We're alive! news

Basically, after Ken left and retired; (About...3-4 days after) I took the torch and kept going with it. I have been working for months rebuilding and restructuring. The reason I wasn't so open about it was because if I happened to only do a bit and then hate doing the process of modding and coding; I wouldn't let anyone other than me down if I dropped it.

Luckily for me, (and everyone here) I actually quite enjoy the freedom. It's very empowering and liberating to know that I can pretty much make the modification how I want it to be; which was one of my main issues with working under someone; as there were disagreements in what was logical to be compromised so that Gameplay trumped realism.

Having said that: The original premise of this modification will never change. Things will never get out of hand and it won't be anywhere near VCoH. My compromises are purely based on logic. A tank is a tank, and if there are any differences in one divisions Shefrman to another for example, I removed them. (I am referring to HP/accuray/things like thfat.
So, I've decided that the Infantry combat. At this point it is basically finished; I will of course go back later and tweak/change/modify things to get it perfect but the general revamp is complete.

Changes include:

Equalized health: HP now represents the training and combat effectiveness of the division. (This means that all units in the 101st AB will have the same individual HP, instead of the Captain/NCO/RTO having more/less within the division.)

I have done this because it will be easier in the future to make modifications and calculations because I can simply multiply one number by how many men are in the unit, instead of looking through the entire pile of epbs to figure out the total HP of the unit.

Infantry AI Fix:
They won't be jumping all over the place like fools now, it's as simple as that. When you order a unit behind a place of cover; they will stay there unless something such as a grenade/artillery/mortar moves them.

More Visceral combat/range increase:
Ken and I disagreed with this for ages, let me tell you. The more brutal our combat system became the more I had whined to Ken about it.

Ranges will be equalized as a whole, so that units won't have conflicting ranges thus causing them to charge into combat. Damage will be increased again across the board, and I will note that in most cases the units which are pathetic at combat (Who most likely have the worst HP/training in the game) have been increased by a small ratio, and the divisions which had the most have been decreased by a ratio. The difference between a soldier from a Tier of training down from the best is now smaller, and coupled with the new damage system and the ranges things should finally be visceral regardless.

My goal is to ensure that there are minor differences between infantry HP wise, and that the player makes them what they are through Vet, I will not be modifying the loadouts to units as of yet (I might move Flammens to their own unit however) so an AB/SS loadout is still going to be miles above what the Georgian Volunteers will get, to retain historical accuracy but also keep balance as I'd rather not have the top tier units become too squishy and close to their lower tier, cheaper counterparts.

Vet Tables: Hooo' man. The amount of work and effort put into this one. Basically, I decided that the best way to go about having these make sense is to divide everything into classes. So for infantry you have:
Frontline (Basic fighting forces)
Sniper/Marksmen
AT Teams
Mortar Team
MG Team

And the basic premise is that I would come up with figures for Vet 1-4 and literally give every single unit that fits that description that Vet table. I also took care to remove factors from Vet that simply weren't logical in my mind. No longer is another unit effected by your unit's Veterency. So for infantry, you're looking at faster weapon reload times, a reduction in suppression and better accuracy in using their weapons. That's pretty much it. There are no health bonuses; no magical changes that make another unit have less of a chance to hit you than before; none of it.

I am in the process of doing the exact same thing for Armor/Vehicles. What this will mean is that combat will be more logical and straightforward. I have also toned down the effects of Vet. It used to be 25% here and there all over the place; and the issue was it really, really started to add up quick. One unit would snag Vet 4 (Usually the tougher base unit: SS/AB/Etc.) And then that one unit would troll the entire map with impunity.

And I don't like that whatsoever. Veterency is a reward that is earned through combat, but it will not make the unit a god. The player is going to have to watch what they're throwing their men into and act with a strategic mind.

Future Changes:
I am well aware of some major issues. Aside from a pile of bugs and things here and there, the difference between what division is fighting what can mean Victory or Defeat. I will be implementing some units here and there to help mitigate this, and level the playing field.

Doctrine v Doctrine Balancing:

That doesn't mean that LWFD's will have heavy armor or anything, or the Canadian Infantry will have a Black Prince or airstrikes. But it does mean that I will be implementing heavier ATGs for Doctrines that really need it and currently have issues because they don't have it.

On that note: I will "fib" a little and just start assuming that heavier ATGs are using the round for the task they would be designed for. That means in the case of the 17 Pounder (If I recall correctly, don't skewer me!) It will be ADPS. Which means it can penetrate a Panther better; and do damage to it. As it will take some time for me to implement the mobile ATGs, this will help factions off the bat as they can still build their emplaced/mobile 17p using vehicles and get more utility out of them now.

Upkeep:
Now, I have no intention of removing Upkeep. But I will heavily decrease it's effect and I will also look into implementing minimum gains for each resource. This means a player can actually use an off map call in (Especially the larger ones) and not be completely bankrupt until the enemy has routed his entire army.

I will also modify the existing upgrades that mitigate upkeep (And add them to those that do not have them for some reason..) to help mitigate this even more; however these upgrades will be much more expensive.

By the time the player has truely reached "Late Game" upkeep will be quite small in comparison to early on. This focus on upkeep will allow me to tweak game progression.

Game Progression:
I am looking into the possibility of slowing down game progression. Currently it seems that games go by much faster; which is fine to a point however the games are almost lightning fast.

What I will look into implementing is one of two things: (I would like your feedback on this!)

1) I will tie the unlocking of certain units (Heavier armor, etc.) to the various Supply upgrades we have implemented. They will work as "Stages of Conflict" and as the match progresses you will gradually see heavier units come onto the battlefield as the upkeep for units across the entire board are lowered at the same time.

This will simulate Command giving your division more resources in that specific area along with support and supplies.

2) I will set timers on certain classes of units from the start. Think Men of War. This means that for the first set amount of time during a game certains units will simply be "On Cooldown" and will unlock after that set amount of time. This will aggressively force players to simply "Deal with it" and use the tools they have, as they are gradually introduced into the battlefield.

This again simulates Command giving your division more assests to fight the enemy with.

FPS/Lag/Etc: As of late I have been speaking heavily with my main Modeller/Animator, DMz. (And Beefy^ indirectly!)

As they are both very, very talented individuals they have both kindly offered to start slowly (I stress the word slowly ) redoing the models and skins for this modification. As they both understand what is and what isn't acceptable Tri and Poly count wise for the Company of Heroes engine, this will mean two things:

1) As new content is implemented, the resolution of the new content will return to the regular Company of Heroes Resolution. (Now before you flip a table, read number 2!)

2) FPS will not decrease from doing so, in fact when all is said and done it will increase. This is because both DMz and Beefy^ skin/model in such a way that "Extras" which are usually just painted over or "Erased" to the naked eye through Alphaing them out (Basically sticking a see through palatte on them to make them disappear) will be removed. This allows us to return to the regular CoH quality of skins and models but it will also allow us to increase the performance of this modification at the same time.

This also means that as we go through the models/skins/etc. Everything will be revamped and redone, and historical inaccuracies will slowly, but surely vanish into thin air.

I hope that everyone is delighted to read this post; it has taken me quite a long time to type out! Best wishes to everyone and I will be posting a Donation Box at some point and it will go to one of two places: More on that later.

This is Twitchy AKA Myriax (If you have seen me on the BK Forum...) Signing off for now.

PS: I will NOT slate a date for release. I am enrolled in University as a full time student, so plans tend to evaporate; and work timings get reworked/changed often. However, I am close to releasing the first version of this modification under my leadership. I will do so after I have deemed the Armor overhaul finished.