Changes for the next version!

[Blackbishop]

Hello comrades,

It is time to talk about some of the upcoming changes for the Soviet and Ostheer factions in Eastern Front. Since we couldn't release our previous patch due to the issues with Company of Heroes updates, we continued working and improving the build, so we have now what we think it is more balanced and enjoyable to play rather than in previous versions. We will start talking about Soviets.

One of the big changes of the Soviet army, is the removal of the upgrades in the Support Barracks used to unlock the units, now they require additional buildings to be unlocked. We also replaced the ZiS-2 anti tank gun with the ZiS-3, because the latter was more common and the ZiS-2 is a much stronger AT gun and having the most powerful AT gun (zis-2) available so early in the game just looks/feels strange... so the ZiS-3 was a better choice. However, would that mean the end of the appereance of the ZiS-2 in Eastern Front mod? We don't think so.

ZiS-3 will be the regular anti tank gun that you can recruit from the Support Barracks. ZiS-2 now is a special unit for the Propaganda War Strategy Command Tree. You can get it unlocking the second right-hand side upgrade on that tree, and it will replace the ZiS-3. If you have several ZiS-3 units on the field, they will remain as it, but you can pay some resources to convert them into ZiS-2. If you recrew a lost ZiS-3 as Soviet player, you can upgrade it as well.

The Tank Hall also got some tweaks, being the most important ones: getting a third upgrade in order to unlock the mighty IS-2 and you can now use T-34/85 and SU-100 in the same match. We are still working to get the new models onboard, we hope to get the T-60 and the T-70 to replace the old models when this new patch rolls out.

Conscripts also got a boost, they now can recrew heavy weapons, although you surely know how delicate they are, so it is up to you how to use it in your favor. The Commissar call-in was also removed, in it's place you now get an ability that let you select a Conscript squad and convert it into the Shtrafnie squad(whose squad leader is equipped with a PPD-34 submachine gun).

And now, the last change to report about the Soviet Army... is that they now can use Heavy Machine guns. Yes, you are not dreaming nor drunk.

We tried several workarounds for blob suppression weapons based off vehicles, but all of them are gimmicky and do not work right.

• First try was the Ford GPA, which doesnt work because it's destroyed by frontal assault with SMGs, fausts, schreck hits and Hafthohlladung as it's immobile while in suppression mode.
• Second was T90 with lockdown, also doesnt work properly because it's also suffering the same problems as above.
• Third is suppression with Red banner Strelky with DP28. Also doesn't work because it limits strategy. Always Red Banners + DP28 or you'll loose to lategame Axis blobs - without suppression they can just run through your army, much like the old USA rangerspam when they had no exhaust effect after "Fire Up", just that Axis do not even need it because Soviets can't suppress.

This is something that soviets already suffer from since a very long time. Only chance to fix this seems to be by adding a hmg type weapon to them... and so we did.

However, this weapon, the SG-43 Goryunov, it is just a temporal replacement as a heavy machine gun team. Our real goal is to finish this one:

Meanwhile, we will remain using the placeholder(Credits to DMz). There are more subtle changes for Soviets, but that will be for another time. For now let's talk about Ostheer...

The Sturmpioniers now get Gewehrs 41 when purchasing their combat upgrade.

Landser squads can now get three MP40 instead of a MKB42(W)

Or two Panzerbüchse 39 anti tank rifles.

Ostheer can now produce mortar teams when selecting the Support pool.

Panzerfusiliers no longer get MP40/IIs, they can get now MG-34s.

Jägers no longer have Gewehr 43 as upgrade; they don't have MP44s,
 but they use something similar...

The Support Army Troops tree no longer gives you either Wespe or Panzer 38t,
you now get a Panzerjager squad with a Luchs light tank for support.
(Wespe is it's own call-in at the end of the tree
and Panzerjagers are no longer available as regular unit)

First new unit: the Skirmish Commander, only one available at the field,
 just like the Soviet Command Squad... however both use different abilities.

Second new unit: Bombardier Team, composed of one soldier equipped
 with a Granatbüchse 39 and two more using MP40s. Replaces the LMG Team.

Thanks for your support,

Archaic Entertainment Team

[Dann88]

Some of those changes actually make senses like the bombardier teams, call in group, jager upgrade, panzerfusilier upgrade, landser upgrade, sturmpioneer upgrade. Soviet AT guns are models, Zis-3 is just a nerfed zis-2 plus a change of model, that's all. I'm not sure about SU hmg team though, my opinion stands neutral, just give it a chance maybe.

[Grand Duke]

Wow! Nice changes guys, can't wait to try them all out. There are also some I longed for (AT-rifles for Ostheer, less silly Ofhenrors, rifle grenades, mortar, German officer, and the most importantly the GLORIOUS SOVIET HMG ! But, there are some things I'd like to clarify for me, if I may.

1. About T-60, will it replace T-90 or will it be added along it? Not that I want this abomination (T-90, not T-60, this one is fine) gone (in fact, I do), just asking.
2. About SU-100, I remember reading a Dev post about it. It said something about that you were planning to remove this vehicle, as it has no niche, offering the same firepower as an IS-2 and costing cheaper. Does it's comeback mean it got some tweaks?
3. That HMG on the 2nd pic, is that a DSHK? Nice, I always wanted to see it, or the SG-43, in this mod. Will the mobile HMG available for all Soviet doctrines or will it be a doctrine unlock? By the way, how about a DSHK upgrade for the late-war tanks? I understand that's a lot to ask for, but a man can dream, can't he.
4. Just to clarify, so without the Combat Upgrade the Sturmpios are better at close range with their MP-41s, and with it they're better at medium-long ranges with G41 and also tougher? Did I get it right?
5. Can you please elaborate about the OH mortar? Will it be available along with the leIG? What will be advantages of using the mortar over leIG and vice versa?
6. Landsers getting MP40s, is it an individual unlock for every Landser squad or will it be a tech replacing the "Sergeant Promotion"?
7. Jägers getting something similar? Oooh, is it the MKB?
8.  About support army group, does that mean we no longer can build Luchs and now have to call it in? Also, is the end of the Pz38(t)? My wild guess is that it is reserved for future reward trees, or... a brand new faction? Maybe one day we'll see the rise of mighty minor Axis nations (Italy/Romania/Hungary)?
9. Bombardier Team, so, if I understand correctly, that's an AT unit, isn't it? How effective would it be against infantry?

Uhh, that's a whole lot of questions I pumped out. Well, still, I'd be grateful if a dev would give me a tiny bit of his/her precious time 

[Blackbishop]

1) T-90 will cease it's existence in Eastern Front mod as soon as we have the T-60.

2) That's correct. But the main reason to remove it was because it caused crashes and because it didn't look like a SU-100(regardless of what some people think).

3) The MG in the third pic is a SG-43 Goryunov. The DSHK was never placed on a tripod(fourth picture). And this HMG team comes as regular unit.

4) Well, their MP41s aren't too strong, just like others armies have their builder unit with wealer weapons, so they become better.

5) It will be available depending of your pool choice.

6) It is unlocked with the upgrade Seargant Promotion, along with the Panzerbuchse 39 anti tank rifles.

7) MKb42 (H), which can be toggled to fire at bursts as usual or single shot like a rifle(similar to sniper).

8] Panzer 38t will return in the foreign tree, as it should have been done since the start .

9) I think it has an anti tank shot, but it normally uses HE bombs, so it is good against infantry.

[Sikko]

Interesting that most changes that now appear to the Ostheer, are almost the same that I suggested about a year ago in the beta -.-

[Hendrik 'DarcReaver' S.]

Interesting that most changes that now appear to the Ostheer, are almost the same that I suggested about a year ago in the beta -.-

This news post mostly revolves around the Ostheer, yes. But soviets also received changes in their core gameplay, teching and unit pool. It's just that their changes are more subtle than the Ostheer changes. But still, they're very noticeable and make playing Soviets a very nice experience. I even prefer playing Soviets a bit over Ostheer

Regarding the feedback on the Ostheer:

Of course we incorporated ideas that people suggested back in the beta. Everyone knew that the old design wasn't that good, but it was the best experience we could deliver at that time. We also said: "We will take feedback seriously and we WILL improve the Ostheer once the time comes based on YOUR suggestions - the community. But not 2 weeks into the release". You may look up the old feedback threads in the beta forums if you don't believe me.

The problems within the Ostheer were much deeper. You could not fix the faction by switching 2-3 units in a tier or changing some costs. We took all stuff that was suggested during release and beta into consideration, worked in some own ideas and tried to improve the gameplay experience to the maximum possible. I personally refused to change the parts of the design within 2 weeks of the release just because a number of people suggested something they thought was a good idea without thinking in the whole picture (like putting p3 in t3 without reworking the pools/pool system).

Simply just adding/removing a unit here and there, switching some units inbetween the tiers and stuff like that would not have improved the Ostheer design from release at all. And replacing an unfinished design with another unfinished design is simply a waste of time. You can't just come up with a working faction design in 2 days. Just look at CoH 2 kindergarden design threads... So many awful ideas going on there, I'm glad relic does not listen to them at all... But that's another topic.

Also, most members of the team took a break from Eastern Front after the initial release. Some went on vacation, others (like me) had exams to finish and work to do. Also, I personally was fed up with corsix at that point. Spending 12-16 hours a day fixing and adding abilities, target tables, weapons, vehicles and having to test all this stuff for hours during several weeks and months was simply enough at that point.

So, progress was halted during late summer/fall of 2013. We then gathered and started working on the Factions again for the release of a patch that was actually planned to be released almost 3 months ago, but thx to relic we couldn't publish a new EF version because of the known issue with custom .dlls that was only fixed a few weeks ago.

And right now we've using the time to polish ideas and fixing bugs, description errors and other stuff. Since we've been delayed so much already, we said it's fine to wait some more weeks to get everything in a better shape.

[SilentAssassin]

Does this mean that I can't use Panzerjagers as my main AT force for the Army Fortress Troops doctrine?   Are the Panzerjagers for Army Support Troops now?

I can't wait to try out the new update still, even if I can't use them.

[Blackbishop]

That's correct... ouch. Now you talk about AT and Fortress tree, I realize forgot to add one screenshot :\... my bad. In our current set up, you can build a concrete emplacement with a PaK 36 inside.

[Panzer4life]

Concrete Pak 36 emplacements?? How does that fare overall to other AT units, because the Pak36 is a 37mm AT gun, which is the smallest gun, smaller than the 57mm or the Pak 38.

[LCH98]

That's correct... ouch. Now you talk about AT and Fortress tree, I realize forgot to add one screenshot :\... my bad. In our current set up, you can build a concrete emplacement with a PaK 36 inside.

You mean the PaK 36 37mm "Doorknocker"?

Wouldn't that be a waste of resources, unless you face a spam of jeeps or halftracks?

[Hendrik 'DarcReaver' S.]

That's correct... ouch. Now you talk about AT and Fortress tree, I realize forgot to add one screenshot :\... my bad. In our current set up, you can build a concrete emplacement with a PaK 36 inside.

You mean the PaK 36 37mm "Doorknocker"?

Wouldn't that be a waste of resources, unless you face a spam of jeeps or halftracks?

It's not final if it stays or not, we're testing its performance. Originally it was meant to give some sort of early anti tank capacities to Army fortress. However, with the latest iterations it seems to be unnecessary.

[jonarus_drakus]

In regards to the Pak upgrade for the concrete emplacements, I think something like this is needed, as outside of the field hospital upgrade for 'Army Fortress troops' the thing is pretty much useless...

Maybe make this Pak36 upgrade universal? So all command trees have *some* reason to build the emplacements? Or maybe an upgrade that makes them like the 'starting' flak emplacements? (iirc, this was originally part of the plan from before OH was even released). Come to think of it, the 'flak' upgrade would be better as the universal one, along side the hospital (which I personally feel should be universal too). And give the 'dedicated AT upgrade' (the Pak36 as already made. I think it might need some special ability to go with it though, to help against later game heavier armour).

That said, I like the sound of pretty much all the announced changes (even if I do kind-of lament the absence of the Luchs as a build-able unit, OH needs some kind of scout-car equivalent still).

¬JD

[LCH98]

That's correct... ouch. Now you talk about AT and Fortress tree, I realize forgot to add one screenshot :\... my bad. In our current set up, you can build a concrete emplacement with a PaK 36 inside.

You mean the PaK 36 37mm "Doorknocker"?

Wouldn't that be a waste of resources, unless you face a spam of jeeps or halftracks?

It's not final if it stays or not, we're testing its performance. Originally it was meant to give some sort of early anti tank capacities to Army fortress. However, with the latest iterations it seems to be unnecessary.

Honestly, i'd like to see something like 'Panzerwerks', which were used in the Ostwall, a defence line between pre-war Germany and Poland, and was used against the red army in 1944.

I am however not certain if there were AT guns in those things, as they were used in coordination with AT mines and Dragon's Teeth, i think that it's rather unlikely, however, they would make for a great fortress.
(Note that these things have almost unrestricted 360 degree firing angle, whereas the current OH concrete bunkers do not, as well as that they're mostly underground, and built long-before battle and not molded like the OH bunkers, and therefore somewhat less exposed to artillery or air attack


Here some pictures:
http://previewcf.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2009_07_14__16_36_16/Ostwall1.jpg98989e54-1855-41a4-a39d-c8ec47dff218Larger.jpg
http://en.tracesofwar.com/upload/3955110919220421.jpg
http://en.tracesofwar.com/upload/8876080815131144.jpg (this one has taken a scratch or two)

[arthazx]

HI all

why i can't use is 3 tank , why i can't to customise my URSS army?

i can't use SU 122 tank and Kv1 and KV85 or KV1S.
plz help and fix.

thanks for attention

[Codename "Tiger"]

I think you misunderstand some things...
There are no SU122 or KV1S or KV85 in this game.

And you have IS 2 thats enough

And for the moment there are no Reward Units for Ostheer or Soviet, but check out some new reward stuff for the vanilla Factions

Regards