The Anniversary Update

Battle Grounds III

After 6 years of development, Battle Grounds III (BG3) is the next iteration in the classic franchise which began 17 years ago. Prepare for battle in the American War of Independence!

Celebrating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, we are releasing the largest update the game has ever seen! We are introducing new weapons, map changes, new gameplay elements, balance tweaks and the much anticipated progression system. Without much further ado: [h1]Weapons[/h1] [h2]TEN new weapons:[/h2] [list] [*] Light Model Charleville /w Bayonet [*] A musket with average melee range and a quicker than average melee refire time [*] Pattern 1756 “Common” Artillery Carbine /w Bayonet [*] A shorter version of the sea service, with higher accuracy. [*] Pattern 1770 Serjeant’s Fewzee [*] An accurate musket with a short lock time, yet has no bayonet and has lower damage [*] Pattern 1718 “Old Pattern” Long Land Musket [*] Longer melee range and higher damage than the long pattern, yet more unwieldly [*] M1777 French Cavalry Carbine [*] A more accurate officer’s carbine with less damage [*] Blunderbuss [*] Deadly at point blank range [*] Dagger [*] A weak melee weapon that requires 2 headshots to kill [*] French Rapier [*] A longer range sword with smaller melee sweep and damage [*] Trade Musket [*] An unwieldly, yet powerful weapon. At shorter ranges 1 hit kills. [*] Broken Bottle Meme Weapon [*] Humiliate your opponents by smashing them in with a broken bottle [/list] [h2]Miscellaneous Weapon Changes[/h2] [list] [*] All weapon slings are now jiggly. [*] Long pattern weapon model has been redone. [*] “Brown Bess Carbine” renamed to “Royal Forester’s Carbine” and the model has also been redone. [*] French Grenadier’s M1777 model has been improved. [*] Spanish Mosquete lock time nerfed. [/list] [h2]Historical Weapon Mode[/h2] [list] [*] New mp_year and mp_year_accuracy server variables control which weapons are available. [*] On by default. [*] mp_year is the historical accuracy setting to use, while mp_year_accuracy controls whether or not to use mp_year at all. Set mp_year_accuracy to 0 to disable this system. [*] Ex. no Pattern 1776 rifles before 1776 [/list] [h1]Maps[/h1] [h2]sg_siege[/h2] [list] [*] Rebalanced tickets for both teams; defenders now have fewer tickets. [*] Updated graphics in certain places. [*] Attackers must traverse spiked barricades in order to assault front gate. [*] Swivel damage greatly increased. [*] Secondary containment zone built behind front gate to slow down attackers. [*] Tunnel door can now be locked by defenders to halt the flow of attackers. [*] Locked door can be blown open by capturing the tunnel flag. [*] Fire trap now lasts much longer and covers the flag, allowing defenders to respawn. [/list] [h2]bg_townguard[/h2] [list] [*] Redesigned town center inn and swivel gun house. [*] Replaced brazier brush with 3D model. [*] Added ropes with turnbuckles for roof traversal to a few buildings. [*] Both teams have sniper spawns: Americans – church tower and roof, British – inn near Street flag. [*] Opened up church graveyard a bit for easier movement, can also get onto church roof via scaffolding. [*] Other small additions for more detail throughout map. [*] All lights with gentle pulse have been switched to normal appearance for performance improvements. [*] Grenadiers can now climb the ladders. [/list] [h2]bg_wrecked[/h2] [list] [*] Added “fun” spawns to rowboats in ocean. [*] Fixed displacement texture blend bug. [*] Replaced Half Life: 2 sand texture. [*] Swivel gun and ammo refill area added to cliff near ship bow. [/list] [h2]lb_battleofconcord[/h2] [list] [*] Fixed missing models. [*] Retextured farmhouse near American spawn and added planks going to door. [*] Added few more props near bridge. [*] Updated ground and water textures. [/list] [h2]sg_boston[/h2] [list] [*] Crashes have been fixed. [*] Boston has been re-added to the default map rotation. [*] Balcony flag gives attackers extra tickets. [*] Bomb cart is faster, and on detonation drains all of defenders tickets. [/list] [h1]Progression System[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34830532/3733d9135ea2f86ec22e22ab2b220d0a3524798f.png[/img] [h2]Overview[/h2] [list] [*] New uniforms and most of new weapons locked behind EXP-based progression system. [*] Earn EXP by killing enemies, completing objectives, and winning rounds and matches. [*] Play the game to earn EXP to level up, and then trade in earned rum rations for the items. [*] No “Pay to Win” [*] All new weapons are unlocked in private matches. [*] Players who participated in the beta receive a loyalty bonus of 25 Rum Rations. [/list] [h2]New Uniforms[/h2] [list] [*] British Officer now has a new and improved model (for everyone, this doesn’t have to be unlocked) [*] De Lancy’s Brigade uniform for British Light Infantry. [*] “Queen’s Rangers” uniform for British Light Infantry. [*] Régiment de Soissonnais uniform for French Grenadier. [*] British 52nd Regiment of Foot Grenadier uniform. [*] French Officer conversion for Continental Officer. [*] Feathered “Macaroni” Caps. [*] Derandomized American Frontiersman Uniforms. [*] Derandomized American Militia Uniforms. [*] “Easter Egg” Accoutrements, ex. Baguettes in French Grenadier uniform, Emergency tea kit for British Infantry. [*] Beta Reward uniform for those who participated in the beta: a Green-and-White American Infantry uniform. [/list] [h1]Gameplay Changes[/h1] [h2]UI Changes[/h2] [list] [*] Fixed respawn timer not appearing on lower resolutions, and realigned nearby HUD elements to remove overlaps and provide cleaner look. [*] When spectating a player, that player’s name now always appears on the bottom-left. [*] Added a “Damage Over Range Graph” tab to the classmenu for comparing weapon damages over different ranges. [*] Added background crosshair texture options in BG3 options. [*] Added live crosshair preview to BG3 options. [*] Added “Hide Weapon Viewmodel” option to BG3 options. [*] Fixed swivel gun and Grenade killfeed icons. [*] Added automatic on-screen notifications for when ticket amounts are adjusted by mp_ticket_x_adjust commands. [/list] [h2]System Improvements[/h2] [list] [*] Added more sophisticated LOD versions of player models and weapon models, which should improve performance. [*] Added more per-player console commands, ex. “heal”, “health”, “shrooms”, “freeze”. [*] Official game servers are now 128-tick. [/list] [h2]Miscellaneous Gameplay Changes[/h2] [list] [*] Maps can now be both CTF and Skirmish: ex. play CTF on Townguard. Controlled by new mp_flagmode server variable. Can be randomized with mp_flagmode_randomize. [*] mp_friendlyfire_swivel now controls whether or not swivel guns deal friendly fire. [*] New “fun” spawns are optional; use mp_competitive to turn them off. [/list]