WARGAME’S MAPS : THREE MILES ISLAND (I)

Incoming new maps

As you know, we are presently working on porting some of European Escalation & AirLand Battle‘s classic maps to Red Dragon. And as you might also be aware, we will deliver variants of existing maps as well, with a modified level design.

What you don’t know, is how and when we will release them. Well, as for the “when”, it remains a bit blurry for us too … but at least we can give you some details about the “how”.

Instead of releasing a major “Map DLC” in some distant future, requiring all maps to be finished, an official release date to be set far in advance with Steam announcements, … we have decided to ship them as patches. This way, they will be automatically downloaded by everybody, and we will be able to release them faster, as soon as a small batch is ready.

Each new map will be released when ready, with a number of accompanying variants of existing maps. Starting with Highway … soon™. The second batch will see the release of the second most popular classic Wargame map,  Three Miles Island, also with its accompanying variants.

Three Miles Island

Second only to Highway in the heart of Wargame fans, Three Miles Island is presently being finalized in order to be ported to Red Dragon.

Just like Highway, Three Miles Island had to be (re)built from scratch using Red Dragon‘s “Asian” graphical assets. Given the choice between RD’s two different terrain sets, “jungle” & “desert”, the designer team took their inspiration from North Korea’s authentic Yongbyon Nuclear Scientif Research Center, choosing the “more wasteland-like” one.

Yongbyon NSRC, itself (almost) surrounded by water, proved to be an excellent reference, to which only TMI’s iconic chimneys were missing … and therefore added.

Once again, the map was not ported straight from its previous versions, but rethought.

With the amphibious capacity introduced in Red Dragon, river assault by amphibious IFV will definitively be a worthy option, making bridges less of the choke points they used to be. In order for such amphibious assaults not to face a firing squad every time they try to cross the river, the number of islands was expanded and spread all over its course. On the other hand, many of those islands are now covered with woods, allowing for ambushed infantry to still give the former a hard time.

The central island was also reworked with more clearly cut city blocks, separated by large roads in order for vehicles to be able to move or take position in a more tactical way, with clear lines of fire. Again, the town planning was inspired by that of the authentic Yongbyon NSRC …

Although presently still called “Three Miles Island“, the new map will be renamed in a more “RD fashion” before release. We are still considering options, therefore any suggestion is welcome … 😉