The 1.6.5 PC patch following our Coral Viper update will be releasing in the first week of May, and our team wants to give you a preview of the planned multiplayer balance changes so we can get your early feedback. Overall, we’ve found that the win rates are tightening up with the last round of balance changes (though win rates are only one of several factors we consider in our decision making). Our focus with this update is to buff the lesser used Battlegroup choices to create a wider variety of effective strategic paths.

We did a similar preview with our last hot fix and were blown away by the quality of feedback you provided! Just like last time, please review the changes below and let us know what you think. Some feedback we may be able to address before the release of 1.6.5, and everything else we’ll take into consideration for the future.

Anything else you feel the power level is too low on? Other critical multiplayer balance issues you would like us to consider? Take a look below and please let us know!

- The CoH3 Design Team



Healing and Camouflage

Forward healing and camouflage are powerful tools that were able to re-activate too quickly once the unit had left combat. We are increasing the out of combat duration to make it more difficult to receive healing immediately after encountering the enemy and harder for units to re-camouflage after engagements.

• Time before they can be retriggered increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds
  
• Healing now only happens when the entire squad is out of combat

Airborne and Breakthrough Smoke Runs

• Projectile Speed increased from 0 to 15
  
• Recharge times standardized to 60 seconds

BL 5.5-inch Howitzer, Obice 210, and M2A1 105mm Howitzer

Howitzer emplacements saw minimal use due to their low durability, particularly in artillery duels against mobile artillery. We are partially reverting the health nerf to allow emplaced howitzers to better survive counter-barrage fire from on-map artillery and give players more time to react if they are being raided.

• Health increased from 480 to 600

Rearm and Retrofit

Because of the high barrier to entry that had the opportunity cost of delaying light vehicles, this upgrade was generally purchased in late-game scenarios where resources were less of a concern. To allow for easier integration with light vehicle builds, we are reducing the cost of this upgrade.

• Rearm and Refit cost reduced from 150 manpower and 30 fuel to 125 manpower and 20 fuel

Engineer Squad

The US Forces tend to struggle more against defenses and garrisons than other factions as they start with the Scout Squad rather than a unit with access to flamethrowers. While we want to keep this asymmetry, we do want standard Engineers to be a viable option. To facilitate this change, we are making Engineers more accessible by reducing their cost and giving them Satchel Charges as part of their kit, granting the US more tools to demolish early garrisons, defenses, and obstacles.

• Manpower cost reduced from 200 to 180; does not affect Assault Engineer squads.
  
• Reinforce time reduced from 6 to 3.75; matches Assault Engineers
  
• Now have access to Satchel Charges; costs 45 munitions per use.

Riflemen Pour it On ‘Em

• Now properly cancels on retreat like other timed-based abilities

Designate Assault Position

Designate Assault Position is an under-utilized ability that we want to be a viable option against forward retreat and healing. To emphasize the ability’s role in supporting infantry pushes, we are granting suppression resistance to all units affected.

• Now provides +50% suppression resistance in addition to current bonuses

Spec Ops Mark Vehicle

We are boosting the duration of Mark Target to give the player more time to focus down enemy units that are affected by this ability. The plane is also receiving a significant health increase as it was too easy to shoot down.

• Duration increased from 35 to 45
  
• Plane health increased from 1000 to 2000
  
• Recharge time increased from 30 to 60 seconds

Free Fire Drills

Free Fire Drills did not offer enough reward to the player when they built their howitzers closer to the front-line where they could be attacked by the enemy if the line was pushed. We are significantly increasing the rate of fire to encourage putting the howitzer closer to the front-line when this Battlegroup ability is selected.

• Command Point cost reduced from 3 to 2
  
• Reload speed decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
  
• Ready-aim time reduced from 2 to 1

Ammunition Storage

Ammunition Storage has languished due to a combination of opportunity cost, extremely low durability, and inability to support front-line forces. We are increasing the health and radius to give the Ammunition Storage increased survivability against direct and indirect fire while the bonuses have also been increased to solidify this structure’s role as a major force multiplier.

• Ability recharge, weapon cooldown, and reload bonuses increased from 25% to 33%
  
• Health increased from 280 to 480
  
• Aura radius increased from 30 to 35

Infantry Assault

The cost of Infantry Assault was a little too high, both in opportunity cost against the passive bonuses of Ranger Weapon Training and how quickly the ability could be shut down in certain circumstances. We are reducing the Command Point and munitions costs to increase accessibility given the high munition costs already required by the Advanced Infantry Battlegroup in the form of its Rangers.

• Command Point cost reduced from 4 to 3
  
• Munitions cost reduced from 120 to 100

Grenadier Squad

We want the decision of Merge to be more of a calculated choice, rather than a player immediately using Merge to reinforce combat squads every time it takes a single casualty. The delay will force players to decide when they want to Merge during combat situations.

• Merge now has a 15 second cooldown

2.5 Tonne Cargo Truck

• Cost changed from 240 manpower and 15 fuel to 250 manpower
  
• Now only provides resources to the owning player. Set at +8 munitions or +5 fuel depending on the point.
  
• Only one truck can be active at a signal resource point.

Call the Reserves!

We are reducing the cost of ‘Call the Reserves!’. While the ability is powerful, the requirements to set it up in advance, and the opportunity cost with the passive Bulwark ability made its current price too high.

• Munitions cost reduced from 125 to 100

Requisition Stuart Unlock

With the reduction in the Stuart’s power, the fuel cost of the Stuart unlock can now be reduced.

• Fuel price decreased from 30 to 25

Crusader 6-pounder Gun Conversion Upgrade

We are increasing the point-blank penetration of the 6-pounder Crusader to make this unit stronger once it has closed the distance with enemy vehicles.

• Point-blank penetration increased from 180 to 220

Foot Guards Section

While Foot Guards could be powerful in the right circumstances, model losses affected them disproportionately compared to other infantry squads due to their Bazookas. We are further increasing the damage done by their SMGs to remedy their fast loss in DPS when taking casualties.

• Thompson SMG damage increased from 4 to 5

Requsition Grant Unlock

We want to maintain the Grant’s role as a very powerful tank once it has been unlocked that is more in line as a tier 4.5 tank, but it still comes too early, outcompeting other options even with the current costs.

• Fuel cost increased from 35 to 50

CMP 15cwt Supply Run

The CMP 15cwt Supply Run was too risky for what it offered despite it being a core ability to the Battlegroup. We are improving the ability by slightly reducing the cost and increasing the speed of the truck when it is returning to base.

• Loaded speed penalty decreased from 66% to 56%
  
• Manpower cost reduced from 150 to 125

Indian Artillery War Cry
We are reversing the Command Point cost of War Cry and Valour.

• Command Point Cost from 2 to 1
  
• Munition cost reduced from 125 to 100

Indian Artillery Valor

• Command Point cost increased from 1 to 2

Goliath

• Rotation speed increased from 45 to 55

8- Rad Commander Mode – both Wehrmacht and Afrikakorps variants

The bonuses provided by the 8-Rad's Commander mode were far too powerful in addition to the 8-Rad being able to spot targets from afar. The following change puts the 8-Rad's Commander mode to where its intended power should be.

• Reload and accuracy bonuses set to 20% from 30/40%

Italian Infantry Sound the Alarm

• Command Point cost reduced from 2 to 1

Propaganda War

• Munition cost reduced from 150 to 120

Today’s hot fix includes some minor multiplayer balance adjustments along with several crash fixes and bug fixes. This is our first set of multiplayer changes following the 1.6.0 Coral Viper update, with additional changes planned for subsequent hot fixes and patches.

• We have implemented a server-side change to alleviate the issue of Automatch Cooldown false positives on PC. We will continue monitoring this system, but please let us know if you encounter further false positives in the days ahead.
  
• Fixed several issues that were leading to crashes.

Improved M9 Bazooka Rockets – As this tech is intended to have lower impact than the Browning Automatic Rifle upgrade, we wanted a cost that is closer to the intended power level of this technology.

• Fuel cost reduced from 40 to 30

Grenadier Squad – In general we feel the buffs given to this unit were a bit too much, especially with the power spike timing of their assault package. As such, we are reverting the cost change from 1.6.0 and standardizing the upgrade timing to match other units more closely.

• Assault Package munition cost increased from 45 to 50
  
• Assault Package research time increased from 20 to 30 seconds
  
• Sprint now prevents the unit from firing on the move.

Infanterie Kompanie Officer Quarters – The Infanterie Kompanie Officer Quarters is having its price and research time increased to slow down the momentum of Wehrmacht players going this research, and to give Allied players more time to get tools to counter veteran Axis infantry.

• Fuel cost increased from 25 to 35
  
• Research time increased from 30 seconds to 45 seconds

Breakthrough – This battlegroup has been performing a bit too well and we have identified this ability as one of the most egregious ones.

• Duration reduced from 90 to 60

Australian Light Infantry – The Australian Light Infantry are having their short and mid-range power increased to better reflect their early-game role as aggressive, anti-infantry combatants.

• Accuracy increased from 65/55/35 to 72/61/35 (short/medium/far).
  
• Increased Sharpshooter penetration from 1 to 2.

Archer Tank Destroyer – For this unit to hit the field in time to counter big tanks, we’re slightly reducing the Command Point cost.

• Reduced command point cost from 7 to 6

Bofors Emplacement – As it is pretty expensive and immobile, we wanted to give the Bofors some more presence on the map and increase its general effectiveness versus infantry.

• Health increased from 600 to 720
  
• Reload time sped up from 4 to 3 seconds
  
• Area of effect increased from 1 to 2.5
  
• Area of effect far damage increased from 0.25 to 0.4
  
• Area of effect distance increased from 0.5/0.75/1 to 0.5/1.25/2
  
• Area of effect penetration increased from 1 to 5
  
• Angle scatter increased from 2 to 5
  
• Angle scatter max increased from 2 to 4

250/3 Funkpanzerwagen - The Funkwagen being able to hide tanks, medical trucks, and Tigers was too powerful. We are removing the ability to camouflage vehicles to make the Funkwagen more infantry and team weapon focused and create less overlap with Operation Skorpion.

• Can no longer camouflage vehicles within its aura.

Afrikakorps Tiger Deployment Call-In – We love that this unit is seeing more play! However, it is hitting the battlefield too quickly and does not allow enough time for the proper counterplay. We are increasing the cost to make this unit a bit less cost effective. This will also make teching straight for it riskier.

• Fuel cost increased from 180 to 220

Panzerjeager Squad – We wanted this unit to function similarly to other units in this role like the British Anti-Tank (AT) rifles.

• Panzerbuchse AT Rifle now deals 50% less damage to buildings; except bunkers.
  
• Panzerbuchse AT Rifle deals 75% less damage to destructible ambient objects.

• Changed the visual effects of the Australian Light Infantry Sharpshooter ability to distinguish it from their standard attack.
  
• Fixed an issue where certain Team Weapons could not be targeted by infantry or vehicles.
  
• Fixed an issue where other players could benefit from the Afrikakorps’ Vehicle Awareness ability, allowing them to detect in the Fog of War.
  
• Fixed an issue where Anti-Tank Grenades and Panzerfaust abilities would trigger/finish their animation and then fire once the target has exited the unit's weapon range.
  
• Fixed several localization text errors.
  
• Fixed an issue where the incorrect menu options would appear during a match.
  
• Fixed an issue where duplicate surrender prompts could appear during a surrender vote.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Continue button would not appear in the post-match stats screen of the tutorial.