Hello everyone! Over the last few months, we have made a number of changes to the battle based on your feedback. Today, we would like to give you a few details about the upcoming changes that will be released with the 0.7 Battle Update. All Quiet in the Trenches is a game that is somewhere between strategy, role-playing and simulation. We want to retain the simulative aspect, especially in the battle, because we believe that it is better suited to creating in-depth experiences. However, we also found that the previous approach was perhaps a little too simulative, lacking transparency and with too little opportunity for direct influence. We have tried to restructure the battle phase so that the player has more influence on what happens, the effects are more direct, but we have still retained the previous feel and the simulation aspect.

Danger display

When selecting a troop action, we have revised the danger display. The danger caused by artillery, enemy hand grenades and possible close combat no longer plays a role in the displayed danger level. The danger level is now only calculated from the various "gunfire" commands. In the previous version, we tried to somehow summarise the various dangers, which was quite complicated and obscure, as other factors also played a role in addition to the probability of an event, such as the number of soldiers potentially affected (moving with fewer soldiers was less dangerous), the intensity of the injury (artillery had a higher chance of causing serious injuries), etc. In the future, the danger level will precisely reflect the probability of an injury, and the new system also gives us the opportunity to explain the individual hazards in more detail.
This movement action becomes dangerous because of four of the French troops. Troops III and IV contribute more to the danger. In addition, troop III suppresses our position.

Troop Actions

The troop actions Rally and Suppress have been removed. This means that there is now only one action per area. If the troop is to remain in the same position, there is now only Hold.

Command: Take Cover

The Take Cover command, which was previously only available via the Gather troop action, is now the default command for Hold. If a soldier remains in cover, the displayed danger from rifle fire is irrelevant to him.

Command: Fire on sight

The Fire on Sight command is carried out by two soldiers. It allows the entire battlefield to be monitored with minimal ammunition consumption. The command combines and replaces the previous General Suppression and Monitor Routes commands.

Command: Suppress

The new Suppress command can now be used to suppress any enemy unit.
The icons in the 3D interface were introduced in the last update for the constructions and now allow many different commands without cluttering up the display on the left side. Suppression requires three soldiers and uses a lot of ammunition. In return, the target receives the suppressed attribute. If you are suppressed, you cannot give any fire orders. However, you can shoot back, which can be very dangerous. The team that wins the firefight is evaluated. The losing side is suppressed, while the other side receives the fire superiority attribute, which, among other bonuses, prevents further suppression for one round.

Command: Fire from the flank

This was already there, but we wanted to have a more comprehensible system here as well. The flanked troop receives the Scattered attribute and individual soldiers flee to nearby cover. In addition, this troop must retreat in the next round in order to slowly regroup its soldiers.
The troop was flanked in the last turn, which is why there are only a few options for retreating.

Command: Provide covering fire

Cover fire for allied troops will be removed. Since it is possible to suppress any troop, this would only conflict with this and make the suppression system less valuable. Instead, it will now be possible to provide cover fire when moving your own troops. To do this, two soldiers are assigned to stay behind during the movement. They reduce the danger for all moving soldiers, but must return to their unit on their own in the next round. Cover fire for individual, separated soldiers will continue to exist!

Cover

The level of cover will play an even greater role. Good cover not only lowers the danger level, but also increases firepower. The level of cover plays an enormous role, especially in direct firefights (suppression).

Troop display

The troop displays have been revised. We have noticed that the large amount of information is given little to no attention. This is partly because it was not important enough in the past, as there were rarely direct interactions with the troops, but also because there was simply too much information at once. With the next update, we will only display the most important attribute for each troop. Normally, this will be the level of cover. However, if a troop is suppressed or scattered, this will be displayed instead. In addition, all important commands will be displayed instead of the last troop action. So if a troop has two of its soldiers in Fire on Sight and three soldiers in Suppression, these two commands will be displayed.
A much more compact overview: Troop IV is in a level 2 cover, suppressing an enemy troop from there and also assigning soldiers to monitor the entire area. Troop III is suppressed, which is why its level of cover currently plays a lesser role. However, clicking on the flag button will still reveal all the information. Additional arrows indicate the positions affected by the respective command.
The arrows indicate that Troop VII is suppressing Troop V.

Conclusion

In our opinion, it is now much easier to make strategic decisions. The changes mentioned so far now also allow for new situations: For example, if an allied troop is on the flank of an enemy, it is now possible to suppress the enemy troop directly, allowing the allied troop to change its cover. The more precise breakdown of the dangers makes it easier to assess where the danger is coming from. For example, if a troop is responsible for the high danger, which would have to retreat soon anyway, it is easier to decide to hold out for another round in the cover before advancing.
The only danger at the moment is from Troop III. Since they are a little too far forward in the offensive, it is quite possible that they will retreat in the near future. Since certain characteristics, such as scattered, force a troop to retreat, it is also easier to control the battle. Troops that remain in one position forever despite flanking are a thing of the past! But that's not all: We are also planning changes to the melee system, hand grenades, troop behaviour and much more. More on that in one of the next dev diaries. We plan to release the battle update in July.