Many exciting things have happened over the past couple of weeks.  First, Congratulations to the Axis on their Campaign 195 Victory.  It was a seventy-five-day battle from start to end.  On Monday the 1.37.4.0 update hit the game, which brought the horn to the battlefield along with demonstrated the 3D Modeling World War II Online 2.0 trickle down to 1.0 with some legacy artwork upgrades.  The Ricochet effect has come back, which would probably allow balls to bounce, if we chose to do them?   Sunday saw the battlefield explode as Operation Thunderstrike Commenced.  More exciting news, follow the link and keep reading!

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COMMUNITY REPORT
AUGUST 3, 2023
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CAMPAIGN 195 END IN AXIS VICTORY!

After seventy-five days of grueling battle, campaign 195 ended in an Axis victory.  For several days cities changed hands, but no real movement of the front happened until later in the war.    The Allied Forces on the leadership of their Commander in Chief Dontmove put up a fight and held their own, but the front eventually fell as the Axis Forces march to the west.  Congratulations to Axis Forces under the leadership of their Commander in Chief Vondoosh.  You can read more on this story here!  Campaign 196 kicked off last Friday and will pass its first seven-day mark tomorrow.  If you are still on leave, your side needs your help, and they are requesting you to join them today.

GAME UPDATE 1.37.4.0

On Monday World War II Online 1.37.4.0 was released.  You can read the readme here and view more screenshots and videos.  This patch was an important patch to our team here at Cornered Rat Software, in that you get to see what we have been talking about, the “trickle-down effect.”  While some of you may know what this means, I will catch the others up.  We are in the process of upgrading to Unreal Gaming Engine 5.0, or World War II Online 2.0.  The primary focus is on 2.0, but while doing so, the assets that can be used in 1.0 will be.  There is a difference in how they appear between the 1.0 version and the 2.0 version.  You can see some examples in the roadmap located here.  The 2.0 upgrade is a monumental undertaking by the team, and it will take most of the team’s effort to make it happen.  Our team is dedicated, but it is also small, so it will not happen overnight, which is one reason we are so excited to release this patch.  Within this patch the legacy artwork makes its entry into 1.0.  Some of the first introduced and most neglected assets of the game, some of the trucks, AA guns and AT guns. 

Along with the artwork, other cool items were included in the patch, including the horn!  While some may say it is just a horn, do not let it fool you, it is no ordinary horn.  It rapidly found it's place on the battlefield as players across the map utilized them in different ways.  Some to signal their fellow soldiers while others tormented their enemy with them.  What seemed to only be a horn turned out to be a significant tool in the World War II Online environment.  Factories for both sides were upgraded with side notification systems when they were being hit.  Where factories used to be hit silently while the war marched on with very few noticing, now a system messages will alert each side when their factories are being hit. 

Factories ordered to move!

Over the years there has been great concern over the sheep farms that once occupied where factories were built.  For years the sheep have been fighting the factory owners and unions to regain their land.  They have been victorious, and the courts have ordered the factories moved, so there for new locations for some factories are as follows:

• Breteuil (French)
• Leeuwaardeb (German)
• Dortmund (German)
• Enschede (German)

New Towns Added to the Map!

Several new towns have been added to the map and many terrain fixes done.  Credit goes to TR6AL, our Terrain Producer.  Not often do we give credit to some of the guys behind the scenes, so while I have the chance, I would like to give him credit and thank him.     From what I remember the system for our terrain is one of the wonders of the world.  At least that is how DOC used to make it sound when he described working with it.    When you see TR6AL in the game, be sure to shoot at him one extra time and say hi.  Let him know that you appreciate his work. 

There are other items that I left off here, so make sure you read the read me here, or if you have not updated the game and logged in, do that!  It is well worth your while to join the battle.  

Thunderstrike came and left damage in its wake!

Operation Thunderstrike took place last Sunday and it was a success.  The gauge to success for me is easy.  Players showed up in force, and we had a lot of fun!  The operation was a full-scale operation for both Allied and Axis, and the battle was hot.  While several hotspots were seen along the front, I spent much of my time in Montmedy.  There I fought in a battle that had the feel of yesteryears. It was an all-out assault on the city.  For hours the battle raged as tanks, artillery, and bombers pounded the city back to the stone age as the defenders fought off their attackers.  Waves of soldiers were attacking only to be driven back from the aggressive defense within the town.  Often the battles were pushed out of the town and into the fields, only to be pushed back into the town.  Leaders would organize attacks to push for objectives, at times to achieve, while other times only to be denied.  While the bloody battle raged on in Montmedy the calls from desperate troops came over the radio calling for help in Givet.  The attack was not as strong, it was nothing to ignore.  During this day on the front, I followed the leadership of the Axis High Command.  Their leadership on the battlefront was much appreciated.  Through their leadership our forces were able to gain some territory in some areas, while maintaining in others.  One leader that really stood out was Gazoo.  He was a constant presence on the radios calling for more pilots to join in the formations to provide CAP and CAS.  Formation after formation, he led fellow pilots to the front and fought hard to hold the enemy air force at bay to give the Axis ground forces a chance. 

I would like to mention, during this battle I fought with the Axis. On Saturday, the previous day, I fought with the Allied Forces, and we had some great battles.  I followed voodoo1 from the Allied High Command into battle during a battle in Givet, and that battle was one for the books.  The Axis Forces seemed to enjoy capturing the spawnable on the west side of the river, along with the other CP.  Ths repeated action was almost painful enough to cause someone to guard the CP's after we captured them, but not quit there though.   When we would take the west, the axis would take their spawnable on the east side of the river.  Each time we would capture it, celebrate the capture, instead of protecting the CP, I think my fellow soldiers ran off to look for sheep or something?  Within minutes the CPs would fall to the enemy again.  I spent most of my time in the AB Bunker protecting that all so valuable table.  

Operation Thunderstrike was great in that we saw a good increase in player population, players enjoyed the battles, there was multiple areas with a wide range of action happening during the majority of the operation.  These operations are scheduled every two weeks on Sunday at 12:00 PM PST (GMT-8).  They are a time player are invited to come join us to and take part in organized game play.  During the operation the player population increase, the High Commands are on, many squads are hosting their squad day/nights, and fun is being had by everyone.  This game shines during times like this, and if you have not taken part in one of these operations, please come and give it a try.  I guarantee you will love it.  If you do join in the operation, you will have fun, and you will find the game you once enjoyed and the friends you left on the battlefield, many of them are still there waiting for you to join them.  If you have taken part in one of the operations, then I ask that you call up an old buddy from the game and invite them to come in and join you for an operation.  If I can help you in any way get your buddies back into the game, please email me, and I will see what I can do to help.  Of course, I am not asking you to do anything I would not do myself.  I have called a couple of my old buddies and invited them back into the game.  Some came, those that did had fun, and some stuck around.  All it took was a phone call or email and an invite.  

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Operation Hurricane is scheduled to take place on August 13, 2023, at 12:00 PM PST (GMT-8, 1:00 Mountain, 2:00 PM Central, 3:00 PM Eastern).  For those in a squad, I ask that you make it a squad day/night.  Also let other squads know, let your friends know.  Let’s make this operation one to remember!  You can sign up for the operation if you like on the World War II online discord.

THE FINAL NOTE!

It was a good week here in the community and at CRS.  The patch was a good thing it seems, and we are excited about that.   The Rats are working on the next patch already and it already is looking to be loaded with some good things.  I would like to mention a conversation I had with a player the other day.  It is actually like conversations that I have often on this subject.  It is actually one that is dear to me, and is important, I think.  I was talking a player the other day about the free play subscription that they were on.  They told me that CRS did not need him to have a paid subscription since the majority of the Rats were volunteers.  Yes, that is true, his subscription pays for mine, along with all the other volunteer salaries here at CRS.  I explained to him, while his free to play account is important, he was missing the bigger picture.  The free labor that volunteers provide is only a small portion of the budget for CRS.  I want to state here that I do not know the true budget, what the numbers are, what programs cost what, etc.  So, this is all speculation that came up during our conversation.  I will also state that these are my words, and no one knows I am writing them, or telling me to write them, which if you know me that would not happen anyways :-).  Back to my conversation, my friend I was talking with is a businessperson, so he understands budgets and that type of things, so we got to speculating and this what we came up with.  I pointed out to him, there are many costs associated with the operation of CRS that I have heard of over the years.  The first one that comes to mind is all the severs that are hosted.  While there are not as many as there once was, there are still costs associated with the severs being hosted.  The programs to run the servers maybe.  I have heard about the programs that our artist and programmers use, I know that they cost money, if I remember correctly some of them a monthly subscription.  I also know that the team has several programs that they use for organizing the work that happens around here.  From documentation, coding, programming, artwork, and all the other magical secret things that those RATS in the back rooms do.  Those things cost monthly and per user!  Then I did mention that most of the RATS are volunteers, that leaves a few that do make some money working here.  To be honest with you, they make pennies on the dollar for what they do when compared to their professional counterparts and what they do in their real jobs.

At the end of our talk, he saw the value in the Premium Subscription to say the least.  I am lucky, I work with the team, and I get to see some of what they do.  They continue to amaze me.  Because of those who have paid the premium subscriptions and who have become BUILDERS through the years, we are here today.  They are making more advances as you saw in the patch this week.  Every one of those subscriptions counts since this is all 100% funded by you, the players.  The free to play players fund the volunteer force that help move the game forward, and the paid subscriptions pay for the severs, pay for them to stay online, pay for the tools, pay for the small salaries that are paid (little bitty bitty bitty), and all the other expenses.  I bring this up since I am impressed with the accomplishments of this team and look forward to what they will be accomplishing in the months and years to come.  I only ask that if you can afford to move your subscription to the next level, think about it, every dollar helps move the game forward.

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END
COMMUNITY REPORT
August 3, 2023
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