AA Changes
We’ve received various feedback on the latest AA changes. We knew and still know AA is a tricky value to tweak in particular. The mechanics for AA are tricky enough to balance. With these continued tweaks we hope that AA will be better adjusted. Additionally, in the past we went with the idea that at least 2 AA was needed to reliably shoot planes down. We’ve tweaked it so that a single AA will reliably shoot planes down and so restored the original coverage radius so that there is placement skill involved with AA. Keep in mind that the AA still needs to actually take some shots at the plane and not every shot hits so if the AA unit starts shooting, fires 3 shots, those miss and it starts reloading, the plane can still survive. However, a “fresh reloaded and ready” unit in AA mode should work pretty reliably now. We’ve also significantly reduced the base AA capabilities so that maps do not interfere with the flow/balance of the game.
Spotting Ability- AA cover-radius returned back to 60 (from 90 in previous update)
- Single unit in AA mode will now reliably shoot down planes
- Removed AA mode from base defenses
- Changed internal working mechanics of Wirbelwind (it fires fewer shots but each deals a lot more damage; performance should be pretty much the same, but this setup should be easier on the game engine)
As a test ability, we’ve added the ability for spotters to reveal camouflaged units. The idea behind this ability is to lessen the micro skill required to deal with camouflage units that are known at a specific location. This ability needs significant testing. The way to use this ability is to click on to an area of ground you suspect there to be camouflaged units. To use it on buildings, try to target around the areas of windows you suspect infantry to be looking out of. On particularly large buildings, it might be more difficult to spot camouflage units inside due to how the game treats reveals. The ability takes 5 seconds to “start” (there is a meter shown above the spotting unit) and keeps the selected area revealed for 10 seconds. The spotter cannot move while the ability is active.
More discussion around camo here: viewtopic.php?p=32682
- Added new spotting ability to Spotter units (US/WM Spotters, PE Kettenkrads, CW Dingos)
Live version:
- Spotter units' description now says in what radius they reveal units
AT and Vehicle Changes:
Changes to mid-tier vehicles and AT guns were implemented based on ongoing discussions around the balance of the mid game. Certain buffs were made to mid-tier vehicles in order to make them a bit more usable relative to their next tier tank counterparts.
A general buff to the US vehicles by changing the upgrade costs to 50cals so that the vehicles remain competitive relative to their axis counterparts without impacting US tiering.
A major change was the increase of armored car turret rotations. The biggest impacted vehicles are the 20mm cannons belonging to Axis. Therefore, a counter balance of mid-tier AT guns was made. This buff to mid-tier AT guns should also serve to balance the mid-tier panzer iv/stug spam that players have brought up.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4026
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3526
Armor Doctrine Changes- 57mm/6pounder AT gun reload time reduced to 3.7-4.7 seconds (from 5 - 5.5)
- Changed the global .50cal upgrade cost 100MP 50ammo (from 100MP 30F)
- Doubled turret rotation speed for armored cars of all factions
- Recoilless Jeep no longer auto-targets infantry
A couple of requests were made around armor doctrine, especially regarding the viability of the Pershing. Players have mentioned it arriving too late. Some small unlock tree changes have been made so that armor doc has some earlier counters to heavy tank rushes by Axis.
Airborne Doctrine Changes- Lowered the CP cost of Jackson to 2CP (from 3CP)
- Lowered the CP cost of Jumbo to 2CP (from 3CP)
- Increased the CP cost of Super Pershing/Pershing Ace to 4CP (from 2CP)
Significant changes have been made to the AB doctrine due to a lot of complaints on how useless certain aspects seem to be while how fun-killing powerful other aspects can be.
The first of these changes include tweaks to how strafe runs work. Since the tweak of the strafe run was made last patch where the strafe ability was aligned to the UI, it has been mentioned how much stronger the strafe is, one-shotting all infantry consistently. The strafe run now has variable damage so there is more chance of infantry surviving the strafe. This will need to be tested and continued to be tweaked. These changes in addition to the AA changes should make AB doctrine less annoying to play against. That being said, other buffs are needed to keep AB.
The first set of changes relate to how AB is able to fight against heavy tanks. It will become increasingly difficult for AB to counter heavy tanks that are well covered by AA. Therefore, we want to make sure AB still has some tools to at least stop heavy tanks, especially if a failed rocket strike goes on cooldown. The entire match shouldn’t be dependent on a single ability afterall. So, we’ve come up with a solution where we will be adding more utility to the unique handheld AT within the doctrine. The recoilless rifle will now more reliably penetrate heavy tanks with rear shots and cause crit chances with the tradeoff of damage. If the 101st paratroopers are able to get close range shots against that heavy Tiger or King Tiger, it should stop it dead in its tracks for either a hellcat or rocket strike to finish it off.
Additionally, some conversations on the forum as well as replays show that the 82nd paratroopers are not justified in cost from a raw power or utility perspective. Rather than just dropping the cost and making them near equivalents to the 101st, we’ve decided to rework how that squad itself performs and make it more “elite” relative to the 101st. 82nd paratroopers will now have more flexibility in its loadout compared to before and we will be experimenting with a popular request by granting this squad the ability to camouflage. To use this ability, an alternate unlock will be needed which will provide additional benefits to all paratroopers in the doctrine.
Other changes were made based on conversations on forum to better tweak the viability of affected abilities and units.
Luftwaffe Doctrine Changes- Quad .50cal (naked and emplaced) can now only be built by AB engineers
- Removed unit limit from M18 Hellcat (from limit of 1 at a time)
- Lowered the cost of Engineer paradrop to 200 MP (from 320MP)
- Increased cost of FHQ straffe raid to 200 ammo (from 150)
- Increased the penetration chance of Recoilless Rifle against heavy tanks to 35% (from various values)
- Added the chance to detrack tanks with a frontal penetrative Recoilless Rifle shot (10%) but hits cannot kill top MG gunners
- Added the chance to detrack tanks with a rear penetrative Recoilless Rifle shot (10%) but hits cannot destroy the main gun
- Lowered damage of Recoilless Rifle against heavy tanks to 35-40 (from 140-160)
- Changed basic weapon loadout of 82nd squad to M1 Garand (Ranger version)
- Added an upgrade option to 82nd squads to get Thompson SMGs
- Added an upgrade option to 82nd squads to get 1919a6 LMG
- Removed Medikit ability from 82nd squads
- Added Suppression ability to 82nd squads when LMG is upgraded
- Added passive camouflage to 82nd squads (unlock required)
- Lowered minimum damage of Straffe run to 20 (from 25)
- Phosphorus grenade unlock renamed to Advanced training and reworked; now it allows Flame grenades and Passive camo for 82nd Squad and adds 5HP to 101st squads (2CP)
- Lowered the cost of "Offmap mortar barrage" unlock to 1CP (from 2)
Live version:
- Weapon Supply upgrade lowers cost of the new 82nd squad weapon upgrades
In reaction to the AA changes and at the request of players, a few changes were made to improve the viability of specific doctrine paths within Luft doc.
Supply drops were tweaked to give more utility at a discount. This will hopefully give alternative means of spending munition for Luft doc when an area is saturated with AA to make plays in eliminating said AA. This can be further tweaked over games.
The buff to gebirgs should make the entire lower path more viable as well as give alternative plays to counter heavy AA and armor compositions. The current suggestion is when facing an armor heavy player, utilize gebirgs and 88’s to keep armor away in combination with the panther path to launch counter attacks. Clear the AA for henschels to finish off tanks.
More discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4015
Scorched Earth Doctrine Changes- Lowered the cost of Gebirgsjägers to 400MP (from 450MP)
- The LMG of Gebirgsjägers no longer requires any unlocks
- Fallshirmjägers can now drop Mortar/MG for 50 ammo (from 75 ammo)
- Gebirgsjägers can now drop LeiG18 for 75 ammo (from 100 ammo)
- The “Support weapons” unlock now also lowers the costs of Fallshirm and Gebirgs weapon upgrades: FG42/LMG/scoped G43 to 50 ammo (from 75 ammo), G43 to 35 ammo (from 50 ammo)
A few changes were made to improve the viability of specific doctrine paths within SE doc. More discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3998
Bug fixes:- Beutepanzer unlock in SE now provides two separate callin abilities: Firefly (750MP) and 76mm Sherman (600MP)
- Increased the AoE of Hotchkiss HE shot to 7 (from 5)
- Changed the projectile type of Hotchkiss' HE shot to show more distinct explosive effect
- Lowered the cost of Hotchkiss to 300MP 25F (from 320MP 30F)
- Added 5 Fuel cost to Hotckiss' Stuka rockets upgrade
Upcoming Roadmap and Plans- Naked 88mm flak in Luftwaffe doctrine now requires the correct unlock
- Lowered unintentional (very) high accuracy of LeiG18 as well as too much damage vs certain units
- Henschels will now only attack targets in the target area (not everywhere along their flightpath)
- Kangaroo is no longer an unstoppable juggernaut
For a while we’ve put a lot of the CW doctrines in the back because of how much balancing was needed for the new US doctrines. We’ve noticed that players are less likely to play CW relative to US. Early during the reworks it was determined that RE doc and RAF doc were already designed with a “well rounded” approach so was not targeted for any reworks. We expect to be revisiting those CW doctrines soon just to see if they warrant any balancing or reworks with the lens of “fun” rather than just “well rounded vs specialized”. It hasn’t been determined if they will be major changes or just small tweaks to balancing.
We have also looked at a couple other ideas that were brought up on the forum to see if they have a place in the mod as a fun feature in pvp. However, many of those ideas are greatly dependent on the new features introduced, especially the new spotting ability. We expect this ability to be game changing to the pvp landscape so will be conservative in introducing new large concepts for the foreseeable future.
We hope that 2021 will be a great year for everyone and a great year for BK. Have fun with the patch and try new things!