Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.5

[McGuba]

Well in that regard I do not see the justification of Luftwaffe inf units

I think there is no continuity conflict here: maybe the new leader of the Luftwaffe would do the same and would also strongly support the creation of a Luftwaffe infantry - we cannot know for sure since it is a kind of "what if" scenario anyway, so might as well be like that. What we know is Luftwaffe infantry was regarded to be of generally poor quality, at least initially, due to not getting too much infantry training. So probably it also made sense to send them to the frontline as they were, lead by their own officers and so on, keeping unit cohesion and higher morale, than sending them out in small groups to regular infantry divisions as cannon fodder.

I would be heavily against any chemical weapons in this mod from a moral perspective as it is a very slippery slope.

No, I do not plan to add these.

Imho Donetsk/Stalino would qualify for being added to the 40 prestige per turn $ locations (like Narvik and Tunis). Giving the player a historically valid incentive to defend along the Mius river, in order to preserve the raw material output of the area between the Mius river and the Dnepr.
It could partially replace the income bonus that the player gets from 1942 onwards?

Maybe. But I don't know how much these mines were actually utilized by the Germans. I guess they were mostly destroyed by the retreating Soviets, just like the factories. And it is not so easy to re-open a destroyed, collapsed mine, as far as I know. I would assume it is even harder than repairing a destroyed oil field, but I might be wrong about that.

And second, it seems like there was no bridge at all across the Dnepr until late 1943 (neither road nor railway)?
Still looks strange, not seeing that connection on the map in 1941. And it poses a challenge for the number of bridge units.

There were several bridges over the Dnieper river in 1941, and though many, if not all were destroyed when the Germans reached that river, in most cases there was some kind of pontoon bridge or at least a ferry service in operation in pretty much every larger city.

...


Now I am just making some last minute changes: for example I have just realized that the early machine gun only version of the Bf 109 was still quite common until late 1940 - it looks like about a third of the Messerschmitt fighters lost in the Battle of Britain were of the E-1 version, which had only 4 rifle caliber machine guns and no cannons. Which means that this E-1 version must have been used widely in the earlier invasion of France as well. So I have changed that and now there are some weaker E-1 versions in that scenario (earlier there were only the better E-3s).

It may also helps to understand why the Luftwaffe suffered so high losses in France: 1,129 German aircraft were lost due to enemy action (overall losses were about one third of the original strength in just 6 weeks), while corresponding French losses were 574 aircraft lost in the air (of which 174 were lost to Flak). RAF losses were 959 aircraft (of which 477 were fighters and 381 bombers), but only about 75 Hurricanes were lost in air combat, most were lost on the ground or were abandoned.

So the invasion of France was not an easy ride for the Luftwaffe, and since many of the Bf 109s were only equipped with 4 machine guns, while the Hurricanes had 8 similar guns, and many French fighters had one or two 20 mm cannons, it seems that the Bf 109E-1 was severely undergunned compared to most Allied fighters, even if it had better performance.

What is even more interesting is that it looks like while most of the cannon armed E-3s were quickly upgraded to the E-4 standard by mid 1940 (which also had two 20 mm cannons in the wings, but different ones which could fire the more effective "mine shell"), most of the E-1s did not get this upgrade and were used until late 1940 or longer. It was because upgrading an E-1 to an E-3 or E-4 was not so easy: the MG 17 machine guns in the wings of the E-1 had a complicated ammunition feed system that ran the whole length of the wing, over a roller, and back again. That feed system had to be removed from an E-1 wing converted to use cannons. So it wasn't just like simply replacing the machine gun with a cannon. Perhaps it was easier to replace the whole wing for that. It looks like it was just too much fuss and therefore they just continued to use the machine gun only Messers for much longer than they should have. Which probably was a mistake since even the British fighter pilots were unhappy with their 8 machine guns in their early Hurricanes and Spitfires, claiming these did not have enough destructive power, especially against bombers.

For that reason I will give the "noupgrade" trait to the auxiliary unit Bf 109 E-1s in the France scenario so that the player has to use these throughout this scenario and cannot upgrade them to the better E-3. But the core unit E-1(s) from Poland can still be upgraded to an E-3 before this scenario.

[PeteMitchell]

Ignoring Caucasus, interesting approach, not sure...

[Locarnus]

And second, it seems like there was no bridge at all across the Dnepr until late 1943 (neither road nor railway)?
Still looks strange, not seeing that connection on the map in 1941. And it poses a challenge for the number of bridge units.

And there were bridges there, but the Germans destroyed them as they retreated!

Sorry, meant to add "near Kherson", so should have read:
And second, it seems like there was no bridge at all across the Dnepr near Kherson until late 1943 (neither road nor railway)?

As you wrote, there were several railway bridges, as far down the river as Zaporizhzhia.
But it seems that there was no fixed crossing downstream from there on.

Until the Germans built and completed a railway bridge near Kherson in November 1943?
Completed just in time to use it for their retreat and then blow it up again...

It seems that the Soviets completed the railway tracks from there to the Crimea in 1944, but did not complete a new bridge near Kherson until 1954 (also a railway bridge)?

Imho Donetsk/Stalino would qualify for being added to the 40 prestige per turn $ locations (like Narvik and Tunis). Giving the player a historically valid incentive to defend along the Mius river, in order to preserve the raw material output of the area between the Mius river and the Dnepr.
It could partially replace the income bonus that the player gets from 1942 onwards?

Maybe. But I don't know how much these mines were actually utilized by the Germans. I guess they were mostly destroyed by the retreating Soviets, just like the factories. And it is not so easy to re-open a destroyed, collapsed mine, as far as I know. I would assume it is even harder than repairing a destroyed oil field, but I might be wrong about that.

Yeah, it seems they got some resources, but by the time they had repaired the most significant damage, the Soviets were already back. Would require a repair timer like the oilfields, perhaps even 1.5 years or so?

[McGuba]

Sorry, meant to add "near Kherson", so should have read:
And second, it seems like there was no bridge at all across the Dnepr near Kherson until late 1943 (neither road nor railway)?

Until the Germans built and completed a railway bridge near Kherson in November 1943?
Completed just in time to use it for their retreat and then blow it up again...

Yes, I read the same. But it looks like there was some sort of pontoon bridge and a ferry so I guess ground units could cross the river with relative ease at Kherson anyway. So for now ground units can cross the river through the city of Kherson without delay, assuming they are using the ferry service of the city or a pontoon bridge, but there is no visible bridge there over the river.

And I recall reading there was also some kind of railway ferry at some point so I guess railway cars could be ferried one by one. Now I don't remember if it was operated by the Germans before November 1943, or by the Soviets after they captured the area, or perhaps both of them. But I would assume that the capacity of such a railway ferry must have been rather limited. Certainly not the same as having a fully functioning railway bridge so in the context of the mod I think it should be nonexistent. So railways have to take a detour to the north to cross the river at Denpropetrovsk. The railway bridge there was surely used by the Germans:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merefa-Kherson_bridge

It seems that the Soviets completed the railway tracks from there to the Crimea in 1944, but did not complete a new bridge near Kherson until 1954 (also a railway bridge)?

Yes, it looks like that.

Yeah, it seems they got some resources, but by the time they had repaired the most significant damage, the Soviets were already back. Would require a repair timer like the oilfields, perhaps even 1.5 years or so?

I don't know, maybe even more.


EDIT:
Ah, actually I found this:

2
During World War II, parts of the Donbass were occupied over 22 months by the German Wehrmacht. The German occupation authorities undertook great efforts to rebuild and exploit the mines, which had been destroyed by the Red Army during retreat. Next to 1,800 German mining specialists, about 90,000 local miners – a quarter of them women – and around 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war were employed in the mines. Besides the workers who had to work for the Germans in the occupied territories, more than 350,000 Soviet citizens were deported from the Donbass as Ostarbeiter to Germany. In some cases, working in the Donbass mines could save local miners from deportation to Germany. An important role for the reconstruction of the mines and their successful exploitation was played by numerous local Soviet engineers who tried to improve their living conditions by collaborating with the Germans. Altogether, significant reconstruction work took place under German occupation and coal output increased. However, prewar production levels were only partly reached due to the immense destruction of the mines. The local population’s work experience under German occupation bore many similarities with their earlier experience of the Soviet: forced recruitments and deportations were not totally new for the Donbass inhabitants – even if the degree of violence reached a new level under the Germans. Under German occupation, the population of the Donbass experienced extreme mass terror and violence. According to the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, in Donets´k (Stalino) region alone, mass graves with more than 323,000 victims (174,000 civilians and 149,000 Soviet prisoners of war) were discovered after the liberation.2 However, just as it was under Soviet rule, everyday life under the Germans cannot be characterised only by terror and violence. It was an effective combination of terror, incentives and propaganda. The Germans’ “new order” was not so new for the civilian population of the region, and in many respects was in keeping with what they had experienced under Stalinist rule.

https://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/9348


And AI said this:

1. The German Occupation (1941–1943)

- The Labor Force: Desperate for fuel, German occupational authorities forced roughly 20,000 Soviet POWs and 90,000 local miners to work the coalfields, supervised by German mining specialists.
- Brutal Conditions: Miners faced intentional starvation. Those forced underground received near-famine rations, such as bread mixed with sawdust, resulting in many dying from exhaustion and cave-ins rather than combat.

2. The Soviet Recapture and Post-War (1943–1950s)

- The Labor Force: Following the Red Army's liberation of the Donbas, the Soviet Union faced a massive labor shortage and a completely devastated industrial infrastructure. They utilized millions of Axis prisoners of war (predominantly Germans, but also Hungarians, Romanians, and others) for forced labor.
- The Work: Tens of thousands of these POWs were sent to the Donbas to clear flooded pits, rebuild collapsed infrastructure, and mine coal to restart the Soviet economy.
- The Hardships: Conditions in the mines were perilous. The work was physically debilitating, safety regulations were practically non-existent, and prisoners frequently suffered from malnutrition, disease, and "black lung".

So actually it looks like there was some coal mining. I am not sure though how significant it was for German war efforts in general. As there was an abundance of coal in Germany and occupied Poland and Czech territories as well. So I am not too sure if it is justified to give more prestige for that.

[JimmyC]

I've always wondered - if you do the earlier scenarios does it mean you effectively get 5 extra units in addition to the prestige? Or if starting Barbarossa directly, do you still get those 5 units but they are less skilled?

[Uhu]

They are still there - as the initial setup represents the historical force setup. (If you do not change the 3 Panzer, 1 fighter, 1 tac bomber collection).
So yes, they are there but they do not have extra kills and/or optional heroes yet.

I've always wondered - if you do the earlier scenarios does it mean you effectively get 5 extra units in addition to the prestige? Or if starting Barbarossa directly, do you still get those 5 units but they are less skilled?

[Locarnus]

Now I am just making some last minute changes: [...]

Last minute suggestion:

Cutting off the top of the Freya radar graphic.
The graphic obstructs the Strength plate of the unit on the hex field north of the Freya radar.
It sometimes leads to a player not seeing that the unit needs healing.

[McGuba]

Last minute suggestion:

Cutting off the top of the Freya radar graphic.

Done.

I've always wondered - if you do the earlier scenarios does it mean you effectively get 5 extra units in addition to the prestige? Or if starting Barbarossa directly, do you still get those 5 units but they are less skilled?

There are no extra units added on top of the starting number in that case, as Uhu wrote 3 Panzer, 1 fighter, 1 tac bomber units are still there, same as if taken over from the pre-Barbarossa scenarios, unless the player changes that set up. And these units have 200 experience (in General difficulty) in turn 1, if I am right. If the player starts in 1939, they may gain some more experience by then, but not much more, it also depends on how well those are played.

I think the main difference is these units will have more kills accumulated by 1941, if started in 1939, meaning they will potentially get their first hero earlier than the other units of the main scenario.

Also in BE 2.4 and before it was possible to save much more prestige points (potentially several thousands more) for the start of Barbarossa if started in 1939, but in 2.5 not so much more or potentially even less if the early scenarios are not played very well.

[JimmyC]

I was usually able to accumulate significant prestige from doing the earlier scenarios. Noted this will no longer be the case. I think i will just skip them for 2.5 and jump directly into Barbarossa.

[JimmyC]

Quick question regarding heroes on planes. Do they boost both types of attack/defense? For example, Rudel hero gives the Stuka +3 to attack and defense. But is that air attack/defense, ground attack/defense, or both?

Also, For towed AT, i recall there is some bonus to initiative if they are being attacked. Can someone point me to the thread where this is explained or even better let me now here?

[Locarnus]

Quick question regarding heroes on planes. Do they boost both types of attack/defense? For example, Rudel hero gives the Stuka +3 to attack and defense. But is that air attack/defense, ground attack/defense, or both?

Also, For towed AT, i recall there is some bonus to initiative if they are being attacked. Can someone point me to the thread where this is explained or even better let me now here?

As far as I remember, an attack hero bonus benefits all attack stats, if that base attack value is not 0. Eg air attack does not get buffed if the unit has no air attack to begin with, but a negative value (eg counter air attack) is buffed.
Same for a defense hero bonus buffing all defense stats, except if they are 0 to begin with (important for close defense)?

If an AT class unit is attacked by a tank or recon class unit, then the AT class unit gets +3 initiative (does not matter what the actual unit is, only the classes are relevant). No bonus if the AT class unit is the attacker.

If an infantry class unit fights an AT class unit, it gets +2 defense regardless who the attacker is.

[McGuba]

I was usually able to accumulate significant prestige from doing the earlier scenarios. Noted this will no longer be the case. I think i will just skip them for 2.5 and jump directly into Barbarossa.

Yes, I do not really want to "force" veteran players to replay the early war scenarios only for that. Especially not those who have already played the mod several times. The main function of the early scenarios is to serve as tutorial missions for new players, showing and explaining some of the more important changes and preparing them for the big thing.

But it may still worth to play them again every now and then, and I did a couple of changes in those as well, mainly in the invasion of France scenario. So it is entirely optional, it is fine if someone starts in 1939 and it is also fine if in June 1941. A good player may reach June 1941 with a few hundred extra prestige if starting early, but not with many thousands more like in the previous versions. Probably now it is more important that the starting core units will gather more kills by 1941 and then potentially get the first hero earlier, but that's somewhat marginal and thus can be skipped.

[Vintage]

Hi, is there a practical difference between usage of a horse as transport for cavalry unit instead of switch mode?

[Locarnus]

Do you think it is still possible to win version 2.5?

Absolutely! But of course it mainly depends on the chosen difficulty level. Playing with the default random dice rolls also makes it harder to win with the Axis (but I still prefer and recommend that one) than limited dice chess or even chess mode. By the way, I have also reworked the difficulty screen for single player games, not recommended difficulties (Guderian and Manstein) are removed and replaced with ones that actually make sense for the mod and provide even more challenge for experienced players. The easier difficulties are also reworked a bit with recommended settings to make the mod more accessible to those who are just seeking some fun. More information is given in the pop-up boxes to help players to choose the right difficulty:

be25diff.jpg (459.19 KiB) Viewed 425 times

These are only recommended difficulties, these can still be changed anyhow with the "Advanced" settings.

Other than that, I think the overall difficulty is more or less the same as before. The Axis side also has several advantages that it did not have before. The main difference is there are less ways to exploit the game mechanics and the weaknesses of the AI while being more accurate historically. Which is certainly good. It may be more difficult to achieve a total victory than before, though.

My previous multiplayer match vs. Duedman was very inspirational. Based on that experience, I tried to replicate the thrill and tension of playing against a human player as much as possible when playing against the rather silly AI. Multiplayer is still the best way to experience this mod, but it requires a lot of time and commitment to finish such a playthrough. So single player is the next best thing, especially at the higher difficulty levels.

I will remove the problematic Guderian difficulty and introduce a new "Heinrici" difficulty setting for 70% player prestige combined with +1 AI strength.
Eskuche played with that (but with +50% AI experience on top of that) and HerzogSieg uses it for his ongoing singleplayer youtube playthrough.

Imho it offers a more balanced difficulty increase than any of the current presets.
Especially the +1 AI strength increases the difficulty from turn 1 to turn 99. Though even that has problems due to buffing units with low max strength more than units with higher max strength (conscripts).

I would thus also recommend that combined "Heinrici" difficulty as a preset, rather than having eg Double FM or Double Rommel as presets.

[caesar67]

Do you think it is still possible to win version 2.5?

Absolutely! But of course it mainly depends on the chosen difficulty level. Playing with the default random dice rolls also makes it harder to win with the Axis (but I still prefer and recommend that one) than limited dice chess or even chess mode. By the way, I have also reworked the difficulty screen for single player games, not recommended difficulties (Guderian and Manstein) are removed and replaced with ones that actually make sense for the mod and provide even more challenge for experienced players. The easier difficulties are also reworked a bit with recommended settings to make the mod more accessible to those who are just seeking some fun. More information is given in the pop-up boxes to help players to choose the right difficulty:


be25diff.jpg


These are only recommended difficulties, these can still be changed anyhow with the "Advanced" settings.

Other than that, I think the overall difficulty is more or less the same as before. The Axis side also has several advantages that it did not have before. The main difference is there are less ways to exploit the game mechanics and the weaknesses of the AI while being more accurate historically. Which is certainly good. It may be more difficult to achieve a total victory than before, though.

My previous multiplayer match vs. Duedman was very inspirational. Based on that experience, I tried to replicate the thrill and tension of playing against a human player as much as possible when playing against the rather silly AI. Multiplayer is still the best way to experience this mod, but it requires a lot of time and commitment to finish such a playthrough. So single player is the next best thing, especially at the higher difficulty levels.

I will remove the problematic Guderian difficulty and introduce a new "Heinrici" difficulty setting for 70% player prestige combined with +1 AI strength.
Eskuche played with that (but with +50% AI experience on top of that) and HerzogSieg uses it for his ongoing singleplayer youtube playthrough.

Imho it offers a more balanced difficulty increase than any of the current presets.
Especially the +1 AI strength increases the difficulty from turn 1 to turn 99. Though even that has problems due to buffing units with low max strength more than units with higher max strength (conscripts).

I would thus also recommend that combined "Heinrici" difficulty as a preset, rather than having eg Double FM or Double Rommel as presets.

I am a little bit confused. Do you change this for this mod or for your submod?

[Locarnus]

I am a little bit confused. Do you change this for this mod or for your submod?

I will introduce that "70% player prestige & +1 enemy strength" as a named preset for my submod, since it worked out pretty well. Replacing the for BE useless "Guderian" difficulty preset.

Since McGuba also intends to replace the "Guderian" difficulty preset for BE 2.5, I'm making the argument that imho a "70% player prestige & +1 enemy strength" setting is more useful as a preset than a "Double Rommel" or "Double Field Marshal" one.

[McGuba]

Hi, is there a practical difference between usage of a horse as transport for cavalry unit instead of switch mode?

The AI is not very competent with multipurpose units, it often "forgets" to switch them to the "right" mode. So in general it is better to use transport because in that case the game automatically disembarks every unit at the beginning of the turn.

I will introduce that "70% player prestige & +1 enemy strength" as a named preset for my submod, since it worked out pretty well. Replacing the for BE useless "Guderian" difficulty preset.

Since McGuba also intends to replace the "Guderian" difficulty preset for BE 2.5, I'm making the argument that imho a "70% player prestige & +1 enemy strength" setting is more useful as a preset than a "Double Rommel" or "Double Field Marshal" one.

It is indeed interesting, but I think it is a bit hard to calculate the actual prestige award/penalty with such novelty percentage numbers like 70% and the like. The problem is, the message boxes only mention the 100% prestige amount, and thus any change to that default value has to be calculated/adjusted by the player. For example, I am not so sure that everyone is ok to calculate the 70% of 75 or 150 prestige points in a split second. So I guess it is just easier to stick to the default numbers like half, double or a quarter of the prestige award/penalty instead. Which may also be a bit annoying to adjust, but still easier than 70% or something similar.

The other possible issue may be the increase of the strength level of every enemy unit by 1 (or more). This mod was created with 10 base strength for both sides in mind, that's how the overall difficulty and balance was calculated, any change to that may have unforeseen consequences, like the Soviet units not disappearing (surrendering) in the Minsk pocket early on, as eskuche noticed earlier. In this particular case, the problem was I added a script that deducted 10 strength points from every enemy unit in that area, which would normally destroy all of them, but if they have 11 base strength they will survive. While this can be fixed, and I did so, there may be other, similar "mines" which may have similar effect. Unfortunately I do not remember every single script that I added in the last 12 years or so, and there are many of them, so...

As for how well it worked out, I am not too sure, to be honest. As far as I am aware, eskuche has restarted two times and his playthrough is still unfinished, or at least it looks like it has been a while since he last updated his playthrough. And he did not go too far in any of these attempts. (The second attempt was the longest, till turn 47, I guess? And the third attempt has just a few turns? I might be wrong though...)

And then the ongoing HerzogSieg youtube playthrough with this custom difficulty is also in a very early stage at the moment, turn 12 if I am right. So it is not really possible to draw conclusions from that, given that it is only getting hard from now on.

Other than that, if it proves to be popular, then it can be added as well at some point, why not? Until then, everyone can of course still play around with the difficulty slider in the advanced difficulty settings and try this or any similar. The pre-set difficulty levels are currently only there to provide some guidance to the players. Most of these are based on actual feedback and experience, but I agree that the higher ones may be a bit questionable. But even this is somewhat personal. As far as I know Uhu likes to play at Double Rommel and I was thinking to perhaps try FM + Rommel or double FM at some point. So I think there could be an argument for any of these, really.

[McGuba]

BE 2.5 is out now:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l5m4eifm ... v9rgn&dl=0

Also updated the first page of this topic accordingly. Those who are using RumpNissen's wavy flags submod have to update that submod as well. Link is in the first page.


BE 2.5 Changes

Scenario changes
(for both single and multiplayer games - however, some of these do not affect the easier single player version of the main scenario)

- Several changes to the pre-Barbarossa scenarios e.g. no more free prestige per turn in France and Mediterranean Sea scenarios but the reward for major victory in France is 750 instead of 250 and there are more cities and airfields to capture, some Allied units have different starting placement, Bulgarian army does not take part in the invasion of Yugoslavia, etc.
- Difficulty screen revised for single player games, not recommended difficulties (Guderian and Manstein) are removed and replaced with ones that actually make sense for the mod and provide even more challenge for experienced players. More information is given in the pop-up boxes to help players to choose the right difficulty.
- Rate of fire value is now displayed (if other than 100%) in the unit information screen, next to the back and white unit image
- Most German artillery units have more ammunition while most Soviet artillery units have less
- Most Soviet heavy 76 and 85mm AA guns are now in static defense near industrial cities, the basic Soviet frontline AA is the lighter 37mm autocannon, as historically. The Soviets also get a few similar American 40mm M1 autocannons and now also have some improvised SPAA units (truck mounted 25mm autocannons).
- Major revise of railway lines in Russia, some historical railway lines are added in Russia, North Africa and the Middle East and elsewhere, some railway lines are now constructed/extended during the course of the scenario
- Some other map changes, several more cities added, terrain graphics, railways, etc. etc. improved here and there
- Escarpment is now a close terrain.
- Semi-arid terrain type added: it is like clear terrain but with low supply meaning ground units can only get half the normal supply on this, same as in desert, but their movement is not affected as in desert. Mud have less negative effect on the ground speed of units due to less precipitation in these areas. Semi-arid terrain also does not affect air units, both tropicalised and non-tropicalised air units can fly over it as if it was like open sea. (It has a neutral effect on air units.)
- Some of the French Atlantic ports now become impossible to capture by the Western Allies after D-day. Historically these were bypassed by the Allies and continued to resist until May 1945 as German pockets far behind the frontline. However, it also means that these lose their port functionality for the Axis as well.
- The Hungarian fortified lines in the Carpathian Mountains and the Finnish defenses in Karelia are also stronger now. These can significantly slow down Soviet advance or may even force them to bypass these defenses.
- Tobruk is better defended by British bottom mines. However, these mines start to weaken and then fully disappear after a few turns after Malta or Tobruk is captured by the Axis. (It is to reduce the usefulness of the Italian fleet in the siege of Tobruk as historically it did not assist in it due to a combination of British air and naval threat and a lack of fuel oil.)
- If the Axis is too passive in North Africa in 1941-42 by not capturing Tobruk or by retreating to Tripoli or outright evacuating all forces to Europe then the Soviets will receive more Western Allied units since those are not needed by the British in Africa in that case. Precisely: 2 extra Soviet Lend-Lease tanks and 2 fighter and 1 tactical bomber unit will spawn in the east for not capturing (by turn 27) and then not holding Tobruk until November 1942 (turn 36) + 1 additional tank unit for each of the three other Italian objective cities in North Africa if they are captured by the British earlier than historically (before turns 36-40) + 2 more fighters in this worst case. This may compel the Axis player to tie down some British units in North Africa as Rommel did.
- The German U-boat unit "29. Flottilla" appears later in the Mediterranean Sea (in turn 10), but now it has another hero and it will be reformed once as an understrength replacement unit if lost (between turn 32 and 65)
- The Allied side gets twice the prestige penalty (50 instead of 25 per turn, up to a maximum of 200) for every Axis naval unit on the North Atlantic convoy routes (as a kind of compensation for U-boats now being a little weaker in periscope depth and Western Allied destroyers having their naval attack increased in two steps in 1943 and 1944).
- Two more Italian battleships are added (Duilio and Andrea Doria), however, these have very low fuel confining them to their home port until at least two oilfields are captured and repaired
- Italian naval mines no longer disappear from the map in case of Italy's surrender
- June-July 1941 Syria-Lebanon campaign added
- South Africa nation added
- A few new units added, including South African/British Marmon-Herrington armoured cars (with many thanks to Birgeria for his excellent unit icons), these were the mainstay of British recons in North Africa from 1941 to mid 1942 when Humber and Daimler armoured cars started to appear in numbers
- V1 and V2 attacks against London give 50 prestige to the Axis (instead of 100 earlier) - the "easier" (or moderate) version of the mod remains unchanged in this regard. As a compensation, on the losing path the Axis side gets even more extra reinforcement units in 1944-45.
- Allied bombing raids now result in a 150 prestige points penalty per city per turn (instead of 100), but the "easier" (or moderate) version remains unchanged
- An additional German Ju 88C bomber destroyer unit will appear in early 1942
- Tactical and Strategic bombers now get a bonus air attack for every experience star (earlier they only got it for two stars)
- Anti-air units get only one bonus air attack for each experience star instead of two, but now get a bonus ground attack (soft and hard) for each star
- Infantry units now get one extra bonus hard attack and air attack for each star, land transports get the same bonuses as infantry units
- Soviets get less Valentine tanks but they get an understrength Churchill and a SU-76i (these are new units in the mod). They also get less heavy IS tanks and ISU self propelled guns, but more 120 mm mortars and a few more T-34 tanks.
- Several more new units added to both Axis and Allies, many unit icons, graphics improved
- The Italian submarine unit with the switchable Decima Flottiglia "frogman" mode starting at Crete is now replaced by a "normal" Italian submarine, but:
- The British battleships Valiant and Queen Elizabeth will be heavily damaged (effectively disappear from the map) in turn 13, following a scripted Italian frogman attack, as historically
- JG 27 in North Africa now starts the scenario in turn 1, but initially understrength (strength 7), and its max strength will only be increased to 10 in turn 6
- JG 1 in Germany now also starts the scenario understrength (strength 5), and its max strength will only be increased to 10 in turn 16
- The unfinished German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin now appears as a captial ship, unable to refuel or resupply air units, and in order to complete her construction (turning it into a functional aircraft carrier unit) she has to spend some time in a German port city and it will also cost 400 prestige points over a period of 8 turns (50 per turn).
- Starting Axis unit experience is increased from 50 to 65 (only if played in single scenario or multiplayer mode, in campaign mode it is always 0 by default as a hard coded vanilla game feature)
- There are less late war Soviet heavy tanks and self-propelled guns
- Soviet air units have less starting experience
- Units no longer lose overstrength points when upgraded to another unit type
- 50 less Axis prestige points per turn from turn 20 in real and real+ single player versions (due to getting a few extra units for free + several Axis units being somewhat better, which means fewer losses + convoy routes being less well protected, meaning potentially more lucrative)


+ a lot of other small changes and fixes "under the hood" to improve overall stability and there are some more "quality of life" improvements here and there


Multiplayer changes

- Western Lend-lease tanks in Soviet service now have the "noupgrade" trait so these cannot be upgraded to a better T-34 right after they appear, they have to be used until the end of the war or until they are destroyed, as in reality. As a compensation, few more (like 3-4) T-34/76 tanks will spawn, including two at Stalingrad.
- British Desert Force is a bit weaker, at least early on (as a compensation for the stronger British naval mines at Tobruk)
- Axis side gets more German reinforcement units on the losing path
- Several messages improved, more information added to players on the various scenario mechanics
- Convoy units that reach Liverpool now generate 150 prestige points to the Allied player (instead of 200)
- A few more Soviet reinforcement units will appear in Iran instead of Russia, but only as long as the Allied side controls at least 4 victory objectives in the Middle East and the Soviets have at least one ground unit on the oil fields.
- As a compensation for the potential early loss of the tank unit with Rommel in North Africa, the tank unit would be reformed in Germany (until turn 36), however, without Rommel and with less experience.
- Soviet units between Leningrad and Moscow remain "frozen" (out of fuel) for longer than in the previous version. These will only activate in turn 31 so that it is somewhat easier for the Axis to successfully blockade Leningrad in 1941-42. On the other hand, now there are more passive Soviet units defending this area. Likewise, 3 Soviet units near Stalingrad now also activate in turn 31 instead of 13.
- Several new Soviet units appear a bit further behind Moscow in 1941, to avoid appearing behind Axis lines in case if the Axis is very successful early on
- There are a couple more "frozen" Soviet units appearing in turn 1-2 (a garrison infantry at Rzhev, and a couple more tank units close to the border)
- P-47C no longer available for upgrade (in reality it was produced in relatively small numbers)
- A few more early war Soviet light tanks will appear in 1941 but now these cannot be upgraded to better T-34 tanks
- Italian coastline is better defended by bottom mines to reduce the effectiveness of Allied naval bombardment


Unit stats and else (incomplete)

- Strongpoint units now have a range of 1, meaning they can attack nearby enemy units without risking return fire from them
- All artillery units have 2 spotting
- M3 Stuart has a bit lower ground defense also more expensive but a bit higher soft attack
- Soviet SU- and ISU- types have 1 less ground defense
- Pz.IIIJ available for upgrade earlier (turn 3 instead of turn 7)
- 5cm Pak 38 and units equipped with the long L/60 5cm tank gun (Pz.IIIJ-1, Pz.IIIL Pz.IIIM etc.) Hard Attack increased from 11 to 12
- Panzerwehrfer 42 SA increased to 14
- Early T-34 types and T-70 have 1 less initiative
- Speed of certain tanks revised (e.g. Valentines, Churchill, KV-1/42 are a little faster, but some heavy tanks no longer have wide tracked movement)
- Soviet 122mm tank gun 1 higher HA
- Me 410 is no longer in the Bf 110 family upgrade tree
- Ju 88C bomber destroyer added
- Bf 110F, Bf 110G, Ju 88G available later
- Ini/AA/AD stats of most Italian, German fighters are slightly changed, new subtypes Bf 109 G-6 (late model) and Fw 190A-8/R2, also late war Italian G.56 and Re.2006 added
- Ju 88 and He 111 subtypes added and also late war versions of Italian air units
- Most Axis bombers have less fuel
- Most Soviet mid/late war fighter types and Spitfire types have 1 less air attack
- Italian early fighters, Stukas, Romanian tactical bombers, air transports have a little higher air defense
- Most late war German infantry are a bit cheaper
- Soviet heavy self-propelled artillery have 1 less ammo
- Most Soviet towed artillery units have 2 less ammo
- SdKfz 232 (early version) not available for purchase
- Soviet Il-2 Sturmoviks have lower hard attack
- Soviet early LaGG-3 have 1 less air attack
- Valentine and Matilda II tanks have 1 more ground defense
- Matilda II tanks are now always normally understrength (max 8 strength), unless manual override in the editor for starting strength
- British strategic bombers have 1-2 extra air and ground defense to better represent that these were mainly used for night bombing
- 2 cm Flak 30/38 now costs 20% more
- AA autocannons have higher close defense
- Submarines have 1 less ground (naval) defense at periscope depth
- The naval attack of Western Allied destroyers is increased in two steps: in 1943 (turn 47) and 1944 (turn 73) as a result of the introduction of better anti-submarine tactics, sonars and weapon systems (like the Hedgehog and the Squid).
- Spotting range of UK and US destroyers reduced to 2
- Nashorn (late version of Hornesse) added, Hornisse/Nashorn are no longer in the same unit upgrade family with the StuG IV and Jagdpanzer IV
- German 28 cm K5 railway artillery added but early war Karl-Gerat heavy mortar now has only 2 range (max shooting range was only 6.4 km) and 1 max ammo, but much cheaper to replace its losses. Also the shooting range of some Soviet fortress defense artillery have been reduced so that it can get closer (even though the AI normally does not shoot at it with its artillery).
- Not really a stat change, but I changed the colour of the mid-war US air units to look more like olive green, made new or modified icons for P-38J, P-51C, late war Italian fighters and some others I forgot
- All together 390 unit icons were modified more or less (including several new additions)

+ several more that I forgot to write down, sorry

[Locarnus]

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edit: Wow, 2.5 out!
Congratulations and thank you for all your work on this amazing mod!


PS: I should have refreshed the page before replying.
The original long post I wrote here about difficulty settings can wait for some other time.

[Vintage]

I would like to suggest few alternate icons (IMHO they do fit general style better):