Tank Squad: Discord Digest After Dev Status #80

 

TL;DR: After Dev Status #80, the Tank Squad Discord lit up with discussion. Topics included fighting from the commander’s hatch, campaign economy, spotting mechanics, and combined arms. The devs (Rabbit and Robert) gave refreshingly open replies — showing where the game is evolving.

Official devlogs tell one story. The Discord often tells another. It’s usually a steady space with a sim-leaning crowd, but when the devs do weigh in, it feels more open and direct. For me, that side of development is refreshing — so here’s a digest of what was said after Dev Status #80, with my own thoughts woven in.

The Commander’s Hatch

Apocalypse, a veteran tanker, summed it up:

“Commanding an armored vehicle happens from the hatch… If you want your game to be immersive then it needs to allow players to do that.”

Rabbit (dev) admitted:

“we backed down from this, since we had this option somewhere in the development process, but it was wonky. We will rework firstly how commanding works with NPC's in the tank, and then this will be available again, as more robust option.”

Robert added:

“we already have lots of suggestions and ready plans to implement here… we’ll spend a few days on this in October and implement more quality of life improvement + direct control over the turret in some useful way.”

My take: Fighting from the hatch isn’t a feature — it’s the essence of tank command. In real sims like Steel Fury or Panzer Elite, the whole rhythm of battle comes from spotting first, then guiding your crew. I’m glad they’re not rushing it back in but rebuilding it around proper crew interaction.

Economy and Wrecks

RideR2 pointed out how campaigns quickly turn into scrapyards of captured enemy tanks:

“you always end up with mostly vehicles from the enemy side and barely of your own side…”

Robert explained their idea:

“Our idea was that the new campaign a train with resources, reinforcements and whatever arrives every X turns. This allows replenishment… The only solution would be to do what you proposed — increase the resource cost of conversion or make the conversion itself a resource.”

My take: This matters. A German campaign shouldn’t feel like you’re commanding a Soviet fleet of hand-me-downs. The idea of supply trains and limited maintenance makes every choice sting a bit more — which is exactly how it should be.

Spotting and Immersion

Apocalypse again:

“Most of the time I’m looking for the smoke or flash from a muzzle — very much like real life. Again, this goes back to 'let the player command from the hatch'.”

Robert outlined where they’re aiming:

“They need to build up the info about enemy units and be able to spot using eyes/periscopes only. This will bring more issues though as we also want the camouflage to have impact here…”

My take: This is ambitious. If AI spotting is tied to optics and camouflage, you’re no longer fighting omniscient enemies — you’re fighting uncertainty. That’s closer to Graviteam territory, and it’s where Tank Squad could really stand apart from WoT/WT clones.

Combined Arms Future

Apocalypse reminded everyone:

“WAR is COMBINED ARMS — Armor, infantry, artillery, aircraft, engineers, etc.”

Robert didn’t shy away:

“Also, where are the planes that roam above the battlefield… I want them to be fully AI driven and destroyable… you can’t really make a combat simulation about this without proper airstrike simulation.”

Rabbit added:

“This is also our aim, combined arms and more credible engagements, although it takes a lot of prep work first — stage we currently are in.”

My take: This is where it gets exciting. Infantry spawners, supply trucks, pioneers, AA, AI-driven aircraft — once those pieces are stitched in, Tank Squad becomes more than “tanks on a field.” It starts to look like a living battlefield.

Closing

For me, this kind of Discord exchange is just as important as the official devlogs. Dev Status #80 gave us the patch headlines, but Discord showed the devs thinking out loud, fielding player concerns, and sketching the bigger vision.

This is for those who’ll never set foot there — you can still follow it here. It’s the first of what I hope will be many Discord Digests: snapshots of how Tank Squad is evolving, one honest exchange at a time.

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