Armoured Commander II News

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

A substantial minor update today, with two new campaigns, a number of new units (bringing the total to 501!) and many fixes and improvements. Changelog follows:


ADD: New Campaign: Baytown to the Winter Line (Canada)
ADD: New Campaign: Between Kursk and Bagration (USSR)
ADD: Enemy units' guns upon spawn will be loaded with between 40% and 100% of maximum ammo stores for each ammo type
ADD: Mountain Pass zone type in Italy and North Africa: additional travel time, increased chance of ambush, penalty to move in all terrain within the pass, greater chance of LoS being blocked
ADD: Short music effect to start of day display
ADD: Several new Soviet airplane units
ADD: Some missing unit portraits
ADD: When player is attacked in own zone, very likely that attacking units will be copied from those present in adjacent zones if possible

CNG: Slightly lower base Fog penalty for Area Fire and Point Fire attacks
CNG: No vision penalties (Fog, Smoke, Dust) now apply to overrun attacks
CNG: Overrun attacks now allowed against all enemy units, gun attacks during overrun get a bonus to hit, movement to-hit penalty reduced
CNG: Four of Spades Steam achievement changed to: Destroyed a Heavy Tank while commanding a Tankette or Light Tank (captured tanks are being renamed, so in near future will no longer be possible to destroy exactly the same model as player commands)

FIX: Rivers were being generated between or adjacent to Water zones
FIX: Display colour of Water zones now matches that of rivers
FIX: Time limit for Hold objectives in new map areas now set properly

A good-sized update today, adding in some new content including a new late-war campaign, as well as some improvements and fixes. As always, please report bugs and crashes on the Steam discussion board or on the Discord server. Changelog follows:


ADD: New Campaign: Between Kursk and Bagration (Germany)
ADD: New Bail-out actions to pull an unconscious crewman from an open hatch, and to carry an unconscious crewman to safety
ADD: Additional info now displayed in Unit Gallery
ADD: New Units: Panzer II J, Panzer T-70, Panzer M15/42 738, Panzer T-34 747 M41,
Panzer T-34 747 M42, Panzer T-34 747 M43, Panzerjager SU-85 748, Bf 109 (fighter),
Bf 110 (fighter), Bf 110 (fighter-bomber), Fw 190 (fighter), SU-75, LT-38 Praga,
T-III, T-IV, T-V, T-VI, Mark III (late), M4(76), T-34-85 (early), T-34-85 (late),
IS-1, IS-2 (early), IS-2 (late), SU-57, SU-85M, SU-100, ISU-122, ISU-122S,
ISU-152, MG Carrier, M5 half-track, 100mm obr. 1944, M17 MGMC, GAZ-67,
I-16, MiG-3, Hurricane Mk I, Hurricane Mk IIB, Hurricane Mk IIC, Hurricane Mk IID,
Spitfire Mk I/II, Spitfire Mk V, Spitfire Mk IX

CNG: Reduced chance of explosion if player tank was knocked out by MG fire
CNG: If 'Random Tank Model' campaign option is active, during refit periods the player will only be offered one alternate tank model, randomly selected according to current rarity
CNG: Minor change to layout of start of day display, added display to first day in a campaign

FIX: Sound effects during bail-out minigame not playing properly
FIX: Rare crash during animation of small arms attack