Order of Battle: World War II Patch Notes, July 26th 2023

[tebaf3]

Roughly 8 years since Order of Battle: Pacific first released, we are now proud to present the latest update to Order of Battle: World War II.

As you can see in the detailed changelog below, this is not just the usual incremental patch update. We’ve moved the game to support a whole new version of Slitherine’s PBEM++ system and in doing so are the first Slitherine game to use the new Multiplayer Rating System. We have also added the ability for players to set up multiplayer games as either Paired and/or Ranked types.

Our designers have been reading and responding to community requests and have updated many of the scenarios in Order of Battle’s campaigns. Not just fixing up bugs but also going through and adding units that have been added in subsequent updates, new AI commanders and also the ability to have the AI use period-appropriate camouflage skins. We’ve also tweaked a few of the units in the database to make them more usable for players and modders.

We’ve also updated several multiplayer maps to make them more balanced and more likely to reach a natural completion and updated the UI when browsing your list of active multiplayer games.

Finally we have added support for game controllers into the PC version of the game. This is a version of the UI that was created for console players and can be used either with a game controller whilst playing on your TV or with your Steamdeck in your hands.

Don’t miss the article about this new patch here.
Also, a new tournament is about to start, sign-up here.

Full Changelog:

• Updated the game to use the latest version of Slitherine’s Pbem servers giving access to updated multiplayer functionality.
• Added support for Multiplayer Ratings.

1. Similar to the system used in chess, this Elo based ranking system creates a new persistent Rating for players who take part in Ranked games and Ranked Tournaments.
2. Beating players with a rating higher than yours will give you a larger points boost whereas winning against players that are much lower ranked than you will give a much smaller increase.
3. You can see a player’s Rating from the in-game Games List or from the Ratings list on our website
4. Players are also free to opt out from having their rating shown by going to their Multiplayer Profile and selecting the Opt Out option.

• Added new options when creating a new 1v1 Multiplayer game:

1. Paired : Players can choose to have their games start as “paired” games (just like in tournaments). The system will create two matches for you, with you as Player 1 in one game and Player 2 in the other, for a fair test of skill!
2. Ranked : Players can choose for games to be Ranked matches. When you play a Ranked game the result contributes towards your Order of Battle “multiplayer rating”.
3. “Ranked” and “Tournament” games are indicated with icons on the Multiplayer games list

• Added Support for Game Controllers when playing Order of Battle on PC. You can opt-in to Game Controller support from the Options->Controls screen.

1. This is ideal for players who prefer to play on their TVs or using Steamdeck.
2. Boot the game in Steam Big Picture or use SteamDeck and the game will automatically start with Controller control scheme active
3. To switch back, press ESC then Y on your keyboard

• Updated three of the classic Order of Battle Multiplayer Maps. They now give results that can be recorded by the Game Ratings system and we have tweaked them to be more likely to give a result:

Bootcamp Battle

1. changed start RP 1000 > 1200, turn income (updated) RP 40
2. changed naval CP 5 > 6
3. added another primary objective "take enemy ports" (the main supply bases at the coast) which gives you an instant victory
4. reduced no. of turns to 30
5. cosmetic changes, for example added gold flags instead of normal, plus markers in objective overview popup

Dubno Fields

1. has now 4 gold flags in the center, plus 1 for each side's main supply base
2. win by taking these 4 *while* holding your main base (control = 5)
3. this type of victory is only active after turn 5 to limit super-rushes to the center
4. added instant victory objective for taking enemy main base far behind the front
5. adjusted supply output
6. minor cosmetic changes

Arctic Fox

1. increased turn no., Win requires control of 7 gold flags now
2. gave both sides "Drop Tank" from start as the early fighters have low fuel only
3. key gold flags for each side are now more towards the center, so that people don't have to go all the way to the edges to win
4. increased start RP and turn income, initial advantage to Sov, Fin gets more by event after few turns
5. Sov cannot use paras

Also updated Bootcamp Battle - GBvUSSR

1. Tweaked Jungle and Hills slightly
2. Fixed issue with reinforcements arriving one turn late for British

Updated Wake Island Assault [Tournament Settings]

1. Pre-deployed Medical Jeep as Auxillary Unit in North East
2. Added new Japanese deploy point in mouth of lagoon
3. Fixed VP Awarding for disbanded units
4. Fixed visibility on Marshall Islands
5. Fixed unflagged Supply near USA HQ
6. Updated HQ Victory Points to new standard (121 starting pool, reduced by 8 per turn)

• Added Correctly Camouflaged (“skinned”) Enemy Units as an option to most of our Single Player Campaigns

1. In Afrikakorps, WinterWar, the early Soviet DLCs and the whole German trilogy players can now opt to play with skinned AI units

• Added AI commanders in many battles of the German and Soviet DLCs, which makes these maps slightly more challenging, and included unit types that were added to the game only in later releases.
• Fixed outstanding niggling issues in many single player campaign missions such as:

• one-shot Nuke bombers don't give back CP
• disbanded units reappear on core import in linked DLCs
• Kursk objective fails, then corrects itself

• Enabled kicking inactive players from games with more than 2 players.
• Added colour coding to player lists to show which player is on-turn and if any players have resigned
• Fixed an issue where usernames were case-sensitive when logging in to multiplayer
• Fixed an issue where restarting a replay would count as a “redownload” of a game turn, which was causing some users to be flagged as cheating when they weren’t
• Updates to the units file:

1. QF 3.7-inch mountain gun changed to move 2
2. Scammell Pioneer available for UK, RAF, India
3. Hun inf 42 changed end date to conform with inf 43 intro
4. Ger AVs Greif, Bussard changed to shallow draft
5. Aus eng 40-42 use all CP 2, Aus eng 41 dates fixed
6. Aus hvy inf intro/end dates corrected
7. NatChi 20mm AA/AT switches corrected
8. reduced Archer inf attack and movement
9. reduced Achilles inf attack
10. FW 190 F/G costs changed,
11. FW 190 G air att reduced, ground att increased
12. Ger eng 39 intro date changed to sep 39
13. Ger standard inf 41 and above accepts light halftrack SdKfz 250 TP
14. added series entries to Ger 8wheeled recons
15. One-use nuclear bombers cost 0 CP
16. Most UK/commonwealth inf types accept both British and Allied truck in editor
17. Towed UK/commonwealth units accept both British and Allied truck (unless they require heavy TP) in editor.

[Celeborn]

Just wanted to say thank you to all the devs and powers-that-be at Slitherine for making this happen

[terminator]

Thanks for updating this old game, is it the final version or will there still be future additions ?

[Erik2]

Thanks to the devs.

[Michkov]

Two issues I encountered. Post update I can't zoom with the mousewheel anymore. Also after each AI turn the force list pops up.

[JoaoLuisAngelo]

(...) Post update I can't zoom with the mousewheel anymore. (...)

This I can help with.
The Options settings were reset to some default of sorts. All you have to do is go back and set your own.
It would have been helpful if the developers had had the foresight to warn us of this reset.
We as players should also have the inclination to double check this sort of thing after an update.

[Erik2]

The mouse zoom 'speed' is reset to zero after the update.

[Erik2]

While I appreciate the unit list opening automatically at the start of each turn I wish it would remember the specific tab from last turn. I usually like to start the turn checking the on-map air units.

[Hubbfrosch]

This was really a good surprise and oh $t... now I have to replay all these camaigns.

But does it mean we can expect further work on the game? Does it still make sense to report problems?

[Hubbfrosch]

[*]disbanded units reappear on core import in linked DLCs

...either it was never fixed, or it got re-introduced by the more recent patch.