Modding News

The Wrench – February 2020

posted on February 26, 2020

Hey squaddies,

February may be the shortest month of the year, but there’s no sign it’ll be the shortest Wrench of the year! We’ve got some old favorites with hot new updates as well as some fresh faces.

Getcha toolkit, ’cause it’s time to Wrench.

Gaza 2020 by Ninja With Katana

Presented by [SAM] Clan (The largest Arabic clan in Squad!), they’re setting out to recreate the most realistic Gaza Mod yet! They’ve set out to rebuild the map from the very ground up to get every little detail right.

Speaking of, the team has recently been focused on recreating the uniforms of the IDF and Hamas, using detailed photos from real-life sources. They have more surprises coming for the next Wrench and it sounds like you will really dig it!

Their update closes with the promises to delight both the Squad community as well as those who loved Gaza Beach back in PR. Stay tuned for more exciting updates. Be sure to join the Discord to get them first!

Road from Muttrah by Cripion101

Having wrapped up the building layout in Muttrah itself, Cripion101 has expanded efforts to build out the area around al-Alam palace further down the coast. The area is made up of clusters of buildings, separated by open boulevards, which will surely reward the teams that leverage fire and maneuver tactics. If they want to maintain that advantage, a few skilled squads will have to hold down the roofs above and the tunnels below.

Next on the agenda is a focus on microterrain to Muttrah City and building more outskirts areas inland for the fine folks who love tanks and the big brains that prefer TOWs.

South African Border War by Springbok

 

One of those old favorites we mentioned? Made by Springbok! It’s been a bit since we’ve been treated to a South African update, but it’s been worth the wait. Springbok has been quietly working on the South African Border War, taking place in South West Africa (now Namibia and Angola) from 1966 to 1989, as well as the Rhodesian Bush War, which took place in 1964 through 1979 in Rhodesia, Mozambique, and Zambia…

AND the modern-day South African National Defense Force, of course. Springbok has decided to expand to three (!) mods at once due to all of them sharing a great number of assets — it would be such a missed opportunity to only focus on one!

The vehicles are from top left: Buffel, Moffel, Casspir Mk II, Casspir Mk I, Mamba, Rooikat, Ratel ZT3, Ratel 90, Ratel 20, Ratel 81, Leopard, Samil 100, MAP 75, Hippo, Eland 60 and Eland 90.

Rifles are the Galil, Vektor R5, Vektor R4 and the multiple grenade launcher is the Milkor Y2 MGL.

Hardened by Battle by redAndrea

YouTube video

A newcomer to the Wrench, we’ll let redAndrea give you the rundown on the newborn Hardened by Battle:

Hardened by Battle is a new mod born a few months ago that aims to incentivize team play and coordination by modifying some base Squad mechanics.

It’s not a mil-sim or a hardcore mod: our goal is to favour more thoughtful approaches instead. With this idea in mind we slowed down the gameplay pace both in tactical deployment and during firefights. Soldier movements have been decidedly reduced and overall stamina increased. Weapon sway now depends much more significantly by player actions, movements, enemy suppression, health condition.

Suppression itself is quite more sturdy and explosions suppression has been introduced as well. Friendly nametags have been removed, 60 seconds instadeath reinstated, and created a (quite basic for now) aim punch.

Approaching an enemy position is now harder and requires more coordination, but is also more rewarding at the same time. We also thought about the average spawn distance from flags and how it is much tooefficient to simply give up and respawn to be back in action at the moment.

We modified rallies to be only a game mechanic to gather a squad distant from hot situations and strongly reduced his capability of being a permanent spawn point. Placing FOBs is much more important, as is placing them in good positions. Disabling range for FOBs has been changed to 100m, but three enemies are required.

Furthermore,  radios are not shovable anymore and are now damageble only by C4, HE, and high-caliber AP. A new kit “Explosives expert” has been added as “FOB hunter.”

They’re reporting swift progress and tell us the mod may be publicly available in a matter of weeks. Can’t wait to see it in action! If you’d like to get involved or learn more, simply head over to their Discord server.

Raid on Rostov by wunda

Our pal wunda is still hard at work on Raid on Rostov! The goal is still to bring it up to part with Harju and thus get it whitelisted. As you can see, it’s damn near ready!

The major work on this update appears around the freshly refurbished industrial area, as well as completely replacing the old foliage to create denser, more realistic forces.

We can’t wait to see how it evolves, as more foliage means more fun!

Gradac by Hawken

New map alert! Beloved-Wrencher Hawken is embarking on a hot new project! The goal? A mixture of Narva and Gorodok.

Gradac aims to offer new and exciting layout choices by utilizing dense urban combat interspersed with farmland and thick forest. Scattered villages and logging operations populate the flat pastures and rolling, tree-clad hills.

Set along a coastline, the map is designed to have both conventional Squad gameplay as well as an amphibious layer, which will hopefully encourage teams to work together while establishing a beachhead. Are you a bad enough dude?

Vehicle Armor Training Mod by [B.T.S]Mjölnir Husky

Got a FNG that can’t tell their ass from a gun bore? Really trying to work on your penetration? Can’t tell if your angle attack needs .3756 degrees? [B.T.S]Mjölnir Husky has all your needs covered!

Simple head over to the vehicle bay, spawn your new ride! Do you want it standard, with armor shown, or a vehicle with all internals? Just spawn it! This update allows you to spawn 4 vehicles per bay and includes 2 map versions: GB-INS and US-RUS.

Within those maps, you’ll find a new spawn system, new designs, fixed TOW, Kornet, and SPG placement, a shooting range (including a platform with range markers for vehicles), and the option to destroy all wrecks on the map. No matter out of place here!

Handy info cards will let you know exactly what you’re shooting at, with MBT armor colors being integrated in the next update. Reminder: for best results, use a dedicated server, but local players can still check out the whole shebang! If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, head over to their Discord server now.

Australia Faction Mod by Midnight Interactive

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! OI OI OI!

The Aussies are coming and they’re bringing working shotguns! (Though you’ll only get slugs for now — sorry.)

But wait, there’s more! Bigger bombs for the big guy! Commander assets for deadly bomb and rocket runs are now bombarding the battlefield. Not to mention more sweet, sweet eye candy!

Need more? Hit the Midnight Interactive Discord now!

Skirmish Layer Pack by smsKONG

You want Skirmish layers? Then head over to the Steam Workshop and snag the Skirmish Layer Pack from smsKONG and the Skirmish Community Discord! Here’s a list of the 11 included layers:

  • Al Basrah v3 US v INS
  • Al Basrah v4 RU v US
  • Belaya v2 RU v GB
  • Kamdesh v2 RU v GB
  • Kohat v2 RU v US
  • Logar v2 GB v US
  • Mestia v2 GB v US
  • Mutaha v2 GB v INS
  • Mutaha v3 INS v GB
  • Narva v2 RU v GB
  • Skorpo v2 GB v MIL

Battle on, my dudes.

Central Park – Homefront by DanielSMA & Mr. Sarkasm

DanielSMA and Mr. Sarkasm are aiming to bring the war home, the way they’ve seen various conflicts erupt in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. North America is no longer untouched by modern combat.

The duo will be focusing in on the park’s central objects first and plan to expand out to more city blocks from there, as performance testing allows. They’re currently aiming for a 4x1km map that’s 1:1 scale with the actual Central Park. The hope is to imbue a real sense of battling for “home,” even if you’ve only been there virtually.

Want to get there before anyone else? Join their Discord to get involved!

Gaza Mod by Gaza Mod Team

Hot damn, those models are looking good! The Gaza Mod Team sends along some hot new 3D models that they’ve been working on for the last few weeks. Under the careful eye of Daresios, the Hamas faction has received their own headband, as well as a new two-holed balaclava model.

The team is happy to announce that Dimzila has joined up and begun work on new guns for the mod! Excellent news, for sure — we love seeing talented modders joining forces. Here we have the AK-103 with new textures, converted from the in-game AK-74M. The AK-103 is a more modern platform used by armies, insurgents, and militias in recent conflicts.

Next up is a work-in-progress screenshot of the Type-56-I. The Type-56-I is a folding stock variant of the Type-56, which have both seen much use in the Middle East, so they plan to include both Type-56 variants for your enjoyment.

You should already be there, but just in case you’re not: Get in their Discord now!

Wake Island by Gunslinger & OC2901

Raise your hand if you still have stress dreams from the Battlefield demos! Let’s see… okay, so that’s everyone. Good. You’re going to love this one!

Gunslinger and OC2901 are putting their heads together to deliver a rebuild of the infamous Wake Island that’s as accurate as possible while making some changes to make sure the gameplay remains intense, exciting, and moving along.

They want to make sure you get as close as possible without having to enlist!

Top Down Squad by Loki

YouTube video

 

You’ve seen all the upsidedown Aussie memes, so it’s time for a new kind of -down! Enter: Top-Down Squad.

Drive vehicles! Fly choppers! Heal teammates! Build FOBs! Complain about defense! The whole rooy-tooty-guns-and-shooty experience you know and love from a whole new perspective. The mad mind of Loki strikes again. He’s also been kind enough to include the project files at the above video link.

Chem Island Squad by Xander’s Studio

Xander’s Studio is working on a map so new, it doesn’t even have an official name yet! In fact, it changed during the Wrench submission process, so you know you’re getting in while the getting is good.

So far, we can see the roughly sculpted coastline of the eponymous island, touched up with a bit of basic brushify material. The plans are to add and replace layers for more custom textures.

Construction is focused primarily in the harbor, which is where chemical agents and weapons produced on the island are prepared for shipping. A key strategic location, the Attacking forces will start here… most likely. More information to come as more areas are blocked out. Stay tuned!

AVR Mod + Iron Dawn by AVR Team and SPECTR_Eternal

It doesn’t feel quite like a Wrench without an update from the front lines of AVR and Iron Dawn! Work is still progressing on both as they continue to come together more and more.

The AVR Mod Team and SPECTR_Eternal have taken on the American M1126 Styker Mobile Gun System as a primary focus for this update. Modeled by Valapatto, the new ride comes equipped with a 105mm smoothbore cannon previously used on the Abrams MBT. This vehicle combines excellent mobility with immense firepower at the cost of little to no armor against heavy munitions and even some autocannons.

Keep moving, squaddies!

Sign-off

And that brings us to the end of an impressively long Wrench. Just because we’re in the shortest month doesn’t mean you folks didn’t absolutely PACK it with awesome. Thank you to everyone who submitted a mod — and you, dear reader, for getting this far. See you next month!

Would you like to see your mod featured in The Wrench? Let us know by submitting it here!

Squad Modding Hub Management Team Out.

Please note: Offworld Industries is not responsible for mod content. Please contact the creator for assistance.

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