Wargaming.net's president takes players inside Massive Assault
By Michael Lafferty

Earth's energy resources are just about depleted and time is running out. But it is the year 2365 and space flight is viable. Then six planets in a distant star system are discovered, each rich in hyper-radioactive materials. The planets were quickly colonized and divided into states.

However, rivals emerged ­ the Axis-of-Good (sporting a Western-style democracy) and the Shadow Clique (which despises the Axis and is founded on terror, conspiracy and political intrigue, while armed with biological and chemical weapons).

The Shadow Clique, realizing that it could not win an open war with the Earth, discerned the easiest method was to gain control of the six planets. Standing the way is the Axis-of-Good. A conflict between the two, drawing in neutral nations, was inevitable.

Welcome to the world of Massive Assault, a  3D global-domination strategy game developed by Wargaming.net.

This strategic combat game features 26 detailed 3D units, 3D sound, huge landscapes, AI, hot seat and Internet play, realistic lighting and effects, as well as dynamic gameplay.

The look of the game is amazing and Wargaming.net has taken great care to make certain that when it comes to gameplay, the Massive Assault experience will appeal to fans of all gaming levels.

Wargaming.net President Victor Kislyi took time to talk with GameZone.com about this title.

Question: How does Massive Assault differ from other RTS games? Does this game favor combat or is it a mixture of strategic combat and resource management?

Victor: "Strange, but many Massive Assault’s screenshots make many people think that it’s RTS. The thing is that it’s a turn-based strategy. However we managed to make it very dynamic, so that it is appealing to RTS players as well. In general, we were trying to make Massive Assault different from existing games — we did not want to copy ‘popular’ features from successful titles — we propose a new strategy concept — here the main difference lies. We were not limited by any genre or ‘historic truth’ boundaries or standards while designing Massive Assault, so the game happened to be fast, easy-to-learn, plus playing it is fun. Nevertheless, Massive Assault has an original political system, which greatly influences the strategy and can make you think a lot, especially in the deathmatches."

Q: Can you tell us about the combat system the game uses? Are the strengths and weaknesses of units factored into the outcome? Does environment and terrain have any bearing on the battle?

Victor: "The whole game is turn-based, and the combat system was designed to be simple. There are no random combat factors — a player always knows what happens when he performs his or that tactical action. The units differ greatly in fire range, damage, hitpoints, movement rate and price. For example, tanks are fast and they can hit infantry first, mortars can shoot from behind the line of other close-combat troops. Heavy bot moves fast and hits hard. The rocket launcher has the longest fire range (to say nothing of air bombers). Amphibian units can move and fight both on land and at sea. We made Massive Assault’s units ‘generic,’ so they are very distinctive. It is important in Massive Assault to learn how to combine different troop types building effective offensive and defensive battle formations. There is no ideal super unit, which you can solely rely on — even the most expensive and powerful ones are vulnerable under certain circumstances.

"As for terrain, it can only slow the movement down (rough terrain) or speed it up (roads), so tanks and other fast-moving units loose their first -hit advantage when fighting against infantry in the woods. We decided to avoid terrain combat factors, so that the battle mechanics is simpler. However, the course of Massive Assault’s war is greatly affected by the nature of the terrain. Mountains and ridges are impassible, and they create geological ‘labyrinths,’ narrow passes and plateaus, which you have to consider in combat and maneuvering."

Q: Can you explain how the resource management elements are implemented into the game? Does this game require micro-management of resources or is the AI intuitive in that regard? Does the game have a technology tree?

Victor: "We deliberately minimized the resource management component, letting the players concentrate on tactical and strategic combat mostly, the resources coming from the territory conquest. Each country you control is bringing you certain amount of money every turn. As for the technology tree, we turned down the idea of those upgrades and inventions. Numerous tests have demonstrated that strategic management of your Secret Allies and tactical fighting for control over each country are much more interesting, and we decided that the players should spend their time for what is really thrilling and challenging instead of repeating boring resource collection and ‘upgrades’ routines.

Q: The overview of the game talks about an original political system. Can you explain how it works?

Victor: "Imagine two mighty coalitions with equal initial resources. The Secret Allies are randomly scattered over the planet, so that the opponent does not know their exact locations. About 50% of the countries on a planet are neutral, but you cannot distinguish between a purely neutral country and the enemy Secret Ally until the opponent discloses it.

"Secret Allies can be disclosed at any moment providing fresh troops in particular region. This mechanism makes the whole strategic situation unstable - a player can gain and loose advantage for a couple of times during the game. The players are encouraged to keep at least one or two Secret Allies undisclosed in order to bring them on the table in the most crucial moment of the war. Plus, your undisclosed Secret Allies always makes the enemy nervous.

"Also, there are other strategic concepts, such as Guerrilla, Indemnity and Revenue, which add flexibility and make the war really global-scale. There are always numerous theatres of war spread over the whole planet."

Q: This is a 3D game. What kind of graphics engine does it use and what did that engine enable you to do?

Victor: "Wargaming.net has created its own 3D engine for Massive Assault. It’s powerful enough for making a quality RTS. It provides fantastic FPS, and it can display really huge pieces of terrain. Bird-eye strategic scenes are especially beautiful. It handles hundreds of full-3D detailed units. You can also get picturesque views with distant mountains and the skies on the background. Some people said we could use our engine for a golf simulator."

Q: What are the major differences between the six worlds featured in the game? What particular challenges does each present to the game player?

Victor: "The worlds differ in size, and ‘geological’ shape. The Concept Test and our internal tests have demonstrated that different worlds require different style of warfare. Let me illustrate it by a couple of examples:

"Antarcticus is a small planet with only one continent. The war intensifies immediately, because the rivaling forces are deployed close to each other. Mostly land units are used. However, the conflict never turns into single straight and long frontline due to numerous mountains and impassible ridges crisscrossing the continent and thus splitting it into a couple of strategic regions. By selecting the right defensive position and using the right battle formation you can successfully hold a plateau surrounded by superior enemy forces.

"Wasserland is a big planet covered by water with a couple of very small continents and about a dozen of islands. The war is full of amphibious landing operations, and huge naval battles involving dozens of battleships, carrier groups, and aviation — you will get something like WWII In the Pacific with new Midways, Guadalcanals, Okinawas, etc. The islands turn into strategic airbases and the straits play the role of narrow mountain passes. The players will be widely using amphibian and naval transport units.

"On some planets land and naval warfare are presented in equal proportions."

Q: Does the game feature a progressive mission campaign or are these single-planet, single scenarios?

Victor: "The game has both scenarios and campaigns. Each scenario involves the territory of two-to-six countries (i.e. only a small part of a planet). We plan to make about 3-4 scenarios for each of the planets. The campaigns will include from four-to-15 missions. During one campaign a player will be gradually liberating one or several planets."

Q: What kind of multiplayer options does this game have?

Victor: "Massive Assault has face-to-face Internet play mode: you can challenge any of the players and if your challenge is accepted, you will fight a deathmatch against this person. As the Concept Test has demonstrated, online deathmatches tend to be very tough, especially against experienced players. Our company will maintain Massive Assault’s online community with ranking system, international championships, team cups, etc."

Q: What aspect of the game do you think will present the most challenge? What aspect do you think game players will be most impressed with?

Victor: "We are sure that Massive Assault will bring a bunch of fresh ideas to strategy genre. Many of the gamers are great tacticians trained by squad and battalion level wargames — and they will surely have the opportunity to perform their tactical skills in Massive Assault. Nevertheless the most challenging part will be the unorthodox strategic environment — global, dynamic, demanding and thrilling, with literally endless replayability."

Q: What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in creating this game, and which element brought the most satisfaction when completed?

Victor: "There are many things in Massive Assault we are really proud of, but the most challenging one was to ensure the smooth and dynamic gameplay. Massive Assault’s has original rules, but we managed to design the game in a way, so that a player is perceiving the concept in a natural way, thanks to state-of-the-art interface mechanics, contextual prompts, animated mission objectives and dozens of other features. We were conducting regular usability tests, making sure that the controls are comfortable, useless mouse clicks are eliminated, and ‘an average player’ can easily understand how to do what he or she wants to. Plus, the gameplay is packed with action — that’s what our Concept Test participants have admitted.

"As for the most satisfactory thing, I would name the gaming press attitude — from the very first public screenshots we felt that the gaming community views Massive Assault rather as a promising game. Then the Concept Test and the first previews confirmed that Massive Assault had a great potential. It’s very pleasant to realize that you are doing something the people are waiting for.

"And there is one more thing I can’t keep silence about: Massive Assault’s AI is getting smarter and smarter every day!"
 

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---