We are pleased to present you with Update 1.0.11, which brings a number of improvements and changes designed to improve your gaming experience. In this patch, we have focused on strengthening protection against unfair players and improving the stability of the network infrastructure.
Easy Anti-Cheat
Since the release, one of the most discussed topics in the community has been the issue of cheaters. The fight against unfair play has been ongoing since the very first days of the game’s release and continues to this day.
During this time, our own anti-cheat system has been continuously improved and has significantly reduced the number of cheaters. However, we have come to the conclusion that this is not enough for truly reliable protection and the development of esports.
In update 1.0.11, an additional anti-cheat system - Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) has been added to the game. It will work in conjunction with our internal cheat detection system, creating a multi-layer barrier against cheating attempts.
Now, when launching Broken Arrow, players will be able to choose the option that is fit them:
"Play Broken Arrow" - Grants access to all multiplayer features and team-based battles.
"Play Anti-cheat disabled" - Grants access to a single player experience only, allowing to play with trainers or mods.
We hope that these changes will minimize the use of cheats and prevent unfair players from ruining the enjoyment of the battles for those who play by the rules. Victory should be determined by skill, strategy, and teamwork, not by third-party software.
Halloween special gift
The most downloaded scenario of the workshop is a mode where you defend against zombies made by Joining Player. This scenario uses regular units of the game to represent the zombies. Since halloween is not far away we have decided to help with the creation of a real zombie mode by adding zombie units to the game.
In case you don’t have access to the workshop don’t worry, we have also created our own zombie scenario which will be integrated in the game.
It can be played from 1 to 4 players in co-op, with a specific visual and sound ambient for the map.
Walkers:
Large group of slow moving zombies moving in the direction of your units and damaging them when they reach them.
Runners:
Smaller group of fast moving zombies rushing in the direction of your units.
Smokers:
Zombies on fire generating a trail of smoke behind them which blocks line of sight. They explode in a burst of fire when they reach one of your units.
Spitters:
Zombies spitting acid at your units including helicopters. The acid can damage vehicles and ignore buildings' cover as well.
Boomer:
A large zombie rushing in the direction of your troops to explode in a burst of fire, blood and various body parts flying around.
Thrower:
A giant zombie grabbing cars and throwing them at your units.
Police:
Law enforcement forces trapped in this chaos, unloading the magazine of their MP5 into non-compliant zombies.
Civilians:
Please, save them!
SUV:
A car to transport civilians
Support of server-side based network architecture
We are pleased to announce that this update introduces support for server-side network architecture. This is an important technical improvement that will not have a noticeable impact on gameplay at the moment, but it will serve as a solid foundation for future improvements.
We plan to transfer more and more elements of game logic under server control. This approach will improve the stability of online play, reduce the risk of desynchronization issues that are often mistaken for cheating, even though they are not. It will also significantly limit the possibilities for actual cheating.
This transition may increase server load, so our task will be to find the optimal balance between performance, stability, and quality. Work in this direction is already underway, and we will carefully monitor feedback to ensure a comfortable gaming experience for players
Mission Editor Improvements
It’s worth remembering that Broken Arrow features a fully functional scenario editor, allowing players to create their own missions and in-game situations. Thanks to the creativity of our community, many player-made works have already been created, gaining well-deserved popularity in Steam Workshop. We truly value your involvement and are inspired by the way you help develop the game alongside us.
In this update, alongside more fundamental changes, we also focused on the editor. A number of improvements and fixes have been implemented to enhance usability and stability. We aimed to make the content creation process more intuitive and comfortable for both newcomers and experienced players.
Significant enhancements have also been made to the Help section. The reference information is now much more detailed and accessible, making it easier to get started with the editor’s tools.
Patch 1.0.10 balance analysis
After analyzing the data collected, we have drawn the following conclusions regarding past balance changes:
The positive:
US specs are now correctly balanced between each other both in terms of win rate and popularity.
We have more and more tools available to measure the evolution of the balance over time and depending on player ELO, filters per map, per combination of specs etc…
The negative:
The win rate discrepancy between the US and Russian faction didn’t reduce despite our efforts in this direction.
The disparity of popularity within the Russian specializations is high. With the Guard Tank brigade becoming even more popular to the detriment of the Mechanized brigade which was already the least favored.
One factor explaining the US win rate staying low was the appearance of a bug preventing terminal guidance missiles from reacquiring in some conditions. The US faction relies on this type of guidance more than Russia and Javelin missiles with their lower range were particularly affected.
As a result US anti-tank capabilities were strongly impacted, resulting in the Russian armored/mechanized tactics to become more efficient.
A second factor is that the Kh-32 missile which was already identified as a problem in patch 1.0.10 was supposed to be considered a high altitude projectile and intercepted at longer ranges mistakenly remained a low altitude target. As a result these missiles continued to be a low risk/high reward option.
For this patch we have set ourselves 3 main objectives:
Reduce the prevalence of cruise and ballistic missiles to refocus the fight more on the frontline.
Reduce the win rate discrepancy between USA and Russia
Rebalance the interest between Russian tank and mechanized specializations
Changelog
Added:
Additional anti-cheat layer: Easy Anti Cheat is now part of the Broken Arrow anti-cheat system. It will work in conjunction with our own solution.
Added context messages in game chat when a player tries to reconnect. You will be aware if a player tries to reconnect as soon as they click the button instead of after the finish loading;
General fixes & improvements:
Victory Points compensation mechanic now compensates 100 points per war goal achieved instead of enemy victory point. (if your team has +2 score due to having 1 war goal during phase 2, you'll be granted with 100 pts instead of 200 pts upon phase 3 start)
Fixed an issue preventing players to progress with specialization levels;
Fixed lobby and post-match screen UI issues when players have reached level 100;
Slightly improved performance in Skirmish;
Pathfinding improvements on the maps : Riga Airport, Jelgavas Pils, Meandering River, Baltiysk Peninsula, Chkalovsk Airbase
Fixed an exploit allowing non-amphibious units to go into water;
Fixed an exploit allowing planes to fly beyond the limits of some maps;
Fixed a desync when unloaded/loaded units in an objective zone may block zone capture
Fixed a desync of Radar & Hold fire states in some cases;
Fixed an issue where SAMs with static radars (S-300V Antey, Patriot PAC-2…) could move with their radar activated when ordered to resupply;
Fixed an issue preventing proper reacquiring of terminal guidance missiles;
Fixed an issue when last vote could decide which map will be played;
Fixed an issue with units’ ghosts blocking mouse clicks; (“ghost” is the state when unit is bought but no spawned yet)
Fixed an issue when a plane could be destroyed when trying to attack a helicopter while having the afterburner turned on (Oh gravity, thou art a heartless..)
Fixed unit wrecks always appearing below bridges;
Fixed infantry’s heavy weapons (ATGMs, HMGs, AGLs, etc) not appearing again after being loaded then unloaded from a transport;
Fixed an issue preventing messages from appearing in the chat in some cases;
Improved Hint & Icon of disconnected players (it now shows how much time they have left to reconnect);
Fixed an issue preventing disconnected players from being considered as deserters if match ended shortly after they left;
Fixed an issue when missiles from AA with cold launch sequence (S-300, 9K331 Tor) hit the ground in close proximity in some cases.
Fixed an issue when models died inside house stuck at house exits;
Fixed drag-n-drop move commands in case when mouse button has been released over a unit;
Fixed unload via drag-n-drop into buildings leading to infantry being stuck in some cases;
Fixed an issue when units may not capture an objective if there was another hidden objective placed in the same area (happened in some solo scenarios only);
Fixed multiple cases of UI issues when joining a lobby;
Fixed UI issues on campaign screen;
Fixed hold-fire state being removed due to enemy aiming units that weren't visible;
Fixed ECM pylons being invisible in some cases;
Fixed precision strike visual feedback staying in place if there is not enough ammo for any attack orders;
Added “Reset to default color” option in labels colors settings;
Reworked AH-1Z LODs and camo fixes.
Fixed missing explosion sound effect for the 105mm cluster shell.
Removed redundant sounds for some popup windows;
Various localization fixes and improvements;
Various fixes to PvE Scenarios (Bay of Winds, Parnu, Baltiysk Peninsula, Klaipeda Rift, Ignalina Powerplant).
Mission editor fixes & improvements:
Updated Mission Editor help page documentation;
Fixed mission editor “Help” page crash if it has been launched again after mission restart;
Node "Get slot data" now properly works in both network and solo modes;
Node "Get slot data" got new "IsPlayer" boolean output;
Extended "OnArtilleryShot" node functionality: added team/shell-type filters, target-position output pin;
Added a new functional node "Random point" that will give a new random point in radius from the original position each time any connected node is activated;
Fixed logical nodes "Test condition" and "Wait condition" not working properly with connected functional nodes;
Nodes "Convert number" and "Convert text" are now work correctly and are made functional;
Fixed node "Calculate" working incorrectly with its "C" pin;
Fixed node "Counter" not counting all flow signals, if they were received at the same time;
Fixed "Spawn unit" and "Spawn multiple units" not working if there is only position input was set in the node;
Fixed "Play Audio" node not working with tags;
Fixed all purple node connections (objectives, tags, etc.) not being synchronized via network;
Fixed an issue when scenario lobby may freeze during loading if scenario had empty slot for player and that player had pre-placed units in scenario;
Fixed some nodes having only partial synchronization without supporting inputs via network: "Set animation camera", "Set camera position", "Set camera view", "Add unit to deck", "Change player deck", "Activate playzone", "Assign group", "Clear group", "Set marker position", "Update task";
Added synchronization via network to nodes: "Play audio", "Play music", "Set music intensity", "Stop music", "Destroy building", "Pause", "Spawn props", "Destroy props", "Spawn VFX", "Switch UI", "Medal reward", "Set Tag";
Updated Lua node:
Available APIs updated;
Fixed node syntax/runtime errors handling, errors wont prevent hot reload on node from working anymore;
Lua help page updated;
Lua CustomObjects are now synchronized through network;
Node can now accept supply and spawn-data inputs;
Balance Changelog:
Reduce the cruise missile spam meta:
Kh-32 missiles (Tu-22M3) are now correctly considered as high altitude targets engaged at long range by heavy SAMs
Missing ammo value doubled when units are refunded. So selling a ballistic missile launcher after shooting will cost you double for instance.
Planes are unaffected by this global change and receive individual changes instead:
AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile resupply cost increased from 30 to 40
Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missile resupply cost increased from 30 to 40
Kh-31 anti-radiation missile resupply cost increased from 25 to 30
SLAM-ER cruise missile resupply cost increased from 32 to 40
JSM cruise missile resupply cost increased from 32 to 40
Kh-59MK and MK2 cruise missile resupply cost increased from 32 to 50
JASSM cruise missile resupply cost increased from 45 to 50
Kh-29 missile resupply cost increased from 30 to 45
Kh-32 missile supply cost increased from 60 to 80
Cruise missiles launched from planes aim time increased from 1 to 3sec Designers Note: This prevents cruise missiles from being fired at the last second to make them impossible to dodge them. The aim time is the delay before shooting a salvo of missiles, not the time between two missiles in a salvo.
Kh-59MK and MK2 damage reduced 10->8.5
Designers Note: A pair of Kh-59 fired from a Su-57 was able to destroy any vehicle. This was making the use of tanks almost impossible on the US side.
JSOW and PBK500 damage increased from 7 to 8.5
Designers Note: Smart cluster bombs were almost never used as a pair would not even kill an IFV with 14 hit points. The increase of damage to 8.5 allows to destroy anything with 16 HP with a pair of bombs. The US faction has more cluster bombs than Russia so this is also a soft way to rebalance factions’ win rates.
Reduce Russian Guard tank specialization power:
Designers Note: All specializations within a faction are linked together so if one of them is overperforming, all the other specs benefit from it. This is the case of the Russian Guard Tank specialization which is pulling up the win rate of all the other Russian specs and as a result the entire Russian faction. Targeting it in particular will allow to rebalance the 2 factions but also the balance inside the Russian faction.
T-15 Barbaris moved to VEH tab with an availability of 2
T-15 Barbaris: 57mm 50->100
9К317 Buk moved to tank, S-300V Antey moved to mech
Kornet-T re-assigned to mech specialization
Ingenery-Shturmoviki re-assigned to mech specialization
Ingenery-Shturmoviki squad size reduced from 8 to 7 to fit in BMPs
Shturmoviki re-assigned to Guard tank specialization
Shturmoviki squad size increased from 7 to 8, an additional PKP added, armor reduced from 10 to 8, price increased 50>55
BMPT Terminator base price 160>190, AGS upgrade 20>40, Armor upgrade 10>20
BRM-3K: 57mm 45->50, 57mm+Ataka 55->65, Armor upgrade 15->20
Kurganets and Bumerang: APS charges reduced 4->2, APS option's price reduced by 5 pts
Kurganets: Epokha module price 60->75
BMP-3: Epokha module price 35->45
US faction improvements:
Designers Note: In comparison the US faction is much more balanced internally, there is not one specialization which is strongly pulling the others up or down.
So the buffs applied to the US faction only aim at improving the win rate of the faction in general.
Javelin missile minimal range reduced from 200m to 100m
F-16C/V: added option for AIM-9 on middle pylons
Bradley A2, A2 ESV, A3 ESV, A2 CFV: base price -5 points
SLAMRAAM repurposed as a SHORAD unit with the ability to engage helicopter at the cost of a shorter range against planes
SLAMRAAM base price 130->100, 6 amraam 170->130, amraam+aim 180->150
Designers Note: With the Patriots split between 3 specs in last patch we can repurpose the SLAMRAAM into a different role without removing a vital anti-plane asset from many decks. It will now act as some kind of OSA or TOR equivalent instead of a BUK equivalent.
New customization for Centurion : RIM-116 SeaRAM Designers Note: With 11 fire and forget missiles and a radar to increase their engagement range, this is another strong buff to US shorad capabilities.
Tanks side armor compression:
Tanks side armor HEAT values compressed to make side shots from infantry RPGs more efficient:
Abrams series
TUSK1 armor reduced from 450 to 400
TUSK2+Trophy armor reduced 600 to 450
TUSK2 armor reduced from 700 to 500
T-series
Relikt armor (T-72B3M, T-80BVM obr. 18, T-90M) armor reduced from 600 to 500
Relikt armor (T-14 Armata, T-15 Barbaris) armor reduced from 700 to 500
Relikt + soft-case Relikt ( T-72B3M obr. 16, T-90M, T-80BVM obr. 18+ ) armor reduced from 800 to 600
Underused units/customization buffs and various fixes:
Razvedka squads receive a PKM machine gun replacing one of their AKM rifles
Giatsint-S rate of fire increased. Time between shots reduced from 8-10 sec to 7-8 sec
MiG-35: added R-73 option for middle pylons
Fixed the amount of shotgun shells for Force Recon 10>100
Ka-52K: added GSh23 pods option to inner pylon
The Russian default deck has been changed from Motorized/Mechanized to Coastal/Mechanized.
Designers Note: As an experiment we would like to observe how much the default deck impacts specializations' pick rate and win rates.
We sincerely appreciate your engagement and feedback - it is thanks to you that Broken Arrow keeps getting better with every update. We hope these improvements will bring you joy and deliver even more exciting gameplay moments.
Thank you for staying with us!