Don't loose hope, Preon1...it's in the works:D.
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Exerpt from my interview with HiTech at AH Con '02, published in "The Wargamer."
SABRE: Very cool. How about ground combat? Again, last year we talked a little bit about the idea of a first-person shooter added to the main arena base capture routine. Any more progress on that idea, and what other changes might we see to the ground war?
HITECH: The basic plan on the first-person shooter is still the same as it was at this time last year. It got pushed back by one or two versions. That literally was our next piece to develop after the A/I bombing; we were going to be right on to first-person shooter. Now we’ve put the mission theater stuff in between that, so it’ll be one or two versions dedicated to the mission theater and then we’ll move on to the first-person shooter.
SABRE: So the idea is still that it will be part of the base capture mechanism, a bunker battle of some sort?
HITECH: Yeah, that idea is exactly the same. That’s where we’re planning on going with it.
SABRE: How about other enhancements to the ground vehicle war?
HITECH: Enhancements in what way? Like, more ground vehicles?
SABRE: Both more ground vehicles and the ever requested perked ground vehicle. Also, any other things like cover and concealment, or other effects to make ground warfare more interesting and varied?
HITECH: For cover and concealment, I’d sort of want to go with…one of the things we’ve added in the last patch is two new object types. One’s called a “barrier” and the other is called simply a “structure.” Their properties are, a barrier can’t be destroyed. So we can put stuff into the terrain just for ground-to-ground concealment. Objects you can’t blow up or destroy to get rid of the other guy’s cover. It’s a true barrier.
SABRE: Would that be like a tree line or a hedgerow?
HITECH: Yeah, exactly. It could be a tree line, a hedgerow, or even just a small sand dune. It could be just a little hull-down bunker that we stick into the terrain. Either way, you can’t destroy it; you can’t get any points for it…that type of thing. The other new type, the “structure” type object, is meant for items like bridges. Its key aspect is both sides can destroy it. Right now, you can’t kill your own structures.
SABRE: Right.
HITECH: Well, if you have a bridge, some times you want to go blow up your own bridge so the enemy can’t attack you over it. So that’s what the “structure’s” purpose is. There’s really no strategic effect [of the structure itself], but it’s meant for bridges and other items that both sides can blow up. For instance, maybe you want to go blow the building up in this town…you don’t want points for it, but you want to remove it so you can go shoot the other guy, or drive through it. That’s where that’s headed.
The cover stuff [i.e. cover of ground vehicles from aircraft overhead]…I sort of like how IL-2 did their tree-type cover.
SABRE: The hovering layer up above the ground?
HITECH: Right. Right. I want to work along those lines, see what I can do to come up with cover for the vehicles from [aerial] observation. Something needs to be done there. I just haven’t had the time to work out the exact details yet, but it’ll come.
SABRE: Anything like roving armies or artillery?
HITECH: Player-controlled roving artillery you mean?
SABRE: Yes.
HITECH: Yeah, Doug…I forget the name of the vehicle…it’s a towed artillery unit that he really wants to go do. It can compliment the bombers hitting the big cities. It will be a great unit for setting up artillery barrages against the town buildings. That sort of thing.
SABRE: Okay…
HITECH: And on the perk side…you asked me about perked vehicles. It’ll either go one of several ways, and I haven’t talked to Doug to find out which one he’s going to go do. We’ll probably be bringing out either the Tiger** [tank], the T-34, or the Sherman. If we bring the Sherman out, the odds are we’ll perk the [Ostwind mobile anti-aircraft tank, already modeled in the game] and the [Panzer IV H].
**Subsequent to this interview, Art Director, Nathan "Natedog" Mathieu, confirmed that the new armored vehicle in development was in fact the German Tiger tank. “My, Grandmother…what a big cannon you’ve got!”
