Project history

GZM has 5 years of history. The seventh version alone was in production for 2.5 years. We have used many historical and technical sources for reference in our work.
The project was started in 2003, when then-recently released game Blitzkrieg left a lot of good emotions and yet more desire to improve it to be more historically accurate. Since modding capabilities if BK were good, the first version of GZM was soon born. This was a correction of ingame parameters to be closer to reality, as well as some small gameplay changes. And it was only 15 MB in size back then.
As this first try was successful, in a year a new battle system concept was ready, as well as some new resources. Back then I was only getting my first experience as a modder, so that came with much work.
So in 2005 GZM 3.07 appeared, which was the first publically released mod version. It was approximately 250 MB in size. The changes were mainly done to the standard campaign maps, no new maps were added. Main change was a new battle system based on weapon ranges. Unit stats were brought closer to reality. There also were about 100 new units, new weapons and such. This version got some interest from BK fans, some of whom helped with the next version.
2006 saw GZM 5.55 – second released mod version. This was in fact a total conversion of Blitzkrieg (some Ukrainian pirates appreciated that and started selling it under the name of Total Conversion). Size was 2.4 GB. Changelog took 15 pages of text. Battle system was considerably changed, game was brought closer to wargame style. Chronology and probability of appearance of units was adjusted. Many new maps were added, including new random missions, all of that linked into 3 campaigns. 300 new units, new infantry, new medals and many more.
Version 5.55 was made with an ambitious goal of showing the flow of Second World War in game, as good as the engine allows. The battle now started in 1936 with the Spanish Civil War, where Communism first confronted Fascism.
Development of GZM 6.0 started in February 2007. The 6 was to be an improved version of 5.55 with more new units of own making (about 50) which should have replaced buggy units or units taken from other projects (the status of which was then debatable). Bug fixes and changes to camo values were also in order.
In the summer of 2007 it was decided to go directly for GZM 7.0, since the amount of changes made to 6.0 to date far exceeded any plans. Beside that, a way was discovered to implement some unplanned ideas previously thought impossible.

2. Gameplay features

Remaining original missions were changed to make them more interesting and harder without changing the objectives too much. Proper units were added to all the historic maps (there were no Su-85 at Kursk battle or Pz. IIF in 1939, you won’t meet any King Tigers before August 13th or Crusaders before Battle Axe, etc.) Some more changes like adding an armored train here and there, placing a village or some troops…
Mod is made for Blitzkrieg veterans, beginners might find it way too hard: distances of object generation on maps are the same, but weapon ranges are greater.
Mod is a compilation of everything best that was made for Blitzkrieg. Balance and combat system got the special attention. Correspondence to historic realities was thoroughly checked.
The player still has his personal units, but not all maps allow to deploy them (most will still utilize them). Maps like Crete or Eben-Emael will only use map-specified units.
The player will have to combine different types of vehicles and other units to complete maps successfully.
The way to upgrade units with new ones is the same as in original, but the probability to get rare types is now much lower. Don’t expect free KV-2 or King Tigers.

3. Random missions

Lots of random mission templates and their files were redone (about 1500). New units were added, force placement and composition changed, all in the attempt to make them more unique. Now random map generator decides much more, you can even lose on some of those!
Above that, the generator was reworked by utilizing resources from Solvang mod. The resources were not just transferred, but they were used to make full random missions for ALL SIDES (and not only USSR, Germany and Allies). All briefings and objectives are translated to Russian. New templates (about 1000) were reworked with new units and objects. Now random missions can actually be MORE INTERESTING and HARDER than historic battles!
Mod stability was improved greatly compared to 5.55, but crashes are still possible. In the case of a crash during map generation, try to select another random map or restart the chapter from auto-save on previous chapter completion.

4. Multiplayer

The mod was mainly made for single player, but multiplayer mode was not forgotten.
For the proper multiplayer game all participants need 100% identical game and mod versions with all the files being identical. You can use ailogic.dll from Stalingrad, but then ALL players in a game must use it.
Some multiplayer maps were redone for the mod (for ex. Ice and Flame is about Winter War now). Multiplayer maps were tested for balance, some may even be called ideally balanced.
The list of adapted MP maps follows.

1. [GZM7] Чёрное золото, 1941 [DL-Claas Kp.Fw -DL-Clan]
2. [GZM7] Карельский фронт, 1942 [Vlad82]
3. [GZM7] Группа "Центр", 1941 [Vlad82]
4. [GZM7] На харьковском направлении, 1943 [Vlad82]
5. [GZM7] Багратион
6. [GZM7] Тропы войны
7. [GZM7] Китайский дракон и Восходящее солнце
8. [GZM7] Мертвая зона
9. [GZM7] Франция,1940
10. [GZM7] Франция, 1944 [Vlad82]
11. [GZM7] Битва в песках, 1943
12. [GZM7] Зимняя война
13. [GZM7] Перекресток, 1944
14. [GZM7] Мадрид, 1937
15. [GZM7] Мадрид, 1938[Reks]
16. [GZM7] Украинская деревня, 1941
17. [GZM7] Синявинская операция, 1942 [Vlad82]
18. [GZM7] Перелом, 1942-43 [Vlad82]
19. [GZM7] Спас-Демьянск, 1941 [Qwer]
20. [GZM7] Сталинград, осень 1942 [Vlad82]
21. [GZM7] Ахтырка, 1943 [Zigfrid]
22. [GZM7] Пустынные крысы, 1941 [Vlad82]
23. [GZM7] Грязь Рейха, 1944 [Vlad82]

ANY maps can be used with this mod, but their scale and unit sets might not be compatible with battle system and historic accuracy. The author expects interested players to help with adapting more multiplayer maps.

ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! All the new multiplayer maps made for GZM7 should have [GZM7] in their name to avoid confusion with original maps and other mods.

Notice: [GZM7] prefix does not mean this map is made by us from scratch. It only means the map was worked on to make it compatible with GZM 7 and allows to filter the maps during network play.

5. Troops control

GZM allows the player to have a greater number of his ‘personal’ units, up to 24 (12 tanks and 12 guns), and more unit types are now available for better balance, historical accuracy or to correct original game flaws.
Some people may find it wrong that the player begins the game as a major commanding ‘only’ 4 vehicles and 4 guns. In reality the player commands much greater forces, and the units that pass from mission to mission are just a personal reserve of that player. Think of that, no one will allow a lieutenant to command a tank regiment or brigade, and you sometimes have to command the whole divisions…
Now each unit has 5 levels of experience.
Engineers now detect mines at a greater distance so it’s easier to clear mine fields, less time is spent to micro them.

Mod makes the following main changes (small changes are so many that it’s not feasible to count them all). Please read that, so you won’t bug authors with questions that are already answered here.

6. Units and objects.

1) GZM 7 has almost all the mass-produced armored vehicle types and aircraft from all the participants of WW2. There hardly is another project to have this many 3D unit models in a game in the world (and we doubt such a project will arrive, though that is still possible).
Detailed unit list will follow later.

2) Armor protection of units is set to correspond with historic accuracy: not only the thickness and angle of the plates was considered, but also the presence of hatches, covers, anti-cumulative screens (Pz. IVH or StuG 40 F/8) and the quality of armor (which at times dropped because of lack of proper components or technology simplification) greatly influence the longevity of units (great examples are King Tiger and early marks of IS-1/IS-2).

3) Apart from hit points, all units had ricochette probabilities adjusted. Now the angling of armor plays a great role. So the Panther has a great advantage over the Tiger and T-34 over T-28E.

4) Turret rotation speeds are as close to reality as possible. So Tigers and Panthers turrets rotate slowly because of the features of their turret drive while a Pz. IVJ only has manual turret rotation with all the consequences. Same for rotating gun platforms on AA vehicles and SPGs. Those speeds are also affected by gun calibers so a 37mm AA gun rotates way faster than a 85mm AA gun. But still the particular gun and base vehicle types matter much, and if they allowed for fast aiming, then ingame unit will behave appropriately. I must note that German prototype SPAA Kugelblitz would not have been a superweapon even if mass-produced just because of its low turret turn speed. This is shown in game, but I had to even increase that speed or else the unit would be useless.

5) Sight distance and ‘quality’ are now closer to reality and optics quality. T-34 has considerably less sight range than a Tiger. Now there is a reason to keep some light recon vehicles in main group, they see farther and spot infantry at great distances.

6) All original units suffered from too high a fire rate. Now this parameter is changed, too. So T-34 cannot fire more often than 5 times per minute (due to poor turret internals design) and Pz. IV can do as much as 12 shots per minute (because of its ergonomic and well thought-out turret). D-1 howitzer can fire 4 times per minute, M1A1 – only once. Early marks of IS-2 can do 2 shots per minute, later – 3 shots, etc. This also affects automatic cannons – their actual combat fire rate can be much lower than their technical fire rate, because of many different factors.

7) For gameplay reasons, hit points of vehicles were increased ‘across the board’. All tanks have their own maximum hit points that depend on the class and particular vehicle type. It’s clear that heavy tanks can survive more hits than light tanks. Hit points were based on real statictical survivability. So for ex. during early war a T-34 could survive 4.9 hits while late-war this was only 1.5. So it will take 2 hits from a 8.8cm kwk 36 or one from 12.8cm kwk 44, but 4 from 5cm KwK 38.

8) As for aircraft, now the proper air defense needs some density of fire. You need at least 3-4 AA guns to defend against Stukas, one gun will not save you anymore. Air can suppress weak AA easily.

9) All the units are armed with proper weapons, using proper ammunition and stats. Weapon damage stats were changed greatly compared to previous version. In general the guns are 25% more powerful. Low-ballistics guns have larger infantry damage radius than long-barreled ones. This makes support tanks and assault guns useful against soft targets.

10) Aircraft received new weapons. Now they can carry not only bombs, cannons and machineguns, but also rockets, incendiary and napalm bombs and cluster weapons.So an Il-2 M3 can use rockets and anti-tank bombs (dropped in bursts of 24). Ju-87B has 4 x SC50 and 1 x SC250, Ju-87D carries cluster anti-armor bombs, many late-war US planes have napalm and incendiaries.

11) Reduced distance between units in follow mode

12) Tanks tend to show their rear to the enemy less often

13) Tanks and guns have a dead zone which gives advantage to infantry closing in to them

14) Aircraft armor set with regards to engine type (radial engine = bonus to HP as well) and armor plating

15) Trucks have some armor (to account for the engine being in front and providing some protection)

16) Artillery is more survivable (increased about 1.2 – 1.5 times). Factors like presence/absence of the shield, supports, wheels now affect HP. AT guns and heavy machineguns now have high camo level, so good reconnesaince is a must (or you’ll find enemy AT guns only when they’ll start firing at your tanks point-blank).

17) Commander vehicles are introduced, which have improved sight radius and sight quality.

18) Movement and turning speed of all vehicles changed in accordance with their real performance. So the Challenger and Renault R-35 are among the slowest units in game (walking infantry can catch up with them) and T-34 mod. 1943 is among the fastest (only Hellcat is faster). T-34 mod. 1943 outruns the T-34 mod. 1941 now, and also turns better (to show its improved transmission and engine).

19) Some chemical howitzers were introduced to the game. They are mostly useless against armor, but kill infantry very effectively within a large area. They are for use by Italians in Ethiopia and Japanese in China.

20) Digging-in time increased for vehicles

21) Infantry riding on tanks have new, better sprites

22) Destroyed vehicles stay on the map 3-4 times longer

23) Different AA guns are intended for different plane altitudes, so all the types are needed now (heavy 88s only will not be enough anymore)

24) Supply cost of vehicles was changed according to weapon caliber. This should make suppty more realistic and balanced. Trucks will need to make several supply runs to fully rearm a large caliber gun.

25) Some light vehicles and machineguns can (depending on their maximum elevation angles) shoot at low-flying aircraft.

26) Crews can move light guns, FlaK 30 and 38 on their own

27) Correct fire angles set for some weapons which lacked them (JG-18, Skoda 150mm and others)

28) New units have been given their own encyclopaedia articles with photos

29) Unarmed jeeps can tow some light guns

30) For the first time among games on BK engine, we introduce floating units. Mostly those are Soviet boats, but a flak lighter is also present, as well as a Chinese light cruiser. Engine does not allow to make really large ships though, so to make monitor Terror we had to use a 2D object as its hull and a separate unit for the main turret.

31) Compared to the previous version, GZM 7 has fully reworked wheeled, tracked and halftracked vehicles passability. Things that influence it are mass, ground pressure, number of powered axles, type and size of wheels.

32) Tanks can crush small trees and other objects (but still can’t cross a dense forest, so map balance should not be affected too heavily)

33) New vehicle type: mine clearing tanks. PT-3 based on T-34-76 and T-34-85, Sherman Crab, Churchill Bullhorn. Those tanks can make a path through the minefield even under enemy fire, and that can change the play on some maps quite a lot.

34) New vehicle type: heavy APC (based on Priest chassis and Ram tank). They are armed with machineguns and heavy infantry weapons (PIAT and flamethrower in this case)

35) Redone flame tanks for all sides. Now their weapons are really different.

36) Railroad vehicle fleet was greatly increased. Poland, Spain, Japan and Germany received their own armored trains, USSR got some new armored wagons. New unit types – armored draisines and self-propelled armored wagons.

37) Unique USSR unit: RUS-2 air warning radar. Radar is stationary. While the unit is mostly just for map decoration, it has a use – when an enemy unit appears in its detection range, air raid siren sound is played. Another unit – sound detection station – does the same.

38) Air component of the game changed and made more complex. Planes are now more differentiated by their stats: maneuverability, speed, purpose. Different plane types fly at different altitudes and so have different vulnerability to AA fire.

39) Apart from many new aircraft models, some existing ones were reworked to have functional defensive and offensive weapons.

40) Some armored vehicles received anti-air machineguns. They can support AA guns now (against ground attack planes only). They won’t do as proper AA vehicles though.

41) River fords are added to the maps

42) Some models from original game (US AA halftracks for ex.) reworked to add missing fire points and some others (SU-76, M3 Grant) were set to proper size.

43) Greatly extended flora list. Now there are 3-4 times more tree types. New palm trees are especially many. Also many new flower tubs and bushes.

44) Many objects and buildings for the East and Africa: Chinese/Japanese buildings, pagodas, statues and island buildings.
Take a special note of a large Budda statue. This one even has its own unique sounds!
A new large mosque was made, and it (along with other mosques) received a unique sound (muedsin call)

45) Greatly increased object variety:
- destroyed trucks, railway cars, engines and trams;
- naval mines;
- downed planes;
- aircraft sitting on the airfields;
- disassembled aircraft in containers;
- Japanese floatplanes;
- many statues and monuments;
- flags and posters;
- roadside signs;
- and others

46) Many new objects and buildings for European theater: statues and monuments, villas, airfield control towers, Victory Column in Berlin, Reichstag, Reich Chancellery and more.
Take note of RKKA and Wehrmacht command posts with unique sounds (front reports, leader speeches, war songs)
A new set of Soviet statues, including the famous Girl with an Oar.

47) New special units – artillery spotter vehicles. You won’t find them on maps, they are made for future works. They can call in off-map artillery strikes which have nearly unlimited ammo, but take long time to reload. They have some AI problems, but in general they can be used.

48) Fuel tanker vehicles for airfields and special missions. Fuel is not added as a resource though, so they are limited to script use.

49) Engineer crane vehicles

50) All Soviet heavy SPG can transport infantry and shoot in indirect fire mode. Regardless of selected fire mode, they always fire continously. If supplied with enough ammunition, they can do artillery work. However their range is limited and they have a considerable dead zone in this mode (switch to direct-fire mode to target close enemies).
This allows a compromise between their anti-tank use and indirect fire capability.

51) Water bridges. Floating units can move over water by using invisible bridges. Those are set over water in the editor like normal bridges. They can have any length and few different widths. They cannot be destroyed by any weapon. They have a “cz_” prefix in their editor names. In theory they can even be placed along rivers, but make sure they never touch land, or you’ll see tanks and other units water-walking.
Those bridges are normally invisible, but you can use textures from included Water bridge folder to make them visible for debugging purposes.

52) Beginning with v7.05, a new unit is introduced – tank-based demolition charge layer.
ACHTUNG!!! For all Wehrmach personnel. Field manual for the use of Abwurfvorrichtungen auf Pz.I Ausf.В special combat vehicle.
Pz. I ausf. B tank has poor armor protection, but, despite this, it allows to save sturmpionnier lives lost in attacks on enemy fortifications. For the successful attack against an enemy bunker, do the following:
1. Scout the approach routes to the target (are there any cleared areas, how fortified they are, are there any minefields, etc.)
2. Destroy any anti-tank artillery that may be nearby
3. Clear the minefields with engineers using a smoke screen
4. If possible, clear the target vicinity of enemy infantry
5. Using a smoke screen, move the vehicle to the enemy bunker from the flank or rear. Never approach a bunker from the front – the vehicle can be destroyed by enemy garrison fire.
6. Order the vehicle to attack the bunker when outside its field of fire
7. Vehicle will approach the target on its own, turn its back to the target and deploy an explosive charge.
8. After deploying the charge, move the vehicle to the safe distance immediately. The charge only has a short delay before exploding.

7. Unit textures

1) Vast majority of units got new high-resolution textures, from 256x256 to 512x512. New units (as a rule) received a full set of textures, more on that later.

2) Re-textured all summer and most of the winter Soviet camo for trucks, armor and artillery. We tried to follow real examples of RKKA camouflage, but often even vehicles in the same regiment were of different color. Therefore there is no single color scheme. Units received identification marks and tactical symbols (numbers, emblems, stripes, triangles, writings, sometimes red stars). We used photos of real vehicles as a source for those. White crosses on turret tops (1944-1945) proved unsuitable for a number of reasons, so we used different aerial identification symbols.
Some armor skins have dirt and rust on them.

3) Soviet air force got realistic summer/winter textures

4) Re-textured all summer and most of African and winter German units (esp. thanks to PanzerMeyer for his new texture standard). Now German vehicles produced before 1943 have standard grey coloring, and those built in 1943 and later are camouflaged or have standard yellowish painting. German camouflage patterns were many, and we tried to show that as best as we could. Units got identification marks (numbers, unit emblems, different crosses, flags and such). We used photos of real vehicles as a source. Some skins have dirt and rust.

5) Luftwaffe aircraft received realistic summer/winter textures, and partially African skins as well.

6) German aircraft and vehicles received swastikas where appropriate.

7) Re-textured all summer and most of African/winter Allied units. Units got identification symbols (numbers, weight signs, unit emblems, different kinds of stars, historically accurate writings). We used photos of real vehicles as a source. Some skins have dirt and rust on them.

8) Almost all Allied aircraft were retextured.

9) Similar measures were taken for Japanese, Italian, Polish, French, Holland, Belgian, Rumunian, Canadian, Hungarian, Chinese, Thai, Yugoslavian, Slovakian, Greek, Finnish, Spanish (both Frankist and Republican) and other units.

8. Infantry and other living creatures

1. Infantry survivability increased 2-3 times compared to the vanilla BK. The better a soldier trained or the more experience he has, and the better average physical form of his people is, the more HP he has. It’s clear than an average Chinese is physically weaker and has worse training than an SS trooper. And even that SS trooper is weaker than an NKVD sabouteur or Brandenburg 500 specialist. So special troops are more survivable on the field than regular infantry. Those were the factors (often subjective) that affected infantry HP. The difference is very noticeable on the field. End result is important for us.

2. Infantry squads composition changed and new squads are added. Some squads got fixes to command masks.

3. Many new types of infantry: Soviet guards, NKVD squads (border guards and internal security troops), penal battalions, assault groups (complete with steel body armor), marines, volkssturm, paratroopers, Croatians, Rumunians, Swedes, Mongols, Canadians, Cossacks, Australians, SS troops, saboteurs and other special troops, New Zealandians, Indians and others. See unit list for a precise listing.

4. Noncombatants: pigs, chicken, geese, dogs, civilians…

5. All infantry is integrated into random mission generator and will appear in chapters and theaters according to historic reality.

6. Increased anti-tank capabilities of infantry. Now infantry has anti-tank grenades, anti-tank grenade launchers, incendiary bottles, rifle grenades, magnetic mines, special backpack charges, anti-tank rifles.
Increased attack ranges of grenade launchers and anti-tank rifles, set their armor piercing power according to reality. Grenade launchers have LONG reload time.

7. Number of anti-tank grenades infantry has can vary from 0 to 3-4. Throw range is 10 at max (they are heavy).

8. RKKA and Wehrmach assault squads, Japanese and US marines have infantry flamethrowers and demolition charges to demolish buildings and fortifications and destroy tanks. So, if the player can get them close to a bunker (by using smoke screen and clearing frontal defense troops), the bunker will quickly be destroyed. Sturmpioneers can blow up heavy tanks like KV in this same manner.

9. Snipers are detected more easily, he is not a terminator anymore. He doesn’t always kill with 1 shot as well – he’s just an army sniper, a soldier with a scoped rifle, not some famous ace who were few anyway. Even some squads now have snipers included.

10. Special troops: Soviet army recon and NKVD/SMERSH saboteurs, German saboteurs from Brandenburg group, British SAS and US rangers. Many of those are armed with special weapons not found among regular infantry: silenced SMGs, automatic and semi-auto rifles, special explosives. Specialists can sometimes carry machineguns, anti-tank rifles and grenade launchers as well.

11. Infantry received hand grenades and can throw them up to 17 tiles away (depends on weight and shape). Grenades have different damage and blast radius. List of grenades and throw range:
a. RGD-33        16
b. Mils            12
c. M39            16
d. M24            17
e. F-1            13
g. Mk.2        13
h. BREDA mod. 35        15
i. Incendiary bottle (Molotov)    10
j. Anti-tank grenade        10

12. Binoculars have smaller sector of view (25 degrees), but can see farther.

13. Artillery crews HP doubled.

14. Transport planes drop real paratroopers and not normal infantry

15. Added guard and combat dogs (those carry anti-tank explosives), and Japanese kamikaze soldiers. Guard dogs are used by border guards, anti-tank dogs are used in a couple of winter Moscow defense missions. They aren’t very effective, but they existed, so we made them.

16. Introduced cavalry for RKKA, Wehrmachs, Rumunians, Slovakians, Marocco colonial forces, Imperial Japanese Army, Meizi National army, Kuomintang and Voysko Polske. A cavalryman moves much faster than infantry, has more health and is more maneuverable than tanks (he can cross a forest easily). Cavalry can not use melee weapons, they are armed with pistols, revolvers, SMGs, carbines and grenades. They can be used for scouting and to raid enemy supply lines. By 1942 they almost disappear in game because of their vulnerability while mounted.

9. Armament

1) Tank attack range increased, different weapons have different ranges (Tiger fires farther than a KV-1 with F-32, T-34 – farther than a BT-7, T-34 with F-34 farther than a T-34 with L-11). We have composed a table on all tank, self-propelled gun and AA weapons including barrel lengths and calibers. Then we used formulas to calculate aimed shot distance (resulting ranges are between 30 and 80 tiles, or 1.5-2 times original BK weapons).

2) Difference between armored vehicle classes: SP guns fire farther than tanks, anti-tank guns fire even farther. Difference of about 5-10% between similar weapons on different unit classes.

3) Changed aiming time on all weapons. It depends on real stats of the weapon now, so the heavier the gun – the slower it aims.

4) All direct-fire weapons are set to real (as much as possible) penetration values for range of 500 meters against 90 degrees armor (slope is accounted for in armor system). Guaranteed penetration criteria was also used, taking in account different probabilities used for it between countries (5-12% difference between USSR and German criteria for ex.)

5) Small arm stats (range, power, armor piercing ability, fire rate and such) changed closer to reality (tried to account for everything, incl. bullet kinetic energy). So infantry combat range increased, now SMG infantry is more different from riflemen than before (and normal rifles are different from automatic rifles, etc.). Now it really matters which weapon a soldier holds (MP-40 soldier will often get killed by PPSh-41 armed enemy, Soviet soldier with Mosin rifle is better than Manchou-Go soldier with Arisaka, SVT-40 armed marine is even stronger. Same for machineguns – MG-42 is 1.5-2 times as good as a Bren). Weapon ergonomics influence aiming time.

6) All grenades, mines and bombs have (depending on their explosive power) a chance to immobilize a vehicle.

7) Artillery fire ranges set according to tables (but rocket artillery and mortars use different scale ingame)

8) Many new weapons: napalm, aircraft rockets, explosive charges, incendiary bombs, cluster bombs, naval mines, chemical bombs and shells, etc.

9) Increased spread and firing range for all automatic infantry weapons and vehicle machineguns. Damage per shot and firing range increased, accuracy decreased. Now machineguns are a powerful force, and their effectiveness depends on fire density.

10) Decreased shell spread on long-range artillery. This is to balance their low rate of fire.

11) Changed all aircraft bombs to increase blast radius and armor penetration.

12) Changed shockwave damage. Now artillery and bombs are more effective against armor.

13) Changed all aircraft cannons. Now aircraft cannot destroy lots of tanks with 20mm cannon fire, bombs and rockets are anti-armor weapons.

14) Fully redid flamethrowers. Now they differ by types and effectiveness, and they have NEW EFFECTS! Best of all flamethrowers on Blitzkrieg I and II engines!

15) Introduced air to air rockets (German R4M). One of Me-262 types carries them.

16) Starting with v7.03, the game features nuclear weapons. Comrade Ilyaka made fall and explosion effects for the A-bomb. The tactical bomb present in game has the power of about 30 kt. Main use is a single run against enemy armor and infantry.
ATTENTION! Use of A-bomb against building should be accompanied by a map script that damages or destroys them. Without that the bomb is useless as engine prevents damage to buildings from indirect hits.
Currently the following can carry nuclear weapons (they have special versions for that):
1. Pe-8 heavy bomber
2. Tu-4 long-range strategic bomber
3. B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber

10. Award system

1) New award system for USSR and Germany. Added lots of signs, medals, bands and orders, incl. Allied ones. Almost all real battle awards are included.

2) German awards have swastikas on them

3) Amount of experience needed to advance in rank increased greatly

4) Player can now gain 6 ranks, final rank gives 2 powerful artillery weapons from Supreme Command reserves

5) First 3 RKKA ranks have bars instead of shoulder straps

6) Increased maximum unit experience level to 5

7) Japanese award system and ranks with corresponding symbols.

11. Sounds and effects.

Most of new effects are in thanks to the work of comrade Ilyaka. Also, thanks to comrade Alexeyich GZM 7.0 has some new weapon and death sounds.
1) New sounds for all weapons. Now all guns, rifles, machineguns, SMG, mortars and rocket launchers sound differently.

2) Fully replaced effects on explosions, fatalities, burning vehicles smoke and weapon shots. More effects for the same event, so now units can burn and explode in a variety of ways.

3) Added voice sets for the following nations:
- Italians
- French
- Finns
- Hungarians
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Rumunians
- Chinese
- Polish
- Thai
- Yugoslavs
- Croatians
- Slovaks

4) Increased smoke screen duration, changed its visual effect. Now there is a big advantage in using it during assaults.

5) By popular demands, added cartridge extraction sound to many field gun shots.

6) New explosion sounds with falling dirt effects

7) Second explosion after a tank loses turret (internal ammunition detonation)

8) Many new aircraft engine sounds. Now all main aircraft engines (including jets) sound differently

9) Aircraft guns and machineguns got unique sounds for each weapon

10) Aircraft rockets got their own realistic launch effect, so now flaming bolts fly to the enemy from the sky!

11) Made effects for incendiary bombs and rockets

12) Introduced napalm tanks with their own unique effect

13) Molotov Cocktail got its own sound and burning time

14) Rocket launchers and other rocket weapons now have new amazing launch effects with flaming and smoking trails and a smoke cloud. Each rocket type has its own unique effect depending on caliber with a unique sound. Katyusha howl cannot be confused with ‘donkey scream’ Nebelwerfers make

15) New hit effects for heavy machineguns and automatic cannons.

16) Signal smoke effect. Can be used as a weapon on artillery spotter vehicles.

17) Siren sound for the diving Stuka

18) New mortar sound with mine whistle

19) Weather effect duration increased. Depends mostly on random, rain or storm can last from a few minutes to half an hour.

20) Replaced tank engine sound for more realistic ones. Most noticeable on Pz. III and IV, Tigers, Panthers and T-34.

21) Sounds for surface ships

22) New main musical theme by Victor Rapickiy
Now mod changes almost all sounds in game, apart from some music.

12. User interface

Based on GZM 5.55 experience, we came to conclusion that while standard UI is the most functional and Stalingrad UI is better aestetically, hybrid UI will be the best solution. So GZM 7.0 UI has the same functionality as standard BK UI, but looks very much like Stalingrad one.

13. Videos

Sergey Brich edited the video clips for the game.
1) As campaign start times have changed, we adjusted starting videos (but have not replaced them completely as they are quite good)
2) Authentic video made for menu background (instead of smoke and 2 tanks)
3) To make the videos, we only used bits of WW2 footage (incl. color ones) and bits from “WW2 in colour” from Discovery channel.

14. Unit composition, GZM 7.00, all nations

It should be noted that some units can be used (and ARE used) by a few different nations, guns and mortars for example, but they are only listed once (to avoid duplication). If something is listed more than once, then that unit was used by different nations and has different sounds, camo and sometimes even stats.

(список юнитов, длииииинный…)