The WWII Game I'd Like to See

The genre of the WWII related game has been stagnating recently, after achieving its heyday in the first half of the 2000s. Shooters have been far and few between since the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor series have moved on to more recent combat theatres. Even before that, the subgenre had begun to enter a phase of nauseous repitition, with what felt like the hundredth variant of the D-Day landings playing out on ever so incrementally tweaked new grafics engines. The RTS front has been ever so silent since the last entry into the Company of Heroes series, Tales of Valor, in 2009. And on the side of grand strategy games, Paradox' Hearts of Iron III stands tall and unchallenged as the memory-chewing ugly successor to the fine-tuned genius that Hearts of Iron II ended up being in the end (yes, I hate HoI 3). And even though Rebellion's Steve Hart claims that the market is ready for a new batch of WWII-related games again, none besides his own Sniper Elite 2 are in sight.


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"Theatre of War". Managing single soldiers maybe is a wee

bit too much micromanagement. Squads should do.
With that kept in mind, here's what would make me happy. I'd like to see a client-based, free-to-play, MMORTS game.



Location: Western Front, 1944Factions: Germany & USA (later expansion possible to: UK, Polish, Free French, multinational Waffen-SS)Terrain type: fully destructible/changeable, 3-D based on Google Earth, using randomized tilesets representative of general terrain and localesGrafics: high end, zoomableUnits: historical; smallest would be infantry squads and individual vehicles; player would start with a company-sized unit he can "buy" before joining the campaign using "game points"
"game points" are gathered by winning battles and achieving randomized in-game objectives (take church bell tower, hold bridge, mine X, etc.) or can be bought for real money
units can be upgraded using gathered "game points"; EXP gained and not converted into "game points" can be carried on into the next game
abilities of units would change with upgrades (add camouflage, ability to dig in, efficacy of their fortifications, Panzerfausts, speed of field repairs, etc.) 
Promotions: winning X amount of battles open Y amount of "game points", opens up larger unit sizes up till full battalion or regiment



Modes: Balance & Challenge

"Balance" would mean that
the game searches for engagements of units of the same size, ie. company-sized vs. company-sized; 
players gather EXP for themselves and their units, but would not affect the overall strategic situation; labelled as "Skirmishes"
game point acquisition is halved
"Challenge" would be the real competitive game mode.
Two basic battle modes: regiment -sized and battalion -sized, allowing for a maximum of six players on one map (3 vs. 3 battalions; 3 vs. 3 companies)
Players would have the option to withdraw from the battle;
battles in "Challenge" mode would affect the overall strategic map


"King Arthur". The blue flag represents a battlefield objective.
Objectives and goals:

Simply put, to win the whole theatre is the final goal. However, the intrinsic dynamic nature of the game should open up possibilities like affecting the enemy by cutting off anf encircling his advanced units on the strategic map. On the tactical battle maps, I'd opt for a combination of a timer- and objective based approach. You start with a basic time account of, say, sixty minutes. If you are on the offensive, every captured objective gains you additional time.



Objectives in and by themselves also should offer boni: a captured church with its tower should boost your line of sight and the efficacy of your infantry within its perimeter; a captured hill should boost the accuracy of your artillery, and so on.



These are my preliminary ramblings. What are your wishes in a new WWII game? Tell me - doesn't have to be an RTS!