Matrix Games

Another Panzer Corps 2 article coming in hot!
We have to begin today with some unfortunate news though. Our Specialist American Historian is a very busy lady, and we could not arrange for an interview with her to share with you today. We’d still like to take a moment to thank her for her time and effort to assist the project though; her work will be showcased in some interesting campaign details, as we shall soon see.

We’re sorry to hear that about the special interview. What can you tell us about some of their contributions to Axis Operations 1946?

Content Designer Kerensky: If I could summarize her most important contribution in a word, it would be: Time. We all have such limited time, in each day, in each life, and all we can do is make the most of the time we have been given.

Very specifically to Panzer Corps 2, she demonstrated the absolute importance of time while conducting research. To properly flavor the scenarios of 1946, we had to make absolutely certain we got the details of time right, and by that I mean we had to pay special close attention to when structures and infrastructure existed across the United States.

Are there any specific examples you can share with our readers today?

Content Designer Kerensky: Well, for example, the modern day US Highway system we might be familiar with was a post WWII construction, and many bridges that exist today were not present in 1946.
Luckily for us though, some very intriguing landmarks were built right around this time period.

For example, we know the Pentagon in Washington D.C. was completely during WWII, so it’s a great opportunity for us to highlight that very vital US Command Center in the campaign.


On the other hand, today there is a very large bridge that is very close to Hoover Dam... but this was a very recent construction, so you won’t be seeing that bridge in 1946, making the Battle of Hoover Dam scenario more unique in that it is a very tight chokepoint battle!



So ultimately, we see that designing content for 1946 wasn’t just an important question of 'what' but a very vital need to know 'when'. Once again, I’d like to give my personal thanks to the Specialist American Historian who helped us with researching Axis Operations 1946. I’m sorry that things did not work out as we hoped, but I was so glad to have had your help while there was time.

In the previous Insider article, you hinted at the existence of Landcruisers, and we’ve had a lot of curious players asking for more details about them. Anything to share?

Content Designer Kerensky: We’re not quite ready to reveal Panzer Corps 2’s landcruisers just yet... but I what I can say is that we will have something very special in mind, with actually having two types of landcruisers making their debut. I promise we’ll talk about them in their own show case as soon as they’re ready to be revealed.


Any other Insider tidbits you can share with us today?

Content Designer Kerensky: There actually is something else I would like to talk about, yes. Some of our veteran players who have been tracking the release of Axis Operations installments may have noticed this very large content drop is seemingly to be made at a very quick pace, a rabid pace actually. 30 scenarios is huge, it’s half the size of the base game’s 60 scenario campaign!


And yes, this is definitely true. The team has been working extra hard on Axis Operations 1946, and myself personally, I’ve been clocking in 60-80 hours a week for the last few months to see this project to proper completion.

Before anyone cries 'crunch' let me assure you this was a self inflicted decision. So why self inflict such insane hours?

1946 is special in a lot of ways, but most notably because it marks the end of a huge multi-year journey that has taken Panzer Corps 2 from the Spanish Civil War of 1936 all the way to an ahistorical invasion of the USA in 1946. Not only does this represent a very large time span of 10 years in game, but 9 consecutive Axis Operations represents years of development effort. That 1946 hours in game teaser was a screenshot I took of my own game time, and it’s surged well past 2000 hours as of this writing. No game in all of my Steam library comes close to 2000 hours, and of those 2000+ hours in Panzer Corps 2, I would wager easily 80% of that time is purely spent inside of the editor creating content.

I believe that to do anything less than to go all out for the final installment of Axis Operations would be an injustice to the countless hours we have already put into the game. I do this to make the best content I can for all of the awesome players who have been enjoying Panzer Corps 2 over the past three years since it launched.



I guess what I’m trying to say is that we hope 1946 will be so much more than just the final Axis Operations DLC. It has become a work of absolute passion. In the same way I was inspired in my youth from playing Panzer General and Panzer General II, to then work on Panzer Corps and Panzer Corps 2, I hope that the work we do and the game we make may one day inspire the next generation to pick up where we leave off and continue the tradition of making Panzer General games.

In the immortal words of Generalleutnant Galland:

“Perhaps someday, one or another among the young historians will take up the thread from here. It would be desirable.”