Panzer Battles - Kursk Version 1.01 released

[Strela]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

I posted all the above at 1 AM this morning and didn't have time to provide a little further colour.

Hard Fire Modifier This value is currently set at 1 in the PDT, ie. it is not having an effect. The PDT entry impacts all hard attack shots by scaling the hard attack value. Putting a PDT value of 1.25 means that there will be a 25% lift in the base hard attack value (eg 20 would become 25). This applies consistently for both sides as the scaling for different weapons is already built into the values. We included this value to allow players to customise their games - if they want bloodier armored combat, increase the value. The same can be said for lowering the lethality by reducing the PDT value below 1. The main reason we didn't change the PDT value in Kursk is that it had an impact on other areas such as bunker attacks and we were concerned about tipping balance and other things out the window. We'd be happy to hear peoples experiences as they try various iterations of this variable.


Elevation modifier This value was already in game for units that were firing at a target up hill. The target unit was considered to be able to find hull down positions easily when at a higher altitude. We have now applied an inverse modifier for firing from height down at a target. This has been included for two reasons; firstly there is usually less impact of defensive terrain when fired on from above and secondly units are generally more vulnerable when taking fire through upper armour etc. these modifiers help to really emphasise why taking and holding high ground is a key military consideration. Important note, the elevation modifier is per height level. Being two height levels above or below doubles the modifier.


Fog of War changes No, you guys didn't ask for these! Ed Williams suggested that we have a look at this. When you think about the ranges we are talking about, units in the clear are pretty easy to see and size. We decided players could see whether a hex had more mass than another if there was little cover present. Hence the leading value being revealed. Obviously, this means units that are sub 10 reveal their actual size. This is deliberate and takes into consideration the fact that its pretty easy to determine size accurately - the less vehicles/men in a platoon, the easier it is to count them. As others have pointed out in this thread, it allows more 'intelligent' target acquisition whether with direct or indirect fire. It also means that moving in cover has an additional dimension of not revealing these size clues and should be another consideration when moving overall.


AA range calculation This should now work exactly like PzC/MC. The fire value is not doubled in hex - fly your stukas with (a little) impunity.


AOF changes The way to use these previously were confusing. Essentially a scenarios starts off with whatever the scenario designer has set. Its now easier to reset all values and customise individual units as required.


Isolation determination for engineers There were a few rare instances where engineers were being marked isolated despite clearing the minefield they were in.


Fixed vehicles and passengers This fixed an exploit where passengers cannot be marked fixed while loaded. This allowed players to unload passengers on fixed vehicles in the rear and move them. This is no longer the case as passengers will assume the fixed state of their transport at the time of disembarking.


HQ symbols removed from vehicles Players were getting too much intelligence from this status being shown in the NATO symbology on the counter. It has been changed back to the default for the company. The impact of this is offset somewhat with the new fog of war rules if a unit is moving in the open as it's size will be shown.


All else is hopefully self explanatory.


As far as having a head start on Panzer battles 2 - we did, but have redone a fair bit of what we inherited. For all intents and purposes it was a new game - so our minimum 18 months still stands...!

David