Classic mode update!!

Good day folks, urb here. First of, from the bottom of my heart I wish to thank you all on a personal level for the amazing love you threw at Mud and blood and myself recently. As a solo dev, hobbyist and veteran this stuff is priceless. Having people out there appreciating and enjoying your creative work is one of the best feelings in the world. I am grateful for the community and the fact that you guys are willing to give this pretty unique game a fair spin. I am thankful for each and every one of you.



This said it is fair to say that I had a lot of wind in my sails. I used this momentum to tackle a hefty chunk of work on the classic mode. I'm very satisfied with the end result and with the help of the beta branch folks, we have now a fully reworked MNB classic mode. I'm not going to lie this thing is a beast now. The classic mode has 65 (yes 65 lol) command options, the 6 men limit is gone and vehicles are now controllable. you guys wanted a fight, you have one. Without delays here are the latest additions.

Classic mode revamp details:

Reinforcements new units:

With the 6 men limit gone we are back to a Mud and Blood 2 system for the classic mode. With tactical points, you can buy soldiers to reflect your personal strategy and play style. Here are the lists of available soldiers.

• Rifleman: basic infantry starts with a random combat skill just like MNB2.
  
• Officer: Rifleman that gives morale buffs (automatically) to nearby soldiers, also an officer is required for most of the command decisions orders
  
• Medic: Classic medic with his healing abilities slightly buffed compared to the campaign mode. Reduced combat abilities.
  
• Engineer: Required to build almost everything besides cam nets. Can disarm mines, UXOs and cut wires.
  
• Signaller: Radio man which is required for any radio orders
  
• AT soldier: Normal soldier that uses the bazooka on infantry and vehicles. Will prioritize vehicles. Reduced movement speed
  
• Crewman: Soldier that can replace crew casualties on vehicles and equipment. Reduced fighting abilities but come with an m3!
  
• Commando: Hard punching melee unit with increased hit points. Never panics.
  
• Scout: Soldier that can see hidden troops and equipment. Has x2 detection range.
  
• Sniper: Soldier with unlimited engagement range. Can do headshots on 15% of his hits.
  
• Gunner: Can target switch mid burst (useful for crowd control)
  

Command decisions:

Command decisions were also a thing in MNB2 and are now back in MNB steam edition. Most of these require an officer.

• Heroism: Give 3 XP to a soldier, soldiers get automatically promoted every 25xp in classic mode and gain 1 to 10 combat per promotion.
  
• 29th Spirit: Restore a soldier back to max hp and max morale, cost 3 tp
  
• 29th Let's go!!: Resets all the equipment timers for your squad for Frags, molotovs, rifle grenades and Bazookas.
  
• Ranger Training: Give +5 to max Hit points and + 5 to combat skill to a soldier. Also gives a Garand. Soldiers that have Ranger training don't lose morale if they are in front of the squad (Rangers lead the way)
  
• Taunt: Taunt the Germans to attack you faster. When you are ready for the next wave this can be a good alternative to get in the fight faster. a TP will be given to you. This is a good option to speed up German attacks. Be careful however, Germans can group up in between waves and coordinate a combined attack. Use your crowd control options to mitigate that.
  
• Designate target: Tell your squad to engage a specific target. All squad will prioritize this target for the next 10 sec.
  
• All-around defence: Tell your squad to engage the target of their choices regardless of range, very good when your position gets overwhelmed.
  
• Tactical withdraw: Tell a soldier to leave the battlefield. You have 25% to get his cost reimbursed.
  
• Tactical reload: Tell all your men to put a fresh mag in. Good to use in between waves.
  

Radio commands:

• Scout plane: Fly a scout plane over the map and highlight all enemy units. A very good way to find out if the Germans are gathering for a combined attack. If you are quick enough you can call arty or air burst and ruin their party.
  
• Smoke Screen: Call a smoke screen delivered by artillery. This is very good in order to cover a hasty retreat to a rear position.
  
• Air Burst: A local favourite, the ultimate crowd control. This will call artillery rounds that will detonate above the enemy and rain shrapnel on their position. Nasty business.
  
• Heavy Mortars: Call a salvo of 81mm mortars, this has an ok spread but the delivery is faster than artillery or bomb drops. Useful when you want a quick punch in the enemy assault.
  
• Precision strike: Calls one round of arty to the exact location you designated. Takes a little while (passing on a 10 digit grid is a lengthy business) but it gets you a round of 105mm right on the button.
  
• White Phosphorus: This calls WP on the marked area. While it does produce a bigger smoke screen and regular smoke, it doesn't linger as long. The good side of this is that it can start many fires.
  
• Call B17: This will call a strategic bomber to do a bomb run on your entire map, call this the MNB2 nuke. It is advised to be in a bunker when calling this.
  
• Strafe: The good ol' strafe, call in the Mustangs to starfe the Jerries. Results are varied but it is cheap and quick crowd control. It can also star a couple of fires. It covers almost 1/5 of the map as well.
  
• Bomb drop: This will drop a bomb at the designed location, however, the vertical alignment will be random. Packs a decent punch and can destroy vehicles and fortifications.
  
• Artillery drop: The mother of all support calls, this takes a chunk of the map away on the designated area. Never gets old.
  

Weapons menu:

Now here is the kicker, you have absolute authority on who is carrying what. Do you want a medic to rock a Vicker machine gun? You can. Do you want a gunner to spray and pray with an M3 grease gun? You can. There is a lot of experimentation to be done here and expect some sort of balancing in TP cost depending on where the meta stands in the future. Looking forward to hearing about all the combos you guys will come up with. I will not list all the weapons but there are 15 in there.

Gear menu:

This is new entirely and it allows you to assign special gear to any soldiers.

• Knife: A soldier that carries a knife does 1 to 25 extra damage in hand-to-hand combat, we might make the knife throwable in a not-so-distant future.
  
• Brass Knuckles: this gives a +10% bonus to hand-to-hand skill any soldiers who are equipped with these.
  
• Frag Grenades: Equip the soldier with frag grenades. the soldier will throw grenades from time to time based on his experience score.
  
• Rifle Grenades: Rifle grenades can be fired from rifles and have a better range than frags. their frag radius and damage are slightly lower, however.
  
• Molotovs: Equip your soldiers with firebombs. This one is great because it starts fires which are a pain for attackers. they can lead to hilarious situations when your lines get overwhelmed and your guys start tossing this haphazardly.
  
• Armour-piercing rounds: This reduces the cover value of an enemy by 10%, it also does20% more damage to soft skin vehicles (Kubelwagons, half-tracks, bikes and such)
  
• Incendiary rounds: Equip the shooter with rounds that can light (10%) either the ground or targets on fire. Does 20% more damage.
  

Vehicles menu:

The vehicles in MNB Classic are now controllable by the player. This was one of your most requested features. Be advised now large vehicles can trash your defences by plowing through them. You have control now so it is on you.

• Jeep: Fast soft skin vehicle armed with a heavy machine gun. Good investment to quickly bring additional firepower on the line. The driver or gunner can be replaced by a crew soldier if shot.
  
• M5: AT gun which can be moved but fairly slow. It will join the fight from the sides and can be moved around as well. The gun crew can be replaced by a crew soldier if shot.
  
• Greyhound: Fast and armoured car that brings a 37mm and coax into the fight. Good and cheap alternative to heavier tanks.
  
• Stuart light tank: This light tank is fast and nimble and packs a decent punch with a high fire rate coax and light gun.
  
• Sherman Tank: Bring up the bing guns to the front lines. the Sherman is slower but is resilient and packs a decent punch. Just make sure you protect it from panzerfausts.
  

Well, this is it for the classic mode, there is a fair amount of meat to chew on here and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys experimenting with all the options. We will let this marinate for a lil bit and see how the meta develops and add missing elements. The next patch should include Post Brest biome generation for the campaign mode and a progression system for the classic mode. There are also a few Axis units that are being looked at and might make it into the next version. Let us know what you think of the new classic mode!



Stay safe out there folks.

respectfully

urb