GCS Balance Preview

Posts: 875 | Subs: 2

Original 1.0

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/243814/gcs-balance-preview-changelog

Local Changelog:

The GCS Balance Preview is designed to eliminate some specific, overly dominate meta identified by top players in the community. The changes outlined in this preview are meant to be as minimalistic as possible while identifying and addressing the primary cause of the problems discussed.

Although the solutions put forward in this mod will attempt to be finalized in time for the tournament, if strong contention exists with the proposed changes or existing or new problems remain, the iteration period will continue until all issues are resolved.

Therefore, the more testing and feedback we get regrading the proposed changes the better. Please Subscribe to the mod on the Steam Workshop, play a ton of it, and give us your feedback in our GCS-BP Feedback Thread.

SOVIETS

Maxims

We find that the dominant Soviet âMaxim-spamâ strategy is far too effective compared to the effort required to pull it off.

In order to remove this dominate meta while not further devaluing the Maximâs as a support weapon, we are increasing the arc of the Maxim MG and reducing its suppression performance. The Maxim will however retain the following benefits over other MG teams:

Durability of a 6-man crew
Fast teardown time to escape flanks
To further bring the Maxim in line with other MGs, we are removing sprint which allows MGs to escape unfavorable engagements to easily and are also increasing the setup time to other MG levels. To further help prevent spamming of this unit, we are increasing the reinforcement cost of the original crew to match the reinforcement cost of Conscripts.

Arc of fire increased from 60 degrees to 90 degrees (other MGs have 120 degrees)
Setup time from 2 to 3 (other MGs have 3)
Burst duration from 2.25 to 4.5
Damage reduced from 4 to 3 (the DPS of the Maxim remains the same)
Tracking speed from 35 to 28
Suppression reduced from 0.00015909 to 0.00005
Reinforcement cost from 15 to 20
Sprint removed from Vet 1
Vet 1 now increases suppression by 10% (to partially cancel out lower base suppression)
Until the conclusion of the balance mod iteration cycle, we will try to come up with an interesting, but balanced Vet1 ability.

M4C Shermans

To prevent players from over-relying on Sherman call-ins, we are increasing the dispatch time between successive Shermans to encourage players to choose between tech or call-in tanks. Moreover, longer recharge time between Sherman will prevent players from spamming Shemans when the Command Point requirements become met.

Increased recharge time between shermans to from 36 seconds to 2:30 minutes

OKW

Command Panther

We feel the Command Panther is it too powerful of a unit on its own, giving it the feel of a "one-tank-army". This is primarily because of the +50% damage bonus that the Mark Target ability bestows on and designated target. Given that this ability also compounds performance in team games, we are enacting some preliminary changes to the Command Panther. We also feel the CP cost is not in line with its value.

Increase Command Point requirements from 10 to 11
Reduce Mark Target damage from +50% to +25%
Mark Target now also increases penetration and accuracy to 25%

UKF

Tank Commander Upgrade

We feel that the ability's cost vs value is out of balance. In particular, the experience gain modifier distorts the veterancy gain rate of the affected tanks.

Removed veterancy gain bonuses from the upgrade
Removed stealth detection bonuses from the upgrade
(The upgrade now only awards accuracy/sight bonuses, which is more than OK for the price)

Emergency Warspeed

We feel that the ability bestows far too powerful mobility bonuses to the already highly-mobile roster of the British faction. This comes in contrast with the free-to-use nature of the ability. We are also removing the ability of players to âtune upâ the tanks of their teammates with the ability.

Speed modifier reduced from +35% to +15%
Acceleration modifier reduced from +60% to +30%
It is no longer possible to âtune-upâ allied tanks with Emergency Warspeed

AEC Treadshot

To make the ability fire more reliably (i.e., without bugs), we are changing the nature of the ability such that the AEC has to be stationary to fire it. At the same time, we are increasing the responsiveness of the ability to give UKF players that preserve their AEC with a reliable snare ability.

Unit has to be stationary to fire Treadshot
Ready aim time reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds (improves responsiveness)
Reload time between shots reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
(the ability will only be refunded if no shots were fired before moving)

Cromwell

We feel that the primary issue with the Cromwell is that due to its speed and rotation rate, it is able to crush models far too efficiently. To reduce Cromwell crushing ability, we are are reducing its rotation rate while keeping its higher-than-average mobility by compensating with increased turret rotation rate.

To give the Cromwell a proper trade off for its highly-mobility we are reducing its moving accuracy to that of other tanks of the same class. Therefore, making the trade-off between accuracy and mobility more pronounced.

Fuel cost increased from 110FU to 120FU
Rotation rate from 38 to 32 (equivalent to Panzer4)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 47.5 (to counteract chassis rotation reduction)
Moving accuracy multiplier decreased from 0.75 to 0.5
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 6.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

Comet

The Comet is receiving changes that are similar in-spirit with the ones already described for the Cromwell. In addition to these changes, we are also reducing the range of the main gun of the Comet to 45 to match other anti-infantry-capable tanks (e.g., Pershing, Tiger). We believe that Cometâs higher-than-average armour and mobility will still allow it to overcome the reduced range. At the same time, this will make standoffs with the more-specialist Panther more balanced.

Main gun range from 50 to 45
Population cost increased from 16 to 20
Reduce rotation rate from 36 to 32 to prevent crush (same as Panzer4 levels)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 45 (to compensate for chasis rotation changes)
Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.5
Fixed an issue where the grenade throw ability would sometimes not work
Fixed an issue where it was possible to use the grenade ability while moving
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 4.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

Cromwell/Comet Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus

We find the range of either ability (80 range) too strong. Thus, we are bringing them both in-line. At the same time, we are introducing a critical fix to both abilities. That way, we expect the abilities to be much more reliable moving forward.

We are also changing the behaviour of Comet White Phosphorus shells so that it no longer finishes off infantry models. The White Phosphorus (WP) shells will still damage models down to 1HP of health (similar to other WP abilities).

Fixed a bug where Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus would, sometimes, fail to trigger properly
Range of Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus reduced from 80 to 45
Comet White Phosphorus will no longer finish off infantry models, bringing its performance in-line with other White-phosphorus abilities

Emplacements

To bring UKF emplacements in line with the emplacements of other armies, we are preventing players from building UKF emplacements in the base sector:

No longer possible to construct emplacements in the base sector

Sappers Flamethrower Upgrade

We are addressing several bugs with this upgrade, which will bring this upgrade in-line with other abilities, and other factions that have similar upgrades.

Sapper flamethrower now, correctly, takes up 1 slot
Sapper flamethrower is now mutually-exclusive with the minesweeper upgrade
Fixed an issue where Sapper flamethrower was dealing additional damage vs squads in cover (i.e., above the level of other flamethrowers)
Fixed a bug with Sappers where Veterancy affected the number of upgrades available to them.

Land Mattress

We feel that the primary issue with the land-mattress is that it affords very limited avenues of counterplay. To address this, we are allowing anti-tank weaponry (e.g., AT guns and tanks) to target the gun first, and be able to destroy the unit, without having to first decrew it. This brings the durability of the Land Mattress down to static howitzer levels.

A secondary issue with the Land Mattress is its rate of fire, giving too little reaction time for the adversary to avoid the coming doom.

Vehicles/etc will focus fire on the gun, as opposed to the crew (if the player right-clicks on the gun)
The Land mattress gets destroyed when its hitpoints become depleted. This is regardless of whether the crew is still alive
Health reduced from 350 hitpoints to 300 hitpoints
Cooldown between rockets increased from 0.25 secs to 0.375 secs (also affects white phosphorus barrage)

Artillery Cover Ability

We find that Artillery Cover is an ability that is too efficient for its cost. This is despite the fact that this is a generalist ability (affects all targets) and requires minimal input from the player vs its final effect. Therefore, we are significantly reducing the effects vs varied types of targets, allowing for greater opportunity of counterplay.

General Changes:

The radius of the ability now properly drawn on the battlescape
Delay until the barrage begins increased from 4 seconds to 8 seconds

Anti-Vehicle Shells:

Decreased the AoE radius of anti-vehicle shells from 8 to 6.
Reduced speed of anti-vehicle shells, so that it is now possible to dodge them
Reduced the duration of loader-injured critical from 10 seconds to 5 seconds
The changes to the anti-vehicle shells will make it possible for tanks that remain in the affected area to dodge incoming shells, provided they continue to move.

Anti-Infantry Barrages:

Suppression vs infantry reduced, so that incoming anti-infantry barrages no longer pin infantry squads, but only suppress them.

Quality-of-Life Changes

Handbrake 2.0

We are further modifying the handbrake ability to make it provide additional utility to the players.

Instead of completely immobilizing a vehicle, the ability now simply prevents the vehicle from automatically rotating to face enemy units and will now only do so if explicitly given attack command. At the same time, if the ability is on, the vehicle will stop automatically rotating once the movement is complete.

In addition to the original affected vehicles (i.e., all transport vehicles), we are also adding handbrake v2.0 to the following vehicles. This will allow players to control whether they want the vehicles to rotate to face the enemy or not:

Kubelwagen
Flammenhetzer
Crocodile
The following vehicles will retain the original (i.e., immobilize) version of the Handbrake ability. This is due to their potentially lengthy setup time:

M15 (USF)
Infrared Halftrack (OKW)
Flak Halftrack (OKW)

Hold Fire for Tanks/AT Guns

We find that the lack of a proper hold fire ability makes players resort to half-measures to control when their AT-guns or tanks can fire (e.g., by turning on prioritize vehicles to get a better position vs infantry). The following units now have Hold Fire:

All anti-tank guns
All tanks that already have a prioritise-vehicles ability
FlakHT
Panzer4 Command tank
Ostwind
Centaur
KV-2
M15 (MGs will continue to track/fire on targets)

Note: To make UI experience consistent, the doctrinal Soviet AT ambush ability has been moved one row below its previous position.

Update 1.1

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/267536#Comment_267536

Local Changelog:

GENERAL

Wreck Values Normalized

We are adjusting the amount of resources players can attain from vehicles using doctrinal salvage abilities. Previously, certain wrecks would award large amount of munitions/manpower, which wouldnât correspond to their class. We are now changing salvage so that only fuel and munitions are awarded from salvaging a wreck. Moreover we are normalizing wreck values so that the amount of resources gained now depend on the worth of the vehicle.

(Values are given in Munitions/Fuel)

Ultra Lights 10/5
Lights 15/10
Mediums 20/25
Advanced Mediums 35/30
Heavies 50/40
Super Heavies 60/45
The changes to salvage affect both Tank Hunter Doctrine (Soviets) and Tactical Support Regiment (UKF) salvage abilities.

SOVIETS

Maxim HMG

Given the decrease of single-target suppression of the Maxim MG, we find it is necessary to improve the AoE suppression characteristics of the MG, so that it remains potent at stopping frontal assaults from blobs of infantry

Nearby suppression radius increased from 10 to 13

OKW

Command Panther

We are reducing the AoE damage of Command Pantherâs main gun to bring it in line with other Panthers. Moreover, we are reducing the efficiency of the Mark Target ability to bring it in line with its cost. In particular, we found the armour debuff ability to be too potent. Instead of a raw penetration bonus, Panther Mark Target will now be tracking the vehicle in the fog-of-war for the duration of the ability.

To prevent the vehicle from being too dominant in teamgames, we are making Command Panther mutually exclusive with the King Tiger. Moreover, we are changing the way the Command Pantherâs aura affects teammates.

Main gun AoE damage decreased from 1/0.35/0.05 to 1/0.15/0.05
Mark target bonuses reduced from +25% received damage/+25% received accuracy/-20% armour to +25% received damage/+15% received accuracy)
Mark target now also tracks the target in the fog of war for the duration of the ability
Command Panther is now mutually-exclusive with the King Tiger (similar to JT/KT restrictions)

Aura

Command Panther Vet5 aura gives too many bonuses and, basically, irrevocably breaks infantry combat:

+range, +sight, +speed bonuses removed from infantry-affecting part of the aura
(Vet5 aura still awards +accuracy/+reload to infantry)
Moreover, we find that the following parts of Command Pantherâs aura to be too potent in the context of teammates. Especially when OST allies are involved:

+sight/+range parts of vehicle-affecting aura no longer affect teammates
Vet5 infantry-affecting aura no longer affects teammates

UKF

Comet

We are reducing the rear armour of the Comet, so that flanking tanks are properly awarded when attacking Cometâs rear armour. Thus, we are bringing Cometâs rear armour value with that of the Panther.

Rear armour reduced from 130 to 110

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where it was not possible to upgrade M5 hafltracks with the Quad cannon (introduced in the GCS mod)

Update 1.2:

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/267673#Comment_267673

Local Changelog:

SOVIETS

Maxim HMG

We are adding a new Vet1 ability to the Maxim which is better-tailored to the unit.

Veterancy 1 replaced with âSustained fireâ
Sustained fire:

Increases burst length duration by x2
Increases reload time by x2
Forces a reload at the beginning of the ability
Cancels (with no refund) if the Maxim moves
10 second initial reload - 20 second duration
50 seconds cooldown
Costs 20 munitions
The ability will make the Maxim benefit from improved damage/suppression output, but only if the Maxim fires entire bursts at enemy units (as opposed to switching targets).

USF

M10

We find that the M10, which is a highly cost-efficient tank hunter is overperforming with respect to how it deals with infantry, due to its potency to crush squads. Therefore, we are taking steps to remedy this, without, however, affecting M10âs mobility.

Chassis rotation rate reduced from 38 to 32
Turret rotation rate increased from 30 to 36 to compensate

UKF

Air Resupply Operation (Tactical Support Regiment)

We find that the mechanics behind how this ability works are not very clear, and players will often fail to make use of the ability properly.

In the live version, for the supply drop to occur, infantry squads need to be present, or enter the highlighted sector. If no infantry squads enters the highlight sector, the ability will cancel with no refund.

To make the ability more straightforward, we are changing it as follows:

The ability can only target captured territory/fuel/munitions points (not victory points).
The airplanes are dispatched immediately, and the supply drop happens at the capture point.

Bug Fixes

Readjusted KV-2 wreck salvage cost according to advertised values

Update 1.3

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/268076#Comment_268076

Local Changelog:

SOVIETS

Penal Battalions

To prevent unwanted bugs from occurring, as well as to assist with targeting the ability, we are splitting the functionality of the Penal Satchel ability into two separate abilities.

Note that both abilities launch precisely the same projectile with respect to damage and critical effects. The two abilities only behave differently with respect to targeting.

Manual version

This ability targets a location on the ground.
If the satchel collides with a vehicle, the satchel will stick to the vehicle

Targeted version

This ability can only be targeted on enemy vehicles
If the vehicle remains within range while the ability is casting, the satchel will home-in on the enemy vehicle

Maxims

We found that the suppression performance of the Maxim below par. In particular, we found that it was being too easily countered with grenades during frontal infantry assaults, making it an ineffective suppression platform.

We are slightly increasing baseline performance to allow the Maxim to suppress squads more reliably. Moreover we are increasing the amount of suppression the Maxim applies on already-suppressed squads. This will allow the Maxim to pin targets reliably, before they are in grenade range.

Moreover, we are changing the way sustained fire operates so as to provide better up-front benefits to the Maxim. The ability will setup a lot faster. At the same time, better cooldown will allow the Maxim to more quickly change between targets and ramp up damage and suppression. Sustained fire forces a short-duration reload for the Maxim at the start of the ability. If timed correctly, the ability can also be used to prevent an unwanted reload mid-combat (which would turn the tables).

Finally, to allow the Maxim to remain useful in the late-game, we are increasing the suppression it deals vs different cover types to make up for its low baseline suppression. We are also adding a significant boost to Maximâs AoE suppression to allow it to punish frontal-assaulting blobs better.

Suppression from 0.00005 to 0.00006
Suppression versus suppressed targets from 0.5 to 0.65
Suppression versus light cover from 0.5 to 0.75
Suppression versus heavy cover from 0.1 to 0.2
Nearby suppression modifier from 0.8 to 1.25

Sustained fire

Cooldown now multiplied by 0.5
Reload multiplier changed from 2 to 0.5
Now only forces a reload at the beginning of the ability (not the end)

M4C Shermans

Our main intent with the M4C Sherman changes has always been to limit their availability when tech structures are skipped. However, we find the 2:30 minute recharge time to be excessive in prolonged matches, effectively rendering the commander ability ineffective.

To achieve a better balance between our original intent and the fact that the commander hinges on the ability, we are reducing the recharge time of the Shermans when the Soviet T4 has been built.

Building T4 decreases recharge time from 2:30 minutes to 1:15 seconds

OKW

Panzerfausts (Volksgrenadiers only)

We found that the early arrival of OKW panzerfaust combined with the complete lack of scaling potential for light vehicles made it prohibitive for players to integrate light vehicle strategies in their games. This gave free reign for Kubelwagen pushes over opposing factions.

Moreover, we find that the cost-efficiency improvements on the Panzerfaust were too dramatic. This is especially given the cost-efficiency of other OKW upgrades and abilities, as well as the overall cost-efficiency of the Volksgrenadier squad veterancy, upgrades and abilities.

Cost increased from 25MU to 30MU
Requires a truck to be be set-up (as opposed to be called-in) to be available

UKF

Cromwell Smoke Shell ability

We find that the changes we have already made on the Cromwell impact the rate of gaining veterancy the right amount. An unfortunate side-effect of this, however, is that this denies the British factions from timely access to smoke.

To partly offset the weak British early game, where several vital tools are missing from the arsenal (e.g., snares, reliable anti-garrison, mobile indirect fire), we are giving Cromwells access to smoke shells at Veterancy 0. This change will also, particularly benefit Anvil which, so-far, does not have reliable access to smoke, making it more attractive with comparison to Hammer.

Smoke shell available at Vet0, but with a 15 second cooldown
Veterancy1 reverts smoke shell cooldown to 10 seconds

Comet

We are partially reverting the popcap cost of the Comet to a value that is more in line with the vehicles that it normally encounters in the opposition.

Popcap cost reduced from 20 to 18

BUG FIXES

Fixed an issue where hold fire on Luchs/Brummbar would make either vehicle permanently unresponsive if abandoned while the ability was on

Fixed an issue where the OKW FlakHT would, sometimes, become permanently stuck

Fixed an issue where the firing arc of coaxial and hull MGs for British faction tanks was smaller than that of other armoured vehicles. This fix will improve the target acquisition of British tank MGs.

1.3.1 Local Changelog:

1.3.2 Local Changelog:

GENERAL

Hold fire added for m5

Sustained fire cost (Maxim) reduced from 20 to 15

Fixed an issue where m5 with the quad upgrade would be forced to rotate to the enemy when given an attack command (introduced in GCS)

Update 1.4

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/268147#Comment_268147

Local Changelog:

SOVIETS

Maxims

Given that the hallmark of Maxims is to be their durability rather than their damage or suppression, we are taking steps to ensure some consistency. This will allow Maxims to perform well in the late-game, without offsetting the balance in the early game too much. At the same time, we are closing the gap in mobility between the Maxim and the other MGs.

In particular, some of the mobility changes will help mitigate the infamous âdeathloopâ bug (without solving it, however).

Maxim squad formation changed
Rotation changed from 120 to 225
Acceleration/Deceleration increased to infinite
Removed cover-traversal penalties from the Maxim

BUG FIXES & QoL

Fixed an issue where British squads would recrew maxims with 2 squad members instead of 3
Fixed an issue where several vehicles were still affected by wreck-value normalization
Added Handbrake_v2 to the Sturmtiger to prevent unwanted rotation

Other Information

GCS Balance Preview Steam Workshop Link:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=895625217

Official Feedback Thread:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/243815/gcs-balance-preview-feedback

Official Bug Reporting Thread:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/243816/gcs-balance-preview-bug-reporting

Community Members Who Helped Develop This Patch:

1 Apr 2017, 06:06 AMMr.Smith

An important thing we forgot to acknowledge in the notes is the help we got from the following players to help shape the content of the patch. Given here in alphabetical order:
- AccountEliminator (A_E)
- Barton
- HelpingHans
- Luvnest
- Noganno
- Thanatos
- The Hooligan
- Theodosios
- Thunderhun
- Tobis
- Tomakaze
- Zarok

April 25th Update

Original Relic Post:
https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/268268#Comment_268268

Local Changelog:

APRIL 25th UPDATE

NEW CONTENT

Dawn of War III Pre-Order Skins

Five new, Warhammer 40k themed skin sets added to the game (one for each faction). These skin sets are exclusive to those who have pre-ordered Dawn of War III and will not be available in the in-game store or by any other means.

BALANCE CHANGES

A big thank you goes out to the community balance team for once again supplying the curated balance changes described below. Of course, these changes wouldn't be possible without the feedback and dedication of the community so once again, we thank you for your continued support and commitment to this game.

SOVIETS

Maxims

We feel that the dominant Soviet âMaxim-spamâ strategy is over performing with the benefits of this strategy heavily outweighing the risks.

To address this issue we will be increasing the arc of the Maxim MG while severely reducing its suppression performance to compensate. We have also removed sprint (which allows MGs to âget awayâ) and we are increasing the setup time to other MG levels. We are also increasing the reinforcement cost of the original crew to match the reinforcement cost of Conscripts.

To make up for a low base-value suppression (to avoid early-game spam) we've also give the Maxim, we are giving the unit strong multipliers vs light-cover and suppressed squads to allow the Maxim to scale well into the late-game.

The new Vet 1 ability (Sustained Fire) will help the Maxim perform more reliably vs blobs. An improved burst time will allow the Maxim to deal increased suppression vs persistent targets. Reduced cooldown allows the Maxim to switch targets more easily. Finally, the forced reload at the start of the ability can be used to guarantee that the Maxim will not chew through its ammunition belt during a crucial fight.

Overall, the changes are the following:

Arc of fire increased from 60 degrees to 90 degrees (other MGs have 90-120 degrees)
Setup time from 2 to 3 (other MGs have 3)
Burst duration from 2.25 to 4.5
Damage reduced from 4 to 3 (the DPS of the Maxim remains the same)
Tracking speed from 35 to 28
Reinforcement cost from 15 to 20
Sprint removed from Vet1
Sustained fire ability added at Vet1
Suppression changes:

Suppression reduced from 0.00015909 to 0.00006
Suppression versus light cover from 0.5 to 0.75
Suppression versus heavy cover from 0.1 to 0.2
Suppression vs suppressed targets increased from 0.5 to 0.65
Nearby suppression modifier from 0.8 to 1.25
Nearby suppression radius increased from 10 to 13
Mobility/Survivability changes:

Maxim squad formation changed
Rotation changed from 120 to 225
Acceleration/Deceleration increased to infinite
Removed cover-traversal penalties from the Maxim
Sustained fire:

Increases burst length duration by x2
Reduces reload time by 0.5 (multiplicative)
Reduces cooldown time by 0.5 (multiplicative)
Forces a reload at the beginning of the ability
Cancels (with no refund) if the Maxim moves
30 second duration
50 seconds cooldown
Costs 20 munitions

Penal Battalions - Satchel Ability

To prevent unintended behavior, as well as to assist with targeting the ability, we are splitting the functionality of the Penal Satchel ability into two separate abilities. Note that both abilities launch precisely the same projectile with respect to damage and critical effects. The two abilities only behave differently with respect to targeting.

(Manual version)

This ability targets a location on the ground.
If the satchel collides with a vehicle, the satchel will stick to the vehicle

(Targeted version)

This ability can only be targeted on enemy vehicles
If the vehicle remains within range while the ability is casting, the satchel will home-in on the enemy vehicle

M4C Shermans

To prevent players from over-relying on sherman call-ins and skipping teching, we are increasing the dispatch time between successive Shermans. Moreover, longer recharge time between shermans will prevent players from spamming Shemans, when the Command Point requirements becomes met.

Note that, at the same time, we are not affecting the cost-efficiency of the Shermans. Thus, the doctrine will still reward the players with a highly-efficient USF-made tank. At the same time, the longer recharge time will force the Soviet player to want to field Shermans side-by-side with Soviet-made tanks. We believe this will also add a touch of authenticity to the doctrine.

To encourage strategic diversity, we are reducing the cooldown of the Sherman dispatch ability once T4 has been reached in order to help ensure the doctrine can continue to be useful in multiple strategies.

Increased recharge time between shermans to from 36 seconds to 2:30 minutes
Building T4 decreases recharge time from 2:30 minutes to 1:15 seconds

USF

M10

We find that the M10, which is a highly cost-efficient tank hunter is overperforming with respect to how it deals with infantry due to its potency to crush squads. Therefore, we are taking steps to remedy this, without, however, affecting M10âs mobility.

Chassis rotation rate reduced from 38 to 32
Turret rotation rate increased from 30 to 36 to compensate

OKW

Panzerfausts (Volksgrenadiers only)

We found that the early arrival of OKW panzerfaust combined with the complete lack of scaling potential for light vehicles made it prohibitive for players to integrate light vehicle strategies in their games. Moreover, we find that the cost-efficiency improvements on the Panzerfaust were too dramatic.

Cost increased from 25MU to 30MU
Requires a truck to be be set-up (as opposed to be called-in) to be available

Command Panther

We feel the Mark Target ability is overperforming relative to its cost. This is primarily due to the +50% damage bonus that the ability bestows on the target. Our changes to the Mark Target ability aim to make it less efficient at âbursting-downâ enemy vehicles, while still allowing the ability to perform better in a sustained-fire role. This allows the ability to remain relevant, while offering options for counter-play to the targeted player.

To prevent the vehicle from being too dominant in teamgames, we are making Command Panther mutually exclusive with the King Tiger. Moreover, we are changing the way the Command Pantherâs aura affects teammates. We are also increasing the Command Point requirements of the Command Panther to bring its arrival closer in line with its value.

Increase Command Point requirements from 10 to 11
Main gun AoE damage decreased from 1/0.35/0.05 to 1/0.15/0.05
Mark target bonuses changed from 50% damage to 25% damage/15% accuracy
Mark target now also tracks the target in the fog of war for the duration of the ability
Command Panther is now mutually-exclusive with the King Tiger (similar to JT/KT restrictions)
Aura

+range, +sight, +speed bonuses removed from infantry-affecting bonus of the aura (Vet5 aura still awards +accuracy/+reload to infantry)
+sight/+range parts of vehicle-affecting aura no longer affect teammates
Vet 5 infantry-affecting aura no longer affects teammates

UKF

Tank Commander Upgrade

We find that the ability is over performing relative to its cost.

Removed veterancy gain bonuses from the upgrade
Removed stealth detection bonuses from the upgrade
(The upgrade now only awards accuracy/sight bonuses, which is more than OK for the price)

Emergency War Speed

We find that the ability is over performing relative to its cost. We are also removing the ability of players to âtune upâ the tanks of their teammates with the ability.

Speed modifier reduced from +35% to +15%
Acceleration modifier reduced from +60% to +30%
It is no longer possible to âtune-upâ allied tanks with Emergency War Speed

AEC Treadshot

To make the ability fire more reliably (i.e., without bugs), we are changing the nature of the ability such that the AEC has to be stationary to fire it. At the same time, we are increasing the responsiveness of the ability to give UKF players that build and preserve their AECs with a reliable snare ability.

Unit has to be stationary to fire Treadshot
Ready aim time reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds (improves responsiveness)
Reload time between shots reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
(the ability will only be refunded if no shots were fired before moving)

Cromwell

We have found find that the Cromwell's ability crush models is far too potent. To help reduce this potency we are reducing the unit's rotation rate. However, to allow the Cromwell to retain the feel a higher-than-average mobility, we are compensating with an increased turret rotation rate.

Secondary to these changes, we are adjusting several other attributes of the Cromwell to bring its cost-efficiency in line with other tanks of its callibre.

Finally, to partly offset a weak British early game, we are giving Cromwells default access to smoke shells.

Fuel cost increased from 110FU to 120FU
Rotation rate from 38 to 32 (equivalent to Panzer4)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 47.5 (to counteract chassis rotation reduction)
Moving accuracy multiplier decreased from 0.75 to 0.5
Smoke shell available at Vet0, but with a 15 second cooldown
Veterancy1 reverts smoke shell cooldown to 10 seconds
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 6.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

Comet

The Comet is receiving changes that are similar in-spirit with the ones already described for the Cromwell. In addition to these changes, we are also reducing the range of the main gun of the Comet to 45 to match other anti-infantry-capable tanks (e.g., Pershing, Tiger). We believe that Cometâs higher-than-average armour and mobility will still allow it to overcome the reduced range. At the same time, this will make standoffs with the more-specialist Panther more balanced.

Main gun range from 50 to 45
Population cost increased from 16 to 18
Reduce rotation rate from 36 to 32 to prevent crush (same as Panzer4 levels)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 45 (to compensate for chasis rotation changes)
Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.5
Rear armour reduced from 130 to 110
Fixed an issue where the grenade throw ability would sometimes not work
Fixed an issue where it was possible to use the grenade ability while moving
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 4.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

Cromwell/Comet Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus

We find the range of both abilities (80) and the lethality of the White Phosphorus to be over performing. At the same time, we are introducing a critical fix to both abilities to make them more reliable.

Range of Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus reduced from 80 to 45
Comet White Phosphorus will no longer finish off infantry models, bringing its performance in-line with other White-phosphorus abilities

Emplacements

To bring UKF emplacements in line with the emplacements of other armies, we are preventing players from building UKF emplacements in the base sector:

No longer possible to construct emplacements in the base sector

Land Mattress

To improve counter play vs the Land Mattress we are allowing anti-tank weaponry (e.g., AT guns and tanks) to target the gun directly in order to destroy the unit without having first to de-crew it. This brings the durability of the Land Mattress down to static howitzer levels. We also feel the rate of fire of the Land Mattress does not give its opponents a sufficient amount of time to react to a barrage.

Vehicles/etc will focus fire on the gun, as opposed to the crew (if the player right-clicks on the gun)
The Land mattress gets destroyed when its hitpoints become depleted. This is regardless of whether the crew is still alive
Health reduced from 350 hitpoints to 300 hitpoints
Cooldown between rockets increased from 0.25 secs to 0.375 secs (also affects white phosphorus barrage)

Artillery Cover Ability

We find that Artillery Cover is an ability that is too efficient for its cost. Therefore, we are significantly reducing the effects vs different types of targets, allowing for greater opportunity of counterplay.

General Changes:

The radius of the ability now properly drawn on the battlescape
Delay until the barrage begins increased from 4 seconds to 8 seconds

Anti-Vehicle Shells:

Decreased the AoE radius of anti-vehicle shells from 8 to 6.
Reduced speed of anti-vehicle shells, so that it is now possible to dodge them
Reduced the duration of loader-injured critical from 10 seconds to 5 seconds

Anti-Infantry Barrages:

Suppression vs infantry reduced, so that incoming anti-infantry barrages no longer pin infantry squads, but rather only suppress them.

Air Resupply Operation Ability

To improve usability of this ability, we have made the following changes:

The ability can only target captured territory/fuel/munitions points (not victory points).
The airplanes are dispatched immediately, and the supply drop happens at the capture point.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Wreck values normalized

We are adjusting the amount of resources players can attain from vehicles using doctrinal salvage abilities. Previously, certain wrecks would award large amount of munitions/manpower, which wouldnât correspond to their class. We are now changing salvage so that only fuel and munitions are awarded from salvaging a wreck. Moreover we are normalizing wreck values so that the amount of resources gained now depend on the worth of the vehicle.
(Values are given in Munitions/Fuel)

Ultra Lights 10/5
Lights 15/10
Mediums 20/25
Advanced Mediums 35/30
Heavies 50/40
Super Heavies 60/45
The changes to salvage affect both Tank Hunter Doctrine (Soviets) and Tactical Support Regiment (UKF) salvage abilities.

Handbrake 2.0

We are further modifying the handbrake ability to make it provide additional utility to the players. The new ability is similar to a hold fire ability. However, instead of preventing firing, it simply prevents the vehicle from automatically rotating to face enemy units. The vehicle will still rotate to attack enemy troops, but only if an explicit attack command is issued. If a movement command is issued, the vehicle will respond to the movement command. At the same time, if the ability is on, the vehicle will stop automatically rotating once the movement is complete. With handbrake v2.0 a maneuver can be executed without having to repeatedly toggle the ability.

In addition to the original affected vehicles (i.e., all transport vehicles), we are also adding handbrake v2.0 to the following vehicles. This will allow players to control whether they want the vehicles to rotate to face the enemy or not:

Kubelwagen
Flammenhetzer
Crocodile
Sturmtiger
Nevertheless, the following vehicles retain the original (i.e., immobilize) version of the handbrake. This is because for the following vehicles, unwanted movement incurs a potentially lengthy setup time:

M15 (USF)
Infrared Halftrack (OKW)
Flak Halftrack (OKW)
Hold Fire for Tanks/AT Guns

We find that the lack of a proper hold fire ability makes players resort to half-measures to control when their AT-guns or tanks can fire.

The affected units are:

All anti-tank guns
All tanks that already have a prioritize-vehicles ability
FlakHT
Panzer4 Command tank
Ostwind
Centaur
KV-2
M15 (use it to reserve flak rounds for valuable targets; the MGs will continue to track/fire on targets)
M5
Note: To make UI experience consistent, the doctrinal Soviet AT ambush ability has been moved one row below its previous position.

BUG FIXES

Fixed multiple bugs with Ardennes Assault that prevented players from completing missions and caused abilities/upgrades to not work as intended

Fixed an issue where hold fire on Luchs/Brummbar would make either vehicle permanently unresponsive if abandoned while the ability was active

Fixed an issue where the OKW FlakHT would sometimes become permanently stuck
Fixed a bug where Comet/Cromwell Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus would, sometimes, fail to trigger properly
Fixed an issue where the firing arc of coaxial and hull MGs for British faction tanks was smaller than that of other armoured vehicles
Sapper flamethrower now, correctly, takes up 1 slot
Sapper flamethrower is now mutually-exclusive with the minesweeper upgrade
Fixed an issue where Sapper flamethrower was dealing additional damage vs squads in cover (i.e., above the level of other flamethrowers)
Fixed a bug with Sappers where Veterancy affected the number of upgrades available to them.

Posts: 307

Awesome !! Thanks guys!

Posts: 1323 | Subs: 1

No USF nerfs?
God Bless.

Posts: 1664

Great changes! I have been asking for hold-fire back on AT guns for a long time but we still need and deserve manual reload on MG's and magazine-based vehicles (USF M17 HT, Ostwind etc) as well as removal of CP's/VP's blocking vehicle pathing.

Posts: 181

The Cromwell needs to have its penetration value lowered. Or perhaps I should say it is the PIV which is in dire need of a pen buff, I don't know.

With RM and penals having been addressed already, I think VolkGrens need some adjustments. Be it increased vet XP requirment, nerfed RA or or cooldown tweaks or removing the flame nade (or alternatively, it could be used on garrisons and buildings only)

Also removing the sprint was not necessary, now that the HMG has an increased setup time.

Most of the other stuff were done expertly.

Instead of completely immobilizing a vehicle, the ability now simply prevents the vehicle from automatically rotating to face enemy units and will now only do so if explicitly given attack command. At the same time, if the ability is on, the vehicle will stop automatically rotating once the movement is complete.

Gotta love the level of attention to details here. GJ.

Posts: 4183 | Subs: 4

My opinion on nerfs:

Please note all these reviews are from a 1v1 perspective as I am a primary 1v1 player.

Maxim

Arc of fire increased from 60 degrees to 90 degrees (other MGs have 120 degrees)
Setup time from 2 to 3 (other MGs have 3)
Burst duration from 2.25 to 4.5
Damage reduced from 4 to 3 (the DPS of the Maxim remains the same)
Tracking speed from 35 to 28
Suppression reduced from 0.00015909 to 0.00005
Reinforcement cost from 15 to 20
Sprint removed from Vet 1
Vet 1 now increases suppression by 10% (to partially cancel out lower base suppression)
Until the conclusion of the balance mod iteration cycle, we will try to come up with an interesting, but balanced Vet1 ability.

For starters assuming kyle wrote this he totally forgot about the .50cal when writing (other MGs etc)

Sprint removed, good change.
Reinforcement cost up, good change
Unsure how suppression value will take duration wise have to see for final result.

Overall good maxim nerfs but suitable to keep it an MG. However with cons where they are soviets are going to be in a shit position for early engagments if maxims turn out to be overnerfed.

M4C Shermans

Increased recharge time between shermans to from 36 seconds to 2:30 minutes

Good change should stop spam.

Command Panther

Increase Command Point requirements from 10 to 11
Reduce Mark Target damage from +50% to +25%
Mark Target now also increases penetration and accuracy to 25%

Command point increase is good.
Coordinated fire damage reduction is good for 35 munis.
Increase in pen and accuracy by 25%. So specifically for the command panther it's pen is 220/240/260 respectivly. As far as the panther goes at the BARE MINIMUM coordinated fire will bring penetration up to 275 which against the heaviest allied tanks like the comet and pershing to my knowledge are the heaviest will all but destroy any tank that challenges the CP in a 1v1. Comet at 290 armor and persh at 300 that is an outrageous pen chance and damage and accuracy buff for 35 munitions. This nerf is far from effective IMO. I believe for 35 munitions the damage buff of 25% would be more than sufficient and maybe the accuracy buff, but definatly not the pen. Also does coordinated fire increase accuracy and pen of the CP or the tank affected. From my understand it's the CP, but it's just poorly worded and I could be mistaken.

Tank Commander Upgrade

Removed veterancy gain bonuses from the upgrade
Removed stealth detection bonuses from the upgrade
(The upgrade now only awards accuracy/sight bonuses, which is more than OK for the price)

These are solid changes. Good work.

Emergency Warspeed

Speed modifier reduced from +35% to +15%
Acceleration modifier reduced from +60% to +30%
It is no longer possible to âtune-upâ allied tanks with Emergency Warspeed

Maybe a bit overkill here, I havn't seen the brit tanks speed in action with these nerfs yet so we'll see how fast they really are. But as long as EWS is free, I think this is fine. I would've liked to see it maybe cost as much as bltizkrieg and combat blitz and maybe lower the nerf a bit but this is fine regardless.

AEC Treadshot

Unit has to be stationary to fire Treadshot
Ready aim time reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds (improves responsiveness)
Reload time between shots reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
(the ability will only be refunded if no shots were fired before moving)

Good changes. This ability was so inconsistant but horrifying when it actually worked. A 20 second disable is just wow.

Cromwell

Fuel cost increased from 110FU to 120FU
Rotation rate from 38 to 32 (equivalent to Panzer4)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 47.5 (to counteract chassis rotation reduction)
Moving accuracy multiplier decreased from 0.75 to 0.5
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 6.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

This is where you just fall over and say overkill. Now I havn't seen these changes in action, but the biggest thing glaring out here is the 0.5 moving accuracy modifier. That is an absolute massive nerf as it's exponentially more effective to have a higher value. I think 0.6 would have been fine, but we'll have to see how it plays out. Hopefully the crush is weakened enough and the fuel cost increase will at least delay brits a bit more before they can start getting vehicles out because their tech costs when rushing T3 are the cheapest of any faction. For upper level skilled players who use "glide shots" it just means that you'll be punished more or need to improve your micro to that level. I think this is just a bit overkill though.

Comet

Main gun range from 50 to 45
Population cost increased from 16 to 20
Reduce rotation rate from 36 to 32 to prevent crush (same as Panzer4 levels)
Turret traverse rate from 40 to 45 (to compensate for chasis rotation changes)
Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.5
Fixed an issue where the grenade throw ability would sometimes not work
Fixed an issue where it was possible to use the grenade ability while moving
Increase horizontal scatter from 6 to 7.5
Distance scatter max from 4.2 to 6.4
Distance scatter obj min from 5 to 10
Distance scatter offset from 0.3 to 0.25

Comet I'd say is probably overkill as well. Popcap now 20 and moving accuracy modifier from 0.75 to 0.5. I think 18 may be a suitable popcap for this tank, KTs and JTs sit at 21 and this tank while powerful for sure I don't believe it warrents 20 popcap but we'll see. Good to see crush nerfed here as well good job. Main gun range lowered, this is ok. I don't think it was required but is a pretty small change.

Cromwell/Comet Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus

Fixed a bug where Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus would, sometimes, fail to trigger properly
Range of Smoke Shell/White Phosphorus reduced from 80 to 45
Comet White Phosphorus will no longer finish off infantry models, bringing its performance in-line with other White-phosphorus abilities

Good changes.

Emplacements

No longer possible to construct emplacements in the base sector

Good change.

Sappers Flamethrower Upgrade

Sapper flamethrower now, correctly, takes up 1 slot
Sapper flamethrower is now mutually-exclusive with the minesweeper upgrade
Fixed an issue where Sapper flamethrower was dealing additional damage vs squads in cover (i.e., above the level of other flamethrowers)
Fixed a bug with Sappers where Veterancy affected the number of upgrades available to them.

Good changes.

Land Mattress

Vehicles/etc will focus fire on the gun, as opposed to the crew (if the player right-clicks on the gun)
The Land mattress gets destroyed when its hitpoints become depleted. This is regardless of whether the crew is still alive
Health reduced from 350 hitpoints to 300 hitpoints
Cooldown between rockets increased from 0.25 secs to 0.375 secs (also affects white phosphorus barrage)

Interesting change and very unique. However reducing the durability from 350 to 300 is actually a massive change because now due to AT rounds dealing 160 damage, the mattress will die in 2 hits instead of 3. I think it maybe to easy for it to die, but as long as you cover your flanks and don't overextend to much you should be able to protect it. This may also be an issue with the cloaking of rakattens.

Artillery Cover Ability

General Changes:

The radius of the ability now properly drawn on the battlescape
Delay until the barrage begins increased from 4 seconds to 8 seconds

Anti-Vehicle Shells:

Decreased the AoE radius of anti-vehicle shells from 8 to 6.
Reduced speed of anti-vehicle shells, so that it is now possible to dodge them
Reduced the duration of loader-injured critical from 10 seconds to 5 seconds
The changes to the anti-vehicle shells will make it possible for tanks that remain in the affected area to dodge incoming shells, provided they continue to move.

Anti-Infantry Barrages:

Suppression vs infantry reduced, so that incoming anti-infantry barrages no longer pin infantry squads, but only suppress them.

These appear like good changes but unsure what the speed of of the AV shells are. Will it be possible to dodge with heavy tanks? Hopefully not engine crit tanks.
AI barrage is ok, while it won't force a retreat, suppressed squads really deal close to no damage. We'll see how effective it is in the AI department.

All QoL changes are good changes

Overall I think they may have hit brits to hard in the tank department but I havn't seen the new modifiers in action. We'll see how brits do after these patches are altered or go live.

Thank you to our fantastic community balance team and Kyle and all who aid in the changes which have taken place and to come. Much obliged everyone!

Posts: 7

With due respect, I don't think your avatar and ID fit in the post, as some people would get the first impression that this patch is going to be biased lol

Posts: 875 | Subs: 2

1 Apr 2017, 03:26 AMYandereCM

With due respect, I don't think your avatar and ID fit in the post, as some people would get the first impression that this patch is going to be biased lol

Posts: 1664

1 Apr 2017, 03:21 AMJackDickolson

The Cromwell needs to have its penetration value lowered. Or perhaps I should say it is the PIV which is in dire need of a pen buff, I don't know.

With RM and penals having been addressed already, I think VolkGrens need some adjustments. Be it increased vet XP requirment, nerfed RA or or cooldown tweaks or removing the flame nade (or alternatively, it could be used on garrisons and buildings only)

Also removing the sprint was not necessary, now that the HMG has an increased setup time.

Most of the other stuff were done expertly.

Gotta love the level of attention to details here. GJ.

Honestly, with access to doctrinal Assault Nades and S-Mines, making Flame nades only work on Garrisons seems like a totally reasonable change.

Posts: 2307 | Subs: 4

Some context for the maxim suppression:

It still suppresses in one burst, but the burst is rreeeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyy long. You can dodge attack-moved maxims now.

Posts: 2636 | Subs: 17

An important thing we forgot to acknowledge in the notes is the help we got from the following players to help shape the content of the patch. Given here in alphabetical order:
- AccountEliminator (A_E)
- Barton
- HelpingHans
- Luvnest
- Noganno
- Thanatos
- The Hooligan
- Theodosios
- Thunderhun
- Tobis
- Tomakaze
- Zarok

@OP would you consent if we moved your post to CoH2 gameplay/balance section? I think either section is more appropriate.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Maxim

Maxim will need a ton of attention from everybody to get right. The resulting values you see are the result of 5 testing iterations.

@Everyone

Feel free to invent a new Vet1 ability for the Maxim

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Command Panther

Increase Command Point requirements from 10 to 11
Reduce Mark Target damage from +50% to +25%
Mark Target now also increases penetration and accuracy to 25%

Command point increase is good.
Coordinated fire damage reduction is good for 35 munis.
Increase in pen and accuracy by 25%. So specifically for the command panther it's pen is 220/240/260 respectivly. As far as the panther goes at the BARE MINIMUM coordinated fire will bring penetration up to 275 which against the heaviest allied tanks like the comet and pershing to my knowledge are the heaviest will all but destroy any tank that challenges the CP in a 1v1. Comet at 290 armor and persh at 300 that is an outrageous pen chance and damage and accuracy buff for 35 munitions. This nerf is far from effective IMO. I believe for 35 munitions the damage buff of 25% would be more than sufficient and maybe the accuracy buff, but definatly not the pen. Also does coordinated fire increase accuracy and pen of the CP or the tank affected. From my understand it's the CP, but it's just poorly worded and I could be mistaken.

I think it's OK if the Command Panther has the niche role of hunting down heavy tanks. Pershing and IS-2 are call-ins, and it's OK if OKW also has a call-in available to contest those tanks. Call-in meta is what it is, and we have to balance around that.

The absolute bullshit thing about Command Panther was how it was hardcountering tech-tied medium tanks. The only part of CP efficiency I will really miss is vs call-in Shermans. Hopefully the timer fix will smooth that out.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Emergency Warspeed

Speed modifier reduced from +35% to +15%
Acceleration modifier reduced from +60% to +30%
It is no longer possible to “tune-up” allied tanks with Emergency Warspeed

Maybe a bit overkill here, I havn't seen the brit tanks speed in action with these nerfs yet so we'll see how fast they really are. But as long as EWS is free, I think this is fine. I would've liked to see it maybe cost as much as bltizkrieg and combat blitz and maybe lower the nerf a bit but this is fine regardless.

The old values of EWS were equal to P4 blitzkrieg. The new values of EWS are equal to Panther blitzkrieg, so it's not completely an overkill.

A more-tailored nerf would be to give the new EWS values to Cromwell/Comet which are still really fast, and give a higher value to the rest of the brit units.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

AEC Treadshot

Unit has to be stationary to fire Treadshot
Ready aim time reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds (improves responsiveness)
Reload time between shots reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
(the ability will only be refunded if no shots were fired before moving)

Good changes. This ability was so inconsistant but horrifying when it actually worked. A 20 second disable is just wow.

Immobilize was nerfed to 7 secs in WBP. In addition to the list of changes above, we also fixed a bug which caused AEC to occasionally derp around for 4-ish seconds before lining up treadshot.

The actual duration of the snare might need a closer look. However, I think it's a good idea for Brits to have access to a reliable, unique, snare, even if it doesn't last as long.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Cromwell

This is where you just fall over and say overkill. Now I havn't seen these changes in action, but the biggest thing glaring out here is the 0.5 moving accuracy modifier. That is an absolute massive nerf as it's exponentially more effective to have a higher value. I think 0.6 would have been fine, but we'll have to see how it plays out. Hopefully the crush is weakened enough and the fuel cost increase will at least delay brits a bit more before they can start getting vehicles out because their tech costs when rushing T3 are the cheapest of any faction. For upper level skilled players who use "glide shots" it just means that you'll be punished more or need to improve your micro to that level. I think this is just a bit overkill though.

The keyword for moving accuracy here is "Hold Fire".

Having higher amounts of moving accuracy is what facilitates players building X number of cromwells, right clicking behind enemy tanks, and generally A-moving. If you have to use stop-and-shoot to fire every shot, well, you can't spam Cromwell as effectively.

Note that Cromwell still has its characteristic racecar speed (though, now it should take longer to reach that vet level without crush and without dank commander bonuses).

Also, the keyword here is "use hold fire while moving, and disable hold fire, when you're about to shoot". The other thing of note is that if you use glide shots, Cromwell still has the advantage over other tanks due to better acceleration.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Comet

Comet I'd say is probably overkill as well. Popcap now 20 and moving accuracy modifier from 0.75 to 0.5. I think 18 may be a suitable popcap for this tank, KTs and JTs sit at 21 and this tank while powerful for sure I don't believe it warrents 20 popcap but we'll see. Good to see crush nerfed here as well good job. Main gun range lowered, this is ok. I don't think it was required but is a pretty small change.

Range decrease is so that Panther now has an actual edge over the Comet (the Comet can still self-spot to range 45). Smaller range will also allow Raketens/Stugs to engage the Comet to some extent.

20 popcap, I think, is just the right amount of popcap. Especially if you use the fact that P4 (which is 12 popcap) as the golden standard. In addition to being a good tank, Comet is also kind-of the mobile indirect fire Brits get (white phosphorus).

Also, giving Comet a higher popcap value will help instil that degree of authenticity in that Brits didn't really fight in WW2 using Comet spam.

Sidenote: 20-21 popcap values for JT/KT are absolute bullshit. King tiger is easily a 26-popcap tank. For JT, this is contentious, as, it absolutely dominates teamgames; I'd say it should be worth around 28 popcap, given its footprint.

At least JT/KT are limited to one. Comets can be spammed. Thus, having an accurate popcap value for its worth will disentivise spam (I really wouldn't go above 2 Comets now). However, the very moment we are allowed to deploy our fix to USF popcap abuse (yes, it's fixable), heavy tank popcap be getting the right values, accordingly.

1 Apr 2017, 03:25 AMShadowLinkX37

Land Mattress

Interesting change and very unique. However reducing the durability from 350 to 300 is actually a massive change because now due to AT rounds dealing 160 damage, the mattress will die in 2 hits instead of 3. I think it maybe to easy for it to die, but as long as you cover your flanks and don't overextend to much you should be able to protect it. This may also be an issue with the cloaking of rakattens.

Note that the Landmattress already currently dies if it reaches 0 HP. Personally, I'll be sneaking hold-fire raketens to take LM out.

Note that while the LM is now too easy to die, it's also too easy to get as well. Easy-come, easy-go, as they say.

1 Apr 2017, 04:04 AMTobis

Some context for the maxim suppression:

It still pins in one burst, but the burst is rreeeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyy long. You can dodge attack-moved maxims now.

I hope by "pins" you mean "suppresses"

You have a great idea that improves the QoL aspects of the game? Please, drop your idea here:
https://www.coh2.org/topic/57860/some-qol-suggestions

Check out Cruzz's DPS calculator:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7gwy65JLbSRMEJ3M2ZPandMMW8/view?usp=sharing
(Download the file, open it with your browser)

Multi Quote

Posts: 4928

If I may suggest a Vet 1 ability:

Sustained Fire (Timed): The Maxim makes use of it's water-cooled nature to fire automatically until the belt is expended or the enemy is gone.

Alternatively:

Sweeping Fire (Timed): Similar to above, but the Maxim sweeps back and fourth, spreading suppression evenly over the entire arc.

Posts: 2636 | Subs: 17

By the way. Another thing that I forgot to mention is the following:
This is a patch that will go live sometime at the end of the month (to coincide with the GCS tournament).

The scope is what it is; we will not be able to expand the scope to include any other units. However, the units that are in-scope are our bitches now. However, we have at most 2 weeks to adjust them.

Thus, we need feedback, and we need feedback fast.

1 Apr 2017, 06:14 AMMr. Someguy

If I may suggest a Vet 1 ability:

Sustained Fire (Timed): The Maxim makes use of it's water-cooled nature to fire automatically until the belt is expended or the enemy is gone.

Alternatively:

Sweeping Fire (Timed): Similar to above, but the Maxim sweeps back and fourth, spreading suppression evenly over the entire arc.

I like your ideas, and how you go for authenticity. Can you elaborate a bit more on your ideas?

Would sustained fire reduce the cooldown by a lot, but be an ability targeted against 1 particular unit (e.g., like Volley fire)

Would sweeping fire have a similar interface to the Centaur?