New 1.02.24 Public Beta Now Available!

[HybridSpyda]

Greetings Everyone!

There's a new public beta update installer (v1.02.24) available from the store/My Page download areas.

If you prefer to use Steam, then you will need to opt into the changes by selecting the beta branch from the games Properties menu, listed as "beta - Open Beta". You can opt out at any time.

Changes since v1.02.21:

New Features and Rule Changes
• Changes impacting combat in “high intensity” combat (combat versus defenders in heavy urban/urban/port hexes):
o Many different combat adjustments that generally reduce losses in high intensity combat, for both sides.
o Isolated units suffer additional penalties in high intensity combat. Units must be fully isolated and not in aerial re-supply, not just be in isolated hexes, to suffer these additional penalties.
o The attackers in a failed high intensity attack take no retreat attrition.
• Changes to combat delay rules:
o A deliberate attack that fails, versus a defender in a non-isolated hex in urban/heavy urban/port, adds 9 to the combat delay. A hasty attack in this case adds 5 combat delay.
o Hexes that have 9 (maximum) combat delay may not be attacked.
o Note: Bombardment attacks (2 hex range artillery only attacks) cause no combat delay (this has always been the case).
• Manual Addendum: Changing the Intensity setting shown on the Air Directive (right side of map) Window for an air directive, changes the Air Doctrine intensity setting for the given type of air directive, for the controlling Air Command. Changing this, will also automatically alter all ADs of the same type, within the Air Command, that are not using a Custom intensity. Players wishing to alter the intensity of only one air directive, should set a Custom value by manually setting the Strike Num for the air directive.
Bug Fixes and AI Improvements
• Changes to ground combat that effectively reduces the number of shots taken by AFVs that have been shot at, with by far the greatest impact on low experience/morale ground elements. We found experience/morale checks were inadvertently left out of one of the routines that allowed AFVs to return fire.
• Kherson is not receiving any sea shipments of freight. Fixed.
• The final ground combat odds are sometimes expressed as a negative number. Fixed.
• Editor – Pressing ‘next’ in the device screen crashes the game. Fixed.
Data and Scenario Changes
• ob.dat file – Guard Tank Corps OBs have been linked to Tank Corps OBs. This should allow the building of a guards tank corps with 2 or 3 guards brigades if a guards tank corps OB is available on the date of creation.
• ground.dat file change - Panzer IIIf (0438) end date extended from 3/42 to 6/42.
• device.dat file changes:
o 170mm K18 L/50 Gun ROF increased from 1 to 2.
o Slight changes to 210mm devices 429 and 625
• cityOwner.dat file – Added city capture dates to many locations in central Europe
• 7 renamed German air unit symbols
• Campaign 41 scenarios – Mostly changes to air units:
o Soviet
SB-2 Rcn pool reduced by 2/3 to ~150, add 300 to SB-2 pool instead
yak-2 pool changed to 62
yak-4 pool changed to 55
38/53 SBAP disabled
65,66,215 ShAP changed from I-15bis FBs to I-153BS TacBs
116 ORAE rebuilt with 12 SB-2 rcn placed at NW Leningrad airbase and attached to Leningrad recon AOG
117-119 ORAE equipped with 12 SB-2 Rcn and added to NF
136 BAP changed to SB-2
655 LBAP changed to SB-2
311 RAP disabled
314 RAP changed to 30+3 Yak-4
316 RAP changed to 40+3 Yak-2
318 RAP added to FE with 24+6 SB-2 Rcn
319/320 ORAE disabled
o Axis
- Ground units -
reinforcing Lw Kdo West transformed into rename from Luftflotte 3
4th PzG Div renamed 4th SS PzG Div
22nd SP Army Light Flak Bn rebuild as Mot. Army Light Flak Bn, follows 22nd Airlanding div to Balkans
III/388th Howitzer Battalion changed to motorized
- Pool -
Bf 110C-5: 10 added to pool
Bf 110E-1/U1: 10 added to pool
He 115: 20 added to pool
Do 215B-1: 10 added to pool
- Air units -
Einsatzkommando Schenck changed to bomber-trained Me 262A-2a
7.(F)/LG 2 becomes (H) in 1/42 and disbands in 1/43
9.(H)/LG 2 disbands at the end of 1941
10.(Sch)/LG 2 removed disband, renames to 8./Sch.G 1 with Hs 129 in 2/42 and later to 11.(Pz)SG 9
I./JG 1 present from start with Bf 109E-7
IV./JG 1 renames to II./JG 11 in 4/43
10.(Jabo)/JG 2 - disbands in late 9/43
11.(Hoeh) and 12./JG 2 disband mid 9/43
IV.(Sturm)/JG 3 removed Sturm designation, renames to Sturm in 5/44 and gets matching Fw 190A-8/R8
Jabostaffel/JG 3 renames to 10.(Jabo)/JG 27 in early 5/42, to 2./Jabogruppe Afrika in early 9/42, disbands late 11/42
JG 4 removed Sturm designation from all except II.
II.(Sturm)/JG 4 changed to Fw 190A-8/R8
IV./JG 5 available from start as JGr Drontheim, renames to IV./JG 5 in 6/42
14.(Jabo)/JG 5 disbands mid 4/44
II./JG 11 transformed into rename from IV./JG 1 in 4/43
10./JG 11 disband in mid 8/44
11./JG 11 disband mid 8/44
JG 25 renames/downgrades to Jagdstaffel Erla in late 11/43, disbands 4/44
11./JG 26 disbands in late 12/42
12./JG 26 disbands in late 9/43
10.(Jabo)/JG 27 changed to Bf 109F-2, transformed into rename from Jabostaffel/JG 3
15./JG 27 (Span) available from start in WE with 12x Bf 109E-7, to AR on T4, disbands in late 2/44, set to fighter mission/training
JG 50 renames to I./JG 301 in mid 10/43
15./JG 52 (Croat) available from start in WE with 12x Bf 109E-7, to AR in late 9/41, to BA in late 4/44
10.(Jabo)/JG 53 disbands late 11/42
II.(Sturm)/JG 300 removed Sturm designation, renames to Sturm in 7/44 and gets matching Fw 190A-8/R8
IV.(Sturm)/JG 300 removed Sturm designation
I./JG 301 renames from JG 50 in mid 10/43
10./JG 301 changed to Bf 109G-6, disbands in late 7/44
V./NJG 5 renames to III./NJG 6 in 5/44
III./NJG 6 renames from V./NJG 5 in 5/44
Stab II./NJG 100 - moved fromward to 12/43, renames from 7./NJG 200
4./NJG 100 transformed to rename from 8./NJG 200 in 12/43
5./NJG 100 transformed to rename from 1./NJG 200 in 5/44
6./NJG 100 transformed to rename from 4./NJG 200 in 5/44
1./NJG 200 renames to 5./NJG 100 in 5/44
4./NJG 200 renames to 6./NJG 100 in 5/44
5./NJG 200 transformed to rename from 10./ZG 1, renames to new 7./NJG 100 in 6/44
7./NJG 200 renames to Stab II./NJG 100 in 12/43
8./NJG 200 arrives with 12+5 aircraft, renames to 1./NJG 100 in 12/43
10./ZG 1 removed disband, renames to 5./NJG 200 in mid 8/43 and to new 7./NJG 100 in 6/44
III./ZG 2 changed to Bf 109E-7/U1
Stab/Sch.G 1 changed to Bf 109E-7/U1
I./Sch.G 1 changed Bf 109E-7/U1
8./Sch.G 1 changed to Hs 129, transformed into rename from 10.(Sch)/LG 2
Stab/Sch.G 2 changed to Fw 190G
I./Sch.G 2 changed Bf 109E-7/U1
II./Sch.G 2 changed to Fw 190G
SKG 10 (all) changed from Fw 190A FBs to Fw 190G TacBs
III./SG 4 changed to Fw 190F
I./SG 5 changed to Ju 87D-5
11.(Pz)/SG 9 - rename source changed to 10.(Sch)/LG 2
NSGr 11 rename source changed to new Gruppe Buschmann
I.+II./KG 2 disband mid 10/44
10./KG 3 (croat) available at start in BA, retaining the later TB transfers
III./KG 6 (10/44) renamed to II./KG 200 arriving 5/44 with Ju 188
Stab/KG 28 disbands 12/41
I./KG 28 renames to naval-only II./KG 100 in mid 12/41
Stab,I.,II./KG 51 removed (J) from rename slots, made bomber-trained
II./KG 100 transformed into rename from I./KG 28 in 12/41, changed to He 111H-6
III./KG 100 delayed to 4/43, changed to naval-only with Do 217K, starts in WE and moves to AR in 8/44
IV./KG 100 delayed to late 11/41
KG 101/102 disabled (advanced school units)
IV./KG 200 arrives 10/44 without aircraft
II./LLG 2 reduced to 5. Staffel (the only operational unit)
Stab/TG 5 arrives with aircraft (drafted from school)
II.+III./TG 5 changed to Me 323
KGr zbV 900 disbands mid 1/44
AufklarGr 126 (See) renames to SAGr 126 now, delay AR transfer to 10/44
SAGr 126 changed into rename from AufklarGr 126 (See)
SAGr 127 rename source change to new Gruppe Buschmann via AufklarGr 127 (See)
1./SAGr 129 arrives with 10x BV222
3.(H)/31 changed to Bf 110E-3, typo in name fixed
5.(F)/123 arrives with 10+2 Fw 190A-3/U4
6.(F)/123 arrives with 10+5 Ju 86P
- NEW air units -
2./Jabogruppe Afrika, renames 9/42 from Jabostaffel/JG 3 via 10.(Jabo)/JG 27
7./NJG 100, renames from 5./NJG 200 in 6/44
NJ-Stfl Norwegen (12/44), renames from NJ-Stfl Finnland
Gruppe Buschmann, Naval patrol group with 30+15 He 114 (6/42 to AR, -> AufklGr 127 (See) 4/43 -> SAGr 127 (7/43) -> NSGr 11 (mid 10/43)
AufklarGr 127 (See) - renames 4/43 from new Gruppe Buschmann
• OP Typhoon 41 - 15./JG 27 (Span) changed to Fighter-trained Bf 109E-7
• Red Army Resurgent
o 15./JG 51 (Span) changed to fighter mission/training
o Stab and I./Sch.G 1 changed from Bf 109E-7 to E-7/U1
• Destruction of SW Front - 66 ShAP changed from I-15bis to I-153BS
• Road to Leningrad
o 53 SBAP disabled
o 65 ShAP changed from I-15bis to I-153BS
• Road to Minsk - 215 ShAP changed from I-15bis to I-153BS


Happy Gaming!

[AlbertN]

Good for the Urban Changes.

Personally not fond of the air system. Especially as when an air unit disbands the pilots return to a generic pool, losing own data I suspect.
So if a unit with X quality pilots disbands they get to be X generic pilots. Ontop of the fact that maybe to have more unit granularity on the map IF there are the resources for (pilots trained, airframes / airplanes built) is probably far far better from the gaming perspective than the hardcoded 'disband' because for whichever reasons something historically was disbanded.

[Wild]

Love the ground combat changes. Thanks!

[tyronec]

o A deliberate attack that fails, versus a defender in a non-isolated hex in urban/heavy urban/port, adds 9 to the combat delay. A hasty attack in this case adds 5 combat delay.

If I understand this correct, it means you can only do one deliberate attack per turn against non-isolated urban hexes. That kind of makes sense, the effect will be to make the urban hex more of a roadblock. Heavily built up areas slow down combat.
But why apply it to ports too ? One side is making an attack against a town on the coast that is part of the front line and they can only make one attack per turn. It is no more built up than other hexes that have no impact on combat and now it can become a road block.
This rule is generally not going to impact assaulting Sevastapol or Odessa because mostly they will be isolated when attacked - not sure if that was the intention.

[Joel Billings]

We included ports as they are special targets. They often had special fortifications set up to defend the port and were set up to be garrisoned and defended against a siege. This could give them enough additional protection to make them difficult to take. Also, if attacked, they were subject to a greater desire by the attacking forces to actually close and take the port. For those reasons we decided to include them into the special rules for "high intensity combat". That's always been the case, it's just how these combats are resolved and the new combat prep changes that are different. Early on in development we did consider just making the high intensity combat count in port hexes where the defender had placed a city fort (designating it as a special defense zone) along with urban and heavy urban hexes. However, in the end we decided to treat all ports, urban and heavy urban hexes the same in terms of triggering the high intensity combat routines. The combat routines in all these hexes are somewhat different than other hexes, but a port that doesn't also have urban or heavy urban terrain is going to be at a disadvantage in the combat as they won't get the big intrinsic fortification bonuses that urban/heavy urban provide defending units. It is still true, maybe now more than ever, that the way to take these locations is to fully isolate them before you attack them. Without isolation, it can and should be difficult to take these locations, especially if they can be reinforced with fresh units.

[luigiamendola]

Operational losses are still very high. Some time ago one of the devolopers mentioned Gary discovered a bug that was the cause of the problem, and that the fix would be included in an update. Is this work already done or am I missing something?

[Joel Billings]

The work on overall op losses was completed many updates ago, and at this time we're not looking at changing op losses. More recently, op losses for air transport missions was altered, greatly increasing them in bad weather, IIRC. I did find this note in 1.02.14 and we have not yet worked on this again:

• Note regarding the Losses screen: The ‘Current Turn’ column losses by reason (A2A/flak/ground/operational) are often incorrect. Several reasons for this were fixed in this update, but there are still cases where these losses will be incorrect, too high or too low. The Total column losses are correct, as are the losses by aircraft type, and the losses on the left side of the screen losses by aircraft model. We will continue to try to improve the losses by reason (and the total that appears in the Current Turn column), but for now, you have to use the losses by aircraft type to get an accurate view of current turn losses.

So the numbers you see in the Current Turn column can be off. Usually when it's off, it's not off by much, but only the Total column is correct for the A2A/flak/ground/operational split. This is still on our list to be looked at, but is a lower priority. As far as the actual op losses being taken, we think they're ok now. Historically, only just under half of Soviet combat aircraft were lost in combat. Only 1/6 of non-combat aircraft were lost in combat.

[luigiamendola]

I realized after more hours of gaming that operational losses are not that high, after all. The fact that the numbers are a bit off in the losses screen doesn't bother me. There are other priorities. And thank you so much for your answer.

[DarkHorse2]

Some quick feedback on 1.02.24 (played through Turn 12 as Germans vs AI - GC41).

* Combat losses feel about right for this time period. Even the Armor vs Armor combat feels right during the opening turns.
* AC Operational losses feels right as well. Nothing too extreme.
* AC Flak losses seem appropriate. Looks like German Flak is finally firing.
* AC Transport mission intercept is starting to feel more in-line with expectations. Both sides intercepted enemy AC Transport missions where I would expect them to occur.
* the Multiple AC Transport UI sometimes updated the screen correctly.

Anomalies:

* five straight turns of light mud for AGN, AGC (turns 3-8). 1 or 2 turns is not too bad, but after 4+ turns of it, you start to feel it. Especially the opening turns. Just going to consider I got bad RNG rolls.
* I also had a German AC Bf-109 unit decimated (90% losses) somehow. (I suspect it was after flying an AC Transport escort mission... but did not notice until following turn and did not go back to investigate)

Soviet AI:

* Feels like something changed, but not in a bad way. Soviets contested Naval AC interdiction in the vicinity of Sevastopol. In fact, after 2 turns of inability to isolate Sevastopol, I had to attack without it. (so 70k Soviet soldiers escaped this time.... )
* Soviet AI actually defended in strength in AGS with a wall of counters stacked 3-deep. Have never seen that before in the opening turns. It seriously looked like they could have kicked my butt in AGS if they had wanted.

TODO:

* The AC Air Transport escort feature needs to be looked at. Single-engine fighters seem to be getting some kind of strange range bonus that allows them to escort Air Transports well beyond their stated ranges.
* I am consistently finding the Bf-109s are select-able to escort long-range transport missions, where as the Bf-110s are not. This is even after basing the Bf-110s at the Transport Mission starting base. This is exactly the opposite of what I would expect.
* The cut-off point seems to be at 14 hexes. Up to 14 hexes, I can select a Bf-110 for escort. After that, only Bf-109s are select-able.
* Whatever is going on, the range bonus does not seem to be equally applying to the Bf-110s.

Closing:

Nice job. Keep up the good work.

[loki100]

are your Bf-110s set as fighters or bombers? The scenario starts with them trained to the latter so you either need to send them off for the 8 week retrain to get them back primarily or fighters or remember to flip them for the turn.

agree there is a natural gap in the Axis long range escort options till the later 210/410 sequences become available otherwise

[DarkHorse2]

Well, you are back. Nice.

I understand you are trying to be helpful, but I am very aware of how fighter-bombers work.

I have retrained all of my Bf-110s as fighters. Usually start that at the end of Turn 1.

Although, there is an issue with WiTE2 making them selectable as Air Transport escorts.

Also, single-engine fighters performing Air Transport escorts at very extended ranges is easy enough to check as well. (although, this really does not bother me as much.)

FYI - this is not a new issue with latest patch. It has been ongoing for some time. I just have more information on how to make it manifest now. It is most noticeable at the 14-15 hex boundary. That is where the Bf-110s are no longer listed in the Air Transport escort selection view, yet the Bf-109s are there.

The single-engine fighters remain selectable up to 20+ or more hexes.

The stated radius for the Bf-110E-2 is 165 miles. (or approximately 16 hexes)
The stated radius for the Bf-109F-2 is 115 miles. (or approximately 11 hexes)

There is not a scenario I can imagine where the Bf-109F-2 is going to have a longer escort range than the Bf-110E-2. Yet, this appears to be the case when it comes to Air Transport escort missions.

It kind of looks like WiTE2 is doubling the given AC radius to determine escort range for the single-engine fighters, but not for the twin engine fighters. (this is a guess...)

[loki100]

Hanny, from testing it keys off the target hex for assignment. So a bombing mission picks up escorts at the stage base, a transport mission grabs its escorts over the target. It may use a slightly different routine when running freight into a pocket.

So in the main, it is going to grab front line based fighters, so makes sense what you are reporting.

You see it with the Soviets when it selects say a Yak1(B?) over a longer ranged P40 type fighter

[DarkHorse2]

I submitted a bug report on a very similar issue, which may be related.

The Air Transport View is not picking up all of the eligible AC for mission selection. This time it involved the Ju52s themselves, located at the staging base, not showing up for selection.

Out of frustration, I saved the game, reloaded.... and now they show up.

All the details are here:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 7&t=382446