5.1.8 beta (Blitzkrieg doctrine rework)
Posted: 02 Apr 2019, 00:40
Hello to all of you,
reworks have been mentioned many times. There were two concepts to go with - either turn all doctrines "specilized" (strong in some situations but quite weak in different situations) or "wellrounded" (every doctrine has means to deal with all situations). In the end we decided it would be better to go with the "wellrounded" approach because that way the game can be better played with strangers on teams but cooperation will still reward you with an advantage too. If we introduced all the reworked doctrines in one huge patch, it would turn all known "formulas" upside-down and it would most likely lead to a mass hysteria, with a ton of posts like "this is BS! Doc (insert any doc) is OP/too weak now!!!" without investing time into finding new way that would work. To prevent this we will introduce the doctrines one by one - one doc gets introduced, then we will collect feedback for a week or two, then we add in another doctrine, again feedback period, then another doc and so on. The first doctrine is the Blitzkrieg doctrine.
The unlock tree is slightly restructured - top line are tank unlocks, on the right are tank-production upgrades, on the left are infantry unlocks, in the middle are resource push abilities and in the bottom line we have "assault/breakthrough" line. It is structured in such a way that it forces players to some planning and decision making instead of having the most useful things in one branch and the rest being there to pick up as a bonus.
"Tank capture" unlock was not used very much because it made you keep a tank near a point for an eternity (to cap it) and so it was visible to the enemy and he could bomb/arty it any time, so now this ability is merged with the Blitzkrieg ability - once you unlock BK ability, your tanks will be able to cap points, however when you activate the ability, the tanks will be able to cap a lot faster for the duration of the ability. Also the "Assault" unlock for Storms (Throwing grenade volley) is now merged with Veterancy unlock and the freed space is now taken by "Munitions Reserves" - giving the Wolfram ammo (but not the HE ammo) to all PIVs and Panthers - it only gives the upgrade, they still need to pay ammo for activation of the AP ability.
In the "top" line is: "Offmap combat group" -> "PIV H/J" -> "Panther A/D2" -> "Panther G Ace"
Offmap combat group works the same as before - gives you randomly a PIV H or J or StuGIII or StuGIV Late version + one infantry squad (Can be Storms, Grens, Volks + possibly random weapon upgrade). Activation of the ability requires you to have the Tank Factory built so it is not possible to call in the medium units before you actally tech up and build the Tank factory. It costs 3CP which might seem a lot but during the PvP testing anything less made the ability too strong because it allowed you to get the medium units before opponents got proper counter units.
(It is quite possible that in the next update this will be restructured to "PIV H/J" (2CP) -> "Offmap combat group" (2CP) -> "Panther A/D2" (2CP) -> "Panther G Ace" (2CP) because the latest alpha feedback suggests the ability is still too spammable too early, but this feedback was received only after the beta had been uploaded so it is not in this release)
PIV H/J unlock is the next - same as before. The command tank requires this unlock + the "improved Tank factory production" unlock too, so it now unlocks more units.
Panther unlock gives access to buildable Panther tanks. The D2 (former Luft Panther) is a bit cheaper and does not require the Heavy tank factory upgrade, the A version does.
The "bottom" line is: "Blitzkrieg ability" -> "Assault howitzers" -> "Airstrike"
Blitzkrieg ability is the same as it used to be before, only the effect of "Tank capture" is now merged into it.
Assault howitzers give access to StuH42 or StuPa (based of reward selection) - the purpose is the same for both units but obviously, StuPa has better armor and stronger gun but comes later and costs a lot more.
Airstrike is a new ability for Blitzkrieg doctrine but it is the same old ability which Luft has had for ages - BK cannot choose between "single Stuka" and "Stuka Patrol", they only have access to the "Single Stuka" airstrike. It is another option for them to deal with heavy defenses in case usage of direct-shooting units is too risky, but the plane can be shot down too so its usage is not without risks either.
Wellrounded doctrines should have something to deal with any situation and in the past BK doc struggled with breaking defensive lines, so the rework gives them means to deal with this - Blitz has now a reward option to choose between StuH42 and StuPa, which is for direct-attacks and they also can use Stuka plane to drop bombs.
BK keeps its infantry and ability to spam medium tanks, however in order to keep the medium tank spam viable even in later game, BK now has command tank (PIV) which works same way as the US command car - no passive aura, only timed buffs.
The command tank requires the PIV H/J unlock and also the "Increased Tank Factory Production" unlock. The unit is limited to 1 at a time and its price is NOT reduced with the "PIV mass production" unlock. Unlike the Command Cromwell of CW, this tank can use its main gun, however the reload times are a lot longer than for PIV H/J and since it is a modified PIV J, it also has the slow turret rotation so it can fight along side other tanks but in its raw "DPS" it is weaker, main strength of this unit is in its capacity to buff tanks around.
BK doc should be about mobility and so bulky, slow Tigers don't fit in here. Tigers were removed from this doc (and will be probably moved to Terror doc) and BK doc now has access to all types of Panthers - Tiger ace is replaced by Panther G Ace, and based on reward choice, you can build either Panther A (costs more, is slightly slower, has top MG) or Panther D (Luft has had it till now; this now has an assault ability same as StuGIII).
One thing that has been added is that abilities have now their effects (stat bonuses) listed - this will hopefully help people see the true potential of the abilities and will start using them more often. For now we have this for the BK doc but we will add it to all abilities (where needed) with each new doc rework.
The plan is also to keep bunkers for WM only in Defensive doctrine but since Blitzkrieg and Terror will be more focused on tanks, they will get "Light Repair Bunkers" - these are bunkers which already come with the "Repair station" upgrade, they cannot be garrisoned and have less HP than normal bunkers so they are easier to destroy, but it provides to the doctrine an option to have a repair point available in the field.
After the recent discussion about "WM AT rifle making all Allied vehicles obsolete" some changes to the squad have been made too, in order to make it less of a pain in the ass for the early game of Allies. The soldiers have now less HP (so they are easier to kill), the leader no longer has an MP40 (so the squad is more susceptible to close-range rushes), the 46mm grenade ability has been removed (to prevent this squad making 50mm PaK obsolete) and they can no longer build anything (so if they want cover, they need some supporting unit to build it for them). The max range has been lowered to 60 (to prevent kiting) and basic accuracy of the 30mm grenades has been dropped by 15% at all ranges (so no longer sniping vehicles at any range). However the grenades still cannot bounce off of vehicles or tanks and compared to BOYS, the grenade deals more damage on hit.
The bottom line is that the rifle has higher chance to miss, even more so when the target is moving, and the squad is more squishy now and more susceptible to infantry rushes (no more MP40, yay!) so it should not be such a pain in the ass anymore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changelog:
General:
- Vehicles and tanks that did not have gyro-stabilizers have now accuracy on the move lowered by 60% (from (usually) 50%)
WM:
- Reorganised command tree unlocks
- Grenade volley of Stormtroopers is now unlocked with veterancy unlock
- Removed all Tigers
- Added a new reward option for Blitzkrieg doctrine: StuH42 (available from Tank Factory, 480MP 60F) or StuPa (available from Heavy tank factory, 600MP 50Ammo 100F)
- Added reward option for Blitzkrieg doctrine: Panther D (cheaper, faster, no top MG does not require Heavy Factory upgrade) or Panther A
- Added Panther G Ace call-in (instead of Tiger Ace) - fully upgraded Panther G with Tank Commander inside; one at a time
- StuG III now has Mark Target ability
- Drop smoke ability of StuGIII no longer requires StuG to face the position where the smoke is deployed
- Suppression Stormtroopers are now unlocked with Stormtrooper Halftrack (do not require separate unlock)
- Suppression Stormtroopers can no longer be called in from command panel (available only from Stormtrooper Halftrack)
- Demolition Stormtroopers now require separate unlock (can be still called in from command pannel)
- Demolition Stormtroopers callin now states that the ability needs 4 free Pop points (from incorrect 6)
- Added a Stuka bomber ability (135 ammo, 180 seconds cooldown)
- Added an unlock which equips all StuGs/PIV H/J/Panthers with Wolfram ammunition
- Added a Command PIV (requires Tank factory production + PIVH H/J unlocks in Command tree)
- Removed the option to build regular bunkers
- Added the ability to build repair stations (a light bunker which is built with repair engineers who automatically repair damaged vehicles nearby; cannot be garrisoned)
- WM spotter now has his own portrait
- Lowered cost of Ostwind to 400MP 55F(from 500MP 55F)
- Mass production no longer lowers the cost of Ostwind
- Panzer IV F2 has now base damage same as PIV H/J
- Lowered HP of all squad members of AT rifle squad to 60 (from 80)
- AT rifle squad leader now uses Kar98 (from MP40)
- Removed 46mm AT grenade from AT rifle squad
- Lowered maximum range of GrB39 to 60 (from 65)
- Lowered accuracy of GrB39 to 85%/75%/65/55% (from 100%/90%/80%/70%)
- Increased aim time of GrB39 to 1-2 seconds (from 1)
- Lowered projectile speed of GrB39 grenades to 50 (from 75)
- Removed building options from GrB39 squad
- GrB39 squad no longer receives bonuses when shooting from camo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we said, the doctrines will be introduced one by one which means that the newly introduced doctrines will be stronger than most (if not all) the current doctrines which still have their "weak spots" more vulnerable. That being said, we are aware that this new BK doctrine will have easier time defeating other doctrines - especially Brits. The game is playable but this release is more for you to see what you will have access to and what the general feel of the doctrine will be - for obvious balance reasons, "serious" games are not recommended until at least one more doctrine gets released. However some test games played and feedback (if stuff works as it is meant to work etc.) would be great
Next reworked doctrine will be the USA Armor doctrine.
Have fun
reworks have been mentioned many times. There were two concepts to go with - either turn all doctrines "specilized" (strong in some situations but quite weak in different situations) or "wellrounded" (every doctrine has means to deal with all situations). In the end we decided it would be better to go with the "wellrounded" approach because that way the game can be better played with strangers on teams but cooperation will still reward you with an advantage too. If we introduced all the reworked doctrines in one huge patch, it would turn all known "formulas" upside-down and it would most likely lead to a mass hysteria, with a ton of posts like "this is BS! Doc (insert any doc) is OP/too weak now!!!" without investing time into finding new way that would work. To prevent this we will introduce the doctrines one by one - one doc gets introduced, then we will collect feedback for a week or two, then we add in another doctrine, again feedback period, then another doc and so on. The first doctrine is the Blitzkrieg doctrine.
The unlock tree is slightly restructured - top line are tank unlocks, on the right are tank-production upgrades, on the left are infantry unlocks, in the middle are resource push abilities and in the bottom line we have "assault/breakthrough" line. It is structured in such a way that it forces players to some planning and decision making instead of having the most useful things in one branch and the rest being there to pick up as a bonus.
"Tank capture" unlock was not used very much because it made you keep a tank near a point for an eternity (to cap it) and so it was visible to the enemy and he could bomb/arty it any time, so now this ability is merged with the Blitzkrieg ability - once you unlock BK ability, your tanks will be able to cap points, however when you activate the ability, the tanks will be able to cap a lot faster for the duration of the ability. Also the "Assault" unlock for Storms (Throwing grenade volley) is now merged with Veterancy unlock and the freed space is now taken by "Munitions Reserves" - giving the Wolfram ammo (but not the HE ammo) to all PIVs and Panthers - it only gives the upgrade, they still need to pay ammo for activation of the AP ability.
In the "top" line is: "Offmap combat group" -> "PIV H/J" -> "Panther A/D2" -> "Panther G Ace"
Offmap combat group works the same as before - gives you randomly a PIV H or J or StuGIII or StuGIV Late version + one infantry squad (Can be Storms, Grens, Volks + possibly random weapon upgrade). Activation of the ability requires you to have the Tank Factory built so it is not possible to call in the medium units before you actally tech up and build the Tank factory. It costs 3CP which might seem a lot but during the PvP testing anything less made the ability too strong because it allowed you to get the medium units before opponents got proper counter units.
(It is quite possible that in the next update this will be restructured to "PIV H/J" (2CP) -> "Offmap combat group" (2CP) -> "Panther A/D2" (2CP) -> "Panther G Ace" (2CP) because the latest alpha feedback suggests the ability is still too spammable too early, but this feedback was received only after the beta had been uploaded so it is not in this release)
PIV H/J unlock is the next - same as before. The command tank requires this unlock + the "improved Tank factory production" unlock too, so it now unlocks more units.
Panther unlock gives access to buildable Panther tanks. The D2 (former Luft Panther) is a bit cheaper and does not require the Heavy tank factory upgrade, the A version does.
The "bottom" line is: "Blitzkrieg ability" -> "Assault howitzers" -> "Airstrike"
Blitzkrieg ability is the same as it used to be before, only the effect of "Tank capture" is now merged into it.
Assault howitzers give access to StuH42 or StuPa (based of reward selection) - the purpose is the same for both units but obviously, StuPa has better armor and stronger gun but comes later and costs a lot more.
Airstrike is a new ability for Blitzkrieg doctrine but it is the same old ability which Luft has had for ages - BK cannot choose between "single Stuka" and "Stuka Patrol", they only have access to the "Single Stuka" airstrike. It is another option for them to deal with heavy defenses in case usage of direct-shooting units is too risky, but the plane can be shot down too so its usage is not without risks either.
Wellrounded doctrines should have something to deal with any situation and in the past BK doc struggled with breaking defensive lines, so the rework gives them means to deal with this - Blitz has now a reward option to choose between StuH42 and StuPa, which is for direct-attacks and they also can use Stuka plane to drop bombs.
BK keeps its infantry and ability to spam medium tanks, however in order to keep the medium tank spam viable even in later game, BK now has command tank (PIV) which works same way as the US command car - no passive aura, only timed buffs.
The command tank requires the PIV H/J unlock and also the "Increased Tank Factory Production" unlock. The unit is limited to 1 at a time and its price is NOT reduced with the "PIV mass production" unlock. Unlike the Command Cromwell of CW, this tank can use its main gun, however the reload times are a lot longer than for PIV H/J and since it is a modified PIV J, it also has the slow turret rotation so it can fight along side other tanks but in its raw "DPS" it is weaker, main strength of this unit is in its capacity to buff tanks around.
BK doc should be about mobility and so bulky, slow Tigers don't fit in here. Tigers were removed from this doc (and will be probably moved to Terror doc) and BK doc now has access to all types of Panthers - Tiger ace is replaced by Panther G Ace, and based on reward choice, you can build either Panther A (costs more, is slightly slower, has top MG) or Panther D (Luft has had it till now; this now has an assault ability same as StuGIII).
One thing that has been added is that abilities have now their effects (stat bonuses) listed - this will hopefully help people see the true potential of the abilities and will start using them more often. For now we have this for the BK doc but we will add it to all abilities (where needed) with each new doc rework.
The plan is also to keep bunkers for WM only in Defensive doctrine but since Blitzkrieg and Terror will be more focused on tanks, they will get "Light Repair Bunkers" - these are bunkers which already come with the "Repair station" upgrade, they cannot be garrisoned and have less HP than normal bunkers so they are easier to destroy, but it provides to the doctrine an option to have a repair point available in the field.
After the recent discussion about "WM AT rifle making all Allied vehicles obsolete" some changes to the squad have been made too, in order to make it less of a pain in the ass for the early game of Allies. The soldiers have now less HP (so they are easier to kill), the leader no longer has an MP40 (so the squad is more susceptible to close-range rushes), the 46mm grenade ability has been removed (to prevent this squad making 50mm PaK obsolete) and they can no longer build anything (so if they want cover, they need some supporting unit to build it for them). The max range has been lowered to 60 (to prevent kiting) and basic accuracy of the 30mm grenades has been dropped by 15% at all ranges (so no longer sniping vehicles at any range). However the grenades still cannot bounce off of vehicles or tanks and compared to BOYS, the grenade deals more damage on hit.
The bottom line is that the rifle has higher chance to miss, even more so when the target is moving, and the squad is more squishy now and more susceptible to infantry rushes (no more MP40, yay!) so it should not be such a pain in the ass anymore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changelog:
General:
- Vehicles and tanks that did not have gyro-stabilizers have now accuracy on the move lowered by 60% (from (usually) 50%)
WM:
- Reorganised command tree unlocks
- Grenade volley of Stormtroopers is now unlocked with veterancy unlock
- Removed all Tigers
- Added a new reward option for Blitzkrieg doctrine: StuH42 (available from Tank Factory, 480MP 60F) or StuPa (available from Heavy tank factory, 600MP 50Ammo 100F)
- Added reward option for Blitzkrieg doctrine: Panther D (cheaper, faster, no top MG does not require Heavy Factory upgrade) or Panther A
- Added Panther G Ace call-in (instead of Tiger Ace) - fully upgraded Panther G with Tank Commander inside; one at a time
- StuG III now has Mark Target ability
- Drop smoke ability of StuGIII no longer requires StuG to face the position where the smoke is deployed
- Suppression Stormtroopers are now unlocked with Stormtrooper Halftrack (do not require separate unlock)
- Suppression Stormtroopers can no longer be called in from command panel (available only from Stormtrooper Halftrack)
- Demolition Stormtroopers now require separate unlock (can be still called in from command pannel)
- Demolition Stormtroopers callin now states that the ability needs 4 free Pop points (from incorrect 6)
- Added a Stuka bomber ability (135 ammo, 180 seconds cooldown)
- Added an unlock which equips all StuGs/PIV H/J/Panthers with Wolfram ammunition
- Added a Command PIV (requires Tank factory production + PIVH H/J unlocks in Command tree)
- Removed the option to build regular bunkers
- Added the ability to build repair stations (a light bunker which is built with repair engineers who automatically repair damaged vehicles nearby; cannot be garrisoned)
- WM spotter now has his own portrait
- Lowered cost of Ostwind to 400MP 55F(from 500MP 55F)
- Mass production no longer lowers the cost of Ostwind
- Panzer IV F2 has now base damage same as PIV H/J
- Lowered HP of all squad members of AT rifle squad to 60 (from 80)
- AT rifle squad leader now uses Kar98 (from MP40)
- Removed 46mm AT grenade from AT rifle squad
- Lowered maximum range of GrB39 to 60 (from 65)
- Lowered accuracy of GrB39 to 85%/75%/65/55% (from 100%/90%/80%/70%)
- Increased aim time of GrB39 to 1-2 seconds (from 1)
- Lowered projectile speed of GrB39 grenades to 50 (from 75)
- Removed building options from GrB39 squad
- GrB39 squad no longer receives bonuses when shooting from camo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we said, the doctrines will be introduced one by one which means that the newly introduced doctrines will be stronger than most (if not all) the current doctrines which still have their "weak spots" more vulnerable. That being said, we are aware that this new BK doctrine will have easier time defeating other doctrines - especially Brits. The game is playable but this release is more for you to see what you will have access to and what the general feel of the doctrine will be - for obvious balance reasons, "serious" games are not recommended until at least one more doctrine gets released. However some test games played and feedback (if stuff works as it is meant to work etc.) would be great
Next reworked doctrine will be the USA Armor doctrine.
Have fun