maj December Balance Preview

[Mithiriath]

Salut,

Relic a annoncé lundi dernier que la trêve était finie et qu'ils allaient déployé un nouveau patch mi-décembre. Il porte le doux nom de December Balance Preview et sortira dans sa première version sous forme de mod sur le Steam Workshop disponible à ce lien. Cette mise à jour sera en partie basée sur le travail qui avait été fait avec le Winter Balance Preview (qui n'est jamais sorti) accompagné de nouvelles modifications.

Dans le désordre, voici ce qui prévu dans les grandes lignes dans ce patch : refonte de 2/3 commandants par faction qui prennent la poussière (plus d'infos lors du DBP v2), réduction de l'efficacité de certains char lourds d'élite de l'Axe pour les rendre moins spammable et moins dominant en 3v3/4v4, réduction de l'efficacité de nettoyage d'unités de certaines compétences hors-carte (aussi appelé one-click squad wipes), réajustement des unités dominant la meta (principalement soviet comme la Dshka et Bataillon disciplinaire) pour améliorer la stratégie et la diversité, réajustement des rangs de vétéran OKW 4 et 5, réajustement des points de replis avancés des factions OKW et UKF, rééquilibrage des cartes par la communauté et ajout de nouvelles cartes 2v2.

DBP mod disponible sur le Steam Workshop à ce lien : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1188134341

Ci dessous la version 1 du DBP :

DECEMBER BALANCE PREVIEW V1.0

We are happy to announce the December Balance Preview! Please note the changes below are NOT FINAL and will be undergoing weeks of iteration based on the community's feedback and extensive playtesting in the DBP Mod (which will be publicly available on the Steam Workshop later this week). For more info on what will be included in the December Update and the formerly suspended Fall Balance Preview, please check out our Blog.

For any feedback you have regarding the proposed changes below, make sure to post in out DBP Balance Feedback and DBP Bug thread located in the Balance Feedback section of the forums.

DBP Goals

• Tune select underused / undervalued commanders to increase and diversify the number of viable strategies available in automatch (More info to come - to be included in V2 of the DBP Mod)
• Tone down the effectiveness of some the Axis’ elite, heavy tanks to make them less spammable and dominant in team games
• Tone down the squad wiping effectiveness of some over performing, off-map abilities
• Adjust some of meta dominating units (primarily Soviet) to improve strategic / competitive diversity
• Improve strategic diversity and quality of life by making minor adjustments to redundant, underused and generalist units

Primary Focus

• Revitalizing 2 – 3 underused commanders for each faction (more info to come - to be included in V2 of the DBP Mod)
• Continuing the work from the Fall Balance Preview’s highest rated changes

Secondary Focus

• Adjustments to units dominating the current Soviet meta in competitive play
    * Lend Lease Commander
    * Maxims & Penals adjustments
    * Conscripts

• Adjustments to select heavy tanks that are currently over performing in team games
    * OKW Panther V
    * Elefant
    * Jagdtiger

• Adjustments to vet 4 and 5 of select OKW units that trade too cost effectively at higher veterancy (More info to come)

• Adjustments to OKW and UKF Forward Retreat Points to come with a trade-off and become an interesting choice for the player rather than a guaranteed decision (primarily affects team games)
• Adjustments to select Off-map abilities to reduce the effectiveness of frustrating, one-click squad wipes
  General improvements to help with quality of life and strategic diversity

GENERAL

Blitzkrieg/Overdrive/War Speed/Step On It
* These movement boost abilities will now cease when the vehicle receives an engine critical.

Forward Retreat Points
* UKF FRP requires Company Command Post.
* OKW FRP requires either a Mechanized or Schwerer Panzer Headquarters established.
* OKW Battlegroup unable to reinforce if cut-off from friendly territory.
* Reinforcement cost (global) increased by 20% while FRP ability is active
* 2 minute cooldown when FRP ability is deactivated
* 30 sec cooldown when FRP ability is activated (i.e., can't be deactivated for 30s after being turned on)

Sandbags and Ghosting
* All sandbags standardized to 240 health and 35 armor.
* Ostheer sandbags build-time from 60 to 45
* Units that have been in combat in the past 3 seconds will cause all unfinished enemy ghostbags within 4 radius to immediately deconstruct

Repair Speeds
USF Rear Echelon & British Royal Engineers:

• Vet 0 repair speed reduced from 2 to 1.6
• Vet 2 repair bonus decreased from 1 to 0.5
• Heavy Sapper upgrade (sappers only) decreased repair speed from 2 to 0.525

Sturmpioneers

• Vet 0 repair decreased from 3 to 2

Squad Behaviour
* Added a squad AI behaviour where individual models in squads assume varying postures while fighting the enemy (without changing their position) - i.e. Elite squads will prefer a crouching animation for some of their members, whereas non-elite squads will also drop prone to the ground.
* Fixed a disparity where low-member squads also suffered from the most densely-packed formations (making them even more vulnerable to AoE weapons)
* Assist each squad in their role (e.g., the new reinforced wedge formation will make paratrooper squads always have their thompsons at the front line) - Make each squad feel more unique
* Squad formations are now, once again, more fluid while the squad is moving. In addition to improving immersion, this will also help the individual squads spread out better to make a better use of their formations.
* Allied squads once again, assign support weapons (e.g., bazookas) to flanks rather than the core of the formation

Smoke Barrages
* Activating smoke barrages will now only order one unit at a time. Previously if multiple mortars were selected, all units would fire smoke at the target position

Fuel and Munition Caches
* MP cost increased from 200 to 250

Garrisoning
* Load time for buildings increased to 1 (per model)
* Max load time increased to 3.25 (entire squad)
* Unload time for buildings increased to 0.5 (per model)
 

OKW

Kubelwagon
To decrease the manpower bleed the Kubelwagon can inflict in the early game (primarily vs USF), we have made the following changes:

• Decrease rear armor from 4.5 to 1.6
• Decrease front armor from 4.5 to 3.5
• Increase health form 190 to 240

Jagdtiger
To decrease the on field dominance of the Jagdtiger against Allied tanks, the unit has received the following changes. To help keep the unit useful vs infantry, the Supporting Fire ability has received some performance enhancements.

• Damage reduced from 320 to 300
• Accuracy reduced from 0.06/0.05/0.04 to 0.055/0.045/0.03
• Range reduced from 85 to 80
• Supporting Fire range reduced from 125 to 95
• Engine upgrade rotation bonus removed
• Pop-cap increased from 21 to 23
• Supporting Fire ability now available at Vet 0
• Vet 1 replaced with Supporting Fire Barrage shells increased from 3 to 5

Supporting fire changes:

• No longer collides with terrain
• Mid distance from 2.25 to 1.5
• Angle scatter from 6 to 8
• Distance scatter max from 8.4 to 10
• Distance scatter offset from 0.1 to 0

Panther V
As arguably the best non-doctrinal heavy tank in COH2, we felt that the unit offered too much benefit to spam and was increasingly dominate when produced in numbers. To encourage players to diversify their late game tech, we have made the following changes:

• Pop-cap increased from 16 to 18
• Decreased moving accuracy from 0.65 to 0.5
• Increased moving scatter from 1.7 to 2
• Vet 2 +10 % armor bonus removed (also affects command Panther)

Combat Blitz

• +100% accuracy bonus reduced to +20% (affects all OKW vehicles)

Sturmtiger
* Abandon critical now only occurs from ballistic weapons
* The Sturmtiger Abandon Critical while reloading chance reduced from 50% to 25%
* Damage reduced from 640 to 580
* Manpower cost increased from 560 to 620
* Fuel cost increased from 160 to 180
* Population cost increased from 18 to 20
* All random critical types removed except for vehicle stun

Le.ig
* Now has access to a smoke barrage ability
 

WEHRMACHT

Elefant
Damage has been reduced to prevent the Elefant from two-shotting most Allied tanks.

• Damage from 320 to 300
• Pop-cap increased from 20 to 22

Panther V
Unlike the OKW Panther, we feel the OST Panther is more or less in a good spot. However, to make it somewhat more reliable in combat, the variable reload time of the main gun has been reduced.

• Pop-cap increased from 16 to 18
• Vet 2 +10 % armor bonus removed
• Reload time decreased from 5.8 - 6.7 to 5.2 - 5.6 (reload time does not include wind-up)

Stuka Dive Bomb
* Increase AoE damage multiplier from 1/0.35/0.05 to 1/0.35/0.08
* Increased Munitions cost from 160 to 200
* Removed critical hit modifier

Stuka close air support
* CAS loiter no longer deals deflection/penetration criticals on attacked vehicles
 

SOVIET

M4C Sherman
The M4C Sherman has been tied to Soviet Tier 4 tech to prevent it from being spammed and to encourage players to diversify their tech.

• Now required the Mechanized Armor Kompenya to be constructed.
• CP cost decreased to 0

Penal
The Penal Squad has received some minor adjustments to bring it more in line with its cost and to reduce its effectiveness as a powerful generalist unit by offering a more distinct choice between anti-infantry and anti-vehicle.

• Moving cooldown from 0.5 to 0.75.
• Reinforce cost increased from 25 to 27
• Veterancy requirements increased from 540/1080/2160 to 640/1280/2560.
• Regular Satchels no longer collide with vehicles.
• Targeted Anti-Vehicle Satchels now require the PTRS upgrade.
• Targeted Anti-Vehicle Satchels will continue to track targets, even after they have moved out of range.
• Fixed an issue where Targeted Anti-Vehicle Satchels would deal high damage to passengers onboard vehicles.
• Fixed an issue where satchels were dealing more damage to friendly infantry than enemy infantry.
• PTRS Ready Aim Time reduced from 2 to 1.25 (affects all PTRS variants)

Dshka
The Dshka HMG has proved to be exceedingly cost effective and thus the adjustments made to the unit below will bring it more in line with its performance and make it less of a spammable unit.

• Increased reinforcement cost for vanilla crew from 15 to 20.
• Traverse speed decreased from 90 to 38
• Suppression decreased from 0.00044 to 0.00030.
• Rate of fire multiplier decreased from 2.1/1.5/0.9 to 1.3/1.15/0.9.
• Setup time increased from 2 to 2.25.
• Fire aim time from 0.125/1 to 0.125 - 0.5.
• Ready aim time from 0.375-0.5 to 0.25
• Population from 6 to 7

Maxim
To make some slight performance improvements to the Maxim HMG, the following changes have been made:

• Suppression from 0.00006 to 0.000065.
• Nearby suppression from 1.25 to 1.
• Ready-Aim Time to 0.125.
• Fire-Aim Time to 0.125.
• Fire-Aim Time multipliers standardized to 0.5.

Maxim Suppression Intel Bulletin

• Suppression bonus reduced from +5% to +1%

Conscript
To make Conscript squads scale better into the mid to late game, as well as, be able to trade better vs comparable Axis squads such as Volksgrenadiers, the following changes have been made:

• Damage from 16 to 12
• Accuracy from 0.541/0.495/0.334 to 0.7182821/0.6598548/0.55654425
• Near range increased from 0 to 10
• PPSH accuracy from reduced from 0.621/0.43/0.2 to 0.5645455/0.3909091/0.181818
• Molotov upgrade has been merged with the Anti-tank upgrade at the HQ

Veterancy changes:

• Vet1: Added a Received Accuracy modifier of 0.92
• Vet2: Molotov range replaced with increased Molotov throw speed
• Vet3: Added accuracy modifier of 1.1 & Reduced Received accuracy modifier from 0.6 to 0.707

ISU-152
To make the ISU more accessible, in-line with its cost and less dominated vs other super heavy tanks such as the Jagdtiger, the following changes have been made.

• Armor increased from 310 to 340
• MP cost decreased from 720 to 680
• HE Far damage increased from 0.05 to 0.15.
• HE AOE Distances decreased from 1.25/2.75/4.5 to 0.25/1.5/6.
• Concrete-Piercing and HE rounds can now bypass landscape/terrain.
• Scatter Distance max increased from 8.7 to 10.
• Angle scatter increased from 5 to 6.5.
• AP Shells deal 50% deflection
   

USF

Calliope
To bring the Calliope more in line with other mobile artillery and less dominant at mid to short range, the following changes have been made:

• Pop-cap increased 16
• Delay between rockets fired of 0.125 added
• Near AOE increased from 0.5 to 0.75
• Removal of Reload Frequency
• HP decreased from 640 to 480

Priest
The Priest has received the following changes to make it less abusive and spammable in team games.

• Mid AOE from 0.15 to 0.28
• Creeping Barrage weapon now shares the same stats as the standard barrage weapon.
• Population decreased from 16 to 15.
• Can no longer be de-crewed.

Jackson
The Jackson has received a slight buff to its health to allow players to be a bit more aggressive and utilize its speed to perform more hit and run tactics. Cost increased to match performance.

• Health increased from 480 to 640
• Fuel increased from 125 to 140
• Manpower increased from 350 to 400

Rear- Echelons / Riflemen
To improve Rear Echelons as a support unit and improve their usefulness at different stages of a match, the following changes have been made:

• Smoke moved from Riflemen to Rear Echelon (Lieutenant retains smoke)
• Rear Echelon now have access to the Light M7 mine at a cost of 15 Munitions per mine
   

BRITISH

British Trench
* British Trench now capturable by enemy troops
* Cost reduced from 50 MP to 0 (free)
* Can only be built in captured territory (also affects OST trench)

Firefly
Due to the Firefly's range and accuracy, when combined with the Comet or when multiple Firefly's are fielded, this combination of tank power can prove to be overly dominate (primarily in team games). To compensate, the following changes have been made:

• Accuracy from 0.08/0.07/0.05 to 0.06/0.05/0.4
• Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.55
• Tulips no longer cancels move commands upon stun when hit
• Tulips now deal 33% damage versus infantry.

Mortar Pit
* Now has access to smoke barrage at Vet 0
* Vet 1 reduces smoke barrage cooldown
 

BUG FIXES & Quality of Life Changes

• Fixed an issue where several vehice units would prefer moving backwards than forwards. Backwards movement in right-click mode will only be engaged if reverse yields a significantly faster path.
• Fixed an issue where remanned howitzer crewmembers would cost more to reinforce
• Fixed an issue where certain infantry models were immune to death from flame weapons
• Pak43 and 17 pounder now have Prioritise Vehicles permanently on
• Grenadier LMG 42 now uses the proper upgrade icon.
• Maxim Sustained Fire now uses the proper ability icon.
• KV-8 Call-In ability now uses the proper unit icon.
• Soviet and USF ATGs are no longer slowed by cover to match their Axis and British counterparts.
• Soviet Roks 3 no longer has higher aim-times compared to other flamethrowers
• Fixed an issue where Hold Fire would not work properly on mortars/Le.IG and the Pack Howitzer
• Fixed an issue where the Veterancy 1 Soviet mortar flare ability would sometimes not trigger
• 120mm Mortar flare ability not matching the weapon’s auto-fire range
• Fixed an issue where the T-34 Ram ability would stun on deflection, but not on penetration.
• Fixed an issue when 250 LMG Grenadiers did not have penalties when constructing objects and gained increased range on their grenade with veterancy
• Fixed an issue where the AI would not upgrade healing or repairs for their respective structures.
• Fixed an issue with infantry handheld AT weapons would not properly apply death criticals to vehicles when the target reaches 0% health.
• Fixed an issue where the Bulldozer would fire less smoke rounds compared to the regular Sherman.
• Fixed an issue where officer cost and reinforce times did not match with the rest of their squad.
• Fixed an issue where Firefly tulips could apply their effects on infantry.
• The Priest no longer requires 4 models to recrew. Now requires 3.
• Fixed an issue where M2HBs and Dshka HMGs could not be targeted when abandoned.
• Fixed an issue where certain infantry units awarded more experience than their actual entity cost would imply.
• Fixed an issue where SU-85 Focus Sight and T-70 Recon abilities were not properly highlighted when on cooldown.
• Fixed an issue where certain units could ‘double shot’.
• Fixed an issue where certain MGs could not be upgraded with Ambush Camouflage when captured.
• Fixed an issue where Ambush Camouflage did not properly apply at 1 CP. [An increase in CPs does not affect how the upgrade ambush camouflage is being applied to units.]
• Fixed an issue where the Grenadier 250 Half-Track was 7 population versus the 5 of the Panzergrenadier 250 Half-Track.
• Fixed an issue where Commandos previously took too long to regain their ambush bonuses when out of combat.
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to hide the Sturmtiger aiming its shell.
• Fixed an issue that the Soviet Sniper would camouflage when only a single model was in cover.
• Fixed a UI issue where the building preview was displaying longer MG weapon range than the actual one. This applies to Bunkers and Fighting Positions. (Seems fine on Bunkers, Fighting Pits has more range then UI indicates)
• Fixed an issue where pinned squads under the effects of Raid Operation would be able to capture points with the ability on.
• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to access the same abilities between certain units. This includes, Lieutenants, Sappers and Tommies.
• Fixed an issue where machine guns that had the Ambush Camouflage Hold-Fire ability active upon death would not auto-acquire targets when they were recrewed.
• Fixed an issue where the Bofors Barrage would continue, even if the Bofors lost its garrison bonus.
• Fixed an issue where Mortar Pit Smoke Barrages left gaps within in its creeping barrage.
• Fixed an issue where certain team weapons sometimes could have suppression modifiers permanently attached.
• Fixed an issue where certain veterancy bonuses would not apply correctly to certain MGs and certain mortars
• Fixed an issue where demo charges would deal double damage if detonated by weapons’ fire.
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to stack multiple booby traps together on the same location.
• Fixed an issue where Prioritise vehicles would, sometimes, not show when multiple AT guns were selected together
• Emplacement range is now visible both when setting up and after they have been built
• Fixed Hammer vehicle tracking (wouldn’t refresh properly); duration decreased from 15 secs to 7 secs to compensate
• Recovery Sappers (UKF doctrinal) can now upgrade to heavy sappers and build structures, like vanilla sappers (QoL)
• Fixed an issue where some infantry squad models would cost more than 1 popcap (affected recrewed AT guns)
• Fixed an issue where OKW starting weapon crew stats were superior to other faction weapon crews, and on-par with mainline infantry
• Increased medic search radius for MedHQ and made it impossible for players to place it too close to pathblocking objects (to prevent squads from being stuck)

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/244441/december-balance-preview-changelog/p1?new=1

[Mithiriath]

 

 

 

 

 

[Mithiriath]

DBP V1.1 UPDATE

In light of recent feedback, our goals and the direction we would like to take the existing changes in the DBP, we have made the following changes to the DBP mod prior to release. The DBP mod is now available for download on the Steam Workshop. As always, please play the mod and give us your feedback in the Balance Feedback section of the forums.

SUBSCRIBE NOW
 

WEHRMACHT

Tech Cost Restructuring
To allow Wehrmacht players to explore more diverse build orders and have access to a more versatile roster we have moved the majority of tech costs from Tier 3 and 4 buildings to Battle Phase 2. This change does not affect the amount of required resource to unlock T3 or T4 directly, however, it does allow players to better adapt their strategies in the late game by making teching to T4 from T3 or back-teching from T4 to T3 a viable option.

• Battle Phase 2 costs increased from 100MP/45FU to 200MP/90FU
• Battle Phase 3 costs decreased from 100MP/45FU to 100MP/25FU
• Support Armor Korps costs decreased from 240MP/60FU to 140MP/15FU
• Heavy Panzer Korps costs decreased from 200MP/50 to 100MP/25FU
   

OKW

Sturmpioneer
We are toning down the efficiency of Vet 0 repair speed (with or without the minesweeper) to further promote aggression and risk-taking, much like for the Soviet and Wehrmacht factions (i.e., keep the engineers in the front line so that they can accumulate veterancy, as opposed to keeping them safe).

Sturmpioneers are receiving a reduction to their repair speed to better match other factions. Their veterancy 0 repair speed with or without the minesweeper has been reduced to promote aggression with Sturmpioneers to vet up.

• Base Repair speed to 2
• Veterancy 2 Repair rate to 0.75
• Minesweeper Repair rate to 25% rather than a flat bonus of 1.
• Vet0 repair: 2
• Vet2 repair: 0.75
• Minesweeper repair: +25% (so that its power is spread more evenly between stock and vet)

Panther V
Due to the performance reductions noted in V1.0 of the DBP changelog, the Panther V has received a fuel cost reduction to bring its performance better in-line with its value.

• Fuel cost from 200 to 185

Combat Blitz
We are changing Combat Blitz to bring it more in line with similar abilities (e.g., Blitzkrieg/Emergency Warspeed). The changes will make it so that Combat Blitz remains a valuable asset to be used offensively. However, it will not be able to be used as readily to retreat.

• Received accuracy modifier increased from 0.5 to 0.75 (to match Wehrmacht variant)
• Now increases main gun reload speed by 25% (even when not moving)
• Speed bonus for Panther/Command Panther/King Tiger decreased from +40% to +20%
   

USF

Jackson
* Jackson moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.65 (affects all guns)

Rear Echelon
The received accuracy penalty for Volley-Fire is being reduced to allow this ability to be viable in more situations when Rear Echelon come under-fire. This allows Rear Echelon in cover to suppress approaching troops without taking high amounts of damage in return.

• Volley-Fire Received Accuracy Penalty from 40% to 15%.

USF Mortar
* Smoke barrage range increased from 65 to 80
* Vet 1 smoke barrage range increase removed
* Vet 1 decreases cooldown of smoke barrage by 25%

Firefly
* Vet 3 damage bonus reduced from +80 to +40
 

Bug Fixes & Quality of LIfe

• Crocodile main-cannon will now respond to attack commands. Added Hold Fire and Prioritise Vehicles abilities that the main cannon can benefit from.
• A number of issues have been fixed revolving around the glider should it crash-land. The Headquarters Glider will now also be able to rebuild the Airlanding Officer should the unit be destroyed.
• We are reducing the amount of unnecessary clicks surrounding stealth abilities by allowing the following units to move at their full speed when they have been revealed whilst the ability is still active:
• Raketenwerfer
• Doctrinal Soviet AT gun ability
• Jagdpanzer4
• Luchs
• Half-tracks are being given slightly more utility by allowing them to transport the majority of weapon teams. Do note weapon teams will not fire their crewed weapons out of open-topped half-tracks.

Model 24 Stun Grenades
We are fixing a couple issues with the German Stun Grenades while maintaining their current functionality.

• Stunned squads are immobilized for the duration of the 5 second stun.
• Fixed an issue where stun nades would permanently break team weapons
• This affects both OKW stun nades and OST stun nades

Target Weak Point/Treadshot (Quality of Life)
This change affects the mode of operation for TWP that applies to StuG Gs, Pak guns, Pumas and the Elefant. Target Weak Point should now only fire one shot, but the player has more time to aim the ability and can be used on the move.
Target Weak Point now last for 10 seconds or until the unit fires its first shot while using this ability.
Activating the ability forces the unit to reload before being able to fire
The similar-to-operate AEC treadshot ability behaves in a similar way (2 shots within 15 seconds)

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272276#Comment_272276

[Mithiriath]

DBP V1.2.1 UPDATE

Available on the Steam Workshop: SUBSCRIBE NOW

GENERAL

Forward Retreat Points (affects all FRPs)
* Penalty changed to +75% reinforcement time per model
* It is now, again, possible to immediately disable the FRP (30 second deactivate cooldown removed); 120 second cooldown on re-activating FRP after deactivation remains
 

USF

Rear Echelon
* Can no longer use smoke when upgraded to flamethrowers
* Light M7 mines now only detonate on vehicles (not infantry)
 

SOVIET

Conscripts
Our original changes to Conscript DPS caused an unintended, but significant increase in their DPS around ranges 5-to-15. We are adjusting the values to obtain the intended DPS curve.

• Near range reverted from 10 to 0
• Near accuracy adjusted from 0.7182821 to 0.7572339
   

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue that prevented squads from properly obeying garrisoning commands
• Readjusted pathfinding behaviour for vehicles to avoid suboptimal behaviour around obstacles
• Addressed an issue with Target-Weak-Point and Treadshot abilities, that they were taking too long to fire
• Hammer tracking; partially revert duration from 7 secs to 9.5 secs
• Adjusted Lend-lease Sherman hotkey to avoid overlap
• Fixed an issue where the Jackson would cost more than intended (cost from 145FU to 140FU)

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272510#Comment_272510

[Mithiriath]

DBP V1.3 UPDATE

The December Balance Preview is off to a good start and the community's feedback has been incredibly helpful as we work on fine tuning these changes throughout the remainder of the iteration period. In this update we changed focus to look at various elite infantry units and potential over performing bonuses acquired through veterancy. The following proposed changes is aimed to help within infantry scaling for various factions.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Commander Revamp Update

As the Commander Revamp survey has now closed, we are excited to announce which commanders we will be looking at revitalize in the December Update. We hope to complete our first pass on the proposed changes to the commanders listed below before the end of next week. Similar to all Balance Preview changes, the Commander Revamp changes will be available to test in the DBP Mod when the changes are ready to go.

Commander Revamp Commanders
* (USF) Recon Support Company
* (USF) Mechanized Company
* (SOVIET) Tank Hunter Tactics
* (SOVIET) Guard Rifle Combined Arms Tactics
* (BRITISH) Royal Engineer Regiment
* (BRITISH) Commando Regiment
* (OKW) Feuersturm Doctrine
* (OKW) Luftwaffe Ground Forces Doctrine
* (WEHRMACHT) Jaeger Light Infantry
* (WEHRMACHT) Osttruppen Doctrine)
 

GENERAL

Infiltration Units
To give players a better chance to react to infiltration units and to reduce the number of guaranteed squad wipes caused by infiltration unit abilities, the following change has been made:

• All abilities now start on cooldown (the default cooldown of the ability)
  This affects:

• Infiltration Commandos

• Fallschirmjager
• Partisans, both variants
• Stormtroopers
• JLI

Demo Charges
To give players an opportunity to react to activated demo charges and to reduce mass squads wipes of this weapon, the following changes have been made:

• Demo Charges now have a 3s timer once activated (timer is visible to all players; similar to satchel)
• Cost reduced from 90MU to 65MU

Garrisoning
We have made some fine tuning changes to garrisoning to make it feel more responsive and reduce squad wipes on building destruction.

• Reduce unload time from 0.5 to 0.375 (per model)
• Reduce load time from 1 to 0.75 (per model; 3.25 remains max per squad)
• Reduced grenade damage vs buildings (the structure itself; not the units garrisoned inside)
   

USF

Rear Echelons
Volley-Fire’s potency is being reduced on weapon rack items to prevent Rear Echelon from immediately pinning down infantry in the late game if they are upgraded.

• Now all slot weapons gain a 0.0025 suppression that does not ramp up
• Lowered suppression values for the BAR by 50% and the M1919 LMG by 70% when Volley-Fire is active.

Captain
‘On Me!’ will no longer provide combat bonuses to better represent the abilities lack of munitions cost and to limit the power of blobbing infantry around the Captain. ‘On Me!’ will still break suppression and allow infantry to sprint to allow USF players to relocate units on the field.

• Removed the weapon accuracy and received accuracy bonuses from ‘On Me!’ (it still breaks suppression and makes inf run faster)

M36 Jackson
The M36 is having its damage modified to make it less potent in terms of burst damage against lower health vehicles while becoming more reliable vs heavy tanks (HVAP rounds remain unchanged).

• Damage from 200 to 160
• Penetration from 240/220/200 to 260/240/220
   

SOVIETS

Soviet Forward HQ (Commander Ability)
To make this ability less frustrating to counter while keeping it a viable option for Soviet players, the following changes have been made:

• Requires structure to be in connected territory.
• +50% damage converted to+25% accuracy
• Armor modifier from +50% to +25%
• Reduced cost from 300MP/60FU to 250MP/40FU

For Mother Russia (Commander Ability)
The ‘For Mother Russia’ ability is having its potency reduced to bring it in-line with the recent changes to Conscripts.

• +100% Armour bonus removed (accuracy and speed bonuses remain)
• Duration reduced from 60 seconds to 30.

Conscripts
We are reverting the AT grenade and Moltov upgrade merge due to its cost effectiveness while making minor adjustments to some Conscript abilities.

• Molotov cost from 15 to 20 (does not affect Partisans)
• Tripwire cooldown from 0 to 30
• AT Grenade upgrade and Molotov upgrade are once again separate
• Molotov tech cost reduced from 125MP/15FU to 80MP/10FU

T-34/76
We are slightly increasing the cost of the T-34/76 to match its performance.

• Fuel price increased from 80 to 90

PM-42 (Soviet T2 mortar)
The PM-42 Mortar will now have the ‘Flare’ ability from the start to provide vital scouting information and to give the Soviet mortar a more utility oriented role when it is deployed.

• ‘Flare’ ability no longer requires veterancy
• Veterancy 1 reduces ‘Flare’ recharge by 25%

ZiS-3 Divisional Field Gun (AT gun)
We are improving ZiS-3 access to its barrage ability to make up for its low rate of fire and limited penetration. This will emphasize ZiS-3’s secondary role as an indirect fire unit that can soften up enemy positions.

• Popcap reduced from 9 to 7, to match its performance
• Reduced cost of ZiS-3 barrage ability from 60MU to 35MU
   

WEHRMACHT

Grenadiers
Grenadiers are receiving a decrease to their population to better match their performance in comparison to other mainline infantry.

• Popcap reduced from 7 to 6

Pak 40
The Pak 40 is having its population reduced to better match its performance with other anti-tank guns.

• Popcap decreased from 9 to 8 to match actual performance

251 Flamethrowers
With the recent changes to garrisons, the 251 is getting a reduction to its damage against entrenched infantry to give players a chance to react and de-garrison.

• Far-AOW reduced from 1 to 0.5 (mainly affects anti-garrison damage)

Stug G
We found StuG G’s ‘Target Weakpoint’ ability over performs for its cost while the unit's machine gun lacked some needed defensive capabilities vs infantry. Thus, the following changes have been made:

• TWP's main-gun disable reduced from 15 seconds to a blind critical that lasts 5 seconds.
• TWP's damage reduced by 50% (to account for guaranteed penetration)
• MG cost reduced from 50 to 30
• MG range increased from 35 to 40

Ostwind
The Ostwind is being improved to make it more consistent and reliable as an anti-infantry platform (regardless of map) while still able to chip away at armoured vehicles.

• Projectile no longer collides with terrain
• Distance scatter max increased from 2.9 to 3.5
• AOE distance reduced from 1/1.25/1.5 to 0.5/1.5/2 (to compensate for projectile changes)
• AOE damage reduced from 1/0.15/0.05 to 0.8/0.2/0.1 (to compensate for projectile changes)
• Cost reduced from 100FU to 90FU (does not affect the OKW version)
• Penetration increased from 45/40/35 to 55/50/45
• Max range increased from 40 to 45

Tiger (does not affect Tiger Ace)
The Tiger is receiving mobility boosts to allow the Tiger to navigate the battlefield more easily and disengage from threats such as anti-tank guns or tank destroyers.

• Speed from 4.7 to 5.2
• Acceleration from 1.5 to 1.8.
• Deceleration from 1.8 to 2
• Popcap increased from 19 to 20

Panzer IV
To allow the Panzer IV to better combat medium tanks at a distance where it has the advantage of stronger frontal armour and rate of fire, the unit is receiving a slight penetration increase.

• Penetration increased from 120/110/100 to 125/115/110
• Fuel cost reduced from 125 to 120

Panther V
Now in an even better spot.

• Coaxial and hull MGs performance improved to now match the OKW Panther

Elefant
Given the Elefant’s role as a dedicated anti-armour vehicle, its accuracy is being increased to improve reliability at range.

• Accuracy increased from 0.05/0.375/0.025 to 0.055/0.045/0.03

**JU87 Close Air Support Loiter (Commander Ability) **
We are slightly lowering the damage of the JU-87 to ensure it remains a potent ability, but is no longer capable of outright destroying medium tanks in a single pass.

• JU87 Loiter damage reduction from 60 to 50
   

OKW

Sturmpioneers
We are increasing the viability of Sturmpioneers to allow them to better support the rest of OKW army in a combat role.

• Reinforce time decreased from 10s to 7s.
• Build time decreased from 40s to 28s.
• Population cost decreased from 9 to 8
• Panzerschreck price decreased from 90 to 70

Veterancy Changes

• Veterancy 4 -23% Received Accuracy and +15% accuracy bonuses removed
• Veterancy 5 +40% weapon accuracy moved to Veterancy 4 (Vet 5 bonus of no longer taking extra damage while repairing remains)
• Veterancy requirements reduced to 580/1160/2320/2900/3770 (approximately a 10% reduction)

Base Flak Defenses
We are removing the OKW's free Anti-air capabilities to bring their AA better in-line with other factions.

• Can no longer fire at air targets

Schwerer Panzer Headquarters
Due to the nature of the Panzer Headquarters flak cannon, we are limiting its ability to shut down aerial-based abilities without some form of trade-off.

• No longer automatically engages aircraft
• Now has an Anti Air ability which activates AA mode for 60 seconds (while active it can engage both ground and air targets). After AA ability finishes, the gun will go on a cooldown for 60s where it can not engage any targets (air or ground)

Stuka
We are adjusting the performance of the Stuka to prevent it from destroying team weapons and buildings in a single attack while making it more vulnerable to flanks and assaulting tanks.

• Damage vs team weapons reduced by ~50% (affects the weapon, not the squad)
• Damage vs Garrison buildings reduced by 50% (affects the building, not garrisoned squads)
• HP reduced from 320 to 160

Panzer II ‘Luchs’
The following changes aims to reduce the Luchs potency vs vehicles and further define its role as an anti-infantry unit.

• Moving scatter penalties increased from 1.25 to 2
• Target table modifier vs vehicles of 0.0625 added

Volksgrenadiers
We found that high veterancy and upgraded Volksgrenadiers scaled too well vs other core infantry and overshadowed much of the OKW's own elite infantry. To compensate for this, the following changes have been made:

• Flame grenade now unlocked when the first sWS Supply Half-track hits the field
• Flame grenade now has a 0.75s timer on explosion
• Faust price reduced from 30 to 25

Veterancy Changes

• Veterancy 3 Received Accuracy bonus increased from 0.9 0.86
• Volks require cover and to be stationary to benefit from their Vet 4 sight bonus
• Vet 3's passive healing ability moved to Vet 5
• All combat bonuses from Vet 4 and Vet 5 (+15% accuracy bonus & -20% weapon cooldown) removed

Sturmtiger
The Sturmtiger is being further adjusted to limit its ability to hide in the FOW and destroy units without being seen. In return, we are improving aspects of the Sturmtiger's defensive capabilities to compensate.

• Popcap reverted from 20 to 18
• Sturmtiger can no longer fire through buildings (Buildings now act as shot blockers)
• Range reduced from 45 to 40
• Reload duration decreased from 50 seconds to 40 seconds
• Veterancy requirements decreased by 33%
• Veterancy 1 grenade far damage increased from 0.05 to 0.25, radius decreased from 5 to 4.5, and AOE penetration decreased from 23 to 15

Le.IG 18
The Le.IG is being tuned to require more player input to be used effectively. In return we are boosting its damage against ambient structures improving its support and anti-garrison ability.

• Auto-attack range decreased from 100 to 85
• Autoattack range bonus removed from Veterancy 1
• Anti-structure damage increased (from 1/0.5/0.25 to 2/0.3/0.15)
• HE Barrage recharge time increased from 30 secs to 40 secs
• Smoke barrage recharge time independent from HE barrage
• Intel Bulletin for barrage recharge lowered from -25% recharge to -10% recharge

Kubel
The Kubelwagen’s armour is being slightly adjusted to make the Kubel more vulnerable to strikes from the front, but slightly less vulnerable to flanks. The previous changes to hitpoint and armour meant a Kubelwagen could still cost-effectively duel most infantry units in the field during the early game.

• Front armour further reduced from 3.5 to 3
• Rear armour partially reverted from 1.6 to 1.9

Panzer IV
We want to make OKW Panzer IV to be slightly less vulnerable to infantry rushes and more effective in a generalist anti-infantry / anti-tank role. To accomplish this, the following changes have been made:

• Cost changed from 360MP/150FU to 380MP/140FU
• Population cost increased from 12 to 14
• Scatter improved from 7.5/6.4 (angle/distance) to 6.5/5.54
• Penetration increased from 120/110/100 to 125/115/110

Veterancy Changes

• Veterancy 2 scatter veterancy increased from 0.75 to 0.866
• Veterancy 4 range bonus removed (scatter bonus remains)
• Veterancy 5 - Panzer IV must be stationary to benefit from sight bonus (similar to spotting scopes)

Panther V
We are adjusting the OKW Panther veterancy to be more manageable for the opposing player when it hits later veterancy.

• Veterancy 4 range bonus removed (scatter bonus remains)
• Veterancy 5 - Panther V must be stationary to benefit from sight bonus (similar to spotting scopes)

King Tiger
The KT has received a slight adjustment to its veterancy 4 to help prevent it from out scaling opposing players.

• Vet 4 sight bonus removed (scatter bonus remains)

Pazerfusiliers
The following changes aim to put Panzerfusilliers on-par with other, similar infantry in the late game and encourage the use of flares for increased sight.

• Population from 6 to 8
• G43 upgrade sight bonus decreased from +50% to +20% (from 52.5 to 42)
• Veterancy 4 +15% accuracy changed to +15% capture and decapture rate.

Obersoldaten
Obersoldaten are being made more accessible through a number of changes with only some adjustment regarding their late game veterancy to prevent them from them out scaling counterpart infantry units.

• MP Cost reduced from 400 to 340
• LMG34 and Stg44 munitions cost increased from 60 to 80
• Reduce reinforcement time from 12.5+ to 9
• Built-time from decreased from 50 seconds to 36s.
• Popcap reduced from 10 to 9
• Veterancy 4 received accuracy bonus removed
• Veterancy 4 suppression bonus converted to “Suppressive Fire ability”

Fallschirmjäger
Fallschirmjager are being adjusted to have better stock performance with only minor changes to their veterancy. Population is also being adjusted to match other Axis elite squads.

• Received accuracy improved from 0.87 to 0.83
• Veterancy 3 received accuracy bonus removed
• Population from 8 to 9
• Can now camouflage in cover when stationary without veterancy

JP4
We feel that the Jagdpanzers veterancy bonuses made it scale too well and become too lethal at higher veterancy. To reduce its lethality while keeping it an effective Tank Destroyer we've made the following changes:

• Increased range from which it can be detected from 10 to 20

Veterancy Changes

• Veterancy 2 armour and sight bonus removed
• Vet 2 now increases accuracy by 20%
• Veterancy 5 ambush damage/accuracy/pen bonus reduced from +150% to +25%

Raketenwerfer
To make the Raketen more reliable and consistent while bringing its stealth better in-line with other stealthed units, we've made the following changes:

• Vet 1 speed bonus when stealthed reduced from +100% to +25%
• Projectile now ignores terrain elevation
• Raketenwerfer can no longer be suppressed
   

BRITISH

PIATs
Due to the British's lack of snares and difficulty competing against light vehicle rushes, the following changes have been made to the PIAT.

• Range increased from 30 to 35
• Far accuracy decreased from 0.038 to 0.025
• Mid-range increased from 15 to 25

Trenches
* Trench target size now significantly increases when they are abandoned (to allow tanks/AT to clear and destroy)

Mortar pit
To bring the counter play between the Mortar Pit and LeIG in-line, we have made the following changes:

• Mortar Pit auto-attack range decreased from 115 to 90
• HE/smoke barrage cooldown decreased from 75 to 40 seconds
• Smoke barrage on independent cooldown form HE barrage
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGES

• Fixed issue where USF grenade bulletins were not applying to Rear Echelon smoke
• Readjusted pathfinding
• Remove forced movement from Commando squads that have recently deployed (makes squads ignore orders)
• Removed Tank Elite Armor, Tank Commander arty from firing into the base
• Improved the mine laying speed of Assault Engineers and Paratroopers to match other squads
• Changed Ostruppen cover bonus indicator. Instead of an overhead crosshair indicator, Ostruppen cover bonus displays in the same way as the Tommy cover bonus indicator
• Increase duration of TWP-like abilities, to match initial delay
• Added a warning line for Stun Grenades

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272585#Comment_272585
 

[Mithiriath]

DBP V1.4 "THE BRITISH" UPDATE

The V1.4 Update continues with some minor iterations to the Soviet, USF, OKW and Wehrmacht as well as some significant changes to the British Forces.

SUBSCRIBE NOW
 

GENERAL

Demo Charges
* Can no longer be planted on territory points
* Fuse timer change reverted
* Demo charges are now revealed by all units within 7m.
 

SOVIET

Conscripts
In light of the recent changes made to Conscripts, to prevent them from scaling too well at higher veterancy with picked up weapon upgrades, the following change has been made:

• Max number of slot weapons reduced from 2 to 1

IS-2
To make the IS-2 more reliable at range, the following changes have been made:

• Scatter offset decreased from 0.25 to 0.185
• Far AOE increased from 0.05 to 0.1
   

WEHRMACHT

Ostwind
Due to the recent performance enhancements made to the Ostwind, we reverting the range increase to make it slightly more vulnerable.

• Range reverted from 45 to 40
   

OKW

Le.IG
To further increase the required management of the unit, the following changes have been made:

• Auto-attack range reduced from 85 to 80
  Veterancy Changes

• Veterancy 3 smoke recharge moved to veterancy 2

• Movement speed bonus removed from veterancy 2 (Received Accuracy bonus remains)
• Number of extra barrage shells received from veterancy reduced from +4 to +1
   

USF

Captain On Me
To prevent the "get out of jail free card" this ability provides to blobbing, the following changes have been made:

• Previous changes reverted
• Player can now only target one unit within a 25m radius of the Captain
• Now has a 45 second cooldown

M36 Jackson Tank Destroyer
To improve the Jackson's tank hunter capabilities, the following changes have been made:

• Moving accuracy changes reverted for main gun and HVAP.
• Main gun reload from 5.2/5.8 to 4.375/4.975 (Note - Jackson still retains its wind-up and wind down delays of 1.125/0.5)
• Veterancy 3 reload bonus reduced from 30% to 15%
   

BRITISH

UKF Artillery Commander Concentration barrage
* Can no longer fire through the FOW
* Now always fires Airburst shells, regardless of Anvil tech

Emplacements
To increase vulnerability of emplacement to their counters, the following changes have been made:

• Brace duration reduced from 30 secs to 20 secs
• Incoming repairs reduced by 75% while brace is active

Mortar pit
* Garrison bonus changed from reload bonus to barrage recharge bonus (-25% recharge)
* Mortar Pit autoattack reduced from 90 to 85

Forward Assembly
To increase diversity and utility of the FA while decreasing the benefits of emplacement clumping, the following changes have been made:

• Emplacement aura removed
• Cost reduced from 250MP to 200MP
• Can upgrade Medics that provide passive healing for 50MP/60MU
• Advanced Fortifications removed
• Medic upgrade, Forward retreat upgrade and Repair station upgrade are mutually exclusive
• Repair engineers (passive) can no longer repair their own repair station

17-pounder
* Popcap reduced from 20 to 14
* Arc indicator added
* No longer possible to garrison the 17-pounder
* Reload speed normalized from 5 - 7 to 5.5
* Flares from garrison bonus to veterancy 1.
* Piercing rounds moved from Vet 1 to Vet 0

Tommies (also affects Tank Hunter Infantry Sections)
We feel that Tommies come out of the gate with too much raw power but also lack the offensive ability to effectively assault a position. Therefore, to make Tommies feel more reliable and to improve their consistency on the battlefield, we've made the following changes:

• Moving accuracy modifier increased from 0.25 to 0.35
• Vet 0 Received Accuracy reduced from 0.8 to 0.9
• Scoped Enfields Vet 3 bonus removed (this causes Tommies to drop their Bren guns, even though enough models are alive)
• Bren gun reload time decreased from 8-9 secs to 6.5 secs
• Population cap reduced to 6 from 7 (Becomes 7 at 5-man)
• Increased cone of fire from 1 to 5

British Infantry Cover bonus
* Sappers, Sniper and Commandos no longer gain -10% RA bonus when in cover

Sappers
We felt that Sappers scaled too well and become too cost effective as the game progressed compared to the British's mainline infantry. To compensate for this, the following changes have been made:

• Target size increased from 0.8 to 0.9
• Veterancy 3 reinforcement bonus reduced from -20% to -10% (-6MP to -3MP) (Received Accuracy bonus remains)
• Popcap reduced from 6 to 5 (Becomes 6 with 5 man squads)

Anvil
To increase the appeal of Anvil to be more on par with Hammer and to bring its cost better in-line with its benefits / performance, the following changes have been made:

Heavy Sappers
* Movement speed penalty reduced from -50% to -25%
* Armor bonus reduced from +1 to +0.25

Churchill
* Population cap reduced from 18 to 16
* Smoke projector speed penalty removed
* Veterancy 1 side-hatch SMGs moving accuracy penalties increased from 0.5 to 0.85.

Airburst shells
* Now fire at randomized intervals between 5-10 seconds
* Now have a 15 radius scatter

Heavy Gammon Bomb
To make the Heavy Gammon Bomb a better building clearing tool and more in-line with the Satchel charge, the following changes have been made:

• Cost reduced from 75MU to 50MU
• Damage increased from 200 to 340
• AOE distance decreased from 1.5/3/4.5 to 1.25/2.5/3.75

Crocodile
To brine the Crocodile's performance better in-line with its cost, the following changes have been made:

• Rotation rate reduced from 35 to 30
• Popcap increased from 18 to 20
• HP decreased from 1400 to 1080
• Armour increase from 240 to 290
• Crocodile damage output decrease by 30% (flamer to 7/ flamesweep to 6)
• Flamethrower range normalized from 25/39 to 32

Centaur
We felt that the Centaur lacked needed anti-garrison abilities and suffered from low mobility which made the unit ineffective on certain maps. To resolve theses issues, the following changes have been made:

• Garrison table modifiers changed from 0.4 accuracy and 0.5 damage to 0.5 accuracy and 0.35 damage
• Damage all in hold modifier from false to true (All models in the building will take Far AOE damage)
• Acceleration increased from 1.5 to 1.8
• Speed increased from 4.6 to 5.2

25 Pounder (Base Howitzers)
We are changing 25 pounders so that they become effective as a fast-response artillery that can be used to negate buildings or take down enemy emplacements. Airburst changes make it so that teching Anvil will allow the 25 pounder barrage to also double as an area-denial ability.

Damage

• First Howitzer now fires 4 shells from 6
• Second Howitzer now fires 5 shells from 6.
• Reload decreased from 4.7 to 4
• Now always penetrates
• Now does 75% extra damage against team weapons.
• AOE damage to friendlies from 0.025 to 1/0.25/0.1

Scatter

• First howitzer has 0 angle scatter and 5 scatter-max and 1 scatter-ratio
• Second howitzer has 7.5 angle scatter, 12 scatter-max and 1 scatter-ratio
• Airburst shells have a randomized 3-10 second interval between them and come with increased scatter radius (from 7 to 20 radius)

Responsiveness

• Horizontal and vertical rotation rate increased from 25 to 40
• Shell speed increased from 29 to 40

Usage/Cooldown

• Cooldown decreased from 150s to 80s
• Suppression reduces howitzer flare throw range by 33%.
   

For more details on the British Commander changes as part of the December Update's Commander Revamp, check out the December Commander Revamp Changelog.
 

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGES

• Fixed an issue where Walking Stuka barrages would not share cooldown
• Volks flame grenade now available when truck hits the field (as advertised last update)
• Tripwire flare cooldown fixed

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272771#Comment_272771

[Mithiriath]

COMMANDER REVAMP PART 1 - THE BRITISH FORCES

We kick off the first round of changes coming with the Commander Revamp by looking at the British Forces. As with all December Balance Preview changes, the changes proposed below are NOT FINAL and will be put through weeks of iteration as we listen to your feedback and continue to test the changes in action. We encourage the community to test and play these changes as much as possible and give any feedback they may have in the Commander Revamp Feedback thread located in the Balance Feedback section of these forums.

If you would like to test these and all upcoming Commander Revamp changes, make sure to SUBSCRIBE to the December Balance Preview on the Steam Workshop.

Please note that you can only test the DBP changes via Custom Games by selecting the mod in the lobby's Options menu under
"Tuning Pack".
 

BRITISH

Commandos Regiment

The major limiting factors of the Commandos Regiment commander is that, most of the abilities are extremely map-dependent. At the same time, we feel that the low accessibility of the Commandos, as well as Commando’s poor synergy with the faction hurts the commanders versatility.

While Mortar Cover and Air Supremacy are extremely strong abilities by themselves, we feel this commander fails to provide any long-term sustainable abilities. The commander has been reworked to support aggressive infantry-oriented play. Since the commander is extremely munitions based, most of the abilities have been reworked to provide a smaller, but more concentrated effect for an affordable cost.

Commando Glider
We feel that one of the issue of infantry-oriented British builds is the lack of field presence that stems from lack of on-map reinforcement options.

• Cost decreased from 500 to 390
• CP decreased from 4 to 3
• Cooldown decreased from 240 secs to 60 secs
• Infantry can now reinforce from glider in enemy territory

Commandos (affects all variants)
Commandos’ most powerful ability is throwing gammon bombs. We find that the Commando SMGs suffer from poor moving performance and tends to typically under perform. At the same time, Commandos’ ambush “bonus” which triggers a non-voluntary sprint is extremely powerful vs weapon teams and Grenadiers, but is becomes a liability vs OKW infantry. Finally, Commandos earn little benefit in terms of combat bonuses with their veterancy.

Base stats

• Moving accuracy from 0.65 to 0.75
• Reinforcement time reduced from 8.5 seconds to 7.25 seconds
  *Popcap reduced from 10 to 9

Light Gammon Bombs

• Gammon bomb timer increased from 1 to 1.25
• Damage decreased from 120 to 100
• AoE distance decreased from 1.25/2.5/3.75 to 1/2.1/3.75
• AoE damage far increased from 0.25 to 0.3
• Cost increased from 35 to 40

Smoke Grenade Ability

• Moved from Vet 1 to Vet 0
• Now blocks fire and vision
• Cost increased to 25 from 15
• Does not break stealth when fired
• Shares a cooldown with Gammon bomb ability

Ambush

• Sprint bonus from ambush (+50% speed for 5 seconds) changed to +35% speed for 2.5 seconds
• Commandos can now fire their weapons while moving when the Ambush bonus is active
• Sprint bonus now requires Veterancy 2

Veterancy

• Self heal moved from Veterancy 3 to Veterancy 1
• Vet 2 accuracy modifier increased from +25% to +30%
• Vet 3 now provides a Receive Accuracy bonus of 0.9

Smoke raid
We are changing this ability to benefit all British squads but, again, keep its scope small, targeted and sustainable. The ability now revolves around ambushing, and making advances over enemy territory using smoke.

• Now a targeted ability that affects a large area (can only be targeted in enemy sector or frontline territory, so as not to conceal the stealth effect)

Smoke

• Delivers LOS blocking smoke at the target location
• All infantry units will cloak during the duration of this ability, when in cover.
• Light cover smoke is dropped on non-commando infantry every 15 seconds. Does not apply to commandos.

Decap speed

• Now applies properly to all squads

Assault
We are changing the way the ability works to give it a more offensive nature.

• Accuracy bonus and speed increase now affects all infantry squads.
• Sprint replaced by 25% speed increase allowing units to fire on the move
• Accuracy bonus reduced from 25% to 15%
• Tommies gain +100% accuracy on the move. Does not apply to heavy weapons
• Cost reduced from 100MU to 90MU
• Duration from 60 seconds to 45

Mortar Cover
* Now covers a selected area with a radius of 25m (no longer an entire sector)
* Recharge time reduced from 240 seconds to 120 seconds
* Cost decreased from 150MU to 130MU

Air Supremacy
A recon plane will now fly over the area before being followed by autocannon armed Typhoons that will strafe vehicles and infantry once. Three heavy bombers will follow up afterwards, bombing the area.

• Cost decreased from 325 to 250
   

Royal Engineer Regiment

We find that the primary downsides of this commander are poor synergy with the faction, as well as highly-situational abilities. To improve its viability and utility, we have made the following changes:

Stand Fast
* The player now must target an emplacement they would like the ability to affect
* Brace and healing is reduced during combat by 50%
* Cost reduced from 50 to 40.

Vehicle Repair
* Recharge time from 120s to 45s
* Cost from 100 to 40
* Effects end when the vehicle is fully healed.

Command Vehicle
We are readjusting some of the most extreme risk-reward elements of the ability to allow it to be integrated in more strategies.

• Command Vehicle no longer affected by a speed penalty or a received accuracy penalty. Still retains the -50% accuracy and the +100% reload time modifier.
• AVRE Petard mortar abilities now affected by the reload time increase
• Aura no longer affects emplacements
• Command Vehicle recon cost to 50 munitions
• Loiter time reduced from 90 to 45.

Command Vehicle Aura
* Accuracy decreased from +35% to +20%
* Cooldown bonus decreased from -30% to -20%
* Reload bonus reduced from -30% to -20%
* Received accuracy modifier removed

AVRE
Projectile arc changed to match Sturmtiger (will not fly over most obstacles, but will almost always collide with vehicles in front of the AVRE)

• Reload time increased from 30 secs to 40 secs
• Cost changed from 600MP/140FU to 560MP/160FU
• Rotation rate from 35 to 30
• HP reduced from 1400 to 1080
• Armour increased from 240 to 270

Anti-Building Mortar Support
We find that the ability is extremely map dependent and thus limited in use. The building-destroying aspect of the ability is often unneeded, as the ARE can perform similar duties with greater flexibility. To improve the abilities usefulness and effectiveness, the following changes have been made:

• Steadily drops 8 shells over 12 seconds at the target position.
• Cost decreased from 150 to 140
• Damage over time frequency decreased from 3 to 1
• Mortar near AOE distance from 1.5 to 0
• Recharge time from 240 to 120

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/244493/december-commander-revamp-changlog
 

[Mithiriath]

V1.5 UPDATE

The V1.5 Update continues with some minor iterations to the Soviet, British and Wehrmacht as well as the Commander Revamp Part 2 - The Eastern Front Armies.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

GENERAL

LeFH/B4/ML20
Cost of these howitzers and the Pak 43 more accessible in smaller game modes while less potent when shelling into a base without spotters.

• Scatter penalty when firing into fog of war increased from 1.25 to 1.75 (affects both vertical and horizontal scatter); doesn’t affect B4
• Prices changed from 600MP to 400MP / 50FU

ML20

• Extra shells received at Veterancy 1 barrage reduced from +2 to +1
• Mid damage modifier increased from 0.015 to 0.028

LeFH

• Damage no longer increases at Vet3
• LeFH weapon change at Vet 3 removed (improved scatter & range bonuses remain)

B4

• Population reduced from 20 to 15

Pak 43
* Price changed from 500MP to 350MP/45FU
* OKW Pak43 now earns veterancy at the same rate as the Wehrmacht Pak 43
 

SOVIET

Repair Stations (Soviet Industry Tactics)
Due to the general changes to repair, Soviet repair stations are being given a manpower price to limit a player’s ability to mass produce them without sacrificing unit production.

• Cost increased from 75MU to 120MP/45MU

Conscripts
* Oorah ability cost increased from 10MU to 15MU
 

BRITISH

Command Post
We are reducing the cost of Tommy grenades to improve viability of this upgrade purchase. In addition to this, we are lifting the Command Post requirements to buy grenades to allow for more diverse T1 openings.

• Grenade upgrade cost reduced from 150MP/15FU to 100MP/10FU
• Weapon Rack unlock and Grenade unlock no longer require Tech structures built

Vickers_K
We are improving the responsiveness of Vickers_K to match its intended performance

• Ready aim-time max increased from 0.5 to 1

Mortar Pits
We are improving the responsiveness of the Mortar Pit when in barrage mode and making barrage timings less tight to allow the mortars to desynchronize.

• Barrage aim-time for both mortars decreased from 0.5/1 to 0.125
• Barrage Reload time changed from 4-4 to 3-5 for both mortars
   

WEHRMACHT

Ostwind
With the recent changes to its AI performance and cost, we feel the increased penetration at range was causing the unit to slightly over perform vs vehicles.

• Penetration decreased from 55/50/45 to 55/40/35

Pak40 Target Weak Point Ability
* Stun changed to -75% speed and rotation rate

Bundle Grenade (affects both OST and OKW)
With the changes to Gammon Bombs, we are also adjusting the Bundle grenade to match its counterpart’s performance:

• Damage decreased from 120 to 100
• AoE distance decreased from 1.25/2.5/3.75 to 1/2.1/3.75
• AoE damage far increased from 0.25 to 0.3
• Cost decreased from 45 to 40
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE

• Churchill smoke ability UI position changed from 24 to 34
• Fixed an issue where Obersoldaten bundle grenades used to be inaccurate
• Readjusted pathfinding to improve performance
• Fixed an issue with the British Air Supremacy ability where the anti-infantry strafe in bombing run failed to engage infantry
• Demos can no longer be planted near capture points (as intended in V1.4)
• Reverted DBP ghostbag changes (over concerns for performance drop)
• Fixed an issue where Vanguard Doctrine aircraft would not engage infantry (introduced in DBP)
• Fixed an issue with 17 piercing shots that allowed the gun to double-shoot (introduced in DBP)
• OKW Overwatch Sector Planes will no longer target casualties
• Conscript squad models no longer all do the oorah animation at the same time (visual; doesn’t affect performance)

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272942#Comment_272942
 

[Mithiriath]

COMMANDER REVAMP PART 2 - EASTERN FRONT COMMANDERS

Part 2 of the Commander Revamp hits the battlefield with some changes coming to the Eastern Front Commanders. As always, we encourage everyone to playtest and give feedback on these changes via the December Balance Preview mod (V1.5 now available) found on the Steam Workshop.

SUBSCRIBE NOW
 

GENERAL

Eastern Front Commanders
Recon Loiters are being adjusted to be more cost effective given their likelihood of being shot down after their first pass.

• Recoin loiter ability costs reduced from 80 to 60
   

SOVIET

GENERAL

Shock Troops (All Commanders)
We are enhancing the utility of Shock Troops to reduce their long-time bleed and make them equally viable against both Axis factions. We are also improving the performance of the Shock Troops’ grenade to be on par with other anti-infantry specialists.

• Reinforcement time reduced from 6.5 secs to 5.5 secs
• Reinforcement cost reduced from 33 to 31
• Tripwire flares removed
• Veterancy 1 reduces smoke grenade cost 15 to 10
• Smoke grenade and HE grenade now share cooldown
• Veterancy 2 smoke recharge (-40%) moved to Veterancy 1; now also affects normal grenades
• HE Grenade far AOE increased from 0.15 to 0.5
• HE Grenade damage type changed from small explosive to big explosive (now damages buildings)
   

GUARD RIFLE COMBINED ARMS TACTICS

Hit the Dirt
Hit the Dirt is being adjusted to allow Conscripts to better hold their positions behind cover. Accuracy is lowered to compensate as a trade-off for increased defense and immunity to suppression.

• Cover changed from yellow-cover to -25% received accuracy
• Accuracy decreased by 20% while active

Guards Rifle Infantry
We are giving Guards a slight adjustment to improve their damage against infantry and survivability on the field. Their grenades are also being improved to make them better in line with their intended role and performance.

• Guard PTRS damage vs infantry increased from 20 to 27
• Target size decreased from 1 to 0.97
• Grenade ready-aim time reduced from 0.625 to 0.125
• Grenade cost reduced from 35MU to 30MU
• New ability: Hit the Dirt (replaces Tripwire Flares)

Guards Hit the Dirt (Veterancy 1 ability)
The purpose of the new Veteran ability is to allow Guards to provide additional firepower when they are being used in their intended role as a ranged support unit.

• Grants -25% weapon cooldown (with a delay of 2 seconds) (25 second recharge before able to go-to-ground if cancelled)
• Increases range by +2.5 to ensure all Guard models can engage targets units on the edge of their maximum range.

IL-2 Sturmovik Attack
We are increasing the number of planes to two to improve survivability and increase the number of targets that can be suppressed. Damage and tracking has been adjusted to prevent the IL-2 from wiping lone squads.

• Now spawns 2 airplanes, damage reduced from 8 to 5
• Tracking reduced from 90 degrees to 25 degrees
• Minimum range (of 45) lifted
• Airplanes now attack both infantry and light vehicles
   

TANK HUNTER TACTICS

In order to add more depth to the doctrine, we are expanding its theme to cover a range of techniques used by the Red army to ambush and destroy Wehrmacht tanks and be less reliant on masses of Conscripts armed with PTRS rifles.

Conscript Anti-Tank Package
PTRS Packages are being changed from a simple weapon upgrade to an item that changes the role of Conscripts into an anti-tank unit that can locate and ambush armour at the cost of anti-infantry and anti-garrison power.

• Conscript PTRS stats now made equal to Penal PTRS stats
• Conscripts upgraded with PTRS gain access to multiple new abilities (see below)
• Cost increased from 50 to 80
• CP requirements from 3CP to 2CP

Tank Detection

• Replaces Molotov Cocktails
• Costs 30 munitions

Camouflage

• Detectable at 10 range
• Requires the squad to be stationary.
• First strike bonus to penetration of 25%
• Conscripts gain access to the Hold Fire ability

RPG-40 Anti-Tank Grenade Assault

• Replaces RPG -43 Anti-Tank Grenade
• Damages vehicle engines at 75% HP
• Grenades can be avoided by leaving the radius before they are tossed
• Damage reduced from 80 to 50
• Always penetrates and always hits vehicles when the grenades are tossed

Engineer Salvage Kits
We are combining Salvage Kits and PMD-6M Mines into one package and reducing the high cost of the Salvage Kits due to the changes in wreck values.

• All Engineers now get access to the PMD-6M Light Anti-Vehicle Mine (regardless of Kit Upgrade)
• PMD-6m Light Mine no longer stuns, instead now reduces movement speed and rotation by 75% for 8 seconds
• PMD-6M Light AT Mine cost now 15 MU
• Salvage kit cost reduced from 100MU to 35MU
• Salvage kit cost no longer mutually-exclusive with other upgrades

Anti-Tank Gun Ambush Tactics
AT Gun Ambush Tactics is being given a First-Strike Bonus to improve the ability’s potency when firing from stealth.

• Moved from 5CP to 3CP
• First strike bonus: +20% damage, +20% accuracy, +20% penetration

Tank Ambush Tactics
To benefit other aspects of the army, Tank Hunters is gaining a new ability to allow the commander’s vehicles to also ambush hostiles. Credits for the animations go to the “Wikinger: European Theater of War” mod team.

• Detection range of 20 for medium/heavy tanks, 15 for light armor.
• Revert time on par with Jagdpanzer
• First strike bonus +20% damage, +20% accuracy, +20% penetration
• All vehicles gain +5 range when hulled down
   

WEHRMACHT

OSTTRUPPEN DOCTRINE

The doctrine primarily relies on strong field presence with multiple Osttruppen squads. However, the lack of scalability of the Osttruppen into the late game hurts the viability of the commander. Thus, to give this commander some staying power, we are changing how the Artillery Officer, Osttruppen, Trenches, and Supply Drop operate.

Ostruppen (affects all Osttruppen variants)
Ostruppen are a cost-efficient utility-oriented infantry that performs well for their cost. To prevent Ostruppen from becoming too powerful when picking up weapons, we are restricting their accuracy bonus to only apply to their rifles. At the same time, we are giving them access to weapon upgrades at Battle Phase 3 to improve their late game scalability.

• Reinforcement time increased from 2 seconds to 3.5 seconds per model
• Captured slot items now suffer from a -50% accuracy penalty, and +300% accuracy bonus in cover no longer applies to them
• Can now upgrade to LMG42’s when Battle Phase 3 is researched (All variants)

Artillery Field Officer
We find that the Artillery Officer has low synergy with the rest of the faction (including all of the doctrines the officer is in). To address this, we are giving the officer a better combat-oriented role, which will allow Wehrmacht players to be slightly more aggressive, even when picking a defensive-oriented doctrine such as the Osttruppen.

• Population reduced from 9 to 7
• CP increased from 1 to 2
• Squad size increased from 4 to 5.
• Assault Grenadier MP40s on Field Artillery Piece models
• Smoke is now free but has a cooldown of 70
• Victor Artillery cost reduced from 80 to 45
• Can temporarily increase squad’s own RA and moving bonuses to allow the officer to assault/draw fire.
• Medical Kits replaced by Heavy Mortar Barrage:
• Cost of 30 munitions on a 60 second recharge
• Does not share a cooldown with smoke.
• Uses 5 120mm mortar shells
• Gains Shared experience.
• Veterancy requirements increased by 20% to 580/1060/2120
• All abilities but Victor artillery remain active should the officer go down.
• Squad can pick up dropped weapons with 1 weapon slot.

Supply Drop (Formerly Supply Drop Zone)
Given the doctrine’s reliance on support weapons to deal damage in the later stages, we are giving a supply drop that allows players to make use of the Osttruppen’s ability to cheaply recrew team weapons.

• Now drops 1 unmanned MG 34, 1 unmanned AT gun, 1 munitions crate (50 munitions) and 1 fuel crate (25 fuel)
• Cost changes to 450 manpower

Defensive Tactics (Formerly Trench)
We are increasing the utility gained from the doctrine by allowing all infantry to construct defenses. This will give the doctrine more staying power later into a match.

• CP decreased from 2 to 1
• Allows grenadiers, Osttruppen & Panzergrenadiers to build trenches, sandbags and wire
• Max engineers: 4

JAEGER INFANTRY DOCTRINE

Jaeger Light Infantry Upgrade
G43s are having their timing adjusted to be more in line with other weapons, while being made more useful for elite German troops.

• CPs increased from 1 to 2
• Panzergrenadiers and Stormtroopers now gain 3 G43s for 60 munitions
• Now takes up both weapon slots for Panzergrenadiers and Stormtroopers.

Ambush Tactics
* Camouflage and Sprint bundled into one package (affects both Encirclement and Storm Doctrine)
* Moved from 1 CP to 0 CP

Camouflage upgrade

• Cost reduced from 30 to 20
• Stealth works when moving, but require all squad members to be in cover

Light Artillery Barrage (also affects Mechanized assault and German Infantry)
* Cost reduced from 110 to 90
* Reduced damage to team weapons by 25% to prevent it from destroying howitzers

Panzergrenadier Command Squad (New)
As a way to supplement troops in the field, the doctrine is being given a special Panzergrenadier squad that has a number of abilities to support attacks.
Limited to one squad on the battlefield
5-man squad including 4 Panzergrenadiers (MP44) & 1 squad leader (MP40)
Squad has access to smoke grenade (vet0) and flares (vet1)
Cost 360MP to call to the battlefield; 37MP to reinforce; 10 popcap
 

BRITISH (Tuning)

COMMANDO REGIMENT

Smoke Raid
* Can now be used in fog of war
* Green smoke warning added
* Desynchronized smoke patterns for infantry; smoke now drops near all infantry
* Cost reduced from 75MU to 60MU

Commandos
* Ambush sprint duration increased from 2.5 secs to 3.25 secs

ROYAL ENGINEER REGIMENT

Anti-Building Barrage
* Reduced amount of initial shells to 5 with low scatter
* Damage versus ambient structures increased to x1.5
* Penetration against trucks and structures increased from 35 to 70

AVRE
* Shells now always penetrate
* Shells now always stun tanks

Command Vehicle
We are giving a separate vehicle-affecting aura to the command vehicle. Vehicles affected by the command aura now get the following bonuses (this doesn’t affect the infantry and team-weapon part of the aura):

• -30% reload time
• -30% cooldown
• +30% accuracy
• +15% penetration

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/272941#Comment_272941
 

[Mithiriath]

V1.5.1 UPDATE

The following changes iterate on the changes released in the Commander Revamp Part 2.

GENERAL

Sprint
Sprint is being removed from team weapons and snipers to ensure flanks are rewarded.

• Team weapons and snipers can no longer use sprint
   

SOVIET

Tank Hunter Tactics

MD-6M Light AT Mine
We are increasing the way the commander enhances the utility of Soviet squads to provide better anti-tank support.

• Now also available to Penals and Conscripts

Assault Grenades
To prevent Assault Grenades from being a downgrade to the standard Anti-tank grenade, we are reducing their aim time so that more grenades can hit the intended target.

• Aim time max from 2 to 1
• Wind-up from 0.25 to 0.125
• Range increased from 15 to 18

AT Ambush
The AT Ambush damage bonus is being replaced by a bonus to reload speed, reducing the time to kill approaching vehicles.

• First strike damage bonus removed
• Successful first strike now also reduces the reload time by 25%

Tank Ambush
The damage bonus is being removed due to its potency against infantry. In return, vehicles will be allowed to slowly rotate, allowing assault guns to adjust should units be out of their arc.

• Tanks can now rotate while the ability is active (rotation penalty of 85%)
• Range bonuses removed
• First strike damage bonus removed (accuracy and penetration remain)

Guard Rifle Combined Arms Tactics

IL-2 Strafe
The IL-2 strafe is being adjusted to be more effective in its role as an anti-infantry weapon that causes suppression. Further adjustments have also been made to spread out the damage inflicted more evenly.

• Nearby suppression radius from 13 to 20
• Damage reverted from 5 to 8
• Max-down tracking from -25 to -20
• Max-up tracking form 90 to 20
• Fire cone angle from 8 to 15
• No longer attack light-vehicles
   

WEHRMACHT

Osttruppen Doctrine

Artillery Officer
* Fixed an issue where the Artillery Officer wasn’t benefiting from shared veterancy (as previously advertised)
* Coordinated fire now no longer affects mortars
* Coordinate fire now causes all on-map Panzerwerfers and LeFH artillery pieces to fire at the desired location, on a separate cooldown, and ignoring max range

Osttruppen
Osttruppen are receiving adjustments to allow weapons they pick up to scale better. Their LMG's price is also being adjusted to better match its value.

• Slot weapons now benefit from partial application of the cover bonus: Out-of-cover: -50% accuracy; In-cover: -25% accuracy
• Faust now requires either T1 or T2 built (previously required T1 only)
• LMG from 60MU to 45MU
• Fixed an issue where the accuracy bonus would apply inconsistently
• Fixed an issue where Veteran Osttruppen would be unable to upgrade LMGs

Jaeger Infantry Doctrine

Jaeger Officer (Formerly Panzergrenadier Command Squad)
We are adjusting this unit to be less powerful while making it more accessible. The squad now better fills its intended role as a utility and disruption unit.

• Squad base changed from 5-man Panzergrenadiers to 5-man Grenadier squad
• Squad retains all grenadier squad abilities (except for medkits)
• Squad retains smoke and flare
• CP from 4 to 3
• Cost from 360MP to 300MP
• Reinforcement cost from 36MP to 30MP
• Popcap from 10 to 8
• Comes with G43 rifles and Camouflage upgraded
   

Bug Fixes & Quality of Life

• Changed hotkey for OST Sprint from I to Z (more accessible)
• Changed hotkey for OST Officer smoke hotkey from R to X (overlap with reinforce)
• Changed hotkey for soviet Tracking from I to Z (more accessible)
• Changed hotkey for Quad from F to U (reduces chance of accidental upgrade when reinforcing)
• Multiple UI fixes
• Fixed an issue where Panzerwerfer counter barrage would cause the unit to autorotate
• Fixed an issue where MG teams would sometimes not benefit from camouflage
• Fixed an issue where Camouflage still required 1 CP
• Fixed an issue where Ostwind projectile was not benefiting from intended QoL projectile-phasing changes
• Fixed an issue where the Soviet Forward HQ aura shield would not always display reliably

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273029#Comment_273029

[Mithiriath]

V1.6 UPDATE

The V1.6 Update continues with some minor iterations to the Soviet, USF, and British as well as the Commander Revamp Part 3 - The Western Front Armies

SUBSCRIBE NOW

GENERAL

Demo Charge
We are removing the defuse option on demo charges to prevent engineers from automatically attempting to defuse the charge, leaving them extremely vulnerable to detonation.

• Detection radius increased from 7 to 13
• Can no longer be defused

Hold Fire
We are changing the hold fire button for all units in the game for consistency and accessibility.

• All Hold Fire to Q and at grid position 22 (all units)
• Reverted Tommy medkit and coordinated fire hotkey & grid position
• Heavy Sapper upgrade hotkey reverted
• Conscript Merge position change reverted
• Conscript Oorah hotkey reverted

Light Mines (Affects both Soviet Commander mines and Rear echelon mines)
We are improving the cost-efficiency of light mines, but we are increasing the planting time to something substantial to offset this.

• Cost decreased from 15MU to 10MU
• Stun Duration from 5 seconds to 8 seconds
• Full squad plan time increased from 5s to 25s
   

SOVIET

Zis-3
We are adjusting barrage to match its new price.
Barrage shells from 6 to 4

IS-2
* Population cost increased from 19 to 20.
 

USF

Pop-Cap Adjustments
* Ambulance population cap from 4 to 2
* Pak Howitzer population cap from 11 to 9
* 50cal population cap from 5 to 7

USF Captain & Major
We find that swapping smoke grenades from Riflemen to Rear Echelons makes it too restrictive for the faction to fully benefit from the grenade upgrade. Thus, to increase the number of potential smoke grenade holders, we are also allowing the USF Captain and Major to carry smoke grenades.

• Now gets access to the M23 smoke rifle grenade ability
• On-me hotkey changed to V, moved to grid position 34 (to mesh in better when selecting the Captain with riflemen/lieutenant squads)

Sherman
We are reducing the extremes in performance for the Sherman HE shell to improve consistency and reliability.

• HE shells now ignore terrain
• HE shell AOE distance changed to 0.75/1.5/2.25 to 0.5/1.25/3
• HE far AOE from 0.05 to 0.15

Sherman Easy-8
To make the Easy-8 less effective at wiping squads on the move, we have made the following change:

• Moving scatter increased from 1 to 1.35

P47/Typhoon Rockets
The following change is intended to make rocket plane attacks more consistently accurate, especially vs stationary targets.

• Rocket origin point from 5/5 to 3.5/-3.5 (affects consistency)
   

OKW

Raketenwerfer
* Sight and range bonuses have been removed from veterancy 4 and 5 (other vet bonuses remain)

MG 34
We found that the MG34 struggled at achieving veterancy at a sufficient rate and generally under performed vs units behind cover. To alleviate these problems we have made the following changes:

• Damage increased from 2 to 3
• Popcap increased from 5 to 6
• Cost increased from 230 to 250
• Veterancy 4 received accuracy bonus reduced from 0.8 to 0.95
• Veterancy 5 accuracy bonus reduced from 1.15 to 1.08

251 Flak Half-Track
We find that the unit generally has a difficult time reaching its key Veterancy 2 level, which bestows mobility to the unit. To assist with this, vet requirements are being reduced:

• Reduced veterancy requirements from 1100/2200/4400/5500/7315 to 880/1760/3520/4750/5750

King Tiger
Given the high lethality of the KT's main gun, we found that the squad wiping capabilities of this unit made it generally over perfrom vs late-game infantry and AT guns. To compensate for this, we are reducing the main gun's accuracy vs non-vehicle units.

• Angle scatter increased from 4 to 7.5
• Distance scatter max increased from 4 to 5.7
• Scatter offset decreased from 0.25 to 0.185
• Population cap increased from 21 to 23
   

BRITISH

Universal Carrier
We are improving the performance and reliability of the Universal Carrier to give the British faction early and reliable access to anti-garrison capabilities. These changes also intend to offset the other changes made to the UKF’s early game.

• Now benefits from shared veterancy
• WASP cost reduced from 90MU to 70MU

AEC
We would like to experiment with giving the British faction reliable access to snare enemy vehicles to help offset their weakened early game.

• Treadshot available from Vet 0; now fires one shot that slows enemy vehicles
• Veterancy 1 restores treadshot to its original state (fires two shots; second shot immobilizes)

Forward Assembly
We found that the cost of the medic upgrade was too expensive on top of the already significant costs of the assembly.

• Medics upgrade cost reduced from 50MP/60MU to 60MU
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE

• Adjusted salvage values of some wrecks that were yielding too many resources
• Addressed friendly fire disparity with respect to certain weapons (FF generally now causes 25% dmg)
• Reverted USF teching progress bar fix (due to unresolvable knock-on side-effects)
• Soviet Capture Mode hotkey changed from C to X

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273326#Comment_273326
 

[Mithiriath]

COMMANDER REVAMP PART 3 - THE WESTERN FRONT ARMIES

The final segment of the Commander Revamp preview has arrived and is now playable in the December Balance Preview. The changes below focus on the Western Front Commanders of the OKW and USF while expanding and iterating on previous changes of the British, Soviet and Wehrmacht. As always, be sure to test the proposed changes below thoroughly and then give your feedback in the Commander Revamp Feedback thread located in the Balance Feedback section of these forums.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!
 

USF COMMANDERS

Recon Support Company

The changes below intend to address the performance disparities of the commander without altering its feel. Thus, the commander will continue to perform its role of light-armour support while improving on its effectiveness throughout the course of a match.

Raid Tactics (Replaces Forward Observers)
The goal of this ability is to allow players to capitalize on the abundance of light armour available with the commander. The added sight bonus also helps alleviate one of USF’s key late-game weaknesses

• Cost of 40 Munitions
• All Light vehicles can capture points at a rate of 1.25 while the ability is active
• Increases infantry capture rate by 66% and sight by 20% while the ability is active
• No CP requirement
• Duration of 45 seconds

I&R Pathfinders
We found that I&R Pathfinders although acted decently as an early game scout, the usefulness of the squad extremely tailed off later into a match. To improve their scalability and reliability throughout a match, the following changes have been made:

• Now 4-men with 1 scoped rifle
• Reinforce from 37/35 to 30 (Also affects Airborne)
• Reinforce time from 7 to 6 (Also affects Airborne)
• Pathfinder popcap to 6 (Also affects Airborne)
• IR Pathfinders get + 33% range on abilities at vet 2
• Cost to 250MP (only affects Recon doctrine)
• I&R Pathfinders now arrive at 1 CP

Beacons

• Beacons now also allow paratrooper-manned team weapons to reinforce near them

M8 Greyhound
We are improving the combat capacity of the Greyhound, allowing it to perform as an AI specialist unit that can accompany heavier armour in late-game pushes. The arrival time of the unit has been pushed off to allow opponents to better defend against it.

• Population from 7 to 6
• Hitpoints increased from 240 to 400
• Armor increased from 28.5/14.25 to 43/21.5
• Side skirts applied at Vet 0
• Speed from 6.8 to 7.2
• Light cover movement penalty from 0.8 to 0.9 (matches the Stuart)
• Command Points from 3 to 4.
• Now has access to a M2HB Mount. Same performance as the M4 Medium, but with 40 range.
• Reload from 2.9/4.4 to 3
• Cost from 280/45 to 280/60
• Veterancy 3 sight bonus removed

Canister shot

• Canister now targets an area rather than the squad.
• Canister cost increased from 50 to 40
• Canister far AOE increased from 0.05 to 0.15
• Canister mid AOE increased from 0.15 to 0.25
• Canister distance far increased from 3 to 4
• Canister distance mid increased from 2 to 2.5

M83 Cluster Mines (Replaces Recon Sweep)
A collection of cluster bombs will drop over an area detonating on impact.

• The bombs will severely damage infantry and may also stun vehicles
• The paradrop uses Green smoke to confuse the enemy

Air Dropped Combat Group
We are changing the air-dropped combat group ability to allow players greater flexibility when designing their army composition. To add the unit some flavour compared to Airborne commander, Support Paratroopers trade access to the Thompson upgrade for a special bazooka upgrade.

• Now drops with one Paratrooper squad and one AT gun
• The paratrooper squad drops no longer drops with random weapons and it is up to the player to decide their loadout.
• Normalized Support paratrooper stats with regular paratroopers. Support squad keeps the ability to build mines
• Support Paratroopers can upgrade to either double M1919 (like Airborne Paratroopers), or the Anti-tank Package; a thompson package is not available)
• Changed M1919 upgrade hotkey from B to M (to avoid interference with the build menu)
• Cost from 900mp to 325mp and 80MU (since it’s now 1 Paratrooper)
• CP from 7 to 5

Paratrooper Anti-tank Package
The performance of the special bazookas that paratroopers now get is half-way between vanilla bazookas and panzerschrecks in terms of firepower.

• 2x Elite Bazookas (100 damage each, 160/150/140 penetration)
• Unlocks stationary cloak to allow paratropers to ambush vehicles
• +25% damage and + 25% penetration on ambush on bazookas

Mechanized Company

The commander has been altered towards heavier vehicle play thanks to improvement to the Dodge’s scalability, M3’s utility and the commander's late game power via more powerful tanks. Furthermore, the commander now includes the benefit of a mortar half track to bring rapid indirect fire to the battlefield and to support mobile advances.

In order to offset the commander's newfound power we are removing access to the off-map ability. We will continue to monitor the commander's performance to evaluate whether the presence of an off-map is necessary or not.

WC51 Military Truck
We are giving the dodge a more scout-oriented harassment role in the early game, allowing it to harass infantry via .50 cal upgrade and mark target vehicles to improve its viability later in a match.
Cost from 240MP/20FU to 200MP
Spawns with no ability to attack (Can still transport)
Can now upgrade to an improved .50 cal upgrade for 60 munitions
Now has access to a Mark Target ability (see below)
Health increased from 180 to 240
Frontal armour decreased from 5.2 to 3.9
Rear armour decreased from 4 to 2.5
Rotation rate increased from 30 to 45
Population decreased from 5 to 3

Mark Target

• Deploys a recon plane while the target vehicle received 25% reduced armour and is 25% easier to hit. This ability is on a global cooldown

Mortar Half Track (Replaces 155mm Artillery)
We are experimenting with adding light artillery options to the commander. We are adjusting the Mortar HT performance to make it better able to support a mobile army when advancing.
Fuel cost reduced from 40 to 30
Smoke barrage added (on a separate cooldown from all other barrages)
(also affects Infantry Commander mortar halftrack)

M3 Assault Group
We are turning the M3 assault group from a reinforcement halftrack to a unit that will offer the faction flexibility and viability throughout a match. Healing crates will help USF infantry to heal up at a rate much faster than afforded by the ambulance, and allow them to stay in the fight for longer.

• M3 frontal armour increased from 5.4 to 11
• Cost decreased from 520/35 to 460/30
• Can drop stack of healing crates for 20MU
• MG improved to M4/Greyhound .50cal with range increased to 40 from 35
• Command Point requirements increased from 2 to 3

Assault Engineers

• Target size decreased from 1 to 0.9
• Veterancy 1: Now also adds Destroy Cover to the unit
• Changed hotkey for demo charges from D to X
• Reinforcement cost reduced from 35 to 30

Sherman Modifications (Replaces Offmap Barrage)
The new commander ability will help the commander offer some additional offensive options into the late-game.
Allows purchase of 76mm shermans from Tier 4 (Identical to Soviet Lend-Lease Sherman)

Bulldozer upgrade (Available to 75mm Shermans only)

• Allows Sherman tanks to clear obstacles and hedges
• Allows Sherman tanks to create barricades (similar to the 105mm Bulldozer Sherman)
• Increases hitpoints by +80
• Reduces speed and rotation by 15% and 5% respectively
   

OKW COMMANDERS

Feuersturm Doctrine

We are changing the main focus of the doctrine from fire abilities to also support aggressive close combat engagements. In order to make up for the doctrine’s lack of late-game super-heavy armour, we are experimenting with adding mobile reinforcement options and smoke.

Assault Packages (Formerly Flammenwerfer 35)
Unlocks a dual upgrade; Flamethrowers for Sturmpioneers and a Assault Package for Volksgrenadiers

Volksgrenadier Assault Package
Volksgrenadier infantry can buy the upgrade to change their role and support the aggressive orientation of the doctrine.

• Equips all squad members with MP40’s
• Unlocks smoke grenade and HE grenade
• Uses up all slot items
• Mutually exclusive with STG upgrade
• Removes access to Flame Grenade
• Requires a truck to be setup
• Costs 70MU

Incendiary Munitions (Replaces Thorough Salvage)
* Grants incendiary rounds to Le.IG
* Fires 5 rounds for 35 munitions (DoT equal to Moltovs)

Opel Blitz Reinforce Truck (New ability - Replaces Recoup Losses)
In order to assist the doctrine’s aggressive role, we are adding a mobile reinforcement option

• Costs 200 manpower and 25 fuel
• Can reinforce and carry squads, MGs, Mortars and the Raketenwerfer
• 240 health
• Has aura that reduces reload time and ability recharge for all infantry by 75% (e.g., grenades)
• Available at 2 CPs

Flame Hetzer
Largely due to the unit's fixed turret, we find that the unit is under performing for its price.

• Population from 12 to 10
• Minimum range removed.
• Range increased from 32 to 35.
• Burst increased from 1/2 to 3
• Damage increased from 10 to 12
• Health increased from 560 to 640

Rocket Barrage
We find that the ability has a high likelihood of failing to destroy stationary targets, for its cost.

• Final Rocket salvo increased from 4 shells to 6 shells

Luftwaffe Air Support

We find that Luftwaffe Air Support is overly focused on Fallschirmjagers to the detriment of providing strong unit synergy. We are making modifications to the doctrine to allow for a combination of defensive play (fortifications) and abilities that assist in taking and controlling territories. Higher accessibility of smoke and an off-map strike will now improve scalability of the commander.

Fallschirmjagers (does not affect air dropped Fallschirmjager squads)
To prevent infiltration Fallschirmjager squads from being overly efficient at wiping squads when spawning out of ambient buildings, we are lowering the initial squad member-count on spawn. This change will allow the target a better chance to flee and also make poorly-planned infiltration missions riskier.

• Now spawn as 3 men (reinforces to 4-men)
• Cost reduced from 440MP to 400MP
• Faust range from 15 to 18 (affects all variants)
• Range bonus removed from Vet 5 (affects all variants)

Luftwaffe Recon Run
* Now also drops smoke.

Heavy Fortifications (does not affect base Flak Emplacements)
We are improving the performance of field fortifications to allow greater flexibility to the doctrine. In order to avoid needless experimentation, we are giving the emplacement’s weapon strength to match that of the Flak HT.

• The Flak emplacement now uses the same weapon as the OKW Flak HT (increased damage, suppression, etc)
• Range min-max from 3-40 to 0-40
• Only decrews when both models are lost. Can operate at 1 man
• Crew target size decreased from 1 to 0.1

Valiant Assault
A cost decrease with a small duration decrease will allow the ability to be used more more often,but more tactically when it is needed.

• Cost decreased from 100 to 70 (Mother Russia can also be moved to match)

Air Assault Operation
The ability, while useful for providing the doctrine with enough infantry presence fails at supporting assaults. The fact that the attack can only occur at territory points make this extremely map-dependent.

• Can now be targeted on any visible location on the map
• After the drop is complete a single Anti-tank stuka performs a single strafe
   

BRITISH COMMANDERS

General

Vanguard Officer
To bring the Heroic Charge ability's value better in-line with its intended performance and cost, we've made the following changes:

• Heroic Charge ability shares cooldown with gammon bomb
• Heroic Charge ability Received Accuracy bonus changed from -75% to -20%
• Heroic Charge cost increased from 15MU to 30MU
• Officer now has the same target size as his followers
• If the player already has an officer the logistics glider will ferry a Commando squad instead

Infiltration Commandos
To prevent infiltration commando squads from being overly efficient at wiping squads when spawning out of ambient buildings, we are lowering the initial squad member-count on spawn. This change will allow the target a better chance to flee and also make poorly-planned infiltration missions riskier.

• Now spawn as 3 men
• Can now reinforce up to 5-men
• Demo charges added, starts on cooldown
• Cost from 440MP to 400MP

Tank Hunters Infantry Section
We find the passive tank detection ability available to this squad over performs for an already powerful squads.

• Detection is now non-passive ability and costs 25 munitions to activate

Royal Engineer Regiment

Vehicle Repair & Stand Fast
* Now available separately at each emplacement/vehicle
* Due to modding tool constraints, the player must manually click the ability once to unlock it for all affected units

Command Vehicle
* Aura radius increased from 30 to 40
 

SOVIET COMMANDERS

General

For Mother Russia
To offset the reduction in performance we are reducing the cost of the ability to match similar abilities.

• Munitions cost from 100 to 70

Hit the dirt
Hit the Dirt is being adjusted to provide minor defense against explosive weapons due to the lack of mobility
Now bundled with Conscript Assault Package
Now grants 0.9 damage reduction
Received accuracy changed from 0.75 to 0.833

Conscript PPSh
Accuracy changes reverted

Rapid Conscription
The reduced duration on Rapid Conscription will make the ability more of a tactical choice. In addition, due to the performance changes to Conscripts, we felt this ability over performs.

• Reduced duration time from 2 minutes to 60 seconds

Vehicle Crew Repair
* No longer drains munitions income by 50% per tank
* Cost increased from 30 to 35

Tank Hunter Tactics

Our initial testing has found that while the commander lacks strong measures to draw opponents in to take advantage of the commanders ambush capabilities. In order to resolve this we are adding the ML-20 howitzer to the commander.

• AT Ambush and Tank Ambush commander abilities have been merged into a single ability
• Salvage kits replaced by the ML-20

Tank Ambush
* Tanks no longer hull down
* Bush props are now visible if and only if the tank is visible
* Now only assault guns can rotate while ambushing
* Fixed an issue where tank ambush was still yielding tanks extra range and sight (unintended)
* Hotkey changes from X to C

Conscript Anti-Tank package
Cost reduced from 80MU to 75MU

• Detection ability cost reduced from 30MU to 15MU (cooldown of 60 secs)

Guard Rifle Combined Arms Tactics

To improve the commander's competitiveness and to provide a unit that can absorb hits for both their infantry and armor, we have added the KV-1 tank.

• Hit the Dirt is now available via the Conscript Assault Package (affects all Soviet commanders)
• Hit the Dirt commander ability replaced with the KV-1 tank (also affects Conscript Support Commander)

KV-1
We find that the KV-1 is under performing for its cost. By locking the unit to the Soviet T4 building, we are preventing the unit from being overused as a call-in, while making it available earlier for those who fast tech.

• Health increased from 800 to 960
• Buildable from Mechanized Armor Kompenya
   

WEHRMACHT COMMANDERS

General

Relief Infantry
The ability is adjusted due to the performance of the Ostruppen squad.

• Duration time reduced from 2 minutes to 60 seconds
• Now requires 5 deaths per new squad (up from 4)

Light Artillery Barrage
Given its adjusted cost, we find that the likelihood of the light artillery barrage destroying howitzers is still too high

• Damage vs non-vehicles and non-infantry further reduced from -50% to -67%

Close Air Support Anti-Tank Strafe
We find that the commander ability is over performing vs buildings and stationary non-vehicle targets.

• Damage against non-vehicle targets reduced by 83%

Jaeger Infantry Doctrine

Jaeger Officer
* Sight range increased from 35 to 42
* Smoke and Rifle grenade now on shared cooldown (as originally intended)

Ambush Camouflage
We find that the ambush camouflage bonus (+50% accuracy) is now too easy to trigger, especially in the late game where craters are abundant. Nevertheless, we believe that the changes to stealth and the addition of sprint already make this commander ability highly worthwhile.

• Accuracy bonus now requires the squad out of combat for 10 seconds to trigger and must also be immobile when firing

Osttruppen Doctrine

Artillery Officer
We are making the officer less reliant on his abilities to perform their intended combat role. To prevent the officer from become too powerful, we are preventing them from benefiting from the Coordinated Fire aura.

• Received accuracy at Vet 0 from 1 to 0.91
• Coordinated Fire ability no longer benefits the officer
• Fixed multiple issues with Victor Target (now works even if the officer is dead and spawns flares properly)

Osttruppen
We find that the early game of the Osttruppen doctrine is generally too overbearing for most players, especially in light of the other changes to the doctrine. To reduce this early game pressure and scaling of Osttruppen squads with picked up weapons, we are implementing the following changes:

• Max slots limited to 1
• Cooldown between successive Osttruppen squads increased from 12 to 35

Supply Drop

• Resources gained from dropped supply reduced to 25MU/10FU

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273325#Comment_273325
 

[Mithiriath]

The following notes detail the new map rotation for the December balance patch, along with all of the changes made in an extensive community map revamp. We have to give serious credit to SOE-Sturmpanther for coordinating the effort. Further thanks to community map makers Capiqua, Siphon X, Lord Rommel, Pigsoup, MonolithicBacon and WhiteFlash, who have used their skills to bring these changes to the live game.
 

MAPS TO BE REMOVED FROM AUTOMATCH

Based on community feedback, we have removed a selection of less played (highly vetoed) maps from the automatch pool. Multiple other highly vetoed maps have instead been adjusted to better suit competitive play. Below is the list of maps that will be removed from automatch as of the December Balance Update.
1v1
• Brynask Forest (community map)
• Caen (community map)
• La Gleize Breakout (now custom games only)
• Halbe (community map)
2v2
• Pripyat Sector (community map)
• Schilberg Outskirts (community map)
• Elst Outskirts (community map)
• Dusseldorf (now custom games only)
• Lisores River (community map)
• Gelsenkirchen Refinery (now custom games only)
3v3
• City 17 (now custom games only)
• Montargis Region(now custom games only)
• Lazur Factory (now custom games only)
• Hill 331 (now custom games only)
4v4
• Montargis Region (now custom games only)
• Hill 331 (now custom games only)
 

NEW COMMUNITY MAPS COMING TO AUTOMATCH

2v2
• Poltawa (community map created by Donxavi)
• Stadtschutt (community map created by Zombifrancis)
• Fields of Winnekendonk (community map created by SiphonX)
• Alliance of Defiance (community map created by Whiteflash)
 

NEW COMMUNITY MAPS COMING TO CUSTOM GAMES

3v3 & 4v4
• Anklet & Archery (A Christmas special community map created by MonolithicBacon)
 

MAP CHANGES

1v1 Map Changes

Semiosky Winter
Playable preview available HERE
• Removed one spawn on each side allowing for better starting position balance.
• The Northern lake has been shrunk on the North and South side. The North now has a small footpath to avoid using the water, and the land in the South area has been expanded to shorten the time that vehicles spend on the ice.
• The house on the Northern fuel has been moved. Now the doors do not open onto negative cover, mirroring the South side.
• A haystack has been moved to replace the house, so that green and yellow cover are nearly identical on both fuel points.
• The long house and sight-blocking tree near the South fuel have been removed.
• The hedgerow near the church has been removed and replaced with a wooden fence that is crushable by all vehicles, along with two patches of "heavy bush" that are crushable by medium vehicles. This will allow the hedgerow to be opened up very early in game.
• Another ten metres of land has been added to the South bank of the Northern lake, and 5 metres has been to the Northern bank.
• The fuel points have been moved slightly to make them equidistant from each spawn.
• The Northern munitions cutoff has been moved slightly to make the cutoffs equidistant from each spawn. Buildings have been moved slightly to make this change more balanced.
• Deep snow has been removed.

Road to Kharkov
Playable preview available HERE
• 1vs1 version of this map now has one spawn for better starting balance.

Crossing in the Woods
Playable preview available HERE
• 1vs1 version of this map now has one spawn for better starting balance.
• Replaced house North of central bridge with sand bags. Sand bags now allow coverage of the centre, but can be flanked from the East, mirroring the situation on the South of the map.
• Minor adjustment to clump of trees near sandbags to allow for better pathing.
• Minor adjustment to width of large North Eastern group of trees allowing for more equal access to the munitions points.
• Decreased the Northern basebuild area slightly. Players will no longer be able to cap while building tier 1 buildings.

Khlodny Ferma Winter
Playable preview available HERE
• Deep snow has been removed.
• The Southern victory point has been made slightly easier to access for the Eastern player.

Westwall
Playable preview available HERE
• Building health has been significantly reduced in multiple key areas of the map.
• Cutoffs have been moved further away from the buildings.
• The line of sight objects at the church have been adjusted to mirror the situation on the adjacent side.
• Negative cover added to the road next to the church, mirroring the situation on the adjacent side.
• New line of sight blockers have been added around the victory points.
• Victory points have been moved further away from buildings to stop in and out capping.
• Increased space, and moved objects in select areas to improve vehicle pathing.
• An additional cutoff for munition points has been added.
• Base bunkers have now been fixed.

Minsk Pocket
Playable preview available HERE
• Removed one spawn on each side, allowing for better starting position balance.
• Green cover has been added on the Northern side of both munitions points, matching the green cover on Southern side.
• Some single trees which were acting a sight blockers have been removed in the central lane.

Langreskaya
Playable preview available HERE
• Both victory points at the edges of the map have been rotated to be closer to the opponent, allowing them to be more easily contested. Pathfinding and distances are now balanced between these victory points.
• The hedgerow South of the central victory point has been reduced, and additional yellow cover has been added to this area making this victory point more balanced to contest.

Crossroads
Playable preview available HERE
• Red cover in front of both North and South apawns has been removed.
• Eastern victory point has been moved slightly to the North.
• West victory point has been moved slightly to the South.
• Moved Northern house slightly to improve unit pathing.
• Some stones which were providing excess green cover have been removed.
 

2vs2 Map Changes

Crossing in the Woods (identical changes to 1vs1 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• Replaced house North of central bridge with sand bags. Sand bags now allow coverage of the centre, but can be flanked from the East, mirroring the situation on the South of the map.
• Minor move to clump of trees near sandbags to allow for better pathing.
• Minor adjustment to width of large North-Eastern group of trees allowing for more equal access to the munitions points.
• Decreased the Northern basebuild area slightly. Players will no longer be able to cap while building tier 1 buildings.

Minsk Pocket (identical changes to 1vs1 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• Green cover has been added on the Northern side of both munitions points, matching the green cover on Southern side.
• Some single trees which were acting a sight blockers have been removed in the central lane.

Hamlet
Playable preview available HERE
• Garrison on the Northern victory point has been destroyed.
• Base and bunkers have been moved back slightly to reduce their coverage.
• Some objects around the North spawn have been moved/ removed to improve pathing.
• Some individual trees, and a block of impassible trees have been removed from the Eastern forest to open the area slightly.
• The house near the South-East munitions cutoff has been rotated so that the door and windows are in a better position.
• Two blocks of wooden beams that provided green cover near the Eastern victory point have been removed to balance the situation on the opposing side.

Trois Points
Playable preview available HERE
• River to the North of the South spawn has been dried out and is now passable.
• Additional base bunker added on Northern corner of South spawn to protect from new dry river approach.
• River South of the Southern bridge now dried out and passable.
• New route from dried river bed up and across Southern bridge added.
• One of the buildings South of the Western munitions point has been removed to open up the area.
• The remaining building South of the Western munitions point has been changed and can now fire towards the central victory point and cover muntions. This building cannot cover the Western fuel.
• Green cover added to the roof of the building just to the North West of central victory point.
• Houses to the North of the Western munitions point have been deleted and replaced with an extended green cover wall, as well as new green and yellow cover objects.
• House to the South of the Western fuel has been moved further South and rotated.
• Small rivers South of the North spawn have been dried out and are now passable.
• Multiple new paths added into the Eastern victory point cemetery area.
• Grove of trees removed from Eastern victory point and replaced with gravestones and bushes.
• Direct path added from near cemetery area to the Eastern munitions point.
• Eastern munitions point has been moved West into the road. Cover objects in this area have been moved and reworked.
• River West of Northern spawn is now dried and passable.
• House just to the East of the central building changed to allow coverage of the central victory point.

Moscow Outskirts (Winter and Summer)
Playable preview of Summer available HERE & Winter HERE
• Eastern Fuel area layout has undergone extensive reworking.
• Sight blockers reduced to the West of Eastern fuel cutoff house.
• House to the North of the Eastern Fuel Point moved slightly to the West.
• Eastern Fuel point moved slightly towards Northern house.
• Wooden wall to the East of the house at the Eastern fuel cutoff cutoff removed and replaced by fence.
• Sight blocker added to the North of this house to make it more vulnerable in order to balance its newly increased line of sight to the East.
• Some fences have been removed in the area just to the North of the Southern base in order to improve flow in the early game.
• Fence to the West of the Northern fuel cutoff has been partially removed, allowing the North side spawn better access between their cutoff and fuel point.
• The house to the South of the Western fuel point has been moved slightly further South, and the fuel point has been moved slightly further North.
• Some fences have been removed or broken in the East of the map in order to mirror the situation in the West.

Semiosky Winter (identical changes to 1vs1 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• The Northern lake has been shrunk on the North and South side. The North now has a small footpath to avoid using the water, and the South area has been expanded to shorten the time that vehicles spend on the ice.
• The house on the Northern fuel has been moved. Now the doors do not open onto negative cover, mirroring the South side.
• Haystack has been moved to replace the house, so that green and yellow cover are nearly identical on both fuel points.
• The long house and sight-blocking tree near the South fuel have been removed.
• The hedgerow near the church has been removed and replaced with a wooden fence that is crushable by all vehicles, along with two patches of "heavy bush" that are crushable by medium vehicles. This will allow this hedgerow to be opened up very early in game.
• Another ten metres of land has been added to the South bank of the Northern lake, and 5 metres has been to the Northern bank.
• The fuel points have been moved slightly to make them equidistant from each spawn.
• The Northern munitions cutoff has been moved slightly to make the cutoffs equidistant from each spawn. Buildings have been moves slightly to make this change more balanced.
• Deep snow has been removed.

Ettelbruck Station
Playable preview available HERE
• Two spawns on each side have been removed to balance overall starting positions as this was originally a 4v4 map.
• The health of the central train station building has been decreased to make it less of a focal point as the game wears on.
• The Northern victory point has been opened up slightly with an additional Entrance from the East.
• Green and yellow has been rebalanced around the central victory point.
• The drain/canal near the Western spawn has been removed to prevent bottlenecking and provide better access and pathing in the area.
 

3vs3 Map Changes

General Mud
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• All deep mud has now been removed from this map.
• At Eastern victory point the distances between the bases and the victory point and house have been slightly tweaked.
• The fence South of the victory point has been reduced in length as it was providing a cover. advantage for the North Spawn in this area.
• The territory point to the South of the Eastern victory point has been moved slightly further. South to mirror the distance between the victory point and the territory point to the North.
• The garrisonable buildings around the central victory point have been rebalanced to favor both spawns equally. Some buildings have been made less effective, while others have been made more effective.
• Cover items have also been rebalanced around the central victory point.
• Cover items have been reworked and added at the Western victory point.
• Some items in both base areas have been removed.

Across the Rhein
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to bunkers in base sectors.
• Deleted various houses and fences in out of bounds sectors to improve vehicle pathing.
• The South West base has undergone various changes such as removed fences and widened paths, that now allow for better unit flow in and out of this area.
• Sections of fencing removed around Northern victory point allowing for more access options to this area.
• Section of fence South of Northern fuel broken to allow additional point of access from the South.
• Bushes near house at North of the Northern fuel removed to better indicate to players there is an access route in this area.
• The Southern victory point has undergone a major cover rework. Various cover objects have been changed, moved or added in order to better balance this area.
• Cover has been reworked at both the South East and South West territory points.
• Bushes have been added around the cliff at the Central victory point, blocking sight from the top down to the victory point.
• Sandbags providing green cover have been added to the West of the central Victory point
• Cover on the hill above the central victory point has been tweaked and rebalanced

Lanzeranth Ambush
Playable preview available HERE
• All deep snow has been removed.
• Thicket of trees has been opened up allowing easier access to the Eastern victory point from the Southern approach.
• The large block of trees South of the middle victory point has been removed to allow the Southern spawn easier access to this point.
• Some cover objects have been moved/ changed to provide better balance in key areas throughout the map.

Ettelbruck Station (identical changes to 2vs2 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• The health of the central train station building has been decreased to make it less of a focal point as the game wears on.
• The Northern victory point has been opened up slightly with an additional Entrance from the East.
• Green and yellow has been rebalanced around the central victory point.
• The drain/canal near the Western spawn has been removed to prevent bottlenecking and provide better access and pathing in the area.

Rhzev Winter
Playable preview available HERE
• Ice has been replaced with land in the area in the vicinity of the Northern fuel cutoff. Vehicles no longer have to traverse ice in the area, and infantry have less ice to cover. This has been done as it was previously easier to hold the cutoff and deny fuel to the Northern team.
• Small pockets of additional land have been added in the area around the central victory point.
• The central victory point has been moved slightly further North to balance the distance between spawns.

Oka River
Playable preview available HERE
• Removed all deep snow.
• Many breaks in fences have been added throughout the map to improve pathing and balance the access to key areas.
• The garrison on the Western fuel point has had its health increased to mirror the garrison on the opposing fuel point. This garrison has also been slightly repositioned.

Essen Steelworks
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Lowered wall at Eastern fuel to allow better vision of the area from South approach.
• The Western fuel point has been moved slightly to the North to balance the distance between spawns.
• Cover items have been reworked near the Western fuel to make the area fairer for the North spawn.
• Altered pipes near the Western fuel that were causing pathing problems.
• The high fence to the North of the Middle victory point has been removed.
• Quality of life improvements have been made to both base sectors to improve pathing issues.

Steppes
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• The cover around the Southern fuel point has has undergone a complete rework. Objects have been added, removed, and repositioned resulting in better balance.
• The cover around the Southern victory point has undergone a complete rework. Objects have been added, removed, and repositioned resulting in better balance.
• The cover around the central victory point has undergone a complete rework. Objects have been added, removed, and repositioned resulting in better balance.

Lienne Forest
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Hedge in North base has been moved to eliminate collision with US bases.
• One of the houses in the West of the map has been moved to allow a new route for medium and heavy vehicle pathing.
• Objects have been removed within the North base that were obstructing base building and light vehicle pathing.
• Fences outside the North base have been cut in three places to allow better pathing and more balanced access to the nearby fuel.
• Fences outside the South base have received additional openings or have had their openings moved, allowing better pathing in the area.
• Additional fencing near South base removed to allow for a more direct retreat path.
• Health decreased on station house building.
• Many paths within the forest areas have been adjusted to allow for better vehicle pathing.

Red Ball Express
Playable preview available HERE
• A section of green cover has been removed at the Eastern fuel to balance the overall cover dynamic in this area.
• A new pathway has been created between hedges to allow the Southern teams another way of accessing Northern areas.

Port of Hamburg
Playable preview available HERE
• One spawn on each side has been removed to better balance overall starting positions.
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Two new green cover objects have been added on the North side of the Eastern fuel so that both spawn have equal cover in this area.
• Brick debris object moved just to the East of the Eastern victory point allowing access to new green cover.
• Visual glitch of floating containers in the central area has been fixed.
• At the Western victory point, some yellow cover crates have been replaced with green cover to give the area better overall cover balance.
• Additional green cover has been added at the central victory point to give the area better overall cover balance.
• Additional green cover has been added at the central munitions point to give the area better overall cover balance.
• The Southern base has been reworked to improve pathing issues. Parts of the wire fences have been removed, along with truck near to fences.
• Moved the Western fuel slightly North to balance the timing between bases.
 

4vs4 Map Changes

Lienne Forest (identical changes to 3vs3 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Hedge in North based has been moved to eliminate collision with US bases.
• One of the houses in the West of the map has been moved to allow a new route for medium and heavy vehicle pathing.
• Objects have been removed within the North base that were obstructing base building and light vehicle pathing.
• Fences outside the North base have been cut in three places to allow better pathing and more balanced access to the nearby fuel.
• Fences outside the South base have received additional openings or have had their openings moved, allowing better pathing in the area.
• Additional fencing near South base removed to allow for a more direct retreat path.
• Health decreased on station house building.
• Many paths within the forest areas have been adjusted to allow for better vehicle pathing.

Essen Steelworks (identical changes to 3vs3 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Lowered wall at Eastern fuel to allow better vision of the area from South approach.
• The Western fuel point has been moved slightly to the North to balance the distance between spawns.
• Cover items have been reworked near the Western fuel to make the area fairer for the North spawn.
• Altered pipes near the Western fuel that were causing pathing problems.
• The high fence to the North of the Middle victory point p has been removed.
• Quality of life improvements have been made to both base sectors to improve pathing issues
• All deep snow has been removed.

Lanzeranth Ambush (identical changes to 3vs3 variant)
Playable preview available HERE
• Thicket of trees has been opened up allowing easier access to the Eastern victory point from the Southern approach.
• The large block of trees South of the middle victory point has been removed to allow the Southern spawn easier access to this point.
• Some cover objects have been moved/ changed to provide better balance in key areas throughout the map

City 17
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• At the North West base, tree stumps creating pathing issues have been removed.
• At the South West base objects causing pathing issues in and outside the base have been cleaned up.
• At the South East base, rocks which were causing issues for US forces have been removed.
• Additional green cover items have been added at the Eastern victory point to improve overall balance in this area.
• Additional green and yellow cover items have been added at the Western victory point to improve overall balance in this area.
• Additional yellow cover added to the central victory point to improve overall balance in this area.
• The fence to the North of the central victory point has been cut to allow an additional access route for the Northern team.
• Cover has been adjusted or added at some of the other capture points around the map.

Vielsam
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Deep snow has been removed across the map.
• Moved one of the North base spawns slightly to the South, and removed a tree to improve vehicle pathing.
• Repainted the sector boundaries on the map to fix overlap issues.
• At the Eastern repair point, an additional entry point has been added to the South to balance entries.
• At the Western fuel, new entries to the area have been added to improve movement and gameplay in the sector.
• At the Western victory point, new entries to the area have been added to improve movement and gameplay in the sector.
• Additional areas have had new entries created to provide a more fluid and less predictable gameplay experience.
• Various capture points have undergone cover additions and rebalancing.
• One of the houses in the South East has been rotated 180 degrees to allow fairer access for the North team.

Red Ball Express
Playable preview available HERE
• A section of green cover has been removed at the Eastern fuel to balance the overall cover dynamic in this area.
• A new pathway has been created between hedges to allow the Southern teams another way of accessing Northern areas.

Port of Hamburg
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• Two new green cover objects have been added on the North side of the Eastern fuel so that both spawn have equal cover in this area.
• Brick debris object moved just to the East of the Eastern victory point allowing access to new green cover.
• Visual glitch of floating containers in the central area has been fixed.
• At the Western victory point, some yellow cover crates have been replaced with green cover to give the area better overall cover balance.
• Additional green cover has been added at the central victory point to give the area better overall cover balance.
• Additional green cover has been added at the central munitions point to give the area better overall cover balance.
• The Southern base has been reworked to improve pathing issues. Parts of the wire fences have been removed, along with truck near to fences.
• Moved the Western fuel slightly North to balance the timing between bases.

Lorch Assault
Playable preview available HERE
• Various quality of life changes have been made to the bunkers in base sectors.
• The Eastern base has had some bushes removed than hinder movement for USF players.
• The wall outside the church has received a new opening to balance the openings for both teams.
• At the North West victory point, an additional entrance has been added to the Eastern wall allowing players from that direction better access to the point.
• Cover has also been rebalanced at the North West victory point.
• At the North East victory point, two fences have been opened to allow better access to the area.
• At the Middle Munitions point, the bushes have been adjusted to allow for better pathing, and a yellow cover log has been added to balance the overall cover dynamic in the area.
• At the capture point to the West of the central victory point, additional paths have been added into the field.
• At the capture point to the East of the central victory point, additional paths have been added into the field.
• Other fences have been cut throughout the map to improve overall gameplay flow.
• At the Southern victory point, cover objects have been reworked to balance the area.

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/244551/december-update-map-revamp-preview/p1?new=1
 

[Mithiriath]

V1.6.1 UPDATE

SUBSCRIBE HERE

GENERAL

Demo Charges
* Now once again defusable (due to a knock-on effect that prevented demo charges from functioning)

Garrison Changes
* These changes should prevent squads from clumping up at the entrances
* Load-time max from 3.25 to 2
 

SOVIET

IL-2 Strafe
The damage is being lowered to prevent a single plane from wiping out full squads.

• Damage changed from 8 to 5
   

WEHRMACHT

Artillery Officer
We feel the Victor target ability is too efficient for its new cost.

• Victor target now has a warning time of 3 seconds before the shells launch
   

USF

Sherman HE Shells
We are doing a partial revert to lower the potency of the improved HE rounds.

• Far AoE multiplier partially reverted from 0.15 to 0.1
• Far AoE distance reverted from 3 to 2.25

Raid Tactics
The infantry capture bonus is being lowered to incentive more use of light vehicles to capture.

• Infantry capture bonus from 66% to 25% (Light vehicle capture rate unaffected)

M21 Mortar Half-Track
* Change hotkey from R to C (standard smoke)

M83 Cluster Bombs
* Reverted to red smoke with air strike warning to match other off-maps.

WC-51 Dodge
We find that the lack of munitions off-map abilities is too restrictive for the commander. Therefore, we are re-adding the 155 artillery barrage in a different form. To prevent players from lending Dodge trucks to others, abilities are locked behind the Mechanized Company commander.

• Can now call in the 155mm Barrage after the Major is dispatched.
• Captured WC-51s cannot use special abilities

M8 Greyhound
We are giving a conservative arrival time to the Greyhound due to its potency.

• Command Point requirements from 3 to 5

Paradrop Combat Group
We are moving the arrival of the combat group earlier to allow players to better bridge their early-game infantry composition with Recon doctrine elements.

• Command Point requirement from 5 to 4.
   

OKW

Flak Half-Track
We find that the Flak HT underperforms against the more mobile Soviets and USF. The setup time decrease will make the unit more versatile as a support weapon.

• Veterancy 2 set-up moved to veterancy 0
• Damage from 20 to 16
• Veterancy 2 restores damage from 16 to 20

Le.IG 18
We are lowering its cost to better match its performance.

• Cost decreased from 330MP to 300MP

Volksgrenadier Assault Upgrade
Given the loss in damage at range, we are significantly reducing the cost of this upgrade.

• Cost reduced from 70MU to 45MU

Opel Blitz
We find that the Blitz truck comes too early and poses a real threat to ending games when rushed near the enemy’s cut-off.

• Command Point value from 2 to 3
• Can no longer carry MGs or Raketenwerfers (can still carry mortars)

Flak Emplacement
* Cost increased from 250/10 to 250/20
* Can now pick-up nearby medkits

Fallschirmjager
Fallschirmjager offensive bonuses would come too late, preventing the unit from scaling against veteran infantry.

• Veterancy 4 Accuracy and Veterancy 3 Healing bonuses swapped
• Cooldown bonus of -20% added to Veterancy 3

Flame Hetzer
We want to restrict the Flame Hetzer from dominating 1v1 games (where Call-ins are already powerful), but also allow the Hetzer to arrive earlier in team games, with sufficient tech.

• Now buildable from the HQ. Requires Schewere Panzer Headquarters to be built, but not active if destroyed.
• Cost increased from 280/100 to 300/100
   

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the Ostheer Panzer IV was incorrectly set at 14 population
• Fixed an issue where the OKW Panzer IV population was not correctly set at 14
• Salvage should now appear on Sturmpioneers and Volksgrenadier when Firestorm is picked.
• Fixed an issue where mortar halftracks (OST and USF) would fire beyond their intended arc of fire
• Fixed an issue with the Opel Blitz wreck did not provide cover.
• Fixed an issue where M83 cluster mines gave no air-strike warning.
• M83 explosion FX now displays properly
• Fixed an issue where Airborne Assault could be launched into base sectors.
• 76mm Shermans now use the same selection group as 75mm Shermans
• Fixed an issue where demo charges did no damage
• Fixed an issue where Recon Support Paras did not get hold fire
• Fixed an issue where the MG 34 was not set to the correct price
• Adjusted text and UI for changed units and abilities

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273406#Comment_273406

[Mithiriath]

V1.7 UPDATE

This update to the DBP mod continues by tuning values to units from all 5 factions as we zero in on the final changes for the December Update. As always, please subscribe to the balance mod, playtest the changes and give us your feedback before time runs out.

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SOVIET

Tank Hunter Tactics

RPG-40 Anti-Tank Grenade Assault
We find that the AT Grenade assault is over performing vs medium armour and heavy armour.

• Penetration partially reverted from "always penetrate" to a penetration value of 150
• Aim time max partially reverted from 1 to 1.375
• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to target neutral vehicles

Conscript Anti-Tank Package
PTRS Conscripts appear to over perform vs Medium armour and Heavy armour.

• Deflection damage reverted from 20 to 13 (affects only Conscript PTRS rifles)
   

WEHRMACHT

Light Artillery Barrage
* Partially revert of cost from 90 to 100

Jaeger Infantry Doctrine

Ambush Tactics
We found that 0 CP Sprint came too early and was very difficult to counter at that stage of a match.

• Now require 1 Command Point (affects both Sprint and Camouflage)

Osttruppen Doctrine

Osttruppen
We find that our previous recharge time change to Ostruppen was completely ineffective. To balance the Osttruppen doctrine early game, we are instead delaying the first Ostruppen squad to hit the field. This should give players more of a tactical choice between teching to T1 (with Ostruppen) or going directly for T2.

• Cooldown between squads partially reverted from 35 to 25 secs
• Osttruppen call-in now start on cooldown

Supply Drop
The paradrop animations for the Pak40 and MG34 have been adjusted to make it more clear to the player. The team weapons now drop in separate crates from the fuel and munitions crates (big thanks goes out to Wilderstreit for detailing how to use the animations).
 

USF

Recon Support Company

Raid Tactics
* Infantry Sight bonus changed from multiplicative (+20%) to additive (+7)
* Now affects capture and decapture rates by equal amounts
* Fixed an issue where the ability would not apply to certain light vehicles properly

M8 Greyhound
* Hold fire now also disables the MG from firing
* 50-cal now receives attack commands

Cluster Bombs
We are making the ability more consistent while adding more warning time for the enemy player to escape.

• Now drop from height 50 (up from 40)
• Scatter reduced from 20 to 15
• Properly adjusted the ability radius indicator

Mechanized Company

M3 Assault group
To make the pricing of this bundle ability more attractive, we are replacing the vehicle crew of the M3 Half-track with the Assault Engineer squad that the ability originally came with separately.

• Assault Engineer squad replaces the vehicle crew
• Cost reduced from 460MP/30FU to 290MP/30FU

Assault Engineers
* Popcap reduced from 8 to 7

WC51 Military Truck
We find that the WC51 truck is too powerful when coming out early due to its ability to carry Riflemen and also push enemy squads out of cover.

• Now has a starting cooldown of 60 seconds
• Fixed multiple animation issues with the canopy and the gunner
• Fixed an issue where the ability would display the wrong popcap requirements

M21 Mortar Half-Tracj
* We found that M21 halftrack's value for its cost was out of alignment.
* Barrage attack scatter now matches the 250 81mm mortar
* Auto-attack reload time increased from 4 seconds to 5 seconds
* HP reduced from 320 to 240
 

OKW

Le.IG 18
We reduce the cost of the LeIG to ensure that OKW has accessible indirect fire.

• Cost further decreased from 300 to 270
• Population reduced from 9 to 7
• Penetration reduced from 75 to 35
• Incendiary barrage scatter FoW penalty increased from 1.25 to 1.75

Feuersturm Doctrine

Volks Model 24 Grenade (Assault Package Upgrade)
* Cost from 30 to 25

Hetzer
* Population properly adjusted to 10 (different than announced)
* Fixed an issue where it was still possible to call a Hetzer in from the ability

Rocket Barrage
* The 2 final rockets are now guaranteed to land in the center of the ability.

Opel Blitz
* Cooldown reduction now also affects Sturmpioneer medkits
* Aura reload bonus reduces reload time by 35% for infantry weapons (not communicated previously)

Luftwaffe Air Support

Flak Emplacement
We found that the high manpower cost of the Flak emplacement made it too expensive to field reliably.

• MP cost from 250 to 220
• Build time reduced from 120 to 100

Valiant Assault
* Duration increased from 30 secs to 45 secs

Fallschirmjäger
We found that the infiltration ability failed to provide the necessary punch for the commander with 3-man squads while created nearly impossible to counter squad wipes at 4-man. Thus, we are experimenting with introducing Fallschirmjagers to the battlefield in a different way.

• Now turned from an infiltration ability to a paradrop ability
• Delivers a 4-man squad of fallschirmjagers anywhere on the map
• Cost from 400 to 380
• Reinforcement cost from 38 to 36
• Can now reinforce while Airborne Assault is active

Airborne Assault
We are removing Fallschirmjager drops from the Airborne assault activity of the doctrine to make it more accessible.

• No longer paradrops a Fallschirmjager squad
• Now provides two JU-87 aircraft that perform anti-tank strafes (identical to Stuka Close-Air support)
• Fallschirmjager squads will be able to reinforce anywhere on the map while the ability is active
• Cost reduced from 250 to 200
• CP requirements raised from 10 to 12
   

BRITISH

Universal Carrier
We find that the universal carrier is overly effective at absorbing small arms fire when using its self-repair ability.

• Repair speed penalty of -75% when in combat

Commando Smoke Grenade
* Cost reverted from 25 to 15

Infiltration Commandos
* Cost further reduced from 400MP to 370MP

Infantry Section
Tommies are receiving additional changes to their Received Accuracy to allow them to be more offensive and less dependent on cover to engage enemy squads effectively.

• Removed in-cover defense bonus (0.9 RA) -- squad retains offensive bonus in cover
• Reverted target size from 0.9 to 0.8
• Lowered Veterancy 2 RA bonus from 0.76 to 0.78
   

BUG FIXES

• Moved the Interrogate icon to avoid clash with the new hold fire location
• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to upgrade Paratrooper bazookas in enemy territory
• Fixed an issue where the 76mm sherman prioritise vehicle ability would not work properly
• Fixed an issue where the Le.Ig would lose access to the doctrinal incendiary barrage at veterancy 4

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273592#Comment_273592
 

[Mithiriath]

V1.8 UPDATE

The DBP continues in V1.8 with more minor tuning and tweaks to the commander revamp changes as we get closer to finalization.

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GENERAL

Panzerfaust Bug Fix
We are trialing a workaround to fix the Panzerfaust bug (i.e. faust missing when the target hides in the fog of war while the panzerfaust projectile is mid-air). Credits for the workaround go to Widerstreit for the potential fix.

If you still experience this bug, please report any issues in the DBP Bug Reporting thread in the Balance Feedback section of the forums.

Light Mines (Rear Echelon Mines and Soviet Commander)
To better align their value with their cost, the severity of the temporary Light Mine has been reduced.

• Penalty to speed/rotation from -65% to -50%

Gammon Bomb/Bundle Grenade
Cost decreased due to the reduced potency of the grenade, and to also give more versatility to elite squads.

• Cost from 40 to 35
   

SOVIET

For Mother Russia
* Duration partially reverted from 30 to 45
 

WEHRMACHT

Stuka Smoke Drops
* Now targetable in the fog of war (to allow a dual smoke/recon role)

Mortar Halftrack
* Smoke cooldown on separate cooldown from offensive abilities
 

USF

Recond Support Company

Raid Tactics
We found the light vehicle bonuses of the ability under performing in light of how situational the ability is.

• Light Vehicle capture/decapture rate increased from 1.25 to 2.5
• Infantry capture/decapture speed removed (sight bonus remains)

Cluster Bombs
We felt the ability did not provide sufficient warning compared to the damage it could inflict.

• The cluster bombs are now delivered by aircraft
• The cluster bombs drop in 4 waves and at smaller concentration in the outer rings of the ability
• Scatter increased from 15 to 17
• Damage per mine from 40 to 30

M8 Greyhound
The lethality of the main gun is higher than intended. We want to make the Greyhound more reliant on its MG upgrade and the canister shot.

• AoE damage decreased from 1/0.35/0.05 to 0.8/0.28/0.04
   

OKW

Volksgrenadiers StG 44 Upgrade
* Now take up 1 slot item (as opposed to 2)

Obersoldaten LMG34
We felt that the LMG34 would generally over perform when picked up by non-elite infantry due to the higher-than-average veterancy bonuses non-elite infantry accumulate. To account for this, we've made the following change:

• Non-elite squad LMG34 (picked-up) damage from 6 to 4

Luftwaffe Air Support Doctrine

Fallschirmjager
To help with fallshirmjager's scaling due to their generally later arrival, we've adjusted there veterancy requirements as follows:

• Veterancy requirements reduced from 760/1520/3040/3800/5054 to 600/1200/2400/3000/3900

Air Assault Operation
We are changing the way airplanes deliver their payload to return some of the original uniqueness of the ability and make it more distinct from the the similar Wehrmacht Close Air Support ability.

• Multiple airplanes deliver AI/AT strafes at the precise target location
• AT loiter airplanes arrive with a delay of 20 seconds and now deliver 2 strafes each (down from 3)

Feuersturm Doctrine

Flame Hetzer
We felt that with the newly added tech requirements for the Hetzer, the current fuel cost made it a low use-case unit when competing with other units in the same tier. Thus to keep the uit attractive while preventing it from being too dominant upon its arrival on the field, we've made the following changes:

• Fuel cost reduced from 100 to 90

• Damage reduced from 12 to 9 (only affects direct damage; does not affect DoT damage)

• Volksgrenadiers MP-40 Upgrade
  We find the risk vs reward of the MP-40 upgrade, although appealing, not worth the trade off in its current state. Thus, to improve the cost vs benefit, we've applied the following bonus:

• Now also confers a 0.93 received accuracy bonus
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE

• Fixed an issue where Le.IG barrages would sometimes become unavailable when the Le.IG becomes decrewed
• Fixed an issue where the Storm doctrine no longer had access to the Tactical advance ability
• Fixed an issue where the Bulldozer upgrade modifiers were lost when the vehicle became decrewed
• Fixed an issue where Commando squads would not be eligible to fire picked-up LMGs on-the-move
• Fixed an issue where squads would prioiritise the passengers of dodge trucks rather than dodge trucks themselves
• Forward assemblies now require additional space between them and obstacles (to prevent reinforcements from getting stuck)
• Changed Rear Echelon minesweeeper upgrade hotkey from M to Z (to avoid conflict with smoke grenade)
• Changed the hotkeys of Recon Pathfinder fake artillery to match the new layout of Major abilities (position 23 and hotkey D)
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to upgrade Rear Echelons with both Minesweepers and flamers at the same time

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273655#Comment_273655
 

[Mithiriath]

V1.9 UPDATE

The 1.9 update continues the DBP by targeting some of the remaining dominant call-in meta to bring these strategies in line with the existing faction design and relationships.

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GENERAL

Call-in Changes
The following vehicles are now available 0 CP, but buildable only at each of the factions’ respective tech buildings. The reason why OKW call-in vehicles have been moved to T4 rather than the HQ is to level the playing field for all OKW doctrines and ensure that call-in options continue to make T4 placement relevant.

Tying the following vehicles to tech will achieve the dual goal of making call-in vehicles less dominant in 1v1 (since they generally arrive earlier than their corresponding core tech), and making the same vehicles more relevant in 2v2+, as they can now arrive earlier in these gamemodes (i.e. Command Points accumulate at a slower pace than relative fuel income)

• KV-8 - Buildable only at Mechanized Armor Kampaneya (T4)
• M-10 'Wolverine' - Buildable only at Battalion Command Post (T3)
• Ostwind - Buildable only at Schwerer Panzer HQ (T3); cost reduced from 100FU to 90FU
• Flame Hetzer - Buildable only at Schwerer Panzer HQ (T3)
   

OKW

Volksgrenadier STG Upgrade
We feel that the combination of STG upgrades and the potential to pick up and deny additional weapons makes Volkgrenadier late-game potentially too strong for cost, considering how powerful the unit is in the early game.

• Slot item change reverted; STG upgrade now, once again, occupies both slots
   

WEHRMACHT

Storm Doctrine
Due to the Sprint ability merging with Ambush Camouflage, Tactical movement became a redundant ability for the commander. Thus, we are replacing it with an ability of similar strength that provides better synergy.

• Tactical Movement replaced with Smoke Bombs
   

SOVIET

ISU
We felt that popcap of the ISU was not in-line with its improved performance.

• Popcap from 20 to 22
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE

• Fixed an issue where the Jaeger Infantry Command squad would not use the proper panzerfaust/rifle-grenade animations
• Rifleman/Panzerfusilier AT rifle grenades no longer have a minimum range requirement
• Fixed another issue where squads would prioiritise the passengers of dodge trucks rather than dodge trucks themselves
• Fixed an issue where Raid Tactics would not apply properly to recrewed vehicles

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273713#Comment_273713
 

[Mithiriath]

V2.0 - FINAL UPDATE

V2.0 of the December Balance Preview marks the final public update for the mod, focusing on some last iterations and adjustments to the Soviet, Wehrmacht, and OKW. Although no additional public versions of the balance preview mod will be released from this point forward, your feedback is still valuable to us as we continue to finalize and adjust some of the existing changes between now and when the December Update goes live.

Based on feedback and data we've collected, it seems clear that although some changes might be somewhat controversial, the overall direction of the changes are widely accepted and approved by the community at large. As of today, the DBP mod has nearly a 90% approval rating on Steam which is a great sign that the changes are on the right track.

We would like to thank everyone for their incredible dedication over the past 6 weeks for all their amazing feedback and contributions. This December Update is largely by the community; for the community and would not have been possible without your passionate commitment to COH2 and the countless hours of testing, tuning and integration of the balance mod from community members Mr. Smith and Miragefla.
 

GENERAL

Airplane Loiters
Loiters would sometimes last longer than the denoted duration, and could even acquire targets outside the visual indication.

• Standardized loiter duration (60 secs) and radius (50)
   

SOVIET

ML-20
The ML-20 is too effective at wiping infantry models.

• Near AoE damage reduced from 1 to 0.9

KV1
To give the KV1 a more defined role (soaking damage), we are slightly increasing its durability, and significantly increasing the rate at which it can get repaired. The following changes will result in KV-1’s being 25% faster to repair.

• Raw hitpoints reverted from 960 to 800
• Now has a received damage modifier of 0.8
   

WEHRMACHT

G43 upgrade (Stormtroopers only)
The change to the Stormtrooper G43 upgrade only benefited Elite Troops doctrine (which is already dominant) at the expense of other doctrines, which goes against the intent of fostering more strategic diversity.

• Stormtrooper G43 upgrade reverted to 2xG43’s (does not affect Panzergrenadiers)
   

OKW

Squad XP
To normalize the XP value for OKW squads (i.e,. How much XP enemy units gain from attacking OKW squads), the OKW units that have had their performance adjusted no longer award additional XP when transitioning from Veterancy 4 to Veterancy 5

• Veterancy awarded to opponent squads from OKW Vet 5 squads (when a vet 5 squad takes dmg or is killed) decreased from 2.0 x BASE_XP to 1.8 x BASE_XP

Panzer II 'Luchs'
We want to delay the arrival time of the luchs, without delaying the arrival of the MechHQ building, or the cost-efficiency of the unit to prevent it from dominating the battlefield if rushed.

• Build time increased from 40 seconds to 85 seconds

Spec Ops Doctrine

Command Panther
We want to delay the arrival time of the Command Panther to prevent the Spec Ops doctrine from dominating opposition in 1v1 and overshadowing all OKW doctrine’s due to the call-in mechanic.

• CP increased from 11 to 12
   

BUG FIXES & QUALITY OF LIFE

• Fixed an issue where Command Panther/Pershing would award less experience than implied by their call-in costs
• Prevented players from using Artillery Officer victor target when no candidate units are on the field
• Fixed an issue where several squads would experience random delays when throwing their grenades (mostly affects SMG troops, e.g., panzergrenadiers). Credits go to Widerstreit for finding the fix

Source : https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/comment/273843#Comment_273843