Hello to all Blitzkrieg mod fans! There hasn't been any update for quite a long time. That is because the mod is pretty much "finished" in terms of content but that doesn't mean that everything works perfectly. There have been suggestions, bug reports and QoL changes requests on our Discord channel. I don't have much that much free time in my life anymore to make updates every other month, but Tiger kept track of the reports and requests and put them into a single thread, once there was a reasonable ammount of entries, I started working on them when I found some time. I actually started during the summer already but got myself to finish it only during the Christmas holidays. Then followed some time for beta testing and fixing things that got reported in beta branch and today we finally got to live release!
Before you get to reading the changelog, I want to add a bit of info to the changes about some tanks:
Panzer IV H/J changes:
Mass Production unlock of BK doctrine now makes PIV H and J start at Vet1 and PIV H gains 30% more XP from kills
PIV H in BK and PS doc now has Smoke Screen ability at Vet1
PIV H in BK and PS doc now has Rapid Fire ability at Vet3 (increasing Rate of Fire by 30% for 20s)
The PIV changes are a reaction to the complaint that PIV H is too expensive for what it does. We talked forever about prices and I explained how lowering the costs would lead to cost changes across all vehicles, so we did not go with price changes in this case. Instead, the goal was to make PIV H more worth its cost, which is admitedly a lot, so the unit should perform quite well. The Vet1 with unlock gives to the tank more accuracy and slightly faster reload. It also gets more XP from kills, so it should gain higher vet levels faster (which means more stats buffs). With the unlock the tank gets smoke screen ability automatically and the ability should help the tank survive. At Vet3 it gains a new ability, note that this ability doesn't require the tank to be static, nor to choose a specific target (like the Pershings do), so it can switch targets while the ability is active.
Sherman E8 change:
Sherman E8 now has Phosphorus Round ability at Vet3
Removed "Direct Fire" ability
There have been complaints that the E8 is only a bit faster than normal 76mm Sherman, which was not enough of a difference to justify its higher cost and restriction to a single doctrine. This ability can be quite strong but the requirement for Vet3 makes sure that people won't abuse it all the time (or at least hopefully) and also gives a nice "reward" for keeping the tank alive long enough. The "DIrect FIre" ability has been removed because there was no room in the UI for the new ability.
The rest of the chanes probably doesn't need more detailed explanation. So here is the changelog:
Fixes:
Removed HE ammo upgrade from the US 76mm AT guns and CW 17 pounder guns (they did nothing)
Def doc Observation Bunker upgrade now requires the correct unlock
Teller mines of Luftwaffe Pioneers now require the correct unlock
Luftwaffe Schwimmwagen's Sector Sabotage ability now requires the correct unlock
Removed Incendiary Trap from Bergetiger
Removed the ability to repair sabotaged points from the weapon teams that shouldn't be able to do so
Added the ability to repair sabotaged points to Bergetiger and Repair Bren Carrier
"Hit Ground" removed from the Sd.kfz 250/9 20mm Armoured Car, StuPa, StuH, 105mm Sherman, Scott
Removed hotkey from Blitz doc's Reinforcement call-in
Luftwaffe recon plane should no longer be targetted by AA (for real this time)
WM Pioneers should no longer be able to get double mineswpeeres or flamethrowers
US Captain aura's suppression bonus lowered to 25% (from 50% which was set by a mistake; value kept intentionally higher than other officers [15%])
Ostwind, Puma 20mm, Mobelwagen, Wirblewind should now be able to target landing Paratroopers when in AA mode
Nebelwerfers, US 75mm howitzers and the RAF field guns no longer gain 75% speed buff when moving on roads
17pdr spawned by AVRE no longer lives its own immortal life when the crew dies
Commandos Glider deployment setup will no longer be unavailable when units use their Binoculars
Most AT guns, howitzers, planes, static AAs, trucks and ambulance vehicles counted as "Tank kills" on unit kill-count, now they count as "light vehicle kills" (you can flex more accurate screenshots of your badass units; doesn't affect gameplay in any way)
AB sniper will now correctly show the alternative retreat ability even if it is not available for activation
Added "hold fire" button to Sherman 105, Stupa, Scott and Stuh
82nd AB squad's Flame grenade now has X hotkey (was Y)
Removed non-functional AA mode from the emplaced 20mm flak gun
Balance changes:
Cost of 2inch mortar VT for Canadian infantry increases by 7 ammo per mortar now (from 2 ammo)
Removed Smoke ability from Commando AT team
Commandos AT team's ambush ability replaced by passive camo ability
Increased BeuteShermans cool-down to 120s (from 30s)
Replaced timed HE of Axis 37mm AT Gun by a single-shot HE ability
1st Upgrade that lowers ammo upkeep for Canadians has increased cost of 300MP 50F (from 100MP 30F)
2nd Upgrade that lowers ammo upkeep for Canadians has increased cost of 400MP 80F (from 120MP 50F)
Mass Production unlock of BK doctrine now makes PIV H and J start at Vet1 and PIV H gains 30% more XP from kills (effect of Vet1: +10% accuracy, 5% faster reload times)
PIV H in BK and PS doc now has Smoke Screen ability at Vet1 (deploys smoke around the tank to make it harder to hit)
PIV H in BK and PS doc now has Rapid Fire ability at Vet3 (increasing Rate of Fire by 30% for 20s)
Sherman E8 now has Phosphorus Round ability at Vet3 (had to remove Direct Fire ability to make room for this ability)
Mobelwagen now only raises flaps when in AA mode, otherwise the flaps are down and the vehicle can always shoot, even on the move
Vision provided by CW recon planes set to radius of 45 (same as other recon planes, was 100 for whatever reason)
Map changes:
Certain maps that were buggy have been removed (were not really playable anyway) and Tiger put a lot of work to maps. Here is his input on map changes:
Change-log for the maps:
Some buggy EF maps were removed (the ones that were too glitchy beyond repair) the working ones, however, remain.
List of the deleted maps:
6p_dubna.sga
6p_Kiev.sga
6p_tali_ihantala.sga
6p_voronezh.sga
6p_zhytomyr.sga
BK_4p_Bloody_Gulch.sga (duplicate)
2P_Autry.sga (bugged, not to mention.. players can use the 4P version for 1v1)
6p_Gazala.sga (completely bugged, & there is another existing version that works)
In addition I personally reworked/revised some of the un-playable/unfinished maps which we had in the MOD files for years.
3v3 Blija REWORKED
(Map was created originally by Neroleone, but he never finished it, that's why I made this revision)
3v3 Red Ball ENHANCED
(This will be the best RED BALL EXPRESS you will ever play, I promise)
2v2 Kharachev ENHANCED
(originally an EF MOD map, but now with enhanced weather)
2v2 Drekplaats REVISED
(with less water)
4v4 Blazing LowLand REWORKED & Conversion
(Originally a 3v3 map with lots of water, now it's converted to 4v4 & water was removed.. so more open space)
4v4 GravesBridge REWORKED
(The original map was too laggy with too many trees & lots of bugs.. now been reworked & fixed)
4v4 Fields of Engagement REWORKED
(The original map had so many pathing & performance issues & also several glitches.. now revamped & fixed)
I should be able to make similar updates from time to time, so if you have other bugs to report or QoL changes or smaller balance changes (that is NO big overhauls), go to our Discord channel and start a thread. We will collect the feedback and release another "maintainance update" once/if enough things pop up.
Thank you all for still being with us for such a long time and I wish you have bug-free games with this new update!
EDIT: Tiger's notes on map changes have been added.