Armoured Commander II News

ADD: M3A1 Scout Car
ADD: Bail-out action to push an unconscious crewman out of any hatch in the same location (hull/turret)
ADD: Landmine checks for player squad units
ADD: Artillery attacks now do a historical rarity check before selecting gun unit

CNG: Further reduced frequency of lightning/thunder effect
CNG: Small change in how unit stacks on the Scenario map are drawn
CNG: Updated unit portraits by cjprince
CNG: Display colour for Canister ammo
CNG: Increased AA MG range to 2 hexes

FIX: Armour values for Panzer III D
FIX: Semovente da 47/32 changed to Open Top
FIX: Total campaign options VP modifier not being displayed properly
FIX: Bug where the airplane depiction would not be cleared at the end of an air attack
FIX: AI bug where units with fixed guns would not pivot properly in preparation to attack
FIX: Bug where an enemy-held zone might have its strength reduced to 0, and thus not able to be captured by player

A minor update today, addressing some issues from the recent 8.1 update and adding a few new features.


ADD: Sandstorm, Extreme Cold, and Extreme Hot conditions increase weapon jam chance
ADD: Travel time at start of campaign day will be increased during Snow or Deep Snow ground conditions, and during Extreme Hot or Cold temperature conditions
ADD: Being CE will have an impact on fatigue gain chance in Extreme Hot or Extreme Cold conditions
ADD: Having a dedicated radio operator in the tank will make the odds of random air or artillery attacks during a scenario more likely
ADD: Artillery attacks now have a spotting round phase with spotting affected by precipitation and fog; not all eligible target hexes may be attacked
ADD: Rarity factors for the CR.42 Falco and Ju 87 Picchiatello
ADD: Unique sound effect for Bazooka fire

FIX: Multi-line messages in the message log are now displayed properly
FIX: Gun type will no longer be revealed in messages if attacker is enemy and unspotted

Today brings a medium-sized update, no change to saved campaign compatibilty but there are a lot of additions, changes, and fixes in this update. As always, please report bugs and crashes in the Steam discussion boards. Changelog follows:



ADD: Bagration to Berlin (USSR) Campaign
ADD: Baytown to the Winter Line (Germany) Campaign
ADD: Rescue objective: must come to the aid of a friendly unit trapped in enemy territory
ADD: Direct-fire HE hits on armoured vehicles have a small chance to immobilize them
ADD: Squadmates that become immobilized will drop out of squad
ADD: PgUp/PgDn key commands to campaign selection menu
ADD: Music to end of day screen
ADD: "Attack my Target" command for player squad; squadmates much more likely to attack any acquired targets of player
ADD: "Hold the Line" day mission: defensive mission with a row of objectives that must be held until the end of the combat day
ADD: New Soviet Unit: BT-2 light tank
ADD: New French Units: R35, R40, Char D1, Char D2, Char D2 (Late)
ADD: New British & Commonwealth Unit: Archer tank destroyer
ADD: New German units: Grille Ausf. H, Grille Ausf. K
ADD: New Italian aircraft units: Breda B.65, IMAM Ro.57, IMAM Ro.57bis
ADD: Many new aircraft units
ADD: AI units (other than squadmates) can now opt to withdraw after having a broken weapon or running out of gun ammo
ADD: Nation of origin tag and data to unit definitions
ADD: Display filters for Unit Gallery
ADD: KIA reports for crewmen when tank is lost in battle during a stay in the Field Hospital, and those lost before returning to tank after a stay in the Field Hospital
ADD: "Acclimatized" skill, reduces chance of Fatigue gain in Hot or Cold conditions, now also a prerequiste for the Nordic and Desert versions of this skill
ADD: Riflemen and Paratrooper Squads may be spawned with a Light or Medium MG - odds increase later in the war, and may increase depending on nation
ADD: Storm conditions, lightning flash and thunder sound effect
ADD: When transferring to a new tank, crewmen will be moved into the same position as before wherever possible
ADD: When Random Tank selection is active and replacing a tank, game will tend to choose a random model with same number or more positions than previous model
ADD: Campaign Day random event: Zone floods and turns into marsh
ADD: Campaign Day random event: Urban Combat Zone turns into craters
ADD: Both Renault FT variants as player tank options for Polish and French campaigns
ADD: very_unreliable tag for unit types

CNG: Updated some unit portraits (thanks to cjprince on the Discord server)
CNG: AI units that unload their passengers will now start to withdraw from the battle
CNG: Broken player unit weapons will now be repaired at the end of the combat day rather than when proceeding to a new day
CNG: Unit ID for P-38 Lightning (fighter-bomber) to P-38 Lightning (CAS)
CNG: During a scenario, crewmen can only swap positions if both are on the correct command
CNG: Air attacks that do not hit the target still have a chance to pin them
CNG: AP can now be fired at infantry/cavalry/gun targets; hits only apply 1 FP; entrenched and fortified targets have a chance of their entrenchments/fortifications being destroyed upon a hit; critical hits will destroy a gun and apply slightly more FP on infantry/cavalry
CNG: Crewmen may now be reassigned upon moving to a new tank, even if there are enough positions in the new tank for them all
CNG: Lowered the chance that enemy transports actually have a passenger unit, passenger units also checked against current rarity factor
CNG: With Direct Fire, Infantry, Slow Tank, and Slow Wheeled targets have a lower penalty to hit when moving, Half-Tracked, Fast Tank, and Fast Wheeled targets have a higher penalty to hit when moving
CNG: Minor updates to many existing campaigns

FIX: Crew chatter not being displayed at correct location on Campaign Day layer
FIX: Churchill tanks: added missing Loader hatch, minor changes to armour values and presence in campaigns
FIX: Soviet 76L and 76LL guns, as well as other specific weapons, now have correct base armour penetration scores
FIX: Longstanding bug where scores for AI move actions were not being modified based on distance from player
FIX: Rare bug where broken weapons would not automatically be fixed at the end of the combat day
FIX: Bug where player could re-roll the random tank model assigned to them as a replacement tank
FIX: Bug where friendly units would not be affected by artillery attacks, minor adjustments to artillery and air attack procedures
FIX: Bug where during player bail out, crewmen could not open as Assistant Driver's hatch if they were not in that position
FIX: Minor bugs in bail-out sequence
FIX: Target should now always appear at top/middle of hex stack when in Shooting Phase, even after switching active weapon
FIX: Minor display bug in contextual console during Shooting phase when extra ammo loaded

It’s been one year since I released the first stable version of Armoured Commander II on my blog, which was version 1.0.4. Today the version on Steam is 8.0.7, having gone through seven major updates and dozens of smaller ones since then. The game has been more popular than I had ever imagined possible, and I am grateful to all the brave players who took a chance on the Early Access version, and sent me suggestions for improvement, as well as bug and crash reports.

My original plan when ArmCom2 was released on Steam in May 2020 was for the full release version to be completed by summer 2021, and right now I am still on track to meet that goal. There are quite a few gameplay improvements, changes, and enhancements that I want to add before that happens, as well as a handful of key campaigns, mostly from the late-war period 1944-1945. The game has come a long way in just a year, and I’m looking forward to these final months of work to deliver a complete game.

Even after its full release, however, I plan on continuing to add to the game. Limited mod support is already in place, with full Steam Workshop support planned for the near future, and some intrepid players have already started creating their own mods. Some of these are posted on the Discord server, which can be accessed through the link on the Steam discussion boards. I also post preview images there of my work in progress.

Many players have helped out with development over the past year, but I have to thank one in particular, flori2412, who has created dozens of new units, several new campaigns, and generally provided invaluable feedback and suggestions for the game. Without him and the other enthusastic players, ArmCom2 would not be half of what it is today, so many thanks to all of them.

A minor update today, adding two new units, a new mid-war campaign, and a fix for an annoying bug!


ADD: Churchill I and II
ADD: Operation Avalanche to the Winter Line (USA) campaign
FIX: Bug where a player commander returning to their tank after a stay in the field hospital would not have their position set properly, leading to an incorrect command list