Hey Runners, It's update time with some really exciting news for you guys! First of all, this update will include 2 "new" maps, one for Vanilla and one for Pacific (see WW2 section below). They are not entirely new, hence the quotes, as the Vanilla map "Warsalt Legacy" is based on the EDELWEISS map "Varsity" but has been heavily reworked and adapted for Vanilla needs, implying larger roads and also a bigger ruin city part as we all loooove those massive close quarter combats in destroyed cities, don't we? The map will be playable in quick match as an assault map and has been added to the online invasion map rotator. The map has also been added to the Dominance map rotator, more precisely the ruin part as "King of the Hill" mode but also as a normal conquest substage. We also added a new soldier type, the "Ranger". He is about as rare as the grenadier but is behaving differently on most aspects. Beside being a squad leader (max 3 squad members though!), he is rather aggressive, faster and is equipped with an automatic rifle and tends to switch to his underbarrel grenade launcher when facing larger groups of enemies. As secondary, he is equipped with a SMAW which makes him a versatile tank destroying unit. He has a strong body armor on top of it and likes to call for Gunship support, ouch!
Next, let's come to a topic that has been on the suggestion list of several Runners or potential Runners pretty much since the first versions of the game were made public: controller support. We stated repeatedly that in RWR, albeit being a top down shooter, not only the aiming direction matters but also the distance of the crosshair as the projectiles have ballistics, and the world is entirely 3D like on most conventional shooters that are not top-down. This made us come to the conclusion that having a controller support would not bring the joy that one would expect. After the announcement of the Steam Deck, we brought this option on the table again, as the Steam Deck features a trackpad for aiming, similar to the Steam Controller, both in that aspect having potential to be seriously taken into consideration. The next thought was if regular twin stick controllers without trackpad could be an option too, and after some testing, tweaking and the addition of a minor aim assist it was indeed surprisingly playable in so that we decided to add general gamepad support as well. This has been tested with PS4 controller, Trust GTX 1230, Steam Controller and last but not least of course also on the Steam Deck, which was the device that fired up the whole idea. Playing with gamepad, we'd suggest to start with the "casual difficulty", which gives enough challenge to sink your teeth into your controller - at least this was the case for us but we are definitely not the most advanced controller players out there! :) For a full list of change, check the changelog below!
We also do have some new content for RUNNING WITH RIFLES: PACIFIC being published today. We're bringing over an RWR: Vanilla map into Pacific; "Vigil Island" is being transformed into "Wake Island". With some modifications to the terrain, this will be a King-of-the-Hill style map set in the middle of the campaign. Included is also two new weapons - a Scoped M1941 Johnson Rifle for the US Marine Snipers, and a rare Type Ko semi-automatic rifle for the Japanese forces. Some extra tweaks have been made to a few Japanese weapons - the Type 4 Garand and Type 100 Paratrooper SMG can now both equip bayonets, and the Type 100/44 SMG now makes use of a full-size bayonet instead of a short one. Paired with this are the usual assortment of some bug fixes and balance adjustments to keep things alive. [hr][/hr] We can't make this post without dropping a line about the actual situation in the Ukraine. We at Osumia Games are blessed having a community from all over the world with different cultures, who just want to have fun together. Military conflicts should only be fiction and we are vehemently rejecting any kind of aggression. We stand with peace!

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!

NEW content and features:

• maps: map "Warsalt Legacy" added for online invasion and quick match
• ai: new soldier class - the "Ranger". Armed with a faction specific underbarrel AR and as secondary SMAWs
• dominance: added Warsalt Legacy to the map rotator
• dominance: added King of the Hill substage of Warsalt Legacy to the map rotator
• dominance: added neutral troups at the "Hill" bases in King of the Hill substages to avoid instant capture
• weapons: added alt fire mode for the Benelli M9 and Glock 17 which removes the suppressor
• controls: added Steam Input game controller support
• controls: added analog movement, throttle and brake for game controllers
• controls: added vehicle drive lookahead in driving direction for game controllers
• controls: added haptics/rumble events for game controllers
• controls: added optional aim assist for game controllers
• controls: change mouse sensitivity to adjust to resolution
• controls: added mousewheel handling for menu ui sliders and scrollers

BALANCE Changes:

• invasion: couple of balancing tweaks implying partial minor map redesign
• weapons: stock machine pistols bullet spread and bullet decay start time slightly buffed
• weapons: QBS-09 shotgun spread decreased
• weapons: XP requirement for the SMAW increased

BUG Fixes and Tweaks:

• maps: few fixes here and there
• weapons: Dragon's Breath projectile class changed to bullet to avoid going through thin walls
• weapons: XM25 has slightly faster reload speed but lower blast radius
• weapons: Claymore's time to live extended from 3 to 4 minutes
• weapons: shielded weapons received the parameter usable_for_cover="0", so friendly ai won't group around their users
• vehicles: passenger AI slot queue of the Technical reworked to have front seat to be occupied last
• misc: extended the lock on death from rare weapons only to backpack valuables and healthy vests
• animations: fixed a bug where the dog was in a looping attacking stance
• animations: fixed a missing animation for the shock paddles
• animations: suppressed pistol mount animation speed increased
• particles: corrected syntax error in flare.particle
• bug: fixed a crash when the neutral faction tried to make a radio call but missing the resources
• modding: added the rest of vest modifiers to weapons
• items: added drop_count_limit_in_range for items to reduce the less important item clutter
• controls: reduced some input lag related to mouse positioning
• controls: radio view now works as both tap to toggle visibility or hold to show/release to hide as usual
• ui: changed clipping in menu render for Deck/Proton compatibility
• ui: changed radio view to center on screen

NEW content:

• maps: "Wake Island" map added to campaign, invasion, and quick match - a modified version of the "Vigil Island " vanilla map but suited for Pacific gameplay
• weapons: NEW Type Ko semi-automatic rifle - a low-recoil 6.5mm weapon carried by IJA and IJN Veteran soldiers in early- and mid-war maps
• weapons: NEW Scoped M1941 Johnson rifle - semi-automatic sniper rifle carried by USMC Snipers in all stages of the war
• weapons: Type 4 Rifle can now mount a bayonet
• weapons: Type 100 Folding SMG can now mount a bayonet

BALANCE Changes:

• calls: Light Artillery barrages now deal remarkably less damage to all vehicles, but cost has been lowered -50RP; encouraging use against infantry groups
• calls: Strafing Run radius of each bullet raised from 3m to 3.35m
• soldiers: the specialist Tank Hunter AI soldiers now wield small-arms when fighting infantry, drawing their heavy Rocket Launchers only when engaging Tanks
• weapons: variety of tweaks to nearly all Sub-machine Guns, Semi-automatic Rifles, and Semi-automatic Snipers, focusing on tweaks to reloading time, but with others too
• weapons: Sten Mk V now costs only 10rp instead of 15rp
• weapons: Type 100/44 now utilizes full-length bayonet instead of short bayonet
• weapons: M1 Garand 60mm Launcher - reduced blast radius of High-Explosive by 0.5m, raised Anti-Tank mode damage; 1 less shot against Medium Tanks
• weapons: Type I Carcano now has more differences from Type 38; better standing-accuracy, longer damage range, but slightly lower velocity

UNDEAD BALANCE Changes:

• weapons: semi-automatic rifles no longer have special boosted damage in this mode
• zombies: common zombies now receive slightly more damage from all small-arms weapon sources

BUG Fixes and Tweaks:

• calls: fixed a sorting issue with Allied call-ins on Hill 262
• models: improved the weapon models of all Type 100 SMG variants, Type 2 SMG, and the Type 4 Garand
• hud: Type 100/44 now utilizes full-length bayonet instead of short bayonet
• hud: Type 99 Rifle and LMG now visually illustrate a late-war pattern of Japanese bayonet instead of early-war
• translation: couple of fixes