5.1.8d beta (Panzer Support Doc Update)

[kwok]

Panzer Support Changes
Streamline Tank Unlock
One of the hottest topics and critiques of the reworked doctrine ever since before it was even implemented has been “what is the point of the doctrine? Is it too much unnecessary tank unlocks?” The majority of the community was unable to come to a consensus. So the devs looked into all of the comments and tried to accommodate for the various wants within the community. We will combine the unlocks for tank hunter and tanks, however you will only be able to access on path which you will decide in game. This is the experimental idea that hopefully provides both the flexibility, availability, and wanted consolidation of the doctrine.
- Removed separate tank unlocks and merged together with TD unlocks in the top unlock line
- Jagdtiger limited to 1 at a time
- Added Panzer IV F2 to Panzer Support doctrine (no unlock needed)
- "Cheaper TDs" unlock swapped for "Panzer Reserves" (lowers the costs of Marder I/III and Panzer IV F1/F2)

New Unlocks
Because of the streamlining of the tank unlocks and the complaints that fuel trade was OP in a doctrine that already heavily reduces the fuel costs of vehicles, we were given more open spots for the doctrine. We took some ideas provided by the community and incorporated them in the best way we could.
- Added Mark Target, Experienced Crews and LMG unlocks
- Removed Fuel Trade unlock from Panzer Support doctrine

Mark Target
I doubt people realize but mark target is one of the most powerful weapons that tankhunter doctrine had. We decided to nerf this ability to make it more focused on combined arms between infantry and tanks rather than a free lazer-vision-see-through-smoke-infantry-sniping ability for tanks.
- Added "Mark Target" ability to Panzergrenadiers (requires unlock)
- Removed "Mark Target" ability from Tank Destroyers

Doctrine AA
The panzer support doctrine lacked AA, thus not having a viable counter to many aircraft-based strategies. We decided to add the static versions of AA guns in order to make sure it does not synergize too much with other mobile doctrine options which would create uncounterable late game combinations.
- Added 20mm single Flak emplacement unlock to Panzer Support doctrine (1CP)

CW Faction Balancing
After many games and bug testing, we have noticed a couple issues with CW. Since the implementation of ideas found in this discussion viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3242, we noticed that CW had an extremely high win rate independent of the doctrine chosen. We believe it has to do with the ability to rapidly tier up relative to other factions in the beta. We also returned the HQ truck by popular request but have added the caveat that the HQ truck sector can be hit by artillery.
- 1st HQ truck returns (HQ building removed)
- Armor HQ Truck cost increased to 90 Fuel (from 50F)
- Soldier HQ Truck cost increased to 65 Fuel (from 55F)

Medium AT Gun Balances
It has been mentioned a few times that medium AT guns have a hard time finding their place in the game where either lower caliber guns are sufficient or higher caliber guns are minimum. Additionally, with the new tear down times introduced, it makes it much harder for AT guns to respond to threats. However, we don’t want to remove teardown times in that it reintroduces possible exploits as well as makes light vehicles less of an attractive option after working so hard to make them viable. So, we have come up with some series of changes that will reward well positioned medium AT guns.
- All 57mm guns, 6 pounders and 50mm guns now deal about 5% more damage to light vehicles
- 57mm AT guns, 6 pounders and 50mm AT guns now have 10% accuracy nerf against moving light vehicles (from 20%)
- 76mm AT guns, 17 pounders and 75mm AT guns now have 20% accuracy nerf against moving light vehicles (from 40%)

Sniper Nerfs
See topic here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3425
- Snipers no longer gain HP and are no longer harder to hit with Veterancy levels

First Wave Camo Changes
Recently we brought up a topic that we’ve heard over and over again from the community through private channels. It is still a hot and controversial topic. There has been no definitive and agreed on solution to the mechanic. For right now, we will continue to at least standardize camo mechanics in terms of how many shots they can fire before revealed to just one shot and extending the reveal duration for units that have it particularly short. Report more if you know/see them.
- Chaffee will no longer re-camo within a second after shooting HE shot
- Airborne Recon Squad will now reveal itself after firing the first shot
- Marder HE shot will no longer be instant.

Wasp Balancing
Per popular request, we have buffed the wasp. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3426
- Wasp cost lowered to 300MP 10F (from 400MP 15F)
- Range of Wasp's flamethrower increased to 30 (from 25)
- Increased the speed of Wasp to 5.3 (from 5.1)

Postponed AA Changes
We know the community has talked a lot about AA imbalances and we did a poll a little while ago about the AA changes viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3536. We know a lot of it is unbalanced and the reason is not because of biases but because it's a long long history of weirdly interacting values within the mod. Markr and I spent 2 hours just testing AA table by table trying to understand how each value affects AA. For example, did you all know that the range brackets on AA make a difference? An AA gun can shoot a plane as soon as the plane enters the map (and technically even before that). Given that, what range bracket do you think the AA uses when its max range is only 60? On top of that, there are target tables and other crazy shit that goes on because blitzkrieg is full of old ideas and vcoh stats... that being said, it will be an insane effort to balance all AA against planes but make sure the changes don't impact ground-to-ground combat. We will likely not tackle this until after the doctrine reworks are done because it will deserve its own dedicated review/patch. For now, we've buffed the HP of the henschel since we know it's a really critical piece of the luft doctrine and some (but not all) allied AA have unusually high stats specifically against air... don't ask it's complicated...
- Increased Henschel plane HP to 125 (from 100)

General Bug Fixes and Aesthetics
- Bolt-action rifles no longer shoot in synchronized volleys
- Propaganda ability (the one used from the Command Panel) will now properly show "nerf" visual effect on affected infantry
- PIV F2 will now capture sectors with the "Blitzkrieg" unlock
- Henschel Kingtiger will now display properly
- PE Bunkers are now neutral when built

Other Notes
We know there's a lot of desire for updated airborne, RAF, RE, and scorched earth. These doctrines were not targeted for the doctrine reworks initially as our original mission was to make doctrines that were specialized into well-rounded. This doesn't mean the remaining untouched doctrines will never be changed, it just may come later under different objectives for changes. We want to focus on the main goal of making doctrines viable for 1v1s first and committing it to the real live patch. So hold on a bit longer. We are keeping track of those ideas thanks to a better organized forum by topic. It will be easy for us to search and revisit those ideas once we complete our original objective.