Balancing Changes

Field Commander (Battles)

• Changed battle timer to scale with difficulty (in minutes):
• Recruit: 35 (previously 20)
• Trainee: 30 (previously 20)
• Soldier: 25 (previously 20)
• Veteran: 20 (unchanged)
• Elite: 20 (unchanged)
• Increased Control Point capture speed with a single company by approximately 50%.
• Capture speed now scales more smoothly with additional companies.
• Recovery speed of Control Points following a failed capture attempt was doubled.
• Snipers are now limited to Elite Infantry companies only.
• A status icon was added to elite companies if they have sniper technology unlocked.
• Sniper fire is now blocked if the company is Suppressed.

Theatre Commander (Strategic View)

• Starting National Will for 1916 campaigns was changed to 580 (previously 450).
• National Will drain in 1918 was reduced to 30 per turn (previously 100).
• The following National Will values for battle wins and losses were changed:
• Great Loss changed to -10 (previously -16)
• Major Victory/Loss changed to 6/-6 (previously 5/-12)
• Loss changed to -3 (previously -8)
• Minor Loss changed to -1 (previously -5)
• Supply value for tank battalions and air wings was reduced to 0 to match siege artillery (previously 100).
• Supply value bonus for airfield and mechanics garage structures was reduced to 5/10/25 (previously 20/50/80).
• Cost of Mechanics Garage Structure was reduced to 600/800/1000 (previously 800/1200/2000).
• Replenishment cost of all infantry soldiers was reduced by 0.1 gold (previously 0.4 to 1.0 according to type).
• Start date potential for the Poison Death mission (gas masks) was moved forward.

Theatre Commander AI

• Region targets for offensives will be targeting more intelligently to preserve National Will.
• Defensive evaluations for front line positions were adjusted.
• Evaluation of potential surrounding situations were adjusted.
• Movement system was adjusted to ensure appropriate minimum defences and still attempt an effective assault when overextended.
• Opportunity assaults versus empty regions were refined.
• Attack probability was adjusted to scale more closely with game difficulty.

Field Commander AI

• AI aggressiveness was adjusted to avoid aggressive rallying if defensive company counts are low.
• Desire to exit trenches when initiating a rally or assault if enemies are near was reduced.
• Size of ambushes for under protected Control Points was reduced.
• Desire to return to failed ambush locations while on defence was reduced.
• Previously failed ambushes or scouted Control Points will no longer be ambushed/scouted again unless capture progress is made.
• Build rate of trenches was adjusted according to difficulty.
• Light tanks will now be used in assaults more consistently.
• The frequency of enemy troops in your trench lines calling bombardments on neighbouring trenches was reduced.
• Infantry hesitance to approach enemy tanks and fort turrets was increased.
• Observation Balloon purchases in Pre-Battle while defending were adjusted.
• Tanks from are no longer aggressive toward fort turrets.
• Desire to continue assaulting a Control Point after repeated failed attempts was reduced.
• Pre-Battle bombardment now scales more closely to total siege weaponry count.
• Chance of using smoke artillery effectively was increased.
• Rally and attack pacing was adjusted to encourage larger assault waves.
• Tanks being damaged by artillery will now attempt to move if possible.
• AI will now surrender when below a minimum threshold of defensive companies and reinforcements remaining if the score is not in their favour.
• Reinforcements were update so the AI will attempt to spawn them outside of combat range of player companies.
• Communications trench construction now scales more closely with game difficulty.
• Tanks on defence will now patrol between owned Control Points.
• Flamethrower companies will now avoid melee where possible.

Tanks & Aircraft

• Increased mortar damage vs. tanks by 50%.
• Reduced speed of FT tanks by 34%.
• Reduced speed of Whippet tanks by 30%.
• Reduced health of FT tanks by 33%.
• Reduced health of Whippet tank by 16%.
• Reduced health of Sturmpanzerwagen tank by 27%.
• Reduced supply cost of FT tanks to 30/60 (was 40/80).
• Updated Tank replenishment cost.

Structure & Artillery

• Scatter radius of Light Artillery suppression barrage shots was reduced by 40%.
• Effect radius of suppression effect per shell was reduced by 50%.
• Target decal and telegraph decal of Light Artillery suppression barrage to match new scatter radius.
• Slow effect radius for Barbed Wire and Razor Wire was increased by 11%.
• Degradation count for Barbed Wire and Razor Wire was increased by 66%.
• Supply cost of improved firing trench was reduced to 20 (previously 30).
• Supply cost of advanced firing trench was reduced to 30 (previously 50).
• Mortar damage effect radius was increased by 50%.
• Mortar cost was reduced to 30 to match Machine Gun Nests (previously 45).
• Cost of all concrete bunkers was reduced to 50 (previously 60/75).
• Base anti-structure grenade damage and upgrade bonus was reduced by 25%
• Damage-to-armour modifier for anti-structure grenades vs. concrete was increased by 20%
• Artillery air burst shells now do minor damage to weapon emplacements and artillery cannons.

Fixes

Settings Changes

• Pause Game hotkey was moved to Space and converted to a toggle.
• Firing Arc Display hotkey was moved to apostrophe (‘) key.
• Withdraw hotkey was moved to SHIFT-C.
• Hotkeys for Sell Object and Un-Deploy were removed.

Theatre Commander

• Fixed issue where new corps could spawn in their default spawn region after it had been captured by enemy.
• Fixed an issue where supply values were being incorrectly calculated post-battle.
• Fixed an issue where captured/lost region stats were not properly tracking at the Theatre level.
• Fixed tech tree not opening when selecting required tech hyperlinks within strategic event pop ups.
• Adjusted win state checks so that the Campaign ends at the end of the turn when a winning action (HQ capture or National Will reduced to 0) has been completed.

Field Commander

• Fixed an issue where bombers would not target enemy positions.
• Fixed an issue where aircraft would not leave the map after running out of fuel.
• Fixed an issue where forests would not hide infantry correctly.
• Two passing companies will now engage in melee combat if they are moving in a trench that can be garrisoned.
• Fixed an issue where enemy infantry could be seen in trenches during pre-battle.
• Fixed an issue preventing time controls from working as intended.
• Fixed an issue where Gurkhas would not use their grenades to attack Machine Gun nests, Mortars, Artillery or Observation Balloon trucks.
• Fixed an issue where Control Point spawn points would flip to the invading force before the point was secured.
• Updated the battle results screen to show Gold Reserves Spent more accurately.
• Fixed an issue where Machine Gun Nests and Bombers (on harassment missions) could fire into forests.
• Fixed Unit tray SHIFT-selection so it now works with both left-to-right and right-to-left button SHIFT-clicking.

Emplacements

• Fixed an issue where players were charged supply for persistent trenches.
• Fixed an issue where players were charged full price for upgrading persistent trenches.
• Fixed Barbed Wire so it now correctly persists between Campaign battles.
• Fixed an issue where Undermining craters would not persist between Campaign battles.
• Fixed an issue where pre-placed and then upgraded trenches could not be deleted.
• Fixed an issue causing only Allies to take morale penalties from siege barrage, no matter who initiated them.
• Fixed an issue where trench UI would sometimes disappear.
• Fixed an issue with artillery companies not registering as destroyed for the "destroyed allied artillery" objective event.
• Fixed an issue where Mortars were instantly destroyed at the start of a battle.
• Fixed an issue where Barbed Wire and Razor Wire remained on the Minimap after being destroyed.
• Fixed an issue where Observation Balloons would not work correctly in Historic Battles and the Tutorial.
• Fixed an issue where placing Machine Gun nests caused the command cap icon to flash.
• Fixed an issue where trenches would show as orange during the transition from pre battle to battle.
• Fixed an issue where Corps that were turn locked due to movement and therefore not taking part in a battle were still contributing to national attribution of Machine Guns, Mortars, Artillery etc.
• Fixed an issue where troops at emplacements would animate incorrectly in the fog of war.
• Fixed an issue where players’ Machine Gun nests would spawn within range of the enemy in the Verdun Historic Battle.

AI

• Fixed an issue with Ceasefire activating while the AI is capturing the enemy HQ.
• Fixed an issue where the rally for an assault might stall out if the rally is wiped out before the attack order is given.
• Verdun Historic Battle: Fixed issue which caused AI waves to spawn and head to Control Point A.
• Somme Historic Battle: Fixed an issue where some reinforcing infantry would not garrison trenches correctly.

Multiplayer

• Players are now able to join password protected lobbies.
• Capturing the Command Trench will no longer pause the battle timer.
• Issues causing the Multiplayer Menu to disappear were fixed.
• Players will no longer be able to guess enemy trench layouts by looking for trees toppling during Pre-Battle.
• An issue preventing the call of siege artillery after Command Trench had been captured was fixed.

The Tutorial

• Various soft locks during the Tutorial were fixed.
• A “Go To Tutorial” button was added to the Tutorial Recommended pop up.
• Fixed an issue where the Chatillon-Sur-Marne Assault Mission would not complete during the Tutorial.
• Fixed an issue where loading a Tutorial chapter would sometimes result in missions/events not triggering correctly.
• Fixed an issue where selecting locked structures at specific times in the Tutorial would bring up the tech tree.
• Fixed an issue where you could spend gold on enemy regions during the “continuing the war” chapter of the Tutorial.
• Fixed the Tutorial movie not ending when ESC is pressed.
• Fixed an issue preventing the refunding of placed units during the second manual battle.
• Fixed an issue where the Tutorial Recommended pop up would trigger multiple times.

Cosmetic

• Corpse persistence duration was increased for all infantry to 60 seconds (previously 30).
• Trees on the Theatre Map were updated to reflect seasonal changes.
• An issue where region names would not appear on the Theatre Map was fixed.
• Well known rivers and docks were added to the Theatre Map.
• Fixed an issue where Espionage mission icons remained on the Theatre Map after the mission had expired.
• Fixed an issue where structure cost would not show red when the player had 0 or negative gold.
• Region Espionage and Care Package Buttons were updated to show in red if the player can’t afford them.
• Region events were updated to show the current active date instead of the event start date.
• Fixed an issue where Battlefield Deployment UI was present when starting a new Campaign.
• Replenishment cost text colour was updated to be clearer.
• Fixed an issue where reinforcement points were white in Skirmish.
• Fixed an issue where Battle Log timings were incorrect.
• Fixed an issue where the Tank UI would flash red in troop tray upon spawning.
• Firing arcs were changed to yellow for visibility on winter maps.

Other

• Various crashes have been fixed.
• Main Menu formatting improvements were added.
• Encyclopaedia button added to the Main Menu.
• Various map texture and lighting optimisations to increase overall performance.
• Improved Save Game stability.
• Changed Multiplayer ready timeout to 150 seconds (previously 60).
• Resolution options will no longer disappear after changing resolution.
• Fixed an issue affecting the “MAX_FPS=” Steam command line.
• Fixed phantom grey box when hovering mouse over companies in loading screens.
• Fixed players being able to change difficulty and play intro/outro videos after selecting begin in Historic Battles.
• Fixed an issue where the Encyclopaedia remained open on the Main Menu.
• Removed references to "crop dusting" from multiple entries for historical accuracy.
• Added an Encyclopaedia entry to explain forts/pillboxes.
• Fixed an issue where aircraft would briefly reveal units within the fog of war.
• Fixed an issue where some female tanks had inconsistent health values.
• Several tool tips were updated.
• Fixed several instances where music/ambient sound stopped unintentionally.
• Several voiceover lines were updated, added, or fixed.