Global
------

-Increased suppression rates of all machine guns fitted for the HMG role.

-Rocket barrages have their old munitions costs reinstated.*


Americans
---------

-Decreased rate of fire by 1 second for 75mm Pack Howitzer.

-Decreased rate of fire by 1 second for M8 HMC's 75mm Howitzer.

-Increased burst duration of Combat Air Patrol P47 Thunderbolts.

-Increased suppression rate of .50 cal HMG Team.

-Increased suppression rate of .50 cal MG Nests / Dugouts.

-Moved M16 MGMC to Regimental Support.



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

-Replaced Mortar Halftrack call-in in some doctrines with a 28cm Railway Artillery ability.


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

-Nachtjaegers can now throw a volley of grenades equal to the number of men in the squad.

-Nachtjaegers can now be deployed from ambient buildings. In addition, two 6-man teams will spawn instead of one. Cost increased to 500 MP.

-Reduced cost of Assault Artillery to 150 Munitions. Increased number of shells per salvo from 2 to 4.


Soviets
-------

-"Shock Army" Doctrines now automatically unlock the 203mm B-4 Howitzer as a Divisional Support option.


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

*This is intended to deal with a potential exploit related to the recently introduced Retire Unit ability.

Global
------

-Added in a Retire Unit ability that allows players to retreat vehicle units offmap and refund their initial cost.

-Increased damage of satchel charges vs heavy tanks by 25%.


Americans
---------

-Increased attack and barrage range of 75mm Pack Howitzer to 240m.

-Increased barrage range of M8 HMC to 240m.

-Reduced Command Point requirement of Pershing call-in to 8 CP.

-Sherman tanks armed with the 76mm M1 gun now gain HVAP rounds at Veteran Rank 1 instead of Rank 2.


British
-------

-Reduced crew size of Sherman Vc / Firefly to 4.


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

-Addressed an issue where squads wouldn't spawn for Ostruppen Commander.

-Changed Jaeger Armor Doctrine slightly. Replaced AT Mine unlock with Jaegergruppen call-in.

-Reduced MP cost of Panther slightly to 800. Reduced build time slightly to 106 seconds.

-Reduced rate of fire and tweaked damage tables for Light Artillery Barrage ability.

-Replaced For the Fatherland! ability in some doctrines with Breakthrough Tactics, which allows infantry to seize territory faster for a small fuel cost.

-Replaced StuG III E call-in in Mechanized Assault Doctrine with a Sturmpanzer IV call-in.*

-Removed a duplicate Grenade Assault ability from Jaegergruppen.**


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

-Addressed an issue where Volkgrenadier rifle squads took up more population than intended.

-Reduced MP cost of Panther slightly to 800. Reduced build time slightly to 106 seconds.

-SdKfz 251/1 mitt Wurfrahmen (aka "Walking Stuka") moved to Divisional Support.


Soviets
-------

-Assault Engineers now have access to Flamethrower upgrades that are independant of the normal player limit for Engineers.


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

*This was a rare vehicle, with only 300+ being built. Specialized, independant battalions were created solely for the Sturmpanzer, allowing these vehicles to be allocated to larger formations in offensive and relief operations to lend heavy fire support as needed. As such, the type's limited availability and specialist nature makes it better suited as a call-in. Besides, consider what it's replacing.

**Correcting an oversight on my part. Yes I know you all love throwing grenades. However...

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

-Reverted Panzerfausts to previous behavior.

- Minor tweaks to craters.

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

-Removed "Ammo Rack" critical feature until further notice.

- Removed ability to decrew rocket artillery vehicles to temporarily address an exploit.

Global
------

-20mm - 50mm AP rounds will now automatically kill infantry on a direct hit. In addition, 20mm - 50mm HE rounds will have similar infantry killing capabilities.*

-Increased research / build times needed to acquire Regimental and Divional support slightly.

-Infantry units that are Sprinting now enjoy a 75% received accuracy modifier vs units firing on them.

-Infantry units that have gone to ground / hit the dirt now enjoy a 25% received accuracy modifier vs units firing on them.

-Tuned penetration values for all HE weapons.

-Tuned regular AP rounds so that they have a small chance of inflicting an "ammo rack" critical on sucessfully penetrating the armor of medium to heavy tanks, wherein a lucky shot succeeds in striking the tank's ammunition racks and detonates the ammo in a catastrophic chain reaction. Note: this change only applies to AP rounds that have HE filler for "behind armor" effects. APDS, PzGr40, HVAP and other solid shot rounds do NOT benefit from this change. Also note that the chance of inflicting an ammo rack critical is affected by the amount of HE filler and the caliber of the shell: The larger the shell the better.


British
-------

-Added BL 4.5 Inch Medium Field Gun as a Divisional Support option.

-Modified Engineer squad available at Regimental Support building. Now listed as Field Squad Royal Engineers and increased in size to 12 men, they are required to build emplacements and forward HQ's.

-Reduced limit on number of 4.2" Mortar Emplacements allowed to 2. In addition, the Emplacements are now exclusive to Rifle Companies (Anvil) and are considered Brigade / Divisional Level Support.


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

-Decreased minimum firing range of Sturmpanzer IV slightly. Increased max firing range to 100.

-Doubled default reload times of hull and coaxial MG's of tanks. Note: reload times drop by 20% at Veterency Rank 2.**

-Hull MG's now treated as being stabilized guns: They no longer take heavy accuracy penalties when fired on the move.***


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

-Doubled default reload times of hull and coaxial MG's of tanks. Note: reload times drop by 20% at Veterency Rank 2.**

-Hull MG's now treated as being stabilized guns: They no longer take heavy accuracy penalties when fired on the move.***

-Konigstiger is now an Elite Armor Doctrine call-in.

-Moved Sturmtiger call-in to Special Operations Doctrine.****

-SdKfz 251/8 Ambulance now locked out when a Volksgrenadierkompanie is active.


Soviets
-------

-Increased gunnery skills of IS-2 and ISU-122 vehicle crews, in keeping with their Guards status. The 122mm A-19 and 122mm D-25T consequently have better accuracy.


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

*This is a much needed nod at realism and a buff for a number of units - not just German ones. Note that HE rounds still have reduced damage the further away the shell hits.

**Reloading a vehicle-mounted MG 34 was a somewhat complex procedure as the ammo bag had to be opened and clipped into a holder, the gun's receiver cover then had to be opened, the ammo belt then had to be threaded under / over sundry fixtures and into the opened receiver, and finally the receiver's cover had to be closed and the gun then charged / cocked. All this in rather cramped and dimly lit conditions. It helped, however, that the MG 34 was fed by a 100 round belt and the gunner typically fired very short bursts to minimize the need to reload.

***German hull MG's benefited from having a stabilization system that used a spring balance and a special cap that swung out to the left side and allowed the MG to rest securely on the gunner's head. Coupled with a padded shroud around the MG's optics that the gunner could place his face into, the result was a remarkably effective system that allowed the machine gunner to easily keep his weapon on target.

****I feel this Doctrine suits the Sturmtiger better. First, artillery flares compliment the Sturmtiger's rocket barrage nicely. Secondly, the Sturmtiger was only used in special operations...

Global
------

-Increased cool down time for all strategic bombing runs to 5 minutes. Increased munitions cost to 500.

-Lowered the chance of a "flamethrower explosion death" for flamethrower-equipped infantry being triggered to 5%.

Global
------

-HQ's / Forward HQ's, Production Buildings, and any vehicles and structures that are capable of reinforcing squads can no longer do so if under attack. The structure or vehicle must be out of combat for at least 5 seconds for reinforcement to resume.*

-Increased sight bonus of Recon Stance ability. It now provides a 2x bonus to sight range instead of 1.5x.**

-Increased targeting radius / scatter of all on-map barrage abilities. Removed munitions cost for said barrages as well.

-Rocket Artillery units now reveal themselves for the full duration of their rocket barrage.***


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

-Increased reinforcement radius of German HQ slightly to match that of other HQ's.


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

-Increased reinforcement radius of German HQ slightly to match that of other HQ's.


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

* This is to curtail spamming reinforce on squads that are under fire. This can render the squad practically unkillable when individual squad members are cheap, require little time to build, and can't be killed fast enough.

** I felt that Observer / Scout Teams were underperforming in their intended role of forward recon and observation, hence the buff.

*** The major drawback of Rocket Artillery was that the smoke trails left behind by the rockets themselves easily gave away the launcher's firing position, making the launcher site a prime target for retaliation from opposing artillery and thus necessitating rapid relocation to avoid counter-battery fire.

Global
------

-Reworked acceleration / deceleration rates of all tanks so that it takes them longer to to get up to full speed and slow down.

-Some tooltip fixes.


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

-2cm FlaK 38 Emplacements now gain Veterancy.

-Panzerwerfer can no longer barrage into Fog of War.


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

-2cm FlaK 38 Emplacements now gain Veterancy.

-Grenadier Panzer-Zerstorer Truppen should now have only one smoke grenade ability.

-Ostwind call-in from Scavenge Doctrine should now require 5 population.

-Panzerwerfer can no longer barrage into Fog of War.

-Sturmmorser Tiger can no longer barrage into Fog of War.


Soviets
-------

-Fixed a bug with Defensive Tactics commander where a Guards Company wouldn't actually unlock.

-BM-13-16 Katyusha can no longer barrage into Fog of War.

-SU-76m can no longer barrage into Fog of War.

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

-Slight changes to Elite Armor Doctrine. Signal Flags been replaced with a supply truck call-in. The supply truck can set up on friendly points to generate added fuel and munitions. In addition, the Panzergrenadier call-in has been modified slightly so that the squad arrives in a truck and has 3 extra squad members.