Global
---------

- Increased movement speed of vehicles on open roads / negative cover by 25%.

- Made some minor tweaks to Expert AI.

- Updated some tooltips.

Global
---------

- Revised some weapon ranges.*

Increased range of LMG's from 100 to 150m.
Increased range of HMG's from 100 to 200m.
Increased range of 20mm cannons from 120 to 200m.


Americans
--------------

- Increased range of 3-Inch, 76mm, and 90mm guns to 300m.


British
--------

- Increased burst length of Centaur AA tank's 20mm Polsten cannons from 3.75 to 7.5 seconds. Increased reload time from 4 to 6 seconds.**

- Increased range of 77mm HV and 17 pounder guns to 300m.


Germans (Ostfront / Wehr)
------------------------------------

- Increased range of StuH 42's HE rounds to 300m.

- Increased range of Sturmpanzer IV's HE rounds to 300m.

- Increased range of 75mm and 88mm guns to 300m.

- Reduced CP requirements for 8.8cm PaK 43 emplacment passive unlock from 8 to 6.


Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Increased maxium firing range of Sturmpanzer IV's HE rounds to 300m.

- Increased range of 75mm and 88mm guns to 300m.

- Reduced CP requirements for 8.8cm PaK 43 emplacment passive unlock from 8 to 6.

- Reduced CP requirements for Panzergranate 40 Ammunition passive unlock from 7 to 6.


Soviets
----------

- Increased range of 45mm guns to 200m.

- Increased range of 76mm guns used by the ZiS-3 and SU-76 to 300m.

- Increased range of 85mm, 100mm and 122mm guns to 300m.


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

* The range tweaks are part of an effort to provide better range scaling based on known maximum effective ranges for given weapons.

** It turns out that each gun was fed by a 60-round drum magazine as opposed to a 30-round box magazine.

Global
---------

- Medium caliber mortar teams can now fire illumination flares.

- Scout and Observer teams can no longer capture strategic or victory points.*

- Updated code to maintain compatibility with the Night Mode mod.


Germans (Ostfront / Wehr)
------------------------------------

- Increased the cooldown for heavy flamethrowers to 2 seconds.

- Reduced the Heavy Artillery Support ability's cooldown to 50 seconds.

- Replaced the Jaeger Gruppe call-in for Mechanized Assault Doctrine and Strategic Reserves Doctrine with a Stormtrooper Squads call-in.**
The call-in is comprised of 3 "Stoßtrupp" squads with the following loadouts:
Squad A - 1 MG34 + 4 Kar 98k rifles.
Squad B - 4 MP40's + 2 K43 rifles (1 scoped). This squad also has the ability to Interogate enemy casualties.
Squad C - 3 MP40's + 2 K43 rifles (1 scoped).
Note that all three squads benefit from Cammo in Cover and have the Grenade Assault ability.


Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Double-clicking a Flammpanzer 38(t) will no longer select any nearby Jagdpanzer 38(t)'s as well.

- Increased the cooldown for heavy flamethrowers to 2 seconds.


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

* Being able to capture terriority runs a bit counter to one of these units' assigned roles: That of clandestine observation.

** Around Summer 1942 on the Eastern Front, a successful intel-gathering raid into Soviet-held territory defended by at least two platoons of infantry was staged by a local German commander. The tactic employed an adhoc group comprised of three 5-man squads lead by a Leutnant sneaking between two outposts using terrain and light artillery for concealment. The task of the group was to recon the Soviet rear area and try to take prisoners that might have important information on unit deployments, strengths, and so on. The raid was successful, with the group being able to take a Soviet Leytenant prisoner and back to the safety of their front lines. A few months later, the mission report was printed in a handbook issued by the General of the Infantry in the German Army’s General Staff, officially sanctioning the use of 'Stoßtruppunternehmen' or "Stormtrooper" Companies and associated tactics in intelligence gathering raids. It seems to have been successful or useful enough that the handbook was re-printed in early 1944. That said, I figured it would be interesting to try and work that into the mod in ssome way.

Germans (Ostfront / Wehr)
------------------------------------

- Increased the cooldown for heavy flamethrowers to 2 seconds.


Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Double-clicking a Flammpanzer 38(t) will no longer select any nearby Jagdpanzer 38(t)'s as well.

- Increased the cooldown for heavy flamethrowers to 2 seconds.

Global
---------

- Revised the health of some map-based buildings.

- Tweaked skirmish AI a bit. Hopefully this should help address some issues.

Global
---------

- Changed tooltips for weapon teams and vehicles so that they include rate of fire statistics for their main weapon.


Americans
--------------

- When using the Night Mode mod, Airborne Pathfinders are NOT subject to LOS, accuracy, and movement penalties when fighting at night.*


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

* While they didn't have IR equipment, they did have intensive training in low visibility environments and apparently benefitted from a specialized diet that helped them see better at night.

Global
---------

- Fixed / cleaned up some UI entries.


Americans
--------------

- Changed projectile behavior for M10 Tank Destroyer HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets.*


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

* This actually fits in nicely with the crew's Artillery Training perk. Historically, it appears that M10's were often used in the fire support role and as mobile artillery when armored targets were lacking.

Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Changed combat formation for Nachtjager Gruppe.

- Special Operations Doctrine now locks out regular artillery units.*

- When using the Night Mode mod, units that have Infrared spotting equipment are NOT subject to LOS, accuracy, and movement penalties when fighting at night.



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

* Players already get a Sturmmorser Tiger. Enough said.

Global
---------

- Added compatibility for the Night Mode mod.

- Reduced chance of infantry HEAT weapons inflicting Main Gun Destroyed criticals from 25% to 10%.*


Americans
--------------

- Changed projectile behavior for M4A3 (105) HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets.

- Fixed a bug when the M36 Tanks Destroyer passive unlock would not display.

- M36 Tank Destroyers can now switch ammunition types. Increased rate of fire slightly from 11 seconds to 9.


Germans (Ostfront / Wehr)
------------------------------------

- Increased Veteran Level XP requirements for the 8.8cm PaK 43 slightly.

- Changed projectile behavior for StuH 42 HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets.

- Revised Sturmpanzer IV's a bit: Removed barrage abilty. Changed projectile behavior for HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets and increased their range to 150m.*


Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Changed projectile behavior for StuH 42 HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets.

- Revised Sturmpanzer IV's a bit: Removed barrage abilty. Changed projectile behavior for HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets and increased their range to 150m.*

- Reduced vet level requirements for the Jagdtiger slightly.


Soviets
----------

- Changed projectile behavior for ISU-152 HE rounds so that they have a more arced flight path when firing on distant targets.


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

* I'm told that was a bit annoying, particularily when dealing with Panzerschrecks, so this reduction should make things a bit more manageable.

** It turns out the ability isn't all that historically accurate and it's been a pain to deal with to get it to work all the time anyway so I figured it would be best to just scrap it. The Sturmpanzer IV was really designed for direct fire support and although it could "lob" HE, the short barrel, low shell velocity and restricted elevation of the 15 cm infantry gun meant that it couldn't lob rounds particularly far. The projectile behavior and range of the HEAT round will go unchanged as it was meant to be used at ranges of under 500m to ensure a hit: The Germans had a disdain for wasting ammuntion in general and this was particularly true late war when supplies were at a premium.

Global
---------

- Changed UI priority ordering for some units. All HQ / Command units will now appear on the far right of the screen, making them more accessible for selection by players.


Americans
--------------

- Fixed a bug where CP Requirements for M4A3(76) tanks could be higher than 6 CP's.

- Fixed a bug where HMG teams didn't benefit from cover combat bonuses when in heavy cover.

- M10 and M36 Tank Destroyers now benefit from decreased reload times when firing from a stationary position.*

- Moved M20 Command Car to Regimental Support.

- Moved M10 Tank Destroyer to Regimental Support.

- Moved M36 Tank Destroyer to Regimental Support.


British
--------

- Achilles Tank Destroyers now benefit from decreased reload times when firing from a stationary position.*


Germans (Ostfront / Wehr)
------------------------------------

- Players now choose what type of medium tank to deploy as part of their Divisional Support options; Panzer IV or Panther.**


Germans (Westfront / OKW)
--------------------------------------

- Players now choose what type of medium tank to deploy as part of their Divisional Support options; Panzer IV or Panther.**


Soviets
----------

- Players can now command a Batalon (Battalion) instead of a single Kompanya. The Batalon itself (Strelky or Tankovy) can field up to 2 companies worth of infantry or tanks. Population and unit caps have been increased accordingly.***

- Fielding Heavy Tanks as a Divisional / Corps support option will now lock out Heavy Assault Guns / Heavy Tank Destroyers and vice versa.****


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

* It appears that the assistant driver for these vehicles also acted as an assistant loader when the vehicle wasn't moving by helping passing up rounds from the sponson / hull ammo racks to the loader. Needless to say, this would increase rate of fire fairly significantly.

** There's been some concern that Panzergrenadier companies are a bit too "tank heavy" with regard to their Divisional Support options. Therefore, they're being restricted to deploying only a single medium tank platoon of 5 vehicles max. That being said, players will be able to choose between fielding Panzer IV's or Panthers.

*** There are a couple of reasons for doing this. The first and formost is that if I do Soviet companies properly, the number of support units available would need to drop by a factor of 50% or greater, which would probably weaken the effects of said support units accordingly. Those 4 IS-2's you're currently allowed to have? That's almost an entire Heavy Tank company. If I were to allow only a heavy tank platoon, that's a mere 2 tanks. Soviets medium tank platoons? 3 tanks. I really don't think you all would like that. The other reason is that I want Soviets to have the potential of being a juggernaught if given enough resources, space and time to do so. The trick, of course, is being able to get the resources, space, and time to muster a force that big. That being said, I'll keep an eye on the discussion sections for critical feedback on this: I do admit that this is a huge change that could be potentially unbalanced, but we'll see.

**** As a tradeoff for the fact you're wielding a battalion, Divisional / Corps support options are a bit more restricted now.