Emerald Bear 1.2.0 - Patch Notes 1/2

The Emerald Bear update (1.2.0) is packed full of gameplay improvements and balance adjustments. We are also introducing two new maps and the first version of our player profile. Be sure to review all of the changes and fixes below or check out our Mission Briefing for an overview.

This is part 1/2 for the Emerald Bear patch notes due to hitting the character limit allowed for these posts.
It includes:

• New content, features & improvements
• Gameplay improvements
• Ability balance changes

Find part 2/2 here

• Faction balance changes
• Bugfixes

NEW CONTENT, FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Multiplayer Maps

• Added 3v3 Benghazi map to Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.
• Added 4v4 Monte Cavo map to Automatch, Co-Op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.

Player Profile

• Added a new Player Profile feature. The Player Profile displays information about ranked match rating, player rank and additional statistics about matches. You can find a Q&A and our full write-up on this new feature here.

Menu Improvement – Social interaction options

• Players can now find all social interactions by clicking the "..." button next to a player’s name.

Challenges

• Ace of Spades (Build 5 US Forces Fighting Positions in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 2
• Buzzsaw (Deploy 5 Wehrmacht MG42 Machinegun teams in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 2
• Death or Glory (Deploy 5 British Forces M3 Grant or Crusader tanks in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 2
• Edelweiss (Kill 5 infantry with Jäger squads upgraded with Reconnaissance Packages in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 2
• Eighty Eight (Kill 8 Allied vehicles with an Afrikakorps FlaK36 Anti-tank gun in a match) - reduced completion count from 8 to 1
• Eyes and Ears (Upgrade 3 US Forces Scout squads with a Utility package in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Fieldworks (Build 3 Wehrmacht Fighting Nests in a match)- reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Gun Carriage (Kill 5 vehicles with the US Forces M3 75mm GMC in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Gustav Line (Build 5 Wehrmacht Concrete bunkers in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 2
• Hanomag Scrap (Kill 5 Wehrmacht or Afrikakorps trucks or Half-tracks in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Hedgehogs (Build 20 tank traps with British Forces Royal Engineers) - reduced completion count from 20 to 10
• High Velocity (Kill 10 infantry with Wehrmacht or Afrikakorps FlaK anti-aircraft guns in a match) - reduced completion count from 10 to 5
• Infantry Anti-tank (Kill 3 vehicles with infantry squads in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Jerry Surprise (Build 5 Modified AT mines with British Forces Royal Engineers in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 3
• Loudmouth (Kill 3 vehicles with US Forces Bazooka teams in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 1
• Making Tracks (Deploy 5 US Forces M3 Half-tracks in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Mechanized Support (Call-in 3 Afrikakorps Mechanized infantry or team weapon groups in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Panzerarmee (Kill 5 vehicles with Afrikakorps panzers in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Panzerkorps (Kill 5 vehicles with Wehrmacht panzers in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Purple Heart Boxes (Kill 5 US Forces trucks or Half-tracks in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• SAW Upgrade 5 US Riflemen squads with additional BARs in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 4
• Stonk (Kill 5 Afrikakorps infantry with any British Forces artillery in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Stupafied (Kill 5 team weapons with the Wehrmacht SturmPanzer IV) - reduced completion count from 5 to 1
• Supply Depots (Build 3 Resource Caches in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Too Much 20mm (Upgrade 3 Afrikakorps Half-track carriers to the 250/9 autocannon variant in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 2
• Transport Mess (Kill 3 British Forces CMP 15CWT trucks in a match) - reduced completion count from 3 to 1
• Wooden Shoes (Build 5 Schu-Mine 42s with Afrikakorps Panzerpioneers in a match) - reduced completion count from 5 to 3

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

Vehicle Mobility & Pathfinding

End of Movement

• Added a new functionality for vehicles to end their movement order at a set distance before a blocker.

Infantry and Vehicle Blocking

• Infantry units no longer ignore moving vehicles and try to path around them.

Front-Facing Movement Preference

• Vehicles now use their original facing direction for most movement orders.

Formation Movement

• Vehicles now adhere to their formation as expected when performing formation movements instead of converging to the same point.

Phasing Through Units

• Vehicles are now allowed to phase through each other and through enemy vehicles that are moving, although they will still prefer to move around if possible.

Preference to not go around even if path is blocked

• Vehicles will no longer go off the path while chasing enemies. This change was made to address unpredictable vehicle behavior when the vehicle path is blocked in chases.

Road Preference

• To prevent vehicles from responding unpredictably and often veering to roads instead of taking the shortest route to the order location, road preference was turned off.

Turning

• Vehicle turning has been improved to prevent them from pivoting on the spot or losing too much momentum while turning. This change is meant to improve responsiveness with vehicles, especially during flanks.

Changes to Vehicle Speed

All the vehicles in the game had their speed, acceleration and rotation rates adjusted. This change helps improve the responsiveness of a number of vehicles and creates a differentiation between all vehicle classes.

Event Cues

• All event cues have received an Art pass and will now look more cohesive with one another.
• Event cues have been further adjusted to reduce how often they appear on the player’s screen.

End of Match Results

• Damage Dealt and Damage Taken stats no longer include environmental damage or friendly fire.
• Kill stats such as Soldiers Killed and Vehicles Killed no longer include friendly fire.
• Squads Lost stat at the end of the match now shows the correct number.
• Unit Efficiency fixed and changed from percentage to a ratio Efficiency Factor.

Minimap & Tactical Map

• The animation for out-of-supply sectors has been updated to be in line with previous Company of Heroes games, flashing between two different tones of blue (or red for enemy territories).
• Territory lines will no longer disappear in out-of-supply sectors.

Modding

• To ease the work of modders who might want to approach the tuning of flight and off-map systems for the first time, we have created archetype abilities in the Attribute Editor to look at and use as an inspiration source, full of detailed comments on how to correctly set them up.

Off-Map Abilities - Multiplayer

• The intent of the changes to off-map abilities is to deliver a more robust, reliable and responsive system, while also improving the experience by providing more tells from both a visual and audio standpoint.

Off-Map Audio

• Added projectile sounds to off-map abilities that vary with the type of ability.

Flares

• Both off-map and flight abilities will now use an expanded set of flares, which will indicate the danger level of an ability.
• Added yellow-colored flares for low threat abilities like unit mortar barrages abilities. Added orange-colored flares for medium threat abilities like strafing runs and standard off-map abilities with medium caliber weapons. The existing red-colored flares will now announce heavy threat abilities, like bombing, rocket runs, loiters and high caliber off-map abilities.
• The green-colored flares will be kept for paradrop related abilities.

Sector Off-Maps

• Added sector highlight on both the minimap and tactical map that will inform players which territories are being covered by a sector ability. Sector abilities used by the player or allies will highlight the affected territories in yellow, those from opponents will turn them orange.

Ability Reticles

• Adjusted various reticles for abilities to match the effective radius or the ability type.

Ground Deformation

• Off-map ability projectiles now do ground deformation damage.

Off-map changes by faction

Team Weapons

Aim while on reload/cooldown cycles

• Team weapons can now move the barrel to acquire a new target while the reload or cooldown phases of the team weapon are happening. They will no longer wait for these phases to be completed before acquiring a new target.

Idle state

• Team weapons are now able to track and start the setup process much better when the weapon is not set up and an enemy moves into range. Previously it was possible that the team weapon would indefinitely try to follow the center of a squad as it moved.

Prioritization

• Team weapons now only start to teardown if ALL entities of the targeted enemy squad are out of the arc of fire. Previously it was possible that entities from the enemy squad were still targetable, but the team weapon chose to teardown

Teardown

• Team weapons now teardown much faster. Barrels now snap to the center quicker to allow the team weapon to start the teardown process. This makes team weapons more responsive.

Turn in place range

• Team weapons now have a range around them at which giving a re-face order won't make them move to the location. Most of the time, when doing a proximity click near a team weapon with a re-face order, the intent of the player is to pivot and not move, which adds extra delay.

Unit Selection

• Increased the selection boxes for infantry. This will help when selecting infantry, both the player’s and the opponent’s.
• Retreating units no longer remain selected or selectable.
• When re-selecting units, the game will now reset any previously opened menus such as construction.

ABILITY BALANCE CHANGES

Auto-Reverse

Anti-tank guns and all vehicles

• Auto-reverse range is now reduced to 40 from 60.

Camouflage Ambush Bonuses

• All infantry squads now use the same camouflage ambush bonus. +40% accuracy and +25% damage for 5 seconds when firing from camouflage.

Casemate Tank Destroyers

Marders, StuG IIIs, Brummbars, Semovente, 75mm Halftrack Gun Motor Carriage

• Casemates will now center themselves when a target is outside its arc.
• Casemates gun now tracks their target without moving their hull.
• Casemates guns now traverse, target and fire within their arc without needing to be perfectly centered.

Cover Combat

• The range where small-arms weapons ignore cover is increased from 7 to 10 meters

Hazard Removal Package

US Forces, British Forces, and Wehrmacht

• Hazard Removal Package is now standardized across the board for all factions to increase the repair rate by 2.5 for a total of 10 health per second when repairing.

Heavy Howitzers/Artillery

• BL 5.5 Inch, Cannone da 105
• Barrage recharge times from 60 to 45.

Infantry-Based Timed and Passive Healing Abilities

• Squad based timed combat abilities such as sprints and passive squad healing abilities are now disabled when the unit is retreating.

Medium Anti-Tank Guns

M1, 6-Pounder, Pak 40, Pak 38

• Increased the pack-up time from 1.3 to 1.75 seconds. However, anti-tank guns are now more responsive.

Medium Artillery

Pack Howitzer, 4.2-Inch Mortar, Le.IG 18

• Barrage recharge times from 30 to 20.

Projectiles

• Direct-fire projectiles such as direct-fire tank guns, anti-tank guns, autocannons, and flamethrowers were reviewed. These changes will increase the reliability of vehicles when firing over low obstacles and prevent exploits when firing through objects.
• All projectiles will immediately collide with obstacles when they miss their target and roll scatter.
• Projectiles will now use 3D paths to their targets. This prevents them from auto-colliding with low obstacles in their way such as mines and walls if the shooter would normally be able to fire over the obstacle.

Recon Loiters

• Airborne Recon Loiter plane health increased from 240 to 480.
• Recon Artillery plane health increased from 240 to 640.

Repairs

• Repair abilities will now have increased speed when they are affected by modifiers. Bonuses will stack to grant faster repair speeds.

Suppression

• Units that are suppressed now take a +33% penalty to weapon scatter on missed hits. This change is meant to increase the chance of weapons such as grenade launchers no longer landing directly on their target when the unit wielding it is suppressed.

Uncrewed Machine Guns and Mortars

• Target size increased from 1 to 20 to facilitate force-attacks on de-crewed weapons.

Snipers

• Build time decreased from 50 to 40 seconds.