Company of Heroes: Europe in Ruins News

EIR update 059 is now live. This is the second and last big EIR game update for this summer. Patch R058, published in June introduced some more significant changes to the Wehrmacht terror doctrine, while in this patch it's the US armor doctrine that is getting some long overdue love (with a special thanks to Dire for doing the legwork on the coding front!).

We'll be continuing our regular update schedule in the autumn and winter to shore up some of the other doctrines and continue our efforts to improve balance and gameplay to ensure the EIR multiplayer experience stays as engaging and rewarding as possible. And as you will have noted in the other dev blogs, the integration of the all new soviet faction is moving along steadily as well. Players will have another chance to try the soviet faction for themselves in our next public playtest weekend, running from 25 to 28 of August.

Don't hesitate drop by our discord server to find games, flag bugs or provide feedback.

Looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

- The EIR team




[h2]Americans[/h2]

• AB Spare Mags:
  1. Spare mags removed from AB M2 carbines purchase
     
  2. M2 Carbine purchase gives +1 carbine (4 instead of 3)
     
  3. AB can now purchase spare mags as a separate upgrade (excludes with carbines)
• Infantry Riflenade package:
  1. Now correctly excludes with 3x BAR
     
  2. Cost reduced to 55 MU (from 60)

Armor doctrine changes:

1. Armored Fist / Motorized sections
   - Both Mech infantry and assault engineers may now call on 1 pop unarmed m3 halftracks if purchased in launcher
   - Additionally, once Mech inf have called on a HT, so long as they are within 55m, they gain the following bonuses; +10 sight -45% weapon scatter +5 weapon range
   
   
2. M9 Zook
   - Mechanized infantry now get access to the M9 Bazooka - a slightly stronger variant of the M1 Bazooka, focused on rear-hits and killing big targets.
   
   
3. Rangefinding ability reworked
   - Unupgunned Calliopes now get access to the Rangefinding Barrage. 9 shots, vertical fire, long range low Scatter, low damage. Very effective vs bunkers/buildings. Cannot be shot into the fog of war
   - Shermans and the M8 now receive the Assault barrage ability: fire a barrage of .30 and .50 cal bullets in an arc in front of the tank
   
   
4. Locked And Loaded
   - Stickies and Hawkins mines now grant an extra received penetration debuff.
   
   
5. Calling it in
   - Reduced weapon scatter for all units.
   
   
6. M8 scot: weapon range increased +5m. Bonus from rangefinding removed
   
   
7. Let ‘em have it: fixed a bug with reload bonus not applying

[h2]Commonwealth[/h2]

• Crusader MK3 reward unit: now has inherent -33% received accuracy
  
• Crusader MK2 cost increased to 340 MP (from 300)
  
• Captain should now be able to move immediately after casting FOO

Commonwealth AT changes:

With this patch we want to start a process of gradually moving CW away from having the firefly be the dominant AT choice, overshadowing other AT options for comparatively less pop. We are beefing up some of those other AT options while at the same time increasing the FF’s population cost.

1. Firefly: population cost increased by 1
   
2. Commando piat cost reduced to 110 MU (From 140 MU), now also grants +2s smoke duration
   
3. RCA Rangefinding Tank Shock slow and sight reduction duration increased to 5s (from 3s)
   
4. Tommies now able to purchase 2x Boys AT rifles in the commando doctrine (by land by sea)
   
5. Tetrarch now able to purchase LittleJohn Adapter (2x penetration in exchange for 25% reduced accuracy against infantry) (30 FU)

[h2]Wehrmacht[/h2]

• Terror Begleit grenadiers:
  
  1. Can now purchase mp40 and medkits
     
  2. G43 upgrade now correctly excludes with lmg34
     
  3. Should now correctly be receiving the lower received suppression for their heroic armour
     
• Panzer IV: vet 3 bonus changed to +20% HP

[h2]Panzer Elite[/h2]

• MG IHT
  
  1. Received penetration increased by 50% (this will put it between unarmed IHT and WM HT, enabling more counterplay)
     
  2. TH zimmerit upg cost to 30 MP (from 20)
     
• SE Flammgrenadiers: now have AB armour instead of infantry armour
  
• 50mm Hotchkiss: should now correctly have 40 as max range (instead of 45)
  
• 50mm Hotchkiss Stuka: upgrade pop cost increased to 3 (from 2)
  
• TH Tankbusters:
  
  1. +1 man cost increased to 45 MP, 10 MU
     
  2. +1 schreck cost increased to 110 MU (from 100)
     
  3. TH Improved barrels: fixed a bug with vehicles unintentionally receiving +20% accuracy from old infrarot upgrade
     
  4. TH Close support: Fixed a bug with PE schrecks receiving more than the stated 20% accuracy buff with close support

Hey there again! It's me again, Olazaika, and it's gonna be me for the forseeable future - so get used to it!

I've been steadily chipping away at doctrines - we're officially 1/3rd done. As UI elements get updated - I'll let you guys get a few sneak previews at em ;)

During the playtest we've noticed that Soviets lack a form of disable. While tank based AT is great, and ATG's provide invaluable support to the frontline - we wanted to emphasize just how powerful the soviet AT rifles were. As such - they now have access to a dedicated AT Rifle Squad!



They're 4 men, 4 pop. Armed with 2 PTRD's. Capable of tank-shocking their enemies and dishing out ludicrous amounts of damage to LV's and decent damage against tanks! Airborne armor and Heroic crits will make them difficult to kill, so watch out axis mains!

On the other hand... I've been tinkering with some silly little ideas. For example - how to make Saperi great for pushing? Well.. what about giving them an assault with molotovs?!



On Recharge. No limit. Go wild boys.

Anyways - in other news - light arms have been rebalanced. Hopefully they'll be more pleasant to use for you all. Hopefully I'll be able to share some more soon
See you guys on the battlefield!

DISCORD TWITCH FORUMS

Hi there! It's Olazaika speaking to you today, one of the devs for CoH : Europe In Ruins!

Steam has been really quiet for a while, and for that - I apologize. While balancing and gameplay improvements remain our key foci as a group - I've been working on something a bit more... enticing.



That's right! The Eastern Front is opening. Not yet, but steady progress has been made! I've been focused on getting the base units just right before adding in any of the doctrines. You've had a chance at testing them a few weeks prior, and I've realized a lot of you have very different expectations for the new faction. Hopefully I'll be able to meet most of them :)

Anyways, These past few weeks have been spent ironing out model issues. And now I'm going full speed on making the doctrines!



All base units have been implemented and balanced. They're not great, but they're not supposed to be - no doctrine buffs yet, remember?

As for the future :

I'm hoping to do more in-depth dev-blogs bi-weekly, to try and keep you guys in the loop!

We've drawn up 2 doctrines already, another one is in the works. One out of three is half-way done coding-wise. I'm aiming for a mid-august test of all the doctrines.

Once that is done and finalized - our resident launcher artist Speedy will go in and make the experience for you look all pretty.

Hope to see you soon on the battlefield ;) And hopefully with t34's in your hands.

Patch R057 constitutes a more significant balance update which looks to address a number of weaknesses with the PE Tank Hunters and Luftwaffe doctrines in particular. Tank Hunters only recently saw a more major revision but we felt still in needed some finetuning to get it to a competitive level. Luftwaffe meanwhile is already a strong doctrine but still had a number of lacklustre unlock choices and has also struggled a bit more since the rework of the henschel run which we are also continuing to tweak to get it to a better state.

This will be the last big update of this war cycle, with a war reset, company wipe and some exciting bigger changes tentatively planned in for late May - early June so stay tuned!

Introducing two new reward units: the crusader MkIII and the WM LeFH18 light howitzer


As always, do drop by our discord server to get started with the mod, find players, stay updated on development or simply to share your feedback.

The full changelog for this patch is included below.

- The EIR Dev team




[h2]General[/h2]

• Map updates (8p_Abbeville, 6p_Bastogne) courtesy of Ivsh. Removed 8p Goodwood
  
• Numerous ingame infantry skin changes and variations, praise volsky
  
• Some updates to launcher and ingame icons thanks to Speedy
  
• All players have been given +5k gold and 1k warmap contribution. Happy easter!

[h2]Reward Unit changes:[/h2]
*NEW REWARD UNITS*”:

1. CW Crusader MkIII Medium Tank
   
2. WM LeFH18 Howitzer

• Superpershing: speed increased to 4 (from 3.5), hp increased to 1300 (from 1200)
  
• Whizbang: Population reduced to 15 (from 16). Fuel cost reduced to 500 (from 600)
  
• Matilda:
  
  1. Population cost reduced by 1
     
  2. Gun penetration increased by ca. 15%
     
  3. Now detects mines in 5m radius when standing still
• Elite grenadiers: FG42 upgrade option replaced with 2x Scoped STG44

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Fixed a problem with M3 lee second weapon and animations bugging out when players selected the free weapon upgrade.
  
• 25pdr range display on construction now matches actual weapon range
  
• Fixed a bug with A&P medkit overlapping with its distribute abilities
  
• Partisan: fixed UI overlap issue between cloak and sabotage
  
• Fixed missing UI icon for Luftwaffe HE rounds

[h2]Americans[/h2]

• HVAP: cost on pershing reduced to 120 (from 150)
  
• Urban survival: cost on pershing reduced to 80 MP (from 100)
  
• Pour it on em: cost on calliope reduced to 80 MP (from 150)
  
• Infantry tank telephones: Ranger captain smoke cooldown reduction reduced to 60s (from intended 90s but was actually 120s)

[h2]Commonwealth[/h2]

• Piat: cost reduced to 100 (from 110)
  
• Stuart: base penetration increased to 0.8/0.9 from (0.66/0.82). Penetration versus P4 increased to 0.6 (rom 0.5)

RSE

• Churchill:
  
  1. 75mm upgrade no longer costs MP
     
  2. Defenders of Dunkirk cost to 50 MP (from 80)
     
  3. Tank shock to 40 MP (from 50)
• Churchill crocodile:
  
  1. Overrepair cost reduced to 100 MP (from 125)
     
  2. Hammer & anvil cost reduced to 30 MP, 60 F (from 60, 80)
• Sten upgrade cost for tommies: 55 MU (from 65)
  
• Boys AT: upgrade cost on sappers reduced to 45 MU (from 50)
  
• Bren suppression fire: cost reduced to 15 MU (from 20)
  
• Trenchbusters: cost reduced to 60 MU (from 65)
  
• Overrepair cost on vehicles reduced to 60 MP (from 75)
  
• Field mechanics: now also grant +15s duration on medium repair kits (cromwells, fireflies)

Commandos:

• Blackout cost reduced to 30 (from 40). Max purchases increased to 3 (from 2)
  
• Typhoon strafing run: damage increased by 50%. Should now also have a much greater chance to suppress
  
• Partisans: population reduced to 3 (from 4). Cost reduced to 220 (from 230)

[h2]Wehrmacht[/h2]

• Geschutzwagen: now again comes with an MG gunner
  
• Blitzkrieg Ghost division: camouflage detection penalty reduced by 5m

[h2]Panzer Elite[/h2]

• Changes to 5 man FJ and Pgren formations to ensure better cover behavior
  
• Assault grenadiers: cost reduced to 85 MU (from 90)
  
• Scout car: MG upgrade lockdown toggle cooldown reduced to 8s (from 10)

Luftwaffe

• Close support: mortar HT upgrade cost reduced to 60 (from 80)
  
• Butterfly bomb cost to 50 MU (from 45)
  
• Lmg34 cost increased to 50 MU (from 45)
  
• Fallschirmjaeger MG34:
  
  1. Now has sprint by default.
     
  2. L range accuracy increased to 0.15 (from 0.10)
• Mobile mechanics: now affects IHT. Free repair kit now extended to all halftracks including 50mm + scout cars
  
• Light support renamed to AT Specialists: now grants TB, Falls, Luftwaffe infantry +15% penetration to handheld AT weaponry.
  
• Luftwaffe recon run: now a single use unlock that grants recon runs on a 8 minute cooldown. Cost increased to 40 MU
  
• Panzerknacker: Further tweaks. Increased damage, reload time and penetration to medium tanks.
  
• Stummel: now receives smoke barrage option by default
  
• Specialised ammunition:
  
  1. HE rounds moved to close fire support
     
  2. Covering fire cooldown reduction moved to crete veterans[

Tank Hunters

• Ostfront veterans: +1 man cost reduced to 40 MP (from 45)
  
• Panzer commander:
  
  1. Cost reduced to 120 MP (from 150)
     
  2. Population reduced to 1 (from 2)
     
  3. Base reload reduction bonus increased to 5% (from 2.5)
     
  4. Max tank commanders increased to 2 (from 1)
• Grenadierausrustung:
  
  1. Panzergrenadier WM grenade upgrade: damage increased to 50 (from 40)
     
  2. K98 upgrade now gives +1 on 5 men squads
     
  3. Tankbusters can now purchase k98 upgrade
• Mechanised reconnaisance +5 sight becomes +10 sight unit upgrade. Extend to schwimm and ketten. Flare mine drop extended to schwimmwagen.
  
• Supply lines:
  
  1. Mun HT distribute supplies moved to scavenge unlock
     
  2. Now cuts deployment time for all call ins with vehicles by 50%
     
  3. MG scout car sector bonus now -20% received damage (from -10)
• Ambush training: Camouflage grants +2.5m weapon range, x2 accuracy and penetration

A happy new year to you all from all of us at the Europe in Ruins development team. We're looking forward to another year of playing Europe in Ruins matches with you all and with the renewed attention on the COH franchise we've also been very pleased to see quite a number of old players returning and new players trickling in. 2023 Promises to be an exciting year for the development of the mod and we've got quite a lot of bigger things in store, so do watch this space!

Our first big update to kick off this new year brings with it a long overdue war reset which will offer old and new players alike a chance to start fresh and get in on the ground floor. Alongside numerous smaller balance and design changes, this update also introduces a refresh of the tank hunters doctrine which many players in the community have felt was most in need of some love. The changes made we feel should go a long way in shoring up the infantry side of the doctrine and allow tank hunter players to do a better job of holding their ground in the face of an onslaught of allied infantry. Aside from that, tank hunter players will also be getting their hands on an entirely brand new unit concept: the panzer commander, a battle-hardened tank commander that is able to garrison any tank to improve the effectiveness of tank crews and grant them special abilities. And as your panzer commander vets up, so too will the power of his tank bonuses!



As always, do drop by our discord server to get started with the mod, find players, stay updated on development or simply to share your feedback.

The full changelog for this patch is included below. Happy hunting, commanders!

- The EIR Dev team





[h2]General [/h2]

• We’ve completed a war reset and company wipe. Welcome to a new EIR war cycle.
  
• (!) As of this patch we will no longer be using the autoupdater. Players will no longer go through an extra autoupdater check when launching the EIR launcher via steam. If you are not yet playing EIR via steam or launch your EIR launcher through a shortcut, you need to move to only using steam from this patch onwards. Not doing so puts you at risk of not having the correct files for this and future patches.
  
• Players with wrong usernames will now automatically have their company allocated ingame (note - this only works if there is only one player with a wrong username per side). This should greatly reduce instances of new players joining games and not being able to play.
  
• In-launcher unit wiki should now work again
  
• All minesweeper units can now detect mines from inside halftracks. Minesweeper HP increased by 10 and given AB armour (US) / Soldier armour (CW, WM, PE)

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed UI overlap for sapper boys AT and mines (mine moved to ui pos 7)
  
• CW RCA Stretcher Bearer: now correctly grants LT/Cpt medkit purchase
  
• Fixed bug with walking wounded being able to purchase upgrades with RCA ingame munitions
  
• CW RSE Hull Down: now properly applies 30% rec penetration and damage (was still 25) and bonus 2.5m range
  
• Staghound IV: Fixed penetration values vs Marder III.
  
• RCA Gammon bombs: vehicle stun hopefully now works correctly. Duration set to 2s instead of 1
  
• Terror German engineering: LV +15s repair duration should now work as intended
  
• Fixed issue with PE SE concussive shell UI icon overlapping with HE rounds. Ability reworked to now fire an actual shell.
  
• SE maximum overdrive UI icon moved to icon slot 12 to avoid overlap with boobytraps
  
• Radio Panzer IV now shows correct veterancy icons and affects P4 IST
  
• US Ranger Captain rally ability UI icon moved to UI slot 5 to avoid overlap with mark target
  
• Moved AB demo on recharge to UI post 7 to avoid overlap with satchel/grenade package
  
• Further bugfixes to WM terror mustard barrage
  
• P1 now correctly 5 pop ingame instead of 4

[h2]Americans[/h2]

• Riflemen: bonus +5m sticky range removed from vet 2. Base sticky range increased to 22 (from 19)
  
• Engineer Flamethrower: added 20 MP cost
  
• AB ATG: damage and reload reverted to fully match standard ATG. Price reverted.
  
• T34 Calliope:
  
  1. Fuel cost reduced to 280 F (from 300)
     
  2. 76mm main gun now a unit upgrade: this will let you choose next gen vehicles without automatically having to opt for an upgun calliope
• AB Hellcat: cost increased to 250 (from 240)

Infantry doctrine

• Frangible nades: cost reduced to 30 (from 40)
  
• I&R recon infantry: can now purchase a single bazooka for 45 MU
  
• 2x BAR upgrade: cost reduced to 70 MU (from 75)
  
• Rangers: cost reduced to 285 MP
  
• Allied grit: bonus HP removed from engineers and riflemen. Cost reduced to 10/15 MP (from 15/30

• M5 ATG reward unit: fire cone increased to 35 (from 30)

[h2]Commonwealth[/h2]

• Tank Commander upgrade: sight bonus reduced to +5m (from +10). MU cost halved.
  
• Support weapons: now have soldier armour type by default (was infantry)
  
• Sappers: 1x boys AT and piat purchase upgrade now exclude
  
• Recon tommies: cost reduced to 230 (from 250)
  
• 2in Mortar: cost increased to 320 MP, 65 MU (from 300, 60)
  
• Stuart IV:
  
  1. Cost reduced to 150 F (from 160)
     
  2. Penetration values vs stug, p4, panther armour types increased by ca. 20% Equalised penetration vs stug and stug skirted armour
• 17 pounder:
  
  1. Weapon health set to 450 (instead of 300) to match heavier ATG.
     
  2. Rotation rate increased to 65 (from 60). Fire cone changed to 40 (from 35) to match standard ATGs
     
  3. Reload increased to 3s (from 2.5)
• CW RSE desert rats: now grants support weapons heroic armour instead of elite armour
  
  
• SAS reward unit: now receive +20% acc/dmg ambush bonus and 0.03 passive hp regen
  
• Matilda reward unit: now grants +15% accuracy to nearby infantry (does not stack with CW LT bonus)

[h2]Wehrmacht[/h2]

• Panzer IV: sideskirt cost reduced to 30 F (from 40)
  
• Panzer I: now gets access to hull defilade, fire and advance and krieg doctrine unlocks
  
• Blaue grenadiers:
  
  1. Squad members now have panzergrenadier rifles instead of volks rifles (this constitutes a sizable DPS buff)
     
  2. LMG cost reduced to 65 MU/120 MU (from 70/130)
• Defensive ostfront veterans upgrade: cost increased to 25/30 MP on 5/6 man volksgrenadiers
  
• Defensive Hitler’s buzzsaw now a unit upgrade instead of a separate unit
  
• Stormtrooper AT rifle: damage modifier vs ATGs reduced to 0.4 (from 1), this equalises it with other AT rifles
  
• 250/1 Halftrack: various MP cost reductions on blitzkrieg unlocks
  
  
• B2 Char Flammpanzer reward unit: cost increased to 400

[h2]Panzer Elite[/h2]

• SE Flammgrenadier: fixed incorrect reference to unit receiving grenade package. Now receives just the incendiary grenades. Price reduced to 30 MU
  
• SE 250/9 AC halftrack: fuel cost reduced to 80 F (from 90)
  
• Luftwaffe Henschel Run: offmap reworked. Now calls on a single henschel to strafe a target area, damaging and temporarily disabling vehicles caught in its flight path. Cost set at 70 MU. (Note: this is a first experimental implementation and we expect to make further tweaks in future patches)
  
• Panzer IV IST: sideskirt cost reduced to 40 F (from 45)
  
• SE concussive shells: stun duration increased to 5s (from 3), cost reduced to 40 MU (from 50)
  
  
• Sturmtiger reward unit:
  
  1. Weapon reworked to fire heavy hummel shell instead of V1. Cooldown changed to 120s. AoE changed to 15, from 18 with proper damage fall off on S/M/L ranges. Ignores heroic criticals.
     
  2. Unit armour type changed to tiger instead of jagdpanther.

Tank Hunters doctrine refresh!

• Ostheer panzergrenadiers: now gives access to +1 man upgrade on assault grenadiers and tankbusters
  
• Scavenged supplies: renamed supply lines.
  
• Muni distribution cooldown reduced to 1 second. Medkit cost reduced to 5 (from 10)
  
• New ability: Scout car mg lock down grants sector wide defensive aura, +10% hp and -10% rec dmg to own infantry
  
• Infrarot: improved barrel bonus range moved into this upgrade and merged with scatter bonus. Unlock extended to P4 IST, hotchkiss (+2.5m range) and LATHT (+5m range). Inrarot accuracy bonus removed
  
• Improved barrels: renamed mainline kits. Grants panzergrenadiers access to grenade package with WM instead of incendiary grenades (40 MU)
  
• Bergetiger: removed fom the doctrine pending a repair mechanics rework
  
• Afrikakorps veterans: ability replaced by ambush training. Retains +25% turret rotation but now also grants 50mm ht, jagdpanther and marders stationary cloak with 200% ambush bonus penetration.
  
• Storm tactics: now a unit upgrade that grants -20% weapon cooldown on all panzergrenadier weapons (not just G43). Cost set at 15 MP. Sprint cooldown reduction now properly functions and is set at 45s
  
• New unlock: Panzer Lehr. Unlocks the new battle-hardened panzer commander unit that gives
  1. unique bonuses to tanks it garrisons (P3/P4/Panther/Hetzer/JP)
     
  2. Shares XP with garrisoned tank
     
  3. Flat +5m sight bonus, -2,5% reload reduction and a further -2,5% reload for every vet level
     
  4. Can purchase one of three expertise packages granting tanks unique abilities and bonuses (infantry support/spotting/mobility)