Hello Commanders! Welcome to our "Developer Diaries".
It's time to talk about Soviet battleships.
The new update opens a Soviet arc, and now I'm going to tell you
what comes with that and how our team made this happen.
Making Soviet battleships was a challenge,
not only for our construction bureau, but also for its predecessors.
Anton Kurchatkin tells us about the difficulties
that Soviet engineers faced in 1930s.
Tell us about the leading trio— the Tier VIII, IX, and X ships.
Our leading trio are battleships Vladivostok, Sovetsky Soyuz, and Kreml.
Regarding Vladivostok, what is it about the ship that you consider memorable?
It's that she doesn't have any source documentation,
except for some blueprints of a primary armament gun.
Given that situation, how did you succeed?
We used the report model photos that were available to us.
It's a model that was made for Navy representatives
to show them the ship they were supposed to end up with.
Ok, so you basically used a turret and built a ship around that?
Basically, yeah.
The Tier IX ship was a harder case:
despite a mountain of available documents,
the majority of them weren't suitable for the job.
Why? The blueprints had faded.
You mean, they were unreadable?—Basically, yeah.
Alright, so what do you do in such cases?
The was no other option except to merge the blueprints and fix them,
which meant we had to redraw the ship.
The work was quite hard and took around two months.
Two months! How many people were involved?
One person, me. You did it?
I mean, you redrew the entire ship on your own?
Yeah, pretty much.
We now possess the most accurate existing blueprints of Project 23.
In the world? In the world.
And the ship is in the game? She's in the game.
What about guns on Sovetsky Soyuz?
The ship is equipped with the legendary B-37 gun
that was designed by Soviet weapon engineers.
The gun was introduced into service
and used in defense of Leningrad during WWII.
Let's speak about “Soviet Yamato”… Soviet Yamato, yeah, it's Project 24.
While it was being developed in 1941,
the preliminary design documents were changed 13 times.
For our design, we used technical documentation that dates from 1949,
in which the ship was designed to be equipped with 457 mm guns…
457 mm? Why not 460 mm?
Because there are different measurement techniques:
either by grooves or by lands.
In other words, it's 460 mm, but honestly measured?—Yes, honestly.
We had the data on the initial design of these guns,
so we could project both the round, and the gun.
The initial data we had included the weight and initial speed of a round.
And using this data… —Well, caliber…—Caliber, yes.
Using this data, you were able to fully design the gun, turret, and…
Yes. Thus, we acquired the blueprints of the gun.
We calculated the mass of the powder charge
required to accelerate a round up to the given initial speed.
In other words, it involved the complete design of an artillery system…
These are very costly blueprints.
You’ve built just an in-game model using them,
would it be possible to build a real battleship with them?
You could build a scaled model with them from plastic or another material,
no doubt at all, but not a real ship.
What would you need to build a real one?
We would need the entire set of design blueprints,
which of course, we didn't make.
How much time would you need to prepare them?—Several years.
What unique features are important for the branch
in order to take place in the game? Let's ask Ivan Komarov.
He knows what comes with the new Soviet battleships.
Our players will gain access to the Soviet battleships very soon.
How will they fit into our game?
These are ships, which are best used at medium and close ranges.
They have decent armor against HE shells,
and the armor is good on the whole if you align the ship right.
What unique feature do they have?
Their unique feature is accuracy, which is more impressive
than that of other nations, depending on the distance to target.
Can we say that Kreml will be a Soviet Yamato?
Not really, because the main feature of Yamato
is her ability to stay at a long distance
and still penetrate the plating of enemy battleships.
Kreml isn't capable of that,
but I certainly think she'll be a worthy opponent for Yamato.
What consumables will they have?
Actually, their set of consumables will be quite limited:
just Repair Party and Damage Control Party.
But the options for these consumables are slightly different.
Most significantly for Repair Party
which has quite a slow cooldown between uses.
Moreover, the armor layout of Soviet battleships is very good,
particularly against HE shells.
Does it mean that it will be hard to set fire to a destroyer
or penetrate a cruiser's armor with Soviet battleships?
Harder than it is for other battleships, yeah.
What kind of gameplay do you think is most appropriate for this ship?
Pushing through key areas, but not without allied support, of course.
You shouldn't be too aggressive, but at the same time
this isn’t a ship that’s intended to stay far from battle.
You need to push forward and take damage, because these ships
can take some punishment due to their armor and good turret angles.
It's quite easy for this ship to align itself in such a way
that allows it to take a small amount of damage
while still utilizing its impressive firepower.
What ship types make its best allies?
Since destroyers and carriers present the main problem for Soviet battleships,
the best ally for them will a cruiser or a destroyer.
For example, a German one equipped with Hydroacoustic Search.
A destroyer can go ahead of Soviet battleships to spot torpedoes.
The design you described is quite unusual for battleships. Why is that?
We have a lot of ships, which are intended for deployment at long ranges.
For example, French, US, and Japanese battleships.
They are effective at long distances, while it’s only the German battleships
that are more or less good at fighting at close quarters.
I just had the feeling that this niche was half full.
The Soviet battleships fit in that area nicely because they have decent armor
and very good guns with high penetration capabilities.
It means that it won't be a problem for Soviet battleships
to hit the citadel of an enemy battleship from a medium distance,
or to inflict quite a significant amount of damage with each salvo.
The Soviet arc is not only a new branch of battleships,
but it also includes the new event "Pobeda", Port "Black Sea",
camouflage patches, and many other things.
Let's talk to designer Stepan Dubovskiy about the art concept of the cycle.
How did you cope with the assigned task for the new arc’s artwork concept?
What did you start with?
We started by searching for different references
and reviewing a great many historical assets, such as newspapers,
printed documents, and brochures distributed in the Navy.
We found orders, medals, and badges depicting the essence of honor and glory.
There's a banner for the former, and fire for the latter.
Is there any element that represents the basis for all?
An anchor with a star can act as such a linking element.
You can see that symbol on Navy buckles…
Officers' buckles? Yeah, on the buckles of officers.
These forms became the basis for creating the team logos,
while two crossed anchors became the symbol of the competition.
The Port is such a large entity, what can we find there?
A great monument dedicated to the Navy heroes
who fought during World War II and emerged victorious.
You have two characters who represent the main figures for the whole arc…
When I was creating the logos,
I imagined that they were twin brothers that looked exactly the same.
Brothers have a tendency to compete with one another.
I have a brother, and this was certainly true for us.
When we were children we were constantly competing…
You mean, because of some kind of personal emotions?
Yeah, a battle for superiority in the family.
The idea to create two sailors was born when we were working on the logos,
which are identical both in the level of detail
and the number of characters in their names.
To highlight this, I found an image of a sailor
and made a mirror reflection of the image…
I even see that the number of characters
in the words “honor” and “glory” is the same.
Was it planned this way?—No. This part was a lucky coincidence…
Players are to fight for Honor and Glory in new rivalry.
Since it's a friendly competition,
it opens early access to every motivated player.
Vladimir Tytarchuk has more details.
A new competition awaits players in the Soviet arc. What is it, in essence?
We based it upon our experience
in creating the previous competition for the American arc—"Sharks vs Eagles".
On one hand, players liked it, but on the other,
players expressed some discontent toward it…
Well, they specifically disliked the part where "Sharks" won…
No, actually many "Sharks" liked that part.
It's the score—26:0— that was the sad part.
It’s exactly this aspect that we planned to fix in the Soviet arc.
How did you manage to do that?
Our competition is a socialist one,
which means no opposition between the teams.
If a team wins on a particular day,
the game difficulty increases for them the following day.
Respectively, for achieving higher results, like in "Sharks vs Eagles",
players earn points for the same activities—
victories in battles, destroying ships, personal combat missions,
and achievements that include heroic ones.
So, when I win, I receive resources. What can I exchange these for?
You'll have ration tokens.
You'll be able to exchange them for containers
that provide early access to the Soviet battleships
and new unique camouflages for Tier VIII Soviet ships…
What if I don't want to complete harder missions or want to change team?
You'll have to pick a team
when you enter the game for the first time each day.
It will be different from "Sharks vs Eagles"
because there will be no opportunity to change sides.
There will be no cases of a team losing and you changing sides immediately after.
No, you'll have to choose your team at the beginning of each day.
What are the winners going to get?
They'll receive commemorative tokens,
but it's not about winning, it's about taking part.
This competition is for us to meet the Navy heroes of that time,
get into its spirit, and see its true colors.
Well, and also to acquire the battleships in the process.
By the way, perhaps it’s the best time to say
that the competition won't be limited to Update 0.8.3.
You mean, it will last for 2 updates? —At least 2.—At least 2.
We put all our cards on the table, and Dima Glushchenko will tell us
how we enhanced immersion through the interface.
An important aspect of the competition is its interface.
So what should players expect from this?
Through the banner in the Port, players will arrive at a welcome screen,
where they'll have a chance to pick one of two teams.
The two teams participating in the socialist competition
are “Honor” and “Glory”.
After that, players will fall into the competition screen…
Like really fall?—Yeah.
Players can view their personal progress, which is displayed
throughout the whole day, as well as the progress of their teams.
Following the end of the competition, players will be presented
with a final screen, designed as an honorary certificate,
and stating that player has been awarded with it
as a participant of the competition…
The interface isn't just buttons and options windows, is it?
You designed it in a special way, as a desk.
Tell us, why was this concept chosen?
We used a newspaper as the basis because that was a common way
of obtaining information for Soviet people in that era.
It's not solely a newspaper, but the newspaper is the basis of the concept.
This newspaper arrives on each Captain's desk,
where they can view news and the progress of the competition.
To visually depict progress, we used a stele design,
a heroic stele with sailors and with heroes as central figures.
The heroes depict progress.
Depending on how far the heroes went, that's the position of a team
relative to a central prize, which will be awarded each and every day.
It's time to say goodbye. Like this video, leave a comment,
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