We've been working on big changes for Foxhole lately so expect quite a bit of shake up over the next few months.
First, we just announced the One World revamp of Foxhole, which will enable persistent warfare across a unified and connected world. If you missed our announcement, you can read all about the revamp here.
Second, the Communications Update 0.8 will be coming on December 14th (Next Thursday!) if everything goes according to plan. This will be an absolutely packed update with new content and game changing features.
If you haven't done so already, don't forget to vote for Foxhole as game of the year for 2017 at IndieDB!
Disclaimer: Any feature or piece of content shown here is a work in progress and subject to change in the future.
Map Intelligence
On our previous devblogs and devstreams, we talked about how Radio Backpacks and the Light Utility Vehicle will provide players with additional information on enemy activity and ultimately improve player coordination. We didn't talk about the details exactly how information would be relayed to the user.
Map Intelligence is a new feature that completely revamps the way that reconnaissance works in Foxhole. Any structure, vehicle, or infantry that is spotted in the world by a Watch Tower, Light Utility Vehicle, or Scout (Radio Backpack carrier) is now marked on a shared map. Targets are represented on the map with special symbols and will fade depending on how long ago they were spotted.
Map Intelligence for the Colonial side of a war on the Deadlands (based on live war data)
Map Intelligence is time sensitive, so players may be operating on outdated information depending on when they last updated their map. They are essentially snapshots of all known intelligence at a single point in time. Players can obtain the latest shared map by visiting a Town Hall / Outpost or by carrying a Radio.
More than ever, scouting will play an essential role in Foxhole and keeping map intelligence up to date will help players avoid enemy defenses, identify vulnerable targets, and generally have better situation awareness.
Map Intelligence for the Warden side of a war on the Deadlands (based on live war data)
Light Utility Vehicle Update
We had discussed this vehicle on our last devstream. The L.U.V. will be a multipurpose vehicle with great off-road performance. It will carry 4 passengers, have 6 inventory slots, and can gather Map Intelligence from a radius around it making it useful for fast transport, light logistics, and reconnaissance.
Below you can see the completed models for both factions.
Colonial
Colonial Light Utility Vehicle
Colonial Light Utility Vehicle on Sketchfab
Warden
Warden Light Utility Vehicle
Warden Light Utility Vehicle on Sketchfab
Radio Backpack Update
On our last devblog, we briefly discussed how scouting would work with Radio Backpacks. The fundamental concept will remain, but we've changed the mechanics to integrate with the new Map Intelligence feature discussed above. Players with a Radio Backpack equipped will be able to perform the "Scout" action, which will take visible targets and add them to the team's current Map Intelligence. This feature will be useful for identifying key targets like enemy howitzers or mapping out enemy defensive positions.
Below you can see the Radio Backpack in all it's 3D glory and also how it looks in-game.
Render of Radio Backpack
Radio Backpack equipped on a soldier in-game