New v01.02.06 Public Beta Available

[JosephStephenson]

Hi Everyone!

We have a new installer version for the Public Beta, which you can find on the Store page or 'My Page' if you're logged in and have the game registered.

v01.02.06 – Changelog

New Features and Rule Changes
IMPORTANT NOTE: All save game and scenario files created with this or later versions may only be loaded with this or a later version. Versions prior to 1.02.06 may not load these newer save game or scenario files. Old saves and scenarios may be loaded with this and newer versions.
• New rule - A mission generated by a ground attack air directive that is performing an attack on a unit has a chance of having the mission converted to an interdiction attack. The chance of switching to interdiction increases with the number of movement points expended by the unit in the unit’s prior turn, and increases against units smaller than divisions.
• Changes/Clarifications with flak
o Clarification – A ground element can be counted multiple times in a single battle report in the list of anti-aircraft elements. This is because the attack is broken up into ‘flights’, and each flight has the chance of being engaged by a ground element. So, a ground element could fire at 6 different flights and be counted 6 times.
o Non-flak elements were being added into the anti-aircraft count in cases when they should not have been. This was a display only issue as they weren’t actually adding to the anti-aircraft value firing at the aircraft. This has been fixed.
o Non-flak elements will never fire at aircraft flying into or through and adjacent hex. This was rare before, but has been removed entirely.
o Increased the importance of aircraft armor in mitigating damage from flak.
o Reduced op losses for day missions and ground support. Also, fixed the function that was supposed to credit some aircraft damaged by flak, that crashed during landing routine, as flak losses. This was incorrectly always counting them as op losses.
• AFV losses in combat were tweaked down slightly.
• Production of guns with build limits was limited when the amount in the pool exceeded 10x the build limit. This limit has been changed to 100x the build limit.
• Increased op losses for night missions for pilots with experience less than 70 experience, with those under 60 experience experiencing roughly double the op losses previously experienced.
• Reduced night bombing accuracy by air units that do not have navigational aids (currently only Allies in War in the West have them).
• Until the Axis control a port on the Caspian Sea, every Caspian Sea hex will automatically receive 20 interdiction points at the end of each air execution phase (enough to make the hexes Soviet controlled).
• Made changes to the layout of the right side of the campaign victory screen.
• Editor - Set hex sea zone and weather zone values as fully generic.
• Editor – Hooked up ability to set an event to activate in the air planning phase (actually executes at the end of the logistics phase).
• This version includes the War in the West editor manual in the /Manuals folder. Although there are many differences between the WitW and WitE2 editors, the WitW editor manual is a useful guide to understanding the WitE2 editor.
Bug Fixes and AI Improvements
• Display of load outs - Air group loadouts listed in CR don't show the same as in the air unit detail screen
• CR screen was very slow to respond in certain coming expansion scenarios. Fixed.
• Heavy tank regiments are not built with guards designation. Fixed.
• Editor - Button to cancel withdrawals for units in the editor does not work. Fixed.
• Editor – Can’t change sea zone of some ports in scenarios. Fixed.
• Support units are not being committed to battle during the first turn of a scenario if the first player is played by the AI. Fixed.
• Dynamic hex sea zone value is not changed when changing sea zone in editor, so it keeps displaying old value. Fixed.
• Show AD targets rollover text is incorrect on the last button which should read Active Targets Only. Fixed.
• Metrics screen logistics phase losses are always showing 0 in Metrics. Fixed.
• Fixed several bugs with the campaign city bonus victory points.
• AI – During first turn AI script, support units are not getting included in combats. Fixed.
Data and Scenario Changes
• Ob.dat changes – These changes reported in 1.02.00 were accidentally left out but were included in 1.02.01:
o Delayed 42 Guards Mechanized Corps OB to 11/42.
o Removed 42a Guards Tank Corps OB.
o Renamed 42b Guards Tank Corps OB to 42 Guards Tank Corps and delayed it to 12/42.
• Leader.dat changes:
o New Yugoslavian leaders added for future expansion scenario.
o 72 - Ernst Hell last date extended to 8/44
o 134 – Ludwig Mueller last date extended to 8/44
o Created 4 Croatian leaders: 481-484 with German nationality
o Created a new batch Soviet leaders from 3000 ascending (Romanian,,Bulgarian, Yugoslavian, and British).We now have some leaders in the list twice, and this allows these leaders to be added to the units that are considered Soviet nationality.
• Hex.dat and hexart.dat changes – Added rail line
• New photo – 0226 PZL 23B (RU)
• Changes to map in factory/city/maptext/hex/cityOwner and scenario files as noted below.
• Locations renamed:
o 343 Nordholtz 119,162-> Nordholz
o 0502 Kemijärvi 172,51 -> partially corrupted name fixed
o 1005 Sp. Nova Ves 171,195 -> Spisska Nova Ves
o 1166 Piestany 160,200 -> Piest'any
o 2022 Etil 250,146 -> Ertil
o 2052 Muchkap 254,144 -> Zherdevka (Muchkap is on rail line further east)
o 2057 Ostrozhsk 247,156 -> Ostrogozhsk
o 2077 Repenyevka 245,154 -> Repyovka
o 2406 Suvorovo 215,211 -> Sovorove
o 2439 Shumsk 186,147 -> Shumskas
o 2711 Novo Kalltva 253,160 -> Novaya Kalitva
o 2727 Burluk 242,165 -> Velykyi Burluk
o 2919 Karmaleva 180,146 -> Karmelava
o 2925 Bely Kolodes 239,165 -> Bilyi Kolodiaz
o 2968 Kikeritsy 190,106 -> Kiorstovo
• Locations renamed + data changed:
o 2428 Kretinga (old) 167,140 -> Rucava (-1 population/manpower for new Kretinga)
o 2966 Siversky (old) 194,108 -> Nizovskaya, airfield reduced to 1, capture dates modified
• Location data changed:
o 0497 Janisjarvi (FIN) 194,86 -> changed to Soviet, ad 1x pop/manp/raily from duplicate
• New locations added:
o 0514 Immola 187,93 - real location of Immola airfield, old one was Nummela
o 2667 Kretinga 167,141 - real location of Kretinga, 1x pop/manp/raily, occupation dates from Rucava
o 2965 Siversky 194,106 - real location of Siversky, with airbase size 2
• Locations removed or slots cleared:
o 1790 Janisjarvi (SOV), duplicate of 0497
o 2784 Remontroe, misnamed duplicate of 2158 Remontnoe
o 2800 Biamak, duplicate of 2300 Baimak
o 2809 Troizk, misnamed duplicate of 2303 Troitsk
o 2819 Kungar, misnamed duplicate of 2243 Kungur
o 2893 Birsk, misplaced duplicate of 2295 Birsk
• Changes to all scenarios:
o set player for 3 new locations
o renamed several airbase units to get in sync with location name
o add airbases and airbase units to Siversky(new), Izmail, Luga and/or Krasnogvardeysk
o clear some deleted locations
o 287 Arab Bn now uses proper German Nebelwerfer
• 1941 Campaign
o III./JG 52 changed to Bf 109F-4 full
o III./JG 77 changed to Bf 109F-4 20+15
o Stab/JG 1 changed to Bf 109F-4 full + remove from invalid airbase
o I./JG 1 changed to Bf 109F-4 11+15
• RAR 42-43
o 51/52 GRD rename slot lacking Guards status
o fixed some improperly motorized airbases
• Operation Typhoon
o 45/62 RD HHQ set to STAVKA
o Internal note: some dupe PVO units in Moscow
• Destruction of SW Front
o fixed an improperly motorized airbase
o Internal mote: 2x dupe PVO AA
• Road to Minsk
o fixed some improperly motorized airbases
• Velikie Luki
o fixed an improperly motorized airbase
o remove two improper ground elements from German/Soviet pool

Happy Gaming!

[DeletedUser44]

Excellent. Will start a new game on latest.

ty

[AlbertN]

Thanks for the patch!

AFV losses change right now seems ... in need of testing though! I am getting odd results and outcomes in some T1 vs the AI runs to understand how it works.

[Teo41_ITA]

Cool! Perfect timing to start my new Youtube series from scratch! [:D]

[jubjub]

Thanks for the clarification on the flak issues. I'm interested to see how the changes pan out.

Not sure I like the change to ground attack, but i'll give it a try..

[GibsonPete]

Terrific. Looking forward to the results of this patch.[&o]

[Joch1955]

Nice! just in time for the weekend.

I see the ME109 F4 issue has been addressed.

What are the AC number in brackets in the mission results (Air Directive Summary)? I don't recall seeing that before.

[cameron88]

You broke something with flak, it was already too high and game breaking and i thought you lowered the amount of shot down airplanes from flak, which i was excited about so i could finally start using Stukas for ground attack missions.. but in my 1942 game where i had 85 planes shot down as Germany in 5 turns total from raiding lake ladoga, it went up to 80 planes shot down with the same mission in A SINGLE TURN?? That is a ridiculous increase, and the opposite effect of what i thought was changed.

[actrade]

Question...are you operational losses going down to help offset some of the flak losses? That's what is supposed to happen anyway.

[carlkay58]

actrade: the changes on aircraft losses stem from two sources. The first is a bug correction where some of the flak losses were being reported as operational losses but now will be correctly reported as flak losses. Thus flak losses will increase while operational losses will decrease. The second is lowering the actual operational losses. So we should see an increase in flak losses but a decent decrease in operational losses.

cameron88 - what sources caused the increased losses? I have found that this new version has increased the air to air losses because of increased interceptions by enemy fighters. The increase in flak losses are offset by the decrease in reported operational losses. That, at least, has been my experience. For example my turn 1 bombing losses of 82 Axis aircraft increased to 238 losses. The reason was it went from intercepting two or three missions to intercepting around 15. This really increased the air to air losses. The flak losses were up about 5% while the operational losses went down about 10%.

[56ajax]

Concerning these changes in the 1941 Campaigns

o III./JG 52 changed to Bf 109F-4 full
o III./JG 77 changed to Bf 109F-4 20+15
o Stab/JG 1 changed to Bf 109F-4 full + remove from invalid airbase
o I./JG 1 changed to Bf 109F-4 11+15

How can a unit be assigned an F-4 in June when production doesnt start till August?

And i can't find I./JG anywhere

Thx

[Denniss]

Bf 109F-4 was in limited production in 6/41 while F-2 was in full production until ~July. I./JG 1 arrives to Western TB
If the units retain their F-4 till August they should be able to draw replacements but no unit may change to them until September

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Everyone,

We're hoping this version will be our next official update and our Steam release candidate, so if you are willing and have time, please give it a good try and let us know if you see any issues.

Regards,

- Erik

[dgrimes]

The problem with combat resolution message display appears to remain in this new beta

The combat display when troops are engaged in ground combat ends very quickly even if display setting is set at 7. Air combat, even when in ground support mode display does seem to respond to the combat display setting correctly.

This problem has appeared in all ground combat to start Road to Leningrad (as Germans). And Stalingrad and Vistual campaigns, also as Germans. Note that in the Stalingrad and Vistula campaigns the ground combat resolution display setting does not appear during the game when you try to set it at 4, 5, 6, or 7. It will appear if you set it at 3.

I hope this helps you resolve this issue. I don't think this should become an official update until the combat resolution message display is working correctly.

[jubjub]

actrade: the changes on aircraft losses stem from two sources. The first is a bug correction where some of the flak losses were being reported as operational losses but now will be correctly reported as flak losses. Thus flak losses will increase while operational losses will decrease. The second is lowering the actual operational losses. So we should see an increase in flak losses but a decent decrease in operational losses.

I think this is revealing that flak is and has been way too strong. These 25 flak losses were generated by 12 88mm guns and 60 SdKfz Flak vehicles - 48 of which are 20mm. Hardly an overwhelming AAA presence for a 150 sq mile area, but the heavily armored IL-2's are shot down at a rate of 25/135 - nearly 20% - by flak.

[Jango32]

Considering the low altitude the IL-2 would have to get down to, and the speed they would need to operate with, this looks like the historical flak impact. It didn't matter how armoured the IL-2 was - if an exploding flak round hit the plane, it was gone because a direct hit would easily cause an entire wing or tail section to fail. 20mm flak Vierlings were more than capable of eliminating IL-2s even in 1943 and 1944.

It's also worth noting that the highest loss year for the IL-2 was 1944, with 1945 also a surprisingly high loss year. This is important because around this time most German fighters had been redirected to western Europe.

[loki100]

quick search suggests the Soviets lost almost 12,000 Il2/10 across the war. So yes, it was vulnerable to flak despite its protection due to how it was deployed?

[Jango32]

The total number of IL-2s produced during the war amounts to 36 136. The official loss figure of the IL-2 is 23 600 as per the Krivosheev study. There are strong reasons to suspect the loss figure was in actuality much higher, but we'll use the Krivosheev number.

The losses per year are 1100, 2600, 7200, 8900 and 3800 for 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 respectively. The armour on the IL-2 was centered around the cockpit and the engine. If an exploding 37mm flak shell or a string of 20mm flak shells hit the plane directly, that armour wouldn't help with a wing or tail getting blown off. Because of the IL-2's armament and envisioned anti-tank role, it was usually in perfect distance for low and medium altitude flak. Specifically 20mm and 37mm, which was typically found as attachments to mobile German units.

Edit note: combat losses are around Loki's figure, 12 400 in the Krivosheev study. But these too are very likely to be on the lower end, with a large proportion of operational losses actually being too damaged aircraft getting written off. 47% of total losses being operational is too high to reconcile with other (winning) WWII air force losses.

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: dgrimes

The problem with combat resolution message display appears to remain in this new beta

The combat display when troops are engaged in ground combat ends very quickly even if display setting is set at 7. Air combat, even when in ground support mode display does seem to respond to the combat display setting correctly.

This problem has appeared in all ground combat to start Road to Leningrad (as Germans). And Stalingrad and Vistual campaigns, also as Germans. Note that in the Stalingrad and Vistula campaigns the ground combat resolution display setting does not appear during the game when you try to set it at 4, 5, 6, or 7. It will appear if you set it at 3.

I hope this helps you resolve this issue. I don't think this should become an official update until the combat resolution message display is working correctly.

The problem is that Pavel cannot get any issue to duplicate, and I have only had inconsistent and not-replicatable instances of the high combat resolution being skipped. I can't pin this down. I just tried starting RtL and had no problem getting level 7 details for both air and ground elements in ground combat. I am using the hotkeys to change the message level, and I see it is being changed in the preference screen. Are you using the hotkeys? When you say it will appear as if set to 3, do you mean the preference screen shows it at 3, or you think you are seeing the details you'd get at level 3? I'm not exactly sure what you are saying. We'd like to fix it, but need to be able to see the problem. It's not necessary to be able to view things at this level of detail to play the game, but we'd like to get it to work for everyone if we can.

[jubjub]

You’re not looking at the attrition rate. Yes the Soviets lost a lot of bombers to flak, but 20% lost per sortie is completely unsustainable and there’s no way actual loss rates were that high. With a 20% attrition rate, you have a 75% chance of being shot down after flying for a week (7 sorties). This is just from flak too.

Total losses are directly tied to production, not the loss rate. I think Beethoven had a post explaining this wrt AFV losses.