Version 223003D
Welcome to Battle Cry of Freedoms' 4th regular update. As usual, we implemented a number of community-requested features and changes. If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to join our Discord Server!
This Patch is mostly focused around Quality of Life changes and additions to destructibility. Due to unforeseen issues, we weren't able to implement some of the new features we wanted to get done for today, so keep tuned for next week. You can read the Full Changelog at the bottom of the Blog Post. Here are some of the more important changes in detail:
Destruction
In an ongoing effort to make everything in the game destructible, we have added a large number of new destructible walls to the game. With today's patch, all of the modular buildings will be almost entirely destructible. More additions to destruction will be following soon, with roofs and pre-made buildings next on the list.
Commander Battle balancing
We have completely rewritten the Commander Battle Team balancing code (Again) to better balance the teams and more fairly divide the AI between the teams. Additionally, we have reduced the number of Confederate Sharpshooter soldiers by 10% and also have reduced AI accuracy with the Whitworth Rifle by 10%. For the Union, the AI has gained a small accuracy boost, all soldiers equipped with the Fusil d'Infanterie Modele 1842 have gained an accuracy boost of 20%.
Changes to classes and new Sabre
We have introduced a number of changes to the existing classes. All Artillery Enlisted for both the United States and the Confederate States now have access to the Model 1832 Foot Artillery Sword.
Due to its short length, the sword will be extremely useful for defending close quarters such as Forts or entrenchments. The 54th Massachusetts has gained access to the .58 Cal. Lorenz Rifle.
The "Stand in Line" Bonus that all Infantry Enlisted men provide now also provides a sway reduction to aiming. Each player in line will provide a 5% sway and damage reduction bonus to friendly players also in the line. The bonus stacks up to a maximum of 15% reduction.
We have also added a new weapon to the game. The 1796 Light Cavalry Sabre. While not particularly historically accurate for the period, we figured that it would still be a cool weapon to add to the Militia Class. The 1796 was extremely popular in Europe and therefore it's not impossible that it might have ended up in the hands of a Militia Officer.
Pioneer Forward Spawn Improvements
To make it more clear to players why they can not place Forward Spawns, it will now display the reason on the bottom of the screen.
Whats to come?
As mentioned earlier, we ran into some unforeseen issues with some of the features we wanted to add for this patch. The next big patch will see the addition of a new game mode: Commander Conquest.
Commander Conquest will combine the Commander Battle game mode and the Conquest game mode together into one. Players are going to battle each other over large battlefields with multiple capture points, trying to capture and hold strategically important locations.
Once a company has lost all of its men, the player and his company will respawn at the Home Spawn. This means that players joining late will also be able to play immediately. No longer will they have to wait for the round to end. With the new game mode, the Engineer class will become extremely useful, strengthening friendly positions and destroying enemy field entrenchments.
Other than Commander Conquest, we are working on two separate big patches at the moment. These will still take quite some while to be finished and it is too early to tell what's about to come. So all I can say for now is to stay tuned! There are many more things coming to Battle Cry of Freedom this year.
Official European Monday Linebattle
Starting coming Monday 04.04.2022 at 9pm CET (3pm EST) we will be hosting a weekly Official EU Linebattle Event. The Event will rotate between different game-modes and maps every week.
Anyone is welcome to attend.
Rules can be read here: Link
Signups will be done on our our Discord Server. in #event-signups 30 minutes prior to the event. All Regiment Leaders or Reps. must be present at minimum 30-15 minutes prior, so that we can figure out team balance in a timely manner and can start the event on time. Specialist roles such as Sharpshooters or Artillery will also be assigned then.
If you have any questions feel free to contact Olafson on Discord or on Steam.
Full Changelog
New Features:
- A lot more walls are now fully destructible. Expect your cover to be blown away!
- Added a setting to automatically switch to First Person when entering melee mode.
- Added .69 Cal. Ball Ammunition to all Limber Chests.
- Updated to the new Unity Engine Version, hopefully fixing various Crashes and slightly improving performance.
- Implemented new system to Balance Teams in Commander Battles.
- Added 10 new Community requested banners and updated 3 existing banners.
- Added the Pattern 1796 light cavalry saber. Available to the Militia Officers.
- Added the Model 1832 Foot Artillery Sword to all Artillery Enlisted for both CS and US.
- Infantry, when standing in line, now get a reduction to aiming sway. Up to 15% less sway.
- Added a server setting to not have more sway when low on stamina.
- Added new setting to have snow start on the scene.
- Added option to automatically go into first person when changing to melee mode.
- Added config settings to limit what modes people can vote for map polls.
- Added new messages for why you can't plant a sapper prop.
- Added wave respawning as an option.
- Added Lieutenants in Commander Battle if the company has them and your troop count is >= 30.
- Added server config commands for the server to broadcast messages at specific times, and change settings at specific times
Changes and fixes:
- Increased number of Artillery Ramrods and Sponges on each artillery piece from 4 to 8.
- Artillery ramrods, when misfiring, should now fly further.
- Increased bullet damage across the board by ~10%
- Decreased reload time for all Smoothbore Muskets and Flintlocks slightly.
- Decreased reload time for the Lefaucheux M1858 and Volcanic Repeating Arms Company Lever-Action Navy Pistol and the Moore Teatfire Revolver.
- Decreased AI-Accuracy with the Whitworth rifle by an additional 10%.
- Increased AI-Accuracy with the Fusil d’Infanterie Modele 1842 by 20%
- Decreased number of Palmetto Sharpshooter Bots in Commander Battles by 10%.
- Decreased number of Angry Mob Bots in Commander Battles by 20%.
- Slightly increased damage of the Gatling Gun.
- The 54th MA now has access to the .58 Cal. Lorenz Rifle.
- Reduced aim sway of Whitworth rifle.
- Fixed that 3 Inch Ordnance Limber Chest did not have access to muskets or Binoculars.
- Increased Ammunition in the 12pndr Mountain Howitzer Pack Carriage Chest.
- Fixed the broken 1841 Mississippi Rifle sights.
- Should have temporarily fixed that the AI would just walk straight through barricades.
- Increased size and improved readability of some of the on-screen tooltips.
- Slightly reduced texture video memory.
- Fixed a memory leak for voice data client side.
- Fixed various errors with voice chat.
- Added more security for corrupted data arriving on client
- Made the stun you get from being pushed 0.2 seconds longer.
- Solved some exceptions from losing contact with steam as client and or server.
- Made the server browser a bit easier to read.
- Added notifications for holding key caps in king, battle, and CB
- Melee bonus from flags is now 20%, and no longer stacks
- Changed max respawn time allowed to 300 seconds.
- Hopefully fixed bug with polls and map change.
- Fixed Sapper AI-Heal and AI-Ammo areas could not be placed outside of the Homespawn.
Thank you! Stay tuned for next week's update!
/Flying Squirrel Entertainment