2018: Year in Review news

2018 was a great year for The Battle Grounds III. Lots of things big and small have changed. And because many players only played the beta when it first became available in late 2017, today we are going to showcase all of the improvements that have been made since then.

New Weapons

In mobilizing for war, more weapons have filled up BG3's armories!

Spanish Mosquette Model 1752

Available for American Infantry, this Spanish-donated musket fills a middle ground between the Brown Bess and the Charleville. Its unique trait is that it has a short lock-time; there is less delay between when you pull the trigger and when the bullet exits the muzzle. That makes this weapon ideal for moving targets.

War Club

This is a new weapon for the Iroquois Warriors. Go on a rampage with the highest-damage melee weapon in the game! Additionally, players equipped with it move faster and are the fastest players in the game. However, with this kit, you do not have a firearm! Better get up close!

Brown Bess Refurbished!

This classic weapon received a well-deserved overhaul. You can even see the slits in the screwheads!

Hanger, American Pistol

Originally, the Grenadiers used a sword with new mechanics but with an old model from the Jager class. Now, they have their own sharp Hanger models. Additionally, the American Officer's pistol has a new model. Many other weapons have also had their models improved.

Official Sq "Square" Map

Small, simple maps are ideal for playing with fewer people and lobbying before a larger game. So we've added a beautiful, "Square" map of our own.

Improved Bots

Bots have been updated to behave more complexly; they respond to voice commands. Tell them to fire, charge, halt or follow, and they will act accordingly. They will even react to each other; bots will spontaneously form into groups and order each other around.

Bots are also now less restrictive of normal players; if bots are filling up a team or taking up a class, real players can still join and the bots will switch out. Bots are also now supported on more maps.

British Grenadier Model

Before, the British Grenadier's model was just simply a indistinguishable duplicate of the British Infantry model. Now, he has a new, fancy, period-accurate uniform!

Additionally, other player models have been improved in slighter ways. For example, players who have swords will now have scabbards on their player models.

Polished Class and Team Menus

The new menus from the beta were bug-ridden and full of placeholders. But now, they've been polished and filled with beautiful artwork.

Prop Replacement

While the old Battle Grounds II was a melting pot of original content and items borrowed from other games, including Counter Strike and Day of Defeat, over the course of 2018, we replaced content from other games. Expect only the best, original props in Battle Grounds III.

Class Quickswitch

A small feature, this lets players change class immediately after respawning, changing their class and kit immediately. This can only be done once per respawn, and does not work if the player has interacted with others after respawning.

New Discord Server

Battle Grounds III now has a Discord server. Join it to connect and play with other players.

2019 Plans

Steam Release

Our #1 priority is acquiring a Steam page. This will help spread the word, and give us a platform to easily distribute BG3.

"Valley Forge" Training Map

When the Americans camped in Valley Forge, New Jersey for the winter of 1777, they were largely untrained in the hardened, formation-based warfare they would need in order to face the British head-on. Over the course of a long and bitter winter, the Americans were trained in the disciplined military techniques needed to face the most powerful army in the world. We will be adding this training scenario to BG3, as a short tutorial map which will teach new players how to play the game. We need a voice actor for this, preferably one with a British or German accent. If interested, let us know at community@battlegrounds3.com .

New "Create Game" Menu

The current menu only lets the player pick from a list of maps. A new menu we have planned will let the player choose maps by their pictures, and also configure their game. They will be able to set gamemode, set numbers of bots, bot difficulty, and more.

That's All For Now

We will also start posting more smaller, frequent news posts to keep everyone updated as we near the finish line.

See you on the battlefield,

-Awesome
(1/12/19)

(this article also appears on battlegrounds3.com)