AI manning each station. The level of detail was described by Tripwire's president John Gibson as "rivaling or exceeding tank simulation games." Because of the extensive work required to recreate each vehicle, which Tripwire estimates took three months each, the game launched with two tanks: the German Panzer IV Ausf. G and Soviet T-34/76. In April 2014, the Game of the Year addition was released with the Search and Destroy game mode, new maps and two armoured personnel carriers were added into the game: a Sd.Kfz. 251, used by the Germans, and a British Universal Carrier with a mounted DP-27 machine gun used by the Soviets. These additions gave infantry more protection and a quick alternative for moving around the battlefield. Two more tanks, the German Panzer III Ausf. M and the Soviet T-70 along with the MG42 German machine gun were added in the free Armored Assault DLC. Development In June 2011, Red Orchestra 2'''s developer, Tripwire, announced they would be taking an aggressive, three-pronged approach to proactively deal with cheating. Red Orchestra 2 would be using a combination of three anti-cheat services; VAC along with Punkbuster and a related service called PBBans. Server operators can choose to use any or none of these services. Tripwire later clarified that Punkbuster for Red Orchestra 2 will have three levels of protection so server operators can optionally make it more or less aggressive in kicking players. A Beta was initiated early on the development process with several phases. First, the Family and Friends Beta for family members and friends of the Tripwire Interactive staff. Then the Beta moved on to include long time clans from Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 and clans new to the game. After this stage, the Beta was opened for anyone that had pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, which gave the added bonus of participating in the final stage of the Beta.Rising Storm was released on May 30, 2013 as a standalone expansion to Red Orchestra 2. An optional Digital Deluxe edition is available, and a Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad ownership bonus discount of 25% on the Steam store. A 15% preorder discount was also available. Owners of the original Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad received free access to the rifleman class, whilst buyers of Rising Storm were given the original game as well. As of 2018, both games' content is merged