March Deployment Patch

Hello Comrades! There is some big news for the Company of Heroes 2 Community again, in the form of a brand new patch that goes live today, March 25, 2014.

With the "March Deployment" patch Relic has focused on the infantry weapon-profiles, which means the infantry-arms are now more specified and differentiated than before. For example, Grenadiers will now be more efficient over the long range, whilst Shock Troops or Assault Grenadiers increase their efficiency in close quarters combat.



Another infantry-related change comes with grenades, which got an update on their specific area of effect displayed by the circle ingame. After this update, grenades will be more reliable in the displayed area.

The light vehicles are the second main part of the changes. With the new patch, light vehicles are provided with better pathing to navigate through the heat of the battle. The prices of light vehicles are changing as well. To lengthen the early-game, the costs for the Soviet tank-factories and the German tier-upgrades are increasing.

But enough of those words! Check out the official March Deployment Patch trailer:




Curiosity still not satisfied? Read on for the patch notes, pulled from the official forums:

Maps

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Additional maps to the automatch map pool.

• (2) Stalingrad
  
• (6-8) Angermuende
  

Special thanks to community map maker Stahlhagel

Updates and Bug Fixes

Resolution to a number of UI and gameplay related issues.
Automatch map veto list will no longer display maps that are not part of the Automatch pool
Addressed an issue where Loadout changes were not being saved when the game was exited
Fixed various translation and text issues
Addressed a bug preventing Team Chat from working properly
Addressed issues with improper text display
Fixed an issue with map entry points not functioning correctly
Fixed an issue preventing some players from inviting friends to a game
Addressed an issue where the Opel Blitz could block line of sight when wrecked
German Tanks can no longer Target Weak Point ability with a main gun critical
Fixed various bugs with UI

Small Arms Weapon Profiles

The goal is to improve tactics by better defining unit roles; thereby, increasing the importance of unit positioning relative to cover. A weapon profile defines the distribution of damage over distance. Previously, the profiles were generally flat and did not fully characterize the strengths and weaknesses of a squad. Now, a Pioneer squad with a MP40 submachine gun has a very high damage output at close range but a substantially lower damage output at max range. The distribution of damage is no longer blended between ranges; this combined with the increased weapon lethality should reduce the tendency to rush infantry at one another.

Germans
KAR 98 now uses the bolt-action rifle weapon profile
MP40 now uses the submachine gun weapon profile
MP44 now uses the assault rifle weapon profile
G43 now uses the carbine rifle weapon profile
LMG42 now uses the light machine gun weapon profile
Luger 9mm pistol now uses the pistol weapon profile

Soviets
Mosin Nagant now uses the bolt-action rifle weapon profile
SVT now uses the carbine rifle weapon profile
PPSH now uses the submachine gun weapon profile
DP-28 now uses the light machinegun weapon profile

Grenade Explosive Profiles - Grenades
This change removes the chance of grenades missing targets on the outer radius of their explosions. The average damage done to units in this outer radius under the previous structure was converted into a set value to reduce edge cases that resulted in extremely high or low damage being dealt. Grenades will feel more consistent in their damage output as a result.

Units and Abilities

A number of iterations were made on infantry and light vehicles to improve interplay between factions; thereby, encouraging a diversity of strategies and tactics.

Osttruppen
Cost from 120 MP to 200 MP
Population from 3 to 5
Hit points from 48 to 80
Can now shoot on the move
Bonus accuracy in cover from 2 to 1.75

Grenadier
Armor from 1.5 to 1
Updated AOE profile on Rifle Grenade
LMG42 now requires Battle Phase 1 to unlock
Panzerfaust weapon range from 20 to 25
This does not affect the ability range

Assault Grenadier
Cost from 320 MP to 280 MP
Population from 6 to 7
Updated AOE profile on Model 24 Stielgranate Grenade Assault
Assault Grenadiers now gain sprint

Panzer Grenadier
Armor from 1.5 to 1.2
Cost from 360 MP to 340 MP
Updated AOE profile on Bundle Grenade
G43 cost from 60 MU to 40 MU

Artillery Officer
Officer armor from 4 to 1

German Sniper
Armor from 2 to 1
Hit points from 40 to 48
Sight range from 50 to 45
Aim time slightly increased, reload reduced to compensate

222 Scout Car
Cost from 80 MP and 25 FU to 240 MP and 10 FU
Health from 160 to 200
20mm autocannon range from 35 to 40
20mm autocannon accuracy from 0.025/0.0375/0.05 to 0.02/0.04/0.06
20mm autocannon max distance scatter from 10 to 6
20mm autocannon distance scatter ratio from 1 to 0.15

250 Half-track
Snipers can no longer garrison 250 Half-track
Health from 320 to 240
Population from 7 to 5

251 Half-track
Flame projector upgrade now requires battle phase 2
MG gunners damage per second increased by 265%
Armor from 11 to 9
Cost from 120 MP to 200 MP

Mechanized Assault Group
Cost from 520 MP and 40 FU to 490 MP and 30 FU

Mechanized Grenadier Group
Cost from 520 MP and 40 FU to 500 MP and 30 FU

Combat Engineers
Cost from 210 MP to 190 MP
Population from 6 to 5

Penal Battalion
Cost from 360 MP to 270 MP
Population from 9 to 7

Shock Troopers
Armor from 2.25 to 1.5
Cost from 440 to 390 MP
Population from 9 to 10

Guard Rifle Infantry
DP-28 cost from 60 MU to 100 MU
DP-28 research time from 20s to 40s
Updated AOE profile of RGD-33 Fragmentation Grenade

Conscript
Assault Package cost from 30 MU to 40 MU
AT grenade weapon range from 50 to 20
This prevents ‘Thor’ like throws Editor's note: lulz

M3A1 Scout Car
Cost from 80 MP and 20 FU to 230 MP and 5 FU
Armor from 8.4 to 5.4
Health from 160 to 180
Snipers can no longer garrison M3A1 Scout Car

M5 Half-track
Snipers can no longer garrison M5 Half-track
Cost from 120 MP to 270 MP

Irregulars
Cost from 250 MP to 180 MP

Anti-infantry Partisans
Cost from 250 MP to 210 MP

Anti-Armor Partisans
Cost from 260 MP to 270 MP

Soviet Sniper
Hit points from 40 to 48
Flare cost from 60 MU to 40 MU
Scout now fires at a similar rate to sniper
Sight range from 50 to 45
Aim time slightly increased, reload reduced to compensate

Miscellaneous Changes

Radio Intercept
No longer intercepts mines or bunker construction
Now intercepts the dispatch of Osttruppen squads

Small Arms Lethality
Reinforce the value of cover and unit positioning.
Small arms lethality increased by 15%

Retreat Modifiers
This change helps counteract the increased lethality on small arms; enable players to better preserve their units.
Received accuracy from 0.5 to 0.4; increasing squad durability against small arms fire on retreat


Veterancy
Veterancy that previously provided increased armor has been replaced with received accuracy. The received accuracy variable functions almost identical to the use of armor. However, it also acts to reduce unit accuracy over-capping – i.e. units that currently have more accuracy than they. As units gain veterancy, their additional accuracy values will be countered by the received accuracy reduction on other units.
Infantry veterancy which provided armor was replaced with received accuracy
e.g. 1.30x armor now provides 0.77x received accuracy
Units which received price adjustments have had their required experience per level adjusted accordingly.

Vehicle Pathing
This addresses an issue where vehicles would potentially move away from the ordered position as part of their three point turn plan. This could potentially confuse the player causing them to issue another order which would further antagonize the issue by causing the vehicle to move further away from the objective.

Light Vehicle Turn Plan
Removed three point turns from light vehicles

Pacing and Tech Progression
The goal of this change is to slow down the introduction of medium and heavy vehicles within the game and better integrate light vehicles into early combat scenarios. This results in medium and heavy armor being set back by about 2 minutes across the board.

Soviet Starting Resources
Manpower from 490 to 350

Soviet Base Structures
Motor Depot fuel cost from 90 FU to 140 FU
Tank Depot fuel cost from 90 FU to 140 FU

German Starting Resources
Manpower from 520 to 360

German Battle Phases
Battle phase 1 from 25 FU to 45 FU
Battle Phase 1 research time from 32.5s to 45s
Battle Phase 2 from 35 FU to 55 FU
Battle Phase 2 research time from 37s.5 to 60s
Battle Phase 3 from 50 FU to 60 FU
Battle Phase 3 research time from 40s to 60s

Commander Card Layout
The order of abilities within the commander card is now consistent with the order of abilities in game.
Commander abilities in the customizer now display from lowest to highest, top to bottom

Ability Barrage Radius
This feature adjusts the size of an ability's barrage radius based on the approximate amount of scatter that will occur. Scatter generally increases based on distance to target. Firing from max range will result in reduced accuracy.
Barrage abilities from mortars or artillery units now display increases in weapon scatter based on distance

Update March 28th, 2014

Updates
UI Fix on Faceplate when automatching
Repair Engineer issue addressed
Balance


Grenade AOE Profile
Now correctly average out the damage based on old AOE profile

German Snipers
Resolved a miscalculation in the aim time to cooldown conversion. Snipers should feel more responsive as a result.
Sight now correctly set to 45

Soviet Sniper
Resolved a miscalculation in the aim time to cooldown conversion. Snipers should feel more responsive as a result.
Sight now correctly set to 45

Penal
Corrected weapon profile to properly scale with unit cost; this resulted in a slight increase in damage output

Shock Trooper
Moving accuracy from 0.5 to 0.8
Corrected weapon profile to properly scale with unit cost; this resulted in a slight increase in damage output

Guard Rifles
Fixed an issue which caused the DP-28 to burst for long periods of time; damage output remains relatively the same.

Special Rifle Command
Manpower cost from 200 to 120
Build time from 95 to 80

Support Weapon Kampaneya
Manpower cost from 240 to 160

Bunker
Health from 600 to 480

Read the changes on the official changelog.