Hello, friends!
We recently told you about the progress on the Bombers expansion for Great Battles. Today, we would like to share an update on another area of work connected to the same project. We previously announced that in 2026 we plan to complete the work of the maps and Career mode for Odessa and Leningrad, and in this Dev Blog we will go into more detail on that work. Starting with the Gulf of Finland map, which will receive a major expansion that is already nearly complete. First, in addition to the summer and winter seasons already created, three more are now ready: autumn, spring, and the transitional period before and after winter.
Adding these extra seasons to cover all times of year was a critical task, since the two Pilot Careers in Leningrad will together span eight chapters:
Chapter 1. "The Noose Tightens" (06.09.1941 — 25.09.1941)
Chapter 2. "The Blockade" (26.09.1941 — 06.01.1942)
Chapter 3. "The Lyuban Offensive" (07.01.1942 — 30.04.1942)
Chapter 1. "January Thunder" (14.01.1944 — 02.02.1944)
Chapter 2. "The Narva Bridgehead" (03.02.1944 — 23.04.1944)
Chapter 3. "Preparations for the Offensive" (24.04.1944 — 08.06.1944)
Chapter 4. "The Vyborg Offensive" (09.06.1944 — 23.07.1944)
Chapter 5. "The Narva Offensive" (24.07.1944 — 04.09.1944)
An extensive research effort lasting more than a year has been completed for the Careers, covering the operations of aviation units across all of the episodes listed above. Work is now underway to implement this information in the simulator and to prepare and refine the combat histories of the air regiments. Between the two Careers, a total of 72 player-accessible squadrons will be available in Leningrad, and 73 in Odessa. In addition, 12 new unique historical structures will be added in Leningrad, Kronstadt, and on Lake Ladoga, bringing the total number of such objects on this map to 57:
And
The Bronze Horseman monument (version with protective scaffolding),
Monument to Nicholas I (version with protective scaffolding),
Tolbukhin Lighthouse
It is worth noting that as a result of this work, the Gulf of Finland map has grown in area by more than 35% — to 86,800 km², with its boundaries extended to 310 km × 270 km.
The city of Leningrad has been fully completed, including all originally planned unique structures; large marshalling yards have been added to the north of the city, along with vegetable warehouses and other industrial zones.
In the Leningrad area, towns along the right bank of the Neva have been added: Okhta, Porokhovye, Rzhevka, and others. The newly added section of the map includes the towns of Chudovo, Kirishi, Slobodka, Slantsy, complete with industrial zones, quarries, and more. In total, more than 400 settlements have been added, along with 180 railway platforms and small stations.
The territory of the Estonian SSR has been built out, with the towns of Narva, Narva-Jõesuu, Jõhvi, Sonda, and other settlements constructed. Ten new historical airfields have been added across the new territories.
Odessa will also receive one additional season—autumn—which is needed to cover the full set of planned Career episodes.
The total number of episodes will reach seven:
Chapter 1. "The Border Battle" (22.06.1941 — 16.07.1941)
Chapter 2. "The Front Breaks" (17.07.1941 — 10.08.1941)
Chapter 3. "The Siege of Odessa" (11.08.1941 — 16.10.1941)
Chapter 1. "Liberation of Odessa" (02.04.1944 — 09.05.1944)
Chapter 2. "Counterstrikes" (10.05.1944 — 08.06.1944)
Chapter 3. "The Summer Lull" (09.06.1944 — 19.08.1944)
Chapter 4. "The Jassy–Kishinev Offensive" (20.08.1944 — 27.08.1944)
So, as promised, the release of Odessa and Leningrad has not stopped us from continuing to improve and expand that project. The work will not be finished until the end of the year, by which point the content of the expansion will have grown by more than double. In addition, the early-war aircraft from Odessa and Leningrad will be added to the Careers of other expansions: Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kuban. Our friends at Karttakompania are working on adding Finland to the Pilot Career on the Gulf of Finland map. The moment when the results of all this work become available in Great Battles updates is not far off.
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