Released update version 2.4.0.0 for Steam!

[Blackbishop]

Hello comrades,

We have just released the update version 2.4.0.0 in the Steam version, want to read what it fixes? you can check it here. Steam will download it and automatically install it, so don't worry about it. In case this isn't working, you can verify the integrity of the game files from the options of EF mod in the Steam library and it should download the latest build.

In this update we just released we have added a new reward tree for the Ostheer faction, and I made this post to explain about what it is and what it can do for your faction.

The Assault Division Command Tree focus is, as you might have guessed, to give a home for the Tiger tank in the Ostheer faction. We could have just create a reward unit for the Panzerwerfer and keep everything the same, but we wanted to take the chance and give a different experience, so we assembled some abilities and this tree is the result of that.

At the left hand side we have the following abilities:

• Goliath Heavy Mine (1CP | 125MU): Allows the Sturmpioneer squads to deploy this explosive device like a mine, exploding when a vehicle rolls over it dealing devastating damage to anything in the blast radius. This vehicles are treated like mines, so they don't move but players can detonate them whenver they like too instead of waiting for a vehicle to trigger them!
  
• Pakwagon (3CP | 450MP / 4POP): This is a call-in ability which brings a modified Ostheer halftrack equipped with a 75mm Pak 40 cannon to the field, and it can use the camouflage ability.
  
• ME 109 Strafing Run (2CP | 150MU): Calls a ME 109 to strafe infantry units in a specific area. It will fire against enemy units with it's four MG cannons.
  

At the right hand side we also have:

• Conscription (1CP | Passive ability): Makes infantry based units deploy 10% faster. 'Nuff said .
  
• Pervitin (2CP | 75MU): This is a medicine given in WW2 to infantry, not specific to the German army, because other countries used it too, but we featured it here. You can consider it to be  very similar to some sort of energy drink. It makes infantry to deal more damage and to fire with more accuracy, also it also projects a healing aura so infantry heals each other, but it isn't that strong at all so be aware of this when using it(which means don't think it makes them invincible).
  
• Tiger I Ace (3CP | 900MP / 14 POP): Calls the Ostheer Tiger as a Tiger Ace, and it has an munition based ability that allows its crew to fire 25% faster, something that could be of help against heavier enemy tanks. It also carries the other two usual abilities from support and assault (passive ability for support -> infantry support aura, timed ability for assault -> smoke screen).
  

There wasn't a plan to release a reward tree this soon, but due to popular support for the Tiger to return to the Ostheer faction, we worked in this.

You can try this Command Tree by enabling it in the reward tab. Stay tuned for more additions and updates!

Regards,
- Archaic Entertainment Team

[PoliorcetE]

hi
nice update
ostheer on speed with pervitine 
the new KV-1 is beautiful , well done !
A+

[BromZAR]

All this is good, but where is Britain?

[Dreamerbg]

Locked until their rework is finished BromZAR

[jonarus_drakus]

And the 'Urban Doctrine', 'Romanian Troops', and 'Lend-lease' rewards? They are all there in the list on the rewards page, but none of them are usable...

~JD

[Blackbishop]

Of course, they aren't finished why would you be able to use them right now?

[jonarus_drakus]

Of course, they aren't finished why would you be able to use them right now?

So why are they visible at all then? Get rid of them until there is a REASON for them to be there! They aren't doing anything, they have zero use... So why?

Sorry if that sounds aggressive/rude or anything, but I can't really think of any way to 'soften' it.. It just seems like a stupid thing to do to me... ^^;

~JD

[Blackbishop]

They aren't going anywhere. Perhaps the Lend & Lease could because it wasn't even started, but the others will remain there. They are grayed out so it is like no one can confuse they are working or not.

[Ruptured]

That is wonderful. I'm so eager to try it. Thanks Devs.

I can't wait for when the Brits are ready. It's going to be a blast.

And just so I know, are you going to bring this update to the Launcher version or just for Steam? Thanks!

[Capitanloco6]

While I immensely enjoy this mod, and I think that it just gets better and better with each iteration, I think this is doctrine is not up to scratch. I don't want to come off as rude, but it feels like it was haphazardly thrown together in order to appease the wheraboos complaining about the lack of OH Tigers.

Right now the Assault Pioneer Division feels underwhelming and lacking a coherent theme. A static Goliath hardly screams 'Assault' to me, neither does a Pakwagen, which in the end doesn't have any more pushing power than a Marder, which is a tank sniper. Both of those feel like they belong to a defensively minded Doctrine. Pervitin also feels completely off. It contains ephedrine derivatives, hardly what I would call 'an energy drink'. Now, I understand that CoH is not a realistic game, but at least you could have tried to represent pervitin with some semblance to reality. Given that it is a stimulant of the CNS, having it lower weapon cooldown and increase sight range and supression-resistance would be more adequate IMO. Perhaps also add a brief temporary debuff after the positive effects wear off.

All in all, I think this doctrine could be welded together better with a 'last ditch' 1945 kind of theme. The Goliath and Pakwagen could work as is. The strafing run could also be used, maybe with some Bodenplatte flair in its description. Conscription could be just renamed to Volkssturm, maybe also granting all OH infantry units Panzerfauste and reducing their cost (IIRC someone suggested this ability for a WH reward doctrine on this forums).

[Blackbishop]

Thanks for the feedback, but I think you are a bit confused about the effects of Pervitin in EF. But before that, first of all it works like energy drink, whether you like it or not the comparison, although it is obviously worse. It makes your fatigue to go away, giving you a boost of energy and improves your concentration, allowing to work more and harder and in case of the soldiers, to march farther or to fight euforic... and it causes addiction. Thus the effects ingame are right (reload faster, less cooldown, more damage, healing just a little bit over time, less received damage). Not sure about giving debuff at the end though.

You cannot complain Pervitin isn't related to an Assault tree because that's incorrect. Pervitin is used to make the soldiers have an edge in combat, whether it is used to defend a point or to assault one is up to the commander. Nothing in CoH is made to be used only for defense or only for assault, because everything is situacional (except for Brits, they are designed to be heavily defensive, mg nests and flaks).

Same for the Pakwagen, Ostheer is not made to be a defensive faction but you can use the Pakwagen as you like, but when you assault a position you would put that unit as far as you can from the combat area but you would still deploy it there to tear down other vehicles as a support unit. The Pakwagen due to its nature is effective in defensive role but do not forget that it can be used to support your raids in enemy territory.

Now, certainly the static Goliath doesn't scream "Assault", but there is someone that it does... The Sturmpioneer unit that is enabled to deploy it. These guys are assault pioneers and are just given that new toy. And I'm not sure why it lacks cohesion, because the description of the tree ties everything together just fine.

I think it is less that the tree is absolutely underwhelming and it is more that you would have preferred the last ditch doctrine to be released instead, and there is no problem with that, but there are no plans for Ostheer to have such tree, at least not now. Also, I don't think adding Panzerfaust to OH units would be that great... Ostheer core unit is the Landser squad and they already have Panzerschrecks, other units like Sturmpioneers already have Panzerfaust so this would only benefit the Skirmish Commander, which I think it is not a good idea to make it go closer to a tank so it can fire a Panzerfaust.

[mackerbryanee13]

May I suggest Pervitin to be turn into pills? Because that's how I see on stimulants and pain killers. in my opinion the one ingame looks lik a toothpaste holder.. XD

maybe change goliath's layout. making halftrack as goliath deployer rather than sturmpioneers. when assault pool is selected halftrack will deploy movable goliaths and when support pool it will deployed immobile hidden goliath mines..

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

We wont link units to pools anymore.
So there will be no more mobile goliath for the Ostheer.

For Pervintin: i think apeman used a real photo for the icon. As far as i know it was administered in colorful packages to trivialise the pils (i think they werent even rated as drugs until 1943).

[Capitanloco6]

Thanks for the feedback, but I think you are a bit confused about the effects of Pervitin in EF. But before that, first of all it works like energy drink, whether you like it or not the comparison, although it is obviously worse. It makes your fatigue to go away, giving you a boost of energy and improves your concentration, allowing to work more and harder and in case of the soldiers, to march farther or to fight euforic... and it causes addiction. Thus the effects ingame are right (reload faster, less cooldown, more damage, healing just a little bit over time, less received damage). Not sure about giving debuff at the end though.

I'm fine with the effects you mentioned, it's just that the description emphasizes the healing effects, which IMO don't fit pervitin at all. Note that I'm fine with pervitin used in the mod; the Battle of the Bulge mod has it too and it works fine. I just found it odd that it was compared to an energy drink... Yes, energy drinks also stimulate the CNS, but that's like comparing a shovel to a pneumatic pickaxe. Anyway that's irrelevant for the doctrine discussion.

You cannot complain Pervitin isn't related to an Assault tree because that's incorrect.

Never said it wasn't. My peeve is mostly with the LHS of the tree, which I believe doesn't fit well with the RHS.

Nothing in CoH is made to be used only for defense or only for assault, because everything is situacional (except for Brits, they are designed to be heavily defensive, mg nests and flaks). Same for the Pakwagen, Ostheer is not made to be a defensive faction but you can use the Pakwagen as you like, but when you assault a position you would put that unit as far as you can from the combat area but you would still deploy it there to tear down other vehicles as a support unit. The Pakwagen due to its nature is effective in defensive role but do not forget that it can be used to support your raids in enemy territory.

My point still stands, a defensive glass cannon is still a defensive glass cannon. Of course you can use the Pakwagen on the offense, just as you can do so with a regular PaK. Going by your logic, the Ferdinand wouldn't belong to the Army Fortress doctrine, since it can be used on the offensive in spite of being a defensive weapon.

Now, certainly the static Goliath doesn't scream "Assault", but there is someone that it does... The Sturmpioneer unit that is enabled to deploy it. These guys are assault pioneers and are just given that new toy. And I'm not sure why it lacks cohesion, because the description of the tree ties everything together just fine.

Even if the OH engineer unit has assault in its name, a static mine/satchel-charge hybrid is still a static mine/satchel-charge hybrid. You use it as a defensive weapon. Even the in-game doctrine description mentions that it is useful for ambushes.

I think it is less that the tree is absolutely underwhelming and it is more that you would have preferred the last ditch doctrine to be released instead, and there is no problem with that, but there are no plans for Ostheer to have such tree, at least not now. Also, I don't think adding Panzerfaust to OH units would be that great... Ostheer core unit is the Landser squad and they already have Panzerschrecks, other units like Sturmpioneers already have Panzerfaust so this would only benefit the Skirmish Commander, which I think it is not a good idea to make it go closer to a tank so it can fire a Panzerfaust.

I guess you got me wrong then. My interest lays mostly in the early war period (which is one of the reasons I like the OH, since it features early war tanks, air support, etc.). The 'last-ditch' idea just came while looking at the news post, IMO it is more appropiate for the current configuration than the assault theme. Again, I'm not saying the tree is bad, just incoherent when compared to other doctrines in the mod. The LHS and the RHS of the tree feel like they belong to different doctrines, that's all.

Also, you are right about the Panzerfaust thing. When I wrote that, I thought that Landsers could only be upgraded once; today I checked and apparently the upgrades aren't mutually exclusive. It was meant mostly to upgrade the Lander's short-range anti tank capabilites and to increase the range of the Sturmpioneer faust (due to the change from Faustpatrone to Panzerfaust 60/100).

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

Well. I think both side fit very well.
You can decided to play an offensive war with support of the left tree (support midgame units with solide at support and/or strafe/pinn down enemy's infantry with the Me 109) or you can push hard on Tiger to use the Tiger for a late game offensive (supported by the Pervintin infantry ability).