Our next test phase of Call of War 1.5 is starting on May 25th 2020. We already told you about Doctrines, Attack Bombers and Rocket Artilleries last week, but there is so much more!
Runtime
Let’s start with how long we plan on keeping this test phase running for. You might have noticed that we did not call it an ‘event’, like we did with previous iterations of Call of War 1.5. That is because we are confident enough to have Call of War 1.5 run longer than ever before. This test phase has an open end. You will be able to sign up for new game rounds not only this weekend, but also the week after, the following weekend and the week after that etc…
More Maps
So far all our Call of War 1.5 tests were done on the 22 player “Clash of Nations” map. This time we want to scale things up a bit. We took the time to make the beloved 100 player “World at War” map Call of War 1.5 ready! This classic map will be available during the test as well. During the Call of War 1.5 test phase there will be a CoW 1.5 version and a CoW 1.0 versions of both maps available to players. The 100 player map also features all four of the new Doctrines on one map, so don’t miss out on the fun! We are already working on other maps to get them ready for Call of War 1.5, so more maps are coming soon!
Paratroopers
With Call of War 1.5 paratroopers get a feature the community has been asking for, a ‘convert feature’. This new feature allows generals to have their paratroopers board a plane again, after they got deployed. The ‘convert feature’ converts the paratrooper from an infantry back to a plane. This can be done anywhere on the map, but we highly recommend to do it in a province with an airstrip. Converting a Paratrooper will cost time and money. This makes paratroopers much more flexible and a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield!
Game Ending Timer
All Call of War 1.5 game rounds have a maximum run time, the same way events have them. When the time is up, the player or coalition with the most points wins the game round. Game ending timers prevent long running games with a low amount of active players from continuing, to avoid straining our game servers. For now, smaller maps will run 5 weeks, medium sized maps will run 7 weeks and large maps will run 10 weeks, if not won earlier. With the implementation of the end game timer only system generated maps will be affected. However, user generated maps will receive a game ending timer at a later stage as well.
Interface changes
The new test phase of Call of War 1.5 also brings an overhaul of the user interface to allow the new Doctrines being highlighted in various menus throughout the game. You will notice that with the new interface historical unit names are featured more prominently in the production menu and in the unit details panel. With the new interface we also disabled production and rally point buttons for rural provinces, as production is limited to urban provinces in Call of War 1.5. This significant change in Call of War 1.5 is also reflected when toggling through provinces in a game round. You now switch from urban provinces to other urban provinces and from rural provinces to other rural provinces.
Balancing changes
Last but not least, there are a lot of balancing changes in this latest version of Call of War 1.5! Like in the past, these balancing changes are heavily influenced by the community feedback we received in the last test event. We will focus on the main changes in this article, but you can find a more detailed list with all changes in the forums.
Research does not cost manpower anymore. We replaced previous manpower costs by normal resources costs, specific to each unit.
We rebalanced resources in general to alleviate resource constraints players experienced especially in the early stages of our last test event.
The stack limit at which additional units do not add any more damage to an army is lowered from 15 to 10 units.
Upgrading costs were reduced from 100% to 50% of the target level price.
We added a new “Local Port” building, that allows units to embark or disembark faster in rural provinces.
Apart from these big changes we did a lot of fine grained balancing changes to individual units related to the community feedback, the new Doctrines and the new units in the game. Check out the forum post containing all the details. Let us know what you think there and share your experiences over the next couple of weeks while you play Call of War 1.5. We are eager to hear from you!
Your Bytro Team
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122 Replies
19 Jun 2020, 13:14
SirWayne wrote:
from my prospective unrealistic.
Think about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They were there for a long time and controlled the cities, but lost a lot of troops in the outer provinces.
The German occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece. Same thing, the partisans cost them a lot of casualties.
US forces in Vietnam. The bases were fine, The countryside was a whole different matter.
I think historically they have the revolt aspect in perspective. If you commit the troops, you can control it. Leave it unoccupied and most anything could happen.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
19 Jun 2020, 22:44
Peter Mat wrote:
SirWayne wrote:
from my prospective unrealistic.
Think about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They were there for a long time and controlled the cities, but lost a lot of troops in the outer provinces.The German occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece. Same thing, the partisans cost them a lot of casualties.
US forces in Vietnam. The bases were fine, The countryside was a whole different matter.
I think historically they have the revolt aspect in perspective. If you commit the troops, you can control it. Leave it unoccupied and most anything could happen.
I did leave a troop it died
20 Jun 2020, 00:07
SirWayne wrote:
Peter Mat wrote:
SirWayne wrote:
from my prospective unrealistic.
Think about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They were there for a long time and controlled the cities, but lost a lot of troops in the outer provinces.The German occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece. Same thing, the partisans cost them a lot of casualties.US forces in Vietnam. The bases were fine, The countryside was a whole different matter.
I think historically they have the revolt aspect in perspective. If you commit the troops, you can control it. Leave it unoccupied and most anything could happen.
I did leave a troop it died
Troops might die if it is too weak.
20 Jun 2020, 01:38
RiverWolf74 wrote:
Troops might die if it is too weak.
Armored division being destroyed by rebels armed with sticks and bricks,
happens all the time in RL!
20 Jun 2020, 04:02
cycle9 wrote:
Armored division being destroyed by rebels armed with sticks and bricks,
happens all the time in RL!
I think the Germans lost a bunch of tanks to Molotov cocktails in some of the city fighting that took place in Russia. Though I tend to agree that the number of factors needed to keep the province quiet seems a bit high. I think they are addressing that in the recent update. I will have to reread the notes on that.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
20 Jun 2020, 14:31
Manpower requirements:
The manpower requirements for various units seems out of proportion. For example a B-17 had a crew of 11 men, a fighter has 1 man, an attack bomber usually a crew of 2. then there is the ground crew. It seems like all units require 1,000 men +/- several hundred. A battleship had several 1,000 men on board, same with an aircraft carrier, while subs and destroyers had crews of less then 100 men.
Earlier in this thread I mentioned about the manpower requirement to upgrade a unit but not getting a boost in morale of the unit. If we have to pay 50% of a new unit cost to upgrade, we should get a substantial boost in morale on a unit we are upgrading. Or if no morale improvement is going to occur then substantially reduce the manpower cost.
I think some further balancing needs to be looked at on this subject, if you are looking to have some historical accuracy.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
21 Jun 2020, 12:49
Aircraft units are squadrons, not single planes. The manning requirements include the ordnance and maintenance crews.
Same with subs and destroyers, a unit is more than one ship.
It is true that battleships and carriers require FAR more manpower than COW1.5 uses, but it is just a game.
The much greater problem is that there is only one method of increasing manpower production, and it is very slow, especially in non-urban, resource producing provinces. Presumably, oil production requires manpower, but non-productive provinces have a small excess of manpower?
21 Jun 2020, 16:26
cycle9 wrote:
Aircraft units are squadrons, not single planes.
Yes I understand they are squadrons and not single planes. My point was that if a squadron of fighters has the same number of planes as a squadron of B-17's, the B-17 squadron would require 11 times the manpower to crew the planes as the fighter squadron would require. In addition it would likely require a larger ground crew due to the ordinance the bomber carried, 4 times the number of engines to maintain, etc. Therefore, there should be more distinction in the manpower requirements then currently exist.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
22 Jun 2020, 17:33
Peter Mat wrote:
cycle9 wrote:
Aircraft units are squadrons, not single planes.
Yes I understand they are squadrons and not single planes. My point was that if a squadron of fighters has the same number of planes as a squadron of B-17's, the B-17 squadron would require 11 times the manpower to crew the planes as the fighter squadron would require. In addition it would likely require a larger ground crew due to the ordinance the bomber carried, 4 times the number of engines to maintain, etc. Therefore, there should be more distinction in the manpower requirements then currently exist.
But who says that a bomber squadron and a fighter squadron have the exact same amount of planes?
Anyway, the manpower costs are not set to be super realistic, they are set for balancing reasons. In the traditional RTS sense they work more like a "population cap" mechanic, which prevents you to spam alot of strong units. So right now in the balancing stronger or more useful units require more manpower, as well as more of the other resources.
Otherwise, if everyone was low on manpower/resources, those stronger units would be spammed like hell (and on the contrary weaker units would be rarely used) and we don't want that.
Example: Who would continue to build Strategic Bombers if their manpower costs were 11 times as high as those of fighters? Players consider strategic bombers usually even as worse units than fighters, and nobody wants to pay more for less.
25 Jun 2020, 03:40 (edited)
I just realized there is another bug in the programming when I was witnessing and then got involved in a dog fight tonight.
Currently ground units involved in combat can not have their morale boosted with gold. However, what I witnesses is that planes can. The player put 10 TAC bombers on patrol over a stack of 40+ ground units and after each Tic his stack would drop below 90%. Then he would spend 3,000 gold (from what he told me), to get back above 90, and once even reached 100%. I opted to get my AA involved during the battle as they were going to be toast anyway when the land stack (controlled by another player) reached me. My AA was quickly down to 7% and was not involved in the land mele' nearby so I figured what the heck and decided to spend 175 gold to boost them. I received an in game message that units in a combat zone can not have their morale boosted. Seems like in your programming for gold boosts of unit morale you either need to fix it so if a planes combat circle includes an enemy ground unit it can not boost, or just do away with the restrictions on the ground units. As it is currently programmed the situation that occurred this evening was totally unfair. When I left that stack of 40+ was down to 10 units and the 10 TAC were still at 90% morale. This situation is the equivalent of programming a button - "Pay 25,000 gold and evaporate the enemy stack of your choice" I think the player tonight spent around 15,000 to 18,000 on just the plane repair tics I witnessed, while no one on the ground was allowed to.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
25 Jun 2020, 16:14
Peter Mat wrote:
I just realized there is another bug in the programming when I was witnessing and then got involved in a dog fight tonight.
Currently ground units involved in combat can not have their morale boosted with gold. However, what I witnesses is that planes can. The player put 10 TAC bombers on patrol over a stack of 40+ ground units and after each Tic his stack would drop below 90%. Then he would spend 3,000 gold (from what he told me), to get back above 90, and once even reached 100%. I opted to get my AA involved during the battle as they were going to be toast anyway when the land stack (controlled by another player) reached me. My AA was quickly down to 7% and was not involved in the land mele' nearby so I figured what the heck and decided to spend 175 gold to boost them. I received an in game message that units in a combat zone can not have their morale boosted. Seems like in your programming for gold boosts of unit morale you either need to fix it so if a planes combat circle includes an enemy ground unit it can not boost, or just do away with the restrictions on the ground units. As it is currently programmed the situation that occurred this evening was totally unfair. When I left that stack of 40+ was down to 10 units and the 10 TAC were still at 90% morale. This situation is the equivalent of programming a button - "Pay 25,000 gold and evaporate the enemy stack of your choice" I think the player tonight spent around 15,000 to 18,000 on just the plane repair tics I witnessed, while no one on the ground was allowed to.
Thanks for the report. I tried to reproduce this, but was not able to. I let a tactical bomber patrol over a lone ground unit. Both units damaged eachother, both units could be healed while the patrol was still ongoing.
Only ground troops which are locked in close bombat can't be healed. I assume that your anti air was somehow locked in battle with another unit nearby. Or there was another reason for such a bug that we don't know about, but in that case I would need more info how to reproduce it. It does not seem to be a general problem at least.
25 Jun 2020, 16:49
freezy wrote:
Only ground troops which are locked in close bombat can't be healed.
A very true statement for ground/naval units locked in closed combat ... A practice that I have seen used by many is to send units that need healing to guard a key city or province for 2-3 days- where they can heal if undisturbed ...
25 Jun 2020, 19:17
freezy wrote:
Only ground troops which are locked in close bombat can't be healed. I assume that your anti air was somehow locked in battle with another unit nearby. Or there was another reason for such a bug that we don't know about, but in that case I would need more info how to reproduce it. It does not seem to be a general problem at least.
In my instance there was a ground combat going on between two players just off the city center dot. My AA was on hte dot and not involved in that battle. The TAC were overhead doing their combat patrol. The game gave me a message that my unit was to close to a combat zone to be healed.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
25 Jun 2020, 22:40
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
25 Jun 2020, 23:01
Vichy wrote:
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
Where the elite AI are tough is where a player developed the nation and then leaves. I actually watched a player be eliminated by the AI on the 22 player map in this situation, though he was very likely low level and not versed in the combat system.
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, Jr. "Do, or do not. There is no try" - Yoda
25 Jun 2020, 23:15
Peter Mat wrote:
Vichy wrote:
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
Where the elite AI are tough is where a player developed the nation and then leaves. I actually watched a player be eliminated by the AI on the 22 player map in this situation, though he was very likely low level and not versed in the combat system.
yes, but it's a pity that the regular ai are so stupid. It's not even easy mode, it's far worse.
26 Jun 2020, 00:21
Vichy wrote:
Peter Mat wrote:
Vichy wrote:
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
Where the elite AI are tough is where a player developed the nation and then leaves. I actually watched a player be eliminated by the AI on the 22 player map in this situation, though he was very likely low level and not versed in the combat system.
yes, but it's a pity that the regular ai are so stupid. It's not even easy mode, it's far worse.
Yeah in 1.5 they don't even do anything.
26 Jun 2020, 15:12
Peter Mat wrote:
freezy wrote:
Only ground troops which are locked in close bombat can't be healed. I assume that your anti air was somehow locked in battle with another unit nearby. Or there was another reason for such a bug that we don't know about, but in that case I would need more info how to reproduce it. It does not seem to be a general problem at least.
In my instance there was a ground combat going on between two players just off the city center dot. My AA was on hte dot and not involved in that battle. The TAC were overhead doing their combat patrol. The game gave me a message that my unit was to close to a combat zone to be healed.
Then it was due to the combat of the other ground troops near your anti air, and not due to the patroling planes.
RiverWolf74 wrote:
Vichy wrote:
Peter Mat wrote:
Vichy wrote:
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
Where the elite AI are tough is where a player developed the nation and then leaves. I actually watched a player be eliminated by the AI on the 22 player map in this situation, though he was very likely low level and not versed in the combat system.
yes, but it's a pity that the regular ai are so stupid. It's not even easy mode, it's far worse.
Yeah in 1.5 they don't even do anything.
They do stuff but it takes time. AI does not start to do anything until day 3, except when attacked earlier. So yeah they become more dangerous the longer the game goes on or if they take over an inactive player.
26 Jun 2020, 15:40
freezy wrote:
Peter Mat wrote:
freezy wrote:
Only ground troops which are locked in close bombat can't be healed. I assume that your anti air was somehow locked in battle with another unit nearby. Or there was another reason for such a bug that we don't know about, but in that case I would need more info how to reproduce it. It does not seem to be a general problem at least.
In my instance there was a ground combat going on between two players just off the city center dot. My AA was on hte dot and not involved in that battle. The TAC were overhead doing their combat patrol. The game gave me a message that my unit was to close to a combat zone to be healed.
Then it was due to the combat of the other ground troops near your anti air, and not due to the patroling planes.
RiverWolf74 wrote:
Vichy wrote:
Peter Mat wrote:
Vichy wrote:
what about the AI ?
They look stupid. Early game, they are building roads in their only city, and industrial complex on random province. It's a little sad i think. Easy early game, why not, but they are defenseless now. I'm currently desesperatly trying to save them.
Where the elite AI are tough is where a player developed the nation and then leaves. I actually watched a player be eliminated by the AI on the 22 player map in this situation, though he was very likely low level and not versed in the combat system.
yes, but it's a pity that the regular ai are so stupid. It's not even easy mode, it's far worse.
Yeah in 1.5 they don't even do anything.
They do stuff but it takes time. AI does not start to do anything until day 3, except when attacked earlier. So yeah they become more dangerous the longer the game goes on or if they take over an inactive player.
Yeah but the AI isn't very smart, for instance it builds naval bases but doesn't even produce any navy and builds infastructure and other buildings randomly, and doesn't produce many units.
26 Jun 2020, 19:24
ok i understand, but they must be at the beginning on a easy mode, if you want. Not on a brainless and foul mode. I see that almost ALL the ai are building, and since day 1, transport structures in their cities provinces. I might have missed something, but what's the point ? Spending resources in useless things ?
Ok, i recognize that i saw players did the same
But wait a minute, i'm just thinking... It may have been the AI that did that : i didn't think about that problem. Imagine a game, it happens that you join it at day 2, day 3 sometimes, even more. In addition to the easy ai that may be a little disadvantage (no research, no troops created, i don't know), if the ai had build useless buildings and nothing usefull, it could be a real burden and problem for the player. So here another question : if you think that ai are good like they are, are the ai of countries playable at least a little more intelligent in the first days ?
