Greetings, soldiers!

I come to you with a request...and a mission. The Allies need you. Right now, there's a war going on. It's going on 24/7, day and night. It's on the ground (infantry, armor, and paratroopers), on the water (destroyers, river patrol boats, and supply ships), and in the air (fighters, tactical air support, and strategic bombing). There is no "squad night," where you play then shut down the game server. The battles are going on whether you're online or not, all night and all day, every day. It's a true combined arms PvP sim. It goes until one side wins, then starts over after a short, two to three day, intermission. It's "Battleground Europe: World War II Online" (WWIIOL). The basic game is free to play. There are no microtransactions and there is no pay to win. Once you get into the game, if you want more, there are two subscription levels, Starter ($7.99(US)/month) and Premium ($14.99(US)/month). The Starter sub gives you up to rank level five and access to more equipment. The Premium sub gives you access to all rank levels and all ingame assets.

For those of you who have (or haven't played it... Yes, the graphics are dated. It looks old. That's because when the game first came out (2001), the publisher (Strategy First) forced the game's creators (Cornered Rat Software Studios) to release the game early. It was still buggy and was missing important features. Then, the publisher took the advance order money and ran, leaving the Rats to pick up the pieces. Over the years, there have been updates, but the graphics are still not up to today's standards. HOWEVER, the simple graphics also mean there can be more people on the same map at one time without killing your frame rate. This is a GOOD thing, since everyone is on one single map, with NO instancing, which covers over 135,000 square miles (1/2 scale map of Europe). If you're not under cover, a stray bomb or strafing pass from an enemy aircraft WILL kill you. By the same token, a lucky rifle shot through the windscreen HAS been known to take down a plane by killing the pilot. I know because I was playing infantry not too long ago and killed a Stuka that way.

The Rats have done what they can over the years to keep the game running. Not too long ago, they did a fundraiser and started making improvements and updates. They cleaned up old, badly-patched "spaghetti" code, purchased some new hardware and software, and brought the game back to life. Recently, they finished another fundraiser which will allow them to do even MORE. There are new units coming into game (tank-buster aircraft and mobile (truck/halftrack mounted) anti aircraft guns). At first, these will be repurposed assets already ingame. Soon, there will be entirely new vehicles under development.

The Rats are VERY committed to growing and improving the game. This is where you come in. The server population is pretty low, at the moment. When the game comes out on Steam, later this year, it's expected there will be a large influx of players. Anyone ingame ahead of time will gain valuable experience levels and practical knowledge, and perhaps can even train for High Command to direct the tactical assets ingame. You would then get to set attack orders on towns, move troops and material around to keep the front lines strong, and direct our attacking and defending forces to key spots so we win battles...and campaigns.

It's worth a look, especially the free version. As a soldier, take an entry level weapon and get into a couple fights. Be careful, however. Teamwork is EVERYTHING. Also, the physics and damage models are as realistic as they could possibly make them. Most of the time, one bullet will kill you. You can attack an enemy held town, defend one you already hold, or go into the field and take out enemy spawn points and forward bases. You can drive a truck and tow anti-aircraft or anti-tank guns into place for battle.

The Axis is strong. I'm asking you to help make the Allies stronger. Even a couple nights a week as a free to play soldier can make a big difference. When you don't feel like walking or driving a truck, hop into an armored vehicle or fly a fighter or bomber aircraft...or pilot a river patrol boat and protect Allied held towns and bridges from Axis forces.

It's DEFINITELY worth a try, and your presence would be greatly appreciated.



S! (Salute!)

-Irish

Well done post. The most fun I had in my limited MMO experience was with Blitskrieg.

Is it still easy to play a truck driver or a grunt without voice comms?

What is the in game community like? If I go left when I am requested to go right will I be fragged by my side.

Can we still play if out OS is XP and our box dates back to 2008?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WWIIOL! The game was released sixteen years ago today, and it's getting better all the time!



-Irish

Sorry I missed your post!

Yes, you can still play a grunt or drive a truck without voice comms, but it's STRONGLY recommended you run Discord even if you don't have a microphone. You can listen and type responses in ingame text chat. You can run Discord on a separate piece of hardware, such as an Android tablet, and not take anything away from your computer's performance.

The community is GREAT. They're very helpful and most love helping new players. BTW, they can't frag you anyway. Friendly fire is not enabled. And yes, you can play on a WinXP box.


Recommended System Requirements

Windows OS: Windows XP/Vista /Windows 7
or
Macintosh OS: OSX 10.7/OSX 10.6

Processor: 3 GHz Dual Core or 2.66 GHz Quad Core
Memory: 4 GB
Hard Drive: 4 GB Free
Sound: on-board or better
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 250 or Radeon HD 4850 or better*
Please install the latest drivers from your graphics card manufacturer!
Broadband Internet Connection
Integrated graphics hardware is not supported

Minimum System Requirements
Note: "Minimum" does NOT mean you will get good performance. But the game should load.

Windows OS: Windows XP/Vista /Windows 7
or
Macintosh OS: OSX 10.7/OSX 10.6

Processor: Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) or better with SSE 2.0 support
Memory: 2GB
Hard Drive: 3 GB Free
Sound: on-board or better
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 series or ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or better* discrete GPU with 256 MB VRAM and supporting Shader Model 3.0
Please install the latest drivers from your graphics card manufacturer!
Broadband Internet Connection
Integrated graphics hardware is not supported



-Irish

The big problem for me was always the very low unit density for ground combat. More people wanted to play airplanes than tanks, more wanted to play tanks than ground artillery/at guns, more wanted to play artillery than MGs, and so on, in exact reverse of the proportion in real life. While understandable from human perspective, it made half the game extremely boring for me.

Plus, there was minimal representation of logistics (as a something targettable on the battlefield); while I fully understand nobody want to spend their precious game time driving a supply truck from point A to point B, it removes a crucial element from the campaign game.

I played at the beginning. I tried everything, but mostly I played as a tanker in a 38(t) if I recall correctly. Back then the map was rather sparse. There was an airfield way behind the Allied lines. Just an airfield. No town, no vehicle or infantry spawn points, just an airfield. I used to drive my tank all the way there and park it in one of the hangars and then blast away with my machine guns as each pilot spawned and tried to take off. They seemed rather angry about this and they would try to strafe me (if the managed to get airborne) but couldn't really hit me. Haha.

But anyway, after some time I gave it up. It always seemed a bit of a fustercluck. The forum, the development and the gameplay. It had potential and some good qualities, but not enough to keep me. Seems a shame, I might still play to this day. The concept is good, but the execution, at least at the critical opening phase, was poor. Maybe it's better today?

Berry au bac
Wow that was like 16 years ago, no it has long long since become part of the populated world
If you go sit there alone with a 38t now, you are liable to have some french tanks for company, they will definitely be rather angry about it and will send you off to the scrap metal dealer

Yes, it was. And I sure hope so

I was excited about the concept, and gave it a right proper go for several months, through server reset after server reset. I reckon I am dead center of the sort of demographic that a game like WW2 Online would be looking to cater to. But they failed to retain me. Like I said, it's a shame. But it's in the past for me, and I'm not here to rain on ODonovan's recruiting parade. Good luck with it

WWIIOL is now out on the Steam game service!

http://steamcommunity.com/app/251950

Sign up now and get a free MONTH of Premium time rather than only two weeks as previously. Also, all former Premium accounts are eligible for a discounted renewal rate as long as the account is kept current with no lapse. They are also able to activate a free month of Premium time as part of the Welcome Back Soldier promotion.

Try it free for a month. Get on Discord and join with others playing. Use teamwork and learn the game.

Oh, and...GO ALLIED!



-Irish