Locked

Call of War 1.5: Mechanics & New Balancing

8 Nov 2019, 08:48

Attention Generals!

In the last news we communicated the changes to urban provinces and new buildings. Now the first test event for Call of War 1.5 is about to start. To be fully prepared, please read up on more changes in this brand new version!

Mechanics changes

Let’s start with the changes regarding game mechanics. As the title of the game says, this game is about war. Therefore we don’t want to punish players anymore for waging wars and conquering provinces. That is why in CoW 1.5 the morale penalty for being at war will be removed, as well as the province resource upkeep. To balance this out the morale penalty for distance to capital will be slightly increased.

Another aspect are changes to how combat is resolved. A new combat calculation will be at play, resulting in more predictable results, while still retaining a small intended variance. To give more chances to retreat and heal up, units in armies will only start to get destroyed when the condition of the army drops below 50%. When units drop below a condition of 50% they will also face movement speed penalties. Additionally ground combat will be updated every 30 minutes instead of every 60 minutes. Finally, damage limits will no longer be determined by the amount of each individual unit level. Instead, a damage limit exists for the whole army, with damage being reduced at 10 and more units and being capped at 20 and more units.

Furthermore, in Call of War 1.5 units on the field will no longer automatically upgrade when a higher level is researched. Instead, the new unit level has to be produced. Higher unit levels can only be produced in higher building levels, while lower building levels still support producing lower unit levels even if higher levels are already researched.

Last but not least we updated some unit functionalities: Commandos will be stealth units that ignore defence bonuses, while Motorized Infantry, Armored Cars and Interceptors will receive the scout ability. Rockets will not ignore the defense bonus anymore and deal friendly fire upon impact. For more details, please check the forum post linked below.

New Balancing

With Call of War 1.5 we will also introduce a lot of changes to the balancing, which you will experience during the test events. These changes are so countless that we cannot list them all, but we want to highlight a few changes:

There will be a clear progression in power and costs for all buildings, units and researches. All unit values, including damage, speed, health, production time, cost and upkeep will start low but rise from level to level. The same holds true for researches and buildings, which have their cost but , if applicable, also their effects increased per level.

To create a true Rock-Paper-Scissors style balancing which still acknowledges the realities of the war, we will split the armor class ‘armored’ into ‘light armor’ and ‘heavy armor’. This will create more opportunities to counter enemy army compositions. Additionally all unit roles will be reviewed, making sure every single one has its use. As a result of this nuclear powered sea units will be removed from the game. Also, some units will be much stronger in defensive or offensive positions and will be much more effective against certain armor classes, making tactical maneuvering more important.

Resource and gold costs also will be revised and vary depending on type and level. Going forward, all units and buildings will require each resource to be built. Depending on the unit you might not need a lot of them, but they will be required. This way resource demand reflects the need of workforce, materials and energy more realistically. As a contrast, researches will require only money and manpower. These resource philosophies may be still subject to change.

As the CoW 1.5 event is about to start, make sure to join an event game during the sign-up period to provide us with first hand feedback! This will only be the first event in a series of events and there is plenty of room for changes and improvements, so please tell us what you like. We are counting on you to change the future of Call of War together with us!

Your Bytro Team

- Please understand that the list below is only provided in English for all languages -

More details:

Mechanics & formula changes:

There is no more war morale penalty on provinces.
Removed building upkeep and province upkeep.
The distance to capital penalty is increased.
Changed combat calculations to reduce outliers in the results and to make results better predictable. A variance of +/-20% is intentionally kept to not make results TOO predictable.
Single units of the same unit type within an army begin to die as soon as their unit type is at 50% health or below.
Units move slower when at 50% health or below.
Units with lower health now deal less damage than in the previous version.
There is no damage limiter for each unit level anymore, instead there will be a damage limit for the whole stack limit, with reduced damage beginning at 10 units and damage being capped at 20 units. Visualization for this will be implemented later.
Units on the field do not level up automatically when a higher level of the unit type was researched. For the future we consider implementing an option to upgrade units on the field manually.
Buildings can continue to build lower research levels when not upgraded.
Land and sea combat ticks now happen every 30min.
Removed movement speed penalty on allied terrain.
Changed some AI defense preferences. They now value border provinces to non-friendly neighbors, capitals and provinces with many buildings (usually urbans) more when deciding where to collect troops.
Changed resource outputs of supply crates to have rewards within the same range for all main resources, as their value is now equal. General hint: If you collect supply drops in provinces of stronger nations, you will receive more resources out of them.
Increased maximum manpower storage amount (may be removed later). The storage amount increases with conquering provinces.

Unit functionality updates:

Commando - stealth, ignores defence bonus.
Interceptor - scout (makes stealth units visible).
Motorized infantry - scout (at level 3 and above).
Armored car - scout (at level 3 and above).
Rocket - Friendly fire, does not ignore defense bonus anymore.
Moved Commando and Paratrooper to Infantry category, now counting as Infantry type.

General balancing changes:

Changed nearly all values, costs, bonuses and build speeds of all units, buildings and researches, which are sadly to countless to list here. And they are also not final and will change in future iterations. For general infos on building changes, visit the previous news “Urban Provinces & New Buildings”.
All values of units, except view range, ground attack range and terrain bonuses, follow a progression, from low values at lower levels to higher values at higher levels. On average a unit on maximum level has 4-6x better fighting values than on the first level, and 2-3x the resource cost and upkeep, making it still a bargain to produce higher levels.
Changed offensive and defensive focus of many units, with them now being 2-3x as strong in their prefered role. Some units also serve as an allrounder with no off or def preference but also slightly lower values in both roles. General reminder: Defense values are used by a unit when this unit is standing still without any command given, offense values are used when another unit is actively attacked. If units meet on the field while both are in movement, both values are used.
Changed preferred terrains of some units. Units also no longer have penalties in certain terrain. Instead, units receive bonuses in certain terrains only. This makes values better comparable.
Split armor class “armored” into light armor and heavy armor, whereas Medium Tanks, Heavy Tanks, Tank Destroyers and Railroad Guns are considered heavy armor, the rest of the vehicles light armor. Units therefore now have different or additional target preferences.
All costs of researches increase per level.
All costs and bonus effects of buildings increase per level.
All resources are needed to produce buildings and units, sometimes only small amounts. Units also need all resources as maintenance upkeep. Sidenote: Rare materials represent many different materials, including rubber and aluminium, that’s why they are also needed.
Manpower and money is needed for researches.
Removed nuclear powered sea units from the game due to role conflicts and deemed unfitting for the time frame of the game.
Removed Nuclear Power research from the game to simplify requirements. Nuclear Bomber and Nuclear Rocket now only require the Atomic Bomb research as prerequisite, but got more expensive in return.
Removed research levels of several units: Militia -3 levels, Mechanized Infantry -1 level and all ships except transport ships -1 level.
Added research levels to the following units: SP Artillery +1 level, Commandos +2 levels.
The last level of Commandos now also requires blueprints to unlock.
Updated the ingame unit and building descriptions to describe the preferences and uses of them. Open their details panel by clicking on them in the respective menus to read the descriptions and to check out all new values!

Gold cost changes:

With the new importance of urban provinces some gold actions became more powerful as less provinces have to be targeted in total to make a lasting effect. Therefore adjustments needed to be made to balance the game. Sabotage building and reduce morale costs are increased from 2,000 to 3,800 gold. Morale boost costs increased from 500 to 950.
Most build times got reduced drastically, especially on early levels. To balance this out gold costs for speed ups had to be increased. These prices now also vary on power or level of a unit or building and therefore don’t have a common listing price anymore.
All units now receive higher amounts of health when leveled up. As condition boosts heal always 10% of the missing health, condition boosts on later levels became more powerful. The gold costs of condition boosts had to be increased to balance this out. These prices now also vary depending on the health and level of a unit and therefore don’t have a common listing price anymore.

NOTE: Some parts of the new mechanics are not yet complete, especially regarding corresponding interface information. This will be improved in future versions. This is also just the first version of the new balancing and there will be a lot of fine tuning going forward. If you like to give us detailed feedback on this version, it would be highly appreciated, especially if you feel like certain units are too strong or weak!

575 Replies

10 Nov 2019, 17:53

EZ Dolittle wrote:
I thought there was less penalty for declaring war and being at war.

just morale malus was removed for 'at war'.

Popularity still has many more downside risks than positives.

best to just turtle-down and build forts.

10 Nov 2019, 18:17

There is also not enough of a disparity between airfield and the airfield plus air production facility.

One of the tactical aspects of air power is the need to build a chain of airfields around and to the front lines.

The costs in manpower makes this very very expensive and slows the game down.

STRONGLY suggest that the airfields be reduced big time in manpower costs if not others as well.

10 Nov 2019, 18:37 (edited)

Air Force

Well I've learned not to produce any planes until at least level 3 Interceptor and level 2 TB because the cost of building an AB in every province is too burdensome.

What a waste of resources to have level 1 planes (Interceptors - 3 and TB's -1 that will never be able to be utilized even in homeland because I simply can't afford to build an AB in every province while attempting to expand.

Maybe in a European country, but not in the North American continent. Distances are too great.

Very unequal / unbalanced it appears when comparing to the central European countries.

North Africa may be similar to what North American continent is having to deal with. Dunno

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now playing another game in European theater and have confirmed able to utilize level 1 air force while expanding my just building air strip in primary urban areas once conquered. Of course it helped that original air base and planes were in a small enough country to be able to fly between existing urban areas upon completion of additional air strips in urban areas.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After 6 or 7 days I had enough resources to spend building additional airfields at Moncton and Bathurst in an attempt to reach the urban cities. No such luck. After flying the planes to Bathurst it was discovered that the level one planes (both TB and Intercpetor) will not reach the next province !!!!!!!!

So not only is the location remote the planes still cannot be utilized until upgraded to level 2 (minimum). And since these planes cannot be upgraded - they were an entire waste of resources at the start of the game.

Where else should this situation be posted so that the developers can be advised of situation?

10 Nov 2019, 18:48

I'd like to give some feedback about the 1,5 version that was launched 3 days ago.

Buildings:

- Specializing the building according to each troop type is realistic and it is how it works in the industry.

- It gives the possibility to specialize per troop type per city.

Manpower:

- I'm happy that the use of manpower has been used more realistically. However why manpower for building? Yes you temporarily need labor to produce all the building part and to construct the building. However when the construction is done then that manpower that was used has become available on the job market again. This being said, when a building is finished you should get your manpower back. I'm getting stuck in the game by lack on manpower.

Research:

- The already overused manpower for producing units and construction is now also imbedded in research. Therefor one doesn't need to prioritize the research he's doing but also weigh in the production and building as you can't do it all.

- Only new troops get updated which makes the starting troops in mid game more or less useless. Luckily we are all in the same boat.

Economy:

- I've got the impression that the economy is now more balanced where there's no big food shortage in the start and overproduction of oil.

- I've said it twice and repeat it again, manpower is problematic and should be rethought.

Battle mechanics:

- Now that the battles are faster the gameplay will be more fluently

- On the downside, now that the battles are faster a higher rate of game activity is required. In the basic COW there's a large playerbase that plays but is not highly active. These players won't have as good as a player experience as they once had.

Units:

- Infantry: they get overpowered fast and it's just not realistic

- Airforce: tactical bombers have more or less become useless. They had gotten more balanced with the last updates which was a good thing but with the 1,5 there's no more utility for an airforce.

- Rockets: good that there's finally friendly fire, makes it more realistic.

- Nuclear navy: I'm happy it's finally deleted as there was no nuclear navy in WWII

Overall a good version when some adjustments are made but i would hate to see the original COW go, both should be available in the future.

BMfox
Moderator
EN Community Support | Bytro Gmbh
Check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BMfoxCallofWar
Found a bug or need help? Send a ticket here!

10 Nov 2019, 19:21 (edited)

BMfox wrote:
...
Units:
- ...
- Airforce: tactical bombers have more or less become useless. They had gotten more balanced with the last updates which was a good thing but with the 1,5 there's no more utility for an airforce.
...
Overall a good version when some adjustments are made but i would hate to see the original COW go, both should be available in the future.

1 Hr re-fuel time for planes... That's a horrific nerf. Just made air obsolete and rockets into Lazer-Death-Stars for anyone atempting to use Air.

Air Power was, is and will continue to be KING in warfare... now it's utterly useless.

General Maximus Decimus Meridius - "Are you not entertained?"

10 Nov 2019, 19:40

After trying out a few days, I personally think it is do more good than bad. Some minor tweaks can get this game better.

I understand the important of fair/balancing, but I think it doesn't have to be each countries start with (2pcs)resources of each type, and (1pcs) resources of each type. To make it more realistic and tactical, middle-east have more oil, can add 1 extra oil provinces, and take out a iron provinces, etc...

* In the old time, I would strategically to plan which resource i need most, and target the specific country or provinces first. Now, it becomes whoever the closest country to me, BAM i will killed that first. No need to think or plan a strategy!

2) If infrastruture removes bonus resources, should you guy find something to fill up like 1) oil refinery (oil) 2) farm (food) etc... Other than, just increase the industry to 100%. It is kind of no brainer to just press a button for upgrade.

3) The good thing is airbase is cost more, so no more spam airbase and air units, but since the map is big. Shouldn't it be the planes run further in distance. Otherwise, planes is not convenience to move from one place to another.

4) Lastly, why do infantry need oil, as to tanks need food. That i think the old CoW is better. Because it makes more realistic and tactical whether which units to recruit.

Too bad, my previous post have more cool sugguestions. I don't think you guy have taken any into account.

10 Nov 2019, 19:53

LOL pls someone explain me this xD

i think some weird bug its going on there

10 Nov 2019, 20:16

Defensive strength of some units against air force seems a bit unrealistic / disproportionately out of balance?

All units listed are level 1

Militia @ 2.0

Infantry @ 3.0

Motorized Infantry @ 3.0

Commandos @ 1.0

Paratroopers @ 1.0

Arty @ 0.5

AT @ 4.0

AA @ 14.0

AC @ 6.0

LT @ 0.5

MT @ 1.5

Tank Destroyer @ 1.0

SP Arty @ 1.0

SP AA @ 42.0

Mechanized Infantry @ 9.0

10 Nov 2019, 20:53

white bird wrote:
Defensive strength of some units against air force seems a bit unrealistic / disproportionately out of balance?

And? Airforces were too overpowered, now they are nerfed, but still usable. SP AA and Mech. Inf. are day 6 researches, airforces after day 6 research can have 120 HP's. also its not so terrible as you think.

10 Nov 2019, 20:55 (edited)

From the Research Tree

LT Level 1

Attacking Infantry @ 6.0

Defending Against Infantry 2.0

Infantry Level 1

Attacking Light Armor @ 3.0

Defending Against Light Armor @ 6.0

Analysis

1. When LT attacks Infantry it is a wash 6.0 versus 6.0

2. When Infantry attacks LT the Infantry will win 3.0 versus 2.0

On another note:

Additionally, Infantry receive a 50% increase in strength in an urban setting while light armor receives a 50% decrease.

That is a 100% swing in and of itself.

Plus another 15% home field advantage !

One would like to think this change should convince all players to never send an armored unit into an urban setting ever again - lol

But I just found a Light Armored AC protecting an IC / urban center all by its lonesome - lol

10 Nov 2019, 20:57

I either have to build up my forces (at low levels)

Build up my industry (to maybe have a chance at building higher level forces)

Research higher level forces (without an infrastructure to use the research to build the forces)

BECAUSE

I neither have enough money, nor enough manpower, to accomplish any two of these things!

Maybe it's me... but, I am wondering - how is this improving my strategic or tactical options?!?! My game play option?!?!

(Oh, and side note: fix your map, there is an area in Florida that is land but that you have o embark/disembark to move through!!!)

Killings my business, and business is good!

10 Nov 2019, 21:01

white bird wrote:
From the Research Tree
LT Level 1
Attacking Infantry @ 6.0
Defending Against Infantry 2.0
Infantry Level 1
Attacking Light Armor @ 3.0
Defending Against Light Armor @ 6.0
Analysis
1. When LT attacks Infantry it is a wash 6.0 versus 6.0
2. When Infantry attacks LT the Infantry will win 3.0 versus 2.0
On another note:
Additionally, Infantry receive a 50% increase in strength in an urban setting while armor receives a 50% decrease.
That is a 100% swing in and of itself.
Plus another 15% homefield advantage !
One would like to think this change should convince all players to never send an armored unit into an urban setting ever again - lol
But I just found a Light Armored AC protecting an IC / urban center all by its lonesome - lol

there is no nerf ground but just buff for any troop.. so pls before posting things at least read the info they have us or at least play the cow 1.5

10 Nov 2019, 21:04

Last Warrior wrote:
white bird wrote:
Defensive strength of some units against air force seems a bit unrealistic / disproportionately out of balance?
And? Airforces were too overpowered, now they are nerfed, but still usable. SP AA and Mech. Inf. are day 6 researches, airforces after day 6 research can have 120 HP's. also its not so terrible as you think.

Air units are nerfed to the ground.. because the patrol still takes 15 mins giving 25% dmg while ground troops gives 100% attack every 30 mins. too many troops have high AA since i just shreed 2 tactics with 10 infranty LOL and i took almost no dmg.. the landing airfield are expensive as fuck and a golder just need 3800 gold ( cheap ) to destroy the airfield and with that nullify all my planes and damage them.. so if you think that air units are balanced right now my friend you understand absolutly nothing about this game or maybe you just have personal hate towards air units cuz he cant handle them but anyway right now they are useless.

10 Nov 2019, 21:13 (edited)

Last Warrior wrote:
white bird wrote:
Defensive strength of some units against air force seems a bit unrealistic / disproportionately out of balance?
And? Airforces were too overpowered, now they are nerfed, but still usable. SP AA and Mech. Inf. are day 6 researches, airforces after day 6 research can have 120 HP's. also its not so terrible as you think.

Excellent points !

I did forget to take into account what the planes could be valued at if each level of air force research had been achieved / performed for each type of plane utilized by Day 6.

Also I really wasn't attempting to complain about the air force being nerfed.

My post was attempting to illustrate some (perhaps) some inconsistency in defensive values such as:

1. An AC @ 6.0 but an LT @ 0.5 and a MT @ 1.5. What sort of weaponry does an AC carry that an LT or MT doesn't have? I'm asking seriously, as I am no weaponry expert whatsoever. It just is a bit confusing when analyzing the stats which show an LT or MT will kill the AC, but the AC can defend against a plane better.

2. There just seems to be a disparity imho between an SP Arty level 1 @ 42 and a level 1 plane that cannot be upgraded. The Air Force was not only nerfed - it was also practically eliminated for the first six days and beyond considering one has to not only construct level 4 air bases but then produce the level 4 planes after completing the level 4 researches for each type of plane. Castration is the word that comes to mind, but may be politically incorrect (as well my apologies to the women among us).

10 Nov 2019, 21:25

C88 wrote:
there is no nerf ground but just buff for any troop.. so pls before posting things at least read the info they have us or at least play the cow 1.5

Yes, You are correct. I just discovered that and edited my original post already.

I'm playing three CoW V1.5 games attempting to utilize different economic / military strategies.

Thank you.

10 Nov 2019, 21:42 (edited)

white bird wrote:
What sort of weaponry does an AC carry that and LT or MT doesn't have?

Not better weapons at itself, but better taktiks. AC is lighter, swifter, can hit and run. Have commonly more anti soft targets munitions, while MT is more hard kill machine.

But this huge disballance AC to LT is any way unrealistic. ballance AC to MT is ok. Ballance AC to Infantry is almoast ok.

AC is definitly TOP 3 buffed units in version 1.5;

TOP 1 are AA and SPAA, TOP 2 is towed artillery and RR-Gun, TOP 3 is AC. TOP 4 seatransports.

TOP 1 nerfed are airforces, except naval bomber. TOP 2 LT's; TOP 3 commandos for fight stats, but ok, they get a buff invisibility, wich is almoast obsolet, because of using OP AC by every second player.;

10 Nov 2019, 22:03

Land units and unloading convoys can do damage to each other in 1.5, avoiding infinitely long battles. Unbalanced though? 8 ship convoy killed an infantry unit in one shot.

A (balanced) fix like this is needed for CoW.

11 Nov 2019, 00:28

I like the concept of this update. I have told pretty much everyone that I believe this update could add some really good aspects to the game. Therefore, this is not an attack on the update at all but a way to make it better and CoW in general better, based off what I see has already been introduced. I believe attacking in CoW should be preferred on attacking being stronger than the defence. LT and planes have already begun to show this in 1.5 and as such am guessing this is the direction Bytro is headed? If so GREAT! I believe WW2 was an attackers war. I used to play supremacy1914 (S14) and correct me if im wrong but it is a defenders game with arty ruling the game. I remember HUGE arty slogs with 500+ units fighting in the 500 map. This works for S14 as WW1 was a defensive war. Attacking in S14 should NOT be stronger than defence

However, CoW and WW2 was an offensive and attack focused war. As such I believe the focus of CoW should be on attacking and not defence. Troops should be stronger when attacking to encourage and simulate what it was in WW2 - ofc inf units should be defensive, but an inf vs tank army should favour the tanks unbelievably. Armour units should be offensive beasts. The "meta" I believe should be mechanised units with air to simulate the "blitzkrieg" as much as possible. Planes and tanks should be strong and should rule CoW much like arty does in S14. However, the current stats of the update and really the current version do not completely simulate this. The "anti-units" (Anti-tanks and Anti-air) are WAY too strong. By having these anti-units very strong it encourages and strengthens defensive game play which is not what CoW should be. If you want to play a defensive game, play S14. For an attack focused game, play CoW. I do not believe the best way to counter tanks should be AT nor do I believe the best way to counter planes should be AA. I believe the best way to counter tanks should be with tanks, and the best way to counter planes should be planes. The battle of Britain was not (im no history expert) But 2000 German planes verses 2000 British AA guns. It was a constant dog-fight between planes vs planes. AA should provide some additional defence and bonus towards defending against planes, but it should NOT be a substitute for an air-force. Armies of WW2 where not defensive artillery, anti-tanks and anti-air forces, they where offensive tanks and plane driven armies with arty in support.

For this reason, I believe the CoW 1.5 should focus on this for its strategic game play. Those who neglect their air-force should be beaten by those who have one, AA should NOT be a substitute for a strong air-force. Given the 1.5 focus of one key resource per unit type (metal for tanks, goods for arty, rares for planes) to me it suggests having a diverse army, one that has tanks, arty and planes. However, the current stats mean AT beat tanks, AA beats planes so really we are left with defensive arty fights. Which gets me back to those big defensive arty fights of S14. Additionally, given the high cost of planes and tanks compared to the cheap costs of AA and AT, this defensive game play is further strengthened. I think 1.5 has all the makings to simulate this "meta" and be a really good update, but the anti-units should be support units that help a bit, not counters to large swarms of tanks and planes. Therefore I would recommend halving the defensive stats of AT and AA and possible increasing their costs, or deceasing the costs of planes and tanks (I will get into later costs of units which I believe are too high but further testing is required) to encourage the use of interceptors to counter plane forces, tanks to counter tank forces. Currently in Version 1 (V1) melee is not favoured. Tanks are not very strong as melee leads to high losses on both sides. This SHOULD be the cas

in tank vs tank battles, but tanks vs inf and AT I think should lead to the tanks winning quite decisively.

I hope this concept is taken into consideration or at least explained to us why if not CoW, is headed to something that is very similar to S14 with anti-units being more powerful than expensive offensive units. I do not think AA should beat planes in a 1v1. Planes should beat planes in a 1v1. AA should provide some additional help, but if a player has absolute air supremacy, they should win. It shouldn’t be a case of if I have 20 tacs, 10 AA units beat or cripple that (given that AA cost about 2.7x less than 1 plane it is much easier to spam AA and counter someones air), interceptors should. It should force me to build a stack of 10-10 ints - tacs, with my enemy building either 20 ints or 2x10-10 stacks. Again, if the enemy has overwhelming tank supremacy, an AT-arty army should not beat that.

Now while WW2 still did favour the defence, attacking with tanks and planes was quite strong and effective which currently is NOT mirrored or reflected.

11 Nov 2019, 02:01

I like the new way this version is panning out, you have to think a head and know what to expect. I am sure there will be changes to the way things operate as time and testing show issues. Good luck.

11 Nov 2019, 04:15

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet: To make units in captured Urban center, only need to build barracks, factory or whatever. No more broken IC1 !

This thread is locked. No new replies can be posted.

Back to Call of War News