We've been quite busy lately and so work on the mod went rather slowly but we have another update for you. There are quite a lot of changes so a thorough testing would be really helpful.
As for the changes:
We tried to narrow down the possible sources of pathing issues and started with the reverse function that was added a few years ago. It proved not to be the source so the reverse is back as it was.
There have been quite a lot of posts about axis tank destroyers, how they work, how the allies can deal with them and how much cost effective they are. We decided to try one of the suggestions you guys came up with. The Axis tank destroyers now have back their old armor values and so they are as resistant to tank guns as they used to be. However, many axis Tank destroyers were a lot harder to hit by default and this is changed now - tanks have now 15% accuracy penalty instead of 25% and bazookas have no accuracy penalty against them at all and bazookas have significantly higher chance to penetrate them. They also have lower HP than before. To offset this, these tank destroyers cost less now.- Extended reversing put back into the game
There are also some changes coming to AT guns in general, as we keep hearing complaints about their performance. First significant change is their rate of fire. AT guns now shoot faster than before. They are also very hard to hit with with "AP" ammunition now so it will no longer happen that an AT gun gets sniped at max range with an AP shot from a tank. Next change is that AT guns no longer need to upgrade AP ammunition - the ability is always available as long as you have ammo for it. Because the tanks now have veeeeery little chance to hit these guns with their basic munitions, tanks will not auto-target AT guns anymore because in majority of cases it would be a wasted shot. HE still works as before so use HE if you want to attack a position defended by an AT gun. AP ammo is now also very innacurate against infantry so auto-targetting of infantry is disabled too. Actually, we tried to disable auto-targetting on most targets that are not the main priority for "AP" ammunition. You can still give an order to attack these things.- Changed the stats of US 76mm AT gun vs:
-- JPIV L48: penetration to 56% (from 75%)
-- JPIV L70: penetration to 21% (from 50%)
-- StuG: penetration to 75% (from 85%)
-- StuG with skirts: penetration to 70% (from 80%)
-- Hetzer: penetration to 54% (from 75%)
(given values are for maximum range; the values got pretty much reverted back to their previous state)
- Changed the accuracy nerf of AT/tanks guns against JPIV L48/L70 to 15% from 25%
- Bazookas (both versions) no longer have accuracy penalties against Hetzer and JPIV L48/L70
- Changed the penetration chance of standard bazooka vs:
-- JPIV L48: 80% (from 100%)
-- JPIV L70: 70% (from 30%)
- Lowered the HP of JPIV L48 to 550 (from 650)
- Lowered the MP cost of JPIV L48 to 425 (from 500)
- Lowered the HP of JPIV L70 to 550 (from 650)
- Lowered the MP cost of JPIV L70 to 490 (from 580)
Another thing that received a ton of complaints were bunkers and how to counter their spam.- Cannons with AP ammo have now only about 5% chance to hit infantry and AT guns (use HE to attack these targets)
- Cannons with AP ammo loaded no longer auto-target infantry, AT guns buildings, bunkers and emplacements (only attack these on direct order)
- 37mm AT guns now shoot on average every 5 seconds (from 6.5)
- 50mm/57mm/6 pounders now shoot on average every 5.5 seconds (from 7)
- 76mm/75mm AT guns now shoot on average every 6 seconds (from various values)
- 17 pounder guns now shoot on average every 7 seconds (from 7.25)
- 88mm PaK43 guns now shoot on average every 8 seconds (from 10.75)
- AT guns are now built with AP ammo installed
In terms of countering the spam we increased the range and damage output of anti-camping units and so they should now provide a solid way of destroying these heavy fortifications. In terms of bunker spam itself, we went with some changes you suggested. The bunkers are no longer built with an MG team inside but you can build MG teams from the bunkers. Later on with an unlock the cost of the MG teams gets lowered (only in bunkers, not in Barracks). Bunkers now also require some teching to be built and the defebse branch of the unlock tree has been reorganised to give more incentive to use emplacements at first and only later go for bunkers.
In order to adress some complaints about the AA, this update returns the "range" of AA units back to "60" so they don't cover such a huge area anymore. The damage output stays for now. Also, if AA units are not in the AA mode, they will not shoot at planes - their stats against planes outside of AA mode were so low that they were just wasting ammo anyway.- Changed damage of 105 Sherman and StuH vs bunkers to destroy them in 3 hits
- Changed damage of 105 Sherman and StuH vs emplacements to destroy them in 1-2 hits
- Changed damage of Scott vs bunkers to destroy them in 6 hits
- Changed damage of Scott vs emplacements to destroy them in 2-3 hits
- Changed the range 105 Sherman's StuPa's and StuH's "anti-emplacement" ability to 95 (from 85)
- Changed the range Scott's "anti-emplacement" ability to 90 (from 85)
- Def doc Repair Bunker can no longer reinforce soldiers nearby
- Def doc bunkers and Pantherturms are no longer built with an MG team inside
- Reorganized the unlock path of defensive structures in Defensive doc
- Bunkers no longer start with an MG team inside
- Bunkers can now build MG teams
- Bunkers no require T2 unlock and T2 building to be built
- "Improved bunkers" unlock no longer reduces the build speed of bunkers
- "Upgraded bunkers" unlock now lowers cost of MG teams built in bunkers (-100MP), makes it possible to reinforce infantry around bunkers
- Bunkers can now take up to 7 soldiers (from 6)
Another change based on the feedback here is Axis units with the short 75mm gun now use their HE ammo by default so they no longer need to pay for the upgrade to activate it. This also means they can no longer switch to "AP" ammo so their effectiveness against even lightly armored units is quite limited. During the test games these units (quite unsurprisingly) proved to be quite infantry-wreckers so they received some minor nerfs too. We kept there the HEAT abilities but their upgrade now costs 50 ammo. With this change the HE tanks of Allies would be in a bit of a disadvantage because they still need to pay 90 ammo to get the option to turn on their HE mode and so we lowered the switch cooldown to 15 seconds for these units. This is experimental for now as we felt that it might turn the scales quite heavily to the side of Axis...on the other hand, someone said here that "little more HE won't hurt anything" so we'll see how that works out.- Lowered range of units in AA mode to 60 (from 90 - planes now "trigger" them in smaller radius)
- AA units only attack planes when in AA mode now
We also received quite a few requests to buff 90mm guns so that there would be a better chance to defend against Panthers. We decided to approach this from the other side (as has also been suggested a few times). Panthers are very effective units, in many ways actually better than Tigers but they are also cheaper than Tigers. This leads (especially in BK doc) to rushing the Panthers as soon as possible, which is not intended here. Therefore the costs of Panthers have been increased as well as their fuel upkeeps.- Axis Stubby tanks and light vehicles now shoot HE by default
- Increased the cost of HEAT upgrade for Stubby units to 50 ammo (from 25)
- Set Aim times of PIII with HE rounds to same values as stubby PIV
- Tweaked the AoE settings of stubby HE weapons so that infantry has a better chance to avoid damage the farther they are from the blast
- Reduced the switch delay between HE and AP ammo of 75mm Sherman (also Jumbo) to 15 seconds (from 90)
- Reduced the switch delay between HE and AP ammo of 75mm Churchills to 15 seconds (from 90)
- PIII in BK doctrine moved to Tank factory
Many changes were applied to CW in this update, especially to RAF but also to RE. With RAF we tried to adress the long-standing complaint that their infantry squads turn into terminators with all the unlocks. This was due to the amount basic buffs received from unlocks in combination with the bonuses from the free veterancy they gained from the unlocks. We merged some bonuses together, added some new but all in all the biggest change is that they no longer get free veterancy levels, instead they get more XP for killing enemy units and so they first need to kill something to get the passive bonuses from veterancy.- Increased the cost of Panther D to 780MP 130F (from 680MP 110F)
- Increased the cost of Panther A to 850MP 155F (from 770MP 140F)
- Increased the cost of Panther G to 940MP 165F (from 890MP 155F)
- Increased the cost of Panther Ace to 1400MP (from 1300MP)
- Increased the fuel upkeep of all Panther tanks to 4 per minute (from 2.88)
Next is the SAS squad. There were again complaints about them being too resistant but also having a mishmash of weapons that made it hard to say what their purpose actually was and there was also complaint that they get unlocked too late. This is now changed as they are no longer linked to the glider unlocks and so require just 2CP and Captain in the field. Their loadout is now just Thompsons but you can get specific weapon bundle upgrades to specialize them in a certain type of combat. Their basic "armor" type is now changed so they no longer take less damage from HE, but they still benefit from the Commandos upgrades so getting them will even the odds. These changes will require some testing because we are pretty sure we didn't get this right for the first try, so this will be further adjusted based on your feedback.
There is a new unlock in the command tree that lowers the cooldowns of all airstrikes by 50%, but this at the cost losing Firefly in this doctrine.
In the last patch we added the buildable Churchill MK VII to RE. There are more changes coming for RE in this update, mostly based on suggestions in this topic. Most of it is explained there so I'll just list the changes:- Changed the target type of SAS to "airborne infantry" (from Heroic) - this will make them more vulnerable to tank HE shots
- The cost of SAS squad reduced to 480MP
- Reiforce cost of SAS reduced to 40MP (from 47MP)
- The SAS squad no longer drops with weapon crates
- The SAS squad can now buy an AT upgrade with 2 bazookas and 1 PIAT for 30 ammo (you can have only one SAS squad with this upgrade at a time)
- The SAS squad can now buy a long-range upgrade with 2 Brens and 5 Lee-Enfield rifles for 30 ammo
- The SAS unlock is no longer connected to Glider unlock but the squad can only be called in if Captain has been built
- Offensive and Defensive Training unlocks in RAF no longer provide free Vet levels
- Defensive Training unlock in RAF now makes Commandos units take 25% less damage and 15% less suppression (from just 15% less suppression)
- Offensive Training unlock in RAF now makes Commandos units deal 5% more damage, be 5% more accurate and gain XP 25% faster
- Added an upgrade to HQ truck that automatically upgrades all 2pounder Tetrarchs with the Littlejohn (100MP 30F)
- The reward option between the two Tetrarch variants now decides which variant will be available in the Field Support truck and automatically deployed from the Tetrarch glider but both variants are now always available in the glider
- Removed Firefly from RAF doctrine
- Added an unlock that lowers the cooldown of all plane abilities by 50%
- Added an AT rocket airstrike ability to Commandos Captain (requires Vet3; can only be used within a range of 60 from the Captain)
The way that the US straffe works causes FPS drops as it fires maaaaaany bullets per second and so it hard on engine calculations. This update has an experimental change that should lower the load on the engine but keep the damage outpur approximately the same. Given how busy we all are, I was only able to test it solo against AI. The results seemed pretty similar to what the straffe does now but testing this against AI is pretty wonky. Please, test this and report back if you noticed some significant change in damage output of the US straffe runs.- Reorganized RE unlock tree
- Lowered rec.pen. modifier on all non-Mk VII Churchills to 10% (from 15%)
- Heavy Mines and Roadblocks are now unlocked with Royal Engineer construction unlock
- 95mm Churchill can now shoot directly at targets within standard attack range (15 seconds reload time)
- Increased 95mm Churchill cost to 500MP 60F (from 400MP 50F)
- AVRE petard shot range reduced to 35 (from 70)
- Significantly increased AVRE's damage vs bunkers, trenches, tank traps and roadblocks
- Lowered AVRE cost to 350MP 40F (from 450MP 80F)
There is also a topic about lowering the fuel costs of flamethrower vehicles as their high cost was just another reason not to use them.- Changed the internal working of US straffe; damage should remain the same but it should put less stress on the game engine
And last but not least, some general fixes and changes:- Lowered the fuel cost of Flame Halftrack to 10 (from 20)
- Lowered the fuel cost of Flame Hetzer to 40 (from 60)
- Lowered the fuel cost of Sherman Crocodile to 40 (from 60)
As I said in the beginning, and as you can see here, there are a lot of changes and so some testing is needed in order to release it into the live version as bug-free as possible, so please, play some games and provide some feedback - as always, in separate topics, please.- 28mm Halftrack (Def doc) and Armored Car (PE) no longer auto-target infantry
- Added a "Follow" ability to 28mm Halftrack
- Unified stats of Marder III and Geschutzwagen (mainly aim time) to match that of sdkfz 234/4
- Infantry inside transporters no longer takes damage
- When units shoot from transporters, their accuracy is now lowered by 75%
- Increased Goliath damage modifer vs Churchills Mk VII to x3 (from x2)
- Specific US tank wrecks should now be possible to destroy when shot at
- 82nd basic weapons changed to Thompsons
- Thompson upgrade of 82nd replaced with Garands upgrade
- Fixed a bug where 82nd got no bonuses when attacking from camo
- Increased acceleration of Jacksons (both versions) to 2.3 (from 1.5)
- Nashorn in Def doc is no longer limited to 1
- Swapped the positions of Blitzkrieg Assault and PIV H unlocks in BK unlock tree
- Revised the penetration chances of captured Shermans (SE) against tanks of Allies, 76mm should perform similarly to 75mm L48 and 17 pounder similarly to 75mm L70
- It is possible now to get both Beutepanzers in SE any time (no need to call them at the same time)
- CW Tank commander should no longer appear in Armor Truck under certain circumstances
Have fun
EDIT 06.04.2021:
There has been an update today to fix some of the issues that have been reported so far and also some requested smaller changes. Namely:
Please, try to see if stuff works, especially the 95mm Churchill and if it still has crazy kill-counts.- Panther A in BK doc has now the correct price
- Fixed an oversight that made PE PaKs still require AP upgrade to use AP ability
- Re-captured AT guns no longer display the AP ammo upgrade
- Fixed a bug where PaK43 in Def doc required incorrect unlocks
- Lowered the cost of PIII N to 390MP 40F (from 430MP 50F)
- Fixed wrong stats on direct-shooting 95mm Churchill
- 95mm Churchill no longer receives faster reloading from "Veteran Churchills" unlock; Barrage cooldown is instead reduced by 20%
- Lowered the HE cooldown switch on Cromwells to 15 seconds
- Lowered the HE cooldown switch on Stuart and PaK36 halftrack to 10 seconds
- Commandos Captain's Airstrike ability now shows in the UI even before the AT strike is unlocked in the command tree
- Commandos Captain squad now costs 30MP to reinforce (from unintended 12)
- Fixed Command PIV requiring wrong unlocks
- Axis stubby 75mm vehicles now display the "HE mode" icon above them
- Lowered the damage of 280mm vs CW trucks so that they don't get destroyed in one salvo
- Fast fire ability for Panthers and Pershings no longer requires selecting a target and doesn't cancel itself when the tanks moves
- M36 Jackson in Armor Company now gets its APCR upgrade with the ammunition unlock
- 88mm flak will not auto-target infantry in AP mode and tanks it cannot reliably damage in HE mode
- 88mm flak in Def doc now uses the same emplacement model as the one in Luft doc
- 88mm flak will now return to face its original direction instead of stayig facing the direction of last target forever
- Repair and medic bunkers in Def doc now require T2 upgrade and building
- The "Improved bunkers" unlock now lowers the cost of Medic and Repair bunkers
- Changed rec.pen. modifier on Sherman E8 to 0.8 (from 0.82)
- Commandos HMG team now properly displays the "Switch fire mode" ability
- Increased suppression boost of "Suppressive fire" ability so it will now suppress selected squad faster
- AI should now use HE shots against infantry and buildings (switching between HE and AP for units with HE mode is still wonky)
- AA units outside AA mode should not target planes (for real now)
- Added a bazooka upgrade to Canadian Infantry (75 ammo, 2 bazookas; can have maximum of 2 at a time)
- Tweaked AT guns (mobile and emplaced) so that they no longer have unintended penetration drop in certain situations
EDIT 2 (12.4.2021):
There is a beta update today with the following changes:
It goes to beta branch just to make sure there is not big problem with it such as insta-crash or something. If no major problem is reported, this version will be released to live branch within 24 hours.- Increased damage modifier of panzerfausts vs Churchill MK VII to x5 (from x2)
- Set penetration of SMGs vs armored targets to 0 (from various very small values)
- Increased the damage of Jagdtiger gun vs Churchill Mk VII to have higher chance to one-shot them
- Increased the XP required for 95mm Churchill to gain veterancy to 45/75/110/155 (from 25/55/90/135)
- Lowered the chance to of 75mm Churchill gun to hit Goliaths
- Temporarily removed BOYS unit from Commandos glider
- Pershing Ace will no longer leave a wreck with a pink texture
Thank you all for providing feedback!
