Blitzkrieg 3

Blitzkrieg 3 has been developed by Nival for more than three years ^[6] . The announcement of the game took place on August 13, 2013 against the backdrop of the scandal with Company of Heroes 2 . In an interview with Igromania magazine, general producer of the game Sergey Orlovsky said:

The development of Blitzkrieg 3 began long before the described case, but there was no official announcement. The situation with Company of Heroes 2 touched us, too, so we decided to say that we are making an excellent, historically correct strategy, which can be played for all three sides of the conflict, without fear of hanging next labels ^[7] .

It was originally planned that the plot of the game will tell about the Vietnam War , however, according to the developers, it was decided to abandon this idea at an early stage of development ^{[6] [7]} .

In August 2014, the first first stage of the closed test of the game ^{[8] began} , and in October it was continued ^[9] .

On February 3, it was announced that the beta release, originally scheduled for February, was being postponed ^[10] . Nevertheless, the developers promised to begin closed testing of the alpha version on February 23, in which all players who pre-ordered the game will be able to participate ^[10] . The first stage of closed testing of the alpha version took place from February 20 to February 24, 2015 ^[11] , the second stage - from February 26 ^[12] to March 11 ^[13] , the third stage - from March 13 to 27 ^[14] , the fourth stage - from March 31 to April 28 ^[15] .

On May 6, 2015, the game became available in early access in the Steam digital distribution service ^[16] .

July 1, 2015, the developers introduced a new mode that allows the player to lead their own defense in an enemy attack. Previously, only AI could carry out base defense ^[17] .

On August 20, Nival announced a large-scale revision of the game’s combat system - the performance characteristics of military equipment were close to historical prototypes, more detailed information on the armoring and arming of units was added ^[18] .

In the update of August 25, 2015, it became possible to appoint commanders in multi-user mode. All commanders have a certain specialization, giving bonuses to various types of troops under their command ^[19] .

On September 18, rocket artillery and new maps for the single and multiplayer campaign were added to the game ^[20] .

On October 15, 2015, two new types of commanders were added, and additional measures were introduced against blocking the landing sites of attacking players ^[21] .

On February 23, 2017, Boris, the first neural network artificial intelligence for RTS, was announced. In March, Boris was added to the game ^[22] .

Neural Network Artificial Intelligence

Blitzkrieg 3 introduces the world's first neural network artificial intelligence for RTS . An AI named Boris plays at the level of an experienced player and does not use hidden information about the enemy. General Boris constantly analyzes the situation and makes neural network predictions about the opponent’s plans. This approach allows him to come up with complex counter-strategies and implement them. This makes Boris a tough and unpredictable opponent ^[23] .

Multiuser

Three game sides are available for playing on the network: the USSR , the Western Allies and Germany .

In addition to the classic 1x1, 2x2, and 3x3 Scramble modes, Blitzkrieg 3 offers a unique asymmetric Scramble mode in which one player attacks and the other defends his fortifications. More than 20 commanders with unique combat specializations based on the historical styles of commanding their real prototypes, together with a dynamic weather system make each PvP and / or PvAI session as diverse as possible ^[24] .

Single Mode

The game covers the main period of World War II : from the invasion of German troops in Poland in 1939 to the triumphal capture of Berlin by Soviet troops in 1945. Each of the three campaigns is a unique alloy of PvE, PvP, and PvAI missions in which neural network AI plays. In total, the game features 60+ historical missions and 200+ realistic combat units. As part of the campaign, you can take under your command the troops of three game factions:

• the USSR
• Western Allies
• Axis Countries

Deluxe Edition

The Deluxe Edition is available as downloadable game content on the Steam Online Store. It consists of:

• Three solo missions, one for each faction.
• Exclusive generals - K. K. Rokossovsky, E. Manstein and B. L. Montgomery.
• Models of tanks that replace the "standard" combat vehicles - T-34-76 with protective shields, landing Sherman and Panther M10.
• In-game awards “Silver Nickname” (the player’s nickname in the chat will be highlighted in silver) and “Statue of the Leader” - an authentic monument to one of the iconic figures of the conflict side chosen by the player.

• The official website of the game
• Game page on the developer's site
• Blitzkrieg 3 on Steam
• Blitzkrieg 3 YouTube Channel

Previews and reviews

• Andrey Alexandrov. Preview: Blitzkrieg 3 (Russian) . Games@mail.ru (September 23, 2013). Date of treatment April 1, 2015.
• Michael Vatnik. Preview: Blitzkrieg 3 (Russian) . Gaming Mail.Ru (January 28, 2015). Date of treatment April 1, 2015.
• Rodion Ilyin. The single most multi-player RTS ever. Preview Blitzkrieg 3 (Russian) . Gambling (February 16, 2015). Date of treatment April 1, 2015.
• Konstantin Govorun. "Blitzkrieg 3" and the one and the wrong (Rus.) . IGN (February 24, 2015). Date of appeal April 24, 2015.
• Gnel Hunanyan. Preview: Blitzkrieg 3 (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Game world navigator (March 2, 2015). Date of treatment April 1, 2015. Archived March 31, 2015.
• George Kopev. Preview "Blitzkrieg 3" (Russian) . kanobu.ru (January 27, 2015). Date of treatment April 1, 2015.
• Oleg Zaitsev. The main thing is maneuvers: a preview of Blitzkrieg 3 (Russian) . gmbox.ru (January 27, 2015). Date of treatment April 1, 2015.