British
-------

-Addressed an issue where HE rounds fired by Centaur AA Tanks could damage all occupants in a building or trench even when the AoE's range wouldn't allow it.

-Decreased penetration of 20mm HE rounds to 2.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Adjusted tracers / bullet trails of K43 / G43 sniper rifles to match that of 98k rifles.

-Added a Panzer IV Ausf. J as a company level option when a Panzerkompanie has been chosen and Panzer IV's have been chosen. Note: This means you can build Ausf. H's and J's now.

-Decreased penetration of 20mm HE rounds to 2.

-Decreased reload time of Ostwind's 37mm FlaK 43 cannon to 1 second. Reduced traverse speed to 20 degrees / sec. AA mode now only increases traverse speed by 1.45x.

-Decreased reload time of Sturmpanzer IV's 15cm StuK 43 Infantry Gun to 23 seconds. Vet bonuses now decrease reload times by 1 second per level of XP.

-Reduced fuel cost of Panzer IV Ausf. J and its command variant from 50 to 45.

-Reduced magazine size for Panzer II Luch's 2cm cannon from 20 to 10 rounds. Decreased XP requirements for gaining vet levels.


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Adjusted tracers / bullet trails of K43 / G43 sniper rifles to match that of 98k rifles.

-Added a Panzer IV Ausf. J as a company level option when a Panzerkompanie has been chosen and Panzer IV's have been chosen. Note: This means you can build Ausf. H's and J's now.

-Decreased penetration of 20mm HE rounds to 2.

-Decreased reload time of Ostwind's 37mm FlaK 43 cannon to 1 second. Reduced traverse speed to 20 degrees / sec. AA mode now only increases traverse speed by 1.45x.

-Decreased reload time of Divisional Support building's 37mm FlaK 37 cannon to 1 second. Reduced traverse speed to 20 degrees / sec.

-Decreased reload time of Sturmpanzer IV's 15cm StuK 43 Infantry Gun to 23 seconds. Vet bonuses now decrease reload times by 1 second per level of XP.

-Fixed a bug where Prioritize Fire didn't affect the Panzer IV Ausf. J.

-Reduced fuel cost of Panzer IV Ausf. J and its command variant from 50 to 45.

-Reduced magazine size for Panzer II Luch's 2cm cannon from 20 to 10 rounds. Decreased XP requirements for gaining vet levels.

Global
------

-Improved all Officer Charge abilites so that they can instantly break suppression.

-Increased defensive bonuses for units garrisoned in trenches slightly.

-Increased penetration fall-off over range for all AP rounds fired by tank and anti-tank guns (with the exception of HEAT rounds).


Americans
---------

-Increased penetration of M5 Stuart's 37mm AP rounds to 78.

-Increased penetration of M8 Greyhound's 37mm AP rounds to 78.


British
-------

-Increased penetration of M5 Stuart's 37mm AP rounds to 78.

-Updated wrecked production building UI text.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Decreased penetration of Panther's APCR rounds to 225.

-Decreased turret traverse speed of Panthers to 7 degrees/sec while moving and 21 degrees/sec while stationary.*

-Increased reload time of Jagdpanzer IV's 75mm gun to 9 seconds.*

-Increased reload time of Jagdtiger's 128mm gun to 20 seconds. Reduced penetration of AP rounds to 268.**

-Increased reload time of Panther's 75mm gun to 9 seconds.*

-Increased penetration of Panzer IV's AP rounds to 135. Increased reload to 7.5 seconds.

-Increased penetration of Panzer IV's APCR rounds to 176.

-Increased penetration of Tiger 1's AP rounds to 162.

-Increased penetration of Tiger 1's APCR rounds to 218.

-Increased reload time of Tiger II's 88mm gun to 10 seconds. Increased penetration of AP rounds to 232.


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Added a Sniper Team as a default HQ support option. Note: The team is locked out when an Panzerkompanie is chosen.

-Decreased penetration of Panther's APCR rounds to 225.

-Decreased turret traverse speed of Panthers to 7 degrees/sec while moving and 21 degrees/sec while stationary.*

-Improved defensive bonuses granted by vet levels for all Volksgrenadier infantry squads.

-Increased reload time of Jagdpanzer IV's 75mm gun to 9 seconds.*

-Increased reload time of Jagdtiger's 128mm gun to 20 seconds. Reduced penetration of AP rounds to 268.

-Increased reload time of Panther's 75mm gun to 9 seconds.*

-Increased penetration of Panzer IV's AP rounds to 135. Increased reload to 7.5 seconds.

-Increased penetration of Panzer IV's APCR rounds to 176.

-Increased penetration of Tiger 1's AP rounds to 162.

-Increased penetration of Tiger 1's APCR rounds to 218.

-Increased reload time of Tiger II's 88mm gun to 10 seconds. Increased penetration of AP rounds to 232.

-Volks Panzerjaeger teams now have access to smoke grenades.


Soviets
-------

-Decreased crit chance of PTRS rifle being able to inflict a mobility kill to 10%.

-Increased fire-aim time of PTRS rifle slightly.


Designer Notes
---------------

*Despite being the same caliber as the shells employed by Panzer IV's, these shells were longer and heavier and thus required a bit more effort to load. Also, there was a bug with the Panther's traverse speeds - all fixed now and working as they should.

**Getting proper pen stats for this beast of a weapon has been a real pain in the butt, as sources tend to offer different figures (due to different testing methods and so on). Still, penning 268mm of vertical steel at 100m is nothing to sneeze at. Also, two loaders taking 20 seconds (at most) to load a 28 kg shell and a long, 30+ kg propellent case in a confined space seems fairly reasonable.

Hotifx
--------

-Updated Volks Panzerjaeger teams so that they actually have Panzerschrecks. Oops!

-Increased fire on move accuracy penalty of most small arms.

Hotfix
--------

-Jagdtiger 12.8cm HE rounds should now stun light vehicles on impact.

-StuH 43 10.5cm HE rounds should now stun light vehicles on impact.

Global
------

-Improved "load time" for trenches to make entering them smoother and faster.

-Increased capture rate of Platoon and Company Hq teams by 50% and 100% respectively.

-Snipers / Sniper Teams can no longer heal while moving.

-Updated some special weapon abilities so that they can take advantage of improved weapon ranges.

-Updated building placement for production structures so that double-clicking on a location immediately places the structure, while single clicking allows rotating before placing.


Americans
---------

-Increased Bazooka range from 50 to 60m.

-Increased delay for off-map White Phosphorous Smoke Barrage ability to 10 seconds Increased scatter radius to 20m and increased interval between shell drops to 1-2 seconds.

-Moved rifle smoke grenade ability to Platoon HQ and Bazooka teams.


British
-------

-Adjustments made to building placement mechanics so that base buildings can't be placed in areas that wouldn't normally allow it (should also help prevent the AI from "overlapping" buildings at times).

-Added Smoke Grenade ability to Platoon HQ teams.

-Increased PIAT range from 50 to 60m.

-Made some tweaks to Tactical Support commander to (hopefully) improve AI use.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Fixed selection group types for Panzerjaeger teams so that they're all one group type, which in turn will allow for "shared abilities" between the different sized teams.

-Replaced Panzerfaust ability used by German Platoon HQ teams with a Smoke Grenade ability.

-Reworked Pioneers slightly. The squad has been reduced in size to 5 men with a maximum of 6 teams allowed. Each team can take either a flamethrower or an lMG upgrade.

-Slight changes to Stuka AT support so that planes target vehicles better and with greater frequency. Shells now have a 50% chance of inflicting a 'vehicle destroyed' crit on tanks on a penetrating hit.*

-When picking a Grenadierkompanie, selecting Regimental-level Panzerjaeger teams now locks out PaK 40 AT gun teams. The cap on Panzerjaeger teams has been increased to 6.***


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Added a 6-man Panzerjaeger Trupp as a Regimental anti-tank option for Volksgrenadier companies. Picking a Panzerjaeger Trupp will lock out PaK 40 AT gun teams.

-Replaced Panzerfaust ability used by German Platoon HQ teams with a Smoke Grenade ability.

-Reworked Pioneers slightly. The squad has been reduced in size to 5 men with a maximum of 6 teams allowed. Each team can take either a flamethrower or an lMG upgrade.



Soviets
-------

-Added Smoke Grenade ability to Platoon HQ teams.


Designer Notes
---------------

*Point of note...The 3.7cm BK cannons used by the Ju-87G series had a very limited ammo capacity of 12 rounds per gun but could easily destroy Soviet tanks with even two well placed hits: The tungsten-carbide tipped rounds could easily tear through the top armor of any tank and detonate the stored ammuntion. Note, this change is balanced by the fact that actually hitting tanks is tricky...

**Pioneers are a odd formation. Actual Pioneer squads were comprised of 15 men, which were subdivided into three 5-man teams. Two teams could be equipped with one lMG each, with the third being assigned a flamethrower as needed. A full pioneer platoon had 3 of these squads. Needless to say, in the interests of balance, I deliberately capped the teams at 6 instead of 9...

***Some Infantry Divisions had at least one special Tank Destroyer company whose squads were equipped with Panzerschrecks to offset the limited number of AT guns available. The company's platoons were assigned to support regular infantry companies as needed to help hold particular sectors. In terms of gameplay, this change allows players to mount more effective close quarters AT defenses in dense urban environments if they want. Naturally, in opting for Panzerjaegers, you're trading off range and rate of fire for increased firepower and mobility (and the ability to dig in). In a close-in environment, range isn't as much of an issue but being able to quickly destroy enemy armor is.

HOTFIX
-----------

-Addressed sight range issues with some vehicles.

Global
------

-Increased range of all weapons (excluding smg's and assault rifles) by 25%.*

-Increased sight range of regular infantry, weapon teams, and combat vehicles to 70m.

-Increased sight range of scout infantry, open topped scout vehicles, and observer teams and tanks to 85m.

-Reduced suppression amount dealt by sniper rifles by 50%.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Added a Haltrack-mounted Artillery Observer Team as a Divisional Support option for Waffen-SS. Note: If a commander allows for the building of leFH 18 howitzers, the Observer Team will count as meeting the necessary build requirements.


Designer Notes
---------------

* This tweak is based off the standard engagement ranges of different classes of weapons in WW II - scaled down to fit CoH2 maps of course. It turns out that smg's and assault rifles are in just the right spot, so no need to adjust them.

Global
------

-Added a 10% chance to inflict a kill crtical (per bullet) on all automatic weapons. This includes submachine guns, assault rifles, and heavy and light machineguns.

-Fixed instances where some vehicle wrecks didn't provide heavy cover.

-Fixed instances where some abandoned team weapons couldn't be attacked / targetted.

-Improved critical chance of rifles from 10% to 15%.

-Increased range of sniper rifles to 160m (Note: This is highly experimental and subject to change based on player feedback).

-Slight adjustments to smoke grenades so that the sight block effect doesn't last longer than the actual fx.


Americans
---------

-Adjusted behavior of M1917 BAR's so that they'll focus fire on a single target.

-Fixed an issue where .50 cal HMG teams didn't suffer the same penalties as other HMG teams when suppressed or pinned down.


British
-------

-Adjusted behavior of Bren lmg's so that they'll focus fire on a single target until it drops.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Adjusted burst length of lMG 34 and lMG42 so that it only fires in 3-7 round bursts. In addition, they will now focus fire on a single target.*

-Adjusted burst length of sMG 34 and sMG42 so that it only fires in 20-50 round bursts. In addition, they will now focus fire on a single target.*

-Adjusted burst length of StG 44 so that it only fires in 3 round bursts. Increased rate of fire to 600 rpm.*

-Adjusted burst length of MP 40 so that it only fires in 3 round bursts.*


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Adjusted burst length of lMG 34 and lMG42 so that it only fires in 3-7 round bursts. In addition, they will now focus fire on a single target.*

-Adjusted burst length of sMG 34 and sMG42 so that it only fires in 20-50 round bursts. In addition, they will now focus fire on a single target.*

-Adjusted burst length of StG 44 so that it only fires in 3 round bursts. Increased rate of fire to 600 rpm.*

-Adjusted burst length of MP 40 so that it only fires in 3-6 round bursts.*

-Increased radius of Sturmtiger's rocket attack target cursor to 20m, meaning the rocket will hit anywhere within that radius. Increased fire cost to 100 mu, reduced blast damage on outer edges of the explosion to 10% from 33%, and educed blast damage at the median area of the explosion to 50% from 66%.



Soviets
-------

-Adjusted behavior of DP-1928 lmg's so that they'll focus fire on a single target.

-Ba-64 Scout Car should now have a three-man crew that can debark.



Designer Notes
---------------

* Restricting burst lengths was an actual a stipulation in the training and user manuals for these weapons. The goal was to reduce ammo consumption and in the case of machineguns, lessen the need to change out barrels from overheating. Ammo discipline was a big thing in the Wehrmacht it seems.

Global
------

-Added an AA mode for static AA guns. Increases sight and weapon range, and traverse speed but the crew will only target aircraft.

-Changed Officer Charge hotkey to O.

-Changed Supervise to Command Supervision. Changed hotkey to C to avoid conflicts when using legacy hotkey grid.

-Increased radius of Rally On Me! ability to 60m and fixed a missing tooltip pertaining to requirements. In addition, the ability can now be activated even if the squad is garrisoned in a building or transport vehicle.


Americans
---------


-Increased the sight range and cammo detection range of the M20 Radio Car slightly.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Increased the sight range of the Sd.Kfz. 223 Radio Car slightly.

-Increased HP slightly for the 8.8cm PaK 43 emplacement (sandbag portion only).

-Replaced all instances of the Hull Down ability unlock with an airborne resupply ability.


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Added Hulldown ability to Pioneer Gruppe and Panzerpioneer Gruppe.

-Increased the sight range of the Sd.Kfz. 223 Radio Car slightly.

-Increased HP slightly for the 8.8cm PaK 43 emplacement (sandbag portion only).



Soviets
-------

-Added Hulldown ability to Combat Engineers.*



Designer Notes
---------------

* Note: Due to existing model limitations, the ability can only be applied to the regular T-34 obr. 1942, the SU-76m and the SU-85. This is also the reason why Yanks and Brits don't get Hull Down.

Global
------

-Changed all Hold Fire hotkeys to Q and grid position to 22 for consistency.*

-Changed all Prioritize Fire hotkeys to P for consistency.*

-Fixed some incorrect range descriptions in tooltips.

-Improvements made to sight ranges for all units.

-Increased casting radius of unit-centered off-map and victor target / coordinated fire artillery abilities from 45m to 80m.



British
-------

-Fixed some intances of commander abilities and upgrades not showing up as intended.

-Reverted an ability for Tactical Support Regiment so that players can designate an ambient building as a forward HQ.


Germans (Ostheer)
-----------------

-Added an Sd.Kfz. 251/1 mitt Wuhrframmen 40 "Stuka zu Fuss" as a Divisional Support Option for Grenadier companies.

-Fixed a bug where the Artillery Field Officer couldn't be called in. In addition, the squad's abilities are expanded on.

-Fixed a bug where Panther and Panzer IV command tanks were unavailable to players that had picked a Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe and had selected a doctrine with a command tank unlock.

-Improved armor and hp of Tiger I heavy tanks slightly.**


Germans (OKW)
-------------

-Improved armor and hp of Tiger I heavy tanks slightly.**


Soviets
-------

-Changed Fire Artillery ability so that it drops regular HE shells.***

-Fixed an issue where 203mm B4 Howitzers could fire into FOW.



Designer Notes
---------------

* This update is more a QoL pass than anything else. Hope this makes everyone's gameplay experience easier and more enjoyable.

** Although the Panther's 75mm KwK 42 does slightly less damage than the Tiger's 88mm Kwk 36 and has weaker side armor, the Panther's better frontal protection and higher cruising speed and penetration capabilities made it a superior and much more cost-effective choice as a Divisional Support option. Having the Tiger require more penetrating shots to kill compared to a Panther should help make the Tiger a more interesting choice, worth its higher cost, and better at spearheading an attack.

*** Napalm wasn't a thing in the Red Army during WW2 and regular HE is far more useful anyway.