OWB 4.2.7 Tech, Equipment and Unit Balance Changes

# 4.2.7 Tech and Units Balance Changelog

Infantry, Support and Unique Tech Changes:

	Militia unit Speed modifier +10% -> +20%, Equipment requirement 18 -> 17

	Behemoth unit changes:
		Upgrade techs time to research increased by 33%
		First upgrade tech Defense +10% -> +20%, Hardness +5% -> +15%, Armor +15% -> +20%
		Second upgrade tech Recovery Rate +0.03 -> +0.05, Breakthrough +10% -> +20%
		Third upgrade tech Soft Attack +15% -> +20%, Hard Attack +10% -> +15%
		Equipment Production Cost 29 -> 30
		(Dev Note: When these techs were originally conceived, it was with the goal of improving the ability of Behemoths to scale
		throughout the game. With time, though, it's become clear that in order to accomplish this goal properly they need to make an
		increase of larger proportions to stats considering the scale of stat increases standard, multi-stage equipment lines get from
		their upgrades.)

	Fireteam and Demolitions Infantry unit changes:
		(Dev Note: For clarity, this refers to the mainline infantry platoon unit and not any other Fireteam or Demolitions unit.)
		Combat Width 2 -> 1, Manpower and Equipment requirement 25 -> 20
		+10% Soft/Hard Attack removed, Piercing +40% -> +30%, Recovery Rate 0.2 -> 0.1, Supply Use 0.35 -> 0.3
		River Movement -10% -> -15%, Amphibious Movement -15% -> -25%, granted Marsh and River Attack -15%, Amphibious Attack -25%
		(Dev Note: Whether it seems like it or not, this combat width change is perhaps the most significant adjustment in the entire
		patch for the massive implications it can have not just for the utility of the unit but also for its possible impact on
		division design. Combat width has always existed in a strange state in Old World Blues ever since HOI4's 1.11 patch that came
		with No Step Back introduced unique terrain width, a feature which OWB has, at the time of writing, yet to adopt. This is not
		necessarily an enormous problem; although it makes width design a process with little room for deviation from a 10/20 width
		paradigm, there's an argument to be made that width isn't necessarily the most engaging part of division design anyway.
		Regardless of whether that's true or not, though, OWB's choice to still use units of different widths that don't fit the
		standard scale makes units which can apply to many different divisions being 1-width quite literally a game changer.

		This change is highly experimental. While we've labored to land the stats and cost in the proper position, and we're excited at
		the prospect of Line Fireteams and Demoteams finally achieveing greater viability, it's possible that the units actually become
		too potent or overcentralizing and will require further nerfs to adjust. Or, alternatively, it's possible this change doesn't
		land as well as we hope and therefore gets reverted. We will be sure to monitor it closely and provide time for players to
		experiment and strategies to develop before making any dramatic changes--provided the power level of these units isn't vastly
		higher than we expect.)

	Fireteam and Demolitions Support unit changes:
		(Dev Note: For clarity, this refers to the support company and not any other Fireteam or Demolitions unit.)
		Manpower and Equipment requirement 15 -> 10
		Combat Stat modifiers -20% -> -40%, HP 10 -> 5, Recovery Rate 0.15 -> 0.1

	Fireteams SAW equipment Production Cost 6 -> 5.5
	Ballistic Fireteams equipment line Production Cost 9/11.5/14 -> 8/10.5/13.5

	Demolitions Dynamite equipment Soft Attack 10 -> 9
	Flamer Demolitions equipment line Soft Attack 15/20/25 -> 14/19/24, Explosive Demolitions equipment line Soft Attack 12/14.5/17 -> 11/13.5/16
	Unique Demolitions equipment Breakthrough and Soft Attack 26 -> 25

	Anti-Air Equipment Air Attack 40/55 -> 45/60

	Warhounds unit Organisation 30 -> 35, granted Breakthrough +10%



Vehicle and Robot Tech Changes:

	Motorized Fireteam Defense -20% -> -30%
	Motorized Demoteam Defense -20% changed to Breakthrough -30%
	Additional Motorized Fireteam and Demoteam unit changes:
		Recovery Rate 0.2 -> 0.1, Forest, River and Marsh Movement -10% -> -20%, Amphibious Movement -20% -> -30%
		Granted River and Marsh Attack -20%, Amphibious Attack -30%

	Eyebot Production Cost 10.5 -> 10



Doctrine Changes:

	# Perks and Doctrine School
	CnC Robots removed from Robot Terrain Bonus techs
		(Dev Note: For a while, the presence of CnC in these techs was based on an oversight, and as the mechanics currently work is
		very unbalanced since terrain bonuses are additive from support units rather than averaging like for mainline units. This does
		nerf Robots at their highest ceiling, but the very specific application and dlc exclusivity of this change coupled with the
		already planned minor buffs to Automated Warfare this patch should hopefully help alleviate this somewhat. It was also not
		necessarily integral to their strategy or performance even in more competitive multiplayer lobbies, much less singleplayer or
		for the AI which often does not utilize these techs currently, so we're hopeful that despite this technically substantially
		lowering attack and defense in certain terrain that robots will not feel too adversely affected.)

	# Automated Warfare
	Automated Warfare (Starting Doctrine Tech) Special Forces Capacity -5% removed
		(Dev Note: Considering how Automated Warfare already penalizes and does not substantially encourage a mixed army composition,
		we feel that this bonus has proven unnecessarily restrictive. Pushing too many buffs into the doctrine which affect all unit
		type runs the risk of making it far too strong for nations not planning on using robots at all given its universal factory
		output bonuses, but considering how special forces are inherently unable to make up the whole of any large army due to their
		limited capacity this malus was doing little more than stifle any chance for creative experimentation--optimal or otherwise--
		with the use of special forces together with robots.)
	Dynamic Tactics Integration Robots Max Speed +15% changed to whole Army
	Self Replicating Machinery Experience Loss Factor -10% -> -15%
	Networked AI Robot Organisation +7 -> +8

	# Conventional Warfare
	Armoured Assault Vehicles Breakthrough and Armor +5% changed to Army
		(Dev Note: Obviously Armor is not usually found on support units, which for any vehicle-only build is the only extra
		implication of this change, but it does have slight benefits for any mixed armies and so might as well be moved alongside the
		Breakthrough (the main target of this change) for consistency)
	Forward Firebase unit Combat Stat modifiers besides Breakthrough -20% -> -40%, Breakthrough -80% -> -40%, Organisation -5 -> 0, Manpower 50 -> 40
		(Dev Note: As the first change works to partially improve parity between Firebases and Fireteams, the 3 tweaks mentioned
		afterward are very minor changes from a balancing perspective that serve to only slightly offset the impact of the nerf.)
	Rapid Redployment granted Forward Firebase Entrenchment +2.0
		(Dev Note: We're returning a small amount of the previous Entrenchment bonus which Forward Firebases could provide to divisions
		which included them as slight compensation for the changes made to its stats as well as Fireteam support.)

	# Asymmetric Warfare
	Wasteland Knowledge Militia bonuses changed to all Locals units



Air Changes:

	Global Ground Attack Land Unit Org damage and Strength damage modifiers reduced from 0.12 to 0.095
		(Dev Note: The effect of this change is that each point of Ground Attack will be worth 16.7 percent--or one sixth--less with
		regards to the amount of damage dealt to land units.)
	Land Unit Air Attack maximum CAS damage reduction reduced from 90% to 80%
		(Dev Note: First, to clarify the mechanics of this change, Air Attack as a stat on land units on top of dealing damage to enemy
		aircraft also has the effect of reducing damage from enemy CAS missions percentually. This reduction has a cap, however, which
		is set at 75% in vanilla and as of this patch 80% in OWB. Note that this change does not affect the amount of Air Attack
		required to reach an 80% reduction, meaning Air Attack values below a reduction of 80% are no weaker from this change.

		Secondly, to talk about the reasons for this shift. When 4.0 was originally released, it was following a period in the game's
		history where Air, particularly CAS, was extremely dominant. It had been so to the point that it began to overcentralize the
		game not just for competitive players but for more casual ones as well as knowledge of its power gradually spread. In response,
		4.0 levied several very high nerfs onto CAS, one of which was raising the aforementioned damage reduction cap from 75% to 90%.
		While this was a big part in the success of the changes, it also tends to create a rather dramatic disparity between facing
		enemies with relatively high air attack due to how the proportions work; the difference between 90 and 100 Air Attack would
		render CAS *half* as effective by reducing its output from 20% of its base to 10% of its base. This makes balancing the tug of
		war between AA and CAS extremely difficult, which is counter to the interest of keeping air viable but not dominant.

		Considering the high amount of Air Attack required to actually reach this high reduction, we expect that when coupled with the
		other changes this patch will most likely nerf Close Air Support on the whole, but we will continue to monitor the situation
		and make prompt adjustments should it become a serious balance outlier yet again.)

	Barrage Balloon Air Attack 24 -> 25

	Naval CAS Plane variants Ground and Naval Attack values swapped
		(Dev Note: Due to an oversight, the stats on Naval variants of CAS aircraft were actually never properly set like their bomber
		counterparts, which is now rectified with this change.)
	Naval Targeting lowered from 2 to 1 for all CAS planes besides Naval CAS variants
	CAS Aircraft Air Superiority 0.6/0.8/1.0/1.2 -> 0.5/0.6/0.7/0.8
	VB Gunship Air Superiority 1 -> 0.7, Xian CAS Air Superiority 0.8 -> 0.6

	Airships Air Superiority 2/3/4/5 -> 3/4/5/6



Navy Changes:

	Light Hulls base production cost 200/500/800/1100/1400 -> 300/400/550/750/1000
	Medium Hulls base production cost 400/850/1400/2050/2800 -> 600/800/1050/1500/2050
	Heavy Hulls base production cost 800/1800/2800/3900/5100 -> 1200/1600/2050/2650/3400
	Refurbished Tanker Hull base production cost 9000 -> 4800, Personal Floating Palace hull base production cost 10800 -> 6400
		(Dev Note: The production cost scaling for Naval Hulls has long been excessively aggressive, creating a situation where ship
		cost dramatically out scales the gain in stats and module slots that hulls can bring. Of course, rectifying this is somewhat
		dangerous due to the risk of making high naval technology too disproportionately influential on the strength of a fleet, but
		we'll be closely monitoring the effects of these changes and likely make further adjustments down the road until we reach a
		desirable spot.)