Hello squaddies,
After some initial delays, our followup patch for B21 is here, containing significant meta changes that you'll undoubtedly want to read up on (especially your SL) before you head out for duty.
With Beta 21.1, the team has two new gameplay features intended to have a significant impact on the current meta leading up to this patch. Firstly, the Rally Point system has become a physical item that Squad Leaders will need to replenish to deploy throughout a game. The new RP will cost 50 ammo to rearm and be picked up similar to the Ammo Bag, though it still retains its 2-minute deployment cooldown.
Now you, keep an eye on your SL to make sure that they pick it up!
Up next, a change to FOBs so that there is an opportunity to recover them. We call it the FOB Bleed-out system, and this will allow teams to recover a FOB Radio within the first 60 seconds of it being destroyed by the enemy. Friendlies will use their shovel within that timeframe to recover it and bring the radio back into play (or disassemble it, if they wish). We hope this change will incentivize more than surprise attacks on FOB Radios and encourage squads to strategically plan to hold sustained attacks on FOBs to ensure the radio will be taken out. Note that not all UI feedback is currently implemented, so don’t be surprised if the radio just won’t seem to die. (kill it harder! For no reason!)
Since we anticipate these new changes will significantly impact how Squad currently plays, we'll be keeping a close eye on feedback and discussions regarding them during their initial launch.
For a full list of the fixes and changes, please read on:
Gameplay Features
Rallypoint as an Inventory Item
- This feature will change the way the Rallypoint is used and the meta behind its usage.
- The RP is now a physical item in the Squad Leader’s inventory, similar to the ammo bag that Riflemen deploy. Squad Leaders will need to rearm the RP.
- The intention behind this change is to reduce the effectiveness of attacking and rushing while only utilizing the RP. This change is expected to encourage better supply lines and coordination with ammo-bearing vehicles, and discourage Squads from acting autonomously for long periods of time.
- Resupply cost for the RP item will initially be set to 50 ammo. This value may be modified in the future based on feedback and our observations.
- The SL can pick up the RP like an Ammo Bag. The 2-minute deployment cooldown remains in effect.
- We acknowledge that this feature will change the behavior of Squads and SLs somewhat dramatically, and will be making observations and taking feedback about its implementation. This feature will be under development, and may be modified or even removed if it is shown to not contribute towards Squad’s core principles. We value your feedback and encourage you to let us know your experience with this mechanic once released.
FOB Bleed-out System
- We are introducing a short recovery window for the FOB Radio. After a FOB Radio has taken critical damage, a team has a short time (60 seconds) where they can recover the FOB Radio and prevent it from being wiped off the map.
- A Shovel can be used to repair the FOB Radio to stop the Bleed-out timer. Repairs need to reach a minimal threshold in order to to stop the timer and prevent the radio from bleeding out.
- Conversely, the Friendly team can use a shovel to dismantle the FOB Radio when it is in the Bleedout state. This is the only way to remove the FOB Radio while it’s in Bleedout state, other than waiting for the timer.
- We are aware that the FOB Radio in its current status is very vulnerable to enemy attacks. No matter the defenses setup, the FOB Radio is still the weak point in a Forward Base. The act of watching over the FOB Radio can often be a dull and tedious element to gameplay, yet is often necessary to keep that FOB operational. In contrast, the act of being a stealthy attacker is usually more engaging, exciting and rewarding gameplay. When on offensive missions to attack FOB’s, Player’s get to experience moving through a wide variety of terrain, practicing being sneaky, having the opportunity to watch enemy movements and having the opportunity to pick when and what targets to engage. The opposite of looking after a FOB Radio, which often results in long periods of uncertainty, and often not knowing when or where the enemy will come from, which oftentimes presents dull moments of waiting for the fight to start.
- Including the Bleedout FOB mechanic to the current FOB system is anticipated to help alleviate this issue and potentially flip around that dynamic. While sneaky FOB attacks will still always be valuable, with the Bleedout mechanic, they MUST now also be followed up by a full attack from another element of your team. IE: you can send in your sneaky lone Combat Engineer to destroy the FOB Radio, but if that attack is not followed up by another supportive attack element, then it will just have been a nuisance rather than a crippling blow.
- Note: The values configured for this feature (time until bleed-out removes FOB, minimum HP to enter bleedout state, minimum repairs to leave the bleedout state) may be subject to change and will be evaluated in this trial period for this feature.
- Note: A future revision will include a UI icon on the FOB HUD to indicate the bleedout state using a UI that is similar to the medic incap UI.
Optimization / Stabilization
- Added additional analytics for server network performance to support further 100 player server testing.
- Adjusted the client bandwidth. This has been increased from 15kbps to 30kbps. This means that each client can receive more data from the server each second. This will help to reduce loading times while connecting to the server, as well as potentially fix other issues related to 100p testing. Further testing will be on-going.
- Optimized and improved visual fidelity of all bullet impact VFX.
- Optimized collision complexity of middle eastern rocks.
- Fixed a Client Crash with the Music Player.
Infantry
- Updated ADS duration values on some Rocket launchers to make sure their ADS transition animations sync up with the transition delay correctly.
- Fixed an issue with SVDM optic vanishing while ADS on ultrawide displays.
- Fixed SVDM showing old SVD icon in Deployment menu.
- Fixed SVDM bipod recoil standard deviation being higher than prone un-bipoded deviation.
- Fixed SVDM ADS not using input zoom sensitivity modifier. As part of this fix, it was necessary to reduce the SVDM optical zoom (from 8x to approx. 7.5x). This may be changed again in the future.
- Fixed an issue with CAF Sniper having Incorrect kit limit: should be 2 Sniper kits allowed per team, one unlocked at 15 players and one unlocked at 20 players on the team.
Vehicles
- Updated the GB FV432 RWS APC to have an increased mag size for the GPMG: was 500, now 750 rounds.
- Fixed RUS Kamaz5350 Logi Truck having Transport Truck Icon.
- Fixed RUS Kamaz5350 Trucks having excessive X-axis rolling momentum.
- Fixed RUS Tigr Armored Car having gear shift issues transitioning between 3rd to 4th gear.
- Fixed RUS Tigr RWS not being able to rearm unless mag is empty.
- Fixed RUS Tigr Open Top and RWS having "NSV" instead of "Kord" in the gunner HUD.
- Replaced BRDM2 Scout Car with RUS Tigr Armored Car on the following layers: Mutaha RAAS v1, Yehorivka RAAS v1, Yehorivka RAAS v2, Yehorivka RAAS v4, Yehorivka RAAS v5, Yehorivka TC v1, Yehorivka TC v2.
- Fixed incorrect FV4034 MBT hull front armour thickness, now 500mm.
- Fixed the M240 & other GPMG vehicle weapons having misconfigured penetration curve (50cal penetration). These vehicle weapons now use 7.62mm projectile penetration.
- Reduced cost of LAT HEAT ammo resupply from 40 to 30 ammo per-rocket, to compensate for competition with rearmable Rally Points.
Commander
- Fixed an issue with Commander call-ins, when a player was killed by enemy heavy mortar strike or CAS strike, it was counted as a suicide for that player.
User Interface
- Fixed an issue with the new Left / Right VOIP channel separation option, the settings were not correctly updating when being applied during a match.
Maps
Al Basrah
- CAF Al Basrah Invasion v1 - Fixed CAF Helipad being partially outside of the map boundary.
- Al Basrah AAS v2 - Updated INS vehicle layout: replaced T62 with BMP1 ZU23, replaced 1 Technical Dhsk with Technical UB32. Moved 2 flags closer to the eastern side of the map (Compound and West Outskirts).
Belaya
- CAF_Belaya_AAS_v1 - changed team 2 from MIL to RUS.
Chora
- Chora Invasion v2 - Fixed flipped INS MTLB spawning.
Fool's Road
- Fools Road AAS v2 - Changed teams from GB vs MIL to USA vs RUS.
Gorodok
- Fixed an issue with the water appearing black.
- CAF_Gorodok_AAS_v1 - Changed team 2 from MIL to RUS.
Jensen’s Range
- Fixed vehicle armor diorama: MTLB 6MA turret using opaque materials, duplicated BMP1 model.
Kohat
- Kohat Invasion v1 - Fixed Hangu Orchard forward spawn point not being spawnable by INS.
Lashkar Valley
- Lashkar Valley Skirmish v1 - Fixed Commander not being disabled.
Manic-5 (CAF)
- CAF Manic-5 AAS v1 & RAAS v3 - Fixed CAF main base helipad not giving supplies.
Tallil Outskirts
- CAF Tallil Outskirts RAAS v1 - Fixed RUS ammo crate clipping into vehicle repair station at RUS Main.
Skorpo
- Skopro Invasion v2 - Fixed RUS team having Ural 4320 Trucks instead of the new Kamaz 5350 Trucks.
Yehorivka
- CAF Yehorivka Invasion v1 - Added MIL Ural 375 Logi on the forward spawn.