Good day, folks urb here,
I hope you guys are having a decent start to the year. It's with a certain amount of excitement that I drop 0.4.2 in the open branch. This patch was heavier on the back end, focussing on how to onboard new players, and some new content while laying the foundation for in-map heavy indirect fire. So as per usual, let's use the first part of this patch note to go over the new mechanics implemented.
The four pillars and their importance in Campaign!!
To many, the campaign is arguably the hardest but most rewarding Mud and Blood experience out there. We have this wild concept in the Mud and Blood community that firefights in this game are essentially successful (or not) based on 4 principles. Basic stuff that you should do well in order to win the fight. Arguably these "pillars" of combat might be abstract to some of our new players and leave them sometimes guessing what they should emphasize on.
Introducing the combat grades engine. In its simplest form, it's a tool that measures how easy or hard you are making it on yourself by doing or not doing certain things. In more detail, it essentially measures your actions while you fight and quantifies their effectiveness, timeliness and payoffs. Ultimately my intent with this is to give a personalized mentor to you guys out there interested in more tailored feedback on how to improve. It is important to note right away that this grading system is not linked to any scoring or ribbons. It's just a learning tool. It looks at what you did and tells you if that will make you successful during Mud and Blood combat.
The four principles are explained on your profile when you click on the grades. Also, at the end of a campaign map, you get your analysis and how it compares to your average play. This helps you understand if you are improving or not in certain aspects of Mud and blood. Hopefully, it help new players.
Panther Tank
This patch brings in the Panther tank to the German army. This vehicle has some distinctive pros and cons that can ironically turn pros into cons. One of the ambivalent features of the Panthers they are well known for is their very slow reverse speed. This means that technically you can bypass a Panther that is cut off from its infantry, but at the same time if that thing holds the ground ahead it might take you a while and a few counterattacks to get to see it leaving. Something to keep in mind.
Additionally, the Panther can switch ammo depending on what target it is firing at. This tank might even shoot a WP at your soldiers in certain conditions. It has coax and a decent amount of armour but won't deflect a shot like the Tigers.
Half Track
Celebrated for its modularity the half-track was the workhorse of the mechanized effort of the Allies on the western front. The half-track is a MNB2 classic and I'm pretty happy about how it will bring different mechanics into the game that represents just as much support as offensive capability.
It comes in classic and campaign. In classic, the Halftrack cost 6 tp which brings in the vehicle as an early-game option potentially. Once you get your basic Halftrack, it will be a spawn point for all your reinforcements. You can also upgrade it with the module of your choice.
Ambulance, 3 TP: The Ambulance HT will not flee if engaged by the enemy. It is also pertinent to note that all ambulances' abilities in the game have been doubled in this patch.
HQ, 4TP: The HQ HalfTrack will give to any nearby soldier the ability to act as a signaller. It also acts as a regular HQ with a 10% per wave to generate an extra TP. It also increases your chances to get a cargo Drop by 3% per wave. It also has a .30 machine gun.
M21 Heavy Mortar 5TP: A heavy mortar is mounted in the half-track and will shoot 3 rounds per wave. This is 81mm the same calibre as the signaller call. Heavy mortars hit hard and affect large infantry numbers due to their wide fragmentation blast.
T19 Howitzer 6TP: It's all fun and game until someone has the idea to mount a 105 in the back of one of those things. The T19 brings the indirect fire support mechanic into the game. Essentially these are powerful weapons that can fire at targets beyond their own line of sight. In order for indirect support weapons to fire the target has to be flagged (visually identified) by any allied troops. The target also has to be more than 2000 pixels away (about two screens wide) from the weapon system in order for the support to fire.
The meat Grinder 8TP: Welp it wouldn't be a half-track without the quad fifties. This brings 4 heavy machine guns onto the field which cranks the fire rate of this thing to something scary. Since we are talking about .50 going against infantry (mostly) you can see where that name comes from.
P47 strafe
A new command ability available in classic and campaign is the p47 strafe. This calls in a Thunderbolt to perform a strafe with 8 HMGs. This results in 35 rounds hitting a circular area around where you have designated. It is a more concentrated attack than the normal strafe representing the natural abilities of that particular plane at supporting ground troops.
New Weapons:
G98
with the implementation of the Volks in the game there were certain weapons that needed to come in as well. It is mentioned that the volks would, at times, be armed with older weapons such as the G98 which is a good bolt action but showing some age.
ZB26
The ZB is a very good Czechoslovak LMG that got adopted by the Wehrmacht. It also inspired the creation of the Bren gun. The Zb26 is very rare and mostly if ever, found in the hands of Branderbergs which affectionated the weapon for its firepower and reliability.
Supply Depots
These are stashes of supplies that bring new mechanics in both modes. In classic, the commander can build a supply depot for 2tp and it will have 5% per wave to generate loot and +1% per wave to get a cargo drop. Multiple supply depots can be built and their value will stack up to 5 times.
In the campaign, these are German supply dumps. A German soldier that goes to the depot can get new weapons and stock up on support items such as coloured smoke (which calls in support) and Molotov or Fausts. It is important to notice these supply dumps early in the game or the Germans nearby that crate can have a field day. Destroying a supply dump in Campaign will spawn up to 3 items.
Electronic Warfare Equipment
EW was in its early stages during WW2. However, both sides were actively trying to jam radio signals or intercept communications. To represent this in MNB, the EW kit can be deployed in classic mode for 2tp. When the enemy is calling support the EW kit has 10% to cancel that request. Every wave the EW has 5% of revealing all enemies. This can be very useful combined with indirect weapon systems such as mortars or howitzers.
In the campaign, EW kits are deployed by your enemy. When you call anything with a radio and there is an Ew kit deployed in your AO, the Germans now have 10% of jamming that signal. A sharp commander can try to locate the EW kit and hit it with support or the kit itself can be rigged by either a signaller or an intel. Rigged EW kit will now have the potential to jam support calls made by the enemy.
Drop Zones
DZ can be built in classic in order to indicate allied cargo drops where to land (and para drops in the future). This is good if you are seeking to have maximum precision as to where you are getting your supplies, especially useful if you have other units and assets that increase your chances to get cargo drops such as an HQ Halftrack and supply depots.
In the campaign drop zones have 25% to spawn in when the battle condition "drop zone" is active. This will be used by enemy para drops as a DZ. Being in the AO where there is an active DZ can be a blessing or a curse depending on what you are fighting and where it is located. This said nothing prevents you to be tactically humourous and mine a DZ if you have the capabilities.
Anti Tank mines
AT mines can be deployed in classic for 1 TP. They can only be detonated by vehicles or by secondary explosions. They pack a good punch and are intended to kill the strongest enemy armour. They deploy in the same pattern as the normal mines.
Extinguisher in classic
A popular request since some defensive positions were often interdicted by fires. Now commanders can request an extinguisher for 1 tp. The extinguisher can be placed anywhere but will despawn after 3 min. (damn expiration dates).
Classic Special event: Plains of Cologne
if you get there late in the war, right after the Roer are the plains of Cologne. This area intends to be farmlands with pockets of trees overlooking small hamlets. The Germans have built their defence amid this mixture of open and closed ground with everything they could muster. Even their horse wagons. Expect trenches and wire to be present. They also used barrels to construct defensive positions. The buildings present are farmhouses and barns. Nothing too sturdy but it's better cover than nothing. This map rework is also available in the campaign.
Class descriptions in squad panel
If you hit the squad panel and click the icon of one of your soldiers a class description will appear and tell you what this class is all about and how to use it with maximum results. This combined with the weapon description added recently should be useful if you are looking to get extra details about your squad's capabilities.
This is the highlight but there is more stuff in the patch, so here they are in their entirety:
Patch 0.4.2a change list
- Fixed some of the tank attacks not being registered properly by the soldier's psychological state engine (mostly tension)
- Added description for all classes in Campaign
- Added grading system for missions (kinda of a big deal as far as backend stuff, the game will analyze your tactical data and pop a grade)
- Prevented an instance of duplication in battle conditions
- Disabled a dev key that flagged all enemies :)
- removed the BC set conditions in the touchdown sequence in order to clean up the BC generation
- Reshuffled the spawn locations for the enemies in Brest proper to alleviate enemies bunching up in the last house.
- Decreased the chances of 88s and pak 40 spawning in Classic
- Spaced up mines by 40 pixels
- Classic new item: Anti-tank mines, comparable to the same mines in MNB2, these bad boys pack an extra punch against vehicles and will not be detonated by infantry. Can still be detonated by fires or secondary explosions.
- Germans will now use the Anti Tank mines when laying minefields as well.
- Removed placeholder sounds for burning men.
- Added 1 sec of delay to WP and smoke impact so they match the sounds.
- Significantly increased accuracy of coax guns against vehicles and infantry at short ranges
- Half-Track added in classic and campaign with full modularity!!!
- Added P47 air strike to classic and Campaign
- New enemy weapon ZB26, very rare and mostly carried by Brandies.
- New enemy weapon, G98, an old WW1 rifle that has a decent punch but less than ideal bulk and jam chances. Carried mainly by Volks.
- Removed the funny names and added historical 29th div names to the name generator for soldiers. Thanks to LTHunter for collecting all that.
- Doubled the healing powers of Ambulances and Medic Halftracks
- Added 2 more rockets to the lightning strike
- Extinguishers can be procured in classic for 1 tp
- New placeable Supply Depot, can generate items for both factions
- New placeable Electronic warfare equipment, this can cancel support calls and reveal enemies for the faction that deploys it
- New placeable drop zone: this will make friendly cargo plane drop their package or troops on that mark.
- New German vehicle the Panther Tank.
- If you beat the game and hit DDay with your experienced squad it won't reassign new weapons to them.
- Roads will now grow trees at their sides instead of just destroying them during map generation
- New Biome, Cologne Plains. This is a heavily defended farmland area where the Volks and the remnants of the Axis are mounting their last-ditch defence.
- New obstacle in classic and campaign. Low wire entanglement. Soldiers that walk in the entanglement will have to do a roll against their experience or fall down.
- Tweak the procedural generation to catch some exceptions such as trees inside houses.
- Prevented some placeables from spawning slightly off the map during map generation.
- Fixed an issue where the ribbon for Heart Of Germany would not be issued in the Campaign
- Fixed an issue where the Anti-tank ribbon from classic would send Rhine ribbon messages to the player
- Flamer infantry will not shoot at vehicles with their main weapon anymore
- Enemies will not attempt ultra-long shots with their support calls when alerted by players rustling the trees
- Gunners can't be flamers in classic
- Eyes in the sky BC will now flag unhidden enemy vehicles, convenient for spotting PAKs in advance.
- Tombstones now delete their relative covers if they are destroyed
- Fixed the flak30 sometimes shooting way above their calibre when targeting enemy armour.
- Added a few more sections of the Roer river in order to avoid the river running short on particularly long maps
- Fixed an issue where Goliaths would stop when spotting an allied vehicle
- Fixed an issue where Germans looting allied weapons from the supply depot would refer to the wrong weapon name.
- Reduced entanglements hotspots by 40 pixels.
- Fixed an issue where Bazooka soldiers would have their action cycle timer reset when trying to target a vehicle, not in the line of sight
- Fixed a crash when wire or entanglement would perform a hit check while being destroyed.
- Moved the possible map boundaries for electronic warfare equipment.
This sums up the changes for this patch folks. I hope you like the new stuff and can find creative ways to hurt the enemy.
Community round up
If you are looking for tips on how to finish DDay with 6 men, check out this vid by MT playing 0.4.2 and finishing with Honours.
Zeterman here hitting DDay but this time in the unfair mode NG+, the highest difficulty Mud and Blood has been played so far. At this level every single decision is crucial. Very fun to watch high-level play.
check out ssteppa__ pulling a 59 waver in the new version's special event.
If you want to check out the old version of Cologne have a look at Mentally's channel with a clean win on Cologne.
The good ol Caramidas playing the Xmas special in here
That is all for me today folks, I hope you are going to enjoy your weekend and the new patch. I will catch you on the next drop.
Respectfully,
urb