Matrix Games

Approaching the Historical End

On the 8th of November Axis Operations Grand Campaign 1944 will be released and we have the promised second Developer Diary to share with you today. As previously mentioned, we really want to give the 7th Panzer Corps 2 DLC a unique flavor, and a big part of that was divorcing the Historical Campaign from a new and totally original Ahistorical campaign.

Perhaps the largest different between the twin campaigns is the tone. This stark contrast in tone colors all aspects of the Historical Campaign, from the briefings and its character interactions to the nature of scenarios and objectives themselves.

The opening of the campaign provides a perfect example for us to show you in preview. Yup, we’re going to talk about that leading image of this Dev Diary. In doing research for the historical 1944 campaign, we found a lot historical imagery and art depicting the Battle of Korsun. Describing them as bleak, brutal, miserable, shocking, or really any other words just fails to do them justice. But these are the historical truths of what was happening, and properly recreating and demonstrating them is a huge part of building a proper ‘historical’ 1944 German campaign.

So, while the ahistorical campaign begins with well supplied and powerful German forces defending their vast Caucasian Conquests, the historical campaign picks up right where the end of 1943 left off: A new Soviet winter offensive has assaulted the German grip on the Dnieper River, leaving a large pocket of German forces still trying to hold onto the Dnieper River from their positions around Korsun.



Low on supply and exhausted from constant fighting ever since the Soviet counterattacks following the Battle of Kursk, your mission becomes one of intelligence gathering and survival, as you struggle to piece together exactly what is happening around Korsun.

And thus, this is how your campaign will begin...

Refocusing Objectives

In terms of gameplay, this new tone and mindset for a proper historical 1944 has a very large influence on many scenario objectives. Gone are the days of sweeping maps clear of enemy units or conquering huge collections of Victory Hexes.

We wanted to try to define what it meant for Germany to have ‘lost the initiative on the Eastern Front’, which means there are a lot of reactionary battles you will have to fight. This means that you will often find you and the forces under your command are thrust into situations not of your own making. For example, you might be called up as reinforcements for a battle already in progress. And your arrival might not be one of conquest, but of attempting to defend vital river crossings, or protecting friendly forces that are already on the edge of collapse.



One clear example of this is how the Axis Operations 1944 campaign explores Operation Bagration. Without spoiling it too much, that major operation is designed and presented in such a way that there leaves no question in the mind of players to ask: ‘I won the battle, why am I losing this war?’.



Of course, Panzer Corps 2 is still a game though, so we’re being extra careful not to just hand out campaign ending and game ending impossible scenarios to stonewall player progression, so fear not over that!

But it goes to show the heart of the Historical 1944 campaign. It’s a campaign about survival, which is exactly what the German Wehrmacht of 1944 was attempting to do in the face of ever-increasing Allied strength attacking them across multiple fronts.

Ultimately, we really wanted to tell the story of how Germany and the land it controlled went from looking like this at the start of 1944:



To looking like this by the end of 1944:


 

New Equipment

As has been tradition with the new Axis Operations DLC series, we once again have a few new units to showcase!
 

Flak Tower Type L and Flak Tower Type G

As German industry and cities became the target of Allied bombing, one of the defensive efforts made in response was the construction enormous Flak Towers.
These towers served many purposes, with their primary function serving as platforms for mounting multitudes of Anti-Aircraft weaponry. In addition to that though, and thanks to their very solid concrete construction, many Flak towers also functioned as fortified radar installations and air raid shelters for civilians to take refuge in.



In Panzer Corps 2, we have equipped the smaller Flak Tower L units with Quad 20mm AA guns, making them a potent defense against low flying, ground attack aircraft.
While the larger Flak Tower G units boast 88mm AA guns, giving them a large range to reach Allied strategic bombers.
 

Panther Pillbox

But fortification construction was not limited to within Germany itself. In an effort to defend their conquests, new defensive structures were being prepared by Germany in the hopes of stopping the Allied advances that were taking place during 1944.



One of these designs was to take a Panther turret, equipped with its high velocity, armor piercing 7.5cm main gun, and affix it to a specially designed concrete structure. It was hoped that this pillbox design would be a much cheaper alternative to building a fully functional tank or tank destroyer, while still providing much needed anti-tank firepower to German defenders that were under increasing attack from the thousands of tanks that were being produced by the Allied powers.
 

Soviet T-44

One of the new Allied units being added alongside Axis Operations 1944 East is the Soviet T-44 tank. The T-44 was not meant to be an incremental upgrade of the T-34, as various models such as the T-34/42 and T-34/43 were, rather it was designed as a successor to the venerable T-34, whose design actually pre-dated the start of the Second World War.

Historically, however, the T-44 saw extremely limited action on the Eastern Front. With the Soviet decision to focus on more T-34 production, especially the up gunned T-34/85 model, the T-44 did not enter mass production.



In addition to the standard T-44, which was armed with the same 85mm main gun of the T-34/85, there was also the T-44/100 variant which boasted an even more powerful 100mm main gun.

In Panzer Corps 2, the T-44/100 also comes with side skirts for extra protection in urban and close combat environments, making it both lethal against enemy vehicles and very well protected against enemy infantry assaults.


Wooden Tanks

ANY INFORMATION ON THESE UNITS IS CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET. THIS UNIT IS UNAVAILABLE BY NORMAL PURCHASING MEANS AND THEIR PURPOSE IS UNKNOWN.

Potential Panzer Corps 2 SFX Update

The last thing we want to talk about is something there has been a lot of feedback on, ever since Panzer Corps 2 launched.

Many players have expressed a desire to see improved audio sound effects for a few of the units in Panzer Corps 2. This is especially true in regards to heavy tank movement and jet aircraft movement.

To say some official words on this long running topic... we have good news and some not so good news.

The good news is we have acquired a new library of authentic World War II SFX (sound effects) for potential use in Panzer Corps 2! This is something we’ve wanted for a long time, and have seen a lot of player feedback over, and we’re pleased to reveal that it’s finally coming!

However, and this is the bad news, converting that library of SFX into Panzer Corps 2 is a lot of work, and this means we don’t have a target date for the completion of this task. Sorry to say, but it will not be a part of the Axis Operations 1944 DLC Update.

But even so, it’s progressed enough that we are able to let our fans and players know about this
plan, because it is definitely something that has been requested extensively.
 

Your Feedback

As always, we are reading and listening to your feedback. Many thousands of posts and messages have greatly improved Panzer Corps 2 for its entire player base, and we encourage you to continue to share your thoughts and wants for the game into the future!

Axis Operations 1944 is currently finishing its BETA testing phase, and we want to give another special thank you to all of our BETA testers for their hard effort to help us make each installment of Panzer Corps 2 content the best it can be!
 

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into a very different kind of Panzer Corps 2 DLC campaign that is coming up shortly. Be on the lookout for a release date to follow, and we look forward to all our players enjoying the continuing Panzer Corps 2 Axis Operations Grand Campaign!