Tank Squad Dev Status #80 – Small Stairs, Big Steps Ahead


This one caught my eye — not for the stairs, but for the bigger ideas tucked in underneath.

TL;DR: Dev Status #80 may look small, but it teases big things — Ponyri 1943 campaign, procedural missions with even “roguelike” potential, smarter AI spotting, and the Ferdinand on the horizon. Patch 1.1.3 is planned for 29 October, 18:00 CEST.

On the surface, the 80th development update for Tank Squad looks modest. Movable stairs in the repair yard, Steam lobby invites, a patch full of fixes. But tucked inside is the roadmap to something much larger: operational campaigns, procedural replayability, AI improvements, and new vehicles.

This patch isn’t live yet, but it shows where the game is heading.

Movable Stairs

The repair station now has movable stairs. No more awkward jumping just to climb on your tank. You interact with the stairs, move them around, and drop them into position. A small quality-of-life change, but one that makes the workshop feel lived-in.

Steam Lobby & Friends Invite

In-game support for lobbies is being added. That means you’ll be able to send play-together invites directly from the game, and your friends will see a Steam notification to join. This is a great addition!

The devs also said:

“We plan to expand the lobby's functionality by adding a 'separate scene' in which players will be visible as avatars… In such a lobby, players will be able to customise their tanks by adding paint jobs, side numbers and other details.”

That’s a neat touch — turning the lobby into a space where the social side meets the tank side.

Ponyri 1943 – New Campaign

 
The big headline is Ponyri. The new campaign introduces an operational mode: capture sectors, hold them, and brace for AI counterattacks that trigger procedural battles.

The scale is different too — 3x3 km sectors stitched into a much larger map. Compared to the early C1M1 mission, this is a leap. Ponyri feels like the start of Tank Squad growing into a living front.

Procedural Missions

The team is preparing procedural generation for single missions and campaigns. You’ll be able to select factions, force pools, and maps, and the game will build scenarios from there.

The devs described it like this:

“This could also potentially be a starting point for other game modes, such as career mode or rogue-like mode.”

What “roguelike” could mean here

Not dungeons and wizards — in Tank Squad, it could mean:

  1. Start with a force pool – maybe a couple of Panzers, some infantry, limited supplies.

  2. The game rolls a mission – defend a sector, assault a trench, hold a crossroads.

  3. Losses carry over – if you lose a Tiger, it’s gone. Damaged vehicles limp into the next fight.

  4. Supplies arrive unpredictably – a “train” might bring reinforcements every few turns, but you don’t control what turns up.

  5. The run continues until you run out of strength — or win.

That’s what roguelike means here: replayability, high stakes, and every campaign feeling different. Personally, I really like the sound of this — it makes every choice matter.

Ferdinand Sd.Kfz. 184

Work has started on the Ferdinand. At this stage it can drive and shoot, but the final model work will continue into November. Not finished yet, but it shows the roster is still expanding alongside the core systems.

AI Spotting Overhaul

This one is easy to miss but important. Spotting has been redesigned to run on multiple threads instead of a single core. That means bigger battles without the performance hit.

The devs also hinted at the future: tanks spotting only through periscopes and optics, with camouflage playing a real role. That would make encounters slower, more tense, and closer to reality.

What’s Coming in Patch 1.1.3

Planned release: 29 October, 18:00 CEST. Highlights include:

  • New textures on C1M1 and C1M2

  • Steam lobby & party invites

  • Movable repair-yard stairs

  • Soviet AI tanks now fire on the move

  • Pak40 and Flak 36 destroyed variants

  • Infantry indicators visible only under 100m (performance boost)

  • Correct trench covers and colliders on Pokrovka

  • Bug fixes for UI layering and artillery/direct-fire switching

  • Optimised AI spotting for better FPS in big battles

Closing

On paper, Dev Status #80 looks like a small patch. In reality, it’s groundwork: Ponyri, procedural missions, roguelike-style replayability, AI spotting overhaul, and new vehicles.

For me, Ponyri is the moment Tank Squad stops being a mission pack and starts becoming a battlefield. Step by step, the game is evolving into something alive, unpredictable, and worth coming back to.

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