Upcoming Patch Balance Preview by Jason Lee

Another interesting note is that the Priest will be the only howitzer left with more than 160 damage other than the B4. It does 200 to the LefH's and (new) ML-20's 160.

I hope they 'normalize' a few things in there. What stood out to me was the Sherman is now superior to the Panzer IV but is still cheaper as well.

Great so now the easy 8 is a better AT vehicle than the Firefly with it's 10 second reload time. It also has better AI, an extra MG and crew repairs/superglue to boot (and it's cheaper).

Relic logic

You have to recall that M4 Shermans have to switch shells meaning they are vulnerable to flanks or surprise attacks. Another thing to take in is the superior veterancy of the Panzer 4.

great patch!

Great so now the easy 8 is a better AT vehicle than the Firefly with it's 10 second reload time. It also has better AI, an extra MG and crew repairs to boot.

Relic logic

What's the range of the firefly?

Great so now the easy 8 is a better AT vehicle than the Firefly with it's 10 second reload time. It also has better AI, an extra MG and crew repairs to boot.

Relic logic

Well, Firefly still has 60 range, slightly self spots, and has tulips...

And firefly doesnt have 10 second reload (unless i cant count),having more DPS than firefly is something several things have.

I hope they 'normalize' a few things in there. What stood out to me was the Sherman is now superior to the Panzer IV but is still cheaper as well.

Yeah, I'm suspecting PIVs will need a bit of a buff. Perhaps a cost reduction?

I do not know why, but I cant open it nor the ommunity site. Anyone kind enough to jut copy and pasted it?

Upcomming Patch Balance Preview

As part of a new trial process this update includes a Balance Preview Tuning Pack that will be made available in the steam workshop (Sept 3rd10:00am PST). The tuning pack can be found in the Modding Hub or in the STEAM workshop after 10:00am PST on Sept 3rd.
This tuning pack contains all of the planned balance changes listed below that will be made live in the near future. We thought it would be interesting for players to try out the new changes in addition to discussing these patch notes. Please note changes not included in the tuning pack are listed in a section at the bottom of the notes.

The Balance Preview does NOT include code updates, help text updates and some major data updates that may be planned for the patch.The patch date that would include these Balance updates is still TBD.

BALANCE

Balance Goals

Increase the number of viable strategies in the game
Make core tech tree units more desirable
Increase the viability of light vehicle combat.
Promote and Encourage Combined Arms
Reduce negative user-experiences in gameplay
Improve usability and remove unintended behavior from the game
General game balance tuning
General Gameplay Updates

Flame Weapon
Flame Weapon dot duration increased from 3 sec to 20 sec
Infantry Held Flame Weapons do not leave Flame DOTs.

British

Churchill Crocodile
Flame Weapon DOT Damage reduced from 4 to 2
Health reduced from 1600 to 1400
Churchill Flamethrower Damage reduced from 16 to 8

Churchill AVRE
Health reduced from 1600 to 1400
Petard damage reduced from 640 to 440
Petard bonus damage multiplier vs buildings 1.45

Universal Carrier
Wasp Flame Weapon DOT damage reduced from 4 to 2
Universal Carrier ronson flamethrower damage reduced from 16 to 8

Wehrmacht

HMG MG42
With the past update change to HMGs we have found the MG42 to be dealing slightly too much damage. Incurring heavy manpower loss on the opposing side. The intended role of the HMG MG42 is to be a suppression platform first which it already excels at.
Damage profile at far reduced from 0.25 to 0.2
Damage profile from mid reduced from 0.625 to 0.6

GRW34 81mm Mortar
Reload increased from 2.4 to 4

Panzergrenadiers
We are looking to minimize the heavy attrition cost of this unit.
Reinforce cost reduced by 10%

Sniper
Slightly reducing the rate of fire of German sniper as its veterancy bonuses that it attained were slightly over performing.
Veterancy 2 rate of fire modifers reduced from 0.8 to 0.85
Veterancy 3 rate of fire modifers reduced from 0.7 to 0.85

Stug III E/G
With the resurgence of Stug use we are looking at changing the way target weak point to prevent chain stunning scenarios which provided a frustrating experience for players.
Target weak point will now disable main gun temporarily no longer causes vehicle stun.

Ambush Camouflage
Changing unwanted behavior.
First strike bonus damage changed to accuracy

JU87 Close Air Support Loiter
We are spreading out the damage of the JU87 Close Air Support to allow players to better react to this ability.
Increased the number of planes to loiter from 1 to 2
Damage reduced from 120 to 60

Elefant
With the limit added to heavy tanks we are reducing the total population cap to give extra army room to the player. We have also removed focus sight as gaining the ability to self-sight. We would like to encourage use of other units that provide vision.
Focus sight removed
Population reduced from 25 to 20

Tiger
With the limit added to heavy tanks we are reducing the total population cap to give extra army room to the player.
Population reduced from 24 to 19

251 Flame Halftrack
Range increased from 25 to 30
Reinforce removed on upgrade

Panzerwerfer
Reducing the scatter slightly and adding suppression to the rockets to improve the unit’s effectiveness.
Distance scatter reduced from 20 to 17
Rockets now deal suppression

Soviets

Starting Resources
We are reducing their starting resources as well as the cost of their starting buildings to open up more versatility among early game compositions. Pacing has not been affected.
Starting Fuel reduced from 50 to 20

Special Rifle Command
We are reducing their starting resources as well as the cost of their starting buildings to open up more versatility among early game compositions. Pacing has not been affected.
Fuel cost reduced from 40 to 10

Support Weapon Kampaneya
We are reducing their starting resources as well as the cost of their starting buildings to open up more versatility among early game compositions. Pacing has not been affected.
Fuel cost reduced from 50 to 20

Tankovivy Battlon Command
We are slightly delay this building to allow players to have more time to prepare for any early vehicle rushes.
Fuel cost increased from 80 to 85

Partisan
We wanted to give a more define role to Partisans. This will now have access to full German weapons consistantly.
Will now only gain access to axis weapons with default stats (MP44s, Panzershercks)
Anti-Tank Partisans now replace irregulars
Added Partisan Grenade to Anti Infantry Partisan

Conscripts
Previously conscripts did not scale too well in the late game. We are increasing their survivability as they vet up.
Veterancy 3 Modifier increased from 33% to 40%

Conscript PPSH
Increase their mid and far range profile so the weapon itself is not an immediate downgrade in overall dps.
Mid accuracy increased from 0.23 to 0.43
Far accuracy increased from 0.115 to 0.2

M5 Halftrack
Reducing penetration slightly to allow for dedicated light vehicle counters to excel more at facing the M5. Also reducing its moving accuracy to reduce its ability to chase and shoot.
Quad penetration reduced from 1.5/2/2.5 to 1.25/1.5/1.75
Moving accuracy reduced from 0.5 to 0.4
Loses ability to reinforce when upgraded.

T34-76
Compensating for the unit’s reduce cost in the last update allowing players to easily a mass their army.
Population cost reduced from 12 to 8

ISU-152
With the limit added to heavy tanks we are reducing the total population cap to give extra army room to the player. We have also removed focus sight as gaining the ability to self-sight for such a long range unit was unnecessary.
Focus Sight Removed
Population cost reduced from 25 to 20

IS-2
With the limit added to heavy tanks we are reducing the total population cap to give extra army room to the player
Population reduced from 24 to 19

Katushya
The previous scatter was set fairly low which gave units little chance to doge any of the rockets.
Creeping barrage scatter increased from 2.5 to 5.5

USF

Ambulance

Improving usability.
Healing ability changed to toggle ability, must be in territory and disables movement.
Build time reduced from 45 to 30

Assault Engineers

Improve usability as we found very little use out of the small anti-tank mines
Replaced M7 Mine with Regular mine

Rifleman

We are adding more survivability to rifleman at vet3 to help them scale into the late game more.
Veterancy 3 now grants reduce receive accuracy by 25%

HMG 50 Cal
Previously the 50cal had an additional weapon that was activated at vet2. That weapon was not effected with the previous HMG changes. We are also improving usability of the HMG.
VET 2 50 Cal weapon has had its stats adjusted in relation to the previous changes to HMGs (Damage reduced from 16 to 20, Burst unified to 1, incremental accuracy from 1.04 to 1.15, search radius changed from 6/8/10 to 10/12.5/15, penetration from 1.5 to 1, nearby suppression radius from 10 to 13)
Focus fire set to false
Gun will instantly transfer to other member if it dies on retreat

M1918 Browning automatic rifle

We are increasing the BAR rifle on the move accuracy and cooldown to promote more aggressive tactics when units are equipped with this weapon.
Moving Accuracy multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.7
Moving Cooldown multiplier reduced from 0.25 to 0.1

Bazookas

Small cost adjustment to bring the weapon in line with its performance.
Cost reduced from 60 to 50 Munitions

Defensive Stance
After heavy testing we found this ability not suited for rifleman.
Ability Removed

M1 Thompsons
Increase their mid and far range profile so the weapon itself is not an immediate downgrade in overall dps.
Mid accuracy increased from 0.173 to 0.43
Far accuracy increased from 0.115 to 0.2

M4A3 Sherman
With the delay in tech to the USF we are increasing the power of some of their vehicles.
Penetration increased from 80/100/120 to 100/120/140
Armor increased from 160 to 180

M4A3 Easy Eight
Now that the Easy Eight requires tech to build it we are adding additional stats to diversify the unit from the regular M4A3 Sherman.
Health increased from 640 to 720
Near penetration increased from 175 to 200

Mortar Halftrack
Improving the Mortar Halftrack to make it more consistent against stationary targets and units in cover.
Scatter ratio reduced from 0.15 to 0.08
Damage multiplier against tp_heavy cover increased from 0.5 to 1
Damage multiplier against tp_trench increased from 0.3 to 1
Accuracy multiplier against tp_trench increased from 0.2 to 1

M56 Delayed Fuse HE Barrage
Improving the ability to allow it to effectively deal against stationary targets.
Weapon building damage changed from mortar to HE Shell
Accuracy increased from 0 to 11
AOE Penetration increased from 105 to 1000
Damage Mid increased from 0.5 to 0.75
Penetration increased from 105 to 1000

M7B1 Priest
Bringing the priest in line with other heavy artillery weapons.
Salvos increased from 5 to 7

240 Howitzer Artillery Barrage
Reducing the AOE radius of the shell to match the shells explosive fx. We have also added additional UI to indicate the area in which the shells will be landing in.
AOE reduced from 12 to 9
Added UI indicator of ability range
Added extra SFX to the shell

OKW

Infantry Squad Upgrades

Ease of use change
All squad upgrades are able to be upgraded out of territory.

Volksgrenadiers
We wanted to give OKW a soft building counter options. This should help OKW deal against garrisoned enemies. (Need an icon)
Grenade replaced with incendiary grenade

IR Halftrack

Adding a small fuel investment to this vehicle.
Cost increased by 5 fuel

Fallschirmjäger
We are looking to minimize the heavy attrition cost of this unit.
Reinforcement cost reduced by 10%

Obersoldaten
We are looking to minimize the heavy attrition cost of this unit
Reinforcement cost reduced by 10%

IR STG
Bringing this upgrade cost in line with this weapons performance.
Cost reduced from 90 to 60

LEIG
We found through feedback and playtesting that the Hollow Charged ability was very cumbersome to use. We have decided to remove the ability from the unit and substitute it with weapon stats.
Hollow charges removed
Now gains increased weapon and barrage range by 15%

Sturmtiger

Fixing unintentional behavior
Can no longer reload it’s gun through repair critical

Jadgtiger
With the limit added to heavy tanks we are reducing the total population cap to give extra army room to the player
Population reduced from 26 to 21

Well, Firefly still has 60 range, slightly self spots, and has tulips...

And firefly doesnt have 10 second reload (unless i cant count),having more DPS than firefly is something several things have.

The firefly has the worst DPS for any tank destroyer in the game due to its reload (yes it is 10 seconds), you can drive a puma up and kill the thing before it can even reload or rotate the gun to counter with its terrible traverse speed.

I see no excuse for it performing so badly compared to the jackson or E8, tulips are incredibly situational and cost a lot of munitions.

Mortar Halftrack

Improving the Mortar Halftrack to make it more consistent against stationary targets and units in cover.
Scatter ratio reduced from 0.15 to 0.08
Damage multiplier against tp_heavy cover increased from 0.5 to 1

IB4 MHT wipe units in green cover

Yeah, I'm suspecting PIVs will need a bit of a buff. Perhaps a cost reduction?

M4 Shermans have to switch shells meaning they are vulnerable to flanks, surprise attacks, or really just being caught off guard. Panzer 4 is more flexible with being able to handle tank & infantry threats at the same time while having superior veterancy.

I see no excuse for it performing so badly compared to the jackson or E8, tulips are incredibly situational and cost a lot of munitions.

Superior durability, superior penetration, and the ability to launch rockets.

Holy shit this is amazing! Lot's of great USF buffs. My shermans won't have to run away from every tank fight anymore. And USF Looks like they might be able to handle well past midgame with these buffs, not to mention "Everything USF will ever need, The Commander".

Still wish they would have done something about their nondoctrinal indirect, but I can wait with all these great changes.

Holy shit, Riflemen are going to be incredibly tough now.
And now they can sprint...AND GET THOMPSONS...
reminds me of how I played Ranger Company in my first Ardennes Assault game...

Bloody hell all those USF changes! Makes me squeal with glee! Great show Relic! (Did Relic mention of adjusting veterancy abilities across the board some time ago?)

im hoping USF overall will be viable lategame in the 3v3 and 4v4 matches because that is where all the action is at

Holy shit, Riflemen are going to be incredibly tough now.
And now they can sprint...AND GET THOMPSONS...
reminds me of how I played Ranger Company in my first Ardennes Assault game...

Practically the next best thing. If not Rangers, then wannabe riflemen rangers.

Superior durability, superior penetration, and the ability to launch rockets.

Durability? When the E8 has more health, speed, turret rotation, armour, smoke and superglue? All with a cheaper cost lol

Pen means sod all when your reload is twice that of a jackson I'm afraid

Rockets are an expensive gimmick as I said. 150 muni for the ability to shoot a tank standing perfectly still.

As it stands the Firefly is a overpriced Jackson clone with none of the perks and all of the negatives. People were crying out for a buff on the alpha forums but it seems relic just ignored putting any effort into balancing British armour.

Practically the next best thing. If not Rangers, then wannabe riflemen rangers.

thats good now all we need is a few improvements to be viable late game for the 3v3-4v4 matches, add rangers, pershing, calliope, the chaffee and USF is golden

Upcomming Patch Balance Preview

As part of a new trial process this update includes a Balance Preview Tuning Pack that will be made available in the steam workshop (Sept 3rd10:00am PST). The tuning pack can be found in the Modding Hub or in the STEAM workshop after 10:00am PST on Sept 3rd.
This tuning pack contains all of the planned balance changes listed below that will be made live in the near future. We thought it would be interesting for players to try out the new changes in addition to discussing these pat.......

Thanks