Hello comrades!
We have a special announcement for a special day ;D!
We have read the comments from players asking about the problems with Panzer Elite and Commonwealth factions as they are designed in Company of Heroes. Since we are going to make a big release into Steam we also decided some months ago to give a try to a better tech system for Panzer Elite and the Commonwealth, however, for now only the former is being worked and the latter will be started after finishing the other.
There is no changes in the Panzer Elite command trees, the changes so far only were made for the regular tech tree of the faction, and we will describe them now.
Headquarters - T0
The Headquarters now store some upgrades that used to be in other production buildings and what they unlock remains the same.
The Panzer Grenadiers are now four men squads, which means they can increase their size to five. Of course, they have become a bit more expensive because to this. They can purchase up to three different weapon upgrades and have the usual abilities. There production buildings remain the same, so there are only four to build and they cannot build defensive structures.
The Kettenkrad has the following changes: it has now an upgrade that allows to detect and dispose mines, it no longer has doctrinal abilities and it uses bike armour instead of the scout car one.
Logistik Kompanie - T1
This is the current layout we are testing. It contains anti-tank grenades as global upgrade for Panzer Grenadiers infantry units.
The Scout Car (Sdkfz. 221) now has better suppression rate and also can be upgraded into the unit formerly known as Armoured Car (Sdkfz. 222). This unit no longer has the upgrade to lock down sectors.
The Munition Halftrack (Sdkfz. 252) works the same as it used to be for the most part but has two new features: it has the Deploy Goliath ability and can heal once Field Operations is researched.
The Sdkfz. 263 is now available to Panzer Elite to lock down sectors. It's offensive power is limited, due to having a single MG 34 in a fixed position.
The Vampire Halftrack (Sdkfz. 250/5) now acts as support for infantry, buffing their abilities instead of diverting resources. It has the same detection range as it used to.
Kampfgruppe Kompanie - T2
The Schwimmwagen Type 128 is a Jeep like vehicle, also equipped with a MG 42 in the passenger seat. It also can lay down mines.
The infantry Halftrack (Sdkfz. 250/1) is just like it used to be in the past, the only change being that can only carry one squad instead of two.
The Mortar Halftrack (Sdkfz. 250/7) has also the same abilities and stats than before, but has a squad upgrade that does something which is a secret atm ;).
It also contains some familiar upgrades, along with a new one. Halftracks used by Panzer Elite are the ones from the designation Sdkfz. 250 ausf. A and it has always been like that, however, with the new upgrade Halftracks will now use the ausf. B chassis that offers more protection. It is a global upgrade that improves all the Sdkfz. 250 Halftrack type-units used by this faction regardless they are built from this building or not.
Before | After
Panzer-Jager Kommand - T3
The units used in this building are the Tank Buster squad, the Marder III and the Stummel Halftrack. The only upgrade available in this building unlocks the Marder III and also the Panzerschreck upgrade in Panzer Grenadiers.
The Tank Buster squad is a four men squad which shares the same abilities than the older version.
The Marder III is the same unit as the old version. However, it gets significantly big stats improvement when using the lockdown ability.
The Stummel Halftrack (Sdkfz. 250/8) is a unit specialized in combat against infantry units, equipped with the 7.5cm KwK 37 L/24 gun and a MG 42.
Support-Kommand Upgrade - T4
The Assault Grenadiers are the same as the previous one, except for the squad size and cost.
The Anti-Tank Halftrack (Sdkfz. 250/10) no longer has the tread-breaker ability, but has a Stielgranate 41 ability (WIP).
The Jagdpanzer IV/70(V) is available for this production building and has the armoured skirts as squad upgrade.
The Panzer IV Infantry Support Tank is also available, it no longer has the lock-down ability but features a new upgrade for it's main gun, improving it's stats against armoured vehicles by using the 7.5cm Kwk 40 L/43 as main gun. It shall be noted that Wehrmacht Panzer IV uses the L/48 version, which means this Panzer IV has inferior stats against vehicles compared to the Panzer IV used by the other factions.
The Bergetiger is available and has no changes so far.
Regarding the Command Trees and the reward units, you can assume they are in a vanilla state, but the only change so far is the Nashorn being reward unit for the Jagdpanther.
We hope you like the direction of these changes and then again, we would like to remind you these changes aren't final and they are still being tested.
As the next part of the announcement, we have a surprise for you guys :D! Company of Heroes: Eastern Front will feature Steam achievements!! Archaic Entertainment "Labs" never stops working to improve the mod ;). Head Researcher Walentin "Walki" L. has worked hard to make this possible. Here is the list of the achievements that will be available once the mod is released in Steam.
And yes, they work.
And for the last part of the announcement, we are proud to present the new Developer who joined Archaic Entertainment to help developing Eastern Front Mod! He is Ki McKenzie, known as ComradeCrimson/TrenchDog, and he will help us in the position of Voice Acting Director.
Yes, you aren't dreaming, Company of Heroes: Eastern Front will have new voice acting for the Multiplayer units and hopefully in the future Singleplayer missions as well :).
Here is his soundcloud page if you want to hear examples of his work.
We are also looking for beta testers which have knowledge and experience in PvP to help us with the balance for the Steam version. For more information you can contact Hendrik (aka 'DarcReaver') by PM.
And that would be all for now, we wish you a merry christmas and the next time we will announce the changes for the Ostheer Command Trees. For real this time ;).
Thanks for your support,
Archaic Entertainment Team
Yoooooo first comment again!
Keep nice working guys! We are counting on you!
Finally, the panzer elete will not be ,,Halftrack elite"))
Heh, I remember times when you were telling everyone that you will not do any significant changes for other vanilla factions (apart from fixing bugs) because it's so called "unofficial expansion pack" by you. Seems like everyone is changing their minds over years. I wouldn't be suprised about one more 'thing' either.
Yeah, but i think there should be some changes to Panzer elite. It feels like 'uncompleted' faction when I play it. Damn halftracks and simple infantry.. in fact I want more changes. At least they need real 'Panzers'
I think it was mostly meant for the Americans and Wehrmacht, because these factions received critical acclaim in the community. The Opposing Fronts one? Not so much...
We tried first to introduce the RMC to hopefully fix the Brits without touching them, but this proved to be a disaster. Nonetheless, the Panzer Elite's playstyle is still very much intact, and in fact, I think the faction is much more fun to play now. They are pretty similar to the original, except with less overpowering abilities like Group Zeal and the Panther Battlegroup.
I'm sure if there was still enough interest or profit to be made for Relic in VCOH, they would balance the mess that was OF factions.
Of course they get some form of compensation now. An actual tank destroyer in the Jagdpanzer IV, and an upgun to the Panzer IV, making it a better MBT, like the Wehr variant. They are also stronger by default, and they can get bigger lategame squads.
@Odysseus95
That's right, although we said we wouldn't modify the old factions, we always look at Panzer Elite and the Commonwealth factions as fair game but we didn't do something because Soviets (and later Ostheer) weren't in a state that allowed us to put our efforts in something else. But that has changed in these last months.
From our perspective, Americans and Wehrmacht are great and although they might be improved in some way, overall they are fine as it and even if we change something, 99% of the content for these factions will still work the same because their foundations are very solid. That can't be said for the OF factions and it has always a pain for our balancers to work for balance between them and our factions.
Your concept is pretty cool, the OF factions definitely could use some re-designing to become more interesting and versatile like the original two. But there are some things you might want to reconsider.
First of all, I see a lot of units with overlapping roles, which is something you want to avoid when designing a faction (I remember we had this discussion on the private dev forums a long time ago). Giving too many unit options is simply confusing for the player.
For example, the Sd.Kfz. 250/10 Light AT HT and Sd.Kfz. 250/8 "Stummel" are pretty much identical in their role and performance should be rather similar. Even if you were to redesign the ATHT into a more distinct AT role, it still would find itself in this awkward location in between the Marder and getting schrecks. Not to mention that the PE already has a dedicated light vehicle to deal with infantry: the Sd.Kfz. 222 Armored Car.
Speaking of the AC, it's really cool that you merge it with the Sd.Kfz. 221 Scout Car into a single unit like it is in CoH2. My only concern is that it will come out way too early if you do not have a requirement on the upgrade that requires either the t3 or t4 building. Keep in mind that it already comes out rather early in vCoH, so it is not adviced to make this even earlier. Not to mention that the upgrade should cost fuel, so that further tech doesn't come sooner than it would come in the original design.
Another thing is the introduction of the Sd.Kfz. 263 in the role of a mobile observation post (that is technically worse than the Scout Car since its machine gun is in a fixed position). If you don't want the Scout Car Logistics upgrade to be there as a second option (so you can upgrade your SC to either a 222 or 223), then why not just redesign the Vampire into the role of observation post. It makes total sense to me and finally gives an incentive to produce this unit on a regular basis. There is no need for it to be an infantry-buff. If anything, it would only be awkward to keep it around infantry during mid-late game pushes/raiding parties.
I really like the Halftrack upgrade from Ausf A to Ausf B, it should make them more sturdy and usable in the late game. Just don't make it come to early and be careful with buffing the survivability of the Mortar Halftrack since it's already nearly unkillable/uncatchable with infantry compared to other mortars.
The Panther Battlegroup is indeed very silly in vCoH, there is no reason (and quite game breaking) that PE should be able to field two Panthers insantaneously for just 1000 manpower. But removing the Panther from the faction entirely is a huge nerf in the late game tank war and limites the overal late game pushing power of the faction. In Back to Basics, we designed it in such a way that you can use the call-in once per game (similar to the KT and JP), but that the upgrade ulocks the Panther in the PZK (also requires the PZK upgrade, obviously).
The Jagdpanzer IV/70 is another unit that overlaps with the Hetzer, Marder and to some extent Jagdpanther. It is by no means a Panther. Simply put, it is another turretless long range sniper with limited pushing power (easily out-flanked, poor against infantry).
The addition of the L/43 gun upgrade on the Pz IV IST is awesome, though. Same goes for the model change of the Munitions Halftrack. Just be careful with having a mobile healing unit, and the rate at which it heals. It impacts the outcome of infantry fights significantly if it can heal infantry while they are in combat.
I do not really understand why the infantry upgrades were moved to the headquarters. If anything, it makes them come much earlier than before and the fact that panzer grenadiers will now be 4(5) in squad size, makes me concerned that PE can overpower other infantry regardless of which tech route they choose. Also, I do assume that a change in entity hitpoints is due now that PE starts with 4 and ends up with 5?
Lastly, having the Nashorn as a reward for the Jagdpanther is weird in my eyes. What does it have to offer over the Jagdpanther? the Jagdpanther is limited to once per battle so I assume the Nashorn is as well. And if it isn't, then there is no incentive to ever use the Jagdpanther again. Does it gain better gun stats than the Jagdpanther that make up for the fact that it has no armor whatsoever? To me it seems to be yet another turretless long range sniper that has no pushing power.
I know most of this sounds rather negative, but these are my thoughts when I read this concept.
Hello, while your points are partly true, most points are not valid. Still, thanks for the feedback.
Thing is that there was no patch for a couple of years for CoH at all, and it's pretty clear that the current 2.700 isn't really to be considered as balanced. That's why EF steps into the direction to overtake the patching process for vCoH.
Nice, but Schwimmwagen model need a rework.
@Blitzkriegrekrut
Nah, it is fine as it. The cap sometimes pass on the roof but that's normal from Relic animations used in some vehicles.
The only rework I'd do is to add spawning animations.
@Blitzkriegrekrut
For example, in that screenshot the gunner peaks out of the window, I don't know if you think the whole head was sticking out the tarp but that's not the case.
You are pure love guys :3
Hey I have a question have you removed group zeal from the mod? I didn't notice the icon in any of the structures it is a big part of what makes the infantry good and it would be a shame if you removed it.
It made them ''too'' good. Also, it's hard to balance such an ability because it's difficult to perceive for the opponent, and the percentage quickly goes out of control if you get blobs. Spamming Pgrens will be more difficult now, but they'll pack more punch without the Group Zeal. You'll see.
First impressions from better players is that PE is less abusive and feeling overall more according to the "Elite" in its name.
I hope the jagdpanther was removed from panzer elite to put it into action in ostheer instead? :D
If not i don't see why you would remove an iconic and beautiful tank from the entire game in favour of a mobile anti tank gun.
Jagdpather is still there and Nashorn is just a reward vehicle
Ahh good good. :)
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As a sidenote: the PE concept presented here got another update, some areas were changed according to feedback. Panthers are back, but they're regularely buildable in the Panzerjäger Command. They require the Panzer IV upgrade and Marder III upgrade aswell as both buildings.
The Panzer IV long barrel upgrade is also connected to building the Panzerjger Command.
Hi, Firstly, great work on the PE redesign. Faction is making a lot of sense now. But I have several questions regarding the changes.
1. What does Vampire halftrack do now? It seems vehicles get a command bonus when nearby the vampire but not all vehicles are affected. Is that intended?
2. About Stummel in Panzer Jager command, when it's not meant to meant to go against a tank. I think AT-HT would be good in Panzer Jager command, and add stummel in Panzer Support, which would provide a similar role as Panzer IV IST, when you can't afford it. And it suits as a support unit. Maybe, regarding AT-HT, make the Stielgranate 41 unlock after the Panzer jager command upgrade?
3. And about mortar halftrack, it was mentioned that there is a squad upgrade that was said to be a secret, what happened to that? Was it scraped as I can see no upgrades on mortar halftrack.
And thanks again, you guys have really revived PE. I can't wait to see how British faction will be changed.