Operation Remembrance mod for Battlefield Vietnam

I know it's been a long time since my last major update, apart from a few pictures and videos, and that's primarily because I've been so busy with different projects. But with this month being Operation Remembrance's twelfth anniversary, and with a reminder from my friend and advisor Algam, I've decided that the time has come for a proper update article.

First, I'd like to say that yes, you read the description correctly. V1.2, the patch that I've been talking about for so long, has officially been canceled. Bad news, right? It means there will be no more updates, right? WRONG! V1.2 has been canceled because the next update is so large that calling it V1.2 simply wouldn't be enough. That's right, Operation Remembrance's next step forward will be V2.0!

There are many new features that will be coming in V2.0, which I'll get to in a minute, but one of the things I want to talk about is part of the reason why I'm making the name change. V2.0 will bring some significant changes to how the game is played. For one thing, adding a number of new elements has made it possible for me to set up how maps play out in a more realistic way. Up until now, there have still been many OR maps where the NVA or VC use helicopters, jets, or other vehicles that they didn't actually use very often in combat. In V2.0, that will change. The general style of play will move to a more authentic Vietnam War experience, where the Allied forces have an advantage in firepower, especially in the air, but the Communist forces will have more ways of countering that firepower advantage, including new AA guns, AA guns that spawn more frequently around maps, and methods of asymmetric warfare - using stealth and infiltration to counter firepower.

Another very prominent change which will effect infantry combat, especially multiplayer infantry combat, is a complete reworking of the accuracy settings for infantry weapons. Ever see two human players on multiplayer get right up next to each other and run around each other in circles, firing wildly and trying to kill each other? That's not very realistic, is it? In OR V2.0, this will no longer be possible. You'll notice when looking at your crosshairs in vanilla BfVietnam that different movements like turning, jumping, or walking forwards or sideways, have various effects on your weapon's accuracy. With recalculated formulas for these effects, V2.0 will make it impossible for players who try to run in circles to hit anything. If you try to jump or strafe side-to-side, you can expect your bullets to hit anywhere but what you're aiming at. This means that players who try to circle each other will be punished, and players who take cover, remain still, and aim carefully will be rewarded with a much better chance of hitting their target. There will also be lesser effects on your weapon's accuracy when walking forwards or backwards. These penalties won't be as severe as those for jumping or strafing, but your best bet for hitting anything will be to remain still in a stable position.

A third alteration is that V2.0 will move away from having ammunition and medical boxes all over the maps. Most maps will only have ammunition/medical boxes in main bases, not out on the front lines. Troops out at the front will be forced to rely more heavily on resupply vehicles and a few other sources of ammunition and health, which we'll get to in a minute.

Now, let's move on to some of the new features. The kit system has once again been heavily revised, and several new types have been added. Something to keep in mind that different types of kits now have weapons with different amounts of ammunition, which I mentioned in a previous article. Kits that rely heavily on their primary weapon, like the Rifleman, will have more ammunition than kits that form a support role, such as the Anti-Tank class. Even grenades will be divided into different quantities by kit type; the Rifleman gets 8 grenades, while the Gunner only gets 2.

The classes are:

Ammo Bearer - This class can only be found as a pick-up kit. It features a rifle, 4 grenades, and a deployable ammunition pack, which can be set down in a location of the player's choosing and will resupply friendly troops within a certain radius.

A soldier holding a deployable ammo pack, and another one lying on the ground.

Anti-Air - Unchanged from the previous version of the class.

Anti-Tank - This is very similar to the previous iteration of the class, but with one small change: AT kits now also have 4 light anti-tank landmines in addition to their rifle/SMG and rocket launcher.

Demolition - The Demolition class focuses on devastating firepower, mostly in a sabotage role. Along with the primary weapon, the class provides command-detonated C4 or TNT, C4 or TNT vehicle traps, and three "selectable" satchel charges or Bangalore torpedoes. I say selectable because their ammunition count is linked. Use a Bangalore torpedo, and you'll only have two Bangalores AND two satchel charges left. Then use a satchel charge, and you'll only have ONE of each left. Satchel charges are good for destroying equipment, and Bangalores are mainly for destroying barbed wire and possibly some other obstacles I'm thinking about creating.

Engineer - The Engineer takes on a defensive role, and can deploy barbed wire, anti-personnel mines, and heavy anti-tank mines which are more powerful than the light mines found in the Anti-Tank class. The Engineer also has wirecutters for safely destroying enemy landmines.

Flamethrower - Exactly what it sounds like, the Flamethrower class provides the user with a flamethrower, handgun, and knife.

Grenadier - Virtually unchanged from the previous version, with the exception that flare rounds, when available, will be limited to two shots, and cannot be resupplied, to prevent people from spamming them on multiplayer.

Gunner - Also nearly unchanged from the previous version, the only difference is that the Gunner now has two explosive grenades in addition to the smoke grenades. Communist Gunners also get a deployable spiderhole, as shown in one of the images I recently posted. The spiderhole is invisible at a distance, concealing the gunner's position.

Marksman - This class is similar to the Sniper, but is more oriented towards fighting on the front lines with other troops rather than hiding and firing from a distance. The scoped rifles used typically have low magnifications and more ammunition than dedicated sniper rifles, but not as much as rifles in the Rifleman class.

Medic - Unchanged from the previous version except for the addition of a deployable medpack, which works like the deployable ammo pack described in the Ammo Bearer class.

Medium Gunner/Mortarman - The previous Crew-Served Weapon class has been split into the Medium Gunner and Mortarman classes. The Medium Gunner gets a tripod-mounted machine gun to deploy, and a few anti-personnel landmines, and the Mortarman gets a mortar and mines.

Non-Commissioned Officer - With the return of the original BfVietnam artillery spotting system, the NCO class is now the sole class where binoculars for calling artillery can be found.

Officer - No change to the previous version except that the class, which can only be found hidden around the maps, also has the artillery strike weapon that previously belonged to the Spotter class.

Rifleman - No significant changes from previous version.

Shotgun - No significant changes from previous version.

Sniper - Different from the Marksman in that the sniper is better suited for staying back from the main battle and taking careful shots from hidden locations. To aid in this, Allied Snipers have a "deployable" bush (that's right, a BUSH, as in a plant) that they can enter like a vehicle, which makes them invisible at a distance. Communist Snipers have a spiderhole like Gunners do.

Vehicle Crewman - No significant changes from previous version.

Welder - While the Vehicle Crewman's wrench is no longer as powerful a repair tool, the Welder class gets the welding torch, which can be used for rapid repairs. The Welder class is only found lying around near main bases, and provides the user with nothing but a handgun and a welding torch. Best used for support work away from the front lines. Drive up in a damaged vehicle, pick up the Welder kit, fix your vehicle, switch back to your other kit, and drive away.

There have been quite a few new infantry weapons added as well. At some point in the future, I might make an article listing all of the weapons in Op Rem, including both the old and the new ones. One change that will be quickly noticeable is that some weapon sounds have been changed. While having a realistic sound for every weapon was a great idea, some of them simply didn't work well in the long run and have been replaced. Some still use real sounds, but of better quality, while others use artificial sounds. A couple of weapons also have new functions. The Punji Stick and Wrench can now also be used as melee weapons with right-click, for example.

Although a rare weapon in Vietnam, the Uzi submachine gun has been one of the most-requested weapons for Operation Remembrance, and now it's here.

Although this looks like a landmine, it's actually an RG-42 grenade, which is used by Communist Gunners. Just ignore the player's thumb clipping into the body of the grenade...

Now, on to vehicles. The first thing I want to say is a little joke that's been stuck in my head for a while: the magic stick is finally dead. Remember that little metal rod that all machine guns can be mounted on that magically allows them to be attached to any surface? I've always hated that, and I finally managed to get rid of it. Every single machine gun emplacement in V2.0 will either use its built-in bipod or be mounted on a technically-correct tripod. This is in part due to the kindness of the developers of Battlefield 1918, who have given me permission to use a number of models and weapons from their mod. I'm very grateful to them for this.

A Soviet DShK machine gun mounted on its wheeled carriage, modified from the carriage of the M1910 Maxim from Battlefield 1918.

An M1917A1 Browning on its tripod.

Apart from machine guns, I've broken down all the other vehicles into more precise categories than just "Air", "Land", and "Sea".

- We'll start with the category of "Armored Fighting Vehicles". This category includes all tanks, armored cars, and APCs. Most of the new AFVs that have been added in V2.0 are related to the First Indochina War and are primarily for French use, but there are a couple of new ones for later in the war. The NVA will now get the Type 63 APC (from Eve of Destruction) or the SU-76M tank destroyer (from Forgotten Hope) on some maps. The T-54 has been updated to use the model from EOD, which has also been modified to make the Type 62 light reconnaissance tank. Vehicles that were built or frequently used for reconnaissance, like the M8 Greyhound, M5 Stuart, or Type 62 light tank, now have an artillery spotting mode available for the commander.

On the right, the new T-54 model. On the left, its visibly smaller Type 62 reconnaissance counterpart.

- Artillery: The old artillery spotting system from vanilla BfVietnam is back, at the cost of the ability to switch ammunition between explosive and smoke, which made the spotting system work incorrectly. There have also been some new artillery emplacements added, including the Japanese Type 38 75mm field gun (from Forgotten Hope Secret Weapons), the Type 63 multiple-rocket launcher (from Point of Existence) and the massive Soviet ML-20 152mm howitzer (also from FHSW). The Artillery category also includes mortars, of which there are nineteen in total. In a previous article, I explained how the mortars are divided into light, medium, and heavy classes, so take a look at that. Note that I said in that article that there were problems with the medium and heavy mortars that meant they couldn't be released yet, but I've fixed these problems so all of the mortars are working correctly.

The Chinese Type 63 multiple rocket launcher system.

The German Pak 40 was supplied to North Vietnam by the Soviets and used both in a limited anti-tank role and for coastal defense.

- Emplacements: In addition to machine gun emplacements, this category also includes weapons like tripod-mounted recoilless rifles and stationary AA guns. The twin-gun ZPU-2 AA gun has been joined by the four-gun ZPU-4, giving a boost to Communist AA defenses. One clever little trick is that in addition to being found around the maps, the DShK machine gun with its AA tripod can now be found in a deployable kit that spawns in the maps, allowing players to set up a heavy AA machine gun to attack Allied aircraft from unexpected places. All recoilless rifles now have correct tripod mounts, like the machine guns.

The M40 106mm recoilless rifle on its standard tripod mount.

- Fixed-Wing: Exactly what it sounds like, this category includes all jets and airplanes in the mod. While most of the existing Allied aircraft have stayed the same, the Communist aircraft are quite different. With the exception of a very rare bomb-carrying MiG-17, all NVA fighter jets have no ground-attack weapons and are equipped solely for air-to-air combat. They will also be much rarer, and will only be found on maps that feature air attacks on North Vietnam, to be historically accurate. New aircraft are currently limited to planes like the A-26 Invader, F4U Corsair, and SBD Dauntless which were used in the First Indochina War, but I'm looking at buying some models for new US aircraft, like the A-6 Intruder.

The F8F Bearcat (courtesy of Forgotten Hope Secret Weapons) was used by the French in Indochina, and later by the South Vietnamese until the early 1960s.

- Helicopter: Again, exactly what it sounds like. I posted an article and video recently showing off some new helicopter designs, so give that a look. To that inventory, I've also added the USMC CH-53 Sea Stallion. Like fixed-wing aircraft, Communist helicopters will be much rarer, and usually only found on maps set in North Vietnam.

The massive CH-53 Sea Stallion, courtesy of Desert Combat.

- Naval: This category covers heavy ships from aircraft carriers to large landing craft. As discussed in a previous article, there are now three classes of destroyers, the Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner, and Gearing, and three classes of aircraft carriers, the Essex, Essex Landing Pad Helicopter, and Forrestal. One mechanic that I'm proud of is that aircraft carrier captains now have a "weapon" that can launch reconnaissance aircraft, usually the RF-8A Crusader, which carries no weapons but can spot for artillery like the OH-6 helicopter.

- Riverine: Light boats that will mostly be found on river maps. There are now two versions of the Sampan, one called the "heavy" Sampan (the vanilla version), and one called the "light" Sampan (from EOD). Some will be passenger transports, and others have guns mounted. One version of the light Sampan even has a mortar! And unlike before, bots can use both versions of the Sampan. Other new riverine craft include the LCVP landing craft and the LCVP "Dinassaut", a French patrol-gunboat conversion of the LCVP.

The "heavy" Sampan on the left, and the "light" Sampan on the right. Both are armed with a DShK machine gun in the bow and four naval mines.

- Utility: The final category of vehicles, this class includes all jeeps, trucks, and other light vehicles. I've added a number of new ones, including the Soviet Dnepr M72 motorcycle, the ANZAC Land Rover, and the Soviet ZIL-131 heavy truck. The M35 truck has been updated to use the EOD model, and the previous model has now become the M54 heavy truck. The Ural-375D-based BM-21 has been joined by the ZIL-131-mounted 9P138 rocket launcher, and the BM-13 Katyusha has been joined by the more-powerful BM-31 Andryusha. The GAZ-69 BM-8 is a version of the GAZ-69 car with a rocket launcher, good for sneaking around the map and launching surprise artillery attacks. Very light vehicles like the Dnepr M72, Vespa, and unarmed jeeps/cars will be found more often on many large maps to make moving around easier.

The Soviet GAZ-67 has been joined on early-war maps by the GAZ-69 from Eve of Destruction.

Fear the power of the mighty BM-31 Andryusha! Courtesy of FHSW.

Finally, the maps. I'm hesitant to give too many specifics about the maps right now, because the simple truth is that with all of the other features I've added, I've been more focused on getting all of those things to work correctly before I add them into the maps, and so right now, NONE of the maps work. Fixing them up will be one of the last things I do. However, I can go into some of the things that I plan on doing. Going along with the new features and new mechanics, maps will generally be structured to give a more authentic Vietnam-type experience, where Allied forces have more firepower, but the Communist forces have ways of countering that firepower or evading it through stealth. Communist teams will get even fewer heavy vehicles, but more AA emplacements to help nullify the Allied airpower advantage, for example. More light vehicles will be available to maneuver around maps more quickly, and the NVA will get one particular advantage in this department with the GAZ-46, a fast car that can also cross rivers.

I'm also happy to say that I've been working with a brand-new BfVietnam mapmaker, NickP, who wants to make new, historically accurate maps both for vanilla BfVietnam and for Operation Remembrance. Additionally, while in the past I had been prevented from creating new maps of my own because there with things I didn't know how to do with Battlecraft, I've finally learned how to do those things, so I should be able to make some entirely new maps that have never been seen before, instead of just reusing other people's work.

Moving on to a more theoretical field is some more specific plans for maps. I want to stress here that in what I say beyond this point, I make NO promises that any of this will actually appear in the release version. These are plans, not guarantees, and these plans coming to fruition will rely on them actually working. Most importantly, Operation Remembrance has always been meant as a singleplayer/bot friendly mod, so if I create a map or change an existing map to something that the AI can't work well with, I'll have to do something different with it. Most of the vanilla maps will play out differently to how they currently do. For example:

- The real-life Operation Game Warden took place over the course of many years, so the map Operation Game Warden will be split into two versions. One will be near the beginning of the operation and feature the terrain and buildings in better condition. Control points will be in different places, and there will be more bridges for vehicles to cross. Both sides will have more firepower, although the US will be on the attack and the VC will be on the defensive. The second version will be near the end of the operation and will be more like the current version of the map. Buildings will be destroyed or burned out, the terrain will be in rougher condition, vehicle bridges will have been destroyed and replaced with infantry bridges, and there will be fewer vehicles, forcing players to move more towards infantry combat.

- Operation Whispered Breath will be changed from a fictional amphibious assault on North Vietnam back to the more realistic original Operation Flaming Dart by making the entire map based on an objective mode. The Northern forces will have several critical objectives to defend, including barracks buildings, harbor docks, air control towers, and an SA-2 surface-to-air missile command center, while the US forces will have to destroy these objectives with airstrikes, naval firepower, and commando saboteur teams. Northern forces can also win the battle by destroying the US naval group launching the attack.

- Ia Drang Valley will be split into two maps, Landing Zone X-Ray and Ia Drang Valley. Landing Zone X-Ray will focus on infantry combat in the valley itself, with the US airbase and the mountain ridge cut off from the battle. Ia Drang Valley will be more like the original map and will cover the US reinforcements and Broken Arrow airstrikes that arrived on the second day of the battle.

- On Operation Hastings, all NVA airpower has been removed, and the NVA airstrip has been converted to an extension of the main base, with troop tents and encampments, more AA guns, and light vehicles like jeeps and rocket artillery trucks. The NVA will also begin the match with control of the Fishing Village, the nearest control point to their base, while the US will have to capture the Fire Control Base, the nearest control point to their own base. The two control points in the middle will start neutral.

- Vo Ninh Airstrip will be changed from the ARVN having to recover an airstrip captured by the VC, who are now using captured ARVN aircraft, to a stealth mission by Allied forces across the DMZ to destroy the NVA helicopter base that is resupplying artillery positions along the DMZ.

- The map "Jungle Ghosts", which previously featured ANZAC troops parachuting into the jungle to attack VC positions, will instead have Navy SEALs making an assault from commando rafts on the river to destroy VC objectives.

- Operation Green Inferno will now have ANZAC SAS trooops parachuting from a C-130 to capture some VC objectives and destroy others.

- Ho Chi Minh Trail will be focused on the stealthy MACVSOG incursions in Laos and Cambodia, with the NVA in control of all flags and MACVSOG forces attacking by parachute, commando raft, and small outposts hidden in the jungle.

- Cambodian Incursion will cover the aftermath of the attacks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where MACVSOG forces must hold off counter-attacking NVA troops until evacuation helicopters arrive.

- A number of maps that currently have the US or ARVN, like Battle of Dong Ha and Firebase Whiskey, will be converted to depict French and Viet Minh forces fighting in the First Indochina War.

- The mostly-unused bottom half of the map Operation Cedar Falls will be used for a new map depicting ARVN vs. NVA armor combat near the end of the war.

The last thing to talk about is when V2.0 will be released. And the truth is that I don't know. There's still an insane amount of work to be done, and as I've mentioned, I haven't even started working on the maps, which will be one of the most complicated parts. I can only guess as to how long everything will take me, and unlike V1.1, which I made the mistake of rushing out for a Christmas release, I'm going to take my time with V2.0 and make sure everything is right. As of now, I'm hoping for a release sometime in the spring or summer of 2025.