Get to know the game mode from a developer’s perspective and what the future holds.

With the end of Commander Mode’s first season we’re excited to share some insight into the mode and its development, alongside a look into what the future holds.

The first Commander Mode events were one-off events to prove the concept. While the mode officially launched in November 2018 there were unannounced events as early as September 2018. Throughout development Wargaming Sydney and Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore have been working in tandem on Victor Kislyi’s (CEO of Wargaming), vision for Commander Mode. A “david versus goliath” game mode, where one player battles many from an RTS perspective. As you may already know, Wargaming cut its teeth on game development in the early 2000s on turn-based and real-time strategy games, it’s the foundation on which Wargaming was built.

Season One was a series of six week long events occurring monthly between September 2019 and February 2020. With every iteration of Commander Mode we’ve tweaked and altered the mode based on key metrics and the feedback of our wonderful community. Making it more rewarding, more challenging, changing controls, and adding an array of new content. There was no Commander Mode event that was the same as the one before it. This constant evolution was motivated by several factors including internal direction to achieve the Commander Mode vision, reacting to collected data, direct player feedback through surveys, indirect player feedback through our community team, and the team’s belief that the mode could continue to evolve into something great.

This is especially true of Season One, where we were in constant contact with our Community Team and gathering player feedback to act on. Here are some choice highlights and changes we introduced as a result.

Roster Changes

The restrictions put on the Commander Roster were iterated on throughout the season. In the first event we lacked Stock Tanks as a fallback option. As a result, only players that were willing to rent or owned enough Tier VIII tanks could play as a Commander. Looking at the available data we noted the battle count was lower than previous Commander Mode events prior to Season One. In the second event we introduced Stock Tanks to allow anyone the opportunity to play as a Commander, as a result the battle count rose dramatically.

Rental Duplication

From the beginning of the season and up until the last event rental tanks were allowed to be used in the roster multiple times. This was our solution to avoid forcing players to rent a full roster to enjoy the mode. However, by the fourth event it was clear this was allowing players to create some powerful combinations that were hard to beat. Players on the forum spoke out about the combinations of Chrysler Ks and Mauerbrechers. We paid close attention to the feedback but had to prioritize addressing the issue with other bug fixes and new features. During the final event rentals were restricted to one copy in the roster.

Bot AI

Commander Mode’s AI has a lot to do with the Commander win/loss ratio. Changes to the AI’s dispersion, how they navigate, and how they engage Tankers pushed the needle in one direction or another. We wanted intelligent AI that acted like a player would without being unfair. Prior to the season, the AI in previous Commander Mode events targeted the absolute center of the tank. This was effective for dealing with certain tanks, however other tanks (particularly heavies) are nearly impenetrable when engaged this way. As a commander it was frustrating to watch your units repeatedly fire at the same location on a tank and bounce their shots. With the start of the Season we implemented a weak-point targeting system so the AI could react smartly and target the spots on the tank players might.

By the fourth event it was clear that players didn’t appreciate being hit by enemy AI that couldn’t see them. At the time, this was by design, but it was clear that from the player perspective this came off as cheating. We changed this in the fifth event of Season One to again better emulate the experience one might have playing against real live opponents.

Rewards

Thanks to the survey we ran after multiple events and looking at collected data we realized that players were earning too little and spending too much. We did two rounds of Silver and XP earn balancing, both in the positive direction. Eventually ending up somewhere very close to the amounts seen in Random Battles for Tier VIII. We had to tread a fine line and be careful of awarding too much and detracting from the Random Battle experience. We’re always careful to keep Random Battles as the primary way to play World of Tanks.

The future of Commander Mode is looking bright! We’re investigating new control methods to allow players to have more control over their units but also to allow them some autonomy to make smart choices. We’re also looking forward to giving players another Season later in the year.

New Map: Kaunas

Coming soon to World of Tanks and Commander Mode is an entirely new map built for the mode but also available in Random Battles. It was clear midway through Season One that Commander Mode deserved its own level and luckily Art and Design bandwidth had recently freed up. While we hoped it would debut in the last event of the season, we’re happy to say it will be featured in the next Commander Mode event.

Kaunas is the second largest city in the country of Lithuania after Vilnius. In the summer of 1944, Kaunas became a strategic position for the Soviet Red Army with their goal to advance to East Prussia and prepare against the approaching German forces from the West. The map of Kaunas in World of Tanks is focused on the outskirts of the city, drawing influence from more Lithuanian countryside, forests, and rolling meadows. The map retains some elements of the city of Kaunas in the South West corner, but intentionally re-imagined for gameplay purposes. A key feature in this map is the large hill at the center of the landscape, to emphasize a King of the Hill play style and cyclical rotation around the borders. However, the open air on this hilltop will require sufficient coverage from your team on all ends to watch for enemy advancements as there are several narrow and winding roads to sneak in.

Next Event

The next Commander Mode event will begin next week, running from March 12 – March 16. It will be a one-off event to prototype new AI features and get player feedback in preparation for Season Two.

Thank you for being a part of Season One, Commander Mode wouldn’t be where it is today without our players valuable feedback. We look forward to continuing to evolve and push Commander Mode forward with all of you. We are listening!