General
Today’s 2.0.5 Tuning Update addresses several multiplayer issues, including a rebalance of the new heavy tanks and new Battlegroups, some minor Faction adjustments, and a refreshed Mignano map. These changes, among others, are detailed below. We’ve added additional developer notes for many of the changes in this update to provide more context on our design or balance intent. We hope you find that helpful! This update will likely invalidate mid-mission Campaign save files and Replay files made before the 2.0.5 update. Campaign progression and saves made outside of missions or skirmishes will still work as expected. We will be monitoring the multiplayer meta and any high priority bugs reported via the help portal for potential hot fixes in the coming days. Be sure to jump into our official Discord to share your feedback with us!UI/UX
- The fonts used for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean have been changed to solve an issue where characters were not shown correctly, or the readability of the text was difficult. We hope this change is a big improvement for players using these languages. [list]
- New font used for the above languages
Maps
Mignano Summit (3vs3) Company of Heroes 3 launched back in 2023 with two versions of Mignano — Gap and Summit. It was clear that the 3vs3 version of the map did not meet expectations — the map was too urban for such a small space, chokepoints were plentiful and once players had a stranglehold of the map's high ground, it was challenging to contest. Given our recent 2nd Anniversary, we have taken the opportunity to return to Mignano Summit with a fresh approach to how the map should play and feel. Below are our core goals and changes:- The map has been given a bombed out, devastated appearance, doing away with the lush, green fields and hillsides in favor of mud, craters and smoking ruins
- Large retaining walls that prevent movement throughout the match have mostly been removed in favor of cliffs of rubble and scree, opening multiple new pathways into and around the map
- Many of the map's garrisonable buildings have either been completely removed, turned to ruin, or reduced in health to prevent overwhelming garrison-focused gameplay
- The map has also been given two new atmospheres, further leaning towards the grim, war-torn aesthetic
- While the playable area of the map itself has remained the same (as the shape and size of the map was always intended), the surrounding map has been reduced in size to improve performance and provide a clearer view of units on the minimap and tactical map
- A small line of tank traps and barbed wire near the Southern HQ have been pulled back from the gateway in the tall stone wall. This should enable easier movement for light vehicles through this entrance.
- A patch of Naval impasse was preventing mines and other constructibles from being placed near the North side of the central roadway. This was the result of resizing the map early in development and has been removed.
- Heavy adjustments have been made to the flow and cover of the West side of the map. As the +10 fuel here is the only fuel source on the centerlines of the map, it sees heavy combat and needed further refinement and balance to ensure it provides an interesting and fair experience.
- Small 1-storey building on the Southern side of the Western VP has been converted into a blocker, removing a garrison from the Southern player
- Small 1-storey building on the North side has been converted from a blocker into a garrisonable structure, providing the Northern player a garrison with which to contest the area
- The Northern player now has a safer route from their HQ to the Western Fuel and has access to a building en route. Retreating from this Western fuel is also safer, due to the adjustment of this building's position preventing a long and exposed retreat across the map.
- The hedgerow South of the main Eastern farm building has also been slightly adjusted, to prevent flamethrowers from attacking the building from relative safety.
- The Northern side of the map was seeing an overwhelming amount of combat, as its cut-offs controlled +20 fuel and +20 Munitions, compared to the South side containing +10 fuel and +20 munitions. To redistribute pressure across the map's four cut-off points, the South side of the map now has +20 fuel and +20 munitions behind its cutoffs, identical to the North.
- These changes have increased the overall fuel income of the map, which we feel will synergize better with the strength of the map’s cut-off points and less frequently leave them with little or no fuel income.
- Small citrus trees on the North side of the map have also been updated to be ultra-light crush, enabling early vehicles to move through these locations with ease.
- Minor adjustments have been made to the cut-off points, preventing the Southern fuel from being connected to the map center unfairly, mirroring the cut-off on the North side.
- Additional blockers have been placed inside a rock formation in the North of the map. It was possible for units to see through and shoot through this rock formation, which is intended to enable a flanking route around the North of the map.
- This map has been changed to include two additional Victory Points, in an experimental update. This should encourage more aggressive play into the oilfields towards the center of the map, taking more weight away from the +10 Western Fuel which can dominate the attention of multiple players.
- Further, we have adjusted the cut-off points in the oil flats, which each connect to the East side of the map. These strategic points are only a short distance to the newly positioned Victory Points and players are expected to be able to contest the cut-offs and the Victory Points in a single ambitious assault.
- We will be watching these changes closely. We anticipate that it will cause matches to end more rapidly where the Western Fuel is prioritized instead of the map as a whole and will require an adjustment in tactics.
- A buried rock has also been removed, as this was affecting pathfinding in the Western depression.
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- Removed a blocker which was visible beyond the Out of Bounds area. This will have no gameplay effect.
Replays
We are making a change to how we save replay files on our servers. Currently replays are saved for 5-months. This storage time will change to 3-months (90 days) starting next week on May 6th. Please be sure to download any replay files older than 90 days if you wish to keep them beyond that time window. Replay files will still become invalid any time we introduce a gameplay change in a subsequent hot fix or patch.Multiplayer Balance
General
Craters- In general, crater walls were too steep, especially when an area was saturated with overlapping damage. We have standardized the depth of craters caused by weapons and reduced the size of some deformation to better suit the size of the crater generated.
- Deal 50% less damage upon detonating if they are detected
- Certain ‘stun’ abilities were too powerful on fast mobile units and would temporarily shut down vehicle attacks at range and remove their target’s ability to escape danger. To address this, we are decreasing the debuff duration and maintaining vehicle speed, allowing affected vehicles to be able to back out of the engagement.
- M3 75mm Gun Motor Carriage Target Weakpoint changed to Blinding Shot used by the Stummel and 221 Scout Car
- White Phosphorous/Blinding Shot abilities all standardized to be called Blinding Shot for these units
- Debuff duration decreased from 7 to 5 seconds
- Now only disables the target’s weapons and vision while creating a white phosphorous smoke cloud in front of the target. No longer slows units down.
- With the adjustments to light artillery damage output, these units underperform due to a low rate of fire, inability to retreat, and high cost. We are speeding up their rate of fire to improve their damage output against stationary targets, without increasing their area of effect damage.
- Barrage Fire aim-time reduced from 0.75 to 0
- Smoke barrage Fire aim-time reduced from 0.125 to 0
- Smoke and Standard Barrage wind down decreased from 1.5 to 1.25
- Barrage Fire aim-time reduced from 0.75 to 0
- Smoke barrage Fire aim-time reduced from 0.125 to 0
- Smoke and Standard Barrage wind down decreased from 2 to 1.75
- Fire-aim time removed from Airburst, Smoke, and regular barrages; reduced from 0.125 to 0
- Barrage and Airburst reloads standardized to 1 second
- Smoke Reload reduced from 1.5/5 to 0.75
- Sandbag build time reduced from 6 to 4 seconds
- Barbed Wire build time reduced from 3.5 to 2 seconds
- Tank Trap build time reduced from 9 to 6 seconds
- Road Block build time reduced from 9 to 7 seconds
- Sangar Defensive Wall build time reduced from 16 to 12 seconds
- Wehrmacht Tank Trap spacing increased from 1.25 to 1.6
- Wehrmacht Tank Trap cover width increased from 1.25 to 1.4
US Forces
Air Support Center We made an error when replacing one of the Air Support upgrades. We are correcting this, as the Air Support Center generally suffered from its abilities being gated by munitions, not recharge times.- Air Supremacy Removed
- Air Supply Upgrade re-added; this reduces the munitions cost of Air Support Center Airstrike abilities by 15
- Fuel cost reduced from 145 to 140
- Scout Commander Signal Detection range increased from 90 to 125
- Veterancy 1 Improved Defensive Set-up damage reduction reduced from +10% to +5% when in cover or garrisons
- Airburst angle scatter increased from 8 to 12
- Airburst distance scatter max increased from 8 to 10
- Airburst distance scatter ratio increased from 0.075 to 1
- Fuel cost reduced from 45 to 40
- Fuel cost reduced from 50 to 45
- Armored Skirts and M2HB .50cal upgrade times reduced from 30 to 20 seconds
- Fire-aim time removed; speeds up reload by 0.25 seconds
- Veterancy 1 acceleration bonus replaced with +15% weapon accuracy
- Veterancy 3 penetration bonus increased from +30% to +50%
- Shoot and Scoot duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds
- Dozer Blade resistance against mines increased from 50% to 75%
- Speed debuff while Dozer blade is active reduced from 50% to 25%
- Veterancy 2 rate of fire bonus increased from 15% to 20%
- Veterancy 3 rate of fire bonus increased from 15% to 25%
Advanced Infantry Battlegroup
Artillery Observer Squad- Bonus range during Supervise Beacon ability increased from +15 to +25
- Reload and Ability recharge bonus decreased from 40% to 30%
- Aura range decreased from 35 to 25
- Added pre-construction reticule preview of the buff radius
- Near and mid area-of-effect damage distance increased from 6 to 8
- Reduces munition cost from 80 to 65
- Weapon Crate Drop no longer has a recharge time
Heavy Weapons Battlegroup
M5 3-inch Anti-Tank Gun The barrage performance of the M5 is being increased to make it a prominent feature of the weapon that trades out some anti-tank performance for an anti-infantry barrage. Because the weapon is a towed cannon, its damage will now be in between the power of light and medium artillery units. As the player must have a halftrack with this call-in, we have reduced the manpower cost to make this unit easier to access.- Barrage ready-aim time reduced from 1.5 to 1 second
- Barrage area of effect radius increased from 6 to 7
- Barrage area of effect damage increased from 0.5/0.4/0.15 to 0.8/0.5/0.3
- Barrage area of effect distance increased from 0/0.35/6 to 0.5/1.25/6
- Barrage wind down decreased from 1.5 to 0.875 seconds
- The Pershing previously had thresholds equivalent to a medium tank. The following changes are meant to bring the Pershing’s timing in-line with the Black Prince and Tiger, while reducing how quickly this unit could gain veterancy. Command Point Cost increased from 10 to 11
- Veterancy requirements increased from 1800/5400/10800 to 2750/8250/16500
Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht Headquarters Medical Stations The Medical Station has been inferior to the Bunker heal for quite some time, and this has often led players astray in their decision making. The Medical Station also has the least value for the Wehrmacht, as they have healing via the Grenadiers. As such, we’re changing the HQ Medical Stations to have the lowest overall cost.- Cost changed from 125 manpower and 15 fuel to 150 manpower
- Accuracy increased from 0.72/0.475/0.26 to 0.792/0.55/0.26
- Smoke locked out when upgraded with Panzerschreck
- MP40 near accuracy increased from .45 to .495
- MP40 mid accuracy increased from .35 to .385
Breakthrough Battlegroup
Panzer IV Command Tank The Command Tank has had to operate too close to the front despite its limited combat power and high cost, while also competing with powerful Battlegroup options. To make using the Command Tank more appealing, its aura is being increased to allow it to affect additional units at a safer distance.- Aura range increased from 25 to 35
Luftwaffe Battlegroup
Fallschirmpioneer Squad We want Fallschirmpioneers to be a viable combat unit when upgraded in the later stages of the game, however, players often picked the grenade launcher due to its burst damage and ability to bypass cover. We are improving the performance of the MG 15, allowing this unit a damage-per-second profile similar to the Infantry Section’s Bren Gun, making them a high damage unit at range when screened correctly.- MG 15 accuracy increased from 0.34/0.29/0.28 to 0.4/0.4/0.4
Italian Coastal Battlegroup
Coastal Reserves Coastal Reserves, despite arriving earlier than Grenadiers, had issues controlling and capturing the map due to their need to fight from cover and remain stationary. We are increasing their capture speed to match other frontline units to help secure the map in the early game, while giving them access to their anti-tank grenades via Infanterie Kompanie Officer Quarters, opening new strategies.- OtO.42 Incendiary AT Grenade also available after Infanterie Kompanie Officer Quarters
- Capture speed increased from 1 to 1.25
Terror Battlegroup
Heavy Gunnery- Command Point cost reduced from 1 to 0
- Munition cost decreased from 30 to 25
- Camouflage duration when leaving cover decreased from 4 to 2 seconds
- Increased delay before camouflage activates from 0.5 to 2 seconds
- Kills bridges instantly on direct contact
- Command Point cost increased from 9 to 10
- Health increased from 1200 to 1300
- Reverse speed is now the same as its default movement speed
British Forces
Forward Observer Barrage The Forward Observer Barrage was too accessible, as its recharge would be finished after the base howitzer had completed its barrage and its low munition price made it too readily available. We are increasing the recharge times and munition cost to limit how often this ability is deployed, while retaining its current power.- Recharge from 60 to 120 seconds
- Munitions cost increased from 35 to 45
- Speed increased from 6.3 to 6.85
- Near penetration reduced from 100 to 90
- Veterancy experience requirements increased from 1800/5400/10800 to 2100/6300/12600
- Manpower cost increased from 500 to 600
Indian Artillery Battlegroup
Gurkha Rifle Section To give the Gurkha unit some additional power without directly increasing their combat performance, we are allowing this unit to have access to the Forward Observer Barrage ability.- Now has access to the Forward Observer Barrage ability.
Air & Sea Battlegroup
Commando Section- Demolition Charges are now Advanced Demolition Charges; these are invisible unless the enemy has a minesweeper, similar to the ones SSF Commandos can build
- Demolition Charge cost increased from 50 to 75
Canadian Shock Battlegroup
Attacking Spirit Attacking Spirit recovered too much health, allowing most early game units to fully heal from its effects. We are reducing the total health gained to not only make it take longer for a unit to heal, but limit how often they will be restored to full health.- Healing reduced from 90 to 70 health total over 45 seconds
- Munition cost reduced from 80 to 70
- Command Point Cost reduced from 2 to 1
- Duration increased from 45 to 60 seconds
- Buff duration increased from 30 to 60 seconds
- Crocodile adjusted area of effect radius to be a circle rather than a line that does consistent damage within an area effect radius of 4
- Updated Crocodile flamethrower to deal bonus damage against structures to match other flame weapons
Deutsches Afrikakorps
8-rad Armored Car We are improving the 8-rad’s combat performance when fighting at close-range with infantry. We want this unit to be an aggressive light vehicle that is most dangerous once it has closed the distance to its target, while also being able to run down wounded squads.- Manpower cost reduced from 260 to 240
- Autocannon near accuracy increased from 0.518 to 0.75
- Autocannon mid accuracy increased from 0.318 to 0.42
- Near penetration reduced from 180 to 140
Italian Combined Arms Battlegroup
Semovente da 75/18 Assault Gun- Barrage near damage increased from 0.35 to 0.45
- Experience requirements increased from 900/2700/5400 to 1025/3075/6150
- Now pins and suppresses infantry
- Damage increased from 30 to 40
- Damage bonus against vehicles reduced from x4.5 to x3.375
- Munitions cost reduced from 120 munitions to 110 munitions
Italian Infantry Battlegroup
Guastatori Squad Guastatori had some of the lowest damaging elite submachine guns in the game for a dedicated anti-infantry unit. Their final veterancy level has been adjusted to improve the performance of their flamethrowers, a key weapon of the unit. Their submachine guns are also gaining improvements.- SMG accuracy increased from 0.55/0.25/0.15 to 0.61/0.3/0.15
- Munition cost reduced from 45 to 35
- Duration increased from 30 to 45
- Munition cost reduced from 110 to 90
- Command Point cost reduced from 3 to 1
Armored Support Battlegroup
Stuka Anti-tank Loiter- Munitions cost reduced from 200 to 180
- Duration decreased from 60 to 40 seconds
- Range increased from 60 to 90
- Always detects when units are in its radius, no longer pulses like traditional recon abilities
- Command Point cost from 2 to 1
- Aura range increased from 25 to 35
Battlefield Espionage Battlegroup
Firestorm- Munitions cost reduction from 125 to 100
- Manpower from 75 to 50
- No longer slows
- Munitions cost reduced from 150 to 125 munitions
Panzerjager Kommand Battlegroup
Road Blocks- Roadblock health increased from 400 to 540
- Roadblock build time from 9 to 7 seconds
- Squad damage limit set to 2 entities; previously could hit any number of squad members
- Damage modifier against infantry increased from 0.6 to 0.7
- Area of effect model damage limit decreased from 2 to 1
- Damage increased from 240 to 280
- Reload sped up from 5.65/6.125 to 4.75/5.25
- Penetration values increased from 500/380/320 to 1000/1000/1000
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed some team weapon squads becoming unable to move or take damage if they are forced into retreat mid ability
- Fixed an issue where certain aura pulse abilities would refresh their benefits after the pulse reached its maximum range
- Fixed an issue where the 3-inch Anti-tank Gun Barrage did full damage to units in heavy cover even if the shell exploded in front of the cover
- Fixed an issue where the M5 3-inch barrage ability would always collide directly with buildings in front of it
- Fixed the Elefant’s Veterancy requirements which were those of a medium tank Veterancy requirements increased from 1800/5400/10800 to 2750/8250/16500
- Terror Battlegroup Ambush Camouflage now correctly applies to captured US Forces Heavy Machine Gun teams
Campaign
- Fixed an issue where enemy Companies would sometimes become invulnerable
- Fixed an issue where upgraded SSF Commando call-ins would have a 240 second recharge time rather than 60 seconds
UI/UX
- The size of keyboard shortcut labels has been reduced in certain cases
- Fixed a Replay issue where squad size numbers were misaligned in Tournament mode
- Fixed an issue where the tooltip text was misaligned for the Ping buttons
