What's Changed
- Add changes from 1.8.0 by @petrvecera in #61
Full Changelog: v1.7.2-1...v1.8.0-1
NEW CONTENT & FEATURES
Maps
Audio
Updated several maps with ambience audio. Notably, our launch maps lacked updated environmental ambience that can be heard in quiet moments on the battlefield.
New Maps
Road to Primosole (2vs2)
Added 2vs2 Road to Primosole map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.
Set into the beautiful foothills of Sicily, this manor house and its grounds will play host to vicious fighting. Take command of the manor on its perch, but always remain vigilant not to lose the lower roads and their connection to your headquarters.
We have increased the automatch weighting of Road to Primosole temporarily to coincide with its release. This will be reverted in the coming weeks.
Longstop Hill (3vs3)
Added 3vs3 Longstop Hill to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.
A steep and daunting mountainside, nestled with defenses and ruins. Choose to fight on the barren high ground or take your chances in the lush valley below.
We have increased the automatch weighting of Longstop Hill temporarily to coincide with its release. This will be reverted in the coming weeks.
Alam el Halfa (4vs4 Official Community Map)
Added community-made 4vs4 Alam el Halfa map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.
A vast open desert, flanked by a militarized airfield and secluded town. Rocky outcroppings break sight lines and encourage ambushes in this otherwise barren and battle-worn landscape.
We have increased the automatch weighting of Alam el Halfa temporarily to coincide with its release. This will be reverted in the coming weeks.
Multiplayer Maps Quality of Life Improvements
We continue to bug fix and add improvements across our Multiplayer Maps, thanks to feedback on the Company of Heroes Official Discord. Further feedback on each map is still welcome, so please be sure to leave comments in the map-feedback section.
Villa Fiore (1vs1) - Stone Archways into the central garden have been adjusted to ensure access to all team weapons, including Anti-Tank guns.
Faymonville (1vs1) - Hedgerows near the central house have been adjusted to ensure there is a guaranteed blind spot on this building. At very specific angles, Heavy Machine Gun teams could occupy this blocked window and fire through the hedges.
Pachino Stalemate (1vs1) - This map has received a considerable territory update, thanks to continued feedback. Fuel points have now been adjusted to the outer edges of the map and territory cut-offs are now more aggressive.
Pachino Farmlands (2vs2) - The Southern Victory Point has received a rework to iron out several issues, including the dominance of the house placed upon the hill, height gameplay bonuses that favor one side of the map, and a lack of sight blocking hedges to mirror the other side of the map. Additionally, a new access route has been added to the farmhouse in this area to improve access.
Gothic Line (3vs3) Updated a section of trench walls on Gothic Line to provide more reliable cover.
FEATURE IMPROVEMENTS
Chat System Improvements
Added Chat Visibility settings to provide players more control over their in-game experience. Chat will default to Disabled until you decide to change it.
Added the Chat Visibility option to Settings. Players can toggle between:
Everyone (Team + All)
Team Only
Disabled
System messages will still be visible in the chat (such as vote to surrender, etc.)
User Interface and User Experience
The ability UI for the US Forces has been adjusted to make the estimated area of effect more accurate to the payloads being delivered.
Reticule sizes have been increased (for the most part) to better communicate what you can expect when using an ability. Keep in mind that the reticule size increases are for visual communication; not everything within the reticule space will be guaranteed to be hit by the ability due therandomness generated by scatter, but the effects of the ability will land within the area shown by the UI.
The following abilities have had their UI reticules adjusted:
Airborne Recon Loiter- made the initial cast more accurate to the sight revealed by the plane.
Airborne Reinforcements - Made the area affected by the ability more accurate to the exact area the ability affects.
Spec Ops Raiding Flares - Made the preview more indicative of the results the player can expect (accounting for potential scatter of the flares)
Spec Ops Smoke Screen - Made the preview more indicative of the results the player can expect (accounting for potential scatter of the shells)
Captain Retinue Off-Map Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
Sherman Whizbang Rocket Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
M3 75mm Motor Carriage High Explosive Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
M1 Mortar Team Delayed Fuse HE Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
M1 Mortar Team Delayed Airburst Barrage- Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
M1 Mortar Team Smoke Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
Mortar Pit High Explosive Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
Mortar Pit Smoke Barrage - Tuned ability indicator according to range to target
M4 105 Sherman Bulldozer Incendiary Barrage - Tuned ability size and indicator according to range from target
M4 105 Sherman Bulldozer White Phosphorus Barrage - Tuned ability size and indicator according to range to target
M8 Greyhound Armored Car Smoke Shot - Increase the size of the reticule UI to account for possible scatter
Rifle Smoke Grenades- increased the size of the reticule to be more accurate to the size of the smoke. This will be applied to all units using the rifle smoke grenades.
US Scout Recon Flares - increased the size of the UI reticule to be more accurate to the area revealed by the flare.
Smoke Shells - increased the minimum and maximum UI radius values to be more accurate to the size and scatter of the payload. Affects the Chaffee, Sherman, and Sherman Bulldozer.
M8 Scott SPG High Explosive Barrage - increased the max UI radius to account for potential scatter of the payload
M8 Scott SPG Smoke Barrage - increased the min and max UI radius to account for potential scatter of the payload
M8 Scott SPG White Phosphorus Barrage- increased the min and max UI radius to account for potential scatter of the payload
M8 Scott SPG Bunker Buster Barrage - increased the min and max UI radius to account for potential scatter of the payload
The ability UI for the Wehrmacht has been adjusted to make the estimated area of effect more accurate to the payloads being delivered.
The following abilities have had their UI reticules adjusted:
GRM-34 Mortar Team HE Barrage increased size to be more accurate to the areas hit (accounting for scatter)
GRM-34 Mortar Team Smoke Barrage - increased UI maximum size to reflect the areas affected by the ability
GRM-34 Mortar Team Veterancy Flare - increased the UI size to reflect the area revealed by the ability
Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket Launcher Incendiary Barrage - increased UI at all ranges for accuracy (Accounting for scatter)
Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket Launcher White Phosphorus Barrage - increased the UI at maximum range to account for scatter
Stormtrooper Stick Grenade Assualt - increased the UI to better reflect where the grenades can land at all ranges
Stormtrooper Red Phosphorus - increased the UI size to better reflect the size of the ability payload
Mechanized Battlegroup Zeroing Artillery Barrage - increased the ability UI to better reflect the area that can be affected by it.
Luftwaffe Battlegroup Stuka Loiter - increased the UI to better show the area that will be affected by the loiter
Wespe Self Propelled Artillery HE Barrage - adjusted the UI to account for the potential scatter at all ranges
Stummel Half Track HE Barrage - increased the maximum range UI slightly to account for potential scatter.
High Contrast Mode
Updated the High Contrast values for text. This will allow text to be more readable to those players that need to use High Contrast. Also added a black background.
Added a High Contrast Background to the town text and the battle type text.
Updated the selection card to use proper High Contrast Values. T.
Updated the background for the text on the objectives and objectives pop up in High Contrast mode.
Updated the background for the Unit Text and the background for the Veterancy text.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
A.I.
With the release of Onyx Shark (1.7.0) we noticed that player feedback regarding the A.I. predominantly noted it was not as active around the map. For this update, we've taken another look at how we can further improve the A.I to tackle this problem. One of the biggest changes made was to re-adjust how the A.I. perceives the frontline and how units are positioned. This should make the A.I. feel like they are overall more aggressive and ready to help nearby engagements.
Here is a more comprehensive rundown of the changes:
A.I. has a stricter definition for the frontline and units will prefer positions near the border of owned and enemy territory.
Adjusted more vehicle behaviors so that vehicles will prefer to go to the frontlines when full health more often.
Adjusted build orders to use less of the early game light vehicles at game stages where they are no longer as useful.
Adjusted retreat timing to compensate for the 1.7.0 time-to-kill changes.
Improved team weapon behaviors. They should now face the correct way and get recrewed only when the A.I. feels like they have a more significant combat advantage.
A.I. should now react better to being targeted by units in the fog of war, where previously they could leave themselves exposed for long durations.
Changed how the A.I. chooses to use their Battlegroup abilities. As they unlock stronger abilities, they will prioritize them over cheaper abilities. This should solve over-usage of recon loiters as an example.
A.I. will have a higher chance to build engineers when vehicles are present.
MULTIPLAYER BALANCE
General
Light Vehicles
Light vehicles have become too dominant, being very cost effective, lethal, and having early timings that make it hard to get counters before they snowball the game in favor of the player building light vehicles.
We have made a global change to most light vehicles in the game, increasing their fuel cost. This will make massed light vehicles less cost-effective and give players more time to create counter units.
Sandbags and Tank Trap Defense Target Size
The following change makes it easier to destroy certain field defenses when issuing attack-move commands on the target.
All updated to target size 20 except wire
Recrew Team Weapon Ability
Halftracks and trucks were able to reinforce decrewed team weapons too quickly, particularly in team games where they are more prominent. This change slows the rate at which a single reinforcement platform can recrew multiple team weapons without infantry support.
Recharge time increased from 30 to 60
Demolition Charges
We are further increasing the damage demolition charges deal to defensive structures to solidify their role as anti-defense weapons.
Now deal 200% additional damage to bunkers in addition to current modifiers.
Bonus damage against emplacements increased from 100% to 200%
Flamethrowers and Vehicle Flamethrowers
Flamethrowers have fallen out of use on most units in favor of safer options. Recent changes to time-to-kill, ineffectiveness against defenses, and flamethrowers doing inconsistent damage to infantry squads in-cover have made these weapons weak in their role. The following changes increase area of effect for the flamethrowers, their anti-structure damage, and slightly improves their damage-per-second to be more effective weapons during combat.
Area of effect width increased from 3 to 4
Bonus damage against bunkers increased from 100% to +250%
Bonus damage against buildings increased from +75% to +250%
Flamethrowers now always penetrate bunkers and buildings
Panzer III and L6 Flamethrower damage increased from 2 to 2.5
Minimum and maximum cooldown reduced by 0.25 for all flamethrowers
Salvaging – Recovery Vehicles and Rapid Salvage for Panzerpioneers and Panzergrenadiers
In most cases it was preferable to recover a destroyed vehicle wreck rather than salvaging it. To remedy this, we are now allowing salvaged wrecks to provide manpower, incentivizing this ability to be used to improve one’s economy or in situations where wrecks cannot be safely recovered.
Now provides 30% of the total wreck’s manpower cost in addition to the current 15% fuel.
All Infantry-Based Rifle Weapons
In the early game, it is too easy for ultra-light vehicles to push off mainline infantry squads. In many instances, these vehicles could drive into an infantry squad, cause a significant amount of damage and then either back-off for repairs or force the squad to retreat when these vehicles should either be flanking an opponent’s cover or providing fire support from a distance.
We are now giving all rifle weapons in the game increased penetration at point-blank, allowing mainline infantry to ward off vehicles at close-range.
Near penetration increased from 1 to 1.5 for all rifle weapons
Pintle Mounted Machine Guns
With the current anti-air system, pintles do not deal enough damage to bring down planes. We are removing the anti-air feature of these weapons to prevent these units from giving their location away when not on hold-fire.
No longer target aircraft
Vehicle Turrets, Anti-tank Guns and Pintles
A large number of weapons would reset to neutral facing when an enemy unit left the weapon’s arc. We are increasing the post-fire aim time so weapons remain at their previous facing for longer periods of time.
Post fire-aim time standardized to 4; this means vehicles, anti-tank guns and tank top gunners should require 4 seconds before reverting to neutral facing when there are no targets
Snipers
The improvements to time-to-kill have made it more difficult to push well-protected snipers, despite them also being more vulnerable when caught in the open. We are slightly increasing their manpower costs to make killing snipers more cost-effective if a unit needs to be traded out in the process.
Price increased from 300 to 340
Shell-based Artillery Units
A number of shell-based artillery units are getting their far area of effect damage adjusted to increase the damage of non-direct hits and help deal additional splash damage to large masses of infantry. We have not chosen to increase the far area-of-effect damage of rocket artillery due to their faster rates of fire, allowing more rockets to reach a target position before the opponent can react.
Medium howitzer far area of effect damage increased from 0.15 to 0.2; Affects the Wespe, Bishop, Cannone 105, M2A1 105mm
Bl 5.5 Inch Howitzer far area of effect damage increased from 0.1 to 0.175
Fixed an issue where the 105mm auto-fire did not use the same stats as the standard 105mm barrage
US Forces
Air Support Center
Due to the munition costs of the various strike abilities that also have an opportunity cost associated with them, we are removing the shared cooldown between the strafing run and the dive-bomb.
Airstrikes no long share cooldowns
Scout Squad
Scouts are having their build-time reduced to give USF more strategies in the early game that focus on map control over combat.
Build time reduced from 30 to 20; due to rounding, it causes it to appear as 19 in the UI
Pathfinders unaffected and remain at 33
Engineer and Assault Squads
American engineers are receiving a boost to their health to increase their durability when used in combat roles such as flamethrower teams or light assault infantry. We have also adjusted their damage-per-second to be more damaging against vehicles, like other SMG weapons, while retaining the current effectiveness against infantry.
Standardize health from 85/90 to 100 for all variants
Accuracy reduced from 75/37.5/22.5 to 46/26.5/17
Assault Engineer accuracy set to 0.495/0.265/0.17
Damage increased from 3 to 4
Burst near modifier increased from 0.75 to 1
Riflemen Squad
Riflemen are receiving a population increase to make it harder to maintain a large army, this primarily targets builds that go above 4-5 Riflemen.
Population increased from 7 to 8
Veterancy requirement increased from 900/2700/5400 to 950/2850/5700
Bazooka Team
We are reducing the manpower cost of the Bazooka Team to make the unit more cost-efficient as an early anti-vehicle unit. We have also fixed Steady-Fire, allowing Bazooka Teams to zone out a large area when in garrisons such as Fighting Positions.
Manpower cost reduced from 280 to 250
Steady-Fire now functions in garrisons
M1 57mm Anti-tank Gun
Due to how fluid and mobile combat can be, we have changed the Focused Sight ability to provide a shorter vision range but will always remain active until it is toggled off.
Focused Sight functionality changed to only give vision when the team weapon is set-up. The ability no longer cancels when the unit is not deployed and remains active.
Focused Sight vision bonus reduced from 35 to 15
M3 Armored Personnel Carrier
Fuel cost increased from 25 to 30
HMG arc increased from 45 to 120
Salvage Crews now changed to destroy team weapons after a set duration, rather than depleting health. Always grants 60 munitions for team weapons and 15 fuel for wrecks
M16 Quad Halftrack
Fuel cost increased from 30 to 40
M3 75mm Halftrack
The 75mm Halftrack is having its barrage improved, giving the US Forces a more powerful indirect-fire option over the mortar. The increased range, rate of fire, and near area of effect improves the unit’s effectiveness against defenses, team weapons, and infantry. Scatter has been increased to reduce accuracy at range, but also for greater chances of scatter hits against mobile units.
Fuel cost increased from 30 to 40
Barrage reload time reduced from 5 to 3.75/4.25
Barrage aim-time reduced from 1 to 0.125
Barrage range increased from 70 to 90
Barrage angle scatter increased from 3.5 to 6.5
Barrage area of effect distance increased from 0 to 0.5
M8 Greyhound
The Greyhound population is being increased to match other light combat vehicles. The unit’s area of effect damage is also being reduced in exchange for more damage on the 50cal Heavy Machine Gun, making the Greyhound less effective at dealing large bursts of damage in a short period of time.
Cost adjusted from 280 manpower and 40 fuel to 260 manpower and 50 fuel
Population increased from 6 to 8
Area of effect damage reduced from 0.75/0.4/0.4 to 0.5/0.3/0.3
M2HB 50cal damage increased from 7 to 9
M24 Chaffee Light Tank
The following changes primarily target the effectiveness of massed Chaffees which were too cost effective when paired with the Armored Battlegroup. It created a gameplay loop where players could challenge higher tier vehicles while continuing to stockpile cost effective vehicles that were easily replaced and had little impact on upkeep/population.
To remedy this, their population cost has been increased, near penetration reduced to make attacking tanks frontally less effective and Seek and Destroy has been changed to now be pure a detection ability. A single Chaffee will still remain effective against early enemy vehicles.
Population increased from 7 to 9
Fuel cost increased from 50 to 60
Near penetration reduced from 180 to 150
APCR near penetration reduced from 270 to 220
Now prioritizes vehicles by default upon creation
Seek and Destroy renamed to Vehicle Detection
Duration increased from 30 to 45 seconds
No longer grants a speed bonus
M8 Scott
Fuel cost increased from 45 to 55
Fixed HE barrage data to match auto-fire damage
Armored Battlegroup
Armored Field Repairs
Munitions cost reduced from 100 to 85
Seek and Destroy
We are changing Seek and Destroy to provide vision, creating greater differentiation from the German Blitzkrieg ability and reducing the effectiveness of units while the ability is active due to Armored Company being able to produce cheaper vehicles.
All global vehicle speed bonuses have been lowered to make these abilities less effective at rushing through enemy lines and getting to an enemy’s flank by charging forward.
Fire rate bonus removed, now gives +10 Sight
Speed bonus reduced from 35% to 20%
Strength in Steel
Command Point cost increases from 1 to 2
Wehrmacht
Pioneers
Pioneers are receiving some improvements to their survivability and point-blank damage to make them slightly more effective in the early game.
Health increased from 85 to 95
Weapon near cooldown reduced from 0.8 to 0.5
Grenadier Squad
Build time decreased from 24 to 20
Panzergrenadier
We are improving the Panzergrenadier, particularly at mid-long range to make it more dangerous to approach the squad or engage with them in cover battles. We are hoping this change encourages players to use this squad at mid-range, rather than rushing them forward as a close-quarters-combat squad.
Aim-time modifiers reduced from 1.75/1.75/3 to 1.25/1.5/2
Mid accuracy increased from 0.45 to 0.475
Long-range accuracy increased from 0.245 to 0.26
251 Armored Personnel Carrier
Like other light vehicles, we are delaying the Stummel upgrade through build-time and cost increases as the unit is now a very capable combat support unit.
Fuel cost increased from 20 to 30
Stummel munition cost increased from 50 to 60
Stummel research time increased from 30 to 45
Fixed an issue where the Stummel would not benefit from Veterancy 1 upgrades from the Officer Quarters
221 Scout Car
Fuel cost increased from 25 to 30
Flak 30 Anti-aircraft Team
Bonus damage against aircraft increased from 300% to 435%
Wirbelwind Flakpanzer IV
Fuel cost increased from 60 to 70
Marder III M Tank Destroyer
Fuel cost increased from 40 to 45
StuG III G Assault Gun
All StuG variants are gaining increased armor. It was too easy to force the StuG away with anti-armor weapons due to its limited arc of fire and slow speed. For the anti-armor variant, the unit was too slow to track most targets on the field before they got away or got to the unit’s flank.
Fuel cost increased from 60 to 70
Armor increased from 210 to 250
Side armor increased from 110 to 150
Rotation rate increased from 28 to 32
Brummbar
Fuel cost increased from 100 to 110
Tiger Heavy Tank
Heavy tanks like the Black Prince and Tiger are having their area of effect adjusted to have less damage drop-off and a larger area of effect, but they will also have a smaller one hit kill radius. There were too many situations where these heavy tanks failed to deal damage to infantry despite the shell landing near them, while other situations could see these vehicles wiping out an entire squad on a lucky hit.
Area of effect radius increased from 3.5 to 4.5
Area of effect distance adjust from 1/2/3.5 to 0.25/1.5/3.5
Area of effect damage adjusted from 1/0.15/0.05 to 0.6/0.33/0.1875
Blitzkrieg
Global speed bonus reduced from 35% to 20%
Mechanized Battlegroup
8 Rad Armored Car
The Wehrmacht 8 Rad is receiving an increase to its command point requirement to delay how quickly this unit can arrive. This is in addition to changes that the DAK 8 Rad has also received.
Population increased from 7 to 8
Fuel cost increased from 40 to 55
Accuracy decreased from 0.52/0.424/0.36 to 0.52/0.318/0.18
Command Point requirement increased from 1 to 2
StuG III D Assault Gun
Armor increased from 210 to 250
Side armor increased from 110 to 150
Rotation rate increased from 28 to 32
Mobile Repair Stations
Command point cost reduced from 2 to 1
Mechanized Assault
The amount of health regenerated was far too high, able to heal a unit through 2-3 anti-tank gun shots and led to players using the ability to rush vehicles in, rather than supporting the infantry. We have significantly reduced the amount of healing provided.
Health regeneration per second reduced from 10 to 3.5
Luftwaffe Battlegroup
LG 40 Recoilless Team
The LG 40’s HE rounds were too ineffective against infantry, having a low explosion radius, high scatter, and limited damage outside its near explosion radius. We have adjusted the HE rounds to be more accurate with a larger explosion radius and more damage at the mid and far edges of the area-of-effect, but less damage within the near radius.
High-explosive round area radius increased from 2.5 to 3.5
High-explosive round angle scatter reduced from 10 to 6
High-explosive round area of effect damage changed from 1/0.25/0.1 to 0.6/0.3/0.25
Luftwaffe Relay
We are moving the Luftwaffe Relay back to only requiring Fallschirmpioneers to allow for synergy with paradropped weapons such as the LG40 and earlier access. The Flak emplacement has now been moved to replace its position in the Battlegroup tree with a range buff to improve the emplacement.
Now available on the Fallschirmpioneer and Pioneers squad at the start of the game
Reinforcement radius increased from 50 to 60
Manpower cost reduced from 200 to 175
Flak 38 Anti-Aircraft Emplacement
Now takes up the position of the Luftwaffe Relay Point at 1 command point
Range increased from 40 to 47.5
Veterancy bonuses changed to the following:
Veterancy 1: +120 health
Veterancy 2: -20% weapon cooldown, -30% weapon reload, +15% weapon accuracy
Veterancy 3: +2.5 damage, -20% received damage
Italian Coastal Battlegroup
Bunker Overwatch Artillery
Now has a 3.5 second delay before the first artillery barrage arrives
Rapid Fortification
Upgrades on the bunker created by Rapid Fortifications bunker have their upgrades discounted by 50%. Affected by Coastal Wall
Call the Reserves
Munitions cost decreased from 100 to 90
Artillery Officer
The Artillery Officer’s barrage has received several significant changes to reduce its effectiveness and force the officer to be closer to the target area. We want to give the opponent more time to dodge the barrage when the officer first casts the ability, force the officer to expose itself to incoming fire, allow HMGs to act as a counter to frontal assaults, and lower the area of the zone that is controlled.
Overwatch Artillery Barrage now cancels on suppression
Overwatch artillery range reduced from 37.5 to 35
Overwatch Artillery radius reduced by from 15/25 to 12.5/20
Barrages now require line of sight
Delay before the first barrage begins targeting increased from 1.5 to 4
British Forces
Royal Engineers
With improvements to time-to-kill, Royal Engineers lagged a little behind other units, despite them being geared for combat. We are improving their damage drop fall-off to make it harder to kite Royal Engineers and easier to get within maximum damage range. We have also slightly reduced their build-time to allow double Royal Engineers to help gain map control.
Sub Machine Gun near range increased from 7 to 10
Build time reduced from 30 to 25
Dingo Light Scout Car
The Dingo’s moving damage-per-second has been adjusted to be less effective against other vehicles. In matchups such as British versus Afrikakorps, the Dingo could destroy a 250 too fast while driving at full speed/chasing. The unit will still retain high damage against ultra-light vehicles while stationary.
Moving burst reduction from 1 to 0.66
Moving accuracy increased from 0.75 to 0.9
Humber Armored Car
Because the British lack a sniper unit in their core roster and closing with snipers is a high-risk maneuver when well-protected, we are giving the Humber bonus accuracy against snipers to ensure snipers are destroyed when caught out of position.
Fuel cost increased from 30 to 35
All weapons now have a +100% accuracy bonus against snipers
CWT 15 CMP Truck
Fuel cost increased from 20 to 25
M3 Stuart Light Tank
Fuel cost increased from 35 to 45
Matilda Heavy Tank
The Matilda is having its near area of effect damage lowered to give infantry more time to react when a Matilda comes into weapon range.
Area of effect near damage reduced from 1 to 0.75
M3 Grant Medium Tank
We are slightly increasing the population of the Grant to better reflect its power as a premium medium tank.
Population increased from 12 to 13
Bofors Anti-Air Emplacement
Bonus damage against aircraft increased from 300% to 435%
BL 5.5 inch Artillery Piece
Command Point cost reduced from 3 to 2
Gurkhas
Several British elite short-ranged infantry units are having their damage-per-second at point-blank improved to compensate for recent time-to-kill changes.
SMG damage increased from 4 to 4.5
Commando Section
SMG near accuracy increased from 0.42 to 0.5
Mid-range cooldown reduced from 200% to 125%
Black Prince Heavy Tank
Heavy tanks like the Black Prince and Tiger are having their area of effect adjusted to have less damage drop-off and a larger area of effect, but they will also have a smaller one hit kill radius. There were too many situations where these heavy tanks failed to deal damage to infantry despite the shell landing near them, while other situations could see these vehicles wiping out an entire squad on a lucky hit.
The Black Prince has also received a boost to its penetration to make it better at punching through heavy armor that it encounters.
Area of effect radius increased from 3.25 to 3.75
Area of effect damage adjusted from 1/0.25/0.1 to 0.6/0.33/0.1875
Penetration increased from 300/275/240 to 325/300/280
Deutsches Afrikakorps
Mechanized Kompanie
Manpower cost decreased from 200 to 180
Rapid Advance
Capture bonus does not stack with units that can already capture territory
Combat Halftracks
Due to other light vehicles being pushed back in their timing, we are also increasing the time it takes to research Combat Halftracks and the 250/9 conversion to give players more time to prepare.
Research time increased from 30 to 45
Combined Arms Bonus
We are now allowing Combined Arms to trigger off ultra-light vehicles, allowing Afrikakorps infantry to have more sources of Combined Arms if they choose to have their Kardschutzen provide fire support in the early game over capturing territory.
Can now be triggered by ultra-light vehicles such as the Kradschutzen and Kettenkrad
Panzerpioneers
Panzerpioneers are having their health slightly increased to make them take one more hit from most rifle weapons. This improves their staying power in prolonged ranged engagements where the Panzerpioneer excels at over other engineering squads.
Health increased from 80 to 85
Veterancy requirements reduced from 700/2100/4200 to 650/1950/3900
Panzergrenadiers
The ranged effectiveness of the Afrikakorps Panzergrenadier (colloquially, the Palmgrenadier) is being increased. This is to improve their effectiveness in cover battles as closing distance is much more difficult due to recent time-to-kill changes.
Mid and far aim-time multiplier reduced from 2/4 to 1.5/2.6
Kradschutzen Motorcycle Team
With the recent changes to the Kradschutzen, we are slightly lower its manpower cost to compensate for its loss of reverse move. Moving cooldown has also been decreased to make the Kradchutzen slightly more effective when chasing.
Cost reduced from 200 to 180 manpower
Moving cooldown reduced from 1.5 to 1
250 Light Carrier
Like the Dingo, we are making changes to the 250’s moving effectiveness to reduce the power of the unit against other vehicles when chasing while retaining its current effectiveness against infantry.
Moving accuracy partially reverted from 0.50 to 0.725
Moving cooldown increased from 0.25 to 1
250/9 20mm autocannon upgrade research time increased from 30 to 45
Assault Grenadiers
Assault Disembark is having its duration increased to allow for greater impact. Combined with this change, we have significantly improved the Assault Grenade ability to be a major component of the unit’s offensive potential. Damage, time to throw, and scatter have all been improved to make Assault Grenades dangerous to units that remain in the target area. The StG 44 has also been improved to make plundered variant more effective in its role as a mid-range weapon.
Increased duration of Assault Disembark from 10 to 15
Assault Grenade wind-down reduced from 1.25 to 1
Assault Grenade wind-up reduced from 0.75 to 0.5
Assault Grenade angle scatter reduced from 25 to 15
Assault Grenade far damage increased from 0.3 to 0.4
Assault Grenade scatter ratio reduced from 1 to 0.5
Assault Grenade damage increased from 40 to 70
StG 44 Plunder weapon mid-range accuracy increased from 0.4 to 0.45
StG 44 Plunder weapon mid-range increased from 20 to 22.5
2.5 Tonne Medical Truck
When Field Supplies was available, it made infantry too combat effective, gaining bonuses that were as powerful as combat veterancy. We are lowering the combat bonuses to make units affected by this ability less powerful.
Field Supplies accuracy and cooldown combat bonuses reduced from 20% to 10%
Le.IG 18 Support Gun
Due to its availability within the DAK core roster, the Le.IG 18 is having its rate of fire reduced to make the unit less effective. Previously, it fired faster than units like the Pack Howitzer with no additional drawbacks.
Barrage fire-aim time increased from 0.5 to 0.75
Barrage reload increased from 2.5 to 3
Auto-fire reload increased from 3.75 to 4.5
8 Rad Armored Car
Like other light vehicles the 8 Rad was too population efficient while also being too lethal at long-range for its price. We are reducing its performance to make the 8 Rad most effective at shorter ranges.
Population increased from 7 to 8
Accuracy decreased from 0.52/0.424/0.36 to 0.52/0.318/0.18
Fuel cost increased from 40 to 55
Marder III Tank Destroyer
The Marder has received adjustments to make it less manpower heavy but with a higher fuel cost. In mid to late game scenarios, it is difficult to replace Marders due to their high manpower while fuel became less of an issue. We have also increased the rotation rate of the unit - improvements in pathing have made it difficult for the Marder to counter fast vehicle-based threats.
Cost adjusted from 280 manpower and 25 fuel to 240 manpower and 35 fuel
Rotation rate increased from 28 to 34
254 Recon Tractor
We want to push the 254 as one of the Afrikakorps’ primary recon options that allows the faction to gather intel. Recon range is being increased, allowing the 254 to stay far back from the fight to locate enemy units. Fuel costs have been increased to make going for an early 254 a significant investment due to the improved recon range.
Fuel cost increased from 15 to 35
Radio Recon range increased from 90 to 125
Recon Detection now holds the position of detected enemies for an additional 2 seconds when the pulse reaches its maximum radius before resetting
Flakvierling Halftrack
Flakvierlings will now need to be stationary to provide suppression capabilities, making the unit less frustrating for infantry to deal with when it is forced to move.
Fuel cost increased from 40 to 50
Can no longer suppress while moving
StuG III D Assault Gun
All StuG variants are gaining increased armor. It was too easy to force the StuG away with anti-armor weapons due to its limited arc of fire and slow speed. For the anti-armor variant, the unit was too slow to track most targets on the field before they got away or got to the unit’s flank.
Armor increased from 210 to 250
Side armor increased from 110 to 150
Rotation rate increased from 28 to 32
Fuel cost increased from 45 to 55
StuG III G Assault Gun
Armor increased from 210 to 250
Side armor increased from 110 to 150
Rotation rate increased from 28 to 32
Tiger Heavy Tank
Heavy tanks like the Black Prince and Tiger are having their area of effect adjusted to have less damage drop-off and a larger area of effect, but they will also have a smaller one hit kill radius. There were too many situations where these heavy tanks failed to deal damage to infantry despite the shell landing near them, while other situations could see these vehicles wiping out an entire squad on a lucky hit.
Area of effect radius increased from 3.5 to 4.5
Area of effect distance adjust from 1/2/3.5 to 0.25/1.5/3.5
Area of effect damage adjusted from 1/0.15/0.05 to 0.6/0.33/0.1875
Guastatori
We are making a change to all infantry units that previously had armor. We are giving the unit a flat damage reduction against all sources to make it easier for players to understand what defensive benefits are provided and improve their durability against weapons like LMGs and HMGs.
Damage reduction numbers will be visible to players on the unit description card.
Armor reduced from 1.5 to 1
Now takes 25% less damage from all sources
M13/40 Carro Light Tank
Fuel cost increased from 50 to 60
L6/40 Light Tank Call-in
Fuel cost increased from 50 to 60
250/3 Funkpanzerwagen
We are further emphasizing the role of all non-mortar 250 variants as transport vehicles to double down on the Afrikakorps’ mechanized theme.
Can transport infantry and tow heavy weapon teams
Armored Support Battlegroup
Vehicle Awareness
We are changing how vehicle awareness works to be free with the removal of the stationary requirement but are adding a significant cooldown duration.
Ability no longer costs munitions
No longer requires vehicles to be stationary
Cooldown increased from 60 to 180
Flammpanzer III Medium Tank
Price adjusted from 400 manpower and 30 fuel to 300 manpower and 55 fuel
Panzer Storm
All global vehicle speed bonuses have been lowered to make these abilities less effective at rushing through enemy lines and getting to an enemy’s flank by charging forward.
Global speed bonus reduced from 35% to 20%
FIXES
Art, Animation & Pathing
Fixed doors on wood buildings so they open when garrisoning.
Fixed an issue where the mortar gunner would t-pose when a retreat order is given after setup has begun and the loader and support crew are all killed before setup completes. Mortars will now be dropped at their current position if the crew is reduced to one model while under a retreat order. The unit will no longer retreat to base with one model before dropping the mortar tube when the retreat order ends.
General
Fixed an infinite munition exploit when using the salvage crew ability from the halftrack.
Fixed an issue where a rounding error made the Gurkha cost appear as 31 rather than 32
Fixed an issue where the Foot Guard's reinforce cost stated 31 rather than the correct number at 32.
The armor debuff decorator has now been updated to show a '-' sign rather than a '+' sign.
When units die within the aura of the Panzer IV Command Tank, they will now be given a decorator that they are under the effects of the on death reload buff.
Fixed being able to place construction on top of abandoned team weapons and paradrop locations.
Fixed units sometimes getting stuck in buildings if they get attacked as they were exiting it.
Updated the 254 to have a status decorator when in lockdown mode and updated the tool-tips to reflect the changes the unit receives.
Suppression and Pinned status will now state the modifiers being applied when the icon is hovered over on the Command card.
Fixed an issue where the 17-pounder variant of the CWT Truck did not share the same Veterancy ability as the standard CWT Truck.
Updated the tooltip on sprint abilities to state units cannot fire on the move while moving. This applies to the following abilities: Grenadier Sprint, Riflemen Sprint, Bersagileri Urra!, and Bazooka Squad Tactical Movement.
250 Light Carriers called in from the Afrikakorps Halftrack Deployment system will now appear as one unit entry in the post-game stats screen alongside regular 250s rather than as its own entry.
Fixed an issue where Brummbar Shatter Will worked on retreating units.
Fixed an issue with Afrikakorps, Wehrmacht and British Forces Heavy Machine Gun teams. Prior to this fix, when retreating from being pinned, the unit would not pick up the weapon, instead it would slide along the ground.
Fixed an issue where attacking a garrisoned squad with the SSF Commando knife throw ability would result in the building being damaged instead of the squad.
Fixed an issue where tanks would get stuck in the hold-fire state if units riding on the tank were killed before dismounting.
Enabled the "Tank Destroyer" Challenge to also be completed by 2 Pounder Anti-Tank Guns
Fixed "Default Settings" button functionality in Skirmish/Custom game options page
Removed a placeholder map object that was hidden under the sand on Black Gold.
Fixed units being able to pass through partially destroyed buildings.
Fixed kills sometimes not counting toward mission objectives when squads were killed with explosives.
Fixed the Big Game Hunter Accolade so it displays the correct description.
Singleplayer & Campaign
Using the Encircle Target partisan ability will no longer make the squad continuously fire until the turn ends.
Fixed dead emplacements sometimes not getting removed properly.
Fixed the fast forward settings description being inaccurate.
Various ruined walls in Ortona have been updated to reduce the ability to fire through areas you could not expect.
Fixed some Campaign missions ignoring the RTS difficulty setting and defaulting to standard difficulty.
Fixed a crash occurring when the same naval units were issued multiple attack commands in rapid succession in the Italian Campaign.
Fixed an issue where Commandos in the Italian campaign would not have a status decorator when in camouflage.
Vickers Focused Gunnery in singleplayer now uses the same functionality of its multiplayer variant.
Fixed Italy Campaign sometimes soft locking during the enemy turn after capturing Benevento.
Fixed units sometimes getting stuck during their movement which could cause soft locks.
Fixed an issue where SSF Commandos upgraded to have reduced manpower cost or camouflage in the Italian Campaign would have their call-in abilities require 12 population to be used rather than the stated 8.
Fixed Armored Company losing supply when near enemy emplacements in the Campaign.
Fixed an issue in the Campaign where the Bazooka Team's Veterancy 1 stated the unit would unlock the satchel charge when it is already unlocked.
Fixed a number of issues with the Partisan Tungsten Round ability. The ability will now require and only function on the model with the Panzerbuchse AT Rifle. Fixed an issue where the Partisan Sniper Rifle did not use sniper tracers. Fixed an issue where there was no decorator when Partisan Tungsten Round was active.
User Interface & User Experience
Performance improvements were made when opening the tactical map when there are many squads on the field.
Fixed a bug where the Replays page would not properly reflect renames and deletes of replays that were recently created or if the filenames contained non-English characters.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to initiate a vote to kick enemy players.
Entity Status Decorators will now show up in the selection panel so the player can hover over them to get a detailed description of what the Status means.
Fixed a bug where the pip that designates a newly purchased Battlegroup might not disappear when the Battlegroup is clicked on in the Battlegroup selection screen.
Fixed a bug where making a purchase in the store would not show the "new item" pip on the Loadout button at the top of the Main Menu.
Fixed an issue with missing Battlegroups in Custom lobbies.
Fixed an issue with players receiving automatch cooldown penalties when someone else quit during loading
Store
Discounted items now appear at the top of the "Cosmetics" tab in the store for easier visibility.
Stability
Implemented a solution to prompt Windows to automatically retrieve missing root certificates when connecting to the game server. This should resolve the recent connectivity issue caused by SSL certificate validation for most players.
