Update #14 was fairly critical for the project. Introducing the tactical map, it began to flesh out the concept of Parabellum as a tactical action game, rather than a pure tank simulator.
The first part of this was the ability to zoom out to a map level view, and issue orders to friendly vehicles. In this early stage, this only means move orders, but it’s a groundwork.
The second part is the ability to directly control any friendly vehicle, which was introduced for a number of reasons.
It’s a feature I’ve only really seen used to any effect in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. In that game, “hot swapping” as it’s called, is used to allow the player to experience several different perspectives and roles in any given battle. I thought it was a really cool way of making combined arms warfare accessible and fluid, and I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more since that game.
It allows the player to always stay where the action is. It also makes protecting friendlies important; they are essentially your extra “lives”, should your tank be knocked-out. Hopefully, it will lead to players being more considerate with their orders, as reckless direction will handicap the player.
Parabellum 