Global
------

- Modified the "out of control" fatal hit critical for tanks. The vehicle now meanders off at half speed before blowing up and turning into a wreck. In addition, any and all weapons are disabled.

- Standardized deployment of most AT / AP mines. Individual mines now require only 10-15 seconds to deploy. Reduced deployment costs by roughly 10%.


Americans
---------

- Changed vet bonuses slightly for the M16 MGMC so that each level of vet increases the gun mount's horizontal tracking speed by 10.*

- Increased rate of fire of M16 MGMC's M45 Quad Mount from 575 to 1150 rpm. Reduced damage per bullet from 48 to 12. Increased max burst length from 5 to 6 seconds with the guns reloading after 4 bursts.**

- Reduced M15 CGMC's vet level requirements by 50%.

- Reverted penetration bonuses of Bazooka warheads vs Panther, Jagdpanzer IV and Panzerjaeger 38(t).


British
-------

- Reverted penetration bonuses of PIAT warheads vs Panther, Jagdpanzer IV and Panzerjaeger 38(t).


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

- Decreased movement speed of Panzerjaeger "Elefant" when moving through deep snow, heavy cover, and mud to 30% of maximum.***

- Tiger II Ace should no longer spawn with maxed veteran levels.


Soviets
-------

- Changed vet bonuses slightly for the ZSU-M17-MGMC so that each level of vet increases the gun mount's horizontal tracking speed by 10.*

- Increased rate of fire of the ZSU-M17-MGMC's M45 Quad Mount from 575 to 1150 rpm. Reduced damage per bullet from 48 to 12. Increased max burst length from 5 to 6 seconds with the guns reloading after 4 bursts.**


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

* Some research revealed that the M45 Quad Mount had a small gasoline engine that provided horizontal power traverse for the guns, capable of rotating them through a 360 arc in as little as 6 seconds. Being able to cope with that speed is probably fairly tricky, so I figured that the gun crew would be able to push the weapon system to its limits as they gained more experience and confidence in using it. Going to do some research on the M15 CGMC to see if that had a similar power traverse...

** I decided to treat the weapon as being a single gun with a very high rate of fire. Although the guns could be fired in unison, apparently it was more typical to fire one pair of guns and then the other to allow for sufficient barrel cooling. The burst length and frequency is consistent for emptying a pair of 200 round ammo boxes btw. FYI, this is the reason for the rather lengthy reload...replacing 4 200 round boxes of .50 cal ammo. Even though you had two loaders (one per side) to service the guns, it still took a little bit of time to accomplish. This was probably another reason why the guns were typically fired in pairs - to allow the gunner to keep firing at a target for longer.

*** The "Elefant" was fairly notorious for its high ground pressure and arguably insufficient suspension: Deep snow would slow the vehicle down considerably, rough terrain was hard to navigate, and muddy roads were virtually impassable. In Italy, deployment of the 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion's 1st Company to counter the Allied landings at Anzio was delayed due to their Elefant tank destroyers becoming bogged down in muddy roads enroute to the front.

Global
------

- Cleaned up UI Priorities for some units.


Americans
---------

- Increased gun depression of M10 GMC's 3 Inch gun from -8 degrees to -10 degrees.*

- Increased range of M10 GMC's HVAP Round ability to 200.


British
-------

- Increased gun depression of M10 GMC's 3 Inch gun from -8 degrees to -10 degrees.*

- Increased range of M10 GMC's HVAP Round ability to 200.


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

- Increased repair times for Panther and Tiger / Tiger-based AFV's by 2x.**


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

- Fixed a bug where StuG III's couldn't be manually de-crewed.

- Increased repair times for Panther and Tiger / Tiger-based AFV's by 2x.**

- StuH 42 now available as an Assault Gun option for Grenadierkompanie.


Soviets
-------

- Moved KV-8 Flamethrower Tank back to Regimental Support and lowered CP requirements to 4.***

- Replaced the (largely defunct) Tank Crew Repair ability unlock with Soviet War Machine: While active, this ability will replace almost any tank lost in battle with a new T-34, with up to 6 tanks being replaced. Costs 200 munitions and 200 fuel and has a duration of 30 seconds.****

- Slight tweaks made to AI.


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

* The upshot of this is that the M10 is now better able to engage targets from an elevated position.

** These vehicles were fairly difficult and / or time consuming to repair due to mechanical complexity (Panther and Tiger - overlapping roadwheels for example), questionable design considerations (Panther and Tiger - restricted accessibility of engine and transmission components) and restricted / limited availability of spare parts (Elefant). This is particularily ironic for the Panther, given that the vehicle's production time and cost was only slightly higher than that of the Panzer IV.

*** A while back, the KV-8 was a Regimental option. I moved it to Divisional support due to a few player requests, but honestly I feel it should be earlier. While its got decent armor and good HP for a Heavy, it lacks the firepower one would expect from a divisional tank. On the other hand, it performs quite well against units at the 4 CP level: The 45mm is a good counter to recon units and light armor and the flamethrower makes it a serious threat to any infantry. This is balanced out by the KV-8 being somewhat vulnerable to long range AT fire.

**** This includes T-70 light tanks and buildable M4 medium tanks and honestly, this really suits Soviets. If this works out to be reasonably balanced, I might do something similar for U.S.!

Americans
---------

- Bazooka rockets now treat now treat Jagdpanzers and Panthers as having 80mm of frontal armor.*

- Bazooka rockets now treat Hetzers as having 60mm of frontal armor.*


British
-------

- Changed the projectile and explosion fx for Land Mattress rockets to match that of Panzerwerfer rockets.**

- PIAT projectiles now treat Jagdpanzers and Panthers as having 80mm of frontal armor.*

- PIAT projectiles now treat Hetzers as having 60mm of frontal armor.*

Known Issue
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* This is due to the fact that these vehicles had 60-80mm thick frontal armor. When armor is sloped though, normal AP rounds have to burn through more steel due to Line Of Sight (LOS) thickness...which is why the ingame frontal armor values for these vehicles is higher than it actually was. That being said, HEAT warheads ignore the LOS thickness benefits of armor sloping due to how they work. Yeah, this should have been in a while back - a regrettable oversight on my part but consider this a nice buff for U.S. and Commonwealth infantry!

** Given the similarities in size and explosive yield, I felt this would make sense.

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

- Replaced the Grenadierkompanie's captured M4 Sherman with a captured T-34 Obr. 1942.


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

- Added a Grenadierkompanie as a standard Company option.*


Soviets
-------

- Updated model visuals for T-34 Obr. 1942 tanks to include extra fuel tanks and stowage boxes.**


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* Basically, this is intended to give OKW a "full standard roster" as it were. Yes, Volks are a thing, but Grens they have better training (and survivability) although they lack the assault rifle teams of the VG's.

On a historical sidenote, the large number of StG 44s and other automatic weapons foisted on the Volksgrenadier Divisions was intended to help offset their rather hasty training and unit formation. The results were, expectedly, rather mixed; the extra firepower did help somewhat but ultimately the performance of Volks units was determined largely by how much support they got, their level of morale and training, and how they were used.

** These are part of the actual model but for some reason are turned off by default.

Americans
---------

- Fixed 50 Cal HMG Team call-in pop and cost to match that of the HQ 50 Cal HMG team.

- Operating Squads should now show up as an Divisional Support option as intended.

Global
------

- Addressed a bug where AP rounds would "stun" halftracks.


Americans
---------

- Addressed a bug where some tank crewmen wouldn't display their weapons (M1 Carbines).

- Increased range of 57mm AT Guns by 50m.*

- M5 Light Tanks now have a Recon Mode which doubles sight range but disables the main gun.


British
-------

- Increased range of 6 Pounder AT Guns by 50m.*

- Stuart Light Tanks now have a Recon Mode which doubles sight range but disables the main gun.


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

- 10.5 cm leFH 18 guns now have a HEAT round ability for use against tanks.**


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

- 10.5 cm leFH 18 guns now have a HEAT round ability for use against tanks.**


Soviets
-------

- 122mm A-19 Field Guns will now auto-target and direct-fire on vehicles within line of sight using AP rounds. Range and penetration identical to that of the ISU-122 / IS-2 when firing AP rounds.***

- KV-8 Heavy Flamethrower Tanks can now switch between firing AP and HE rounds for the 45mm gun.


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* While not doing the same damage as say PaK 40 and ZiS-3 AT Guns, their range is now on par...making them more useful late game. Yes, this is a buff to U.S. and Commonwealth midgame.

** The 10.5 cm Gr.39 High Explosive Anti-Tank round was introduced as a means by which artillery crews could adequately defend themselves against unexpected armored breakthroughs, thus eliminating or at least alleviating the need to assign dedicated AT gun teams to guard artillery sections. The round was capable of penetrating 100m thick steel, sufficient to stop nearly any tank. The range of the round was fairly short though.

*** Although primarily used as an indirect fire / artillery weapon, the 122mm A-19 was, like most Soviet Field Guns, designed as a dual-purpose weapon and could be readily employed as a heavy anti-tank gun as needed. That being said, this should make the weapon much more flexible and useful: Able to soften up defenses on the attack and able to help counter heavy armor pushes late game. No promises...but I might do something similar with the 8.8 cm PaK 43...

Global
------

- Changed chance for White Phosphorous smoke to decrew effect so that it triggers only after a 5 to 10 second delay.

- Changed chance for flamethrowers to decrew a vehicle so that it triggers only after a 5 second delay.*

- Cleaned up tooltips a bit.


Americans
---------

- M15 CGMC AA Half-track should now visibly track targets more smoothly.

- M5 Light Tanks moved to Regimental Support building.**

- Replaced Riflemen Flares unlock with a Recon Overflight ability.

- Replaced Fire Up unlock with a Ranger Team call-in.

- Rifle Squads can now use M9A1 Anti-tank rifle grenades.

- T26 "Pershing" call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.


British
-------

- Changed Special Weapons Regiment's Resupply Half-track call-in to a Land Mattress Call-in instead.***

- Fixed Special Weapons Regiment's Hold The Line ability so that it actually requires 5 Command Points.

- Increased damage of 60 Pound rockets vs production buildings by 50% and increased blast radius from 9 to 12m (affects Typhoon and Land Mattress HE rockets).


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

- Addressed an issue where Artillery observer teams wouldn't be available if a Commander / Doctrine with Assault Grenadiers was picked and the player chose a Grenadierkompanie.

- Panzerjaeger 'Elefant' call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the Jagdpanzer IV and Jagdpanzer 38(t) (where applicable) with an Elefant.

- Sd.Kfz. 251/1 "Walking Stuka" call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- Sturmpanzer IV call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the StuG III and StuH 42 with a Sturmpanzer IV.

- Tiger II call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the Tiger I with a Tiger II.


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

- Flammpanzer 38(t) call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- Jadgtiger call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- Sd.Kfz. 251/1 "Walking Stuka" call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- Sturmpanzer IV call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the StuG III and StuH 42 with a Sturmpanzer IV.

- Sturmtiger call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- Tiger II call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the Tiger I with a Tiger II.


Soviets
-------

- All T-34 call-in's changed to a passive unlock which replaces the T-34 with a T-34-85.

- IS-2 Obr. 1944 call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the IS-2 with an IS-2 Obr. 1944.

- ISU-152 call-in changed to a passive unlock which replaces the ISU-122 with an ISU-152.

- KV-1 call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- KV-8 call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- M4C call-in changed to a passive unlock which allows the vehicle to be buildable as a Divisional Support unit.

- M4A2(75) Medium Tanks are now available as a Divisional / Corps support option for Tank Companies.****

- Valentine IX call-in changed to a passive unlock that replaces the T-70m at the Regimental Support building with an Valentine IX.


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* The idea is to allow a window of escape to avoid a potential decrew or at least give time for a player to pull back the vehicle before the crew bails out. On the nature of decrewing...Honestly, would you want to be trapped in an enclosed space if fiery liquid was being sprayed through a few openings and things were heating up?

** This is to maintain consistency with the availability of other factions' light / recce tanks.

*** Fits the Special Weapon theme well if you ask me.

**** I figured I'd add these in to give the company some more flavor. Note: These are NOT the 76mm-armed M4C tanks available via the Lend Lease commander. Rather, these are M4A2's with the original turret and 75mm gun of the M4 A2/A3 series.

Global
------

- Changed White Phosphorous chance to decrew effect so that it only starts after a 5 to 10 second delay.


Soviets
-------

- M4A2(75) Medium Tanks are now available as a Divisional / Corps support option for Tank Companies.*

- Slight change to Lend Lease commander: The Valentine IX callin has been changed to a passive unlock that replaces the T-70m at the Regimental Support building with the Valentine IX.


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* I figured I'd add these in to give the company some more flavor. Note: These are NOT the 76mm-armed M4C tanks available via the Lend Lease commander. Rather, these are M4A2's with the original turret and 75mm gun of the M4 A2/A3 series.

British
-------

- Updated Tactical Bombing Run to match Air Supremacy Operation ability rework: The ability now spawns a recon plane, followed up by a pair of Hawker Typhoons that will strafe targets with their cannons. Last but least, heavy bombers will saturate the area. The ability now requires 14 Command points and can be cast into the fog of war.*


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

- Reduced the actual CP requirement for the Sd.Kfz. 234/1 'Puma' from 5 to 4.

- Increased munitions cost of Stuka Combat Air Support from 150 to 200 Mu.

- Increased cooldown time of Stuka Combat Air Support from 140 to 180 seconds.


Soviets
-------

- Soviet Tank Companies now have a T-34-85 instead of a T-34 obr. 1942 as a command vehicle.

- Soviet Tank Companies can now deploy a mix of T-34 Obr. 1942's and T-34-85's at company level.


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* Note that the ability is still tied to Vanguard Operations and not Commando Regiment.

Global
------

- APCR, APDS, HVAP, and PzGr. 40 rounds now have a 10% chance of inflicting a vehicle destroyed critical.

- Increased damage of all HE rounds vs infantry by 50%.*

- Increased survivability of all elite infantry (Rangers, Paratroopers, Commando units, etc.) by 33%.


Americans
---------

- A&P Squads can now use Mk 2 Fragmentation Grenades.

- M1 Thompson SMG's available as vet upgrades no longer take up squad slots.


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

- Increased recharge time for Sector Artillery to 120 seconds.


Soviets
-------

- Anti-tank rifles now have a 25% chance of inflicting an instant death critical on infantry.**

- Fixed a bug where Guards SMG squads couldn't upgrade to a DP-1928 LMG.

- Increased survivability of Guards troops by 16%.

- Replaced KV-2 Heavy Tank call-in with a Heavy Assault Gun Platoon call-in.***


Known Issues
------------

- Fallschirmjaeger squads for Ostfront Germans have no speech.


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

* This should help improve the efficiency of vehicles like the IS-2 and ISU series, whose performance vs infantry was admittedly rather lackluster. I know what some of you might be thinking "but...but my poor infantry..." Well by the time your opponent has IS-2's and such, you should have some decent long range AT to counter them.

** This is, after all, a 14.5mm bullet we're talking about.

*** Only 334 were ever built and most were lost in battle between 1941 and 1943. Almost all of the surviving vehicles were rebuilt as KV-1's and the KV-2's role as a bunker buster was taken over by the SU-152 and later the IS-2 and ISU-152. Some KV-2's were kept on as Divisional parade / monument vehicles but didn't see combat against the Germans after 1943. Sorry, but KV-2's don't fit with the time period for the mod. Consider it yanked and replaced by a pair of ISU-152's.