Historical context:
The geography of an expected Soviet invasion of Europe focused heavily on strategic bottlenecks, most notably the Fulda Gap and the North German Plain. These corridors were identified as the most likely routes for the Soviet Army to pour into West Germany and into the heart of Europe. NATO’s defensive strategy was largely one of “active defense,” aimed at trading space for time and inflicting maximum attrition on the Soviet echelons using superior long-range gunnery and anti-tank guided missiles. This era of tension defined the design requirements for Western armor, emphasizing the need for the 105mm M68 rifled gun to defeat Soviet sloped armor and the eventual move toward passive night vision to counter the Soviet advantage in night-fighting equipment. The 1960s thus represented a period where the threat of a sudden, overwhelming “Red Storm” dictated every technical and tactical decision made by Western military planners. Thankfully, this never came to fruition, as if it had, the world would be very different.
Operation Thunder 197X Overview:
An event based on a what-if late 1970s Cold War gone hot scenario and nato training exercises that would have a NATO-themed team and a Warsaw Pact-themed team battle it out on a large-scale map until one of the win conditions is reached.
The teams would be composed of mid-Cold War vehicles from both NATO and Warsaw Pact nations. The Blue Team would be based on NATO, while the Red Team would be based on the Warsaw Pact. All vehicles are ideally in service prior to 1980 however a few exceptions had to be made as stand in’s for vehicles/ vehicle models not currently available in the game. Those such vehicles are listed with their irl counterparts in parentheses.
WIN CONDITIONS:
A) Kill 120 enemies.
B) Have the Enemy team no longer be fighting (No active players on the enemy team)
C) Run out the timer with more kills than the enemy team.
Teams:
BLUEFOR
M60A1 AOS (M60A1 RISE), M60A2, Leopard 1, M551, RakJPZ 2, M113 Tow, M48A2 G A2, Centurion MK10, Leopard 1A2 ITALY , Magach 2 (M48A3)
REDFOR
T55A, BMP-1, PT-76B, T54 (1951), Type 59, Type 69, T62, ASU-57, T10M, ZTS63
Location:
The location would be set in the North German plains to represent the expected general area where a Soviet invasion of Europe would occur, given the topography. The map would be 5x5km (aprox. 3x3 miles)
And would feature small hills, forests, farmland, houses, and a highway littered with both abandoned, intact, and burning cars and trucks. The large map would help to create a realistic setting for the battle. Each match would take place at day or night conditions with the weather being overcast or storm.
IRL location examples
Technical info
Technical details:
The Battle would be set in simulator mode, with a player choosing from one of two teams. Each team would be given a set of 10 tanks that a player can choose to use, similar to how the Great War event was, these tanks will not be from only one nation.
The player can spawn however many times they would like, as long as they have enough SL to do so, similar to how air simulator battles and enduring confrontation work.
All vehicles would include all modifications (with the exception of scout drones ) unlocked and would use basic crew levels, with the exception that if a player owns the vehicle they choose to spawn, they would get the highest crew level they have for a crew slot trained on that vehicle.
If a player owns a usable tank, they could use any camouflage and decals on that vehicle that they have unlocked and in use (if this is technically feasible to accomplish).
When the match timer reaches 5 minutes left, all players will hear an air-raid siren start, which will continue until there are 10 seconds left in the match. Once the timer runs out, a Nuke would go off as a pure visual effect to explain why the battle has ended. The nuke would not be player-controlled or even dropped by an aircraft; rather, it would go off the moment the timer hits zero. The team that has the most amount of enemy kills would win. The nuke would be a visual effect only, and players would not see the cutscene that is shown when a nuke is dropped in a realistic battle but would rather remain at their vehicals to witness the nuke in first person.
The match would use a timer to prevent the match from lasting for an absurd amount of time and would be longer than the timer used in regular RB matches.
Aircraft/helicopters would be unavailable for this event due to the exclusion of anti aircraft vehicles that would limit the available stereotypical tanks for each nation.
If a player is teamkilled for any reason, a kill point will be automatically awarded to the enemy team, regardless of intention. Besides this yea killing would be punished as normal.
Rewards
There could be potential rewards for this event in the form of decals, decorations, camouflages, and even maybe titles or profile pictures.
This idea was inspired by my love of Cold War history, the Age of Tanks TV series, games such as GHPC, Battlefield, and the song “99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons”.
More images
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If you have any suggestions or ideas, please post them in the comments. Please keep discussions NONPOLITICAL. Also, as a note, it’s not 100% historically accurate in terms of introduction dates for balancing and in-game limitations on available vehicles and mechanics.
Also please note this was made before nuclear thunder happened and I will be making changes that include some things seen in that event in regards to lineups
