Onyx Shark (1.7.0) Patch Notes

Onyx Shark (1.7.0) Patch Notes 

Find our Known Issues list here.  

Get a summary of what's coming in this update in our Mission Briefing.

NEW CONTENT & FEATURES 

Maps 

Black Gold (4vs4) 

Added 4vs4 Black Gold map to Quick Match, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

An oil refinery and its oil fields sit isolated among the salt flats and creeping desert. Commanders will be required to bring every tool in their repertoire, including towing, tank riding and combined arms to take control of this vast space. 

• We have increased the automatch weighting of Black Gold temporarily to coincide with its release. This will be reverted in the coming weeks.  

Blinder Alley (1vs1) 

Added 1vs1 Blinder Alley to Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Drawing on the tight, urban combat of Torrente, this revised map is intended as a haven for our first-time players. Commanders should expect a long, narrow field of play to reduce the amount of frontline they must control, with plentiful garrisons and cover between them and the enemy. 

Player Profile - Match History 

Added Match History as a new section to the Player Profile. This feature allows players to find, watch and save replays from other players right in the game. For each player, the last ten games played in Multiplayer (Quick Match, Co-op vs AI, Custom Games) will automatically be saved and stored in the cloud. A button located on the top right of the HUD allows players to toggle their Match History between Public (default) and Private.  When accessing the Match History, the following actions are available: 

• Save Replay allows a local copy of the selected game to be saved, either keeping the default name or renaming it. These games will then be accessible inside the Replay List to be watched at any time. 

• Watch allows directly watching the selected game without a download 

If the downloaded match requires a specific mod to run, and the mod is still available, it will also be downloaded with the replay. Past matches available in the player profile are subject to the same limitations as local replays, meaning they will be invalidated when a new patch affecting gameplay data is released. 

New Battlegroup & Commander Points Panel 

Battlegroups are a premium component of Company of Heroes 3 and are considerably more complex than our previous games’ iterations of similar systems. However, we felt we did not fully do justice to how they were visually represented in the game. For this reason, we decided to rework the Battlegroup Panel to provide a new, more refined and polished version that we are releasing in Onyx Shark, coming with a new Design, improved Art and Quality of Life improvements. This is the first step of our Battlegroup Panel rework, specifically targeting the look & feel of the panel during RTS matches.   

As with Battlegroups, we felt that our Commander Points system could benefit from a visual rework — after all, we are talking about a unique resource type that is crucial to unlock some of the most powerful abilities and units in the game! We went back to the drawing board and, inspired by both historical assets and previous games’ iterations, we designed a new Commander Points button. Our goal is to create something polished and new, yet familiar to our players. 

• Added visual improvements to all elements of the Battlegroup Panel. 

• Added a newly redesigned Commander Points button located in the bottom right of the screen. 

• Updated XP kickers to more intuitively match the Commander Points 

• The default way to select Battlegroup abilities has been changed: instead of a "one-click purchase" behavior, each ability will be initially pre-purchased when clicked, temporarily unlocking it in the panel. You will also see your total Commander Points adjust based on your decision. These choices will then need to be confirmed or cancelled. Confirming will unlock the selected abilities. When cancelling a pre-purchase, Command Points are given back to the player and any pre-purchased ability is reverted to its previous state. We designed this system to help new and less experienced players pick the right ability. Pre-purchasing new abilities and closing the panel without confirming will result in the purchase being reverted.  

• We are adding a new Gameplay Setting called "Deliberate Battlegroup Unlocking" that you can toggle off to continue using our legacy single click purchase behavior, in case the new system is not to your taste. Our goal with this work is to create a more friendly system without adding new friction points to players who are used to the legacy Battlegroup system. 

Random Faction Selection 

Random Faction Selection makes its debut in Company of Heroes 3. Players will be able to use it in Quick Match to search with all the factions simultaneously, with the goal of getting into a match as quickly as possible. Matches and ELO gains/losses will count towards the faction & map type combination played. This feature will not be available in Skirmish.

To use a random faction, simply open the faction's selection panel from the Quick Match lobby and click on the Random button. The last equipped Battlegroup loadout will automatically be plugged in when queuing as Random. To change Battlegroups, select a different faction, adjust the Battlegroup selection and then select Random.

Random Faction selection is also available when queuing as a party. The Party Leader will be the only player allowed to select Random, while other party members will be given a faction that is consistent with the side the party leader is eventually assigned (Axis / Allies). This is the first iteration of Random faction selection, and we will explore additional improvements in the future as we monitor our matchmaking health.  

FEATURE IMPROVEMENTS 

Audio 

Audio improvements in Onyx Shark have targeted small arms weapon firing, vehicles, and specific voice over moments. Rifles, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, and heavy machine guns were all streamlined to optimize their overall playback. In addition to sounding cleaner and more distinct, it also means there will be much less audio dropping where sounds were supposed to play but didn’t.

Additionally, the team has done an attenuation pass to these weapons. Our goal was to clean up the CoH3 soundscape and create a more focused game experience. This means you’ll hear audio for things happening on screen, and as you scroll further and further away the sound will be fainter and fainter. As the audio is more localized, it means you’ll be less overwhelmed with attacks happening all over the map and it will provide a more understandable picture of the battle. You should have an easier time hearing what is happening and determining where sounds are coming from on the map. A similar pass was done for vehicles with a focus on optimizing sound playback and attenuation tuning. This should put a stronger focus on vehicles during gameplay, with new optimizations allowing important sounds to come through reliably. 

On the speech side, we've addressed missing squad voice over on weapon pickups, death exertions, and we have polished medium armored vehicle responses from mine damage. Additionally, we did some minor tuning on the Intel voice over to reduce repetition when announcing victory points. 

The audio work in Onyx Shark focused on updating the foundation of the audio experience, which was necessary for any further audio improvements in the future. 

• Fixed an issue where the MP40 sometimes was looping sounds when it wasn’t being fired 

• Attenuation of the GRB 39 Grenade Launcher explosion cut in half 

• Added attenuation for the Garand Ping 

• Vehicle engines now play when loading a saved game 

• Reoptimized and added attenuation for SMG, LMG, HMG, flamethrower, small cannon, and 20mm AA gun. 

• Re-tuned volume and attenuation on vehicle audio for all factions 

• Added voice lines for British Forces sappers when they build a field infirmary 

• Added death exertions for Gurkhas and Pioneers 

• Added unique voice over lines for when units are ordered to pick up weapons and after they are picked up 

Italian Campaign 

We wanted to make the campaign more difficult, but in a way that adds more nuanced strategy and interesting obstacles to navigate. Several gameplay adjustments have been made with the intention of encouraging a more cautious but rewarding approach on the Campaign Map. Instead of relying on the brute force, your success will depend on clever use of employing aircraft, abilities, and detachments to deal with issues. Skirmish missions will offer a much greater variety of obstacles to keep you on your toes. Difficulty curve should be more even over time instead of becoming much too easy as time goes by. 

• Emplacements now deal increased damage to Companies, based on the player’s difficulty selection. On expert units will take double damage, so be careful, commander! 

• Some towns have had the number of “shields” increased, increasing the length of time it takes to capture some settlements 

• Companies can now only use their Heal ability while in allied territory 

• With the increased difficulty noted above, using planes is now more critical. Therefore, we have removed their population cost so a larger force can be deployed to help keep up with threats. 

• Reduced cost to repair aircraft to 75 manpower, down from 100 

• Looking at the Campaign map, you should quickly be able to see your Company’s movement points and action points. When you select one of your units, you will see the movement points and action points displayed on the selection card as well. 

• The Italian Dynamic Campaign's prologue has been streamlined, making it quicker to complete.   

• Fixed camera in Italy Campaign sometimes not focusing on A.I. actions 

• When the player selects a unit, town, or enemy they will see a new selection card that will be connected to the command buttons and resources. 

• Enemy actions are now displayed as a progress bar during the enemy turn. 

• Increased amount of XP required to gain veteran ranks by 33% 

• Veteran squads are very powerful and they were unlocking too quickly in the campaign leading to a difficulty level that wasn’t engaging enough 

Missions 

• Build order for the enemy will now vary based on the company type, e.g. Armoured companies build more tanks, Infantry build more Jaeger and Panzergrenadiers, Luftwaffe build more Wirblewinds, and Mechanized build more light armor. 

• Enemy grenade fuse timers now scale with difficulty level, with higher difficulties giving you less time to react 

• Player AND enemy companies start with fewer bonus resources based on their veterancy. (Previously, vet 2 and 3 companies were given significant starting resource boosts). Note that the free buildings for veteran ranks remain unchanged. 

• We’ve re-tuned the skirmish maps to ensure primary and secondary objectives fit well together and flow well with the map type. 

•  Updated “The Rescue” mission with an overhauled map to provide better movement , more exciting encounters at each location, and a dramatic finale.  Predominantly an infantry-only mission, our revisions should provide an interesting new perspective on the next playthrough!    

• Three new Skirmish maps (Villa Fiore, Gardens and Semois) have been added to the Italian Campaign, replacing the Skirmish missions previously at Calitri, Cancello, Pomigliano and Spinazzola 

• Blinder Alley has been added to the Italian Campaign, replacing the Skirmish mission previously at Altavilla 

• Adjusted the Skirmish missions at Lesina and Toretto to better suit their maps, as some objectives are more challenging on these maps  

• Cover and extra population has been granted on the Montella mission, which was noted to have a particularly challenging final battle 

• The size of the airstrike targeting reticle has been reduced at the finale of Gela, to help avoid confusion as to whether it might cause friendly fire 

• Three skirmish objectives "Rescue", "Victory Point" and "Fixed Force" have been reintroduced to increase the variety of objectives found on Skirmish missions 

• Rout objective has added defenders on hard and expert difficulty so it’s more difficult to win extremely quickly 

• The time required to hold points to win the Rout and Encirclement modes varies based on difficulty setting, but is now 60 seconds max, down from 120 seconds. 

• "Reserve" enemy forces that are called in when the player is close to winning should never spawn in the Encirclement mode and has a higher chance of spawning based on difficulty setting. 

• If you start a skirmish, you should never see the same objective as your previous skirmish.  

• Updated spawning logic for side objectives so the required conditions such as taking a Panzerschreck can always be met 

• Mine clearing objective now requires you to actually clear them with an engineer instead of sending hapless troops to detonate them. To balance this increased difficulty, less mines must be deactivated to complete the objective. 

• Destroy enemy Panther objective now requires you to stop it from hitting Veterancy 2 instead of Veterancy 1. The time at which this objective can appear now scales with difficulty, so it shows up later on easier difficulty levels. 

• Fixed an issue where vehicles part of the Recovery objective could be destroyed and thus never completed. 

• As the Campaign progresses, the enemy in campaign skirmish should unlock limited airstrike and artillery abilities like Stuka Strafing Run, Fragmentation Bombs, Heavy Artillery Barrage, and Encirclement Barrage. They will unlock call-in abilities for units like the Wespe, Nashorn, Panther, Tiger, Flak Halftrack, and 8-Rad. Luftwaffe companies should deploy Fallschirmjager squads (but not via paradrop).

• Added a warning when allies health drops to 50% in the skirmish Rescue Mode. Armor of allies is now increased on easier difficulties.  

• Enemies now retreat once you have beaten them in the Rescue and Knockout skirmish battles

Multiplayer Maps 

• Many improvements and bug fixes have been made across our Multiplayer Maps, thanks to feedback on the Company of Heroes Official Discord. Any further feedback on each map is still welcome, so please be sure to leave comments in the map-feedback section. 

• Faymonville (1vs1) - Adjusted territory points to prevent squads capturing two locations at once. Rotated a central building to prevent it from only being accessible to the Southern player, which was causing major balance issues. Both the mansion and its "equivalent" building on the South of the map have been replaced with more similar structures, rebalancing the number of windows available to players. This has also dramatically reduced player frustration with the mansion, which was unintuitive to play around. A large tree cluster near the Northern safe Fuel point has also been replaced with a crushable hedgerow to better mirror the opposing Southern point, which should enable easier "diving" for this resource point. 

• Pachino Stalemate (1vs1) - The map center now has improved accessibility: we have removed a building, restored more health to an adjacent building to counterbalance this, added more cover to both sides and improved pathfinding in the area.  

• Road to Tunis (1vs1) - Rock piles near the Western HQ's cut-off have been adjusted to have clearer 3 meter-wide openings, enabling vehicles to enter and exit the area without having to stop and pivot. Cover near Western HQ has also been adjusted to prevent the player from protecting their cut-off from cover and to prevent them from constructing HQ buildings in this corner, which enables reinforcement too close to this cut-off. Minor adjustments to safe fuel points have also been considered to prevent them from being completely covered by a single HMG arc. New sight blockers added near Western HQ to prevent the HMG bunker from firing through rocks. 

• Semois (1vs1) - Brought buildings nearest the HQ cut-off points to parity by removing shot blockers and ensuring an equal number of windows face the central fuel points. Cover near these fuel points has also been adjusted to directly counter these buildings. Satellite victory points have been changed to have smaller capture areas, due to their proximity to high munitions points (which some units were able to capture simultaneously). Locations on both sides of the map have been adjusted to ensure better timing for players attempting to capture their safe munitions before crossing the shallows to capture the high munitions - these were previously unbalanced. Northern safe fuel has had cover and blockers removed to bring it to parity with the Southern equivalent. Northern cut-off road has been widened and wooden fence swapped for stone wall. It is now impossible for players to mount the opposite side of this wall.   

• Twin Beaches (1vs1) - A new atmosphere and transition has been added, better suited to the dramatic environments this map was designed to mimic. Updated the map's ambient audio to be more appropriate for the Italian countryside. Updated pathfinding and cover near the lighthouse staircases to enable large team weapons (Anti-Tank Guns and Flak Guns) access to the upper platform. Updates to the sight/shot blocking around the map's central buildings, using new sandbag formations to block windows. 

• Villa Fiore (1vs1) - Updated and removed some cover near the map center - notably removing medium crush walls to enable better movement of light vehicles in this area. We are observing this map closely for issues with height gameplay and terrain blocking shots, which should now be considerably reduced thanks to gameplay changes. 

• Campbell's Convoy (2vs2) - Updated various rock formations and cover positions to improve flow across the map, especially to the East side of the central Victory Point. Rock formation near the central Victory Point has been reduced in size and an infantry-only path widened to accept all units. Various changes to vehicle wrecks across the map. 

• Day 101 (2vs2) - Adjusted a capture point which had become obscured by foliage unintentionally. Introduced two new infantry only pathways between the central fields and the city, to improve movement and flanking between them. Added light cover parity near the Southern Victory Point.  

• Elst Outskirts (2vs2) - Updated territory to prevent a single squad from capturing two capture points at once. Added an additional sneaking route behind the industrial sector in the Northeast to reach parity with the opposite side of the map. 

• Operation Eindhoven (2vs2) - A new atmosphere has been added to add striking contrast to the map and help units stand out against the terrain. 

• Torrente (2vs2) - Piles of rubble en route to the central church have been updated to provide a smoother route of access, where previously team weapons were struggling. 

• Gothic Line (3vs3) - Updated trucks to have correct cover and sight blocking settings in the South of the map. Also updated HQ buildings to face the map center as some were skewed, causing retreating units to choose odd rally points. HQ positions have also been changed to enable players to spawn next to members of their party, which was not guaranteed previously. 

• L'Aquila (3vs3) - A new atmosphere has been added to vastly improve the visual style of the map, deepening shadows. Updated cover in the map center to be more balanced, including adding craters and rotating the brick warehouse to better mirror the train station. Sight and shot blocking wall added to the industrial complex overlooking the Eastern HQ area to reduce base pinning, and overall improvements to team weapon movement and pathfinding. Removed design splines from the Out of Bounds areas. 

• Montherme (3vs3) - Updated pathfinding and cover map-wide. Several areas have been improved for AT guns, mortars and HMG's, due to their inability to vault. Sight blocking added and improved in the map's North near the central Victory Point, to create a more distinct and fair engagement area. Buildings adjusted in the map South to reduce base-pinning and create more interesting engagements in this lane. New metal railings have been added along the riverside, reducing the risk of British tourists falling into the water.   

• Monte Cavo (4vs4) - Atmosphere adjusted to improve the visibility of units in shadowed areas (notably on shadowed slopes), where previously it was possible to lose sight of units entirely. Removed timer from the first atmosphere in Monte Cavo's transition, which was delaying the transition into the next atmosphere. This delay, when triggered, caused the lighting to snap unnaturally. Adjusted cliffs, walls and buildings near the West side of the central compound, opening a larger route into the area. Considerable updates to defenses in the map center using new sandbag assets, reducing the effectiveness of overpowered buildings by blocking windows.  

• Sousse Wetlands (4vs4) - Updated vehicle wrecks map-wide to meet the African aesthetic. 

• Four existing maps (Twin Beaches, Operation Eindhoven, L’Aquila and Monte Cavo) have been given striking new atmospheres to improve their visual fidelity. We have also been sure to improve the visibility of your units on these maps 

• Most Multiplayer maps have had territory capture areas adjusted to square shapes or larger circles. We wanted to add diversity to how our maps play compared to each other whilst ensuring we don't dramatically affect their balance. Expect to see square capture areas of varying sizes in urban areas and circular capture areas in more organic spaces.  

• Map descriptions can now be viewed in the loading screen for a Match 

• Several map descriptions have been updated to provide a more detailed overview of the map's features or the historical events that inspired them 

• New map objects have been added across various maps, including new faction-specific vehicle wrecks, sandbag shoring, metal city railings and some autumnal foliage 

A.I. 

Enemy and friendly A.I. have undergone several changes over recent updates that will result in a noticeable improvement in their overall behavior and effectiveness with Onyx Shark. 

• The A.I. will be more vigilant with repairing and preserving vehicles, ensuring they are not low health when entering new engagements. 

• A.I. will be smarter about when to use recon and smoke runs. 

• Infantry will now group up more, so they maintain their strength in numbers. 

• Infantry will be less focused on back-capping points. 

• Easy AI now has a 50% resource penalty across all three resource types. This, along with throttled production should let newer players experience a slower paced game as they learn and explore  

Game Lobbies & Loading Screens 

• Added a new tooltip appearing when hovering on Matchmaking Queue percentages while searching for a match in Quick Match and Co-op vs A.I. - this tooltip shows the detailed distribution of players across different Map Types when more than one is selected. 

• Resource, Victory Points and Player Start Locations will now appear on the minimap in the Custom Game Browser.  

• Resource and Victory Points now appear on the minimap in the Replay Browser. 

• Map descriptions and Resource and Victory Points will now appear on loading screens. 

• Updated game lobbies to better inform players on Random vs Fixed Locations: when Random locations are selected, the number will disappear from each player slot and a question mark will appear on the minimap instead of a number on each player start location.  Friends List is now sorted by status (online then offline) and then alphabetically. 

• Improved the flow of the Recently Played tab by identifying if friends are still in the previous match/match stats or if they are out and available to join the party. 

Rendering 

• The Maximum Image Quality setting will now disable the terrain quality degradation on camera movement. Terrain degradation is important for slower GPUs, but players with powerful computers can now choose to retain maximum terrain quality at all times. There is a large performance hit for enabling Maximum now, so players should only enable it on high end machines, as it will affect performance when the camera is moving. 

• Players who previously had their Image Quality set to Ultra and Maximum will now default to Very High and Ultra to accommodate the “new” Maximum. This can be manually changed after you launch the game for the first time.  

• The Fog of War effect now blends smoothly over time. Note: if you see any visual issues, please update your video card drivers. 

Replays 

• In the Settings menu, the players will have a new option under the Gameplay settings called “Hide Match Length”. When the setting is turned on, they will not be able to see the Match Length. 

• When pressing enter while watching a replay, the player will only be able to see messages that were sent during the match. They will not be able to enter a new chat message.   

• When hovering over a Battlegroup in the Caster UI, the player will see a tooltip displaying all the correct information. 

• Replays now show team chat messages, but only for the team of the person who recorded the replay. 

• Fixed a bug with the Replays management page, preventing the renaming or deletion of a Replay. 

• Fixed a bug where you would not get the post-match map spectator mode if you won a multiplayer match by being the last human player remaining. = 

Friends List 

• When searching your friend list, the results are sorted in order of Friend Requests, Online, Offline, and Blocked - with each group sorted alphabetically. 

• Fixed a bug whereby attempting to open the Player Profile of someone in the Recently Played section on the Add Friends menu opens the player’s own profile instead. 

UI 

• Status decorators for both active and passive abilities that currently appear above unit decorators will now also be displayed on the unit card, detailing both ability names and detailed descriptions when hovered over. This was a major task the team took on for Onyx Shark, and we will continue looking for ways to make CoH3 easier to learn. 

• Several legacy icons have been updated to align with CoH3’s theming, including the US Armored Battlegroup. 

• Standardized the vehicle icon used on all the 2.5-tonne trucks for the Afrikakorps faction on the Unit Card to match their light vehicle role. 

• Handbrake now gives a status decorator icon when it is active.

Camera & Controls  

• Centering the camera when multiple units from the selected group are far from each other will now always result in the camera being centered on at least one unit. Previously the system was centering the camera on the center point between them, which often resulted in the camera being pointed at an empty location. 

• Double-pressing on a control group hotkey can now have the camera center on the control group or center and then continue to follow it. You can use the new Control Group Focus Camera Behavior setting in the Controls tab of the Settings to customize this behavior. 

• With a group of squads selected, double clicking on a squad's shield in the lower-right info card will now have the camera center on the squad or center and then continue to follow it. You can use the new Multiple Squad Selection sub-select Camera Behavior setting in the Controls tab of the Settings to customize this behavior. 

• Double-clicking on a squad decorator on the tactical map (as well as selecting the unit and closing the tactical map) will now have the camera center on the squad or center and then continue to follow it. You can use the new Double-Click Squad on Tac-Map Camera Behavior setting in the Controls tab of the Settings to customize this behavior. 

• Fixed a bug where the hit test area for unit decorators was too wide making it difficult to click on a unit that had another unit's decorator floating nearby. 

Inactivity Detection & Moderation 

A new Inactivity auto-detection feature has been added to Quick Match and Coop vs A.I.; when a player is inactive for some time, they will receive a warning message, followed by a vote to kick them between the remaining active players from the same team. On a successful vote, the player is kicked, and an A.I. will take over. Our goal with this feature is twofold: promote fair play by increasing the quality of our matches and to educate our community on respecting the game rules set in place to guarantee the best possible experience. 

• Current thresholds are 1 minute for a warning message, 2 minutes (total) for the vote to kick to be started. While this threshold might be strict, it allows any player who is away from their keyboard from the start of the match to be kicked very early in the match, meaning the rest of the team can determine if they wish to proceed with an A.I. teammate (which we have also improved!). 

• When a vote is started, a popup will appear in the top left corner of the screen, similar to the Surrender popup. 

• For a player to be kicked, all the other players need to vote positively, and that percentage needs to be >50% of the total connected players on that team.  

• When a vote is started, the system will also vote “Yes” in the background to solve the impasse created by cases where only two players are effectively on the same team. 

• Only one vote of any type can be active at the same time:  

• If a Surrender vote is in progress while a vote to kick is supposed to be triggered, the kicking vote is overridden, and a new system check will happen after two more minutes.  

• In the opposite scenario, if a vote to kick is already ongoing, the Surrender feature is temporary disabled. 

• Lastly, in the case of multiple players being inactive, if the second vote to kick would happen during the time the first vote is in progress, it will forgo the second vote until a new check happens again after two more minutes. 

• Players still need to manually report inactive players, especially if they feel the inactivity is malicious or a pattern of behavior. We recommend taking this extra reporting step so our automated moderation tools may also trigger further penalties under certain thresholds. 

• Players kicked for being inactive will be sent back to the Main Menu, and they may receive an automatch cooldown dependent on their recent behavior. 

• To be considered active, players must do what we call “meaningful actions.” This includes production, commands, use of abilities, research of upgrades, etc.. If a player is only moving the camera around the map or simply selecting units, the game will not consider the player “active.” 

GAMEPLAY CHANGES 

Pathing 

For this update we have introduced a new type of turn for vehicles. This turn should allow vehicles to pre-emptively start turning before a corner, where as before they would wait until they cleared the corner to start the turn. 

This effectively reduces the amount of times vehicles will pivot when attempting to go past tight map locations and improves the smoothness of their movement in general. 

Vehicle Suspension, Start of Movement and Recoil 

We wanted to improve how vehicles looked and felt - from their navigation through the terrain to the start of their movement. Therefore we have completed a design review of every vehicle in the game. While previous Company of Heroes games were largely animation driven, Company of Heroes 3’s systems simulate physics. For this update we have implemented the following: 

• Light vehicles with wheels should exhibit more suspension sag while moving through the terrain. 

• Treaded light vehicles should be more stable and have less sag but still react to acceleration/deceleration and getting hit. 

• Ultra-light vehicles like the jeep and dingo should exhibit the most suspension sag 

• Medium and Heavy Tanks in general have more suspension dampening meaning that they should be better at absorbing hits (less rocking back and forth). 

• Due to the default camera height, at which most players will be playing at, we exaggerated some of the interactions for game readability, but we kept authenticity where it seemed to make sense (as an example, the Whizbang was a stable vehicle when firing its rockets). 

• While suspension dictates how vehicles interact with the terrain, it also dictates how they react to getting hit since the suspension will try to dissipate that energy from the hit. In general, we wanted vehicles to react more strongly to getting hit which means suspension systems having less strength and dampening. For our heavier vehicles we have adjusted them to balance themselves quicker to give a feeling of their stable and heavy nature. 

We have also added some new physics interactions behind the scenes, one of them is some slight instability or “wobble” linked to the acceleration of vehicle, this should be more noticeable at the start of the movement but not distracting at the default camera height. While doing this part we have also adjusted the lurching seen in multiple vehicles. Finally, this vehicle suspension work opened some space for weapon recoil to be more visible. We think it's important to give the player feedback when their vehicle is firing, and it also adds to the overall experience of making your vehicles feel like they are a part of the action.  

Weapon Impacts 

We have added some additional tuning settings to let us further refine how vehicle impacts feel. Previously, weapon impact forces were heavily scaled based on how effective the weapon was on the vehicle, but this made some weapon impacts feel unnaturally disconnected from the actual projectile forces behind the weapon.

With these new options, we can now fully control whether we want to make a hit from an Anti-Tank Rifle feel measurably different compared to a hit from a Tiger - regardless of their relative effectiveness. Smaller vehicles now also have a limit on how strongly they react to impact forces. If a lighter vehicle like a 4x4 Truck or Kettenkrad gets hit by a large caliber weapon, it is now less likely that the vehicle will react in an undesirable manner. This has also allowed us to increase the outward force for large explosions which should make all vehicles react more noticeably to nearby explosions. With these changes, all vehicles and weapons have received a tuning pass and should show impact forces and reactions appropriate to their weight, lethality, and caliber. 

Deaths 

As part of our focus on immersion in Onyx Shark, we had another look at infantry unit deaths. The overall goal was to ensure when infantry unit entities were eliminated by small arms or artillery, that those moments were more cinematic. There were three main components to this work: 

• Ragdolling – When an infantry entity dies but they keep their full body 

• Gibbing – When parts of the infantry entity get dismembered 

• Death Animations – Played usually before entities ragdoll 

Starting with ragdolling, we first completed an optimization pass that allows us to increase the number of overall ragdolls for every physics setting and time that they remain on the field. This greatly improves the feeling of the battles since you’re now seeing more bodies remain on the battlefield. Not only was it important to increase the number of ragdolls, but to ensure they properly interact with the environment.

We have adjusted both the mass of the bodies, explosion strength, origin of the explosion and fixed a problem that was making explosions not correctly interact with ragdolls. This essentially means that different explosions should have different energy levels when interacting with the ragdolls and at the center of the explosion there should be more up force instead of side-to-side force. An additional change we’ve made is that ragdolls should now preserve the velocity of the joints previous to their death. In practice, it means that soldiers that were running will retain some of thier velocity instead of just falling on the spot. 

Finally, soldiers will now drop their weapons when they die, instead of disappearing, and these will also react to explosions. 

Moving on to gibbing, these had the same problems as ragdolls where they were not interacting with explosions in the way we wanted them to. For gibs, we have adjusted their mass so that in general they fly higher than ragdolls and we’ve made changes to the percentage of gibbing versus ragdolling depending on the explosion (bigger explosions cause more gibbing and less ragdolling than before). The last piece of this puzzle is our death animations. We noticed that when soldiers died to both small arms and artillery, they often died in the same pose. For this update, we have added new animations for infantry death and adjusted the randomness before they ragdoll so that everything feels more natural, and soldiers will not always die with the same pose. 

Camera Shake 

Camera shake is something that we felt was sorely missing, so we have reviewed our different weapon FX to match their expected feedback. Our focus with this work included: 

• Hitting an enemy vehicle should feel more satisfying 

• Big moments like heavy artillery should feel more epic 

• Increase player awareness around the action, especially if directly outside their camera view 

• Certain weapons should feel like they have more punchiness to reflect their power level 

• Destroying vehicles should both have better feedback and be more satisfying 

While we think the points above are important, we also acknowledge that some people prefer their experience without camera shake. For those that don’t want as much or any camera shake, we have added a setting which allows you to select a value from 0% to 100%. 

Regarding some of the important changes around this: 

• Different camera shake amounts on vehicle deaths for: Ultra-light, light, medium and heavy vehicles. 

• Weapons now exhibit some extra shake on penetration of a vehicle. 

• Some weapons also exhibit some camera shake when firing (Tiger and big caliber emplacements such as the 105mm Howitzer and Obice artillery pieces as examples). 

• Adjusted camera shake on various weapon types such as mortars, light artillery, medium artillery and heavy artillery. In general, the deadlier the weapon the more camera shake. This should allow you to better understand if a big deadly explosion is happening just outside the screen. 

• Added Camera Shake to some moments that didn’t have it, such as an airplane crashing. 

Importantly, we have removed the shake on the Z axis (zooming in and out) which was causing some of the nauseas and more distracting effects that were present at CoH3’s launch. 

Towing 

We have overhauled the logic used by the towing system. From a player’s perspective, there won’t be a very noticeable change, however this should ensure that the system no longer fails to execute. 

We have units that are heavily reliant on towing, so we expect to see some more usage of those in the future.  The problems with towing could be qualified under two different categories, one of them is the ability failing to execute and the other is general responsiveness even when working as expected. With this release, you should expect the following: 

• Towing will no longer fail to execute even under difficult terrain situations. 

• Towing will increase the rotation rate of the truck when on the latching phase. 

• In situations where towing would take too long, we allow for some teleporting.  

• Vehicles capable of recrewing and towing unmanned team weapons should now default to towing with the right-click command.    

Hopefully players will feel like they can interact with this mechanic without the concern that their halftracks will circle around endlessly. 

Demolition Charges 

Demolitions Charges have undergone a comprehensive system and balance rework. A full list of system changes is available below, while all the detailed balance changes are available in the Multiplayer Balance section. 

• Demolition charge construction no longer fails occasionally. 

• Demolition charge construction progress bar is now properly visible while under construction. 

• Demolition charge construction immediately stops if the squad that is doing the construction is given a new order (including retreat), or if the Stop Construction command is issued on the charge. 

• Demolition charges no longer have a cooldown on construction, behaving similarly to mines . 

• Demolition charge cost has been normalized across the different iterations built by different units. 

• Demolition charge construction will temporarily halt and resume properly as different members of a squad die while attempting to plant a charge in combat. 

• Demolition charge "ghost" used for placement now disappears after picking a target location. Previously, two demolition charges were visible to the player at the same time (one on the ground and one in the hands of the soldier planting it). 

• Demolition charges no longer leave invisible objects behind when their construction is cancelled. Previously, this prevented construction of other structures over that position. 

• Updated the logic for the owner and allies of a demolition charge to no longer default to "attack" command when moving the mouse cursor over their own demolition charges. (The Attack command can still be used to manually issue an order to attack them). This doesn't affect enemy units, which will always have the attack command as the default action when hovering the mouse cursor over enemy demolition charges. 

• Demolition charges will now properly funnel the experience points and kill count to the squad who planted the charge. 

• Demolition charges now always have a visible reticle (like dropped special weapons). Enemies will see this reticle only when the demolition charge is revealed. 

• While placing a demolition charge, the effective damage radius of the demolition charge will be visible. This range indicator is also visible whenever you have the demolition charge selected. 

• Minesweepers are no longer required to reveal Demolition charges, as they are also now visible as soon as they enter enemy units' detection range. For them to be revealed, units need to be close enough to the demolition charge and to have direct vision on them. If a demolition charge is close enough to a squad, but on the other side of a sight blocker (like buildings, hedgerows, or smoke grenades), it will not be revealed. 

• The only exception to this logic is represented by the Hidden Demo Charges, which are not revealed by enemy proximity and require a minesweeper unit in direct sight to be revealed. Hidden Demo Charges are available on the US Forces SSF Commandos from the Special Operations Battlegroup. 

• Minesweepers now disable demolition charges, removing the ability to detonate them from the UI and Action Card. Damage from either allies or enemies will still result in setting off the demolition charge. This will display a "Disabled!" indicator above the demolition charge. This indicator is visible to friends or foes alike. 

• Demo charges now give spotted warnings when seen and detonation warnings when destroyed/detonated to the opposing player.  

• The detonation icon is no longer visible on the Tactical Map. 

• Fixed a visual glitch in the beginning of the animation of the engineer planting Demolition charges. 

MULTIPLAYER BALANCE 

General 

Time-to-Kill 

We have increased the overall lethality of the entire early game by increasing the damage output of most early game infantry units.  

• Majority of early game infantry squads have had their damage-per-second increased by around 25% 

Higher damage output will mean that positioning will be much more important and rewarding, as units caught in the open will suffer more damage sooner and units properly positioned behind cover will benefit more. Our aim is to shift the early game to better reward proper cover usage and flanking, as these actions will create a greater differential faster.  

Originally we set the time-to-kill in Company of Heroes 3 to be slower than previous titles to give players more time to react when visually engaging the enemy. We wanted players to have a reasonable window to make contact, decide how to react and then execute that reaction, so we significantly reduced lethality at long range. While we still want to keep this, we have noted that this was overdone, and many of the following changes are meant to better reward players already in good positions without overly punishing players moving in the open. 

Players should expect the new time-to-kill changes to be noticeable but still familiar and should not be an extreme shift in the game. There will be more situations where taking cover will be better than backing away or charging the enemy, increasing the number of options players will have to weigh. There will also be some softer knock-ons with elements like the Manpower economy and the number of simultaneous engagements on the map, so we are excited to see how things shake up. 

Do note, these changes are focused on the basic weaponry of early game units, and the later phases of the game should still feel very familiar. We have also made efforts to preserve the combat relationships infantry had before these shifts, but some nuances have changed and will be up to players to discover.  

We will be closely monitoring how the game evolves with these changes.  
 

Construction Penalty 

Infantry units that are constructing objects will now be more vulnerable to enemy fire. We were finding it too difficult to punish units that were constructing defenses like sandbags if a player caught the builder out of position.  

• Infantry units constructing structures, buildings or field defenses now take 50% more damage 

Tank Riding 

Tank-riding was clunky to use due to how long it took for infantry to load onto the vehicles compared to other transports. We have significantly reduced the time it takes to load and unload from tanks to bring this feature forward as a method to transport infantry in the late-game. 

• Load times standardized to 0.75 seconds 

• Max load seconds set from 5 to 1 per entity 

• Minimum load times seconds reduced from 1 to 0.5 per entity 

• Unload time seconds reduced from 3 to 1 

Speed Bonuses 

For infantry, we are reducing the number of stacking speed bonuses to prevent occasions where infantry could outpace even light vehicles and race through a heavy machinegun’s arc of fire. The following change will limit the number of speed bonuses that stack.

Players will still be able to stack global speed bonuses with individual unit bonuses as the global abilities have a higher cost and are one of the main benefits of use. 

• Flanking Maneuver, 105mm Artillery Support aura, Cover to Cover, and all Sprints no longer stack with each other. 

• Assault Grenadier Assault Disembark ability does not stack with Combined Arms or Field Resupply abilities 

Demolition Charges 

With the recent system adjustment made to demo charges, we have made some further balance changes to better capture their power as anti-structure weapons that can be used as traps on certain occasions. 

Demolition charges will be more dangerous to nearby units with a larger explosion radius and a cheaper price, making it easier to access for demolitions work. They will, however, also be easier to detect to push their role as anti-structure weapons that need to be hidden by sight blockers to be utilized as traps. 

• Demo Charges are now detected at range 12.5 by non-minesweeping units 

• Demo Charges are detected at range 25 by minesweepers 

• Demo Charge area of effect increased from 5 to 8 

• Demo Charge area damage changed from 1/0.75/0.25 to 1/0.25/0.075 

• Demo Charge area distance changed from 1.25/2.5/3.75 to 1.25/5/5.5 

• Demo charge munitions cost reduced from 60 to 50 

• SSF Commando can plant demo charges that are only revealed by minesweepers, but cost 75 munitions instead of 50 

Resource Caches Forward Retreat Point – Include variants such as Transfer Stations 

 On larger maps, the ability for different armies to utilize infantry heavy builds varied significantly due to varying degrees of access to Forward Retreat, which was warping the amount of builds available to each faction. To remedy this, we are adding the forward retreat mechanic to Resource Caches and their variants as an upgrade. 

We want players to be able to set up forward retreat points, allowing them to return to the battle faster, however, with significant investment and risk associated with set up. The retreat point cannot move and is fixed to specific areas of the map, is easy to destroy, requires a significant amount of time and investment, and still requires healing and reinforcements to be provided by other units or structures. 

• Can now be upgraded to act as a Forward Retreat point. Costs 150 manpower. 45 seconds research time. 

Towed Howitzers & Howitzer Emplacements 

Emplaced howitzers were a little too inaccurate at longer ranges compared to their mobile counterparts. While they had significantly more range, these emplacements were often built far behind the frontlines, causing their scatter to become significantly worse. The following changes should help reduce the inaccuracy of weapons when used at maximum range. 

• Barrage angle scatter reduced from 8 to 7.5 

• Obice Barrage angle scatter reduced from 10 to 9 

• BL 5.5 Inch Artillery angle scatter reduced from 9 to 7.5 

Medium Mortar Teams & Mortar Halftracks 

With the importance of cover with the faster time-to-kill, mortars were too potent against the increased number of stationary targets. We are reducing the effectiveness of their auto-fire to make mortars less effective when left idle, while maintaining the current effectiveness of barrages against stationary units. 

• Auto-fire cooldown increased from 5 to 7 

• Auto-fire angle scatter from 7 to 8.5 

• Auto-fire scatter max increased from 6 to 7.5 

• Auto-fire scatter ratio increased from 0.04 to 0.08 

Heavy Machine Gun Teams 

Because heavy machine guns often suppress targets which reduces their damage output, these units took a little too much time to gain veterancy for how often they were cleared by vehicles, artillery, or flanking infantry. 

We are reducing the requirements to allow for faster veterancy and are also adjusting Heavy Machine Gun veterancy to be a little more potent. 

Furthermore, all team weapons are having their received accuracy replaced with health bonuses as these units are often engaged by indirect-fire and vehicle-based cannons, making veteran units too hard to keep alive in mid to late game scenarios. Veterancy 3 weapon teams in particular will be more difficult to destroy as they take less damage which replaces their previous health bonus. 

• Veterancy requirements reduced from 600/1800/3600 to 500/1500/3000 

Heavy Machine Gun veterancy changed to the following 

• Veterancy Level 1: +10 health, +20% reload speed 

• Veterancy Level 2: +15 health, +20% burst length, +25% suppression 

• Veterancy Level 3: 20% damage reduction from all sources, +20% weapon accuracy 

Medium Mortar Teams 

• Veterancy Level 1: +10 health, -10% scatter

• Veterancy Level 2: +15 health, +20% cooldown/reload, -15% recharge speed 

• Veterancy Level 3:  20% damage reduction from all sources, +10 weapon and ability range, -10% ability recharge time

All Other Team Weapons 

For all infantry-based team weapons not mentioned above, the received accuracy bonuses and health bonuses have been replaced with the following. 

• Veterancy Level 1: +10 health 

• Veterancy Level 2: +15 health 

• Veterancy Level 3: 20% damage reduction from all sources 

Centaur, M4A3 Sherman Bulldozer, Sturmpanzer IV Brummbar, StuG D 

These units were dealing too much damage to vehicles on deflection hits, reducing the importance of a vehicle’s armor. We are reducing the deflection damage to reduce how quickly these units can wear down heavier vehicles through frontal attacks. 

• Deflection damage reduced from 50% to 25% 

Field Defenses 

The following changes have been made to both Single Player and Multiplayer: 

• Sandbags, barbed wire, reinforced barbed wire and tank traps are now selectable and attackable.  

• Standardized field defenses health, armor, construction time across different factions. 

• Lowered sandbags armor from 35 to 25: they can now be damaged by small arms fire. 

• Increased barbed wire and reinforced barbed wire armor from 10 to 35, making it invulnerable against most small arms fire. The intent of this change is to open to more interesting early game placement of field defenses 

• A unique tank trap has been added to the British Forces, inspired by the coastal defenses of Britain; this tank trap is standardized to behave like other tank traps 

Handbrake 

• Handbrake is now available on the 251, M3, and CWT 15CMP Medical variants   

US Forces 

Scout Squad 

In addition to the changes regarding time-to-kill, Scouts are gaining additional survivability bonuses with their veterancy to make the squad more difficult to destroy. 

• Health increased from 80 to 85 

• Accuracy increased from 0.65/0.62/0.52 to 0.813/0.775/0.65 

• Pathfinder accuracy increased from 0.65/0.62/0.57 to 0.813/0.775/0.713 

The following only applies to the Scout Squad and not its Pathfinder and Artillery Observer variants. 

• 10% received accuracy at Veterancy 1 increased to 15% 

• Veterancy 2 received accuracy bonus of 15% changed to +10 health 

• Veterancy 3 health bonus increased from 10 to 15 

Engineer 

• Accuracy increased from 0.6/0.3/0.18 to 0.75/0.375/0.225 

• Assault Engineer near accuracy increased from 0.675 to 0.81 

• Assault Engineer Grease Gun now follows the same stats of the standard Engineer Grease Gun except for Near accuracy as mentioned above. 

Bazooka Team 

While the Bazooka Team was a cheap anti-vehicle unit, vehicles outranged them making it difficult for players to understand the role of the Bazooka Team who were generally defeated by the same vehicles they were meant to counter. 

To reinforce their role as an anti-vehicle squad, we have made a significant change to the unit in the form of a new passive ability, allowing the Bazooka Team to engage vehicles at longer range when fighting from stationary positions. This also gives the Bazooka Team a unique advantage over other anti-tank squads who need to close the distance with vehicles. 

• Manpower cost increased from 240 to 280 

• Satchel Charge moved to Veterancy 1 ability choice, replaces Sprint ability. 

• New Ability: Steady-Fire 

  • When the unit is stationary for 3.5 seconds, it gains 7.5 range until it moves. Passive 

Paratrooper Squad 

• Carbine accuracy increased from 0.66/0.44/0.38 to 0.825/0.55/0.475 

• M1919A6 cooldown reduced from 2.25/2.5 to 2/2.25 

Riflemen Squad 

• Rifle weapon cooldown reduced from 1.75/2.75 to 1.5/2 

• Rifle accuracy increased from 0.55/0.50/0.29 to 0.68/0.615/0.33 

• Squad leader Thompson accuracy increased from 0.42/0.375/0.22 to 0.53/46/0.29 

SSF Commandos 

• M1 Garand updated to the Riflemen variant except for the following changes 

• Garand cooldown set to 1/1.5 

• Long-range accuracy increased from 0.33 to 0.39 

Captain Retinue
As part of our changes to make forward retreat more readily available, but also more vulnerable to artillery and off-map abilities, the Captain is losing the ability to act as a Forward Retreat Point. This will indirectly weaken the Infantry Support Center which remains the most popular of the support centers thanks to the momentum it provides through its free Captain. 

• Captain Thompson accuracy increased from 0.45/0.28/0.25 to 0.563/0.35/0.3125 

• Can no longer act as a Forward Retreat Point 

Ranger Squad 

• Cover to Cover Suppression resistance bonus reduced from 100% to 33% 

¼ ton 4x4 Truck 

Without veteran level 1 being immediately provided by the Armored Battlegroup, the 4x4 suffers from a somewhat high cost that often makes Riflemen, that scale into the late game, a better choice. 

We are reducing the cost of the 4x4 to create a more meaningful choice where the player goes for a cheaper unit that can provide an early game advantage at the cost of scaling and being easier to lose. 

• Manpower cost reduced from 240 to 200 

M8 Scott SPG 

The Scott was underperforming compared to its Axis counterpart, the Stummel, despite being available later, battlegroup locked, and competing with the powerful Seek and Destroy ability. The following changes increase its damage against infantry and survivability, making it a sturdy anti-infantry and anti-structure light vehicle. 

• Health increased from 360 to 420 

• Area of effect distance increased from 1 to 2 

• Area of effect radius increased from 5.5 to 6 

• Area of effect damage increased from 0.33/0.25/0.15 to 0.35/0.25/0.2 

• Fixed an issue where the M8 Scott could crush infantry.    

M4A1 Sherman Medium Tank 

• New ability: Keep them Firing! 

  • Timed ability that grants all machine guns on the Sherman suppression which includes the M2HB 50cal upgrade. Also increase machine gun burst length by +50%, but reduces speed by -33%. Replaces High-explosive Shells. No munitions cost 

M29 Weasel 

• Can now detect camouflaged units up to range 25 

Canister Shot 

We have changed how Canister shot works, making it a short-range, high-risk, high-reward toggle ability. This change encourages vehicles to close in with enemy infantry and get behind/past their cover for a devastating anti-infantry effect. 

• Now is a free toggled ability for the M4A1 Sherman and M8 Greyhound. Reduces the unit’s range from 40 to 25, but Canister is fired until the ability is toggled off. 

• Canister Shot for the Greyhound is a weaker version than the Sherman 

HVAP and Armor Piercing Rounds - M18 Hellcat, M4A3 Sherman Easy 8, M1 Anti-tank Gun 

We want tank and team weapon positioning to matter during engagements. The current benefits provided by these types of abilities, on top of the increased damage, made it too easy to punish heavy tanks like the Tiger from the front at long-range. 

We are removing the automatic penetration mechanic to make tank armor still matter to an extent when these abilities are active. The penetration boost, however, is still significant, particularly on units with very high penetration to begin with such as the Hellcat. 

• No longer automatically penetrates enemy armor. Now gives +50% penetration. 

Air Support Center P-47 Strafing Run 

• Delay reduced from 2 to 1 

Munitions Surplus 

The current implementation of Munition Surplus requires the player to purchase it early to gain the most benefit from the munition discounts. This made it extremely powerful in the early game, but also made the upgrade scale poorly once all infantry units were upgraded until a unit was lost. 

We are changing Munition Surplus to now affect abilities and buildable objects like mines. This reduces the immediate power of the upgrade, but allows for a long-term benefit throughout the course of the game. 

• Cost increased from 100 manpower and 15 fuel to 100 manpower and 25 fuel 

• No longer decreases the cost of weapon upgrades 

• Now reduces the cost of infantry abilities, demolition charges and mines by 10 munitions. 

War Machine 

• Command Point requirement increased from 2 to 3 

M4A3E8 Sherman Combat Group 

• Command Point requirement increased from 7 to 8 

Wehrmacht 

Grenadier 

• Accuracy increased from 0.6/0.525/0.5 to 0.75/0.656/0.625 

Pioneer Squad 

Pioneers are receiving some minor adjustments to their veterancy to increase their survivability with veterancy as the game progresses. Despite the unit’s low cost, it was too easy to destroy veteran Pioneer units. 

• Health increased from 80 to 85 

• Accuracy increased from 0.35/0.25/0.20 to 0.42/0.3/0.24 

• 10% received accuracy at Veterancy 1 increased to 15% 

• Veterancy 2 received accuracy bonus of 15% changed to +10 health 

• Veterancy 3 health bonus increased from 10 to 15 

Jager Squad 

• Rifle accuracy increased from 0.65/0.59/0.4 to 0.81/0.74/0.5 

• Scoped Rifle cooldown reduced from 1/1.5 to 0.8/1.25 

• Scope Rifle damage increased from 13 to 14 

Coastal Reserves 

• Fire-aim time reduced from 1/1.25 to 0.75/1 

• Rifle weapon cooldown reduced from 1.25/1.5 to 1/1.25 

• Rifle accuracy increased from 0.67/0.65/0.63 to 0.755/0.73/0.695 

Panzergrenadier Squad 

Panzergrenadiers are receiving a boost to their mid and long-range damage-per-second to further differentiate them from submachinegun assault infantry. We want this unit to fight from cover with their assault rifles and only close when there is an opportunity.

We have also replaced their Veterancy 1 ability to push forth their role as medium range infantry that needs to be positioned correctly for the ability to be most effective. 

• Assault rifle accuracy adjusted from 0.72/0.375/0.18 to 0.72/0.45/0.245 

• Long-range cooldown decreased from 200% to 150% 

• New ability: Automatic Fire 

  • When activated, the squad gains increased weapon burst length and cooldown every 3 seconds to a maximum of 100%. Speed is reduced by 10% every 3 seconds to a maximum of 50%. Lasts 20 seconds. Replaces Sprint ability. 

Fallschirmpioneer 

• Rifle accuracy increased from 0.63/0.57/0.53 to 0.788/0.713/0.663 

Kettenkrad 

The Kettenkrad was too effective at scouting thanks to its camouflage, keeping it safe from the majority of threats.  

• Can no longer camouflage when using its Reconnaissance Scan Ability 

• Veterancy requirements increased from 190/380/900 to 400/1200/2400 

Pak 40 Anti-tank Gun 

• When camouflage is toggled, the speed and sight penalties only apply when the unit is camouflaged and will no longer persist if the unit is revealed/detected. 

221 Armored Car 

• Machine gun damage increased from 3 to 3.6 

Stumpanzer IV Brummbar 

• New ability: Shatter Will 

  • Timed ability. Generates an aura around the Brummbar that debuffs nearby infantry once and then retriggers every 10 seconds for 30 seconds. Reduces affected infantry speed by 50% and their weapon cooldown and reload speeds by 20%. Effects do not stack. Lasts for 10 seconds. 

20mm Flak Emplacement 

We are lowering the cost and population of Anti-Air emplacements. We do not want these emplacements to be very powerful on their own, but their current high costs make them compete with more powerful mobile options and their stationary nature means they are inevitably destroyed by concentrated assaults. The flak emplacement is having its range reduced in exchange for increased health and armor to match the recent changes to the Bofors. We want Anti-Air emplacements to support the existing battleline which requires other units nearby to support them in combat. 

• Armor increased from 10 to 15 

• Health increased from 600 to 720 

• Population cost reduced from 6 to 5 

• Range reduced from 50 to 40 

Designate Defensive Line 

• Munitions cost reduced from 70 to 50 

Anti-Tank Bunker & Command Bunker 

These special bunkers will now take up a very small amount of population for the player. While the population upkeep is small, it will make spamming the more powerful bunkers difficult when armies are getting maxed out. 

• Now takes up 2 population with an upkeep of 1 manpower per population 

Lufwaffe Relay Point -  Replaces Luftwaffe Combat Group 

• 2 Command Points and costs 200 manpower to build 

• Allows Fallschirm units to reinforce around the Relay point within a 50m range 

• Relay Points are camouflaged and can be built, even in enemy territory 

• Can be garrisoned. Units inside cannot fire out, but are hidden from the enemy if the Relay Point is still camouflaged 

• Luftwaffe Relay Point now uses a variant model of the bunker and has the durability of a standard Wehrmacht bunker. 

LG 40 Anti-Tank Gun 

• Camouflage ability no longer requires Veterancy 1 

• New ability: High-explosive Rounds 

  • Increases the unit's anti-infantry firepower with increased blast radius at the cost of -40 direct weapon damage and reduces range by 10. Toggle ability. Requires veterancy 1 

British Forces 

Royal Engineer Squad 

• Health increased from 85 to 95 

• Accuracy increased from 0.58/0.2875/0.1725 to 0.667/0.331/0.198 

Infantry Section 

• Rifle damage increased from 12 to 14 

• Rifle accuracy increased from 0.651/0.64/0.61 to 0.695/0.685/0.655 

• Webley Revolver Damage increased from 10 to 13 

• Scoped Rifles stats standardized with regular Rifle; except the following 

• Accuracy set to 0.76/0.7/0.66 

• Maintains the increased accuracy against units in cover and weapon penetration that currently exists. 

• Bren Gun cost increased from 90 to 100 munitions 

Australian Light Infantry 

• Accuracy increased 0.72/0.61/0.35 to 0.77/0.65/0.38 

• Rifle damage increased from 12 to 14 

• Scoped Rifle damage increased from 14 to 16 

Vickers HMG team 

• Focused Gunnery changed to a toggle ability and does the following: +10 range, + 15 vision, -50% weapon arc, removes area suppression. Vision bonus is only active when the unit is set-up. 

2-pounder Anti-tank Gun 

• Veterancy requirements set to 900/2700/5400 

6-pounder Anti-tank Gun, 17-pounder Anti-tank Gun, 3-Inch Mortar Team  

• New ability – Entrenchment 

  • Toggle ability that entrenches the weapon team over 5 seconds forcing it to set-up and remain stationary. When complete, the unit takes 25% less damage and fires 15% faster. Unit cannot move or reface when the ability is active, except for mortars which can rotate. Weapons are disabled while entrenching. Replaces all Veterancy 1 abilities for the listed units. 

CWT 15CMP Anti-air Truck 

The anti-air truck has struggled to find a role in the British light vehicle roster. Its combat role is too similar to the Humber with more downsides in the forms of less armor, sight, speed, and its backwards facing turret. 

We are reworking the anti-air truck to now fit a defensive role that wants to be screened by other units where it can safely provide anti-light vehicle and anti-infantry firepower from a safe distance. The increased range and damage should now give this unit a unique playstyle that differs from other light vehicles in the game. 

• Munitions cost increased from 45 to 60 

• When the unit is stationary, after 3 seconds, range increases to 50. Range bonus remains even if the vehicle rotates/pivots. Moving from its current position removes the range bonus. 

• Base range reduced from 40 to 25 

• Area of effect damage increased from 0.375 at all ranges to 0.5 

• Now deals an additional 5 damage against vehicles. 

• Anti-air range adjusted to maintain current AA range when stationary 

• Handbrake ability added. Locks the vehicle in-place, but still allows rotation. 

• New ability: Fragmentation Rounds 

  •  Increases area of effect radius by 3 and have increased accuracy and damage against units in cover by 25%. Replaces Suppressing Fire. 

Crusader II Medium Tank 

The Crusader is being adjusted to be a fast-firing tank that excels at taking out lighter vehicles or flanking heavier targets. These changes will give the Crusader a more defined role in the British tank roster as a cheap high-damage-per-second unit that is somewhat fragile if it is not using its speed and mobility to its full extent. Anti-infantry performance has been reduced to accommodate for the significant rate of fire increase. 

The upgrade to the Crusader has also been reworked to be a role change that gives up its anti-infantry performance to be a dedicated anti-armor vehicle that is used in close-range flanking attacks or for chasing after wounded vehicles. 

• 2-pounder reload sped up from 3/3.75 to 2/2.5 

• Model damage limit decreased from 3 to 2 

• Area of effect near damage reduced from 1 to 0.75 

Crusader III 6-pounder Conversion Upgrade 

• Cost reduced from 60 to 45 munitions 

• Reload sped up from 3.75/4.25 to 2.5/3 

• Area of Effect radius reduced from 2.75 to 1 

• Area of effect damage reduced from 0.833/0.4/0.2 to 0.15/0.1/0.05 

• Area of effect distances reduced from 0.5/1.25/1.75 to 0.15/0.25/0.5 

• Model damage limit decreased from 3 to 2 

Churchill MK IV Heavy Tank 

The Churchill is gaining increased frontal armor and a lower maximum reload time to help the unit both offensively and defensively.   

• Frontal armor increased from 300 to 340 

• Maximum reload time sped up from 5.25 to 4.5 

40mm Bofors Emplacement 

We are lowering the cost and population of Anti-Air emplacements. We do not want these emplacements to be very powerful on their own, but their current high costs make them compete with more powerful mobile options and their stationary nature means they are inevitably destroyed by concentrated assaults. We have also increased the penetration and armor of the Bofors to better protect it against small arms and be more reliable against light vehicles.  

• Armor increased from 10 to 15 

• Cost decreased from 260 manpower and 35 fuel to 200 manpower and 25 fuel 

• Penetration increased 35/30/25 to 60/55/50 

• Population cost reduced from 6 to 5 

Artillery Tripwire Flares 

• Can now be planted in any location following traditional mine placement. Detonates like regular mines that detonate when walked over. Flare and artillery effects remain the same. 

Artillery Saturation 

• Now increases the shell count of off-map artillery abilities by 2 for Perimeter Monitor and Airburst Barrage 

• Tooltip updated to state the indicated number of shells increased per barrage for on-map units. Value set to 3  

BL 5.5 Inch Artillery Emplacement 

The BL 5.5 Artillery Emplacement lacked a specific niche and advantage over the other howitzers. While it did more direct damage than the 105mm guns, its lack of total damage potential made it ineffective against defensive positions. The following change is to make this an artillery unit that excels in denying an area over a long period of time and bombarding defenses. 

• Shell count during standard barrages increased from 4 to 7 

• Barrage recharge time increased from 45 to 60 

• Barrage angle scatter reduced from 9 to 7.5 

Designate Targets 

We have made an adjustment to Designate Targets. The debuff was too powerful for its price, but we still want to keep this ability as a fairly cheap alternative to Recon Artillery. To compensate we have further reduced the price and have increased the aura debuff’s range. 

• Munitions cost reduced from 80 to 70 munitions 

• Aura debuff range increased from 30 to 40 

• Received accuracy debuff reduced from 40% to 20% 

Incendiary Carpet Bombing 

Two of the Air and Sea off-map abilities are being adjusted to be a little more expensive to reduce the number of off-map abilities being used by this battlegroup. 

• Munitions cost increased from 150 to 180 

Naval Bombardment 

• Cost from 225 to 250 munitions 

• Command point requirement increased from 2 to 3
   

25-Pounder Artillery 

• Fixed issue where the British 25-Pounder artillery from the HQ could get destroyed.     

Deutsches Afrikakorps 

Panzerpioneer 

• Accuracy increased from 0.6/0.55/0.5 to 0.75/0.688/0.625 

Bersaglieri 

• Accuracy increased from 0.63/0.59/0.51 to 0.788/0.738/0.638 

Panzergrenadier 

• Accuracy increased from 0.538/0.528/0.372 to 0.673/0.66/0.465 

Panzerjeager Squad 

The previous inclusion of the MG 34 diluted the Panzerjeager’s role as an ambushing anti-vehicle squad. We have removed the upgrade to reinforce the role assigned to this unit. 

• Can no longer be upgraded with the MG 34.

Assault Grenadier Squad 

Assault Grenadiers are receiving a major change to differentiate themselves from other short-range assault squads. Assault Grenadiers will now receive a significant bonus when they disembark from vehicles as a passive, emphasizing the Afrikakorps’ theme as a mechanized faction that wants to be transporting its troops into combat. 

• Health increased back from 100 to 110 

• Health bonus at Veterancy 2 removed 

• Smoke Grenade now requires Veterancy 1 

• Tactical Assault veteran ability removed 

• New ability: Assault Disembark  

  • When Assault Grenadiers disembark vehicles that are in-combat, the squad gains a 40% speed bonus. Grenade recharge times immediately reset when the ability begins and are made free for the ability’s duration. Lasts 10 seconds with a 60 second recharge time. Does not require veterancy 

Kradschutzen Motorcycle Team 

We want to distinguish the Kradschutzen from other ultra-light vehicles in its play pattern with more authentic movement. Players will need to plan their exit with the Kradschutzen in advance, as it can no longer reverse to escape every situation; however, it has received a buff to its turn acceleration and rear armor.  

• Rear armor increased from 1.5 to 3 

• Turn plan adjusted to allow for faster, tighter turns 

• Can no longer reverse 

250 Light Carrier 

With the general increase in lethality, the 250 is also gaining increased firepower when stationary. We are lowering the moving accuracy of this unit so it still remains a support vehicle that should be used in conjunction with infantry, rather than a fast anti-infantry hunter. 

• Machine gun accuracy increased from 0.464/0.36/0.231 to 0.56/0.43/0.27 

• Moving accuracy reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 

• Veterancy requirements reduced from 600/1800/3600 to 500/1500/3000 

250/9 20mm Halftrack 

We have reworked the 250/9 to be an upgrade over the standard 250 which retains its utility. Before, it was just a lighter 8-rad, rather than a a heavier transport with fire support capabilities.  

The 250/9 is now a slower, but more durable troop transport that gains increased firepower when garrisoned that maintains both its healing and towing functionality, giving this unit excellent versatility to the Afrikakorps player while also encouraging more mechanized gameplay.  

• Veterancy requirements reduced from 800/2400/4800 to 700/2100/4200 

• Speed decreased from 7.5 to 6.5 

• Acceleration and deceleration set from 4.5/7.5 to 3.6/6 

• Health increased from 240 to 280; 320 with Combat Halftracks upgrade 

• Machine gun accuracy increased from 0.42/0.38/0.34 to 0.504/0.46/0.41 

• Autocannon stats adjusted to that of the 8-Rad except for the following: 

• Damage reduced from 16 to 12 

• Area radius from 1.25 to 1.5 

• Area of effect distances from 0.75/0.67/0.5 to 1/0.75/0.5 

• Moving accuracy reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 

• When the 250/9 is unloaded, the weapon cooldown is set to 0.925 seconds 

• Can now use the Distribute Medical Supplies ability 

• Can be garrisoned with a squad. When garrisoned, the Halftrack’s rate of fire is sped up by 0.8 seconds. 

• New ability: Hit and Run. 

  • When the halftrack is damaged and reaches 75% health or below, the unit gains +30% speed and +30% acceleration for 20 seconds. Recharges after 40 seconds when triggered. Replaces Terror Tactics.    

Cannone da 105/28 Field Howitzer 

The Cannone, despite being a towed gun, did not function any differently from fixed howitzer emplacements. The following changes are to make the Cannone a unit with a shorter barrage range that wants to be towed closer to the front line where it can utilize its new auto-fire functionality. 

• Can now auto-fire at targets within range 115 and are in its arc of fire 

• Barrage range reduced from 275 to 250 

• Barrage angle scatter reduced from 8 to 7.5 

BUG FIXES  

Audio 

• Fixed an issue where reversing vehicles would play little or no sound effects. 

• Fixed an issue where heavy artillery was using old sound effects 

• When the player hovers over a Battlegroup, they will receive audio feedback. 

• Fixed instances of some voice over lines being repeated back-to-back. 

• Fixed an issue where units would not issue warning voice over when an Engineer squad threw a satchel charge at them. 

General Gameplay 

• Fixed the Afrikakorps halftrack mortar's incendiary round ability minimum range being too low and failing to fire when targeting too close to the halftrack itself.  

• Fixed an issue with some weapons playing aiming reloading animations while running.     

• Infantry hit reactions will correctly end if the unit starts a new action like retreating.  

• Fixed an issue where destroyed Crusader IIIs would not display their turret. 

• Crusader IIs converted to Crusader IIIs will no longer cancel orders in-progress.  

• Fix an issue which caused some squad members when garrisoning in fighting positions to sit outside of the structure or at the wrong position.  

• Updated several ability reticules to better reflect their effect area for grenades, barrages, and off-map abilities. 

• Riegel mines can no longer be stacked on top of each other    

• Fixed issue with Riegel mines being able to be queued infinitely up to a negative munition count    

• Fixed an issue where anti-tank grenades and button abilities could target wreck entities.  

• Fixed re-targeting of units when pressing the stop command. They will now prefer their current target.   

• Marder IIIs now benefit from the Mechanized Raid Package ability  

• Fixed an issue where StuG III Point Blank Blast could be used on certain world objects that were not targetable. 

• 105mm Howitzer and BL5.5 emplacements can now be multi-selected. 

• Fixed an issue where the 105mm Howitzer could affect team weapons with its Artillery Support ability   

• Team weapons leaving buildings now have an idle attacking grace period to give players a chance to give a new command instead of instantly unpacking when in the presence of an enemy.    

• Fixed a bug that caused the Afrikakorps’ Panzerpioneer and Guastatori's Territory Booby Trap to go on cooldown even if the construction was interrupted. You will now get your munitions back in such a case.  

• Fixed the way weapon upgrades grant a refund for cases where a squad would normally get two weapons but is currently unable to carry both (for example, after having picked up a different weapon off a dead squad). 

• Frontline Medical Station will now properly issue a cost refund if cancelled.    

• Fixed an issue where the Ammunition Storage would not be displayed on the mini-map or tactical map.  

• Fixed an issue where flamethrower Engineers would t-pose when exiting a building. 

• Fixed captured team weapons sometimes showing the wrong max HP and squad member count. 

• Fixed the Afrikakorps medical truck healing aura shrinking when reaching Veterancy 3.  

• Fixed vehicles displaying erratic behavior when driving over certain physics objects after loading a saved game. 

• Fixed an issue where Infantry Assault squads could remain indefinitely on the field when trapped by obstacles. 

• Fixed units using bolt action firing animations when they should be using semi-automatic firing animations. 

• Added some feedback when the Veterancy 3 Australian Light Infantry manages to instantly kill an enemy infantry unit with their regular shots. 

• Fixed an issue where the Australian Light Infantry's Sharpshooter ability would not get refunded if the target died before the shot was taken. 

• The SSF commandos have learned from the Australian Light Infantry the secret art of targeting soldiers hiding in buildings and can now use their knife throw ability against them. 

• Fixed issue with prioritized vehicles also targeting aircraft.  

• Stealth camouflage detection now respects most line-of-sight blockers.   

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the M2A1 Howitzer emplacement to fire at targets at minimum range.     

• Fixed an issue with the Battlegroup ability Prepared Positions not properly applying the bonuses to emplacements. 

• Fixed an issue when the Flak 38 and Flak 88 emplacements were damaged while being constructed it would default to the repair action.    

• Updated Forward Barracks and Partisan hubs to have a retreat point further from the building. This should reduce the number of units clustering near the entrance of the building when mass retreating.   

• Adjusted wooden rubble piles to enable vaulting to improve infantry mobility around urban/ruined maps.    

• Fixed an issue where temporary crews from the recrew ability were gaining veterancy from the training center.     

• Fixed an issue where Wehrmacht Jager Squads lost their camouflage faster than other units when leaving cover.   

• Fixed an issue where Artillery Cover in the Italian Combined Arms Battlegroup would deduct 3 command points rather than 2.    

• Fixed an issue where Engineer Satchel Charges did not give grenade warnings. 

• Construction help behavior is now correctly 15 range instead of 50.    

• Fixed an issue where vehicle visuals could occasionally disappear from the game world rendering the vehicle invisible and un-selectable for all players in the match.  

• Fixed issues with the Whizbang, Wespe and Bishop becoming stuck in the pre-fire phase of their barrage.   

• The LG40 can now be towed.    

• Added a small random variation to retreat point selection to avoid squads clumping up. 

• Fixed instance where the territory booby trap was triggering with aircrafts 

• Fixed instance where after the conversion from Scouts to Artillery Observers they would not deal damage until given a move order.    

• Fixed an issue where Stosstruppen decloaked faster when leaving cover compared to other units.  

• Fixed an issue where flares and certain recon abilities could detonate mines. 

• Foot Guards Section Veterancy 1 ability "Staggered Shot" will now always penetrate, guaranteeing that the slow and stun effects are consistently applied. 

• Hovering over enemy vehicles in the fog-of-war when infantry are selected will no longer give feedback, preventing information leaks.   

• Updated the flight plan of the US Airborne Battlegroup "Paradrop Reinforcements" ability to better match its duration with the UI indicator.     

• Added a timer to display the duration of the British Forces Heavy Armor Battlegroup "Recon Artillery" ability when it is active.      

• Fixed the population requirement not displaying for the 2-pounder Anti-tank Gun from the Australian Defense Battlegroup. 

• Fixed a problem when issuing attack orders against emplacements (such as mortar pits). 

• Fixed a problem when issuing attack orders against Team Weapons who are garrisoned. 

• Fixed a problem when a squad using weapons with two different ranges (Rifle + Flamethrower) would behave improperly when issued an attack order on a garrisoned structure. 

• Fixed an issue where the Engine Damaged animation on vehicles was resetting back to repaired even though it still had the engine damaged. 

• Fixed an issue where players could take control of squads that were not meant to be controlled when using the recrew abilities for halftracks. 

• Fixed an issue where equipping Jaegers, Pioneers or Stosstruppen with a Flamethrower would not remove their existing backpack causing it to clip. 

• The armor-piercing rounds from the Flakvierling Half-track will no longer slow infantry.    

Italian Dynamic Campaign 

• Building Momentum for the British Air and Sea Company in Campaign now functions as intended. 

• Fixed an issue with passive Company Abilities not displaying icons in game for the US Armored Company 

• Fixed veterancy experience gain not being awarded sometimes on the Italian Dynamic Campaign 

• Player Companies have been made directly selectable via clicking on their Icon in capture points without having to select the capture points first 

• Fixed enemy Companies sometimes being visible in the fog of war while retreating 

• The game no longer soft locks trying to load after quickly repeatedly clicking on the resume campaign button 

• Fixed some instances of Campaign abilities dropping flares at the wrong location    

• Fixed issue where the Anti-air guns emplacements on the campaign map were still visually firing at airplane past their range    

• Fixed some units T-posing after loading from a save game. 

• Updated the campaign abilities to use the new battlegroup borders found in multiplayer.   

• Fixed an issue where reward supply-drop crates from breaking out of Salerno were sometimes not collectable.    

• Fixed an issue where bombardments from player-owned Battleships and Destroyers would sometimes not deal damage to enemy naval units    

• Fixed a bug where companies sometimes started skirmish battles with a captain unit 

• Fixed a bug where Partizan units sometimes appeared as pink cubes 

• Fixed an issue where resource crate selection box was sometimes too big 

• Fixed an issue where enemy units would sometimes remain idle while being attacked 

• Fixed a bug in skirmish battle VP mode where the player sometimes started with too few territories. 

• Fixed game sometimes crashing upon repairing a destroyed airfield/port in Italy Campaign. 

Singleplayer Missions 

• Various pathfinding improvements to Salerno, including opening a staircase towards the back of the Hospital, granting easier access to the bridges beyond 

• Units called in during the early stages of the Salerno mission now appear on the beachfront road, instead of the mountains, providing earlier and easier access to Company units 

• Prevented vehicles from clipping through rock formations near the collapsed rail tunnel on Anzio 

• Fixed trench crossing markers, which enables tanks to cross wooden and stone trenches across various North Africa maps and missions. 

• Fixed an issue where partisan units would sometimes appear as debug assets on the Monte Cassino mission 

• Removed an island of non-interactive territory from the "To the Rescue" mission, which was causing player's cameras to get stuck 

• Removed the "kill enemies with mines" bonus objective from campaign skirmish, due to a technical change with kill attribution 

• A wayward retreat point has been removed from “The Great Ammo Robbery”, as it was causing units ordered to retreat too early into the mission to charge enemy lines 

• Fixed an issue with German fuel crate pickups having an oversized selection circle 

• Fixed an issue where the recrew-able Humber vehicle could not use its Smoke Launcher ability 

• Fixed an issue with an isolated territory point in one coastal skirmish map 

• Various tuning changes and bug fixes to improve the variety, A.I. behaviour and difficulty curve of skirmishes in the Italy campaign 

• Fixed an issue where unlocking the SSF Commando demo charge veterancy upgrade on a single unit would unlock demo charges for all SSF commando units. 

• Fixed an issue in singleplayer where auto-reinforcing for halftracks and trucks did not work in enemy territory.   

• Fixed an issue where Paradropped Reinforcements did not work in single-player and the loiter plane did not indicate which units it was attacking.   

• Updated the Great Ammo Robbery mission, which now includes enemy territory to enable the use of off-map barrages and abilities, and the removal of an erroneous retreat point which encouraged your forces to retreat forwards in the opening moments of the mission.   

• "Great Ammo Robbery" mission completion challenge now points to the correct mission 

• Bersagilieri in the Italian Front campaign now use the correct carbine. 

• Fixed an issue in singleplayer where some team weapons wouldn't tear-down when a truck was sent to tow them.  

Multiplayer Maps 

• Adjusted the HQ territory on the West side of Semois to prevent players from constructing Triage Centers on the road, thus blocking their call-in units from entering the field 

• Updated a staircase in the center of Sousse Wetland's city, to enable infantry to access an elevated entrance 

• Added an additional Bunker to the West side of Gothic Line to provide better coverage of the HQ area  

• Adjusted the truck on the south of Gothic Line to no longer be sight/shot blocking  

• Adjusted a Victory Point on Gothic Line to prevent it from being capturable simultaneously with other resource points 

• Adjusted the HQ positions of Gothic Line to ensure players in a party are assigned to adjacent positions 

• Updated stone wall posts to be impervious to flame damage. Previously it was possible to burn them as if they were made of wood  

• Most map objects have been adjusted to prevent waypoint flags from attaching to them. Players should now be able to place a waypoint next to a sandbag wall, rather than on top of it. 

• Fixed floating accessories, such as chimneys, on certain buildings when they receive damage    

• Building near the central Victory Point on Montherme has been rotated to have its windows face the roundabout, balancing the two buildings in this area 

• Water FX have been removed from the waterwheel site on Faymonville, as there is no longer a waterwheel with which to churn water 

• Sidewalks and curbs have been adjusted to allow the construction of bunkers and emplacements on top of them 

• Added terracotta roof tiles to the ground when gazebos are damaged or crushed 

• Small, wooden rubble piles can now be vaulted, increasing mobility through ruined areas and reducing the chance that paradropped units can become trapped 

• Designer splines have been removed from L’Aquila, as these could be seen in the Out of Bounds area 

• Converted decals to splats across various maps, as these were overlaying textures on top of player-constructed buildings, such as Resource Caches 

Animation/Pathing 

• Fixed driver’s hands de-syncing from handlebars when facing orders are given.   

• Improved firing animation for the M1 Carbine. 

• Fixed an issue where infantry squads would not settle in cover and would instead move back and forth.     

• Fixed an issue where the Sherman Smoke Launcher ability would force the vehicle to rotate if used at long-range. 

• Fixed an issue where the Cannone would randomly replay the aiming animation. 

• Fixed an issue where HMG Focused Gunnery and White Phosphorous abilities ended early if the gunner was killed. 

• Fixed an issue where attack-ground and attack-structure orders issued to squads would sometimes be ignored until the squad finished their current action.  

• Fixed an animation problem when issuing attack orders against emplacements (such as mortar pits), Team Weapons that are garrisoned, or with weapons with different ranges (Rifle + Flamethrower) which would prevent units from attacking. 

User Interface & User Experience 

• General tool-tip fixes and updates. 

• When a player Remaps a control with an existing Key Combo, they will see a Conflicting Key Dialog. If the player tries to do the Key Combo again, it will not take effect, they will have to choose to Cancel or Continue before the Key Combo will take effect.   

• Fixed an issue where clicking on the Select Map button and pressing the ESC key at the same time would result in an empty Select Map UI. 

• Social options (block, friend request etc.) no longer show up for A.I. players in the player list of the pause menu. 

• Fixed some abilities that were not usable through the mini-map. 

• Hovering over the cover shield on the unit portrait's sidebar will now display the type of cover the unit is in and the bonuses they are receiving for generic weapons.   

• Fixed a bug where the friends in the Invite Player list of the match lobby did not show the correct profile personalization loadout.  

• Community Mod Tools - Fixed map files bloating with unnecessary data more and more each time they were saved, sometimes causing memory issues.

Store 

• The names of cosmetics for Dark Brown and Charcoal units in the store have been fixed. Localized names will be fixed in a future update.   

• Fixed the Afrikakorps Blocking Force shorts not receiving camo.   

Stability 

• Fixed a crash that was caused when icons would take longer than average to load. 

• Fixed the game crashing sometimes when issuing retreat orders to team weapon squads garrisoned in buildings.