What changed
0 fixes4 additions1 change0 removals
addedUpdate 1.0.8.7 has arrived! And it with it comes: a grand artillery overhaul, the German 9th Army (July 1942) OB, updates to the standard Germany 1942 OB, a brand new battlegroup naming system, and much more!
addedArtillery Overhaul:The artillery overhaul is the crown jewel of Update 1.0.8.7, and its reach is felt across the entire game. The TL:DR is we reduced the effectiveness of fire support, increased long-range guns costs, increased artillery close combat, and added a ton of fine detail and variation to artillery in general.
addedArtillery Overhaul:The Fire Support and Cost Challenges: Fire Support in CAOS has long been overtuned for the technology of World War 2. Moreover, long-range guns are too cheap considering their exceptional capabilities. Artillery in World War 2 was powerful, but on-call fire support missions in particular were degraded by the comms and command technologies of the time, in addition to the general inaccuracy of many (but not all) weapons of the war. The mobility of combat meant that outside of static engagements, fire support typically excelled as a tool of suppression, harassment, and denial, not pin-point destruction. Fire support remains dangerous, but the new artillery system provides better incentives to divert heavy guns to barrage and rewards taking the risk of placing your guns in harm’s way. What we did about it: Our new artillery formulas greatly improve realism by better modeling accuracy, carriage weight and type, variable rates of fire in different combat situations, and better handling of rockets. We have also fundamentally changed how we conceptualize artillery close combat values. Now let’s see the results across the entire game!
changedBarrage Changes:Barrage is less affected by the overhaul than other artillery roles, but there are some notable gameplay and stylistic changes. On the gameplay front, barrage values of divisional-level heavy howitzers (mostly 122 and 155s) have risen substantially. In the past we reduced divisional level howitzer barrage to incentivize the use of these weapons in the support role, but we now believe that choice was unnecessarily restrictive. On the stylistic front we have eliminated the ‘raw’ artillery value previously displayed on weapon cards and replaced it with the final artillery value used everywhere else in the game.
addedFire support Changes:Our previous fire support calculation suffered from three limitations: 1) It did not consider the impact of command/comms delays on final fire support value. 2) Accuracy was underweighted. 3) Some weapons were firing too fast in support missions. Of these issues, delays in fire are the most impactful. Historical specifics varied based on doctrine, battlefield conditions, recon/observers, etc., but fire support requests beyond tactical radio range often required multiple hops or authorizations to reach firing batteries. Each hop added further delay, increasing the chance that the fire arrived too late to be of use. Regarding accuracy, we have also increased the influence of weapon accuracy on fire support. However, this change is tempered by the fact that fire support does not need to score direct hits to be valuable; suppressing fire is still useful. Finally, we also reduced the fire support rates of fire of some weapons (mostly lighter guns) that were technically achievable, but were historically often avoided outside of emergencies due to barrel
Combined Arms Operations Series changes
addedUpdate 1.0.8.7 has arrived! And it with it comes: a grand artillery overhaul, the German 9th Army (July 1942) OB, updates to the standard Germany 1942 OB, a brand new battlegroup naming system, and much more!
addedThe artillery overhaul is the crown jewel of Update 1.0.8.7, and its reach is felt across the entire game. The TL:DR is we reduced the effectiveness of fire support, increased long-range guns costs, increased artillery close combat, and added a ton of fine detail and variation to artillery in general.
addedThe Fire Support and Cost Challenges: Fire Support in CAOS has long been overtuned for the technology of World War 2. Moreover, long-range guns are too cheap considering their exceptional capabilities. Artillery in World War 2 was powerful, but on-call fire support missions in particular were degraded by the comms and command technologies of the time, in addition to the general inaccuracy of many (but not all) weapons of the war. The mobility of combat meant that outside of static engagements, fire support typically excelled as a tool of suppression, harassment, and denial, not pin-point destruction. Fire support remains dangerous, but the new artillery system provides better incentives to divert heavy guns to barrage and rewards taking the risk of placing your guns in harm’s way. What we did about it: Our new artillery formulas greatly improve realism by better modeling accuracy, carriage weight and type, variable rates of fire in different combat situations, and better handling of rockets. We have also fundamentally changed how we conceptualize artillery close combat values. Now let’s see the results across the entire game!
changedBarrage is less affected by the overhaul than other artillery roles, but there are some notable gameplay and stylistic changes. On the gameplay front, barrage values of divisional-level heavy howitzers (mostly 122 and 155s) have risen substantially. In the past we reduced divisional level howitzer barrage to incentivize the use of these weapons in the support role, but we now believe that choice was unnecessarily restrictive. On the stylistic front we have eliminated the ‘raw’ artillery value previously displayed on weapon cards and replaced it with the final artillery value used everywhere else in the game.
addedOur previous fire support calculation suffered from three limitations: 1) It did not consider the impact of command/comms delays on final fire support value. 2) Accuracy was underweighted. 3) Some weapons were firing too fast in support missions. Of these issues, delays in fire are the most impactful. Historical specifics varied based on doctrine, battlefield conditions, recon/observers, etc., but fire support requests beyond tactical radio range often required multiple hops or authorizations to reach firing batteries. Each hop added further delay, increasing the chance that the fire arrived too late to be of use. Regarding accuracy, we have also increased the influence of weapon accuracy on fire support. However, this change is tempered by the fact that fire support does not need to score direct hits to be valuable; suppressing fire is still useful. Finally, we also reduced the fire support rates of fire of some weapons (mostly lighter guns) that were technically achievable, but were historically often avoided outside of emergencies due to barrel
Update 1.0.8.7 has arrived! And it with it comes: a grand artillery overhaul, the German 9th Army (July 1942) OB, updates to the standard Germany 1942 OB, a brand new battlegroup naming system, and much more!
Artillery Overhaul:
The artillery overhaul is the crown jewel of Update 1.0.8.7, and its reach is felt across the entire game. The TL:DR is we reduced the effectiveness of fire support, increased long-range guns costs, increased artillery close combat, and added a ton of fine detail and variation to artillery in general.
The Fire Support and Cost Challenges
Fire Support in CAOS has long been overtuned for the technology of World War 2. Moreover, long-range guns are too cheap considering their exceptional capabilities. Artillery in World War 2 was powerful, but on-call fire support missions in particular were degraded by the comms and command technologies of the time, in addition to the general inaccuracy of many (but not all) weapons of the war. The mobility of combat meant that outside of static engagements, fire support typically excelled as a tool of suppression, harassment, and denial, not pin-point destruction. Fire support remains dangerous, but the new artillery system provides better incentives to divert heavy guns to barrage and rewards taking the risk of placing your guns in harm’s way.
What we did about it
Our new artillery formulas greatly improve realism by better modeling accuracy, carriage weight and type, variable rates of fire in different combat situations, and better handling of rockets. We have also fundamentally changed how we conceptualize artillery close combat values. Now let’s see the results across the entire game!
*Summary exclusively includes towed artillery, except for self-propelled rockets.
Barrage is relatively unchanged, fire support is down across the board, and artillery close combat is up – especially in defense. As with all statistics, there are devils hiding in these details, so let’s dive into each section, and other changes in the overhaul.
Diving into Details:
Barrage Changes:
Barrage is less affected by the overhaul than other artillery roles, but there are some notable gameplay and stylistic changes. On the gameplay front, barrage values of divisional-level heavy howitzers (mostly 122 and 155s) have risen substantially. In the past we reduced divisional level howitzer barrage to incentivize the use of these weapons in the support role, but we now believe that choice was unnecessarily restrictive. On the stylistic front we have eliminated the ‘raw’ artillery value previously displayed on weapon cards and replaced it with the final artillery value used everywhere else in the game.
Fire support Changes:
Our previous fire support calculation suffered from three limitations: 1) It did not consider the impact of command/comms delays on final fire support value. 2) Accuracy was underweighted. 3) Some weapons were firing too fast in support missions. Of these issues, delays in fire are the most impactful. Historical specifics varied based on doctrine, battlefield conditions, recon/observers, etc., but fire support requests beyond tactical radio range often required multiple hops or authorizations to reach firing batteries. Each hop added further delay, increasing the chance that the fire arrived too late to be of use. Regarding accuracy, we have also increased the influence of weapon accuracy on fire support. However, this change is tempered by the fact that fire support does not need to score direct hits to be valuable; suppressing fire is still useful. Finally, we also reduced the fire support rates of fire of some weapons (mostly lighter guns) that were technically achievable, but were historically often avoided outside of emergencies due to barrel
