Update 12 Test

Steam Testing Branch.
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Danielefc
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Update 12 Test

Unread postby Danielefc » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:44 am

Hi everyone!

So things have been quiet from us lately... We are happy to announce that this is because we have been hard at work making a rather gargantuan free update. By now it is live in the BETA branch on steam.
How to switch to the "beta" branch: Go to your Steam Library, right-click the game and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'BETAS' tab and from the drop-down menu select 'beta - Branch with untested beta features'.
(To switch back, just follow the same procedure and choose 'None - opt out of all beta programs').

Anyway, back to the update: the changelog is a mile long, but in this post I will talk about the following:

* The final campaign structure and the “new” campaign
* Specialist price and balance overhaul
* Price overhaul of HQs and cards
* much much more!

We are also providing a save in this post. “What is this for?”, I hear you ask. Well, all of the new content is mid-late game stuff and with this save you can avoid playing an entire campaign only to discover some nasty bug after many many hours of play. We may be mean, but we are not that mean.

west.usg
. This is for classic difficulty
west_normal.usg
This is for normal difficulty

Onto the new content. SPOILERS AHEAD! Firstly here is the new and final campaign tree. It is slightly simplified since there are several minor branches that would clutter things up otherwise.

campaign.jpg


As you can see, things can now get a bit crazy if you succeed with Operation Market Garden and choose to exploit the bridgehead. Things get even crazier if you don’t feel like giving Stalin a free hand in Poland later on. The Mediterrannean theater has also been brought to a more fulfilling conclusion (and some open terrain in the last scenario there!). In fact, if you want to get to “Unthinkable” in the campaign you will have to do the following three things:

1. Play the Mediterrannean Theater to its a-historical conclusion.
2. Play the Northern European Theater to its a-historical conclusion.
3. Capture ONE of these four bonus objectives in the final two scenarios in each theater: Berlin, Treptow, Pankow or Prag.

While on the subject, let’s talk about “Unthinkable”: it’s big. Like really big. We had to make improvements to the engine’s performance just to make it run properly. More importantly: It’s fun! You get to take all the most interesting units from the campaign for one final spin. And this against a numerically strong and different kind of opponent. Get ready for some IS3s, SU-100s, Guards Mechanized, Guards Cavalry, IL2s and much much more. No more spoilers for now, you can try all this stuff for yourself. And as always we will welcome any and all feedback.

Now onto the balance changes and let’s start with the specialist overhaul. M10s are no longer the king of all traits. They are still strong and cost effective, afterall Tank Destroyer Branch was a major part of the US Army. But they have been brought back into line with other specs like the M4 which has in turn received an offensive boost and a cost reduction.

Special Forces have received a major boost. They can now have one or two of the following abilities:

1. Unit ignores enemy entrenchment.
2. Unit attacks with decreased amphibious/river penalties.

This has turned special forces into a sort of “discount engineers”. And they are not as fragile as said engineers. Speaking of fragility, we have also overhauled the specialist positions in the loss-queue. Now specialists get pushed further and further to the front of this queue as you add more specs to a division. The logic is this: A division with a million attachments can’t cover them all effectively during an attack or in defense. These are the biggest changes made to the specialists, but many, many more have been implemented. *cough* Pershing *cough*.

Onto cards and HQs: the Recon Card has had its cost lowered to 10 prestige. At the same time recon assets in all the scenarios have been slashed down to just one or two across the board. This should make this asset and its card more meaningful. If you don’t savescum. Yes. We see you. Savescummers. You know who you are. And we disapprove. Also worth mentioning is the Store Card. It has had its price reduced. Ever feel frustrated that you had units that were out of range during the battle prep? This card can be really useful for this. In future we hope to add a more elegant solution to this issue. While we are on HQs: a quick shout out to HQ branches that have been made slightly cheaper in general. This to get everybody experimenting with the less used actions.

Finally there is an entirely “new” campaign: “The Second Front”. This is a shortened version of “Victory in the West”. Essentially it does away with the Mediterranean Theater and lets you jump into the action at Overlord. We always wanted players to be able to skip the slog in Italy: and now you can. Note that you can’t unlock milestones or get to Unthinkable in this shortened campaign.

Okay that’s it for me for now.

Stay safe in these weird times and happy gaming!
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Last edited by Danielefc on Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Adronio
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Adronio » Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:34 am

Oh my, so this is what you guys have been busy doing for all this time. Operation Unthinkable sounds like a real treat. Cheers.

Adronio
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Adronio » Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:33 pm

Just a question, With the upcoming Allies vs Soviet slugfest that is Unthinkable, what is the Casualty to Straggler ratio for the soviets looking like, and is it still 4 in 6 chance for a Casualty to turn into a straggler for the Western Allies? A large mismatch between the straggler ratios could be very punishing for the Soviets considering the scale of unthinkable.

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Danielefc
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Danielefc » Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:57 pm

RE: Soviet Stragglers
They are at 33%. Allies are still at 66%.

During my testing of Unthinkable the stragglers were not more intrusive than "they should be". And the Soviets are NOT lacking in troops in Unthinkable... Lets just say that one of the bonus objectives is to capture 200 prisoners ;).

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spillblood
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby spillblood » Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:16 pm

Very cool. I got an E-Mail today. I'll check out the testing branch. Now with the Covid19-lockdown and home office I might have more time than for the beta of the main game. I'd like a savegame for normal difficulty, didn't play the existing campaign on classic. This new campaign tree looks awesome! Especially those new alternate history scenarios.

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Danielefc
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Danielefc » Tue Apr 21, 2020 5:33 pm

Sure thing Spillblood :) Later this evening it'll be done.

nigo
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby nigo » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:38 pm

Dont forget the poor brazilians in Gothic Line scenario. :p

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Danielefc
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Danielefc » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:41 pm

@Spillblood - there is a savegame for normal difficulty in the original post now :)

@nigo - okay, I'll look into it again and see if they can be added as reinforcements :lol:

the_flyingdutchman
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby the_flyingdutchman » Wed Apr 22, 2020 6:56 am

I`m downloading it now...
Please don`t forget the Princess Irene Brigade in Fortress Holland scenario(maybe with Brigade Piron)! :D

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Danielefc
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Re: Update 12 Test

Unread postby Danielefc » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:06 pm

the_flyingdutchman wrote:I`m downloading it now...
Please don`t forget the Princess Irene Brigade in Fortress Holland scenario(maybe with Brigade Piron)! :D


If it doesn't mess with the balance, I'll add them :)