Operation Avalanche: Fall of Italy mod for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

'Operation Avalanche: Fall of Italy' Mod adds units and abilities spanning from late 1942 until the close of the Italian Campaign in an attempt to immerse the Italian faction into the Company of Heroes gaming experience. Though titled after the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, the mod referances combat units that took part in a multitude of operations throughout the Mediterranean theatre of operations, including Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily that took place immediately before the mod's namesake, Operation Avalanche; Operation Shingle, the landings on the Anzio beachhead; Operation Slapstick, the British landings at Taranto undertaken by the British 1st Parachute Division; and Operation Baytown, the operational farce that was intended to tie down (but failed spectacularly in evoking any action from) Albert Kesselring's combat forces in southern Italy. The mod also features pseudo-realism, a halfway point between the arcadey play of vCoH and the ultra super realism of Blitzkrieg mod where you get vaporized by anything with a gun. The speed of armored units relative to other armor has been tweaked, and there is a flat out addition of several units thus far unseen in other mods as well as some well known favorites. New doctrines and maps based on the battlegrounds of Italy are in the works for the near future.

INSTALLATION: Download the file, and extract the contents of the zipfile to your root Company of Heroes folder. To run the mod, create a shortcut of Relic.exe (found in your root CoH folder) and add the tagline '-mod OperationAvalanche -dev' to the end of it, without the ' '. It is important that you add the -dev to the tagline, connectivity issues between players in different countries have been reported when it was absent. NOTE**: Versions older than v0.04.6 requires the tagline -mod Retards -dev to be entered in order for the mod to run properly. PLEASE DELETE VERSIONS OF THE MOD OLDER THAN v0.04.6! THESE OLD FILES SPORT THE NAME 'Retards', AN UNFORTUNATE CARRYOVER FROM THE MOD'S ROOTS! UPDATED FILES SHOULD BE NAMED 'OperationAvalache'!

Each patch includes a full version of the mod. Make sure that you remove any old versions that you download before you extract the files into your root Company of Heroes folder.

Features: A new standardised weapons damage system. All weapons deal damage based on ammunition type;
.50 BMG - 20
.303 British (7.7x56mm Rimmed) - 15
.30-06 - 14
7.92x57mm Mauser - 13
7.92x33mm Mauser - 9.5
6.5x52mm Mannlicher-Carcano - 8.75-8.25
.38/200 Smith and Wesson - 8
.45ACP - 7
.30 Carbine - 7
9x19mm Parabellum - 6
7.63x25mm Mauser - 5

A new dynamic cover system:
All infantry units will receive the following bonuses when in:

Light Cover - Accuracy 1.025
Heavy Cover - Accuracy 1.05
Garrison Cover - Accuracy 1.1

which changes the dynamic of combat and compensates for the longer weapon cooldown times. The name of the game is now accuracy. Every missed shot counts, but the bonuses should be small enough that cover-whoring shouldn't be any more gamebreaking then it used to be. This dynamic will vary--more inexperienced type units will have a slightly lower benefit, while elite, expensive units might have a slightly higher one. The paramiters are finite; the stats won't deviate by more then .1 in either direction.

Weapons have now been heavily modified. The changes lean towards realism but again retain that arcadey CoH flavor. For those interested in seeing exactly what changes were made, you can read the extensive and meticulous changelog or use Corsix to see for yourself.

All tank cannon's projectiles have been changed from tp_homing to tp_artillery. Ever had a unit scoot behind a house but get hit by an already fired shell anyways? This won't happen ever again; units with projectile weapons now rely on ballistics. This, coupled with tank's reduced moving accuracy, means that tanks' cannons require the unit to be stopped in order for it to reach maximum effectiveness.

New models: Sherman Jumbo, Sherman V, M3A1 Stuart, Armored Jeep, Carcano Rifle, M1934 Beretta Pistol, M12 Trenchgun, M1919A6 LMG, M1938 Berretta SMG, Elefant, and more!*

New skins for several units (Credit to GnigruH)

New Abilities:
-Unholster Sidearm!
-Grit!
-Medical Supplies
-Field Dressings

New units:
US - Combat Team, Airborne Riflemen, Platoon Officer, Ranger Captain, Airborne Officer, Company Sharpshooter, Sherman Jumbo, Stuart 'Rhino', Assault Engineers, Inexperienced Riflemen, Armored Jeep, Assault Riflemen
WM - Landser Grenadiers, Elite Grenadiers, Oberfeldwebel, Platoon Marksman, Volkssturm, Panzer III, StuG III, Luger Squad, Panzerbucshe Squad, Panzerfaust Squad, Gebirgsjaegers
CW - Armoured Infantry Section, Commando Officer **, Commando Riflemen, Crusader Mk II, Sherman V, Churchill Mk VI (75mm).
PE- Falshirmjager Scharfeschutze, Falshirmjager Ambush Team, Elefant, Italian Fusilieres, Italian Ingegnera Squadra, Gruppo Di Assalto, Vichy French Hotchkiss, Fiat-Ravelli M1914 MMG Team.

Planned additions include new armored Italian units including the Stumovente as well as several new emplacements.

BUGS: The Armored Jeep, Stug III, and the Berretta SMG currently have some graphical issues.

Lead Dev, RGD Coder, Balance Lead - Volsky
RGD Coder - BumbleBeeTuna

*I did not create any of these skins or models, nor do I claim that I have or have ever taken part in their creation.
**Not yet implimented.