Update 3.2 - Release Notes [1/2]

Comrades,

As the holidays appear on the horizon, we're coming back to you with another update announcement. We're pleased to announce that Update 3.2 is scheduled to be released on December 23rd, 10 am PDT (5 pm GMT, 7 pm CET)!

[h2]Global balance & gameplay changes[/h2]

[h3]Flamethrowers[/h3]
Flamethrowers were improved in Eastern Front and provide a more steady and reliable damage output which makes them less powerful against fully healed infantry units while more deadly against low health models.

Playtests showed that Flamethrowers currently overperform in certain situations due to these changes, so we decided to reduce their effectiveness against squads with ~30-50% hitpoints slightly. In return, we increased the damage that flamethrowers do to garrisoned infantry. They will still be much less RNG dependant than vCoH flamethrower units.

• Chance to burn models on yellow health bracket: 30% → 20%
  
• Damage multiplier against garrison cover: 2.0 → 2.5
  

Affected units:

• M2 Flamethrower (Engineer)
  
• Flammenwerfer 42 (Pioneers)
  
• Roks3 (Ingenery)
  
• vehicle flamethrowers (Flammpanzer III, Sherman Crocodile, Churchill Crocodile, Sdkfz 251 Halftrack Flamer, Ato42 T34)
  

[h3]Anti-Air weapons[/h3]

• Fixed a plethora of inconsistencies between various Anti-Air Weapons
  

[h3]Panzerfaust[/h3]

• Base damage: 70/85 → 100
  
• Rebalanced and fixed all target table inconsistencies:
  
  
  
  • Panzerfausts generally will deal significantly more damage against tanks, but the penetration chance remains unchanged.
    
  • Damage against light vehicles remains similar but may be a bit higher in specific cases.
    

[h2]Ostheer[/h2]

[h3]Teching adjustments[/h3]
The Ordnance Depot stands central in many Ostheer strategies, offering critical counter units that help establishing a foothold against a multitude of threat types. However, the structure proved too cheap and we therefore decided to increase its overall cost to reduce momentum building potential and mitigate an identified snowballing effect.

At the same time, the Panzer Recon Company was often discarded in favour of the Mechanized Command due to missing vital Anti-Tank options, and a unit roster that was too focused around handling soft targets. We adjusted this issue by moving the Panzer 38(t) to the Mechanized Command, and made the remaining units in the Panzer Recon Company much more appealing. Panzerwerfers are more accessible, and the Panzer III can now be deployed without the need for the Division Assault Troops update, and now has access to permanent Anti-Tank capabilities.

[h3]Division Assault Troops[/h3]

• Fuel cost 60 → 45
  

[h3]Ordnance Depot[/h3]

• Manpower cost 180 → 230
  
• Fuel cost 10 → 20
  

[h3]Mechanized Command[/h3]

• fuel cost 80 → 95
  

[h3]MG34 Light Machine Gun Upgrade[/h3]

• Fuel cost: 60 → 50
  

[h3]Krankenwagen[/h3]

• Fuel cost: 15 → 20
  

[h3]Kubelwagen[/h3]
The Kubelwagen currently overperforms its role as mobile fire support unit. We're correcting some of its basic statistics to put it more in line with other early recon vehicles.

• MG34 Light Machine Gun:
  
  
  
  • Range brackets (s/m/l): 10/20/35 → 6/15/35
    
  • DPS (s/m/l): -7.5%/-9%/-9.6%
    
  
  
• Mobility:
  
  
  
  • Acceleration: 10 → 6
    
  • Deceleration: 10 → 6
    
  • Traverse rate: 105 → 85
    
  
  
• Material hit type: armour → vehicle
  

[h3]Landser[/h3]
Landsers had the same hitpoints as Volksgrenadiers, meaning that the time-to-kill (TTK) was the same for these two squads in small arms fights. In comparison to Volks, Landsers rely on individual veterancy, do not get elite infantry armor, are more expensive to field and maintain, and do not have a clear niche range where they outperform Riflemen early on. With Conscripts being more durable, Ostheer had a tendency to struggle in establishing a foothold against both USF and Soviets. An increased TTK against Landsers by roughly 10% across all ranges should enable Landsers to stay competitive.

• Health 60 → 65 (squad hitpoints: 300 → 325)
  
• LMG 34
  
  
  
  • dps change s/m/l -%/+3%/+6%
    
  • Incremental accuracy multiplier: 1 → 1.04
    

[h3]Skirmish Commander[/h3]
Aside from providing a +20% global veterancy gaining bonus towards all infantry, the Skirmish Commander also acts as an early shock unit, capable of going toe-to-toe with most mainline infantry squads. An increased cost to both deploy and maintain the Skirmish Commander on the battlefield will mitigate an issue of the unit being too cost effective.

• Manpower cost: 250 → 270
  
• Reinforce cost: 33 mp → 45 mp (90 mp total)
  
• Reinforce time: 10-15s → 12s (24s total)
  

[h3]MG 151 Emplacement[/h3]

• Hitpoints 600 → 500
  
• Performance against aircraft:
  
  
  
  • Accuracy multiplier: 0.6 → 0.2
    
  • Penetration multiplier: 1.2 → 3
    

[h3]Sd.Kfz. 251 Halftrack[/h3]

• MG 151 performance against aircraft:
  
  
  
  • Accuracy multiplier: 1.00 → 0.45
    
  • Damage multiplier: 1.00 → 0.80
    
  • Penetration multiplier: 1.2 → 3
    

[h3]Panzer III Infantry Support Tank[/h3]
The Panzer III is a mobile and potent anti-infantry tank, but outshadowed by the Panzer IV in terms of utility in most situations. That's why we decided to rework some aspects of the Panzer III to differentiate it from the Panzer IV and give players reasons to utilize this unit over the Panzer IV.

• No longer requires Division Assault Troops upgrade
  
• Deployment time: 50s → 45s
  
• Manpower cost: 380 → 340
  
• Weapon range: 30m → 35m
  
• Can now equip Coated Optics (35 munitions)
  
• Can now equip Anti-Tank Shells (50 munitions)
  
  
  
  • Gr.Patr. 38 High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) shells provide vastly increased armor penetrating capabilities at the expense of precision and area of effect effectiveness.
    
  • As compensation for being a permanent upgrade the damage and accuracy has been tweaked. The HEAT is less accurate while being fired on the move and is less accurate on long range:
    
  • Damage: 110 → 90
    
  • Reload time: 4.5-5s → 5-6s
    
  • Accuracy: 1/1/0.75 → 1/1/0.7, reduced by 50% on the move
    
  • Weapon range: 35m
    
  • Upgrade now lifts the antenna on the hull and shows smoke dischargers on the turret sides as minor visual indicator that the tank has HEAT instead of HE.
    

[h3]Panzerwerfer[/h3]
While its offensive power is good, the Panzerwerfer proved too clumsy to use effectively compared to other mobile artillery units. That's why we made the Panzerwerfer more mobile and overall more accessible.

• Damage output vs tanks is now more consistent
  
• Removed and tweaked a couple weapon inconsistencies
  
• Fuel cost: 35 → 20
  
• Upkeep: 13.8 → 11.7
  
• Mobility: + 12.5% (max speed)
  

[h3]Panzer 38(t)[/h3]
The Panzer 38(t) has been moved to the Mechanized Command to allow Ostheer players to field an early vehicle out of the building even if the fuel income has been cutoff.

• Moved unit to Ostheer Mechanized Command
  
• Health 330 → 400
  
• Main gun reload time: 6s → 5s
  
• Main gun Area of Effect:
  
  
  
  • Radius: 0.5 → 1.5
    
  • Damage multipliers (s/m/l): 1.0/1.0/0.9 → 1.0/1.0/0.5
    
  
  
• Vastly improved main gun performance vs Stuart.
  
• Speed limiter munition cost: 50 → 30
  
• Can now lay Riegel Mines
  

[h3]Granatbüchse 39[/h3]

• Fixed an AoE damage inconsistency bug that would cause the grenade to deal very low damage to units in buildings
  
• Munition cost: 60 → 50
  
• Increased overall damage output by ~15%
  
• Fixed critical tables, now the values are:
  
  
  
  • green health: 95% no critical, 5% cause casualty
    
  • yellow health: 85% no critical, 10% cause casualty, 5% kill soldier
    
  • red health: 55% kill soldier, 45% make casualty
    

[h3]Grenade Supplies[/h3]
Combined with the area damage bugfix, Stielgranate 39 will be a more appealing tool to combat infantry units.

• Fuel cost: 40 → 35
  

[h3]Honveds[/h3]

• Betonmine munition cost: 40 → 35
  
• Panceltoro 44M:
  
  
  
  • Improved penetration capabilities against various tank types.
    

[h3]Coated Optics[/h3]

• Requires Assault Divisions troops
  
• adds +5m weapon and sight range
  
• Munition cost: 50 → 35
  

[h3]Panzerfusiliers[/h3]

• Scoped Assault Rifles movement accuracy penalty: -50% → -25%
  
• Scoped MP44 Assault Rifle:
  
  
  
  • Close range cooldown multiplier: 0.75 → 0.5
    
  • Close range DPS increase: +20%
    
  
  

[h3]Elefant[/h3]

• Call-in cooldown time: 480s → 360s
  

[h3]Tiger[/h3]

• Call-in cooldown time: 150s → 360s
  

[h3]Joint Operations[/h3]

Adjusted the Left Doctrine Tree:

• Counter Assault (2)
  
• JU-88 Bombardment (2)
  
• Luftbrücke Supplies (3)
  

Adjusted the right Doctrine Tree:

• Honveds (1)
  
• Strategic Reserves (2)
  
• Zrinyi II Assault Gun (3)
  

[h3]Counter Assault[/h3]

• Fixed Counter Assault bonuses not applying consistently and reshuffled some bonuses for better utility. Infantry will now break suppression and capture sectors significantly faster. They also do a short sprint upon activation and reload their weapons slightly faster.
  
• Duration time: 20s → 60s
  
• Recharge time: 45s → 160s
  
• Munition cost: 45 → 50
  

[h3]Luftbrücke Supplies[/h3]

• Recharge time: 180sec → 300sec
  

[h2]Panzer Elite[/h2]

[h3]Panzer Elite Veterancy:[/h3]

• Defensive Infantry Veterancy bonuses:
  
  
  
  • Received Suppression bonus: -10% → -15%
    

[h3]Kampfgruppe Kompanie[/h3]

• Removed Group Zeal Upgrade
  
• Current implementation of Group Zeal is impractical and offers little use. At the same time we do not want to back to the original functionality that strongly promotes blobbing infantry. The upgrade may be revised and reimplemented in the future.
  

[h3]Panzergrenadiers[/h3]
Playtests showed that Panzergrenadiers were in need of a higher damage output to effectively fulfill their role as fire support unit. Additionally, the G43 weapon package was not cost effective. We're addressing the matter by boosting the overall damage dealing potential for both Kar98k and Gewehr 43, while also making the weapon upgrade more accessible.

Keep in mind that Panzergrenadiers, even with improved damage output, are not intended as bulk mainline infantry force for the Panzer Elite. That role has been shifted over to Assault Grenadiers and Tank Busters.

• Hitpoints: 65 → 70 (squad hitpoints: 195 → 210)
  
• Kar98k rifles:
  
  
  
  • Base damage: 10 → 12
    
  • Accuracy (s/m/l): 0.85/0.65/0.4 → 0.75/0.65/0.35
    
  • Squad DPS (s/m/l): +20%/+20%/+5%
    
  
  
• Gewehr 43 package:
  
  
  
  • Munition cost: 60 → 50
    
  • Base damage: 12 → 15
    
  • Short range base accuracy: 0.75 → 0.85
    
  • Squad DPS change (s/m/l): +36%/+24%/+19%
    
  
  
• Reworked Volley Fire ability:
  
  
  
  • Summary: At the cost of accuracy and movement speed the squad will fire as rapidly as
    possible. Volley fire temporarily increases damage dealing potential and may induce a small
    suppressive effect.
    
  • Ability is now timed instead of targeted on one squad (duration: 20s), while active:
    
    
    
    • Weapon cooldown: -40% (+250% fire rate)
      
    • Weapon accuracy: -50%
      
    • Movement posture speed: -2
      
    
    
  • Added visual indicator
    
  • Target slow removed
    
  • Recharge time: 140s → 90s
    
  • Munition cost: 40 → 30
    
  
  
• Added Wire Cutters ability
  
• Veterancy requirements: 12/16/32 → 12/24/36
  

[h3]Kettenkrad[/h3]

• Capture rate multiplier: 1.25 → 1
  

[h3]Defensive Operations[/h3]

• Manpower cost: 180 → 200
  

[h3]Assault Grenadiers[/h3]

• Hitpoints: 65 → 60
  
• Veterancy requirements: 12/26/40 → 12/28/48
  
• MP44 Assault Rifles (Sturmgewehr):
  
  
  
  • Weapon package upgrade cost: 80 → 100
    
  • Base accuracy (s/m/l): 0.9/0.35/0.1 → 0.8/0.3/0.1
    
  • Squad DPS (s/m/l): -11%/-14%/-
    

[h3]Infantry Halftrack[/h3]

• Tweaked suppression ability:
  
  
  
  • Munition cost 30 → 20
    
  • Weapon range 35m → 40m while ability is active
    
  • Halftrack can now move at 20% max speed while ability is active
    
  • Significantly increased initial suppression and it further increases over time
    

[h3]Light Anti-Tank Halftrack[/h3]

• Weapon range: 55m → 45m
  
• Weapon reload: 2.6s → 4.6-5.6s
  
• Accuracy: 0.65/0.9/1.0 → 0.75/1.0/1.0
  
• Accuracy against infantry: -15%
  
• Stielgranate 41
  
  
  
  • Ability munition cost: 45 → 35
    
  • Base damage: 70/85 → 100
    
  • Rebalanced and fixed all target table inconsistencies. Stielgranate generally will deal significantly more damage per penetrating hit, but the penetration chance remains unchanged.
    

[h3]Tank Busters[/h3]

• Veterancy requirements: 12/26/40 → 12/28/48
  

[h3]Marder III[/h3]

• Lockdown range bonus: +5 → +10
  
• Long range accuracy: 0.65 → 0.75
  

[h3]Panzer IV Infantry Support Tank[/h3]

• 75 mm L/24 cannon weapon range 30m → 35m
  

[h3]Armored Car[/h3]

• Critical armor type: tp_light_vehicle → tp_vehicle
  
• Removed Phosphorus Rounds ability
  
• Added Overdrive ability:
  
  
  
  • Speed bonus: +25%
    
  
  Phosphorus rounds proved highly toxic against targets the Armored Car was already very strong against, while only offering limited use in other situations (such as vs garrisons). Overdrive instead brings back a familiar element of the Armored Car.
  

[h3]Wirbelwind Flakpanzer[/h3]

• Traverse rate: 50 → 35
  
• 20 mm Flakvierling 38:
  
  
  
  • Rebalance accuracy and cooldown parameters
    
  • DPS (s/m/l): +50%/+63%/+46%
    
  • Slightly reduced suppression potential
    

[h3]20 mm Flakvierling 38[/h3]

• Vastly increased suppression potential against infantry units
  

[h3]MG42 Heavy Machine Gun Team[/h3]

• Veterancy requirements: 8/16/32 → 12/24/36
  

[h3]Luftwaffe Ground Forces[/h3]

• Can now equip Minesweepers (cost: 35 Munitions)
  

[h3]Fallschirmjägers[/h3]

• Manpower cost: 420 → 400
  
• FG42 Assault Rifles:
  
  
  
  • Squad DPS (s/m/l): +2%/-5%/+5%
    
  • Fixed some cover and suppression table inconsistencies
    
  
  
• Veterancy requirements: 12/26/40 → 12/28/48
  

[h3]Incendiary Grenades[/h3]

• Ability munition cost: 25 → 20
  

[h3]Anti-Tank Grenades[/h3]

• Projectile acceleration: 5 → 10
  
• Implemented a proper Panzerwurfmine visual model
  
• Implemented new explosion FX
  
• Improved projectile ballistics
  

[h3]Henschel Panzerknacker[/h3]

• Vastly improved consistency of the main cannon hitting targets.
  
• Removed secondary gun that fired all over the place.
  
• Main gun base damage: 200 → 225
  
• Plane xp value: 20 → 3
  

[h3]Jagdpanther[/h3]

• Call-in manpower cost: 500 → 800
  
• Call-in cooldown time: 900s → 360s
  
• Removed -100 mp/min drain for 300s after deployment
  

[h2]Wehrmacht[/h2]

[h3]MG42 Light Machine Gun[/h3]

• Incremental accuracy multiplier: 1.05 → 1.03
  

[h3]Sturmgeschutz IV[/h3]
With US Tank Destroyers no longer having the massive damage bonus against Stugs, the Stug is too population efficient as a result.

• Population cost: 4 → 6
  

[h3]Tiger[/h3]

• Call-in cooldown time: 40s → 360s
  

[h3]Tiger Ace[/h3]
When we released the last update we had not yet rebalanced all one-time call-ins. The Tiger Ace has now been adjusted to be called in more than once and its combat power has been tweaked to reflect that.

• Removed 1 time hard cap, recharge set to 480s
  
• 88 mm KwK 36 L/56:
  
  
  
  • Accuracy: 1.0/1.0/0.9 → 1.0/1.0/0.85
    
  • Moving accuracy multiplier: -50% → -35%
    
  • Reload time: 6-7s → 6.5-7.5s
    
  
  
• health 1400 → 1220
  
• mobility/max speed reduced by -5.5% (matching Panther level)
  
• upkeep 21.5 → 32.2
  

Allied Armies, Maps, Bug Fixes
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/317600/view/3308481413922153782?l=english