ENDWAR COMMUNITY Q&A – PART 2


Is it true that maps are only 1 square mile in size?

It's a good question, and yes it is certainly true. Our maps are a square mile and units engage each other at ranges of a couple of hundred meters. The goal is for EndWar to look like the most visceral and exciting war movie you've ever seen. For that to work, and for the gameplay to be easy to understand you need to see who you're fighting. Waging war by clicking on an over the horizon PiP on your HUD might be realistic, but it's not as exciting as going head to head. We are making a tactical wargame that's much more realistic and immersive than any RTS to date, but it's definitely still a game and not a simulation.


You have announced that voice command is used to control and call forth units on the battlefield. I believe I have read that you can control units with the d-pad and other buttons on the controller along with the voice command. However, in multiplayer how would this be used?

It's easy. The Right Trigger opens the voice command channel and lets you talk to your troops. The Right Shoulder Button opens the Voice Chat channel to talk to your friends and allies.


When will a side be defeated? When their capitol is taken, or when they have been completely eliminated from the map? And what will players be able to do between the time their side is eliminated and when one of the other two sides achieves victory?

No side is eliminated until one side acheives victory. To win you have to capture all the capitals and hold over 60% of the map. If a side is eliminated they can always try and relaunch themselves into the war via insurgencies in their faction capital.


Will we be able to switch between being a single soldier commanding a squad on the battle field like in Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 to being a commander of the entire force. This would allow the player to not only command the war and tell units what to do but could also fight on the front lines and help determine the outcome of the battle.

You are a General, not a soldier, so you are giving orders rather than pulling the trigger. However you can directly control a Platoon of 4 fire teams or a Company of 4 armored vehicles. In this case the controls are just like a third person game like GRAW, the left stick moves the unit.


As I think you all said there are 12 different units. Can you further explain how they level up, so that I can get a better understanding?

There are 3 ways units can level up - experience, equipment & training. Units gain experience in combat and as they become veterans their morale and combat skills increase. You can purchase a huge range of equipment for your task force including special munitions, armor and equipment. You can also purchase training programs for your troops to enable them to specialise in such tactics as Urban Warfare.


How will you keep online play from just becoming tank and air unit battle's? How will you make the infantry units key assets to the online battle field?

As we can see in games like Ghost Recon with the Future Force Warrior programs future infantry are extremely powerful troops. In fact given the lethality of personal anti-armor weapons like the Javelin it's almost harder to imagine how the tanks and gunships are going to survive. Infantry have the major advantage that they gain maximum benefit from concealment and cover in the terrain, especially in Urban environments this is a big deal. Of course the best strategy is to use combined arms and to use your units together effectively.


Considering that there will be urban battlefields and the possibility of ambushes, will ground units be able to breach walls and other unexpected "avenues of approach" in order to prevent a possible ambush and/or create an ambush for the enemy?

Yes, Combat Engineers can plant charges to detonate barriers and buildings. Heavy vehicles such as tanks can also breach barriers.


Will there be airbursting grenades to take out target in defilade or behind cover as there was long ago in one of the old Ghost Recon games. I'm referring to the OICW? And for that matter will you have crew served weapons like mortars or the OCSW?

We do have an airburst grenade upgrade which enables JSF riflemen to negate some of the advantages of enemy cover. We don't have crew served weapons because our 'no magic' rule means that if troops want to use something on the battlefield they need to be able to carry it and still be mobile. The role of crew served weapons is largely taken by combat robots and drones.


Will armored vehicles have the ability to fire different munitions such as HEAT rounds, APFSDS rounds, precision munitions like the B-LOS munition that will be equipping M1's and the FCS?

Yes, armored vehicles can upgrade their munitions and also have primary and secondary attacks that enable them to choose which munition to use. These include guided munitions like Excalibur, high explosive rounds, extended range munitions, armor piercing rounds, fuel air shells, bomblets etc.


Do you have to play online or can you also play against CPUs (computer players) also, like a story mode?

You can play single player or co-op in the Skirmish mode and you can play the campaign in Single player.


How many units are allowed to be controlled at any one time and will there be an easy to use unit grouping system, one maybe similar to Command and Conquer 3 Tiberian wars?

You can control up to 12 units at once. Since each unit is a platoon or company this means you can be controlling hundreds of soldiers at once. They are very easy to group together, for example saying "Create Group" in voice command will create a Team. You can then select this team easily by saying "Red Team...Attack" for example. It's also very easy to create a group using the controller. Just hold down the Left Trigger and you can select multiple units with the D-Pad. Then A selects groups and Y saves groups.

Can you tell your units to fall back or take over or dig in or fortify that area?

Units automatically take cover and dig in. Engineers can create traps using mines or charges or they can call in combat robots as sentries to guard an area. Units can also be ordered to fall back, either withdrawing from the current location or even retreating off the map.

Will we be able to upgrade tanks or helos or aircraft munitions and missiles? For example a tank might start out with sabot rounds but level up to firing munitions like the TERM which is a guided beyond line of sight munition in development for the FCS tanks? Russian also are working on something similar.

Yes, you can upgrade munitions and also select between primary and secondary munitions for all units.


Will the AI be smart enough to target the threat that is the enemy in order of priority (ie if the enemy has a thermobaric rocket launcher , then he would be considered a greater threat then the assault rifle equipped enemy, or if there is a tank being targeted by a helo, it will pop smoke and other countermeasures)?

Yes. The AI is very good at this sort of threat evaluation, because the combat system is ultimately deterministic it's possible for the AI to be very precise at calculating the relative threat levels of different enemies and reacting accordingly.

In your most recent Question and Answer post, you guys stated that you will lose any units that you have fielded if you leave the game early. Will the same thing happen if the server crashes/disconnects?

That is a good question. No if the server crashes, yes if you leave early.

When will a side be defeated? When their capitol is taken, or when they have been completely eliminated from the map? And what will players be able to do between the time their side is eliminated and when one of the other two sides achieves victory?

No side is eliminated until one side acheives victory. To win you have to capture all the capitals and hold over 60% of the map. If a side is eliminated they can always try and relaunch themselves into the war via insurgencies in their faction capital.


Will we be able to switch between being a single soldier commanding a squad on the battle field like in Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 to being a commander of the entire force. This would allow the player to not only command the war and tell units what to do but could also fight on the front lines and help determine the outcome of the battle.

You are a General, not a soldier, so you are giving orders rather than pulling the trigger. However you can directly control a Platoon of 4 fire teams or a Company of 4 armored vehicles. In this case the controls are just like a third person game like GRAW, the left stick moves the unit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kazzoo,

Very excited about the responses and the fact that some of my questions were answered . Thanks Kazoo and Mike DePlater .

Love everything about the game and how it SOUNDS like it will play. Unfortunately, the one thing I wish would have been different was the firing range of weapons as shown by their answer in question 1.

Can we get some clarification on whether tanks can breach through walls so that infantry can pass through a new opening, if let's say engineers aren't available?

Seems good, i know its a design choice to make the firing ranges lower and i respect that. If they wanted bigger areas it would start looking like Operation Flashpoint which would hurt sales probably (but that game was absolutely amazing <3 ).

quote:

Originally posted by myrsnipe:
Seems good, i know its a design choice to make the firing ranges lower and i respect that. If they wanted bigger areas it would start looking like Operation Flashpoint which would hurt sales probably (but that game was absolutely amazing <3 ).

My issue and I posted a few threads on this topic is that it relegates the future battlefield of 2020 with the same fighting as shown in all those WW2 rts games because it would seem silly to see a WW2 tank take out an enemy tank 1km away because they were in the real world incapable of doing so, that HOWEVER should NOT be the case for an M1 or a Russian Black Eagle tank.

I understand Ubisoft saying that it's a game and not a simulation, but that doesn't change the fact that Endwar for weapons just changes the textures and appearance of all those WW2 tanks, etc for future tanks, but with the same fighting mechanics and gameplay in regards to how far units fight. Yes, Endwar has alot more going than that and it DOES change RTS gameplay on several levels, but as a display of future weapons and their lethality, it's WW2 with new models, skins and textures. Why?

The PiP (GRAW like)view of fighting at a longer distance would NOT remove the visceral and close up, "in your face" feel of combat, in my opinion because you would still have a close up view of the enemy and the destruction you just caused because you can see up close via the HUD that you just nailed your target!

Also the 1km maps with their consequential short firing ranges of weapons FORCES everything to be cluttered together and does not allow for dispersal of units. Doesn't that negate the feel of a massive battlefield?

Can Kazzoo or Ubisoft respond or is this decision final with no hope of tweaking?

Hope I don't sound like I don't love the overall game though, it's already on my pre-order list, so you do have 1 guaranteed customer!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: atacms,

Some things I love:

Yes to OICW

Yes, to upgrade munitions like FAE's and extended range shells and Excalibur!

Yes to threat prioritized AI

i just have one more question...

how will you summon troops, not by magic, or in barracks i hope..will that be reinforcements?
i havent seen an answer to that, so can anyone tell me? it'll be like C&C3 or WiC? (or neither one, like, you choose your troops, now fight with what you have..xD)

quote:

Originally posted by rumsteak:
i just have one more question...

how will you summon troops, not by magic, or in barracks i hope..will that be reinforcements?
i havent seen an answer to that, so can anyone tell me? it'll be like C&C3 or WiC? (or neither one, like, you choose your troops, now fight with what you have..xD)

No magic, THANK GOD!

It will by deployment by helo via rappel lines. From an interview with Mike DePlatter, ""You pick your teams and the composition of your units. You call your plays, and then you execute them down on the field.breaking enemy lines, running, passing, whatever." ... If a new unit arrives on the battlefield, it has to arrive by helicopter and get dropped off. Everything has to happen in the real world."

Read the interview: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3160170

Appreciate the post. Now should'nt this be a STICKY? Especially if it's a post started by a mod and talks about important official information?

quote:

Originally posted by atacms:
Can Kazzoo or Ubisoft respond or is this decision final with no hope of tweaking?

Kazzoo is Ubisoft .

Anyway thanks for the long list of Q&A kazzoo!

Nice! that makes me even more excited for this game! Now if we could only get a gameplay video to see it all in action or a demo or a beta . From reading this though, it sounds like you can actually move around single units by hand (question 4) which in my opinion could lessen(is that a word?) the gaming experience since it changes it from an RTS to a FPS sort of, now if its like Full Spectrum Warrior it wouldnt be to bad but if you get complete control like in GRAW that would...umm kind of make it less exciting in my view... But thanks for the updates!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mr.Hanky2005,

I just hope the Abrams and Bradleys don't get airdropped like in World in Conflict.

I assume there will be a spawn area toward one side of the map where vehicles can drive into the playable area. Have a 5 ton or bradley drive the troops up and drop them off. After all, a very small percentage of troops are fast rope qualified. That could be another way of upgrading them, by sending them to airborne or air assault so they can deploy closer to the front or something.

I think people assume that combat can only be intense if you are close enough to throw rocks at your opponent. Nothing could be further from the truth, imagine the intensity of possibly getting killed by something you didn't even know was there. Like a tank or a sniper a mile away.

Just because its difficult to convey for a game developer doesn't mean it won't make a great game if they are actually talented enough to pull it off.

Well, i got an edit for my above post and my comp. isnt allowing me to access the edit... so disregard the first 'beta' word.... i apparently missed that one before i posted...

quote:

Originally posted by Inquisitor_Zeal:
Nice! that makes me even more excited for this game! Now if we could only get a gameplay video to see it all in action or a demo or beta a beta . From reading this though, it sounds like you can actually move around single units by hand (question 4) which in my opinion could lessen(is that a word?) the gaming experience since it changes it from an RTS to a FPS sort of, now if its like Full Spectrum Warrior it wouldnt be to bad but if you get complete control like in GRAW that would...umm kind of make it less exciting in my view... But thanks for the updates!

Yeah, but your "single unit" as you say is actually 4 fire teams, not a single soldier.

i read about the 4 fireteams but the way i inturpeted(i know i spelled that wrong...) it was that when you go into that view you are commanding a single fire team instead of all 4 fire teams but thanks for clariflying it.

ahh this game is gonna be sooo sick. i still want to know if your troops will have individual roles within the fireteams. riflemen/grenadiers/SAW? as soon as i find out that this is the case(i dont see why not afterall it's tomclancy...) i will be all set....

The game sounds cool. Thanks for the info, Kazzoo!

quote:

Originally posted by Crimson96:
I just hope the Abrams and Bradleys don't get airdropped like in World in Conflict.

I assume there will be a spawn area toward one side of the map where vehicles can drive into the playable area. Have a 5 ton or bradley drive the troops up and drop them off. After all, a very small percentage of troops are fast rope qualified. That could be another way of upgrading them, by sending them to airborne or air assault so they can deploy closer to the front or something.

I think people assume that combat can only be intense if you are close enough to throw rocks at your opponent. Nothing could be further from the truth, imagine the intensity of possibly getting killed by something you didn't even know was there. Like a tank or a sniper a mile away.

Just because its difficult to convey for a game developer doesn't mean it won't make a great game if they are actually talented enough to pull it off.

You're right Crimson96, if you look at the thread on screenshots of EU soldiers you'll see my suggestion for delivering heavy US vehicles, the Walrus, a DARPA project that is meant to haul 1000 tons directly from homebase to battlefield.

I'm hoping Ubisoft doesn't make the assumption that visceral combat is only when it's in your face. As you mentioned a sniper can take out his target from quite the distance and yet with the scope it's "in your face" combat. If they did the same with a Picture in picture screen pop up that would also be in your face. What they can do is tie the camera then to the munition that was fired after you've spotted the target, then that would be in your face combat. Like in the Matrix or in the movie Sniper where the camera follows the bullet. Only now it would be the following: a sniper bullet, a tank round, a helo launched missile, etc.

Come on Ubisoft give us the whole range of combat, both long and short range kills.

quote:

Originally posted by Inquisitor_Zeal:
Well, i got an edit for my above post and my comp. isnt allowing me to access the edit... so disregard the first 'beta' word.... i apparently missed that one before i posted...

I've fixed it for you.

quote:

Originally posted by john_chi:
Appreciate the post. Now should'nt this be a STICKY? Especially if it's a post started by a mod and talks about important official information?

Mr. Hanky2005 or Kazzoo, can you please make this a STIcky as John Chi suggested?

Yea, sounds good. I was meaning to do it earlier, but got distracted .

FYI everyone, kazzoo isn't a mod, she is a Community Coordinator, the biggest difference between me and her, she is employed by Ubisoft and on their payroll, mods how ever are not.