STOM (Soviet Tech Overhaul Minimod) Public Announcement

Update!

- Stormtroopers now cost 440 MP to deploy, and 50 MP to reinforce. They now use the Obersoldaten Kar98k, take as long to reinforce and have similar base stats.

- Vet 1 is now auto healing outside combat instead of Field Kit. They are supposed to work alone so nobody to heal them.

- Stormtrooper G-43 upgrade added. For 100 munitions, you get two of the same G43s used by Jaeger Light Infantry.

- STG-44 for Stormtroopers now gain unique stats; they have the same base stats as STG44 IR so they perform better against cover. Same damage though.

- Stormtroopers upgrade to 2 Panzerschrecks for 150 munitions. They can put these schreks away and they don't have a chance to drop. It takes time to stow them away or re-equip them and they can't pick up any other weapons.

- The fuel for Ostheer is automated.

Okay, had a pretty large update yesterday! Here are the changes:

General Changes:

- All death crits that don't involve dying in some form is merged into one. What this means is, there is now a 25% chance for a vehicle to be abandoned, and then the game picks between engine damage, engine destruction and main gun destruction on top of the abandon.

Ostheer Changes:

- Pioneers can now construct Tank Traps without doctrines.

- Defensive Doctrine and Ostruppen Doctrine Trench power replaced with Forward Supply Station, available at 0 CP for 200 MP and 40 Fuel. The FSS can repair vehicles, reinforce infantry, and it can spawn the new Flammenwerfer 41; an upgrade over Flammenwerfer 35 with less time between bursts and 1.5x times more damage against enemies in cover, at a cost of 80 munitions. You can still build trenches when you're at 2 CP.

- Defensive Doctrine Defensive Fortrifications ability is replaced by Model 24 Smoke Grenades. Panzergrenadiers and Grenadiers will be able to throw them at 2 CP.

- Panzergrenadier Jaeger Infantry Upgrade is now 120 Munitions for the 4 G43 variant and 60 for the 2 G43 variant. Defensive Stance ability added, which halves cooldown time and gives a flat accuracy increase at all ranges (meaning they scale better for longer ranges) while limiting the squad to prone position and making them immobile.

- Panzerwerfer now has 320 health, just like Walking Stuka.

- LeFH cost reduced to 500 MP.

OKW Changes:

- Schwerer Panzer Headquarters and the base 20mm Flak Emplacement cannot attack air at all. Free anti-air shouldn't be the case; the Flak AA Halftrack is more than adequate.

- Jagdtiger now deals 400 damage. This change makes it the hardest hitting AT weapon in the game, allowing it to dispose of T-34/85 in two hits. This compensates for the global popcap nerf which was arguably not deserved in the case of JT.

- Pak43 will now properly allow 4 men once it is recrewed.

- 20mm Flak Emplacement provided by Fortrifications and Luftwaffe GF doctrines now costs 320 MP but no fuel.

- Panzer J will come equipped with a free MG42.

Soviet Changes:

- Combat Engineers can now construct Tank Traps and PMD-6 Anti-Personnel Mines without doctrines.

- B-4 direct fire now deals 800 damage, enough to destroy a Panther in one hit.

- KV-2 is now limited to one. KV-2 costs 440 MP and 290 fuel to call in.

- KV-2 main weapon range when deployed is now 100.

- KV-2's Veterancy 3 will now increase non-deployed and Smashing Shot attack range by 50%. Does not affect deployed mode.

- KV-2 Veterancy ability is changed to Smashing Shot. This ability has a cost of 100 munitions and a firing range of 40. After aiming for 5 seconds, the KV-2 will directly fire a single shot at any enemy vehicle. It has a penetration of 200, but will deal 240 damage regardless of whether it penetrates or not. It requires the KV-2 to be deployed in order to be used, and a penetrating hit will result in an immobilization 70% of the time, and immobilization + abandon 30% of the time. It has 1000 penetration within 10 range and it can only be used when KV-2 is deployed.

- KV-2 is now a command tank, and when deployed, it will reduce inbound damage to Allied forces in the same sector as it (regardless of whose sector it is) to 80% of normal amount.

- KV-2 health increased from 800 to 960.

- ML-20 now costs 500 MP.

- Katyusha now has Walking Stuka's 320 health and its armor stats. (11/5,5)

- Hit the Dirt will now make the Conscript Infantry Squad deploy a single DP-28 when active. Once the ability is canceled, the DP-28 is stowed away.

- M42 Light AT Gun now costs 160 MP.

More changes... Yeah I've been busy. About to go to bed so a bit lazy presentation, and won't be editing the OP just yet.

- Soviet Defensive gets 2 new abilities in place of Tank Traps and AP mines:

Guards Tank Hunter Battlegroup, 480 MP and 140 fuel. Available at 8 CP, 2 M10 TDs, lendleased, are given to elite guards vehicle crews, who always start at least at vet 1 and have a pretty good chance for 2 and even vet 3. It's the same M10 except their ability is the same toggled APCR as SU-85.

Scorched Earth available at CP12 for 160 munitions. For 45 seconds, rockets fall down on any enemies in friendly territory. It looks rather impressive but isn't all that strong.

- Sector Artillery cost reduced to 100 muni. 200 is unrealistic for Ostheer.

- Zooks deal 100 damage now.

- Commissar Squad gets PPShs now, all 6 of them. It's a bit of a unique PPSh, but don't worry, still worse than the Shocks one. They also reinforce faster.

If you're reading this and actually playing STOM, have fun!

Additional changes, an update has been made:

- Assault Guards now spawn without PPShs, and they have a unique SVT with the exact same stats as Panzergrenadier G43s, but half the damage.

- Assault Guards can upgrade to 2 Bazookas for 120 munitions.

- Fallschrimjaeger can no longer spawn from buildings. They now cost 400 MP, have their near range at 12 instead of 8, medium range at 24 instead of 18, and their smoke grenade is replaced with the Precision Burst ability. They also don't need any veterancy to cloak.

- Ostruppen Reserves and Panzer IV Ausf J are far more generous with their veterancy. Ostruppen Reserves also no longer have a chance of spawning with nothing; 40% chance to get 4 MP40s same as those on Pioneers, 40% for 2 Panzerbusches with identical stats and 20% for an LMG42.

- Paratroopers (Support) at Recon Company will always spawn with 4 Thompsons and 2 Bazookas. No Tactical Assault.

- StuG G pen profile is now identical to SU-85 (200/190/180)

- LeFH and ML-20 are now guaranteed to crew-shock vehicles they hit.

- Commissar redesigned greatly. Rally Point no longer has a cooldown; it is enough penalty that you cannot move the Commissar during it. Vet 2 ability is changed to Directed Assault, giving a flat accuracy bonus which scales better at longer ranges, and faster cooldown, but increased received accuracy to all friendly infantry in the same sector as the Commissar. Vet 3 is passive healing for idle infantry in the same friendly sector as the Commissar.

Minor update:

- Support Paratroopers now heal and can de-crew from vehicles they crewed. The passive healing requires Vet 2, as advertised by the Veterancy tooltip.

- Assault Guards can alternatively upgrade to 2x BARs for 120 munitions.

Rather sizable update today:

- Stuart now has 400 health.

- PPSh upgrade is now available to Penals as well (a stronger variant) and it is no longer doctrinal; get T3 and/or T4 and you get access to it.

- ZiS-6 Cargo Truck replaces the PPSh upgrade, it is virtually identical to the Opel Blitz Supply Truck.

- Irregulars are replaced with ISU-152 at CP12. That should make Reserve Army a far more enticing choic.

- Command Panther now gains shared veterancy from fellow OKW vehicles.

- Assault Engineers gain a 5th man at Vet 2, and they gain 3 Thompsons at vet 3.

- Both Forward HQs now come in at 2 CP and can only be used at friendly territory, but the building gains an additional 2500 health. This does not affect flame based weapons in their fire starting mechanic, so that is still perfectly valid. The cooldown is drastically increased to 5 minutes.

- M-42 Light AT Gun is replaced with ML-20 152mm Howitzer.

- Hit the Dirt is now usable by Penal and Guards Infantry as well.

- Rapid Conscription allows replacement of up to 3 squads now.

- KV-2 abandon chance is removed.

Another update:

- .50 and DSHK have the same 70 armor as the other HMGs.
- Most team weapons will gain Vet 4/5 access when captured by OKW.

Update:

- Vet 2 no longer buffs Rifle Grenade range.

- Both IL-2 strikes are significantly stronger.

- 60mm mortar added to Liutenant Tier. This mortar has a shorter range and can't barrage but it has a faster fire rate and supreme accuracy.

- Rangers added to the Captain Tier. They can throw Cooked grenades or Smoke grenades, and they can swap their Bazookas for Panzerschrecks at a cost of 15 munitions.

- Cavalry Riflemen now use particularly powerful M1 Carbines instead of Thompsons. Reinforcement cost is reduced to 36 MP. They can upgrade their BAR upgrade with an upgraded BAR (yo dawg) at a cost of 15 munitions. They can also now throw Satchel Charges.

They can upgrade their BAR upgrade with an upgraded BAR (yo dawg) at a cost of 15 munitions.

Uhhhh, you lost me there.

Uhhhh, you lost me there.

33% higher fire rate, and reduced accuracy and fire rate penalty when on the move.

I think you made too many changes. All I was looking for was the tech overhaul. I like most of the changes you made to the Soviet tech structure. I'd also like an SVT-40 upgrade for conscripts.

Seriously, 39 pop for a King Tiger? Jesus Christ. That leaves barely any room to support the damn thing. I already feel like the popcap is ~5-8 point too low as it is. I always am missing just 3-4 points to call in another good unit.

Wow this looks awesome. I think there's way too many changes for it to catch on but it sounds fun either way. Will have to give it a go.

I think you made too many changes. All I was looking for was the tech overhaul. I like most of the changes you made to the Soviet tech structure. I'd also like an SVT-40 upgrade for conscripts.

Seriously, 39 pop for a King Tiger? Jesus Christ. That leaves barely any room to support the damn thing. I already feel like the popcap is ~5-8 point too low as it is. I always am missing just 3-4 points to call in another good unit.

How would you implement a SVT-40 upgrade for Conscripts in a meaningful manner? Let me know and I'll think about it.

Heavy tanks in this mod are not meant to be prohibitively expensive but popcap inefficient. Their general ease of use, survivability, impact on the game and cost effectiveness are untouched; instead they are made so that you can't get much else and that weaker but more numerous units are considerably more effective for their popcap which is fair considering the disparity in micro required and effectivenes per resource cost.

It's also a soft nerf to the IS-2/ISU-152 call-in meta, and with T-34/85 out of the call-in picture, I believe I solved that problem without resorting to drastically altering the call-in mechanic.

Wow this looks awesome. I think there's way too many changes for it to catch on but it sounds fun either way. Will have to give it a go.

Well, it started out as a tiny proof of concept for the Soviet tech system, but later I figured out I could embark upon a crusade of slaying the impurities that infest every corner of this otherwise beautiful game.

How would you implement a SVT-40 upgrade for Conscripts in a meaningful manner? Let me know and I'll think about it.

Heavy tanks in this mod are not meant to be prohibitively expensive but popcap inefficient. Their general ease of use, survivability, impact on the game and cost effectiveness are untouched; instead they are made so that you can't get much else and that weaker but more numerous units are considerably more effective for their popcap which is fair considering the disparity in micro required and effectivenes per resource cost.

It's also a soft nerf to the IS-2/ISU-152 call-in meta, and with T-34/85 out of the call-in picture, I believe I solved that problem without resorting to drastically altering the call-in mechanic.

I figure an SVT-40 upgrade would be more or less the same as the PPSh one. The difference being that SVTs offer more midrange firepower and PPSh's are for close range. Though to be fair, that might make penal battalions redundant, so I can understand not doing it.

As far as popcap goes, it's your mod. You can do whatever you want and I'm not really going to complain unless this happens in the actual game. I've always thought the popcap was slightly too low in the base game (only by maybe ~6 or so), so one unit taking up nearly half my army wasn't exactly my favorite thing to see in the world.

I figure an SVT-40 upgrade would be more or less the same as the PPSh one. The difference being that SVTs offer more midrange firepower and PPSh's are for close range. Though to be fair, that might make penal battalions redundant, so I can understand not doing it.

As far as popcap goes, it's your mod. You can do whatever you want and I'm not really going to complain unless this happens in the actual game. I've always thought the popcap was slightly too low in the base game (only by maybe ~6 or so), so one unit taking up nearly half my army wasn't exactly my favorite thing to see in the world.

The way you put it makes it sound quite redundant.

Sure, it's my mod and you can use that as a way to avoid making an actual argument, but you should realize that heavy tanks are already too effective for their population. Mediums simply take more effort and are less flexible. A KT will rarely get killed instantly because it tried to scout for vision.

I mean, I just think that armies are too small to begin with, so raising specific units to take nearly half your entire army even though the Eastern Front was a massive engagement doesn't help with that. I think raising popcap of specific units is just putting a bandaid on the call-in meta. The real problem is they allow you to forgo teching costs, King Tiger aside.

New changes folks:

- Armor Company now has a Thompson Weapon Rack at CP2. This is the same Thompson used by Paras, for 25 muni. For technical reasons, squads that include Rear Echelon can't pick it up. And Rangers can't either because they start with better Thompsons to begin with. Vehicle crews get a bundle at 60 Muni.

- Counterattack Tactics -> Fragmentation Bomb (Mobile Defense Doctrine)

- Weapon Racks are 70 MP cheaper each, and Major is 140 MP more expensive. This should improve the viability of weapon racks while reducing the advantage of going Major over side-teching.