[PC] Year-1 Anniversary (1.5.0) Patch Notes

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Company of Heroes 3, we have remade and re-introduced several classic maps from the franchise’s history into the game. Additionally, we have created two variants of existing maps specifically designed for coop and custom games. This update will also allow players to customize their profiles with new badges, banners and titles. In our ongoing efforts to improve the feel of Company of Heroes, we have also made small changes to pathfinding and acceleration. Please note that this work is still ongoing. Based on player feedback of Replays, we have introduced two new quality of life changes to the feature. 

From the perspective of multiplayer balance, our primary objective is to enhance the strategic diversity of the British Forces. Notable adjustments include significant improvements to underused units like the Humber and Grant, aimed at boosting their effectiveness. Core upgrades, such as the Bren Gun and team Weapon/Light vehicle training, have also been refined to enhance the performance of essential army units.  

Additionally, we're reshaping two battlegroups to bolster their overall viability. The Wehrmacht Mechanized and US Forces Armor Battlegroups have undergone a restructure, and both will introduce an experimental change for the Panther and Easy 8 call-ins.   

NEW CONTENT & FEATURES 

Maps 

Semois – 1v1 

Added 1v1 Semois map to Quick Match, Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

An official remake of a favored CoH1 map. This idyllic river village has seen some of the most aggressive, competitive games in the franchise’s history. Fight carefully around the central village and overextend at your own peril. 

Elst Outskirts – 2v2  

Added 2v2 Elst Outskirts map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Lovingly converted from CoH2, this heavily forested location has become overgrown and decayed since it was first released in 2016. While there are vital resources to the bombed South and industrial North, commanders cannot neglect the vital roads that connect the map and risk leaving them stranded. 

Montherme – 3v3  

Added 3v3 Montherme map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Return to where it all began in this faithful recreation of a CoH1 classic. Four Commanders will face off across this hilltop town, fighting street by street for control, while two Commanders fight their own desperate gambit across the river. Do you pull resources to ensure their victory, but risk losing the town? 

Sangro River Crossing – 3v3  

Added 3v3 Sangro River Crossing map to Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Introducing a new variant of Day 101. This six-player, casual version features player-friendly territory and chokepoints, with pre-destroyed bridges and a flooded river to buy you more time and freedom to lock the map. 

Sousse Stronghold – 4v4 

Added 4v4 Sousse Stronghold map to Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

A variant of the existing Sousse Wetlands map, split into two major lanes by rising floodwater. Fight over the ancient walled city or the desert village to the South with player-friendly territory layouts and chokepoints galore.   

Community Maps 

We are pleased to introduce the first round of Community maps as part of Company of Heroes 3's first anniversary. The following maps have been hand-selected and invited into a program of feedback and iteration, before receiving a final polish from our design and art teams. Official Community Maps are recognizable by a green badge, author credit, and a hand symbol in Custom Match and Skirmish lobbies, Map Selection and the Loading Screen.  

Faymonville – 1v1  

Added 1v1 Faymonville Community map to Quick Match, Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

Return to a CoH2 classic, faithfully restored by community members Kpen and AE. This competitive slice of countryside has seen countless battles across its open fields – we expect many more. 

Steppes – 4v4  
Added 4v4 Steppes Community map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

Beautifully reimagined by community mapmaker TheSphinx, this CoH2 map trades the plains of the Eastern Front for the North African desert. Vast and open, with only key chokepoints to fall back to, this map is a mechanized commander’s dream come true. 

Profile Customization  

The Year-1 Anniversary Update adds the ability to customize the Player Profile. Under the Loadout panel, players are presented with a new “Profile” tab. 

Through this panel, you will be able to customize three profile elements: 

• Badge 
• Title 
• Banner

These elements will be visible on a player’s Profile, as well as in any other section of the game where a player name is displayed. For the first batch of items, we have decided to explore a few different themes. 

For badges, we have been looking at some of the most beloved unit symbols, applying to each medal a unique treatment. You may notice different colors, fingerprints, or weathering effects. 

For banners, our artists drew inspiration from our official trailer, taking scenes and applying unique backgrounds and weathering elements. 

For titles, we decided to follow three main themes: unit names, military ranks, and humorous references. 

We will continue to expand on the current themes and explore new ones in the future. However, as part of our Anniversary celebration, we are going to gift all current and future players the following profile content: 

Four Badges 

• Bersaglieri 
• Grenadier 
• Half Screw  
• Rifleman

Six Titles 

• Rifleman 
•  Bersaglieri 
• British Rifleman 
• Grenadier 
• Private First Class 
• General Errands

Two Banners 

• Air Cav 
• MG 42

We have reworked the standard banner that every player has unlocked by purchasing Company of Heroes 3. Premium Edition Exclusive badges, banners and titles will still be available in the Profile menu for those who unlocked them. . 

As a final note, this is our first iteration for Profile Customization, and we are looking at further improvements and additions for this feature in the future. 

Challenges 

Three new challenges are available for our Anniversary week in addition to the regular daily and weekly challenges. These Challenges can only be completed between February 27th and March 5th, 2024. 

• Anniversary Competitor: Complete 5 Multiplayer or Custom matches on any of the seven new maps 
• Anniversary Campaigner: Complete 5 Italian Campaign missions 
• Anniversary Demolitionist: Destroy 50 vehicles in Single Player or Multiplayer 

Each of these challenges is worth 800 Merit (2,400 total).    

GAMEPLAY & FEATURE IMPROVEMENTS 

Maps 

• Adjusted audio in multiple maps, increasing reverb near tall buildings or in walled compounds.  
• Adjusted heavy cover near the Western entrance to Monte Cavo's compound, enabling easier light vehicle access to the region. This will in turn create larger holes for infantry to enter this area in the early game. 
• Bridges will no longer appear as icons on the minimap and tactical map, as they are visible on the new style of minimaps.  
• Updated cover on the concrete trenches found on Winter Line and other maps, making them one-sided (only benefitting units inside the trench).  
• Updated Pachino Stalemate with audio tracks and combat music.  
• Updated Villa Fiore atmosphere to have more contrast. 
• Various updates to Taranto Coastline, including updating cut-off territory to be considerably less aggressive; height gameplay around center line of the map has also been reduced significantly, improving gameplay and pathfinding in this area.  

Pathfinding 

We continue to work on pathfinding improvements and will be releasing changes as they are ready.  For this update, we wanted to address vehicle reversing. When issuing forward movements, we want vehicles to follow a path with small direction deviations (smooth curve), so they do not lose speed.  

This means that our path searching algorithm doesn't follow the shortest path. However, for reverse movement, precision and direct movement it is often more important to get out of harm’s way quicker. As such, for reverse movements our path searching algorithm will try to stick to the shortest path when possible. 

• Vehicles now follow tighter paths when force-reversing  

We will have additional pathfinding improvements in our next PC update (1.6.0). 

Replays 

We are happy to see that players have responded positively to CoH3’s implementation of the Replay feature, and we have been reviewing your feedback as we work to continually improve it.  

We are happy to announce two new features coming to Replays, along with various bug fixes that should make the experience more consistent and enjoyable. 

• Playback Panel can now be faded out when in “Collapse and Hide Player Elements” mode through a dedicated option in the game settings. This feature works similarly to the Cinematic Mode button. Find this option in the Settings menu. 
• A new “Reveal Map: All Players” option has been introduced in the Playback Panel. This is a very popular feature in other Strategy titles, as it reveals the vision of all players, while retaining fog of war on areas where none of the players can see. This will provide better information on what players can and cannot see, while also helping to create tension and excitement while watching replays. 

Replay Bug Fixes 

• During Replays the tactical map can now be opened when the free camera is off, meaning you are following a player's camera.  
• Fixed the icons for the Italian Combined Arms Battlegroup and the Italian Infantry Battlegroup.

Vehicle Acceleration 

Our recent acceleration changes to vehicles were meant to improve the responsiveness of the game. While we think controlling vehicles ended up feeling snappier, it was slightly over-tuned making it difficult to land snares on them. We're now halving the values as a middle ground, which should alleviate these issues, but still ensure vehicles feel snappy with realistic acceleration. 

• Slope of "Speed increase" from 0.8 to 0.4  
• Start Speed from 0.3 to 0.15 - These are percentages of the vehicles maximum speed 
• Time before vehicle acceleration kicks in from 0.625s to 0.250s

MULTIPLAYER BALANCE 

Anti-Infantry Strafing Runs  

Recent fixes to strafing runs and how they apply damage has resulted in these abilities doing less damage than intended for the anti-infantry strafes. The following change brings them back up to their previous power level. 

• Damage increased from 20 to 35 

Call-ins 

We’re trying out a new experimental change in the beloved world of Call-ins. For the Wehrmacht Mechanized Panther and the US Armored Easy 8, we have added alternative picks in their battlegroups that allow you to directly build them from your tech structures. 

The idea here is to separate the channels where players simply want to access powerful unique vehicles and where players want to tech skip, giving us the ability to now balance both behaviors separately. Before they were separated, we always had to balance around the more powerful strategy in its most disruptive mode (so often tech skipping in 1v1) while overly punishing all other alternative employments, which often disadvantaged team-game players. It also meant the best way to use these Battlegroups with these call-ins would be to tech skip, forcing a certain style of play to maximize efficiency. 

We want these units and abilities to be interesting and accessible to as many playstyles and modes as possible, so the intent here is that by separating them into exclusive options with different costs, we can achieve proper balance in a variety of scenarios. 

This is experimental and we will be keeping a close eye on how this affects the game and player experience. All that we ask is that players approach it with an open mind and try it out! 

FACTION BALANCE 

US Forces 

Only a few changes are being made this patch to the US Forces to improve the viability of the Air Support Center, slightly nerf the Chaffee, and adjust the strength of the Armored Battlegroup which has taken over as the dominant strategy in certain modes and skill brackets. 

4x4 Scout Commander 

• Upgrade time increased from 10 to 30  

Air Supply Upgrade 

• Cost decreased from 150 manpower and 40 fuel to 125 manpower and 30 fuel  

American Air Support Center P-47 Strafing Run 

With anti-air in a better state, we’re reintroducing some power to the ASC Strafes, giving US Forces players more punch but with the possibility of counterplay. 

• Damage increased from 20 to 40  
• Delay for the second plane decreased from 4 to 3 seconds 
• Munition cost decreased from 60 to 50

Grasshopper Recon Run 

We’ve reworked the way the ASC recon works, giving it vision at all levels and reversing the high-level and low-level planes. Before, the tradeoffs were not intuitive and often could be detrimental to the player, so we’re simplifying this so that the upgraded version is a strictly better version of the non-upgraded recon run. 

• Advanced Air Reconnaissance increases plane health by 1000 and increases vision radius by 15  
• Now provides vision from the start; no longer detects enemies in the fog of war

M4A1 Sherman Medium Tank 

• High-Explosive Rounds munitions cost decreased from 45 to 30 

M4(105) Sherman Bulldozer 

• Dozer now properly takes reduced damage from mines by 50% and will not take mine criticals while active. Speed penalty increased to 40% when the dozer blade is active 
• Sherman Dozer no longer starts with its dozer blade deployed

M8 Scott 

• Vertical tracking speed increased from 15 to 35 

M24 Chaffee Light Tank 

We’ve noted the power of the Chaffee tank in certain modes and matchups, but we’re currently going after some of the enablers (US Armored Battlegroup) that make employing these units so strategically powerful. However, we are toning down the Chaffee slightly by making hard anti-tank options more effective against them by increasing their target size. 

• Target size increased from 16 to 18  

M2A1 105mm Howitzer Emplacement 

• Barrage range increased from 250 to 300  
• Wind-up decreased from 0.25 to 0

US Forces Battlegroups 

P-47 Special Operations Strafing Run 

The Special Operations Strafing Run has been overhauled to be an anti-infantry Loiter. 

• Converted to a loiter that lasts for 60 seconds 
• Munition cost increased from 100 to 110 
• Only targets infantry; deals damage and suppression

Armored Battlegroup 

New Ability - Unlock M4A3E8 Sherman Production 

• Costs Zero Command Points to unlock 
• Alternative pick to the standard M4A3E8 Sherman Combat Group that allows the M4A3E8 Sherman to be built from the Tank Depot.  
• M4A3E8 Sherman build cost set to 440 manpower and 110 fuel

Fast Deploy 

We have reverted the command point change of Fast Deploy to reduce the pressure double 4x4 trucks can apply to the opponent before they can get an equal number of units out to contest.  

• Fast Deploy command cost increased from 0 to 1 

Seek and Destroy 

Seek and Destroy and Panzerstorm are having their speed bonuses reduced to make it easier to intercept or rundown units under the effects of these combat boosts. These abilities have received slight increases to their bonuses in other areas to compensate. 

• Accuracy bonus increased from 35% to 40%  
• Reload bonus increased from 25% to 30% 
• Speed bonus decreased from 50% to 35%

M4A3E8 Sherman Combat Group 

• Sherman Easy 8 call-in command point cost decreased from 8 to 7 

M8 Scott 

• Command point cost decreased from 3 to 2 

British Forces

The British Forces are receiving many changes that are primarily targeting underused units and upgrades to improve build diversity and strategies. Units like the Humber and Grant have received significant changes to improve viability and to have greater impact on battles. Upgrades like the Bren Gun, Team Weapon/Light Vehicle Training have also gained improvements, allowing upgraded British armies to perform better. 

Churchill IV Heavy Tank 

• Population requirement decreased from 18 to 16 
• Reload time decreased from 4.75/5.75 to 4.25/5.25  

Crusader AA Medium Tank 

We are reverting the majority of the prior changes to the Crusader AA which was previously on-par with the Wirbelwind’s effectiveness despite costing more and being locked to a Battlegroup. 

• Area of effect increased from 2 to 2.5 
• Area of effect distance increased from 0.33/1/1.75 to 0.5/1.5/2  

CWT AA Truck 

• Polsten 20mm Anti-air conversion cost decreased from 60 to 45  

Dingo Scout Car 

We want to keep the unique aspect of the Dingo being a combat scout vehicle, meaning its main changes are focused on weapon responsiveness and increased firepower. We have slightly increased the cost of the Dingo due to its potency against early game threats. With Royal Engineers having increased capture rates, this allows the British to take map control while the Dingo keeps the enemy on the defensive.  

• Accuracy increased from 0.614/0.506/0.484 to 0.75/0.68/0.65  
• Fire-aim time modifier at long-range decreased from 1.5 to 1  
• Firing cone increased from 5 to 15 
• Front and side armor decreased from 5 to 4.5  
• Health increased from 220 to 235  
• Manpower cost increased from 250 to 265  
• Moving cooldown modifiers changed from 0.5 to 1 
• Ready-aim time decreased from 0.5/0.75 to 0.125/0.125  
• Weapon horizontal traverse speed increased from 25 to 60  
• Weapons no longer begin to reface when no targets are acquired. It will now reset to its default position after 4 seconds.  

Foot Guards 

Foot Guards are receiving some minor improvements to increase their survivability and damage that better reflects their status as elite end-game infantry. 

• Health increased from 110 to 115 
• Thompson accuracy increased 0.58/0.3/0.15 to 0.64/0.34/0.15  

Humber Armored Car 

The Humber is gaining significant improvements to make it a cheap, effective anti-infantry scout vehicle that can better resist autocannons, allowing it to engage units like the Flakvierlinghalf-track. The Humber will remain fragile to anti-tank weapons but will have increased vision range and speed to escape threats.We have also raised the accuracy of the Humber to be reliable against all infantry units. Previously, the Humber’s accuracy depended on the current squad’s size, despite not being geared to engaging massed infantry formations. 

• 15mm Machine Gun accuracy increased from 0.38/0.29/0.19 to 0.85/0.65/0.55  
• Area of effect increased from 0 to 0.75  
• Armor increased from 20/20/10 to 25/25/10  
• Fuel cost decrease from 35 to 30  
• Incremental accuracy removed 
• Mark Area ability now provides vision around the flare, but does not see through sight blockers 
• Mark Area now displays the affected aura around it  
• Sight increased from 40 to 45  
• Speed increase from 8.1 to 8.3

Infantry Section 

We are increasing the power of Infantry Sections when they are armed with Bren Guns. Bren Guns are the primary combat upgrade for the Infantry Section that allows them to scale into the late-game, providing a significant damage boost over all other upgrades at the cost of utility. 

• Build-time decreased from 28 to 25 
• Reinforce time for all models standardized to 4.5 
• Bren Gun cost decreased from 100 to 90 
• Bren gun accuracy increased from 0.54/0.51/0.47.5 to 0.67/0.60/0.55   
• Bren Gun cooldown decreased from 2/2.5 to 1.5/1.5

Light Vehicle Training 

Light Vehicle Training has been adjusted to provide significant experience bonuses to light vehicles, allowing them to reach veterancy sooner, while the bonuses improve hit reliability and mobility bonuses. 

• Bonuses changed to +15% Accuracy, +25% acceleration and rotation rate 
• Increased veterancy experience gain from 800 to 1200  

M3 Grant Medium Tank 

We want the M3 Grant to be an advanced medium tank that is worth its unlock cost and makes it stand-out from other vehicles in the game. Changes are meant to focus the Grant’s role as a vehicle that excels in frontal assaults, challenging most units head-on with its improved durability and high firepower. 

The turret 37mm weapon has been reworked to be more focused on defeating light vehicles that can occasionally penetrate tanks at distance. Its anti-infantry performance is now like that of the Stuart’s main gun. 

• 37mm area of effect damage changed from 0.75/0.3/0.15 to 0.5/0.3/0.3 
• 37mm area of effect decreased from 2 to 1.75 
• 37mm distance changed from 0.5/1/1.5 to 0.375/0.375/2 
• 37mm model damage limit decreased from 3 to 2 
• 37mm penetration increased from 55/45/40 to 90/80/65 
• 37mm reload time from 3.5/4.25 to 3/3.25 
• 75mm penetration increased from 200/165/125 to 200/185/165  
• Distance scatter max from 15 to 3.5 
• Health increased from 720 to 840 
• Scatter changed from 7.5 to 5.5  

M3 Stuart Light Tank 

Given how quickly vehicles can move, having three separate effects for Tread Shot depending on the range was difficult for players to gauge what effect they would get. We are reducing it to a single effect, allowing the Stuart’s veterancy ability to always impact any vehicle in a major way. 

• Tread Shot now always causes a speed debuff of -80% speed and -40% rotation for 5 seconds. Effects no longer change on distance.  

Requisition 17-pounder Anti-tank Gun Unlock 

• Cost decreased from 125 manpower and 25 fuel to 100 manpower and 15 fuel  

Royal Engineer Section 

Royal Engineers are having their capture speed increased to help diversify the British early game by granting them better map control early on at the cost of long-term scaling.  

• Health increased from 85 to 95  
• Capture rate increased from 1 to 1.25

Team Weapon Training 

The bonuses from Team Weapon Training have been reworked to now provide significant bonuses that can be impactful to the outcome of a battle. The upgrade focuses on improving the survivability and rate of fire for all units involved.  

• Bonuses changed to +20% cooldown and reload speed and +15 health. Veterancy reward bonus remains the same. 

Vickers Focused Gunnery  

• Ranged increased from 50 to 55 
• Suppression penalty from 60% to 25% 
• Suppression penalty no longer affects Suppression radius and nearby suppression modifier  

Vickers HMG 

• Build time decreased from 40 to 30 

British Forces Battlegroups

Heavy Armor Battlegroup 

• Engineer Detachments now competes with Veteran Vehicle Crews  
• Light Vehicle Withdrawal moved to location of Engineer Detachments 
• Radio Net position swapped with Light Vehicle Withdrawal 

Light Vehicle Withdrawal 

With Light Vehicle Withdrawal always being available and the improved performance of British Forces light vehicles, we are reinstating the munitions cost to this ability to limit  how fast units can be traded in early game where there are multiple units competing for munitions. 

• Restored the previous munitions cost of 30
  
  

Deutsche Afrikakorps

The Deutsche Afrikakorps is receiving some changes to reduce the impact of their shock vehicle timings, specifically the anti-infantry power of the L6/40 and limiting the mobility of the Flakvierling. In return, the Afrikakorps will have easier access to late game units with the primary focus on the deployment costs of Armored Reserves to improve its viability and provide discounted medium armor over the course of a longer game. 

254 Armored Tractor 

• Lockdown mortar barrage shell count decreased from 24 to 14 

250 Light Carrier 

The standard 250 is having its front armor reduced to allow infantry to push back the 250 Light Carrier with concentrated small-arms fire.  

• Frontal armor decreased from 7 to 5.5; Also applies to the mortar variant 
• 250/9 20mm autocannon variant armor unchanged

Armored Reserves  

The cost of non-Tiger call-ins has been reduced. Afrikakorps players already pay a significant number of resources to unlock units that have earlier timings in other armies or already exists in Panzer Armee Kommand.  

Carro Armato M13/40 Light Tank 

We are making some minor changes to the Carro to reduce its performance against infantry. 

• Carro 47mm far accuracy corrected from 0.0375 to 0.035 to match other generalist tank guns 
• Model damage limit decreased from 3 to 2

Famo Recovery Half-track  

• Veterancy requirements decreased from 1200/3600/7200 to 500/1000/1500  

Flak 36 88mm Anti-tank Gun 

• Range increased from 70 to 75 

Flakvierling Half-track 

We are reducing the Flakvierling Half-track’s speed and acceleration, making it more difficult for the unit to escape its counter, and less effective at responding to enemy incursions across the map. 

• Acceleration decreased from 3.25 to 2.5 
• Speed decreased from 6.9 to 6.2  

Flammpanzer III Medium Tank 

• Frontal armor increased from 130 to 150  

Panzer III Assault Group 

Panzerjaeger replaced with a Panzerpioneer Squad that is upgraded with the  GrB 39 Grenade Launcher 

• Cost decreased from 600 manpower and 80 fuel to 500 manpower and 60 fuel 

Panzer III L Medium Tank 

We have fixed an issue where the Panzer III’s machine gun upgrade was significantly weaker than all other machine guns in the game. This puts it on-par with the Panzer IV’s MG 42 upgrade. 

• Pintle machine gun damage increased from 3 to 5 
• Pintle machine gun accuracy increased from 0.45/0.30/0.20 to 0.65/0.55/0.20  

Panzer IV and StuG G Assault Groups 

• Cost decreased from 600 manpower and 80 fuel to 500 manpower and 70 fuel 

Panzerarmee Kommand  

• Cost decreased from 350 manpower and 130 fuel to 300 manpower and 120 fuel  

Panzerjäger Squad  

We are significantly improving the Panzerjäger’s role as an anti-vehicle unit by increasing their rate of fire and responsiveness when acquiring a target. Their durability has also been slightly increased to help them against area of effect weapons they often encounter. 

• Health increased from 90 to 95 
• Panzerbüchse ready aim time from 1.25 to 0.75 
• Panzerbüchse aim-time decreased from 0.5/1 to 0.25/0.75 
• Panzerbüchse aim-time multiplier decreased from 1/1.25/1.5 to 1/1/1 
• Panzerbüchse reload time decreased from 2.75/3.25 to 2.5/2.75 
• Anti-tank Tear Gas Round ability cost decreased from 45 to 30

Semovente 

• HEAT shell now slows a vehicle’s speed by 80% and rotation by 40% for 5 seconds.  
• HEAT shell will now force the Semovente to keep tracking its target if the unit has exited its arc of fire while the ability is active, but no shell has been fired  

StuG D  

• Vertical tracking speed increased from 17 to 35 

Deutsche Afkikakorps Battlegroups 

Italian Infantry 

L6/40 Double Call-in 

L6/40s are receiving a major adjustment that greatly reduces their anti-infantry performance when used without the flamethrower. This makes the standard L6/40 rush less likely to immediately end the game and more geared to countering early light vehicles when used in pairs.  

We have chosen to go this route as the Afrikakorps already have many anti-infantry light vehicles that can put pressure on the opponent, and we wanted to keep synergy with the Guastatori also being available from the same part of the unlock tree who are strong anti-infantry units. 

• Area of effect damage reduced from 0.3/0.15/0.15 tp 0.1 at all distances  
• Area of effect distance reduced from 0.75/0.67/0.5 to 0/0.35/0.5  
• Area of effect reduced from 1.25 to 0.15 
• L6/40 accuracy reduced from 0.65/0.53/0.45 to 0.175/0.15/0.125  
• L6/40 Combat Group cost changed from 475 manpower and 35 fuel to 425 manpower and 50 fuel 
• L6/40 speed reduced from 7.5 to 7.2 
• Model damage limit reduced from 3 to 1

Armored Support
Battlefield Salvage 

• Duration increased from 45 to 60 second duration  
• Munitions cost decreased from 150 to 125 munition,

Panzer IV Command Tank 

• Command Point cost decreased from 4 to 3 

Panzerstorm 

Seek and Destroy and Panzerstorm are having their speed bonuses reduced make it easier to intercept or rundown units under the effects of these combat boosts. These abilities have received slight increases to their bonuses in other areas to compensate. 

• Acceleration bonus increased from 20% to 30%  
• Panzerstorm decorator indicator updated from offensive to speed  
• Rotation bonus increased from 20 to 25%  
• Speed bonus decreased from 50% to 35%

Vehicle Awareness  

We have reworked this ability to be a global active, allowing us to increase the range of the detection aura, without providing constant reconnaissance of enemy vehicles through the fog of war. 

• Active for 60 seconds; 120 second recharge time  
• Changed from a passive ability to an active timed ability  
• Command Point cost decreased from 2 to 1 
• Costs 50 munitions  
• Range increased from 60 to 70

Italian Combined Arms 

Italian Combined Arms Strafing Run 

• Bonus damage against vehicles increased from 100% to 250% 

Italian Combined Artillery Cover 

• Delay between anti-infantry mortar barrages decreased from 10 to 3 
• Delay between anti-vehicle heavy artillery barrages decreased from 10 to 5  
• Mortar projectile speed increased from 30 to 55  
• Munitions cost decreased from 225 to 200

Pact of Steel 

• Command Point cost increased from 1 to 2 

Secured Flanks and Force Recon abilities 

• Active aura range increased from 25 to 35 to match Combined Arms aura 

Wehrmacht 

Wehrmacht is receiving gentle adjustments this patch mainly to address issues regarding early game map control. 

Artillery Officer 

• Artillery Overwatch now has a 1.5 second delay before the first barrage is triggered; does not affect subsequent barrages.  

Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind 

• Fuel cost increased from 50 to 60  

Grenadier Squad 

Grenadier capture rate is being increased to match other infantry squads. 

• Can no longer merge into retreating units  
• Capture speed increased from 1 to 1.25  

Kettenkrad  

Kettenkrad has been overperforming as the main capture tool for Wehrmacht players. We’re making some changes that should distribute a bit of capture power away from the Kettenkrad, making builds without it a bit more viable. 

• Decapture revert rate decreased from 1.5 to 1.25 
• Communication Cables munitions cost increased from 25 to 40 
• Communication Cables now increases decapture speed by 0.25 from 0; returns Revert rate back to its original value

MG 42 White Phosphorous Rounds 

• Now has increased effectiveness against targets in cover. Gains +25% accuracy against units in cover and lowers the impact of cover damage reduction by 25%.  

Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket Launcher 

This adjusts the direct damage caused by the Nebelwerfer rockets on defensive structures, bringing them in-line with other artillery units that also have this penalty.  

• Now has a 25% damage penalty against bunkers and emplacements  

Panther Heavy Tank 

• Now benefits from Officer Training from the Panzer Kompanie  

Panzergrenadiers 

• Medium-range accuracy increased from 0.34 to 0.375 

Stummel Half-track

• Vertical tracking speed increased from 18 to 35 

Wehrmacht Battlegroups 

Mechanized Battlegroup 

• Mobile Repair Stations replaces Fuel Seizure: 251 Half-tracks and its variants, and the 221 Scout Car can automatically repair nearby vehicles in a 25m aura with a repair speed of 5.5 health per second when stationary and out of combat. 
• Panther, StuG III Assault Group, and 8-Rad Command Point costs decreased by 1 
• Raid Package Command Point cost increased from 1 to 2 
• Zeroing Artillery and Mechanized Assault swapped with Stosstruppen Ambush Package and Wespe SPG locations to the final row

New Ability - Unlock Panther Heavy Tank Production 

• Costs Zero Command Points to unlock 
• Alternative pick to the standard Panther Heavy Tank call-in that allows the Panther to be built from the Panzer Kompanie.  
• Call-in and buildable cost are the same at 550 manpower and 100 fuel.

Coastal Battlegroup 

• Bulwark Command Point cost increased from 2 to 3 
• Designate Defensive Line munitions cost increased from 60 to 75 
• Designate Defensive Line radius decreased from 35 to 30

Command Bunker 

• Cost increased from 250 manpower and 15 fuel to 250 manpower and 25 fuel 

BUGFIXES

Art/Animation 

• Adjusted some fences on Gardens to improve access to buildings. 
• Enabled access to a building near the summit of Mignano so that both doors can be used by players.  
• Fixed doors and windows on certain buildings to break when occupied.   
• Fixed an issue where the Stug III D was missing smoke launcher tubes.  
• Fixed an issue where the repair animation and sound were persisting after a bunker’s destruction. 
• Fixed an issue with destruction on certain fort structures.  
• Fixed occlusion issues with the US Forces Ammo Storage  
• Fixed rocket visuals for the Nebelwerfer 
• Fixed an issue where the Engine Damaged and Crew Stunned special effects were triggered when researching the Communication Cable upgrade. 
• Fixed a misaligned construction animation happening when repairing machine gun emplacements  
• The 105mm Howitzer recoil timing was improved to match projectile ejection. 
• Removed a horizontal line artifact showing during the post-match Victory video. 
• The Map preview in Multiplayer or Skirmish lobby will now only show victory point locations if the selected game mode uses victory points.  
• The 250 Halftrack Gunner no longer use the default idle animation when shooting. 
• Fix some vehicles having choppy movement when they pivot on the spot. 
• Fixed water seam issue on Semois map. 
• Adjusted Sousse Wetlands atmosphere to have warmer tone. 
• Fixed vehicle physics sometimes causing vehicles to continuously bounce up and down.
   

Audio 

• Added audio feedback when hovering the All Maps or Modded button. 
• Fixed the British Air and Sea Company sometimes using the wrong voice lines.

Gameplay 

• Squads no longer automatically skip a queued capture order if it is contested by an enemy squad. Queueing up multiple capture orders will force the unit to remain until they capture the point before moving on to the next target, instead of giving up when enemies walk into the area. This behavior impacts all units, which means that even a unit with no combat capabilities (ie: Kettenkrad), will remain to capture a point. 
• Challenges can no longer be completed by destroying your own or your teammates' units.  
• Fixed retreating units being cancelled by pinned status that begins on the same tick as the retreat command.  
• Fixed a description issue with Sound the Alarm where it did not mention it provided vision.  
• Fixed a munition exploit with the Half-track Salvage ability.  
• Fixed a targeting issue with the Bazooka Team's White Phosphorous rocket when firing at bridges  
• Fixed an issue where build time indicators for defenses built by Coastal Reserves Pioneers did not reflect the fact that Coastal Reserves Pioneers build 50% faster.  
• Fixed an issue where Assault Engineer Thompsons would not be reequipped on reinforce.  
• Fixed an issue where Coastal Reserve abilities could occur when near neutral or enemy bunkers.  
• Fixed an issue where the Afrikakorps 2.5 tonne trucks were not affected by Rapid Advance.  
• Fixed an issue where snipers could miss pinned targets.  
• Fixed an issue where Strength in Steel did not update the population values of the M8 Scott, M31 Recovery Vehicle, and Sherman Easy 8 call-in abilities.  
• Fixed an issue where the 4x4 Trucks self-repair abilities did not share a cooldown between its upgraded and non-upgraded version.  
• Fixed an issue where the 6-pounder, 17-pounder, and the Flak 36 88mm Mobile Anti-Tank gun could gain height bonuses  
• Fixed an issue where the 75mm Half-track did not reveal itself when firing from the fog of war.  
• Fixed an issue where the Bishop projectile could fail to fire and instead fall through the earth when firing at certain elevations.  
• Fixed an issue where the Wehrmacht Sniper lost camouflage faster than the US Forces Sniper when leaving cover  
• Fixed an issue where the GrB 39 Grenade Launcher projectile could fall through the ground rather than firing at the target when on a slope.  
• Fixed an issue where the Kettenkrad could not camouflage until it moved after reaching Veterancy level 1  
• Fixed an issue where the Recon Artillery ability would not cover its intended radius and would not barrage enemies at the edge of the ability.  
• Fixed an issue where the Semovente was using medium vehicle veterancy rather than light vehicle veterancy.  
• Fixed an issue where the Smoke canisters did not function for the Stummel and was in the incorrect grid position for the Wehrmacht Medical Half-track  
• Fixed an issue where the sniper could not fire when medical-kits was active. Healing will be paused when the sniper fires.  
• Fixed an issue where the Spotting Scope Upgrade remained upon converting the unit.  
• Fixed an issue where the Stummel and 75mm Gun Motor Carriage would not fire if the hull was not aligned to the target.  
• Fixed an issue where the US Forces Sniper could get first-strike bonuses  
• Fixed an issue where the Zeroing Barrage ability description was incorrect on the Battlegroup menu.  
• Fixed an issue where White Phosphorous Grenades could trigger mines, even when not exploding on top of them.  
• Fixed Command Churchill to allow infantry to ride it like other Churchill variants.  
• Fixed decapture time on some Medium and High resource points that were previously using the Low points values. This is a specific issue that was affecting rectangular shaped points, such as those available on Gardens. Decapture rate has now been standardized to 25 seconds for Medium and 35 seconds for High points.  
• Fixed units with Ambush Concealment staying camouflaged when squad enters combat.  
• Fixed vehicles moving in reverse ignoring movement speed modifiers.  
• Fixed when the loop for the aircraft engines becomes stuck playing if the player drastically changes the zoom when the sound effects are playing.  
• Flak 36 Anti-Tank Guns and 17-pounder Anti-Tank Guns can now capture territory and prevent territory from being captured when the squad is in a capture circle.  
• Panzergrenadiers will now spawn with their 6th model when upgraded with Veteran Squad Leaders.  
• Team weapon squads can no longer be deployed while inside the Afrikakorps 250 Halftrack  
• The Allied Expedition challenge now awards 30 Merit instead of 100  
• The description of the challenge Panzerarmee has been updated for clarity and now specifies that the challenge must be completed with a Panzer III or Panzer IV. 
• The Flak 30 20mm Anti-aircraft Gun can now prioritize aircraft  
• The Flakvierling Half-track Armor Piercing rounds ability will now apply a speed debuff decorator over the target it hits.  
• Units that do not provide resources for their wrecks can no longer be salvaged for resources from Recovery Vehicles or the Afrikakorps Salvage Kits upgrades. Previously the wrecks could be salvaged, but no resources would be provided.  
• Updated a wooden gate to be crushable by all vehicles - it was previously impervious to light vehicles.  
• When Support Advance is used on the StuG D, the reticule will now match the unit's maximum attack ground range. 

Performance/Stability 

• Fixed a crash that can occur when upgrading bunkers at the same time as squads are unloading.  

• Fixed an issue causing frame-drop when selecting a large group of vehicles.  

• Fixed a crash that sometimes occurs when using abilities in single player.  

• In Custom Matches, when an outdated or unloadable mod is selected in a lobby, the start match button is disabled and a tooltip will provide information on the mod causing issues. This change prevents players from crashing when trying to load a Custom match with an outdated or unloadable mod. 

• For performance reasons we now only validate and populate the most recent 50 manual saved games for each of three categories: Skirmish saves, Italy Campaign saves, and North Africa saves. Replays are also restricted to the 50 most recent ones. The older save and replay files don't get deleted though. If you delete some of your newer ones, older ones will then become available. 

• Updated minimum AMD driver version to accommodate last released driver for AMD 370 GPUs. 

• Fixed some memory leaks. 

• Fixed a crash that would happen occasionally in Italian Campaign Skirmishes while the Fallschirmjäger bonus objective was active. 

Single Player 

Gela 

• Fixed an issue where Allied units were infinitely spawning. This could cause save files to become exceptionally large and fail to load or open. 

Calabria 

• The first Attacking tutorial no longer overlaps with the combat preview window. 
• Fixed instances of ending turns taking too long. 
• The background to the loyalty button is now being properly hidden during the tutorial. 

Dynamic Italian Campaign 

• British Forces vehicles now use multiplayer pathfinding improvements instead of the older singleplayer pathing.
• Fixed an issue where a company may die even when they win a mission on Italy campaign if they started the mission while having low health. 
• The Attack Airfield secondary objective will no longer spawn out of bounds behind the Caesar line.  
• Fixed British Air and Sea Company's Air Recon trait not always providing the correct buff percentage.  
• Improved Paradrop Company ability is now properly hidden on the C47 plane until the upgrade has been purchased. 
• Rapid Construction Company skill upgrade now instantly builds detachments. 
• Fixed an issue preventing scripted aircraft flyovers and bombing runs from overlapping.  
• Fixed an issue where the BAR upgrade would display, even after the player had access to the M1941 Johnson Light Machinegun in campaign.  
• Fixed an issue where the Stuart Light Tank in the Tank Ace mission did not have a decorator when using self-repair.  
• Fixed the crew being German on the Stummel Half-track when recrewed during certain missions.  
• Fixed some disappearing Company support modifiers on the mission briefing screen. 
• Fixed the tooltip description of the Valentine II Medium tank.  
• Improved movement lines and Attack Icon visuals.  
• Removed the single rogue Wehrmacht repair bunker from the campaign map as it had no functionality.  
• The British Forces mortar will now recrew with the correct Indian mortar crew members.  
• Updated the reticule for the veterancy 1 Paratrooper paradrop to use the same radius of the non-upgraded ability. 
• The Command Valentine now uses a unique wreck; when recovered the unit will be respawned as a Command Valentine rather than as a normal Valentine. 
• The member of the paratrooper squad no longer starts the Salerno mission stuck behind the truck.  
• Fixed some company upgrades being purchasable multiple times in Italy Campaign.  
• Added failure reason text when attempting to use ability that requires vision at an area/target player does not have vision of.  
• Fixed paradropped supply crates sometimes getting stuck inside buildings and being unreachable if a building started being constructed on the landing site before the supply crates have landed. 
• Fixed some player abilities cooldown freezing upon saving and loading the game.

UX/UI 

• Updated error/ban message for chat-banned players, in addition Ban notifications will now show more information about your ban. 
• Team weapons will be counted in the total stats under Units tab in post match stats. 
• Fixed an issue introduced in Steel Shepherd that required holding the ESC key to skip the opening cinematic. Pressing ESC once will now skip the cinematic as intended. 
• Fixed an issue in the Japanese and Chinese versions of Company of Heroes 3 that would occur when typing English characters.  
• Added a hotkey tooltip to production building buttons in the command card.  
• Adjusted loading screen pinwheels to be present inside the content grid in ultrawide screen mode.  
• Changed the time stamp format for store sales countdown timer to show seconds, only when it's less than 24-hours left  
• Disabled movement preview from being visible while trying to construct detachments.  
• Factions are now consistently ordered in the Faction Selection and Loadout screens. 
• Fixed a bug that was causing British Forces and Afrikakorps base bunkers to appear in the post-match stats.  
• Fixed the Detonate icon on the tactical map  
• Fixed some emplacements not being selectable while in Tactical Map.  
• Fixed wrong requirement tooltip being displayed when trying to load more units to a garrison that is already at full capacity.  
• General tool-tip fixes and information updates.  
• Party members will receive a notification message when party host migration occurs, due to the host leaving.  
• Removed No Key objective names in the after-action reports. 
• The Hold-Fire ability will now display the correct icon when active.  
• Updated the wreck recovery UI. 
• The store UI now allows players to view owned store items.  
• Along with the addition of profile customization to the Loadout screen, the sorting of items on the Loadout screen has been changed. They are now sorted by the Company of Heroes 3 release in which they were introduced, then by rarity and finally alphabetically.   
• Fixed a bug where in some cases replays would reflect the tickets remaining for the two teams swapped.