I was hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, sitting across from someone who really should not be talking to me. I know what would happen if they found out whom I was, but God knows what would happen to him. Mo had been one of the more reclusive Rats, rarely seen outside of the Compound. It took me 4 weeks to prove that he even existed; months to set up this interview, originally trying to get him to Brussels, but that fell through. They would barely let him out of the Rat Bunker in the light of day, never mind letting him wander freely in a large city in the middle of a war zone to talk with a known war criminal. If I wanted to interview him, I had to go to him.

I had a lot of questions, but we had to be careful here. Guards constantly were patrolling by as I tried to get my questions to him, without being noticed.

”The biggest news with 1.9 is depot spawning. How do you see depot

Spawning changing the strategies and how the game is played?” I asked. “Do you have a specific plan involved on how depot spawning should be used?”

Mo’s nervousness was obvious. His eyes darted back to the door of the main bunker as he answered me. “Well, ‘Should’, and ‘strategy’ are up to you guys. We supply the sandbox, keep it as clean as we can, and you guys use it. Simply put, depot spawning is designed to help force flow of infantry in CPs, lessen time to combat for infantry, and make CPs more dangerous for armor to roam around in.” He took a big gulp of some unknown liquid, in a large, stained mug. Again, his eyes darted to the guards on patrol.

I waited till they passed before posing the next questions, interspersed amid bland comments about the weather and the general war effort. “Where did the idea of Depot spawning come from? Was it planned all along, or is this the brainchild of one of the Rats? Or Both? Who was the diabolical mastermind behind it?”

Mo looked at me for a few seconds. Obviously, this is not a question he wanted to answer. But I was given free range for my questions, and he is a man of his word. “Ultimately it's been in the design since day one, but we haven't had the time to tie up the loose ends of that design's ‘fallout’ until now. While it may seem like a super easy feature to add (and it was basically) it has so many rule dependencies on the way that the map and ownership work, that managing it was far greater effort than coding it up.”

“Then what was the catalyst that got it in?” I asked.

“One day a few months ago Killer finally said to Gophur and (me) ‘I want depot spawning now. It's been freekin’ years already, and I want it in NOW!’ Well, when the boss says "jump"....” I got the feeling that one does not say no to Killer very often. I imagine he earned his name the fun and messy way.

At this point he noticed that Hatch was walking over to us. He fired several questions at Mo, most of which I could barely understand. Something about killing every single person on something he called “The OT”. He noticed me and gave me a look like he was trying to remember something. He gave Mo a questioning eye. Mo just gave him a quick dismissive shake of his head. Hatch skewered me with one more hairy eyeball, and stomped off. I slowly took my hand of my Lugar, hidden in my jacket, as he disappeared back down into the bunker.

Taking a moment to calm myself, I fired off another question. “Being a grunt myself, what is in store for the backbone of the army, in the future? Any plans for customizable weapons loads for infantry? Maybe a few new weapons, maybe the PanzerFaust or other infantry AT weapons. Or the scope? Any hidden surprises coming down the line for us?”

I barely had finished my question when he answered, not making eye contact. He wanted to get this over with quickly. “Yes to all of that. We are finalizing our load out design now which will be space/weight based. So that each infantryman will have a limited amount of weight to carry, on a limited set of hard points. On top of this there will be rank limits overlaid on the weapon set, as well as limits from supply. We are working towards a much more dynamic system where troops must select weapons based on all of the above and what circumstance they think they'll be in. On paper it's looking pretty cool.”

I noticed he did not answer the questions about AT weaponry, but I let it slide. No reason to push him at this point. “With the advent of depot spawning and linked supply between FB's and cities, are there any plans to make it possible to disrupt the existing supply lines, via sappers and/or bombers blowing bridges, railways, etc., in order to slowdown the rate at which the depots and/or FB's get resupplied?”

He seemed relieved to answer these questions. “On bridges: We have to give you guys a way to rebuild them before we can let 'ya blow em!” He laughed. I pictured him slowly going mad in this place. “It may sound simple but there are lots of things to consider for ‘rules’ of blowing and rebuilding too avoid griefing. Once we iron out that rule set, and get some rebuild tools together (truck load outs with bridge repair stuff for example) we'll let you guys blow em.” Now that sounded interesting. This sounded like it would be just a matter of time before some squads start up Engineering Battalions. “Deployment is the word we are using to describe ‘breaking the global spawn limits.’ Right now any/all facilities bow to the same rule sets when it comes to what vehicles you can get there. We are planning to implement a system wherein the German and Allied High Commands must use the points from factories to ‘build’ spawn lists, then transport those to HQ facilities to be deployed. In that system, bombing factories and searching for and destroying convoys will have huge impacts on the enemy.” Search and destroy missions? Convoys? My mouth was watering at the possibilities. I pictured midnight raids, knife in hand, with satchels strapped to my back, to blow transport lines. I was lost in the moment.

“Ahhhh….Winter…You ok?””

“Sorry, ummm, where was I?” I regained my composure. “Are there any plans for individual squad/kampfgruppe symbols, or insignia, on the infantry or tanks/planes? Something which allows your fellow soldier, or the enemy for that manner, to know who they are fighting with or against?” 

Mo answered with a smile, “Yes. This has always been on the design list as well. We'll probably use the infantry to implement that type of thing first, but then we want to deliver that to planes and vehicles too.”

I changed the subject, to try and keep him off his guard. “The one point that is really been missing, since day one, has been the Navy, though we know about the destroyers. How ‘soon’ are we from a real deep water navy? Capital ships, spawnable landing craft, subs, and the like.”

“Well, we are bringing Destroyers in ‘very’ soon, and working cargo ships will follow that. The Cargo ships will have minimal defense (some 20mm, and possibly a deck cannon) and they will have the ability to load armor and troops on. It's probable that loading and off/loading of armor will need to take place at specified docks, etc. Subs will follow, and then capital ships after that. However to add subs we need to re-write our water environment. We can support submerged vehicles to a degree right now, but not to the degree we need to make subs work well enough. That will be a pretty big chore, and will suggest that ALL ships be rebuilt. It might be a while for subs.”

I asked my last question. The patrols were eyeing me up again, and I felt that I would be needing to beat a hasty retreat from here fairly soon. “Finally, who is the most lethal Rat? Who do you think is the best grunt, the most dangerous Rat in the sky, and the last person you would want to fight against in a tank?” If I was going to go up against these guys eventually, I would need this information.

He didn’t even give these a second thought. “Rafter kills everyone in Anti-Aircraft guns. Do not fly near that man with a Flak or Camel! Killer is the best trooper. Ramp and Toto can troop much better than most, but Killer is a badass.” I knew it. I knew he didn’t get his nickname from his good looks. “In tanks I try to avoid Killer, Corn and Doc, the problem is that they are all good at hull down, so by the time you know they are there....death cam! In planes Hatch is king. Doc, Corn, and myself are pretty good pilots, Corn has the best gunnery, Doc has the best evasive, and I'm probably king of energy management (they would all laugh if they read that one!), but Hatch puts it all together better than anyone here. When destroyers hit, FT will rule the waves, he's our salty dog” he had a big grin as he says this, “and can hit a mouse with the 5 inchers at 4 km.

At this moment, I notice Hatch and Rafter talking to a few of the guards and pointing in our direction. I look back to Mo, and he already is gone. I get up, loosen my Lugar under my arm, and fade into the shadowed alley behind me. The sun has just set, and I will need the cover of night to get a good start at getting back to our lines. I have a long trip ahead of me, but I got the information I came for. 

-Winter, GHC War Correspondent, 31^st Wrecking Crew, Villian.