuracy is always nice.
I love RO2 community and only thing that bugs me is the amount of neonazis, ultranationalists and wehraboos there. However why should we deprive ourselves of realism and aesthetic impressions (Waffen SS had the best looking uniforms and camouflage of all nations in WWII) only because of these ********? As much as I hate nazism and far-right I think this faction is mandatory in Western front mod.
Will you make multiple uniform options? IOM has Erbsenmuster uniforms, how about Eichenlaubmuster smocks? I love green variant :)
PS Will we see Fallschirmjaegers too?
That's true, why let them ruin the party. Still, i think the fallschirmjägers are far cooler since many of them were members of old prussian families with strong military traditions. The SS were just well trained thugs.
While you're right about FJ, it's not that simple with Waffen SS. There were elite units, who fought with bravery and outright fanatism, but it wasn't the majority. As elite we can for sure consider early formations, when requirements for volunteers were high and they received very intense training, but there were also divisions that consisted of fresh recruits (especially in late war) who weren't better than similarly built divisions of Wehrmacht, and finally there were units like 36th Dirlewanger that was nothing more than, literally, bunch of violent criminals. Dirlewanger himself was a recidivist child rapist and "soldiers" to his division were recruited from prisoners convicted for rape and murders. While they lost little men when "fighting" partizans and unarmed civilians, they got almost completely wiped out in real fight with regular Red Army units in 1943.
Also you have to remember almost 2/3 of Waffen SS were foreign troops (so much for pure aryan force) that didn't always have faith in nazism and it's cause. There were brave soldiers too, like Finns (Nordost battalion was also never accused of any war crimes) but some foreigners were conscripted or forced into SS.
All in all, Waffen SS is not an uniform formation and it can't be described as just elite or bad.
True, but any german combat element defended nazism, so in my opinion they are all bad. x-) The germans had really cool equipment tho.
No, just all Elements hated communisim
It's surprising at how many foreign troops were in the SS. The SS troops who defended the reichstag in Berlin for example were mostly french volunteers. Still fanatics I mean you would have had to be but they were french.
French SS volunteers may look shocking at first, but it is less of a surprise when you get to know french interwar period history. Far right movement was very strong in France in that time and formed what many historians call French fascism. The best example can be outright fascist French Popular Party, active from 1936.
French fascism ideology had more in common with German fascism (nazism) than "classic" Italian fascim (for example antisemitism, that wasn't popular in Italy). No wonder these who believed in it were willing to fight for familiar ideology. Knowing this, it's actually surprising there wasn't more volunteers.
Of course being far right doesn't make one a potential SS-mann. For example in Poland far right, openly antisemitic party National Democracy had high support, but there weren't any volunteers to SS.
I think you should also ask why anyone should be deprived of some fun for having political views that are at odds with you or anyone else? As long as they are not promoting hurting or bullying people they should not be immediately demonised.
I'm pretty sure expressing political views that openly promote racism, antisemitism and chauvinism can be called "promoting hurting or bullying people".
We can do some pretty cool combinations with WaffenSS uniforms that even IOM never experimented with. Fallshirmjager are definitely coming to the mod. Real elite infantry.
Very nice. Can't wait to see FG42 renders :)
As far as I have ever dabbled with them, I have no issue putting the SS into anything. So long as your stance/descriptions and most importantly their depiction is neutral everyone is happy.
The best way to do it is to simply avoid the use of Runes outright. Whilst it might rustle peoples jimmies that this is the case, people should be aware that in order for everyone to play the same game legally, sacrifices must be made.
Most importantly, RO2 is quite a nice stomping ground simply because aside from skins and from what I have seen voices, you really don't need to give them much background or identity. In my modification it's a little different, and you end up having to try and give a historical accurate but neutral overview in many cases.
At the end of the day, some guy named: 1st.SSDiv.Leutnant_Swastickler88 is going to play the game whether you put them in the mod or not, and he is still going to spew the same nationalist gobbledigook. I would include them for the sake of variety and historical authenticity, just avoid the taboo symbols.
Keeps the SS runes and go full historical accuracy!! same with all communists symbols. Let the cry babies cry, who gives a ****.
I suppose, but then that technically means that any German playing the mod is partaking in illegal activity. Oh well I guess.