Greetings! We have a brief update just before Christmas focusing on a couple key combat changes and interface improvements.
Gameplay Improvements:
Update 1.0.4.1 brings a pair of crucial combat changes developed from experience in the historical Crusader/Gazala scenarios. Overruns have been removed from skirmishes to make the battlefield less inhospitable to small units, particularly recon battalions. The effectiveness of artillery fire support in offensive March and Skirmish combats has also been reduced to reflect the difficulty of coordinating fire support in fluid combat environments using the communication equipment and doctrines of the war.
- Skirmish combats can no longer trigger overruns. Recon battalions are now safe to roam the countryside without being vaporized by passing panzer regiments.
- Artillery fire support provided to offensive march and skirmish orders now scales according to artillery type and training level. Armored artillery, and highly trained artillery suffer lower penalties. See chart below for details:
Fire Support Mobile Combat Reduction Table
| Training | Self-Propelled | Towed Artillery |
|---|---|---|
| Elite | 86% | 76% |
| Crack | 84% | 74% |
| Veteran | 82% | 72% |
| Experienced | 80% | 70% |
| Trained | 78% | 68% |
| Recruit | 76% | 66% |
| Conscript | 74% | 64% |
| Untrained | 72% | 62% |
Interface Improvements:
We’re also including a series of interface improvements following up on player feedback. You can expect to see a few of these in each update moving forward as we work through the backlog of interface suggestions from both ourselves and players.
- Air recon missions now display their Line of Sight radius while placing order.
- Moved sort by service dropdown menu to the left side of the requisition screen, along with the rest of the sorting features.
- Attachment dropdown menu renamed to Change Attachment to better reflect its purpose.
- Made neutral placenames a brighter shade of green to improve readability.
- Improved visibility of close menu boxes by adding red buttons beneath the X’s on most menus.
- Multiple weapon cards can now be opened simultaneously, for easier comparison.
Holiday Break and CAOS into the New Year:
We’ll be taking the next two weeks off for the holidays to spend time with our families, but after we come back the Operation Husky update will go live on the experimental branch shortly after New Year. The Husky update will launch with the Operation Husky, Operation Brimstone (Sardinia), and Operation Firebrand (Corsica) scenarios. We’re also working on a proper tutorial scenario, although that’s not likely to be ready until later in the month. The previously discussed AI update is also still in the works and will gradually roll out across January.
For now, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’ll see you all again soon!