With the Modern Arms mod recreating even more recent battlefields in the world today, Sudden Strike 3 now includes the conflict in Gaza and Ukraine's Dnipro River battles.
Israeli campaign "Swords of Iron"
The game's first Israeli campaign, sharing the name of the real operation "Swords of Iron", sets the player loose at the limits of Gaza City with significant numbers of Israeli troops and armor including the Merkava Mk 3 and Mk 4, to command. Opposing forces are aware of their own limits, and will do their best to delay and ambush you rather than destroy you directly.
Israeli bulldozers are even included in the game and perform a key role, crushing barricades and sweeping debris so your forces can reach hidden ammo depots and clear routes for troops and equipment to move on.
Krynky battles
There are a total of 5 new custom missions playable with the Gaza Combat download, and they are not necessarily all about the war in Gaza either. The war in Ukraine rages on in the game, now portraying the Ukrainian crossing attempts over the Dnipro with new boat models added to the game.
We then have another view of the Krynky battle, this time from the Russian point of view in the winter of 2023-2024 when the bridgehead deteriorated and was effectively destroyed under the increasing Russian firepower. BMPT Terminators will be yours to command against the Ukrainian Marines in the mission.
Avdiivka Storm
A large battle from the Russian perspective, this mission takes place at the fortified town of Avdiivka. Russian Spetsnaz reinforcements arrive behind Ukrainian fortifications via an underground pipe, enabling the dismantlement of the Ukrainian defense in the area.
The Palestinian mission
Returning to the topic of Gaza, try your luck with light paramilitary units eluding a heavily-armed opponent and trying to slip past his guard to achieve your objective. This kind of thing hasn't been playable for strategy gamers since Command and Conquer: Generals, but this time everything is based on real-life counterparts, with different classes of technical truck created in great detail.
These units aren't overpowered, often run out of ammo fast, and can perform unpredictably. Your best hope is guile. Act decisively, but be willing to escape and hide at all times.
Energodar
Finally, a short challenge in which the player must decisively use air power and can virtually avoid any casualties. This mission is based on failed Ukrainian attacks to capture the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in September 2022 using special forces units on fast boats. You will have your own helicopter base and waves of incoming Su-34 fighter bombers just for this mission.
Upgrades to previous missions
Previously published missions are greatly improved. The greatest such improvement is Hostomel, which now accurately portrays the Russian armor drop into the area to suppor their airborne forces. The huge Il-76 transports will arrive just to drop your armored vehicles.
In addition, Ukraine's massive transport aircraft, the An-225 Mriya, will now be present at its hangar in the airport, just as it was in the real battle.
There are a lot of other upgrades to the previous mission packs, too. My only warning is that you should install the latest mission pack again (Gaza Combat) if you backtrack and reinstall these old mission packs, to avoid the latest campaigns disappearing from the menu. If you want to use the z-pack to place Z markings on Russian vehicles, install the last version.
I have not even begun to discuss all the new features added to the mod in the latest downloads. Here are some random videos to show you some of the rest!
