@Joel - what are your 2023 plans for WITE-2?

[MarkShot]

Joel,

See topic.

Thank you!

[oldMarinePanzer]

Also, I hate to keep nagging everyone about it, but any goals or a status/timeline on the editor? I think many of us are still waiting/hoping for it

[Joel Billings]

I don't have any long range plans to share with you at the moment, but we'll share more information as we have it. In the short run, we have a beta version out to testers now with several adjustments and bug fixes, and a number of scenario/data changes/fixes as well. It will probably go out next week as we're still looking at 2 additional items that we may make changes on.

Unfortunately on the editor, I don't have any news to report other than that there has been little progress on it over the past 1-2 months. Pavel's time continues to be very limited, and other items keep coming up, which kills momentum on the editor. This could change in the future, especially if Trey and Pavel move forward with editor changes for an OB update and a potential 2nd DLC, but nothing is set yet.

[vinnie71]

Thread resurrection

Is there the possibility of including the map of Yugoslavia and/or Finland in the main campaign? Or maybe the inclusion of some of the units found in the new scenarios (I'm thinking here of the Croatians mostly)?

BTW thanks for the great gaming experience!

[oldMarinePanzer]

Team, any update on the editor? maybe a status check?

[oldMarinePanzer]

bump

[Joel Billings]

No. It's basically on hold until Pavel gets more free time and/or other items stop coming up that uses up what time he has. He just finished a major task in one of his other jobs (he has two others), but he's not sure when he will have the time to be able to really dive back into the editor. I know that's not what any of us wants to hear, but that's the situation. Unfortunately the editor takes a back seat to game issues that come up that he needs to look into. The OB 2.0 update is in the works now, with Trey and Dennis working through all the scenario files to update them with Trey's 2.0 OB file and some map changes. None of that requires any more of Pavel's time.

[MarkShot]

Joel,

Is there anything written in the public forum on the purpose and goals of the OB 2.0 Project? I have to admit, I don't have a good sense what you folks are doing. What is the problem with how the game is now? I know you had to have already invested much time on this, and for WITE as well. Have new historic sources come to light, or old was shown to be wrong?

Not an urgent question ... but I am curious if and when you take a break for an answer.

Thank you.

PS: If it begins with "As a Artificial Intelligence Natural Language processing engine, you must under that the subject of NAZIs and Bolsheviks is highly nuanced ..." --- I will know it wasn't the real Joel.

[Great_Ajax]

Something to chew on.

The 2.0 update is a comprehensive review of all Axis OBs and is culmination of several years’ worth of work. I spent time going through German published sources on KSTNs, Kriegsgliederungs and the excellent work of Niehorster and Askey which go into tremendous detail based on the above KSTNs and Kriegsgliederungs. The original WitE OBs used single templates for all most of the German divisions and this simply is just not a representation of how these units looked like. The infantry divisions were organized in waves of mobilization that had similar characteristics. There were several dozens of different “waves” of infantry divisions that were not previously represented. Some had full panzerjaeger Battalions and a full aufklarungs battalion. Some had a combined “Fast” Battalion with a single panzerjaeger company and two companies of recon. Some had a pioneer battalion of two companies instead of three. Some fielded captured Soviet anti-tank guns and some even had nebelwerfers. Some static type divisions raised in the West were very poorly equipped but had their own self propelled panzerjager company! Now, there is some significant flavor in the differences in these units and they field some more exotic or captured equipment as part of their OB which has been an issue reported in the past.

The 1944 “standard” infantry divisions were still not standardized despite the published organization charts. WiTE OBs had almost every infantry division with a self-propelled StuG or Panzerjaeger company. In reality, these were exceptions and not the norms. The OBs were adjusted accordingly.

Panzer Divisions also used a generally single upgrade path which was again far from reality. The 8th Panzer Division was still using Czech 38ts during the battles around Veliyke Luki. Now, there are four different tiers of Panzer Divisions – Tier 1 (Elite, latest equipment), Tier 2 (Standard), Tier 3 (use a StuG Battalion as part of their panzer regiment) and Tier 4 (older equipment and last to upgrade). These tiers aren’t absolute and no panzer division strictly adhered to any of these tiers but they do allow for a wider variety of equipment to be used. It also prioritizes new equipment fielding since only the Tier 1 divisions are immediately authorized the latest equipment since the equipment demand is not immediately opened up to every panzer division on the new OB update. It also allows for older tanks and equipment to stick around longer so that they have a longer useful life. There were still Panzer IIIs lurking around in numbers during Bagration in the summer of 1944. The tiered system allows for the divisions to use different types of panzer aufklarungs battalions. Some divisions hang onto primarily motorcycle units while some get the latest Sdkfz 250 recon sections. This system also activates the Sdkfz 250 chassis of equipment as there were not enough available slots in the previous generic panzer division OBs to use them before. With more variations of panzer divisions, we can also introduce more limited pieces of equipment that weren’t getting much use with some tiers receiving flamm panzers, Sdkfz 251/16 Flamm Halftracks, Lynxes and various armored cars that weren’t used in great numbers before.

Panzerjaeger equipment elements are now added a little bit more realistically as the OBs take into account the actual availability of equipment in their OBs since the production model does not have a true “learning curve” but are built more “on demand”. Even though the Panzerschrek was technically in production in late 1943, it wasn’t commonly available to the infantry divisions until the spring of 1944. References say that the Germans trained five independent panzershrek battalions for use in the East in late 1943 with some panzergrenadier divisions receiving them first. This is reflected in the OBs as well. Some of the units had to have their panzershrek complement toned down significantly as well. A lot of these OB units were using the number of panzershreks on hand instead of the number of trained panzershrek firing teams. This resulted in a large number of panzershreks that should not have been in these units. In 1944, there were normally about 2 panzershrek teams per company. This was increased to 3 in late 1944 and by 1945, there were as many as 4 teams in a company. This is the reason why the panzershrek ground element was renamed as “Panzershrek Team”.

The Pak 97/38 is another example of a stop gap measure that was used before significant Pak40s could be fielded. You will now see more of these converted French ATGs before enough Pak40s could be fielded in early 1943.

Other than organization changes, these changes were implemented as well:

• Review of Axis Minor imported German equipment and captured equipment now formally incorporated into their respective Axis minor OBs. MG 34s, Pak38s, Panzer IIIs, Panzer IVs, Panzerschreks are now in Axis Minor OBs

• Addition of full breakdown of combat units by year for divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions with the appropriate motorization status. No more substituting 1943 Motorized Regiments with a 1941 Regular Infantry Regiment. They have their own units now.

• Many units have motorized and un-motorized variants

• More unit now have their historic names like “Army Sturm Artillery Brigade”

• Panzer and Stug units now have their escort units included – Flak, Panzergrenadiers, Panzer Pioneers, Motorized Recon, etc.

• Germans have Kampfgruppe units to be used in special scenarios. This is basically a single combat regiment backed by divisional assets.

• More variations of panzerjaeger and flak units

• Huge addition of new units never seen before

• Deliberate OB upgrades for key dates – such as Oct 43 for when panzerfausts become available in the ground elements.

• Soviet Reduced Shtat Rifle Divisions

• Axis Minor OB reviews. Note that the best references for these countries come in their native languages which I do not have access to

• Italians have three different variants of units – North Africa, Metropolitan, and Eastern Front

• Cleaned up OB list in a logical manner. There was all kind of nationalities jumbled up in confusing mass entries. Now, it should be easier to scan through what is available.

• Cleaned up the ground elements of every single entry. The ground elements within an OB are now organized in a logical fashion as well by Infantry, Recon, Engineer, MGs, Mortars, Infantry Guns, ATGs, SP Anti-Tank, AAA, Artillery/Rockets, Armored Recon, Tanks and Support. Also cleared out blank spaces in OBs

[MarkShot]

Thank you for the explanation. I am doing my morning routine at the moment, but will read carefully later.

[Wild]

The new OB 2.0 sounds fantastic. I can't wait.

Thanks for all the hard work!

[MarkShot]

I just finished reading.

The detail in this game never ceases to amaze me.

Also, many titles claim historical accuracy as a marketing ploy, not you folks. You do something simply because you know the difference even if the average customer will not; even if the game with still provide the same entertainment value. I can empathize as I will clean up code that no one will ever see, but me.

Thank you so much! Now, if and when I win, I will be able to say "I was there". Thanks, again!

[jasonbroomer]

I just finished reading.

The detail in this game never ceases to amaze me.

Also, many titles claim historical accuracy as a marketing ploy, not you folks. You do something simply because you know the difference even if the average customer will not; even if the game with still provide the same entertainment value. I can empathize as I will clean up code that no one will ever see, but me.

Thank you so much! Now, if and when I win, I will be able to say "I was there". Thanks, again!

+1

It does add to the flavour and makes me think that I'm not merely playing a game but involved in a simulation

[Nazcatraz]

Looking forward to 2.0 immensely!! Amazing work Mr. Ajax!!

[MechFO]

The 1944 “standard” infantry divisions were still not standardized despite the published organization charts. WiTE OBs had almost every infantry division with a self-propelled StuG or Panzerjaeger company. In reality, these were exceptions and not the norms. The OBs were adjusted accordingly.

In early 1944 the intention was to form 13 StuG and 12 Fla Companies for Infantry Divisions per month.

https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/ ... ect/zoom/6

i and k



https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/ ... ect/zoom/6

overview of all the strength reports for the AT units of the various Infantry, VG, etc. Divisions, but only in December 1944

[Edorf]

Thank you for the explanation. I am doing my morning routine at the moment, but will read carefully later.

Just the information I needed. Thank you…

[Flor1976]

Any news when the new OOB 2.O will be released ?

[Joel Billings]

See my post in the 1.02.52 thread.

[verdugo94]

See my post in the 1.02.52 thread.

Hello Joel,

could we expect any more dlc coming to WITE2? Or the development cycle of the game is ended? If you could give us some answer it would be much apreciated. I hope something more is in works This is a great great game indeed

Thank you

[Joel Billings]

I'd say development now is paused. It's not likely to restart in any large measure unless Pavel gets a lot more free time and/or other coders become involved with the game. The latter has happened in the past in the case of WitP AE and WitE 1, but I can't say whether that may happen in the future for WitE2. As for a DLC, we've put off any decisions on that until after Trey completes his OB 2.0 project. Without additional coding, the only new scenarios we could produce would be straightforward scenarios that don't require programming changes and/or AI changes. So again, without coders, we'd be looking at just straightforward scenarios that didn't push the envelope.