Long awaited usability update 1.70 released!

Hey Runners,

[drumroll] Update 1.70 aka the “usability update” is finally there! [/drumroll]

Usability Update

The lack of a solid tutorial explaining high level game elements has been an issue among new players and we decided to do something about it now. The little puzzle playground we had previously has been removed as obsolete. In the new approach you’ll get informed about things you encounter while playing the campaign (or online invasion) in the form of journal notes, which are usually triggered by mousing over objects or by simply gaining XP. While there are still a few things you’ll have to figure out on your own, this should definitely help players get into the game better!
A good chunk of the new text content has been translated in all supported languages, kudos again to the translating community! In no special orders thanks to BrodayTy, CandyMew, Lagia8, Tadler, Zahar Savelyev, RaioOriginal, Etsy and some proof-readers.

In the picture below there’s a preview of what the journal system looks like:

In this update, we’ve made certain features more accessible for experienced players too. For example, deploying sandbags or heavy weapons on the roof only to see them fall over the edge from a slight misplacement of its position is finally coming to an end. Now, besides using improved collision models for the deployables, we also have a visual emplacement marker which turns red if the space in front of the player is not suitable for deployment. Alongside that, you can now order squadmates to man deployable weapons by giving them a move order over the gun! If (for some reason) you want to build 5 miniguns and 5 mortars side-by-side and want them all manned, no problem.

In the picture below you can see it in action:

We entirely re-balanced the campaign after making some changes to the commander AI logic in pursuit of an improved pace for the game. Once a base has been captured, the next attack doesn’t begin immediately – rather the commander will regroup his forces to defend against a counterattack and also gather for a larger attack when it does occur. In addition, we seized the occasion to add a new “veteran” difficulty which has same settings as the “hard” difficulty but with FoV enabled, which makes for a much more challenging experience.

We also added radio call markers (visible on the map and in the game world) to provide better information for the players about where an allied radio call has been placed as well as an AoE so that you know in which radius you should not enter during the call in case it is a mortar/artillery strike. The subtle visual marker will hopefully lower the amount of unwanted teamkills happening when fellow soldiers run through the bomb showers.

Community Box #2

The first community box submission work was a great success and the modders had a lot of fun making experimental stuff and a good part of it made its way into the game. They had enough new ideas for another community project so here we go! In 1.70 there is a new community box with new exciting (and CRAZY) content!
Have you ever dreamed of running through the frontlines in a banana costume throwing banana peels at the enemy? Or having a riot shield but actually being able to shoot at the same time? From goofy to highly helpful in combat situations, with the help of the modding community, we have more than a dozen new items/objects/costumes/vehicles in the community box #2!

Dominance – PvP

The experimental “Dominance” (PvP) mode is coming out now too. The main idea was to remove most of the RNG by simulating a healthpoint system where there is no longer a kill probability system from bullet damage. Most weapons have a smaller bullet decay (apart from sniper rifles) and some rare weapons have also been included, such as the F2000, the XM-8, 44 Magnum and a few more.
As this gamemode is mainly about PvP, we removed stealth vests and added a special vest which is basically similar to the Vest Type II in vanilla, just that the top vest layers reduce bullet impacts more than the lower layers.
We also added the bandage item that allow you to heal yourself! You can also heal your special vest with it. Bandages can be found at the armory but are also dropped by some AI soldiers.
Keep yourself mobile and loot the bandages lying around to always be ready to engage the next fight!

Pacific Update

[b]Pacific in update 1.70[/b] aims to improve upon some of the major balance concerns in the community, as well as make the campaign more accessible, and to implement a few new weapons and units within the game. Some of the major balance changes include reducing the power of the Banzai Charge call-in, giving the USMC forces a better chance on the early beach-assault maps, and a lot of performance changes to the game’s small-arms weapons. Specifically, most of the Common weapons (the starting guns available within the Armoury) have had their lethality improved in some way or another; reducing the large gap between their performance and that of Rare weapons. Some other changes include reducing the spawn frequency of the Armoured Sentry Soldiers, adjusting the performance of various armoured vests, and making Guadalcanal a bit more challenging with large numbers of players in an Invasion server (reducing the number of Friendly AI soldiers more per each joined player. This will not affect Solo Players and has very minimal impact on small numbers of players.) Lastly, there is an assortment of new weapons being added, from the iconic M55 Reising sub-machine gun to the pre-war experimental Type Hei automatic rifle. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) have also been added to the game in the form of their Special Naval Landing Forces – essentially Japanese Marines. The IJN replace the IJA on Tarawa and Downfall, serving as a “Boss” faction within the US campaign, but also playable in the Japanese campaign. They use a few different weapons from the IJA and can call-in a Heavy Amphibious Tank – the Type 4 Ka-Tsu – a behemoth of a personnel carrier equipped with two 13mm Machine Guns.

Edelweiss News Update
In case you missed our last dev blog, we announced the next DLC set on the Western Front! It will go through the battles that paratroopers participated in, most notably Normandy, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. We’re excited to show more about this DLC further down the line, but for now, enjoy this:

Don’t forget to join our RWR community on Discord and leave us a review on Steam if you like the game, it always motivates us a lot!

Your Osumia Games

For a complete list of changes, check here

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