October 29th Patch and New Commanders

Enjoy the smell of freshly brewed balance patch in the morning!

With the dust just settling from Operation Charlie Fox and the Star Crossed Cup, a new balance patch looms on the horizon. The "Balance Preview Mod" was made available in the workshop, continuing the trend of showing balance changes in advance, to test for everyone.

New Commanders

?free trial:From Friday, October 30th at 10:00 AM PDT / 6:00 PM CET till Sunday, November 1st at 11:59 PM PDT / 8 AM CET November 2nd

Artwork by slepo1 -*- click for fullsize

US Forces – Heavy Cavalry Company

Riflemen Field Defenses
Off Map Smoke Barrage
Rangers
Combined Arms
M26 Pershing Heavy Tank

!Ok, this raised a few eyebrows. There's been speculation that Rangers would make their way from AA into MP at some point and people have been asking for the M26 since forever. We didn't really expect that we would get both together.
Don't except to see any other commander played by the US for at least a fortnightvV

!A commander that will be on par if not better with the current rifle company, we will start seeing a lot more mines being placed around since they are placed on a commander that is better overall, while the rangers and pershing being the obvious spotlight of this commander, I think we will see rangers use a lot against ostheer's grenadier spam and OKW in general since they seem very solid units with just the weakness that their reinforcement cost makes them vulnerable to snipers. The pershing is a nice addition to team games while in 1v1 scenarious it might be hard to see it that often since USF has to manage manpower used for aggression much more than the other factions.DevM

!The lack of an Offmap arty ability leaves you vulnerable to the LeFH and Pak43. The Pershing with only 800 HP is not really a meat shield. AchtAchter

Oberkommando West – Feuersturm Doctrine

Thorough Salvage
Flammenwerfer 35
Recoup Losses
Flammpanzer 38 ‘Hetzer’
Rocket Barrage

!"Glory to the first man to die! Charge!" I'm curious about "recoup losses" in combination with basic OKW tools, and if it will allow some sort of "full blown Imperial Guard / Zerg" gameplay: Outswarm the enemy with rather cheap infantry, the Flammenwerfer will certainly help further, and bring in a supporting cat (/tank).
And in case your enemy tries the same, or builds a defensive line, use the Flammpanzer Hetzer, or the offmap rocket barrage, to soften him up.
If it's a legit strategy in a competitive matter has to be seen, probably not, but it looks fun to play nevertheless.kamk

!A very interesting commander but one very deep flaw pops up in my mind immediately, and that is no call in infantry. OKW needs a supplement to severely under performing VG's to keep up with properly scaled allied infantry. It is one of the main reasons why commanders like Special operations and Elite armored haven't really been considered "standard" in high level 1v1 play.
Recoup Losses on the other hand is quite interesting and may be pivotal with new builds that involve multiple sturmpioneers in tandem with their new flamethrowers, or if you can just spam more VG's. Very interested to see how this will pan out.
The Hetzer remains to me the most important ability in the doctrine. Will it just carry your mid-late game to where call in infantry aren't really needed? Or will it fall flat? We will find out soon enough.
And the Stuka barrage call in seems like the perfect answer to OKW's lack of direct counters to static emplacements like the ML-20 or B4. Great inclusion in this regard. Happy hunting!momo4sho

! It's an interesting commander, the fact that sturmpioneers will have access to flamethrowers can mean we can start seeing some deviation in the current OKW openings. Overall it seems a solid commander with good early to mid game abilities which can either end up being even better depending on how much manpower you get back from the "Recoup Losses" ability.DevM

!On one level it makes sense to release another commander for OKW if the US gets one. On another this is a grab bag of abilities that no one was really expecting. So while it's certainly different to the existing commanders it will be interesting to see how well this fits into the meta. vV

!The flamethrower upgrade could actually allow you to use several Sturmpios in a game. It helps them to vet easier and stay a relevant anti infantry force till late game, similar to Riflemen with Flamers & BAR'sAchtAchter

! I believe the new OKW Commander will allow players to focus around the Med Truck as they can still get a JP for anti-tank and call in the flamer hetzer to deal with the infantry. As a result OKW do not have to waste fuel into teching the other trucks. Furthermore having flamethrowers on sturmpios will be quite advantageous in the long run as players will save munitions for shrecks or mines as they do not have to keep using a 30 muni flame nade to display enemy forces out of cover.HelpingHans

Our Highlights

Indirect fire: LEIG & Pak Howi
"Those who are tired of being backed into a corner and pummeled by constant LIEG and Pak Howitzer barrage will be wiping tears of blissful redemption from their cheeks, as the nerfs have greatly decreased the effectiveness of both. "

LEIG

Suppression Amount reduced from 0.3 to 0.22
Damage profile reduced from 0.25/0.5/1/ to 0.2/0.4/1
Projectile lowest angel increased from 10 to 35
Vet 1 Range bonus reduced from 15% to 5%
No Longer can auto face

Pak Howitzer

Radius reduced from 6 to 5
Suppression reduced from 0.3 to 0.215
Auto Attack Reload increased from 5.2 to 7
Projectile lowest angel increased from 10 to 35
Pak Howitzer population reduced from 5 to 3
No Longer can auto face

!There's the obvious nerfs to suppression and damage, and the removal of auto face makes these actually require micro and thought. Further the the change to projectile angle means that shells will take longer to arrive and moving targets will be harder to hit so they can't just be used as a combination mortar/machine gun anymore to stop infantry attacks all by themselvesvV

!Decreasing the overall combat strength certainly had to be done, adding a nerf via artifical micro tax not so much. Not the best way, IMHO. kamk

!Some nerfs coming down on these units which are deserved but while this impacts OKW by some margin ( a lot of players were using lots of LEIGs) it will impact mostly the USF's indirect fire arsenal. We will probably see less use of both of these especially in USF (380 mp for the pak howitzer might not be so tempting now).DevM

Changes to flamers

Flamethrowers Update

Garrison cover bonus damage reduced from 1.5 to 1.25

Vehicle Flamethrowers

Churchill Crocodile Flamethrower damage reduced from 12 to 10
KV-8 damage reduced from 16 to 10
Universal Carrier Wasp damage increased from 6 to 10

Flame Damage Over time
"We are increasing the time per tick for damage over time. This will include all incendiary abilities, Molotov’s, and flamer dots that vehicles leave behind. The tick in game time should translate to about 1 second real time which should help player gauge the amount of damage they will take if they choose to stand in the fire."

Damage frequency reduced from 0.5 to 1.25
Dot radius increased from 3 to 5

!Overall the flamers on tanks like the KV8 were nerfed so it will weaken the usual Soviet play style of waiting for KV8s and then rolling the field while the universal carrier Wasp might seem more tempting now with a buff to its damage.DevM

!Afaik you need now 6 bursts instead of 4 to wipe a squad in a building.
The WASP buff will make it again a strong early game unit and make the BREN upgrade on the carrier redundant, simply because the flame upgrade is much better.

Crocodile will be still a dangerous unit for axis players as it has still a lot of HP (1400) and 240 armour.

Unsure how this will affect the KV8. I saw players going KV8 spam with AT Gun wall. This strat will be dead with these changes.

Regarding damage frequency, that's the changes that will affect the flame weapons most. Flame dots were too good - incendiary nades were always wiping maxims, Molos/ Incendiary nades easily wiping not microed squads in no time and KV8 & Crocs wiping units always on retreat.

Before you had damage comming in this intervall:
0.5 sec 1 sec 1.5 sec 2 sec 2.5 sec. etc..
Now its like this:
1.25 sec 2.5 sec 3.75 sec 5 sec
So instead of 5 dot ticks you will have 2 dot ticks after 2.5 seconds. That's a severe damage nerf - 60 %. Radius really doesn't matter that much once you micro your units out of the flames.AchtAchter

Further Balance Changes

All Flak Weapons

Damage all in hold flag set from true to false

!Primary changes the usability of the Centaur, as it usually quickly wiped Garrisons. Additionally the Ostwind and flaktrack are influenced by this, but since they have a lower rate of fire their performance against garrisons was not as severe as the Centaur one.
Putting Squads with AT weapons into buildings actually counters now Centaurs, Flaktracks etc. instead of wiping the squad garrisoning the building.AchtAchter

Centaur

Damage reduced from 20 to 14

!The centaur nerf was very needed since it was overperforming, we will still see the centaur as a good anti infantry unit used a lot but now it's not a must build unit for every scenario. DevM

!Not as lethal as before, but still a very good Anti Infantry unit. Still outperforms the Ostwind. However it takes now longer to wipe AT units, so you can't rush blindly into the FOW hoping to wipe all the AT units.AchtAchter

Air Superiority

AOE Radius of bombs reduced from 10 to 5

!It will still destroy units that are near the middle of the target circle, however it won't wipe your complete army or several OKW trucks. Its still possible to destroy a single okw truck with a good placed Air superiority strike.AchtAchter

Heavy Artillery Shells
"We want to reduce the effectiveness of artillery shells against production buildings."

Now do 25% less damage against base structures

!This change mainly affects OKW.
It helps OKW players to keep their trucks on the field as shelling OKW trucks with arty is a common tactic. With these changes you will need more howitzer shells do destroy trucks and the Concentrated Barrage from the Special Weapons Regiment (brits) won't one shot OKW trucks any longer.AchtAchter

Infantry Sections

Reinforcement cost reduced by 10% (28 per model)

!This is a very good change for making IS viable in varied builds. The decreased bleed will make global upgrades like grenades and squad sizes more attractive due to 3 or more infantry sections no longer ruining manpower income. Expect more British players to realize this and extend their mid game, instead of rushing for Tier 3 Tanks.iTzDusty

!The infantry section buff on the reinforcement cost will mean that overall the snipers will have less impact on the british forcesDevM

!They reinforce now as expensive as Riflemen & Paratroopers and cost less to reinforce than grenadiers (30mp). This change buffs the overall BRit game by a huge margin. It helps you to get easier into the game in the early stages and keeps your mp bleed low in late game, helping you to be able to afford all those shiny tanks the Brits have. I usually had the problem that I have a lot of fuel in late game, but not the manpower.
Ostheer is now severely disadvantaged against Brit players, as Grens perform worse and scale worse than infantry sections, yet Grens cost more to reinforce. So every engagement you have as an Ostheer player will bleed you more than the Brit player. In my opinion it doesn't make sense to get a lot of grens as an Ostheer player anymore, getting several snipers or play heavy on team weapons might be more viable.AchtAchter

Sten MK Vi Silence SMG

Rate of fire reduced from 26 to 14
Burst duration increased from 0.425 / 0.325 to 0.6 / 0.4

!Commandos are still deadly in close range. They just don't annihilate everything that they attack. Giving the fact you don't pay munitions for stens and units that are too lethal are rather frustrating than interesting (always keep units like the old Ace, old ISU & old Obers in mind) this is a good change, however it's of course a hefty damage nerf.AchtAchter

Churchills

Armor reduced from 280 to 240
Default Churchill health reduced from 1600 to 1400

!I like the slightly decreased armor. I.E. a basic 200'ish pen unit goes from 71% to 83% penetration, meaning a bunch of designated AT units will lower the huge HP pool more quickly, and higher pen units, like i.e. the Panther, will nearly always penetrate. "Lighter" calibre, i.e. P4, will still struggle a lot to penetrate.
The health reduction brings the default Churchill in line with the other two variants.kamk

!The churchill nerf was also needed since it was soaking too much damage for the cost of the unitDevM

!This is only a minor nerf. The churchill still has more HP than a KT (1280 vs 1400) and a really good acceleration. So keeping it alive against several AT sources will be no problem.
Panther & Tiger shots won't bounce anymore and the JP4 will have a easier game but several P4s still have no chances against it.
The P4 has with the new patch following chances for penetration : 50 % / 46 % / 41 % So nothing you have to worry as a Churchill user unless RNG hates you.
For 150 fuel you still get a tank that has overall far better stats compared with other units that have a similar role.AchtAchter

"Bug" Fixes and "Minor" Additions

"Spoiler" alert: Relic was really busy again

General

Intel Bulletins now appear in the correct order
The UI will now function properly when accepting an observation party invite while in a multiplayer lobby
Games will no longer desync for the remaining users when one user quits the match
Equipped skins and bulletins now appear in saved games
Proper warning text appears when trying to build a howitzer in an HQ territory
Mission 06 can now be completed
Mission 10 starting units now behave properly
Howitzers can now fire if some crew members are in the soft map edge
Soviet Sherman, Soviet B4 Howitzer and Wehrmacht leFH 18 Howitzer wrecks can now be salvaged
Vehicle Loader Injured critical animator will now disappear when repaired
Turret Disable criticals can now be repaired
Team Weapons and Vehicles veterancy buffs no longer stack when abandoned and re-crewed
Game no longer crashes when Custom Maps auto generate more than the maximum allowable visuals (plants/trees)
Game no longer runs slow when observing a game as a party

!Fixing dysnch is nice, as is the other stuff here. Would still really like to see a fix for the Surrender bug howeverVv

Soviet

Partisan Troops no longer camouflage after re-crewing a team weapon
Partisan Tank Hunters no longer camouflage after re-crewing a team weapon
DSHK 38 Heavy Machine Gunâs data has been brought in-line with other heavy machine guns
M3A1 Scout Carâs Vehicle Crew Self Repair ability will no longer cause the game to crash when garrisoned with a squad
M5 Half-Trackâs Vehicle Crew Self Repair ability will no longer cause the game to crash when garrisoned with a squad
BM-13 Katyusha Rocket Truckâs Barrage ability now has the correct area of effect damage values
M4C Sherman Medium Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
T-34/76 Medium Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
T-34/85 Medium Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
IS-2 Heavy Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
KV-1 Heavy Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
ML-20 152mm Howitzerâs Barrage ability now receives the proper buff at vet 3
B-4 203mm Howitzerâs Barrage ability now receives the proper buff at vet 3
M5 Half-Track no longer provides reinforcements after purchasing the Anti-Air package
Forward Headquarters ability aura no longer stacks on re-crewed Team Weapons and USF Vehicle crews
Building tech tree help text now properly describes available units

!If I understand correctly that is a significant change to the Katy:
Currently it is 0.05/0.15/1 and it will be changed back to 0.1/0.3/1vV

Wehrmacht

GrW 34 Mortar Teams now have rotation values
GrW 34 Mortar Teamâs Barrage ability now shows the correct UI reticule radius
leFH 18 10.5cm Howitzerâs Counter Barrage ability now fires 10 shells
leFH 18 10.5cm Howitzerâs Counter Barrage ability now receives a buff at vet 3
SdKfz 234 Puma Armored Cars now receives the proper buff at vet 3
SdKfz 250/7 Mortar Half-Trackâs Barrage ability now shows the correct UI reticule radius
Panzerwerfer 42âs Barrage Victor Target ability now fires 10 rockets
Panther Pzkpfw V Medium Tanks can no longer receive a Brew Up Critical
Sturmpanzer IV Brummbarâs Bunker Buster ability now has proper scatter values
Sturmpanzer IV Brummbars now receive the proper buff when the Hulled Down is active
Tiger PzKpfw VI Heavy Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
Tiger Ace PzKpfw VI Heavy Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator

!10 counter barrage shells from leFH, this might become interesting in team games. The "buff" at Vet3 has to be seen.kamk

US Forces

M5 mines now have the proper animator
Assault Engineers can now build the proper Fuel and Munition caches
Paratroopers now have access to the Vehicle De-crew ability
Paratroopers now have access to the Tactical Assault ability after purchasing the Thompson Submachine Gun package
Majorâs Barrage ability now shows the correct UI reticule radius
M2HB Heavy Machine Gunâs data has been brought in-line with other heavy machine guns
M15A1 AA Half-Track's Main gun no longer rotates into the driverâs cab
M5A1 Light Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
M7B1 Priestâs Barrage ability now uses Target Position
M4A3 Sherman Medium Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
M4A3E8 Sherman Medium Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
Vehicles & Crews that have been scanned by an IR halftrack are no longer visible in the fog of war when they exit the vehicle to make repairs
Forward Observers ability modifiers now apply to reinforced squad members
LMG Supplies intel bulletin is now called LMG & Bazooka Supplies and now provides a cost reduction for both weapon racks
Bazooka Supplies intel bulletin is now called Bazooka Range and now provides a 5% range increase

!Some subtle stuff there, notably that the M5 can no longer fire through the cab and should require better microvV

Oberkommando West

Sturm Offizierâs Inspiration aura no longer stacks on re-crewed weapons
Raketenwefer 43 Anti-Tank Rocket Launchersâ weapon crew no longer break camouflage when the Camouflage ability is active
SdKfz 251/17 Flak Half-Track no longer receives Engine Damage criticals from small arms
SdKfz 251 Walking Stukaâs Incendiary Rockets now have proper scatter values
Tiger B Konigstiger Heavy Tankâs Spearhead ability now has proper range and scatter values
Tiger B Konigstiger Heavy Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
Heat Shell ability no longer uses the artillery collision type
Heat Shell ability now uses the proper speed and acceleration values
Reverse Engineering intel bulletin now points to the proper panzerschreck weapon
Building tech tree help text now properly describes available units

British Forces

Infantry Sectionâs Co-Ordinated Fire ability now has a static radius
Infantry Sections now receive a debuff while constructing
Armor-Piercing Sniper now has proper accuracy modifiers against retreating units and garrisoned units
Commandos can no longer reinforce at USF beacons
Airlanding Officerâs Officer Charge ability no longer stacks on allied USF units
Universal Carrier has had an inappropriate line of speech removed
AEC Mk. III Armored Car has had an inappropriate line of speech removed
Cromwell Mk. IV Cruiser Tankâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
Churchill Crocodile now has a moving scatter penalty
Churchill AVREâs Prioritize Vehicles ability now has the correct animator
Infantry no longer have a 10% chance critical to die instantly to explosive weapons
Infantry no longer receive a flame death from small explosives
Emplacementâs cost help text is no longer present in the Command Posts build menu
Emplacements can now be built if the pop-cap would equal 100
Commando Glider Insertion ability can no longer destroy Fuel & Munition caches by landing a glider on them
Forward Logistics Glider ability can no longer destroy Fuel & Munition caches by landing a glider on them
Forward Logistics Glider abilityâs AS.58 Horsa Glider HQ can now set a rally point
Designate Command Vehicle ability modifiers no longer stack on re-crewed vehicles and weapon Teams
Designate Command Vehicle ability now provides the proper experience modifier
Air Resupply Operation ability will now land on territories captured and controlled by teammates
Concentrated Fire Operation ability now requires sight to be fired

Map updates

Kholodny Ferma Winter
Minor balance improvements to bring it in line with the summer variation
Langres Winter
Minor balance improvements to bring it in line with the summer variation
Moscow Outskirts Winter
Minor balance improvements to bring it in line with the summer variation
Rails and Metal
Adjusted the Eastern bases for UKF players so their bases face inwards
Angoville Farms
Reverted back to a previous version without the glider wreck
Adjusted a map entry point for the southern base
Red Ball Express
Updated with the latest changes from the community members
Achelous River
Replaced a salvageable wreck with a non-salvageable one
Sturzdorf
Adjusted base bunkers so they were no longer covering territory capture areas
Across the Rhine
Adding to 2v2 automatch

Console commands
These settings should only be used by expert modders seeking to get very specific with LOD and shadows while taking screenshots:

lod_setmaxdistance(150) - This will prevent models from dropping down to their lower LODs at a greater distance.
shadowmap_set_distance_override("far", [float value]) - Raising this value will cause shadows to be noticeable at greater distances. Raising this value too high will cause the shadows resolution to decrease.
shadowmap_toggle_distance_override("far", true) - This will toggle the previous console command to take effect.

shadowmap_set_distance_override("near", [float value]) - (Only used on High and Ultra settings) Adjusting this value will determine how far near shadows are rendered. Raising this value too high will cause the shadows resolution to decrease.
shadowmap_toggle_distance_override("near", true) - This will toggle the previous console command to take effect.

dirt_settexelspermeter(150) - Raising this value will increase the tiling of the terrain textures. This can improve terrain resolution, though raising it too high will cause noticeable repetition in the terrain textures.
About the texels per meter: that parameter is already exposed in the Worldbuilder Terrain Properties dialog and that parameter is not recommended to change it in game at run time as it will cause not only the tiling but also splats and splines to look very different as could become too blurry, or too tiled (causing lots of aliasing) as maps are authored with a specific texels per meter settings in mind, this parameter will really not help the maps look better (quite the contrary) if changed in game, it should only be changed in the Worldbuilder map settings when authoring the map so things look proper.

Conclusion

Crave no further, the long desired Rangers and Pershing have arrived, but behold the also freshly supplemented OKW. More importantly Leigfest and Howi Palooza (might) finally come to an end, the reign of Centaur & Churchill is dwindling, and flamers have been tuned another time. A lot of desired changes and fixes have made it into the patch.

Will it live up to your own expectation? Let us know in the comment section below!