Company of Heroes 3 March 2024 Patch Notes

Company of Heroes 3 is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega. It’s a sequel to Company of Heroes 2; it features new mechanics and modes and is set in World War II’s Italian and North African theaters. The game received a new update a while ago, focusing on things increasing the gameplay experience. The patch notes of the Company of Heroes 3 March 2024 5.1 are below.

Company of Heroes 3 March 2024 Patch Notes

This console update introduces several new features, quality of life improvements and new exciting content to the Console Edition of Company of Heroes 3. Additionally, the Hammer & Shield Expansion Pack is now available for players who wish to augment their forces on the battlefield. This update marks a significant improvement to the Company of Heroes experience on console, and a great time to jump back in to check out the new maps, Battlegroups, balance adjustments and improvements.

NEW CONTENT & FEATURES 

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Hammer & Shield Expansion Pack 

Battlegroups

• US Forces – Advanced Infantry Battlegroup  
• Wehrmacht – Italian Coastal Battlegroup

Campaign Company

• British Forces – Air & Sea 

Cosmetic Bundle 

• US Forces – Board Room Hellcat & Half-track Pack   
• Wehrmacht – Fallen Leaf Stug III & Fallen Leaf Panzer IV   
• British Forces – Nature’s Vanguard 15 CWT Truck & Dingo Pack   
• Afrikakorps – Blocking Force Infantry Pack

Maps 

Villa Fiore – 1v1  

Added 1v1 Villa Fiore map to Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

Day 101 – 2v2 

Added 2v2 Day 101 map to Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

Benghazi – 3v3 

Added 3v3 Benghazi map to Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Monte Cavo – 4v4  

Added 4v4 Monte Cavo map to Automatch, Co-Op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes. 

Sousse Wetlands – 4v4  

Added 4v4 Sousse Wetlands map to Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

Player Profile  

Added a new Player Profile feature. The Player Profile displays information about ranked match rating, player rank and additional statistics about matches. You can find a Q&A and our full write-up on this new feature here. 

FEATURE IMPROVEMENTS 

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End of Match Results  

• Damage Dealt and Damage Taken stats no longer include environmental damage or friendly fire.   
• Kill stats such as Soldiers Killed and Vehicles Killed no longer include friendly fire.  
• Squads Lost stat at the end of the match now shows the correct number.  
• Unit Efficiency fixed and changed from percentage to a ratio Efficiency Factor.

Match Stats  

• Quitting a match will no longer exit the Match Stats screen.   
• If a player gets disconnected from a match, they will now still be able to view the match stats.    

Social Interaction Options  

• Players can now find all social interactions by selecting the “…” button next to a player’s name.   

Visual Improvements 

Ambient Occlusion, Atmospheric Fog, Fog of War, Lens Bloom, Tone Mapping, and Lighting improvements have combined to update visuals across all maps and modes.  

• Added a subtle new camera lens bloom effect.  
• Adjusted tone mapping to improve readability, particularly in shadows.   
• Improved ambient occlusion rendering quality.    
• Improved the quality of atmospheric fog.  
• Modified the way atmospheric fog interacts with the fog of war effect.  
• Updated environment atmospheres to accommodate new rendering changes.    
• Updated environment lighting to improve tone and readability.

Front End and Navigation  

Starting with a revamped Front-End Menu experience, the overhauled UI Menu now aligns with the franchise’s legacy, in conjunction with stronger immersion and a consistent experience.   

• Streamlined navigation and an organized layout that simplifies players’ access to their favorite game modes and settings. Players can now resume their Campaign progression right from the Main Menu, as well as find the brand-new Replay Feature in case they want to relive their favorite gameplay moments.   
• An upgraded Visual Presentation featuring brand new sets of background images in the Main Menu, Loading UI, and Game Modes. The newly updated Main Menu will immerse players with new ambient sound effects and visual animations.   
• Every menu and screen players encounter offers a uniform and refined experience, making it easier and more predictable to navigate. This update lays the groundwork for future interface improvements.  

Additional UI/Navigation Changes  

• A Resume Campaign button has been added to the Main Menu.   
• The “Cycle ” naming now makes it clear that the camera behavior when the hotkey is used is governed by the “Find and Cycle ” setting (select without moving the camera vs camera focus vs camera follow).   
• The Edge Pan Smoothing option has been added in Settings. Default setting ‘Off’.  
• The default WASD key binding profile has been updated to better match the regular default profile including using Alt as the camera orbit modifier instead of Alt+Ctrl.   
• The “Focus Next [unit] ” and “Select Next [unit] ” hotkey bindings have been combined into a new set called  “Cycle [units] ” along with the “Idle ” equivalents.   
• The “Select All ” and “Select All On Screen ” hotkeys have been fixed.   
• Updated Battlegroup selection menu to include space for a description, enabling players to compare battlegroups before locking their choices.

 GENERAL GAMEPLAY CHANGES

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Event Cues  

• All event cues have received an Art pass and will now look more cohesive with one another.   
• Event cues have been further adjusted to reduce how often they appear on the player’s screen.  
• Added a new text background to make event cues text more legible.   
• Fixed a bug that was preventing the maximum of 3 event cues from being visible at the same time and allowing any number of event cues to be displayed.  
• Fixed instances where the Mine Hit event cue wouldn’t trigger   
• General tool-tip fixes and improvements   
• Improved visual appearance to match the new art style, improving consistency and readability.

Heavy Machine Guns 

• Crew health decreased from 90 to 80.  
• HMG 42 Team suppression dealt to suppressed targets reduced from 0.35 to 0.3.  
• Vickers, M1919 Browning, and MG 34 suppression dealt to suppressed targets reduced from 0.5 to 0.4.  
• HMG Incremental Accuracy standardized to 1.12 except for the MG 42 HMG.  
• Infantry pin threshold increased from 0.5 to 0.65.  
• Wide arc machine gun arcs reduced from 125 to 110.

Maps 

• HQ Sector bunker positioning has been adjusted across various maps to prevent bunkers from unintentionally covering resource points, whilst also reducing the number of blind spots that might be exploited by the enemy player.  
• Many heavy-crush rock piles have been removed across Africa maps, including but not limited to Road to Tunis – 1v1 and Gazala Landing Ground – 3v3  
• Heavy-crush rock piles have been replaced in many cases by Sangars, which still provide heavy cover, but are less resilient to damage and are medium-crush 
• Updated Tobruk to use a new atmosphere.

Taranto Coastline 1v1  

• Rebalancing of buildings near Victory Points.  
• Removal of several large rock outcrops to enable late-game crush to open the map.  
• Territory layout adjusted to be more appropriate for competitive gameplay.

Twin Beaches 1v1   

• Added an infantry-only “gitty” between Mount Bacon and the Northern beach  
• Adjusted the placement and number of rocks and tank traps on the Southern beach, to better improve vehicle flow and pathfinding  
• Minor adjustments to cover around Mount Bacon  
• Terrain adjusted to rebalance height gameplay around Mount Bacon

Campbell’s Convoy – 2v2   

• Readjusted cover placement along the central resource points, particularly around the most contested resources.  

Catania Crossing 3v3  

• Returned the baby truck to its home, where it belongs.  
• Updated the two rail bridges to one double length bridge, reducing the number of bridges to destroy/repair in this area of the map from 4 to 2.

Mignano Summit – 3v3   

• Updated territory layout, reducing the number of high resource points and spreading their value more evenly across the map. This should reduce the chances of games ending too soon from dominating the central areas of the map.  

Monte Cavo – 4v4  

• Updated camera mesh to make it adhere closer to the terrain, which will prevent the camera from elevating too high near rocky outcrops.  
• Updated atmosphere to transition into Dawn after around 30 minutes of gameplay.  

Pachino Stalemate – 1v1 

Reworked 1v1 Pachino Stalemate map. This map is available in Automatch, Co-op vs A.I., Skirmish and Custom game modes.  

• A redesign of the existing 1vs1 map for all game modes, including:  
• Considerable changes to territory and accessibility  
• Large rock formations have been removed map-wide enabling better mid to late game pathfinding (which should open the map up as larger vehicles hit the field)  
• Updated cover around central resource points  
• Updated map textures to improve visibility around key areas  
• Updated atmosphere  

Winter Line – 4v4  

• Updated cover placement around the central bunker complex.  
• Replaced a number of trenches with sangars, improving the pathfinding of tanks in these areas. 

Minimap & Tactical Map  

• The animation for out-of-supply sectors has been updated to be in line with previous Company of Heroes games, flashing between two different tones of blue (or red for enemy territories).  
• Territory lines will no longer disappear in out-of-supply sectors.   

Off-Map Abilities – Multiplayer  

The intent of the changes to off-map abilities is to deliver a more robust, reliable and responsive system, while also improving the experience by providing more tells from both a visual and audio standpoint.    

Off-Map Audio  

• Added projectile sounds to off-map abilities that vary with the type of ability.  

Flares   

Both off-map and flight abilities will now use an expanded set of flares, which will indicate the danger level of an ability.  

• Added yellow-colored flares for low threat abilities like unit mortar barrages abilities. Added orange-colored flares for medium threat abilities like strafing runs and standard off-map abilities with medium caliber weapons. The existing red-colored flares will now announce heavy threat abilities, like bombing, rocket runs, loiters and high caliber off-map abilities.   
• The green-colored flares will be kept for paradrop related abilities.  
  

Sector Off-Maps  

• Added sector highlight on both the minimap and tactical map that will inform players which territories are being covered by a sector ability. Sector abilities used by the player or allies will highlight the affected territories in yellow, those from opponents will turn them orange.  
  

Ability Reticles  

• Adjusted various reticles for abilities to match the effective radius or the ability type.  
  

Ground Deformation  

• Off-map ability projectiles now do ground deformation damage.  

Pathfinding 

• Adjusted vehicle pathfinding to take more direct paths to the requested location.  
• Infantry will now do less pathing adjustments when friendly soldiers are in the way.  
• Infantry will no longer prefer to take paths with denser cover distribution, which has often led to unpredictable behaviours.  
• Infantry will now be able to path through allied infantry and team weapons. When traversing through blocking vehicles, infantry will now think they can path through, but will be physically stopped until the vehicles move out of the way for more predictable behavior.  
• Retreating infantry will no longer get stuck in place when pathing into vehicles, squads, and team weapons.  
• Team weapons (whether abandoned, set-up, or idle) will no longer be able to block chokepoints for allied units. The space under team weapons is now considered a pathing space.       
• Units executing attack orders will more consistently approach their target in a straight line.   
• Vehicles doing a Move order at longer distance will now follow a straight path opposed to following a path that is aligned with their orientation.        
• Vehicles will no longer be allowed to stop while phasing.   
• Fixed a case of infantry getting stuck on world objects.  
• Fixed a few instances where vehicles wouldn’t move when trying to go around enemy vehicles.   
• The Walking Stuka Rocket Halftrack will now properly path through light crush obstacles.  
• Units are now more likely to prioritize pathing in the direction they are currently facing, according to the movement order.  
• Engineers no longer get stuck in a running loop when attempting to repair bridges.   

Pings  

• On map communication pings will now feature a new visual effect, that includes a uniquely colored tear drop effect lasting for 10 seconds.  
• New features for ping visibility  
• A colored light beam will appear on pings to improve visibility at distance and when used next  to tall assets like high vegetation, trees and buildings.  
• Previous pings will be removed when a new ping of the same type is issued.   
• Each ping type will have a unique cursor when selected.  
• New animation effects on both minimap and tactical map have been added to drastically improve ping readability. 

Ping cooldown  

• Introduced a cooldown period during ich a player can no longer issue pings, which is activated when a given player issues multiple pings in rapid succession.  
• When on cooldown, trying to use pings again will display a message in the chat visible to the player.  
• Continuously using pings when on cooldown will further increase the cooldown itself.   

Selection 

• Improved selection priority of infantry, vehicles, weapons, supply crates and sectors to ensure controlling and selecting things in-game feels better.  
• Increased the selection boxes for infantry. This will help when selecting infantry, both the player’s and the opponent’s.  
• Retreating units no longer remain selected or selectable.   
• When re-selecting units, the game will now reset any previously opened menus such as construction.   
• Adjusted the selection box from 1 to 3 on all faction’s HMGs 
• Buildings are no longer selectable through the ground, making it easier to move infantry close to buildings without entering them.   
• Decorators now have higher priority than bounding boxes, making it easier to select single units.   
• Player-constructed defenses now show up as ghosts in fog of war   
• When selecting multiple unit abilities shouldn’t overlap or have a priority such that both retreat and reverse commands are now available to use when both infantry and vehicles are selected. 

Tactical Map  

• Scaled down unit decorators, they now act as position icon.  
• Removed the Unit position icon (circle). 

Team Weapons   

Aim while on reload/cooldown cycles  

• Team weapons can now move the barrel to acquire a new target while the reload or cooldown phases of the team weapon are happening. They will no longer wait for these phases to be completed before acquiring a new target.   

Idle state  

• Team weapons are now able to track and start the setup process much better when the weapon is not set up and an enemy moves into range. Previously it was possible that the team weapon would indefinitely try to follow the center of a squad as it moved.   

Prioritization  

• Team weapons now only start to teardown if ALL entities of the targeted enemy squad are out of the arc of fire. Previously it was possible that entities from the enemy squad were still targetable, but the team weapon chose to teardown   

Teardown    

• Team weapons now teardown much faster. Barrels now snap to the center quicker to allow the team weapon to start the teardown process. This makes team weapons more responsive.   

Turn in place range  

• Team weapons now have a range around them at which giving a re-face order won’t make them move to the location. Most of the time, when doing a proximity selection near a team weapon with a re-face order, the intent of the player is to pivot and not move, which adds extra delay.  

Vehicle Mobility  

End of Movement   

• Added a new functionality for vehicles to end their movement order at a set distance before a blocker.  

Infantry and Vehicle Blocking  

• Infantry units no longer ignore moving vehicles and try to path around them.  

Front-Facing Movement Preference  

• Vehicles now use their original facing direction for most movement orders.  

Formation Movement  

• Vehicles now adhere to their formation as expected when performing formation movements instead of converging to the same point.   

Phasing Through Units  

• Vehicles are now allowed to phase through each other and through enemy vehicles that are moving, although they will still prefer to move around if possible.   

Preference to not go around even if path is blocked  

•  Vehicles will no longer go off the path while chasing enemies. This change was made to address unpredictable vehicle behavior when the vehicle path is blocked in chases. 

Road Preference   

• To prevent vehicles from responding unpredictably and often veering to roads instead of taking the shortest route to the order location, road preference was turned off.  

Turning  

• Vehicule turning has been improved to prevent them from pivoting on the spot or losing too much momentum while turning. This change is meant to improve responsiveness with vehicles, especially during flanks.  

Vehicle Speed

All the vehicles in the game had their speed, acceleration and rotation rates adjusted. This change helps improve the responsiveness of a number of vehicles and creates a differentiation between all vehicle classes.   

US Forces

Vehicle	Speed	Rotation Rate	Acceleration	Deceleration
4X4 Truck	9.75	70	8.75	10
M29 Weasel	8	65	5.5	7
M3 Armored Personal Carrier	7.2	50	2.5	5
M16 Quad Half-track	6.9	50	2.5	5
M3 75mm Gun Motor Carriage	6.9	50	2.5	5
M8 Greyhound Armored Car	6.75	50	4.5	6
M24 Chaffee Light Tank	6.5	40	3.5	5.5
M8 Scott SPG	6.75	40	3.5	4.5
M31 Recovery Vehicle	6	45	3	5
M4A1 Sherman Medium Tank	5.5	35	2.3	4
M4A3 Sherman Bulldozer	5.5	34	2.3	4
M4A3 Sherman Easy 8	5.75	36	2.5	4
M18 Hellcat	6.6	38	3.5	4.5

British Forces

Vehicle	Speed	Rotation Rate	Acceleration	Deceleration
Dingo Scout Car	8.5	60	7	8
CMP 15CWT Truck and variants	7.5	55	3	5.5
Humber Armored Car	8.1	50	5	7.1
Stuart Light Tank	6.5	45	3.75	4.5
Crusader AA Tank	6.5	35	3.5	4.4
Bishop SPG	5.2	30	1.8	3.1
Crusader II & III	6.7	38	3.75	4.8
Centaur	6.3	35	3	4
M3 Grand Medium Tank	5	28	2.1	4
Matilda Heavy Tank	3.85	22	1.75	2
Churchill Heavy Tank	3.5	25	1.5	2
Churchill Black Prince Heavy Tank	3	25	1.5	1.5

Deutsches Afrikakorps*

Vehicle	Speed	Rotation Rate	Acceleration	Deceleration
Kradschutzen Motorcycle Team	11.5	75	10	12
250 Light Carrier & Mortar variant	7.35	75	4.5	7.5
250/9 Halftrack (2cm autocannon)	7.6	75	4.5	7.5
Flakvierling halftrack	6.9	50	3.25	7.5
2.5 Tonne Trust & Medical variant	7.4	55	3.25	6
L6/70 Light Tank	7.5	50	4.25	7
8 Rad Armored Car	6.75	50	4	5.5
Marder III	4.6	28	2.25	4
254 Reconnaissance Tractor	6.8	40	2.6	4
Famo Recovery Halftrack	6.3	50	3.5	7
M13/40 Light Tank	6.6	35	3	5
Semovente 75/18 Assault Gun	6.5	35	3	5
Panzer III & variants	6.25	40	3	4.5

*Refer to Wehrmacht for the unit speed for the StuG IIIs, Tiger, and Panzer IVs 

Wehrmacht

Vehicle	Speed	Rotation Rate	Acceleration	Deceleration
Kettenkrad	10.5	85	8.5	10
221 Armored Car	8.4	50	6	7
251 Half-tracks and variants	7.2	50	2.5	4
Marder III M	4.6	28	2.25	4
StugG II G & StugG III D	5	28	2.25	4
Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind	5.75	35	2.3	3.5
Panzer IV	5.25	32	2	3
Panzer IV Command Tank	5.5	34	2.5	3
Brummbar	4.25	28	1.9	3.25
Wespe SPG	5.4	30	2	3.5
Panther Heavy Tank	5.2	34	1.8	4
Tiger Heavy Tank	3.8	25	1.5	2

MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY CHANGES

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Maps  

• Adjusted the minimum and maximum depth craters can cause, reducing the chances of impassible areas being generated by overly large craters  
• Updated a North African building (including sand-textured versions) to have a larger hit box, preventing units from clipping within the walls from the outside.   
• Updated various Greek ruins that were not blocking most heavy and medium tanks. This enabled the vehicles to clip through walls they visually should not be able to. 

Twin Beaches  

• Removed a hidden element beneath a small section of road, which was preventing the construction of defenses/mines.  

Queue flow  

• Players will start loading into a match from the Quick Match lobby immediately after a match is found. This will shore up matchmaking quality while also mitigating the impact of players leaving the queues.   

Tactical Map & Minimap  

Minimap  

• Minimap indicators for Airplane abilities now better match their location.  
• Added hand-drawn, custom minimap images to all Multiplayer Maps. These custom images should improve clarity of major features on each map, including distinguishing buildings, roads and bridges from inaccessible areas. 
• Added updated versions of all Italy and North Africa minimaps for Campaign missions, archetypes and skirmishes across the Italian Campaign and North African Operation. 

Tactical Map  

• Increased size to match the full screen height.  
• Improved visual appearance to match minimap art updates.  
• Improved units’ visual priority relative to each player, both on the tactical map and in-game: player units have higher priority, followed by enemy, then allied and finally neutral. This means that player owned units will have their shield decorators always appear on top of any other player.  
• Improved unit selection on the tactical map: selection box creation is now possible on the entirety of the screen, and they now correctly include only units within them.  
• Improved territory line resolution and added a blending effect to improve the overall quality and polish level.  
• Selecting units garrisoned in buildings now correctly closes the Tactical Map.  
• Removed squad Buff and Debuff icons, Control Groups, and Status Decorators from the Tactical Map to improve visual clarity. . Control Groups and Status Decorators will still be available on the minimap.  
• Removed neutral vehicle wrecks health bars from being displayed on the tactical map.  

Responsiveness  

• Construction will now begin before the unit’s tools are out. This should help with construction delays and improve the overall construction experience.  
• Mobility pass on all vehicles.   
• Reversing vehicles no longer stutter when blocked by enemy vehicles.   
• Separated the rotation rate from the pivot rate. Tanks, light vehicles and ultra light vehicles have different turn plans meaning that vehicles will be able to do tighter turns.  
• Vehicles get a flat increase in rotation rate of 10, excluding case mate vehicles.  
• Vehicles will now start their movement with a base movement speed rather than slowly ramping up.  

Weapon Upgrades  

• If a squad has picked up weapons and reached their squad capacity, their weapon upgrades will now be locked.   
• If a squad has picked up only one weapon and performs a weapon upgrade, any upgrade that would grant two weapons now only grants one. It will cost half the munitions to perform the upgrade.    
• If a squad of Afrikakorps Panzer Pioneers pick up an abandoned GRB-39 off the ground, they will unlock the smoke grenade ability, without having to purchase the GRB-39 upgrade.   
• If a squad of Engineers with a stowed-away Minesweeper pick up enough weapons to reach maximum capacity, the ability to pull out your Minesweeper will no longer drop a Minesweeper on the ground. But since the squad’s hands are full, you will not see a unit carrying the Minesweeper. Fret not, as the ability to find the mines will still be active, even with the invisible minesweeper. If in any further doubt, driving an M8 Greyhound over mines is the next most effective method of finding them.   
• The GRB-39 weapon upgrades for both factions can now drop on the ground on squad death.   
• The US barracks upgrade that grants Browning Automatic Rifles (BARs) to all Riflemen should no longer drop BARs at the foot of squads who are already at weapon capacity.  
• Tweaked the MP44 upgrade for the Wehrmacht Stosstruppen so that it properly replaces the MG42 and G43 with four MP44s. 

SINGLE PLAYER GAMEPLAY CHANGES 

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• Difficulties renamed to: Easy, Standard, Hard, Expert.   
• Changed the default campaign difficulty from Easy to Standard  
• General tool-tip fixes and improvements

Dynamic Italian Campaign  

With these changes, we’re improving the Italian Campaign experience and adding a new layer of strategic play. We want Company selection to be a meaningful choice for players and the Campaign Map to be a driver of these choices.  

• A Hold Position toggle has been added to Campaign Companies. When this is toggled on, the unit will not alert at the end of turn if it has not been moved. You may find this useful for defending a position.  
• Added a short cut to End Turn.   
• Added an Italian Campaign Gameplay Guide accessible from the campaign menu.   
• Added option in Settings menu to fast forward the player and enemy turns in the Campaign Map.   
• Added smoke and flare tutorials to Salerno.    
• Battle difficulty can now be changed during a Campaign or Operation playthrough.    
• Campaign paths show potential danger zones and attacks more clearly. Terrain info popup appears for all terrain types and shows exact move cost for current Company.   
• Campaign skirmishes now provide bonus starting resources and pre-built base buildings based on player and enemy Company veterancy level.   
• Capture shields on the campaign map are now also enabled for campaign towns with an active mission. These shields must be cleared to start the mission. The number of shields on towns across the map has been generally reduced.   
• Changed the medium projectile type in Single Player to increase the initial speed from 0 to 35 meters per second. As result, many of the medium projectiles on units and off map abilities will come down faster and look more realistic as a result.    
• Companies garrisoned in any Capture Point now heal every turn. Forward Headquarters upgrade has been removed.  
• Companies now visually attack cities when attempting to capture them.   
• Detachments have been removed as an upgrade option from Companies. Each company type now has inherent access to building one emplacement type.   
• General text updates.    
• The enemy now has a new Artillery company type.   
• Improved visual feedback for pinned and suppressed units.   
• Many new dialogue lines from Joe Conti and Captain MacKay were added throughout the missions.   
• Most of the dialogue in the Italian Campaign Map is now skippable.    
• Removed a population cap restriction that was resulting in making the AI less aggressive than intended.   
• Removed supply visuals from the Campaign Map  
• Improvements made to provide clear feedback to players when abilities buttons are active, in cooldown mode, and when they are passively active or inactive.    
• Removed terrain cover as a combat value. Companies on roads no longer have a penalty.   
• Shortened the time it takes for AI to use aircraft abilities on the Campaign Map.   
• Skirmish combats have been added to the cities of Pomigliano, Naples, Altavilla, Spinazzola, Bari, Altamura, Lesina, Lecura, Gaeta, and Aquino.   
• Supplies are now awarded every turn (from every 3 turns). Supply volume has been reduced to compensate.   
• Swapped the strategic medical point for the default medical point in all missions. Medical stations will now exist on these points automatically, rather than needing to upgrade to them.  
• The initial population cap for the player is increased from 25 to 35.   
• Tuned Battleship Barrage visual radius and speed.  

Auto-Resolve Formula Update 

Our goal with this change is to bring damage and health values into easier interactions and remove some repetitive skirmish gameplay. Combats between Companies in the field are now automatically resolved, without an option to start a skirmish.  

• Auto-resolve damage has been normalized into thresholds by degree of victory.   
• Company Health, Unit Type, Company Veterancy, and nearby Affectors (emplacements, companies, abilities) have impact on the auto-resolve outcome.    
• Companies now get a combat strength bonus based on their unit type.  
• Artillery gets a bonus against Infantry  
• Infantry gets a bonus against Armor  
• Armor gets a bonus against Artillery 
• Max health of all Companies has been reduced from 900-1000 to 100. Damage values have been adjusted to compensate.  

Foggia Airfield Mission  

Adjusted difficulty.  

• Increased the population cap to 100.  
• Reduced the veterancy and number of units in the base-attack groups, as well as the homing groups.   
• Swapped the loiter for two of the strafes that are used on Easy and Normal.  
• Reduced the veterancy and number of enemies in the final wave.

Traits  

Medic Trait Changes  

• Now reduces cost of Heal Target ability for the company  
• Well-supplied and Bolstered Forces traits have been removed from Companies as they did not work with combat and Supply updates.  

New Traits  

• Dug In – Damage taken when defending from auto-resolve reduced by 20%  
• Hard Chargers – Damage taken from emplacements reduced by 33%  

Gela Tutorial  

Gela has been reworked from the ground up. Now a far more streamlined mission, the player will begin by assaulting a fortified beach before continuing on to capture the courtyard in the city. The Tutorial experience offers a new atmosphere, lighting, environment art, and intro cinematics.  

• Joe Conti’s letters cinematics have new voiceover dialogue.  
• Now features a landing craft which delivers the introductory squad.  
• The Base-building segment of Gela has been removed so a building construction tutorial has been added to the beginning of Salerno.  
• Updated the Lighting and Atmosphere Transitions for all missions.  

MULTIPLAYER BALANCE 

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General  

• Adjusted the health of bridges down between 20% and 50%, making them easier to destroy with artillery and airstrikes, and overall decreasing the time required to repair them.  
• Changed vehicles to no longer auto attack targets while en route to execute an Ability command.  
• Demolitions Package upgrade from the Infantry Support Center will now grant the same demo charge types to Riflemen, Engineers and Bazooka Teams.  
• Frequency of special death criticals for vehicles has been adjusted. Turret ejection, out of control and brew-up deaths should occur much more often.   
• Infantry units can now use grenades while inside smoke.  

Accuracy Changes   

We have standardized accuracy across the board for the various tank guns. We have noted that our tank guns were too accurate at maximum range. This resulted in situations where vehicles chasing at maximum range would often land their shots while on the move, more than intended. This change goes along with our fixes to projectile-based weapons. 

• 76mm halftrack and 221 Panzerbüchse accuracy set 0.1/0.055/0.045    
• Anti-armor vehicle accuracy set to 1/0.05/0.04   
• Crusader II and III accuracy set to 0.1/0.05/0.04   
• General medium, heavy and light tank accuracy set to 0.075/0.0475/0.035   
• Hellcat, Marder III and variants accuracy set to 0.1/0.055/0.4   
• Sherman 76mm accuracy set to 0.1/0.05/0.04

Anti-Air 

We have made significant changes to the balance of anti-air and airstrike abilities. In general, anti-air units will be significantly more effective at stopping airstrikes within their vicinity. Furthermore, anti-air can now engage planes beyond the protected border regions of the map, giving anti-air more time to respond.   

Most mobile anti-air units have been standardized to output similar damage to aircraft. The following units have been changed:  

• CWT 15CMP AA Truck  
• Crusader AA  
• M16 Quad Halftrack  
• Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind  
• Flak 30 20mm AA Gun Team  
• Flakvierling Halftrack

Airstrike Abilities have also been separated into general classes of durability. The list below goes from least durable to most durable:  

• Strafing Runs (P-47 Strafing Run from the ASC, Luftwaffe Strafing Run)  
• Close-in/Dive Bombs (P-47 Dive Bomb from the ASC, Fragmentation Bombs)  
• Loiter (Hawker Typhoon Anti-tank loiter)  
• Reconnaissance versions of Strafing, Dive Bombs, and Loiters (Recon Artillery, P-47 Reconnaissance Loiter)  
• Heavy Bomber Runs (Carpet Bombing Run, Breakthrough Incendiary Bombing Run)

A single anti-air unit will be able to deny nearby Strafes, but multiple anti-air units are required to deny higher durability abilities. Two AA units will generally be able to lock down an area, while three will deny all but the Heavy Bomber Runs, which are designed to be largely unaffected by AA. Keep in mind this will have minor differences by map, direction of the airstrike, and when the anti-air unit faces its target.  

These relationships only matter when the anti-air is covering a specific area. While anti-air can cover a significant area, they have been tuned that additional anti-air units are required to cover the larger 4 vs 4 maps. This is something we’ll keep an eye on and rebalance in the future as necessary, but the intended goal is that airstrikes should be counterable even in smaller game modes such as 1 vs 1, but not to the point they become irrelevant in larger game modes where players can more easily specialize into airstrikes or anti-air.   

Camouflage Ambush Bonuses  

• All infantry squads now use the same camouflage ambush bonus. +40% accuracy and +25% damage for 5 seconds when firing from camouflage.   

Casemate Tank Destroyers  

 Marders, StuG IIIs, Brummbars, Semovente, 75mm Halftrack Gun Motor Carriage  

• Casemates will now center themselves when a target is outside its arc.  
• Casemates gun now tracks their target without moving their hull.  
• Casemates guns now traverse, target and fire within their arc without needing to be perfectly centered.  

Cover Combat  

• The range where small-arms weapons ignore cover is increased from 7 to 10 meters  

Field Defenses 

Buildable defenses have been adjusted to be cheaper to construct, reflecting their base and opportunity cost. We have also added a new ability for all constructed garrisonable structures where infantry squads garrisoned in these structures will have higher offensive stats.  

The Wehrmacht Bunkers have also received several changes to their upgrades to better reflect their high upgrade cost and give them more flexibility when deployed forward in the field.  

• Buildable defenses now crush most light cover map assets, such as crates or bushes, enabling easier placement in dense areas   
• Buildable defenses now provide combat bonuses to infantry inside  
• Units fighting from inside gain +25% accuracy and +30% rate of fire  

Fighting Position   

• Fighting Position cost reduced from 150 manpower to 100 manpower  

Wehrmacht Bunkers  

• Build-time increased to 35 seconds from 20   
• Manpower cost reduced from 250 to 175   
• Medical and Repair munitions cost reduced from 85 to 70   
• Medical Bunkers can now retrieve casualties and grants free reinforcement; similar to the USF Medical Station  
• Now allows 6 models to fire out from the front, 3-4 from the side, and 2 from the rear   
• Repair Bunkers now repair structures and defenses; can repair themselves when out of combat  
• Repair Bunker repair rate increased from 3.2 to 6  
• Upgrade times standardized to 30 seconds

Wehrmacht Fighting Nest  

• Goes neutral when ungarrisoned   
• Manpower cost reduced from 100 to 50   
• Now allows 6 models to fire out the front and side; 4 from the rear

Grenades  

The following change to grenades makes grenades lethal against all infantrymen in the game with greater damage in the center of the blast zone, but a higher damage drop-off around the edges. Previously, high health troops were able to stand on-top of a grenade and survive the explosion.   

• 25% damage penalty against buildings   
• Damage standardized across the board to 120  

Gammon and Bundle Grenades 

• Area of effect damage set to 1/0.4/0.35   
• Area of effect distance to 1/1.5/6 for Bundle Grenades, 1 / 2 /6 for Gammon Bombs   
• Area of effect radius set to 5.5; Gammon Bomb remains at 6  
• Damage reduced from 180 to 160   
• No damage penalty against emplacements or buildings  

Regular Fragmentation Grenades 
US Forces and British Thrown Grenades   

• Area of effect damage to 1/0.5/0.2   
• Area of effect distance to 0.125/1/4.5   
• Area of effect increased from 4 to 4.5   
• Model damage limit set to 4   
• Throw wind-up sped up from 0.875 to 0.675 

Rifle Grenades
Infantry Section and Pathfinder Grenades   

• Area of effect damage to 1/0.5/0.3   
• Area of effect distance to 0.125/1/4.5   
• Model damage limit set to 4   

Stick Grenades
Axis Grenades (excluding bundles)   

• Area of effect damage to 1/0.4/0.15   
• Area of effect distance to 0.125/1/3.5   
• Model damage limit set to 4   
• Range increased from 20 to 23; Fallschirmjager can throw range at 25  
• Throw wind-up sped up from 0.875 to 0.675 

Hazard Removal Package
US Forces, British Forces, and Wehrmacht  

• Hazard Removal Package is now standardized across the board for all factions to increase the repair rate by 2.5 for a total of 10 health per second when repairing.  

Infantry-Based Timed and Passive Healing Abilities  

• Squad based timed combat abilities such as sprints and passive squad healing abilities are now disabled when the unit is retreating.   

Indirect Fire 

We are strengthening the power of mortars by reducing their barrage recharge times, increasing their rate of fire when not barraging, and the number of entities they can damage. Auto-fire and barrage range have also been standardized, allowing mortars to cover their full range while the barrage is on recharge. Area of effect damage in the center of the blast has been reduced due to the increases in damage limits.  

Other artillery units have also been improved by increasing their model damage limits. Rocket Artillery has been tuned to be more threatening to vehicles willing to stay stationary within a barrage, making them more relevant with dealing with large concentrations of armor.   

Light Mortars 

• Area of effect damage reduced from 0.6/0.3/0.1 to 0.4/0.25/0.2  
• Auto-fire weapon cooldown reduced from 6/7 to 5   
• Auto-fire range increased from 75 to 90   
• Barrage range standardized to 90 for all mortars   
• Barrage recharge times reduced from 30 to 20   
• HE Barrage cooldown reduced from 0.75 to 0  
• Model damage limit increased from 3 to 4   

Medium Artillery
Pack Howitzer, 4.2-Inch Mortar, Le.IG 18  

• Barrage recharge times reduced from 30 to 20. 

Howitzer Emplacements
Obice 210, BL 5.5, M1A1 105mm Howitzer  

• Cannot be built in the base sector; must be built outside the base sector in friendly territory  

Bishop, Wespe, Cannone da 105mm 

• Model damage limit increased from 3 to 4   

BL 5.5 Inch Howitzer   

• Model damage limit increased from 3 to 5   

Pack Howitzer, le.IG 18, 4.2 Heavy Mortar  

• Model damage limit increased from 3 to 4   

Rocket Artillery   

• Nebelwerfer now deals +100% damage and has +300% penetration against vehicles.   
• Stuka Zu Fuss penetration against vehicles increased by +300%  

Medium Anti-Tank Guns – M1, 6-Pounder, Pak 40, Pak 38  

This change coincides with the responsiveness improvements for anti-tank guns regarding packing up which no logner forces the gun to slowly reset to neutral facing before being allowed to pack-up 

• Increased the pack-up time from 1.3 to 1.75 seconds. 

Projectiles  

Direct-fire projectiles such as direct-fire tank guns, anti-tank guns, autocannons, and flamethrowers were reviewed. These changes will increase the reliability of vehicles when firing over low obstacles and prevent exploits when firing through objects.  

• All projectiles will immediately collide with obstacles when they miss their target and roll scatter.  
• Projectiles will now use 3D paths to their targets. This prevents them from auto-colliding with low obstacles in their way such as mines and walls if the shooter would normally be able to fire over the obstacle.  

Repairs   

• Repair abilities will now have increased speed when they are affected by modifiers. Bonuses will stack to grant faster repair speeds.   

Reveal Area  

• Direct-fire units firing from the fog of war will no longer reveal the terrain they are on. This prevents these units from being targeted by certain off-map abilities.   

Snipers  

• Build time decreased from 50 to 40 seconds.  
• Camouflage when leaving cover increased from 1 to 4 seconds.  
• Sight range increased from 35 to 40.

Strafing Runs
P47, JU-87s  

• Suppression will now only be applied to units hit by the area of effect damage and not spread to units outside its radius.  

Suppression   

• Units that are suppressed now take a +33% penalty to weapon scatter on missed hits. This change is meant to increase the chance of weapons such as grenade launchers no longer landing directly on their target when the unit wielding it is suppressed.   

Uncrewed Machine Guns and Mortars  

• Target size increased from 1 to 20 to facilitate force-attacks on de-crewed weapons.  

Veterancy  

• Anti-tank Gun veterancy requirements reduced from 1300/3900/7800 to 1000/3000/6000  
• Panzerpioneer and Royal Engineers veterancy requirements reduced from 800/2400/4800 to 700/2100/4200  
• Walking Stuka Half-track and Sherman Whizbang veterancy requirements reduced from 1950/5850/11700 to 1500/4500/900

Off-map Artillery against Defenses and Buildings  

We have reduced the damage of certain off-maps against defenses, primarily against the Wehrmacht Bunker. The reason for this change is to allow Bunkers under the influence of either Bulwark or the Command Bunker aura to have a chance of surviving when undamaged, requiring a follow-up to destroy them. Regular bunkers will still be destroyed as normal by these off-maps.  

Note the P-47 Dive-Bomb requires the Double Sortie upgrade to destroy a bunker.  

• Carpet Bombing +100% bonus damage against buildings removed   
• Naval Bombardment now deals 25% less damage to buildings such as bunkers; does not affect emplacements.   
• Off-Map airburst now has a -75% damage penalty against emplacements and bunkers  
• P-47 Dive Bomb bonus damage against all buildings reduced from +100% to +40%  

FACTION BALANCE 

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US FORCES

¼-ton 4×4 Truck  

The 4×4 is having its Commander upgrade returned in a different form, giving the US Forces a more powerful reconnaissance unit in the mid-late game.  

• Lethality for mid to far range increased by 10%   
• Frontal armor decreased from 5 to 4.5.  
• Moving weapon burst reduced from 100% to 75%.

New Upgrade – Scout Commander  

• Allows the 4×4 to detect enemy units in the Fog of War up to range 90  
• Costs 50 munitions   
• Increases vision range of the unit by 10

75mm Halftrack Gun Motor Carriage 

We have made adjustments to the barrage to be more accurate and have increased range, allowing the 75mm Half-track to safely engage units like anti-tank guns and give the US Forces a light artillery unit. Reload times for the barrage have been increased to give players time to respond once the unit has begun firing in exchange for reliable accuracy.  

• Manpower cost reduced from 320 to 280   
• Range increased from 50 to 70   
• Direct-fire range increased from 45 to 50   

Barrage Area of effect    

• HE Barrage area of effect damage adjusted from 1/0.15/0.05 to 0.6/0.4/0.2   
• HE Barrage area of effect penetration increased from 15/10/5 to 30/30/30  
• HE Barrage damage increased from 110 to 120  
• HE Barrage distance changed from 1/3/6 to 0/1.5/6   
• HE Barrage reload time increased from 3/4 to 5  

Barrage Scatter   

• Angle scatter reduced from 7 to 3.5   
• Distance scatter max reduced from 8 to 5   
• Distance Scatter offset from 1 to 0   

Air Support Center  

• Damaged aircraft no longer increases the recharge time of Air Support Center abilities.   
• Double Sortie fuel cost decreased from 50 to 40.   
• Air Supply munitions cost reduction reduced from -33% to -20 munitions; applies to P-47 Dive Bomb and Strafing Run  
• Air Supremacy cooldown bonus reduced from -50% to -30 seconds flat; applies to P-47 Strafing Run and Dive Bomb 
• Ability reticules adjusted to be more representative of their area of effect.  
• Air Supply cost increased from 100 manpower and 30 fuel to 150 manpower and 40 fuel.

Dive Bomb 

• P-47 Dive bomb cost decreased from 90 to 70 munitions.   
• P-47 Dive Bombs now deal +50% bonus damage to vehicles.    
• P47 Dive Bomb area of effect reduced from 10 to 7.

Strafing Run 

• P47 Air Support Center Strafing Run damage per shot reduced from 30 to 20  
• P-47 Air Support Strafing Run Delay from 0 to 2  
• P-47 Air Support Strafing Run area of effect can no longer miss in certain circumstances  
• P-47 Air rate of Fire reduced decreased from 20 to 16  
• P47 Strafe’s 2nd plane now arrives 2 seconds slower.  

Bazooka Team  

We have made the Bazooka Team’s launchers as effective as those carried by elite infantry due to their role as a dedicated anti-vehicle squad. The removal of Precision Shot was done to focus the unit’s role at fending off vehicles.  

• Ready-aim time reduced from 1/1.25 to 0.5/1  
• Removed Precision Shot; Satchel Charge ability moved from position 32 to 31 
• Bazookas reload and wind down adjusted for a rate of fire increase from 4.75/5.5 to 3.5/4 seconds.  
• Health increased from 90 to 95.  
• Manpower cost reduced from 250 to 240.  
• Reinforce cost increased from 22 to 24.  
• Veterancy requirement reduced from 900/2700/5400 to 800/2400/4800.

Captain Retinue  

• Now gains Shared Veterancy.  
• Off-Map mortar barrage can now be used when suppressed.  

Engineers  

• Engineer health increased from 80 to 85. This change does not impact health when upgraded to Assault Engineers.   
• Veterancy requirement reduced from 750/1500/3000 to 600/1800/3600. 
• Light it Up Veterancy ability  
• Area increased from 5 to 6.  
• Flamethrower damage increased from 5 to 8.  
• No longer has a cooldown between bursts. 

Infantry Support Center 

• Munitions Surplus no longer grants an ability recharge bonus.  
• Survival Training now grants 25% faster recharge speed on infantry abilities.

M1 57mm AT Gun 

• Armor-piercing round duration increased from 10 to 15   
• Armor-piercing rounds now increases damage by +40; damage model increases from 160 to 200  

M1 81mm Mortar  

The Delayed Fuse ability is primarily meant to demolish emplacement bunkers. However, its current power allows it to devastate team weapons when abilities such as Airburst are meant to be the premiere anti-infantry ability of the mortar.  

• Delayed Fuse Area of effect damage distances significantly reduced from 1/1.5/5 to 0/0.5/5.   
• Delayed fuse mid-range damage reduced from 33% to 25%.    
• Delayed fuse radius increased from 4 to 5 (to better match the effect).   
• Delayed Fuse Shells cooldown between shots increased from 0.75 to 1.5 seconds.   
• Delayed Fuse Timer from 1.25 to 3 and now properly displays a timer.  
• Airburst area of effect far damage changed from 0.15 to 0.25   
• Airburst area of effect near distance changed from 0 to 0.25   
• Airburst Model damage limit increased from 4 to 5  

M3 Personnel Carrier 

• 50cal accuracy increased from 0.3375/0.3375/0.15 to 0.4/0.388/0.173   

M1919 Machine Gun Team  

• Manpower cost reduced from 240 to 220 

M24 Chaffee Light Tank 

• Penetration reduced from 300/200/160 to 180/110/80.  
• APCR Rounds munition cost reduced from 45 to 35.  
• APCR Rounds penetration bonus reduced from +100% to +50%.  
• Chaffee no longer does additional damage against friendly units.  

M3 Armored Personnel Carrier 

• Fortify Position ability reduces ability recharge times for nearby units by 25%. 

M4A1 76mm Conversion Upgrade  

• Fuel cost reduced from 50 to 40 fuel.  

M4A3 Sherman Bulldozer  

The Centaur, Dozer, and Brummbar are being adjusted to be even more potent against infantry due to their specialist role that are also effective at cracking defenses. We have also adjusted scatter so these units will overshoot their targets rather than undershoot, allowing for more scatter hits on stationary vehicles. 

• Manpower cost reduced from 400 to 360   
• Frontal Armor increased from 195 to 240.   
• Population decreased from 14 to 12.   
• Angle scatter reduced from 9 to 4   
• Area of effect damage increased from 1/0.25/0.15 to 1/0.3/0.15  
• Area of effect distance increased from 0/1/6 to 0/1.25/6  
• Damage against bunkers and emplacements increased by 100%   
• Distance scatter max reduced from 4 to 2.5  
• Distance scatter offset increased from 0 to 1  
• Distance scatter ratio from 1 to 0.1  
• Model damage limit increased from 4 to 5 
• Bunker-buster deals +100% bonus damage to emplacements.   

Canister Shot – M4A1 Shermans and M8 Greyhounds 

• Canister Shot ability reworked to deal high damage against infantry in the open, but is less effective against units in cover. Deals 25% of its damage against units in garrison and heavy cover, 50% against units in light cover.  
• Munitions cost reduced from 45 to 25.  
• Greyhound canister area of effect model limit increases from 3 to 4.  
• Sherman canister area of effect model limit increases from 3 to 5.  

M8 Greyhound Armored Car 

Having lower health than other light vehicles of its cost, we are giving players the option to increase survivability of their Greyhounds against autocannons and weaker anti-tank weapons by spending munitions. 

• Area of effect damage changed from 1/0.3/0.15 to 0.75/0.4/0.4.  
• Area of effect radius increased from 1.75 to 2. 
• Area of Effect model cap increased from 0 to 3.  
• Max scatter reduced from 4 to 3.  
• Scatter offset set reduced from 0.33 to 0. 
• The tracking speed of the turret increased by 33%.

New Upgrade: Side Skirts   

• Cost 70 Munitions   
• Increases health by 120  

M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer 

The Hellcat is having its reload time increased so units like the Panzer IV will slightly win in a head-on fight without maneuvering. Previous improvements to the units such as speed and accuracy have made the Hellcat too efficient when engaging more costly units head-on.  

• Reload time increased from 3.75/4.25 to 4.5/4.75 

Scouts 

• Manpower cost reduced from 160 to 150.  
• Utility Package munitions cost reduced from 30 to 25.  
• Veterancy requirements reduced from 750/2250/4500 to 500/1500/3000. 

Riflemen 

• Fire Superiority now reduces the squad’s speed by 33% when active.  
• M1918 BAR penetration reduced from 2.5/2/1.75 to 1.75/1.5/1.33. 
• M1 Garand cooldown modifier when in close quarters sped up from 0.2 to 0.15.    

Weapon Support Center  

• Cost decreased from 120 manpower and 15 fuel to 100 manpower and 10 fuel. 

US Forces Battlegroups 

Airborne Battlegroup  

• M1919A6s upgrade time reduced from 50 to 30 seconds. 

Airborne Reinforcement 

• Munitions cost reduced from 150 to 120  
• Now replenishes infantry significantly faster  
• Plane heal reduced from 4000 to 2500

Carpet Bombing Run