2.5.0 Update Patch Notes

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Overview

Update 2.5.0 will be available for Company of Heroes 3 today at 10am PT and includes 2 new maps, a refresh of the game lobby, and several changes to gameplay systems and multiplayer balance. Much of the multiplayer balance work in today's update is a first major step towards addressing the current meta of massing units (blobbing). This work begins today with a focus on infantry, and will continue in the next major update, 3.0 in October, with more changes targeting the massing of vehicles. Today's update also supports the release of Company of Heroes 3's first standalone experience – Final Stand. Many of the fixes and changes included in today’s update are thanks to your feedback. Please continue to share your feedback or ask the dev team questions here and report any issues to us at help.relic.com.

Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand

Company of Heroes 3 Final Stand

Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand introduces an all-new standalone wave defense experience designed for solo and co-op play. Build layered defenses, hold the line against overwhelming odds, and survive 12 increasingly challenging waves of enemy forces featuring dynamic battlefield events and powerful bosses. Battle across multiple Battlegrounds against forces drawn from the Wehrmacht, US Forces, British Forces, and Deutsches Afrikakorps factions. Learn more about Final Stand here and buy it now for a 10% discount during the launch period and a bonus 20% discount for Company of Heroes 3 owners.

Maps

New Maps added to all modes

Butcher & Bolt - (1vs1)

Night-time desert raids are synonymous with the exploits of British Commandos. Relive their daring exploits in our new 1vs1 map! Players will always be close to their enemy's HQ, but resources on the extreme flanks are what will secure victory – overextend at your own risk, and strike fast to sever any opponent who does not watch their back.

Raids conducted by the Special Air Service and Long Range Desert Group (affectionately known as the Desert Taxi Service) marked a turning point in the desert war.

While the siege of Tobruk ground on during the winter of 1941, convoys of British Commandos struck out at airfields and munitions depots from the inhospitable Great Sand Sea, melting away into the night once the deed was done. Such raids destroyed German and Italian planes on the ground, starved fighting vehicles of fuel, and rid soldiers of their munitions.

Casualties among the Commandos were high, but their long-term effect on enemy morale endured for the remainder of the war.

Across the Savio - (3vs3)

Community map makers DutchToast and Foolish Viceroy have again restored a beloved Company of Heroes classic – Across the Rhine. This is a map of tiers, with players fighting for control over the boggy lowlands at the river’s edge, the concrete battlements to the center, or the farmlands on the high ground. We hope players enjoy returning to an iconic battlefield first introduced in Company of Heroes 2’s British Forces DLC.

On October 21, 1944, the Savio River was hastily formed into the next brutal line of defense. German forces had fallen back through a series of river positions, from the Foglia to the Lamone, but at the Savio, progress halted. With continuing rainfall and floodwaters threatening to collapse its banks, the Savio proved to be one of the most deadly bridgeheads faced by the Allies in Italy.

Map Quality of Life Features

We are still collecting feedback from our Official Discord and making changes where we felt they were most needed. Thanks again to our dedicated community for all feedback provided; please do not hesitate to leave any further feedback or issues on our maps.

• White Barracks building now has correct death states. If it collapses into an impassible ruin, it should block movement and sight

• Large fuel tanks have been given shot blocking properties, which persist until they are destroyed.

• (8) Oliveto Citra - more blockers have been added around the central bunker building, reducing the risk that vehicles can shoot through it at specific angles

• (2 & 4) Djebel Pass - Barbed wire has been adjusted near a stone wall that appears usable for cover, but was blocked

• (4) Pisa Centrale - Players were driving over explosive red barrels and did not expect them to explode. Explosive red barrels have been removed. This is why we can't have nice things

• (8) Alam el Halfa - HQ bunkers have been redesignated to the correct players. Each player's HQ should now be protected by their own bunker/HMG nest

• (8) Castello della Nebbia - Players had raised complaints that the Eastern cutoff was too easy to pin down as the attacker. The Eastern cutoff has been redesigned. A small land bridge has been removed to open movement around this area, a building has also been removed to improve sight and firing lines, and cover has been added to this area to aid the defender

User Interface & User Experience

Lobby & Battlegroup Selection Improvements

We've overhauled the multiplayer lobby experience to streamline Battlegroup selection and to improve usability across Skirmish, Co-op vs A.I., Quick Match, and Custom Games.

• Battlegroups can now be selected directly from a dropdown menu without leaving the lobby screen. Players who prefer the previous experience can still access full Battlegroup tech trees through the new More Info option

• A.I. Player Battlegroup options can be restricted by assigning empty Battlegroup slots, forcing the A.I. to select a specific Battlegroup, allowing for more control over your experience

• Sub-selecting units from a garrison or multiple-selection (especially when using the Tab key to cycle the sub-selection) now displays decorators for garrisoning and sub-selected units in the correct state. This will make it easier to distinguish which unit you are focusing on when multi-selecting/commanding

Multiplayer

For multiplayer balance in update 2.5.0, we are aiming to improve the importance of unit tactics and micro, and big changes are coming to some core systems.

Our main target this update is to make infantry positioning more rewarding. Cover is more durable and harder to crush, targeting and suppression is much more punishing against infantry in the open, and multiple weapons are being made weaker against cover.

We hope these changes make a difference to the early phases of the game, but we do not expect them to fix all of the frustrations players have right now. Mass vehicle play is a problem we’re aware of, and we will be looking at that more closely in update 3.0.0 in October. These changes take a great deal of time to test and validate, especially since there are always uneven winners and losers when making global changes. So we will closely monitor this update and your feedback.

Pathing

We've made several improvements to pathing, fixing some longstanding issues.

• Vehicles that are already reversing no longer overly favor reversing when a new move order is given in front of them

• Smoother rapid movement commands - issuing movement orders in quick succession should no longer cause slowdowns or jitter

• Smarter navigation around obstacles - vehicles now make better decisions when turning near or around movement blockers

Infantry Combat and Suppression

We are making some changes to infantry combat to help alleviate some of the issues facing the game. These changes are not meant to fix all the issues regarding massed infantry, but they should make it easier for the defender to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy when fighting from good positions or are backed by suppression.

Infantry Formations

We are tightening infantry squad formations to make squads that are in the open slightly more vulnerable to area of effect weapons as squads currently have wide formations and reduce the amount of space a squad covers.

• Direction and position of the squad is now always determined by a model at the front of the squad, rather than the back/center

• Most squads have had their formation tightened by 0.5 - 1 in-game meters

Infantry Small-Arms Priority

Infantry weapon priority has been adjusted to make combat more consistent and reduce cases where infantry squads spread their damage amongst all members of the enemy squad. This should make it easier to bleed enemy models over the course of an engagement.

• Infantry squad members will now prefer to focus on the closest enemy squad member directly in front of them when they engage infantry. This generally means most weapons will target the front models of the squad

  • This tends to allow squads in cover to focus down squad members faster while damage tends to be more spread out against the defender when they are being directly attacked from the front or back

• Infantry rifles no longer re-roll their target to pick the next best target in a targeted squad

• Infantry small arms no longer take over-penetration into account when firing on enemies; this previously resulted in weapons like Light Machine Guns(LMGs), Scoped Rifles, and Automatic Rifles to target enemy squad members in the rear of the formation

  • These changes generally make squads in cover have damage distributed more evenly amongst its members while squads in the open are more likely to have a single model focused down depending on the angle of engagement

Suppression

The following changes make it significantly harder for suppressed enemies to break suppression while they are still in-combat. Previously, only a weapon that dealt suppression damage could keep a squad in the suppressed state with enemies automatically recovering even if they were in combat after 10 seconds.

This should make it easier to halt large masses of infantry so long as the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) can get its suppression off, and nearby units are able to prevent suppression recovery.

• Out of Combat suppression recovery bonus now only applies if the squad is not being fired on; before this would only trigger if the squad was fired on by a weapon with suppression

  • Squads will still gain their out of combat bonus to suppression recovery if they are firing but not being fired at after 10 seconds

Heavy Machine Guns

We are increasing the penetration power of HMGs to allow them to better combat early ultra-light vehicles to allow for more soft counters which should be able to help factions like the Wehrmacht in team games where they lack their own combat capable ultra-light unit.

The power of the HMG is being reduced against units in cover as the changes to suppression make these units significantly stronger in infantry combat.

• Axis HMG penetration increased from 1.3/1.2/1.1 to 2.25/1.75/1.6

• Allied HMG penetration increased from 1.6/1.4/1.2 to 2.5/2.25/1.75

• 50cal HMG damage modifier against light vehicles increased from 0.25 to 0.35

• HMG accuracy against units in cover reduced from 50% to 60%

Automatic Rifles and Light Machine Guns

Special weapons like automatic rifles and LMGs are having their damage penalties against heavy and garrison cover types increased to match most weapons. This will make heavy cover more valuable against the majority of upgraded squads in the game.

• Damage penalty against heavy and garrison cover increased from 40% to 50%

Team Weapons

Team weapons will no longer be counted to the area of effect damage limit, making damage against them more predictable with units like mortars or artillery.

• The weapon no longer counts towards the damage limit against area of effect weapons

Munition Points

As fuel plays such an important factor for gaining tech-based power spikes, the capture time of certain munition points are being reduced to make it easier for players to prioritize this resource in the early game.

• Capture speeds sped up from 45 to 30 for +16 munitions points

• Capture speed sped up from 15 seconds to 12.5 for +5 munition points

Mortars and Mortar Halftracks

Mortars are receiving adjustments to make them a little easier to access but have slightly slower speeds. We have also increased their penetration against certain objects to make them better able to destroy cover or abandoned team weapons.

• Mortar manpower cost reduced from 260 to 240

• 250 mortar upgrade cost reduced from 75 to 60

• Mortar High Explosive barrage cooldown increased from 0.5 to 0.625

• Now has +200% weapon penetration against sandbags

• Now has +200% weapon penetration against team weapons

Light Artillery - Pack Howitzer, 4.2 Inch Heavy Mortar, le.IG 18 Support Gun

Light artillery is too effective against stationary targets, having high damage payloads, good range, and good area of effect that makes it a little too hard to fight from cover when these units are on the field.

To retain their hitting power, while reducing their ability to take a squad out of a fight with a single hit, these units will be inaccurate at the start of their barrage, but steadily have their accuracy increase the more they fire.

• Light Artillery angle scatter increased from 6 to 10

• Light Artillery distance scatter max increased from 5 to 11.25

• Light Artillery scatter ratio increased from 0.05 to 0.1125

• Light Artillery barrages now gain +33% scatter accuracy each time the weapon fires

Medium Anti-Tank Guns - 6-pounder, 57mm, Pak 38/40

The power of veteran Anti-Tank (AT) guns is being slightly reduced as their rate of fire can be oppressive to medium tanks, and they level up very quickly.

• Veterancy required per rank from 1000/3000/6000 to 1100/3300/6600

• Veterancy Rank 3 rate of fire bonus decreased from 30% to 25%

Casualty Recovery

Recovered casualties could still provide too much manpower over the course of a long game. Because of this, we are further reducing the amount refunded to the player.

• Manpower recovery from 25 to 20

Vehicle Weapons

We are slightly reducing the effectiveness of vehicles that fire on the move - mainly against infantry - by allowing projectiles to scatter further in front or behind the target when a miss is rolled.

The previous system always capped the distance scatter to the scatter max value even if the moving scatter penalties would bring it over the limit.

• Direct-fire and autocannon vehicles standardized to 1.25 movement distance scatter max

• Lobbed projectiles retain 1.5 movement distance scatter max

  • Makes these units generally more inaccurate if they get a shot off while moving; includes Stummel, Brummbar, Dozer and StuG D

  • Centaur and Scott are exceptions to this rule

Direct-Fire Ballistic Weapons - Autocannons, Anti-Aircraft Guns, Anti-Tank Rifles, Tank Cannons

Previously, cover would not provide its damage reduction bonus if a projectile-based weapon’s shell landed behind the unit’s cover or the weapon rolled a hit. This caused heavy cover to be somewhat ineffective against certain weapons.

We are making a change so all direct-fire based projectile weapons now have their damage properly reduced if the cover bonus would apply.

• If a target would gain directional or area cover bonuses against a firing unit, cover damage reduction modifiers will now take affect for both direct hits, splash damage, and suppression damage

  • This does not affect things like mortars, light artillery, heavy artillery or units like the Stummel with a lobbed projectile

Cover

We are increasing the durability of many map objects in the game, particularly heavy cover objects so the battlefield retains strongpoints for longer periods of time, allowing for more dynamic infantry combat. Previously, it was too easy to destroy the majority of cover objects, which led maps to being fairly barren by the mid game.

• Heavy cover map objects armor increased from 25 to 35

• Heavy cover map objects have standardized health values

  • Large objects (pre-wrecked vehicles) have 600 health

  • Medium objects (pre-placed sandbag walls) have 300 health

  • Small objects (stone walls) have 300 health

• Light cover map objects armor standardized to 25

• Light cover map objects have two classes of health values

  • Decoration objects have below 200 health

  • Cover objects have a minimum of 200 health

• Flattened building ruins now more consistently provide heavy cover to infantry and team weapons that enter them

Light Vehicles - Marders, Stuarts, Chaffee, Semovente, Carro, 8rad

The majority of light vehicles are having their medium crush reduced to light crush to increase the longevity of heavy cover in the early to mid-game. We have noticed that maps could be easily flattened, reducing the amount of positional play there was early game vehicles hit the field.

• Crush type changed from medium to light

Wespe and Bishop Self-Propelled Artillery

Certain artillery units are having their veterancy adjusted to have their ability recharge bonuses lessened or moved to higher levels. Currently, veteran artillery units can have too much up-time, allowing for constant barrages that make positional play very difficult in the late game.

The Cannone, Whizbang, and Walking Stuka changes can be found in faction notes.

Veterancy bonuses for these two units changed to the following:

• Veterancy 1: +25% rate of fire

• Veterancy 2: +20% ability range, +20% scatter accuracy

• Veterancy 3: +60 HP, +20% Ability Recharge speed, Unique bonus

High Explosive Light Artillery Barrage - Pack Howitzer, le.IG 18, Heavy Mortar, Stummel, Scott, M3 75mm HE Barrage

This change is to make these units less effective against vehicles which they are not intended to counter.

• Deals 25% less damage against vehicles

Rifle Grenades

We are reducing the kill radius of the rifle grenade to make them less devastating. There will still be instances they can kill a squad, but this doesincrease the chance a healthy squad in a line formation or one that is dodging, will survive.

• Area of effect distance lowered from 2 to 1.5

Team Weapon Formations

We are making a change that allows team weapons like HMGs to have further spacing when placed in cover to make it harder to destroy/damage the entire crew with a single grenade or area-of-effect (AOE) weapons.

• On longer cover pieces that allow for it, the squads spacing has been increased to prevent the squad from stacking

Paradropping

• Units paradropping can be targeted and killed

• Satchel Charges no longer start on cooldown for paradropping units

Medical Vehicle Healing Auras - 251/M3, CWT, 2.5 Tonne Truck

The healing range of these mobile healing and reinforcement platforms has been reduced to make front-line healing more risky when dealing with indirect-fire/AOE weapons and force the truck to get closer to the frontline.

• Healing range reduced from 20 to 15

Panzerschreck

The Panzerschreck is having its far aim-time reduced, allowing this weapon to engage long-range targets sooner.

• Far aim-time sped up from 2 to 1.75

Flamethrowers

This change should reduce how likely a mine will trigger on contact with a flamethrower while still making these weapons able to quickly clear a mine if the player knows its location.

• Removed bonus damage against mines

Off-Map Heavy Artillery Strikes

A large number of off-map artillery strikes are having their cooldowns increased to give more moments in the game where the player in not constantly under attack from off-maps, especially in team games.

• End-game off-map recharge increased from 120 to 180 seconds

  • 155mm Rapid Artillery Barrage

  • Railway Artillery

  • Carpet Bombing Run

  • 240mm Black Dragon

  • Perimeter Monitor

  • Recon Artillery

  • Incendiary Bombing Run

  • Incendiary Carpet Bombing Run

  • Anti-Tank Rocket Loiter

  • Supercharged Creeping Barrage

  • Decapitation Strike

  • Dive Bomb

  • Anti-Tank Overwatch

  • Fragmentation Bombing Run

  • Zeroing Artillery

  • Nebelwerfer Overwatch

  • V1 Rocket Strike

Engineers, Pioneers, Sappers and Panzerpioneers

• Gain +35% construction speed at Veterancy 2

US Forces

Support Center Upgrades Locked Behind Tank Depot

We are locking a number of Support Center upgrades behind the Tank Depot to reduce the power of strategies that focused on getting powerful upgrades early and creating more incentives to reach the Tank Depot.

• Survival Training

• Double Sortie

• Rapid Repairs

M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles

The BAR is once again being locked behind the Support Center to allow for more un-upgraded infantry play in the early game that is combined with lessening the impact of shock timings early game on other factions.

• Locked behind Support Center

• Research time sped up from 60 to 30

Bazooka Team

• Steady Fire set-up time reduced from 7 to 5 seconds

Riflemen Squad

• Sprint now costs 15 munitions

M1919 HMG Team

• Build time sped up from 30 to 25 seconds

M1919A6 Light Machine Gun - All variants

The M1919A6 LMG is having its firepower slightly increased to bring it more in-line with other weapons.

• Accuracy increased from 0.49/0.38/0.34 to 0.539/0.419/0.375

  • All variants standardized to the Paratrooper LMG - affects Captain and Ranger weapon crate drop. This is an increase in damage-per-second (DPS)

Sherman Whizbang

• Veterancy 2 now provides the following: 20% rate of fire, 20% ability range

• Veterancy 3 now provides the following: 15% recharge speed, 30% rate of fire, +6 additional rockets

Char B1 Heavy

The Char’s armor is being slightly reduced to make it more vulnerable to AT fire from the front, particularly when Mechanized Support Center (MSC) armor and veterancy bonuses come into play. Its fuel price has also been increased to better reflect its performance.

• Front armor reduced from 320 to 300

• Fuel cost increased from 100 to 110

Zone Rouge

• Recharge time increased from 45 seconds to 120

• Munition cost increased from 50 to 60

Advanced Tourelle

• Now grants 480 health from 360

• Command Point cost reduced from 3 to 2

SSF Commando Squad

• SSF Knife throw deals 100% extra damage when thrown from camouflage/recently attacking from camo within 4 seconds

• Knife throw range increased from 15 to 18

Paratrooper Squad

To better reflect their role as advanced infantry, we have slightly increased the DPS of the stock Paratrooper squad.

• Carbine fire aim-time sped up from 0.375/0.625 to 0.25/0.5

• Carbine cooldown sped up from 0.5/1 to 0.375/0.875

Gallant Stand

• Received damage penalty reduced from 50% to 25%

Pershing

• Veterancy 1 replaced with +25% weapon traverse speed

• Speed increased from 5.3 to 5.5

Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht is receiving several small changes targeting their early game to give them a little more resilience by having slightly more manpower and combat effectiveness for their starting units while reducing the impact their shock timings provided by Officer Quarters and the faction’s light vehicles.

Infanterie Kompanie

• Manpower cost reduced from 100 to 80

Infanterie Kompanie Officer Quarters

The fuel price and research time of Infanterie Kompanie is being raised to lessen the impact of the timing push Wehrmacht can do in the early game and give their opponent more time to respond.

• Research time increased from 45 to 60

• Fuel cost increased from 25 to 35

Pioneer Squad

Pioneers are having their firepower slightly increased to better allow them to support Grenadiers in the early game or when engaging units like Scouts. Build times have been increased to prevent how quickly Pioneers can grab map control by massing them.

• Accuracy increased from 0.42/0.3/0.24 to 0.442/0.3/0.24

• Weapon cooldown reduced from 2/2.5 to 1.75/2

• Build time increased from 12 to 18

Grenadier Squad

• Manpower cost reduced from 260 to 250

• Accuracy increased from 0.75/0.656/0.6475 to 0.75/0.69/0.68

• Sprint now costs 15 munitions

Jager Squad

• Panzerschreck cost reduced from 90 to 80

• Clearing Gear Rifle Grenade cost lowered from 40 to 35

Flak 30 Anti-Aircraft Gun Team

• Crew health reduced from 105 to 100

221 Armored Car

The 221 is having its fuel cost increased and armor reduced to make it easier to soft counter by positioning/cover in the early game and slow down its rush timing.

• Fuel cost increased from 30 to 35

• Armor reduced from 20/15/10 to 12/12/10

• Machine Gun penetration increased from 1/1/1 to 2/1.75/1.5

251 Halftrack and Variants

• Front armor reduced from 12.5 to 9.5

• Stummel can now fire on the move

Nebelwerfer 42 Rocket Launcher Team

• Manpower cost reduced from 360 to 340

• Fire aim time removed

• Wind down and wind up changed from 0.3/1.45 to 0.375/1.375

Sturmpioneer Squad

• Manpower cost from 210 to 200

• Reinforce cost from 35 to 34

Fallschirmpioneer Squad

• Health increased from 95 to 100

251/16 Flammpanzerwagen

Adjustments have been made to the 251/16 to reduce its impact on the battlefield by increasing its build time and experience requirements and reducing its health, which also comes with the reduced frontal armor change on the standard 251. We still want the 251/16 to be more durable than the standard 251 as the unit needs to get closer to the front, but the reduced armor and health should allow small-arms support to put the 251/16 at risk of being finished off by AT weapons.

• No longer does bonus damage against infantry in garrisons

• Build time increased from 30 to 45

• Veterancy requirements increased from 900/2700/5400 to 1100/330/6600

• Health reduced from 400 to 360

Borgward Wanze

• Rocket angle scatter reduced from 25 to 17.5

Coastal Reserves Squad

• Cost reduced from 260 to 250

• Oto Incendiary Anti-tank grenade now gains +40 damage at Veterancy 2

• Updated tool-tip to indicate the grenade can still also crew shock in addition to other effects

Jericho Trumpets

• Radius coverage reduced from 50 to 45

Siege Camp and Pantherturm

• Officer Quarters from Luftwaffe and Panzergrenadier Kompanie provides bonuses to these structures

Siege Camp

• Recharge and attack speed bonus lowered from 25% to 15%

Command Panzer IV Medium Tank

• Now competes against the Blitzkrieg ability as a tier 2 pick. Tiger is standalone

• Requires either Support Elements or Panzer Kompanie to be called in

British Forces

Infantry Training

The amount of experience being granted by Infantry Training has been reduced as units would start reaching Veterancy 2 too quickly after this upgrade was researched.

• Experience gain reduced from 800 to 600

Team Weapon Training

Team Weapon Training is having its cost increased to better reflect the strong benefits it gives to team weapons.

• Cost increased from 150 manpower and 25 fuel to 200 manpower and 30 fuel

Light Vehicle Training

The ability recharge speed of this upgrade is being reduced primarily to target the Bishop’s recharge speed which resulted in constant barrages with little downtime.

• Ability recharge bonus reduced from 25% to 15%

Royal Engineer Section

Royal Engineers are having their manpower costs slightly adjusted to better reflect their light combat role that greatly tapers off past the early-game due to its close-range nature.

• Manpower cost reduced from 220 to 210

• Reinforce cost reduced from 29 to 27

M3 Stuart Light Tank

The Stuart’s accuracy is being slightly increased.

• Accuracy increased from 0.075/0.0475/0.035 to 0.01/0.05/0.04

Foot Guards Section

Foot Guards are having their close and mid-range effectiveness increased to allow the unit to cause a little bit more damage at range if they are forced to fight from cover.

• SMG mid-range increased from 15 to 17.5

• SMG accuracy increased from 0.64/0.34/0.15 to 0.71/0.45/0.15

M3 Grant Medium Tank

With the Grant being less capable as an all-rounder unit, we are now able to reduce the unit’s unlock cost to better reflect its more specialized role at brawling with opposing medium tanks with some Anti-Infantry firepower.

• Unlock fuel cost reduced from 40 to 20

Operation Thunderclap

• Plane arrival time sped up from 7 to 5

30cwt LRDG Truck

• 2 Pounder cost reduced from 60 to 30 munitions

SSB Commando Section

• Retreating now interrupts Evasion

Directed Air Support

Directed Air Support has received changes to allow more targets to be designated and in quicker succession. We have also sped up the strafing runs to allow them to more reliably hit their target after the air strikes have been called

• Time to acquire targets sped up from 3 to 2 seconds; allows 4 targets max to be designated

• Strafing run flight arrival time sped up to 3 seconds

Canadian Shock Section

• Canadian Mortar now gives a grenade warning to the opponent when fired

Land Mattress Team

• Fuel cost increased from 40 to 50

Polish Recon Mission

• Health per plane reduced from 3000 to 1500

• Munition cost increased from 50 to 65

Sherman VC Firefly Tank Destroyer

The armor of the Firefly is being reduced to allow opposing medium tanks to threaten this unit once they have managed to close the gap.

• Frontal armor reduced from 185 to 160

Deutsches Afrikakorps

Armory

We have made changes to the Armory to reduce the power of Panzergrenadier heavy builds which have become a staple for the faction, getting high durability when multiple upgrades are stacked on them.

In return, we have created a new upgrade that allows the Afrikakorps to opt out of the medical truck in the Armory to create greater tech diversity.

New Armory Layout

Veteran Squad Leaders

• Moved to a tier 1 pick and fuel cost has been removed

• Damage reduction removed

Bolstered Panzergrenadiers

• Moved to a tier 2 pick and now has a 20 fuel cost added

Advanced Repair

• Replaced with Improved Base Logistics

• Allows the Light Support Kompanie to heal nearby infantry at 3.2 health per second

• Allows the Panzer Armee Kommand to repair nearby vehicles at 6 health per second

Halftrack Deployment

The Panzerjäger call-in currently allows the Afrikakorps to respond to early light vehicles that is often used to support their own light vehicle shock timing. This gave the Afrikakorps too much tempo, allowing them to dictate the early-to-mid game by getting a mobile Anti-Tank unit without a build-time. Because of these reasons, we are removing it.

In return, we are allowing two additional call-ins, allowing the Afrikakorps to bring in more support style units to bolster their ranks.

• 250 with Panzerjäger call-in removed

• Added 250 with Panzerpioneer call-in for 250 manpower

• Added 250 with MG 34 Team call-in for 275 manpower

Panzergrenadier Squad

The Panzergrenadier was too effective when firing on the move with their basic rifles, resulting in the unit having a little too much firepower. When mixed with their Combined Arms bonus, it made this infantry unit too good at assaulting and chasing down opposing squads.

• Standard rifle moving accuracy reduced from 0.75 to 0.6

2.5 Tonne Medical and Utility Trucks

• Field Supplies range reduced to 15 to match medical aura

• Field Supplies duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds

Panzerjäger Squad

To help Panzerjägers against heavier vehicles, we have changed their ambush bonus to grant them increased weapon penetration instead of accuracy.

• 40% ambush accuracy bonus replaced with +40% penetration

• Penetration bonus increased with Battlefield Espionage Ambush Training

Flakvierling Halftrack

The Flakvierling is having a minor reduction in manpower cost as it is losing significant power when firing units in cover.

• Manpower cost reduced from 280 to 260

StuG III D Assault Gun

The StuG D is having its AOE increased and projectile arc lowered to allow this unit to better hit targets that are on the move. The unit’s shells can still be dodged, but it is now much more likely the squad will take a light amount of damage from each shell.

Projectile minimum elevation lowered from 20 to 10; allows for lower angle shots for slightly faster time on target.

• Support Advance reload penalty reduced from 50% to 25%

• Area of effect radius increased from 4 to 4.5

Cannone da 105/28

• Veterancy 1: +15% scatter accuracy

• Veterancy 2: +20% rate of fire, +50% rotation speed

• Veterancy 3: 20% Damage Reduction, +15% range (barrage and auto), +20% recharge speed

Panzer III N Medium Tank - Short 75mm

• Veterancy reworked

  • Veterancy 1: 20% rotation rate

  • Veterancy 2: 20% rate of fire, 25% weapon scatter

  • Veterancy 3: +80 health, +30% rate of fire

  • Veterancy 4: Unchanged

Guastatori Squad

• Submachine Gun moving accuracy increased from 0.75 to 0.85

Kriegsmariner Squad

• Manpower cost reduced from 275 to 260

• Reinforce cost reduced from 32 to 30

• StG 44 Package cost increased from 40 to 50

Walking Stuka Rocket Launcher

• Veterancy 2 now provides the following: 20% rate of fire, 20% ability range

• Veterancy 3 now provides the following: 20% recharge speed, 30% rate of fire, 20% weapon scatter accuracy

Butterfly Bomb Paradrop

The arm time of Butterfly Bombs is being reduced to accommodate the change to paradropping that allows these objects to be targeted whilst in the air.

• Arm time per mine sped up from 7.5 to 3.5 seconds

• Can now be fired at while paradropping down

Goliath Demolition Vehicle

To make Goliaths less capable at finding targets on their own, we have greatly reduced their vision.

• Vision reduced from 35 to 15

Transfer Depots

We are increasing the amount of resources required for transfer as the ability was too efficient.

• Munition cost to transfer increased from 80 to 100

• Fuel cost to transfer increased from 40 to 50

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

• Improve high polling rate mouse input handling. This improve FPS while mouse panning and should mitigate the amount of hitches or performance blips on high polling rate mouses

• Updated breach requirements so it no longer works on fighting nest/position or tunnels

• 250 Halftrack, 251 Halftrack, and 6x6 Truck now unload transported units behind the vehicle instead of from the center, improving unit pathing and reducing deployment issues

• Tuned several projectile crater values to reduce the amount of yellow cover they create by around 30 - 50%. This caused yellow cover to often spawn outside the craters that were being formed by various weapons

• Vehicle flamethrowers now correctly damage units at height differentials

• Flak 30 anti-aircraft fire no longer damages infantry underneath targeted aircraft

• Fixed reverse-move commands occasionally being ignored immediately after unloading passengers

• Additional Anti-Tank-gun squad members now properly follow formation assignments

A.I .

• A.I. infantry will now avoid using standard grenade abilities against vehicles

• Increased A.I. usage of dedicated anti-vehicle abilities

Towing

• Vehicles towing abandoned team weapons now display an Unload ability alongside Drop

• Improved towing position calculations to reduce trailer teleporting during pickup and movement

• Fixed an issue where towing could occasionally fail to attach to a target weapon

US Forces

• Fixed Ranger Weapon Training Bazooka debuff not applying correctly against penetrated vehicles

• Fixed Gallant Stand being usable on HMG nests and fighting positions when it should not be

• Airborne Recon Loiter targeting indicators now accurately represent the vision area granted

• M3 75mm AT Halftrack no longer continues its barrage ability if it gets interrupted by a conversion to a different halftrack type like the M16 Motor Carriage.

Wehrmacht

• LG 40 now uses the correct voice-over lines

• Borgward Rocket Barrage can now fire without requiring line of sight

• Fixed an issue where Terror Battlegroup's Jericho Trumpet could leave a permanent reveal-camouflage radius

• Siege Camp can no longer be cancelled incorrectly during construction

• Fixed an issue where Siege Camp recharge bonuses were not being applied correctly

• Into the Breach no longer affects retreating squads and can no longer target them

• Siegebreakers Flame Halftrack no longer reorients unnecessarily while idle, allowing flamethrowers to operate independently

• Sturmtiger rear accessories now correctly reflect critical engine damage states

British Forces

• Fixed Australian Light Infantry Section's Sharpshooter ability consuming munitions and entering cooldown when interrupted or cancelled

• Slightly increased Engineer Tank Trap spacing to reduce instances of squads becoming stuck

• Recovered LRDG Trucks now correctly respawn as LRDG Trucks

• Fixed a rare issue where the SSB Sniper could remain stuck in a prone pose while moving

Deutsches Afrikakorps

• Fixed Bersaglieri Urra! status duration visuals to correctly match the active buff duration

• Fixed an issue where the 250/9 Armored Half-track's Hit and Run ability could be manually reactivated

• Fixed an issue where Panzerjäger squads using Plunder could fail to receive a Bazooka

• Kriegsmarine Hardpoints now properly block conflicting upgrade queues to prevent upgrades from cancelling one another

• Fixed an issue where the Kriegsmarine Hardpoint auto-reinforce upgrade granted functionality before the upgrade completed

Art & Animation

• Char B1 coaxial HMG now plays its firing animation correctly

• Adjusted Sturmtiger accessories to prevent reload animation clipping

• Fixed PIAT firing animations incorrectly using bolt-action motion

• Adjusted Nissen Hut damage visuals to improve damaged metal appearance

• North Africa rock assets now correctly block unit movement

• Fixed unit stuttering while pivoting during combat.

UI Improvements & Fixes

• Reduced accidental click-drag movement commands issued to vehicles

• Improved network disconnect and lobby error messaging

• Reduced cases where selection rings rendered over prone or suppressed infantry models

• Fixed targeting reticles appearing beneath bridges

• Loiter reticles now correctly display team colors

• Removed the 'Being Repair' icon from vehicles being salvaged by infantry

Audio

• Recon Plane abilities no longer trigger "Incoming Airstrike" warnings for opponents

Campaign

• Fixed a rare Italian Campaign soft-lock that could occur during naval movement on the enemy turn

Stability

• Fixed a custom match startup issue that could occur when hosting with a saved two-player map and a party larger than two players

• Fixed a Quick Match lobby issue that could leave the Start Match button disabled if a player disconnected before loading began

Known Issues Under Investigation

Localization

• Community reported improvements to German, Korean, and Russian translations to improve context of translations

Gameplay

• Certain rate-of-fire bonuses may not behave consistently across all units and abilities

• Panzerjäger Kommand - Tank Buster's Anti-Tank Grenade Assault sometimes does not activate while under the effect of Concealment, or on vehicles while in cover

• Some magazine-fed weapons may receive unintended reload-speed adjustments rather than fire-rate bonuses

• Special Operations Battlegroup SSF Commandos vehicle prioritization may become disabled after weapon swaps despite remaining enabled in the UI

• Tourelle upgrades may halt if the associated control point is temporarily lost

• Some Visual Effects for flares may end before their reconnaissance vision expires

• Royal Engineer Section - Squad cannot use the Flamethrower Breach even after picking up a Flammenwerfer 35

• Ground Attack may deal less damage than intended against certain emplacements

• Units may occasionally remain active despite displaying zero health, the UI is rounding incorrectly - the unit still has health

• Team weapons will explode if crew gets reduced to 1 the same time it is towed

• HMG teams may fail to complete retreat actions after leaving garrisoned structures

A.I.

• Wehrmacht A.I. does not currently deploy or utilize the Nebelwerfer team weapon

• A.I. units may pursue hidden enemies and fail to adjust their behavior appropriately when targets remain undiscovered

• A.I. behavior involving certain support and non-combat vehicles may be suboptimal

• Wehrmacht A.I. does not use Critical Location Siege Breaker Battlegroup ability

• British Forces A.I. does not use No Man Left Behind Polish Calvary Battlegroup ability

• Deutsches Afrikakorps Expert A.I. may gain access to rifle grenades before meeting unlock requirements

• Enemy A.I. may repeatedly issue retreat commands when players enter HQ territory

• A.I.-controlled British Forces do not currently field Churchill Crocodile tanks

• A.I. forces do not collect munitions crates created by Supply Drop

Campaign

• Investigating a rare case where progression may be blocked when Partisan hubs fail to unlock

• Air Support trait sometimes does not work when unlocked through "specialization" upgrade on US Armored units

• Player's base buildings may have incorrect ownership if you start the Capture Anzio mission with a US Special Forces/Devil's Brigade company

Final Stand

• Flanking Maneuver perk does not describe that the side armor bonus is only half the rear armor bonus

• Critical Location can't be cast on an emplacement or outpost more than once, and does not activate on concrete bunkers.

• If a player closes out of the game at the end of the match hastily, the perks and match rewards may not track correctly.

• If you encounter a unit stuck/staying in an out of bounds area, you may have to move your units further away from the enemy A.I. Units for them to enter the playable area.

Audio, Art, and Animation

• Allied forces crewed MG42 has VO lines changed to Wehrmacht after using White Phosphorus rounds

• Completing upgrades on fighting positions or bunkers says "research complete" instead of "upgrade complete"

• Some unit animations may appear incorrect

UI & UX

• ELO adjustments may be displayed incorrectly after matches

• Discord stream shows black screen or “Stream is paused” when streaming Company of Heroes 3. We have an open ticket with Discord about this issue

• UI_AddChild(...) causes a severe FPS drop/memory leak; mod creators may encounter performance degradation and increased memory usage when using this function

• Matchmaking cancel button continues to show for a few seconds after a match is found but is no longer functional

• Unable to move camera with middle mouse button while holding Shift key

• Random Faction selection does not save and reverts back to previous selections after Quick Match