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And now for me. Hello everyone, it’s me Jonathan, here to write about some of the content I have helped with creating for Finland for the upcoming expansion. I have been jumping around and helping my fellow content designers wherever help has been needed for AAT, whilst working on other stuff in the background.
The White Death
During the winter war, the Finnish fought fiercely to stave off Soviet attacks, cleverly using a combination of their (as mentioned in the previous Finland Dev Diary) Motti Tactics alongside snipers, who had been trained either by the Suojeluskunta (Finnish voluntary militia Civil Guard) or as hunters or Jaegers. Among these snipers was Simo Häyhä, who thanks to Finnish propaganda later came to be known as the White Death. The White Death however, despite being said to have been attributed to Häyhä by Soviet soldiers, to them rather symbolized the severe cold in the deep forests, and the tenacity of the Finnish people in a more general sense.
The White Death news event:
In game, this is represented through a series of events for Finland and an aggressor, be it the Soviets or someone else in case of an alt-hist scenario, where Finland has the option to prop up their sniper organizations, dealing damage to enemy manpower and equipment pools through events, and where their enemy can choose between simply taking the hits, or spending equipment and command power on dealing with these snipers before they become a problem. Finland also gets the option to either do as historically and use propaganda to build up Simo Häyhä as the embodiment of the White Death, or to embrace the original meaning of the word, by making their enemies take more attrition. At the end of the event chain, Häyhä can either escape unscathed, be wounded (as historically happened), or be killed by the enemy, getting a hero's funeral.
The Continuation War At this point, you have all heard about the Finnish Continuation War before, but one not all that known fact is, how did they manage to worm their way out of the mess they had found themselves in?
Well, there were talks held with the Allied powers around the time of the battle for Stalingrad, as Finland saw that there was great risk that things would go south real fast, regarding changing sides, and declaring war on the Germans in exchange for peace with the Soviets, but this plan never really panned out due to the Western Allies’ fear of intruding on the Soviet sphere by allowing Finland to join them. That is why though it didn’t succeed historically, it and the historical outcome both exist and can happen, as can be seen below.
Decisions to get yourself out of the Continuation War if worse comes to worst:
When not switching sides, but instead offering concessions to Moscow in exchange for peace, Finland will have to concede any of Salla, Petsamo and Karjala that Finland still owns, and they will need to transfer equipment over to them, signing the historical Moscow Armistice with the Soviets.
The Moscow Armistice news event:
This is however not the end of the struggles for Finland or its people, as a part of the agreement signed with the Soviet Union was the expulsion of Axis troops from Finnish territory. As the Soviets press Finland to comply with the treaty, the Lapland War starts, and Finnish troops clash with Germans retreating into German-occupied Norway (or Sweden, if the game has gone slightly a-historical). The Germans will have options for how to deal with the Lapland war, allowing for slightly different bonuses and maluses when withdrawing.
The German response to the Lapland War starting:
When all this is said and done however, if this was the option of peace Finland chose, there will be no actual war between the countries, as compared to if they were to switch sides completely.
The Lapland War news event
City and State Name Changing Now onto something a little bit different. During BBA, Italy introduced states and vps that change names depending on who controls them, such as Zara being called Zadar when not under Italian control.
This has now been updated to include certain state and vp name changes for Finland and Sweden, as seen below.
Petrozavodsk becomes Äänislinna if under either Finnish or Karelian control
Murmansk becomes Muurmanski, Kandalaksha becomes Kantalahti, and the state of Murmansk becomes Kuolan Niemimaa (Kola Peninsula) when under either Finnish or Karelian control
Many cities in Finland, due to the sometimes significant Swedish minority (or in some specific places even majority), officially use both Finnish and Swedish names to this day, such as Turku and Åbo both being frequently used for the same city, and Sweden and Finland still harboring a close bond to this day. Thus, if Sweden were to go rogue and decided to occupy Finland, it would only make sense that they would use the Swedish names for towns in the region.
Here you see the southern parts of Finland when under Swedish control, with many cities gaining their official Swedish names, such as Turku becoming Åbo, and Viipuri becoming Viborg.
And here you can see northern Finland when under Swedish control. Also take note that Inari (which can not be seen here) becomes Enare.
Releasables and Game Rules And now we can move on to something a bit less Swedish, and also a bit less Finnish, we have two new game rules for the fragmentation of the Nordic countries!
You can choose between no fragmentation, only releasing Sápmi from the Nordic nations, or doing that alongside liberating Iceland, Karelia and Greenland from Nordic countries. If you combine any of these rules with the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, Sápmi and Karelia will gain their Soviet-held cores as well.
The new game rules
The Nordics Fragmented option has been chosen
And with our brand new releasable nation, Sápmi jumping into action, we had to do them some justice with just that extra pinch of flavor added on top. As can be seen in the image below, Sápmi will not only have unique party names and flags as do any other nation, but also unique leader and general portraits.
Sápmi with all of its cores
Sápmi has its own unique Admiral portrait
Sápmi also has its own unique General portraits
Sápmi has many new advisor portraits, some of which can be seen here
And that’s been all from me for now. I will see you all when I have more cool stuff to deliver! But now, back to Manu.
Alright, let’s take a look at the last batch of changes and content for Finland.
Some of you might have noticed a new focus in the historical branch that was not there in the last Dev Diary.
The focus “Pärmi’s Devils”, available for both historical and fascist Finland, is themed around the Finnish Separate battalion 21, a penal battalion formed mainly by political prisoners and commanded by Nikke Pärmi.
In-game, this focus will unlock a limited recruitment of Divisions formed by penal battalions, and spawn Pärmi’s very own full division, a veteran unit with a very promising officer ready for action!
A few extra Generals have been added at game start, based on some of the feedback from the last Dev Diary.
Karl Oesch is now available to Finland.
Aksel Airo is also available to Finland, although his portrait is still not in the game.
Raappana has made an appearance and is now replacing Törni as the general unlocked by the focus “Sissi”. Törni will, in turn, be unlocked via the fascist focus “Military Promotion”.
In terms of military advisors, Vilho Nenonen has joined the Military High Command roster as an Artillery Genius, while Kaarlo Somerto has been downgraded from Artillery Expert to Artillery Specialist. This way, Finland has the option to go for a cheaper and weaker artillery officer early if needed, and then move on to the Genius later on.
Akseli Anttila is now only available to Communist Finland, and Erik Heinrichs is the available military theorist for non-communist Finland
Something I wanted to implement for a while was French Renault tanks (available at game start) and the modified British Vickers tanks (available in the 1939 Bookmark or via “Foreign Armor” focus).
And before finishing, I would also like to give a big kudos to our 2D and 3D artists because they keep doing an amazing job delivering incredibly cool assets for our content! From focus icons to portraits, tech icons and 3D models, they’re great!
Throughout the diary you have seen a lot of cool 2D art but only a few 3D models, so here are some more pics of the new Finnish 3D models!
Let’s start with the new Soviet T-28 model (and icon), which is now the default model for the Interwar Medium Chassis for Soviets and for Finland.
We now have a Marine 3D model for Finland, based on the Rannikkojääkärit (or Marine Jaegers).
And we got a fourth regular infantry model, the best of them all. Behold the beauty of an infantry division walking alongside one of the coolest means of supply, the reindeer!
This new infantry model also has a winter version and a warm weather version. This is the winter one. Again, the coolest of them all in my honest opinion..
And last but not least, the hot acclimatization version of all 4 regular infantry models!
And that was all from me! I hope that you all enjoyed reading about the Finnish Alternative history content coming with the new DLC as well as the changes and additions implemented since the first Finnish diary. I wish you all a nice week and make sure to stay tuned for the next dev diary where we’ll be talking about one of the new features in Arms Against Tyranny: Military Industrial Organizations!
Nähdään pian!
[discord.gg]
The White Death
During the winter war, the Finnish fought fiercely to stave off Soviet attacks, cleverly using a combination of their (as mentioned in the previous Finland Dev Diary) Motti Tactics alongside snipers, who had been trained either by the Suojeluskunta (Finnish voluntary militia Civil Guard) or as hunters or Jaegers. Among these snipers was Simo Häyhä, who thanks to Finnish propaganda later came to be known as the White Death. The White Death however, despite being said to have been attributed to Häyhä by Soviet soldiers, to them rather symbolized the severe cold in the deep forests, and the tenacity of the Finnish people in a more general sense.
The White Death news event:
In game, this is represented through a series of events for Finland and an aggressor, be it the Soviets or someone else in case of an alt-hist scenario, where Finland has the option to prop up their sniper organizations, dealing damage to enemy manpower and equipment pools through events, and where their enemy can choose between simply taking the hits, or spending equipment and command power on dealing with these snipers before they become a problem. Finland also gets the option to either do as historically and use propaganda to build up Simo Häyhä as the embodiment of the White Death, or to embrace the original meaning of the word, by making their enemies take more attrition. At the end of the event chain, Häyhä can either escape unscathed, be wounded (as historically happened), or be killed by the enemy, getting a hero's funeral.
The Continuation War At this point, you have all heard about the Finnish Continuation War before, but one not all that known fact is, how did they manage to worm their way out of the mess they had found themselves in?
Well, there were talks held with the Allied powers around the time of the battle for Stalingrad, as Finland saw that there was great risk that things would go south real fast, regarding changing sides, and declaring war on the Germans in exchange for peace with the Soviets, but this plan never really panned out due to the Western Allies’ fear of intruding on the Soviet sphere by allowing Finland to join them. That is why though it didn’t succeed historically, it and the historical outcome both exist and can happen, as can be seen below.
Decisions to get yourself out of the Continuation War if worse comes to worst:
When not switching sides, but instead offering concessions to Moscow in exchange for peace, Finland will have to concede any of Salla, Petsamo and Karjala that Finland still owns, and they will need to transfer equipment over to them, signing the historical Moscow Armistice with the Soviets.
The Moscow Armistice news event:
This is however not the end of the struggles for Finland or its people, as a part of the agreement signed with the Soviet Union was the expulsion of Axis troops from Finnish territory. As the Soviets press Finland to comply with the treaty, the Lapland War starts, and Finnish troops clash with Germans retreating into German-occupied Norway (or Sweden, if the game has gone slightly a-historical). The Germans will have options for how to deal with the Lapland war, allowing for slightly different bonuses and maluses when withdrawing.
The German response to the Lapland War starting:
When all this is said and done however, if this was the option of peace Finland chose, there will be no actual war between the countries, as compared to if they were to switch sides completely.
The Lapland War news event
City and State Name Changing Now onto something a little bit different. During BBA, Italy introduced states and vps that change names depending on who controls them, such as Zara being called Zadar when not under Italian control.
This has now been updated to include certain state and vp name changes for Finland and Sweden, as seen below.
Petrozavodsk becomes Äänislinna if under either Finnish or Karelian control
Murmansk becomes Muurmanski, Kandalaksha becomes Kantalahti, and the state of Murmansk becomes Kuolan Niemimaa (Kola Peninsula) when under either Finnish or Karelian control
Many cities in Finland, due to the sometimes significant Swedish minority (or in some specific places even majority), officially use both Finnish and Swedish names to this day, such as Turku and Åbo both being frequently used for the same city, and Sweden and Finland still harboring a close bond to this day. Thus, if Sweden were to go rogue and decided to occupy Finland, it would only make sense that they would use the Swedish names for towns in the region.
Here you see the southern parts of Finland when under Swedish control, with many cities gaining their official Swedish names, such as Turku becoming Åbo, and Viipuri becoming Viborg.
And here you can see northern Finland when under Swedish control. Also take note that Inari (which can not be seen here) becomes Enare.
Releasables and Game Rules And now we can move on to something a bit less Swedish, and also a bit less Finnish, we have two new game rules for the fragmentation of the Nordic countries!
You can choose between no fragmentation, only releasing Sápmi from the Nordic nations, or doing that alongside liberating Iceland, Karelia and Greenland from Nordic countries. If you combine any of these rules with the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, Sápmi and Karelia will gain their Soviet-held cores as well.
The new game rules
The Nordics Fragmented option has been chosen
And with our brand new releasable nation, Sápmi jumping into action, we had to do them some justice with just that extra pinch of flavor added on top. As can be seen in the image below, Sápmi will not only have unique party names and flags as do any other nation, but also unique leader and general portraits.
Sápmi with all of its cores
Sápmi has its own unique Admiral portrait
Sápmi also has its own unique General portraits
Sápmi has many new advisor portraits, some of which can be seen here
And that’s been all from me for now. I will see you all when I have more cool stuff to deliver! But now, back to Manu.
Alright, let’s take a look at the last batch of changes and content for Finland.
Some of you might have noticed a new focus in the historical branch that was not there in the last Dev Diary.
The focus “Pärmi’s Devils”, available for both historical and fascist Finland, is themed around the Finnish Separate battalion 21, a penal battalion formed mainly by political prisoners and commanded by Nikke Pärmi.
In-game, this focus will unlock a limited recruitment of Divisions formed by penal battalions, and spawn Pärmi’s very own full division, a veteran unit with a very promising officer ready for action!
A few extra Generals have been added at game start, based on some of the feedback from the last Dev Diary.
Karl Oesch is now available to Finland.
Aksel Airo is also available to Finland, although his portrait is still not in the game.
Raappana has made an appearance and is now replacing Törni as the general unlocked by the focus “Sissi”. Törni will, in turn, be unlocked via the fascist focus “Military Promotion”.
In terms of military advisors, Vilho Nenonen has joined the Military High Command roster as an Artillery Genius, while Kaarlo Somerto has been downgraded from Artillery Expert to Artillery Specialist. This way, Finland has the option to go for a cheaper and weaker artillery officer early if needed, and then move on to the Genius later on.
Akseli Anttila is now only available to Communist Finland, and Erik Heinrichs is the available military theorist for non-communist Finland
Something I wanted to implement for a while was French Renault tanks (available at game start) and the modified British Vickers tanks (available in the 1939 Bookmark or via “Foreign Armor” focus).
And before finishing, I would also like to give a big kudos to our 2D and 3D artists because they keep doing an amazing job delivering incredibly cool assets for our content! From focus icons to portraits, tech icons and 3D models, they’re great!
Throughout the diary you have seen a lot of cool 2D art but only a few 3D models, so here are some more pics of the new Finnish 3D models!
Let’s start with the new Soviet T-28 model (and icon), which is now the default model for the Interwar Medium Chassis for Soviets and for Finland.
We now have a Marine 3D model for Finland, based on the Rannikkojääkärit (or Marine Jaegers).
And we got a fourth regular infantry model, the best of them all. Behold the beauty of an infantry division walking alongside one of the coolest means of supply, the reindeer!
This new infantry model also has a winter version and a warm weather version. This is the winter one. Again, the coolest of them all in my honest opinion..
And last but not least, the hot acclimatization version of all 4 regular infantry models!
And that was all from me! I hope that you all enjoyed reading about the Finnish Alternative history content coming with the new DLC as well as the changes and additions implemented since the first Finnish diary. I wish you all a nice week and make sure to stay tuned for the next dev diary where we’ll be talking about one of the new features in Arms Against Tyranny: Military Industrial Organizations!
Nähdään pian!
[discord.gg]