The Battlegroup42 team says hi and greetings to all of our faithful fans. We want to show you a little something about the upcoming release and chose the topic "maps" for this news. Expect some new amazing scenarios and a real breaking news!
"Aces over Italy" Teaser Video
But before we come to that an important news! Because of the enormous amount of new content, of which we have shown you only a small fraction of yet, the team has decided to skip version 1.42 and instead release the next full build. It will be version 1.5. There is no exact release date yet but as insiders know the first beta tests have already been scheduled. Therefore it can´t be much longer until release.
Now for the new maps which await you in Battlegroup42 1.5. Let´s start with Lt. MoederTheresa´s "Stalingrad Factories". Those of you who now think "oh no, not Stalingrad again", be assured that you have not yet experienced this scenario in this way. Our mapper Lt. MoederTheresa is known for his action-packed maps with focus on infantry combat, and with this completely new concept for this genre he surely has created a milestone. Of course we used our new factory buildings, many unique sounds and visual effects like smoke and fire.
The map is about the attempt of the Wehrmacht to take control of the Stalingrad Factories on the Volga river bank. Starting at their base the Germans have to advance one point at a time (Pushmap!) and drive the Russians back - not an easy task regarding the numerous machine gun emplacements. The close quarters battle rages upon a destroyed, debris covered landscape.
The second map we are going to show you is another action packed map, this time from the Pacific theatre. In this map, the US Marines had a very difficult task when they were ordered to land on Betio, an island of the Tarawa atoll, in Autumn of 1943. Both Americans and Japanese knew about the enormous strategic importance of that island as an airbase, and therefore fighting was bitter. For the US Marines it was the first amphibious attack against a well prepared and heavily defended island, and their losses were terribly high.
Our new map "Across the Reef" which covers this scenario was created by Sarge Surfat. Betio island and its surrounding reef were recreated as realistic as possible, as well as the massive defensive emplacements like shore obstacles, machine gun and gun positions, bunkers and trenches. Well placed explosion effects which simulate the heavy gunfire create a nice ambience. The map has some other features which we don´t want to reveal yet.
Our next map preview takes us back into the year 1940. "Airfield Ockenburg" is about a paratrooper attack of the Germans on an important airfield in the vicinity of The Hague. Lacking heavy weapons and underestimating the Dutch´s will to defend the airfield, the attack on the 10th of May, although initially successfull, ended in a disaster for the Germans because the Dutch managed to retake the airfield. The paratroopers took heavy losses and many of their transport planes were destroyed by hostile fighter planes in the air and on the ground.
"Airfield Ockenburg" is a community map made by Tsjernobyl which was reworked and converted to Battlegroup42 by Sarge Surfat. There is no anti tank class on this map, instead you can choose a machine gunner.
The fourth new map was created according to wishes from the community. Over time, more and more players asked about a real dogfight map, so Sarge Surfat started working on it. A scenario was needed which allowed to use the best and most popular fighter planes on one map, and finally the Strait of Messina in the Mediterranean Sea was chosen. After the successful invasion of Sicily the Allied command planned landings on the Italian mainland, but to achieve success they had to win air superiority first. The German and Italian air forces were still a force to be reckoned with at that time of war.
The map was therefore called "Aces over Italy" and offers much room to manoeuvre. Objective of this map is to take control over two balloons floating at the coast by bypassing or flying through them. The balloons, which we got from Bf 1918, were repainted with new skins. Our single player fans will be happy to hear that "Aces over Italy" features bot support which was created by Bommel. Scottsman made a small teaser video of this map which we want to show you here.
Talking about bot support: Thanks to the support from Gnomey, Dnamro and Bommel we can present you with Coop versions of some older maps. Among them are "Kalinin Front" which was also rebalanced, the map "Alps" and the popular map "Prokhorovka". Additionally there will be Objective Mode (known from the Secret Weapons addon for Bf42) versions of some maps, like "Operation Infatuate", "Clash on Surigao" and "Pointe du Hoc". We will pay more attention to Objective Mode in the future, so you can except a little something there !
As you have noticed, the Battlegroup42 team is more productive than ever before. Our motivation comes from our fans and players which regularly play the mod on our Battledays on the MOB server. We want to thank you for your loyalty and support. Nonetheless we again want to point out that we are always on the lookout for new team members We´re especially looking for modellers, skinners and unwrappers. Also the PR department could use some help. So, everyone who´s interested just visit our forum at www.battlegroup42.de
nice work guys!
News Pictures are updated now (check summary)! ;)