July 8th Balance Patch

Updates for July 8th, 2014


Bug Fixes
Player equipped Commanders, Intel Bulletins, Vehicle Skins and Victory Strikes appear again on loading screens

Balance

Maps

After extensive testing we have optimized pathing on a number of maps to improve the quality of gameplay during a match. Numerous changes have also been made to improve balance. Various of bug fixes have been added including an exploit to salvage ambient wrecks; have been fixed.

Vaux farmlands
Pathing improvements
Bug fixes

Rails & Metal
Pathing Improvements
Bug fixes

Kholodny Spring
Fixed small firing gap in southern hedge near VP
destroyed the building in farm area near east player
Moved east player’s cutoff player closer to their base and refined area
Added two small infantry only lanes to increase ebb and flow
Minor pathing fixes
Minor cover adjustments
Base alignment

Semois Winter
Moved a bunker back in the north base
Deep snow refinement
Minor pathing fixes
Minor cover adjustments
Removed the ability for tanks to Sink from shallow streams

Langres Spring
Adjustments to north cutoff area
Added infantry access point to north base area
Minor territory refinement
Minor pathing fixes
Minor cover adjustments
Base alignment

Soviets

There were a number of issues we wanted to address in the Soviet Army which had to do with squad wiping. The HM-38 120mm Mortar and KV8 come to mind. With the 120mm getting its AOE profile change it will still pack a serious punch at close range but will have reduced damage impact at the mid-range. By offsetting some of values in the profile we will also see a very slight improvement at far range. The KV8 with its flamethrower was designed to be a hard counter against infantry this was never intended to be an eraser of infantry. The high direct damage the flame had would result in criticals triggering more often than intended thus increasing the chances of squad wiping and rendering all forms of infantry AT useless. With the reduced damage squads will have a little more time to react accordingly and reduce the chance of squad wiping. Another result of this change will increase the time it takes for the KV-8 to kill buildings. It had been killing OKW truck buildings ridiculously quickly. The Maxim also had its rotation speed reduced because generally whenever a player tries to flank a maxim; the maxim will rotate quickly enough to stop any oncoming flank. Various classic hotkey changes were added to fix overlap.

HM-38 120mm Mortar
AOE Profile changed from 1.0 / 0.35 / 0.05 to 1 / 0.15 / 0.1

M1919 Maxim Heavy Machine Gun Team
Reduce Rotation Speed reduced from 180 degrees per second to 120 degrees per second

KV8
Flamethrower damage reduced from 27 to 16

Overdrive
Hotkey changed from D to V

Tracking
Hotkey Changed from R to I


US Forces

Volley fire is getting another change this update. The values that were implemented in the last update proved to be a slight over-extension on our part. Where we found at the high expert levels of testing - Volley Fire was still quite effective; it was not easily readable the vast other majority. We decided to tone down some of the penalties and increase its suppression slightly to improve usability. The way Volley fire will work is near the end of the duration the squad being shot at by the ability will get surpressed (never pinned). Switching targets with volley fire will result in the spread of suppression to multiple squads which end up yielding no suppression because the threshold will not be hit. Defensive Stance which is an ability granted when equipped with a M1919 has its suppression reduced. For a 360 degree shot it suppressed way too quickly. A number of smaller changes have been made to improve usability of units. Various classic hotkey changes were added to fix overlap.

Defensive Stance
Suppression bonus reduced from 0.025 to 0.015

M10 ‘Wolverine’ Tank Destroyer
Now has hold fire

M36 ‘Jackson’ Tank Destroyer
Now has hold fire

T30E13 HVAP-T Armor Piercing Rounds
Hotkey changed from H to V

Volley Fire
Receive Accuracy modifier reduced from 50% to 40%
Cooldown Weapon Modifier added by 0.125 on the last volley
Suppression increased on the last volley from 0.01 to 0.03


Wehrmacht

With the changes to Blitzkrieg providing max speed we felt that it was a change going in the right direction however we did see some unrealistic speeds achieved by medium tanks on roads. By reducing the max speed modifier we still achieve the intention of the change while maintaining realistic expectations.

Blitzkrieg
Maximum Speed Modifier reduced from 1.5 to 1.35


OKW

Some small changes we made to help OKW deal with infantry in the early game. The Kubelwagen was in a good place offensively with its suppression however its durability came into question. When you get flanked as weapon team you can generally retreat without losing the squad. Due to the fragile nature of this unit when you were flanked you were severely punished especially if you lost the Kubel. With the slight increase in health it will give players more time to react and get out of danger without losing the kubel so quickly. Flak emplacements were also a defensive structure that was rarely ever built primary due to the fact that it cost too much fuel for an already fuel-starved race. With the adjustment of Fuel to Manpower ratio it should be less of a fuel dump than its current revision (eds. note: "previous"?). We also fixed an exploit that would allow the Puma to use its “Aim Shot” to squad wipe squads inside garrisons. The priority on the IG also got tuned so that it will prioritize infantry over vehicles.

Kubelwagen
Health increased from 160 to 190

Flak Emplacement
Cost changed from 130/25 to 250/10

Puma
Aim Shot can no longer target buildings
Will no longer share damage against units in garrison

IG 18 7.5cm Infantry Support Gun
Priority changed to prioritize infantry over vehicles