OWB 4.1.15 Tech, Equipment and Unit Balance Changes

# 4.1.15 Tech and Units Balance Changelog

General Changes:


	# Caps Changes

	Flat Caps Expenses per battalion increased by ~9%
	Exponential Caps Expenses per battalion increased by ~17%
		(Dev Note: The number of battalions required for expenses to be double the flat amount becomes 2500 instead of 3000 due to this change.)

	Invest Stimulus Decision Base Caps Cost 250 -> 200, Node Development +0.5 -> +0.25
	Invest Stimulus Decision changed to now refund 25k caps for every 1 Development below 2 that the Node had (before receiving +0.25 from the decision)
		(Dev Note: For example, if you were to use the decision on a Node at level 0.5, you would be refunded 2 - 0.5 * 25k = 37.5k Caps. A node at 1.0 would reward 25k, a node at 1.5 would reward 12.5k, and so on. While this is still undoubtedly a nerf to the Stimulus decision, it should be noted that it was only in a patch after 4.0 that the cost was raised to 250 in exchange for the Node Development going up from 0.25 to 0.5, so the decision is still stronger than it was then. Furthermore, given that the change is more so meant to target richer nations, the reward scaling being inversely proportional to Node Development helps to further facilitate the decision's purpose as a means for boosting weaker nodes.

		Also, yes, it is known that this increase would scale farther for the rare instances of nodes with a negative development level, such as Sac City.)


	# Law Changes

	Early Conscription Laws for some nations given slightly adjusted (mostly raised) Recruitable Population:
		Settler first law Conscription and Mobilization Speed +3% -> +3.5%
		Tribal first law Conscription +3% -> +3.5%, second law Conscription +6% -> +6.5%
		Raider first law Conscription +4% -> +4.5%, second law Conscription +6% -> 6.5%, fourth law Conscription +11% -> +11.5%
		Brotherhood first law Conscription +2% -> +2.5%
		Legion first law Conscription +5% -> +5.5%, second law Conscription +8% -> +8.5%
		Ghoul Law Conscription Factors -20% changed to +0%/-5%/-10%/-15% across the 4 laws
		Shi Conscription Law Recruitable Population Factor -15% removed

		(Dev Note: The results of changes to conscription laws in 4.1.13 are something we are happy with overall, but the nerfs to some early laws ended up disproportionately affecting the early game, especially for smaller nations, more than we would have liked. The slight bumps to early laws contained here should help alleviate this somewhat and get newer players off the ground without increasing the ceilings for most countries much if at all.)

	Trade Law Passive Caps bonuses reversed (from Closed Economy to Free Trade, +0/+1/+2/+3 -> +3/+2/+1+0)


	# Major Business Changes

	Energy Weapon Manufacturer Infantry Equipment Air Attack +5% removed
	Power Armour Manufacturer Power Armour Hardness -5% removed
	Tank Manufacturer Tank Hard Attack +5% changed to Soft Attack +5%
	Pre-War Weapon Manufacturer Infantry Equipment Breakthrough +5% -> +10%
	Pre-War Electronics Concern granted +5% Energy Gain



Industry, Engineering and Tribal Tech Changes:

	Ohm's Law Research Speed +2% -> +2.5%
	Vacuum Tubes Research Speed +4% -> +3.5%



Infantry Changes:

	Crowd Gear Defense 1.5 -> 2, Hard Attack 1 -> 1.5, granted Suppression 0.1
	CqC Training Enforcers and Motorized Enforcers Recovery Rate +0.02 -> +0.03, granted +5% Movement on Urban and Forts
	Riot Gear Defense 3 -> 3.5, Breakthrough 6 -> 6.5, Hard Attack 2 -> 3, granted Suppression 0.2
		(Dev Note: Enforcers have been struggling in the meta recently. While we understand that the largest reason for this is down to the Recovery Rate of the unit, and the same could be said of the only somewhat stronger Motorized Enforcers, due to the fact that units with such low Recovery Rate are quite rare and the limitation does not render the unit fundamentally unusable in some fashion, we hope to improve the utility of the unit in other areas to ensure more asymmetry between all the different units in the game.

		Of course, a small bump to the starting Recovery Rate is still something that's definitely on the table for these units, but by allowing them to be strong with this limitation we can provide more room for units to simultaneously coexist as a viable option for certain contexts. If Enforcers simply had the same Organisation and Recovery Rate as Infantry, even if we lowered the stats or increased the hardness we'd still be making the units more similar overall and thus more liable to crowd one another out of being useful on any given patch.)

	Militia Base Organisation 40 -> 45

	Ballistic Fibres Spec Ops and Nightkin Hardness +20% -> +15%

	Power Armour Frame Hardness 40% -> 50%, Production Cost 6 -> 5.5
	Stripped Power Armour Hardness 50% -> 55%

	Horses River Movement -10% -> -15%, Attack and Defense -15% -> -20%. Amphibious Movement -10% -> -25%, Attack and Defense -15% -> -35%
	Horses Organisation 70 -> 65, Air Attack -20% -> -50%, granted -10% Movement, Attack and Defense in Marshes and -5% Movement, Attack and Defense in Jungles
	Horse equipments Reliability -95% -> -90%, Soft Attack 4/5/6 -> 3/4/5, Hard Attack 2/2.5/3, Production Cost 10/13/15.5 -> 9.5/12/14.5
	Horses II Water Cost 2 -> 3. Horses III Water Cost 2 -> 3, Metal Cost 1 -> 2

	Behemoth unit base Organisation 35 -> 30, granted +5% Attack on Mountains and Hills
	Behemoth Defense 12 -> 15, Breakthrough 26 -> 29, Hardness 50% -> 40%, Hard Attack 18 -> 20, Piercing 35 -> 36, Reliability 100% -> 95%, Production Cost 28 -> 29
	Behemoth First Upgrade Tech Armor +10% -> +15%
	Behemoth Second Upgrade Tech Recovery Rate +0.02 -> +0.03
	Behemoth Third Upgrade Tech Hard Attack +5% -> +10%
		(Dev Note: Behemoths benefitted greatly from the added sub-technologies, but we wanted to move some of their strength away from hardness, due to the abundance of it throughout the mod, while still keeping the Armor high enough to require Piercing investment. More importantly, though, these tweaks provide some added Hard Attack that should aid many of the nations which can acquire Behemoths in handling armored enemies despite their lower tech levels and research ability, such as Troll Warren vs Washington Brotherhood or non-CALIX route Shale's Army vs Ironmongers.)

	Molerat Air Attack -50% -> -90%

	Sentinel Command Equipment Production Cost 8 -> 7
	Sentinel Automated Power Armour unit granted Hardness +10%. Defense +15% -> +20%, Soft and Hard Attack +15% -> +10%.



Vehicle Changes:

	Motorized Enforcers unit Hardness -20% -> -30%, Amphibious Movement -15% -> -25%
		(Dev Note: This is primarily to slightly offset the above Enforcer Equipment buffs, which are more so intended to benefit the standard walking unit)

	Motorized Fireteams and Demoteams granted +10% Piercing

	Active Protection System Tech granted Vehicle Max Speed -5%
	Mobile Assault Weaponry Vehicle Soft Attack +5% -> +6%, Hard Attack +5% -> +3%



Robot Changes:

	All Sophisticated Robotics tech Research Time increased by 10%
	Dedicated Mechanics, Improved Manufacturing and Peak Efficiency Research time reduced by ~23%, Robot Production Cost -10% -> -5%, Conscription Factor -20% -> -15%
	Dedicated Mechanics, Improved Manufacturing and Peak Efficiency Robot +5 Organisation Bonuses condensed to Frontline Robots +5 Organisation


	Precision Motors Robot Breakthrough +10% -> +6%, granted +2 Robot Organisation
	Thruster Engines Robot Max Speed +5% -> +3%
	Impact Resistant Chassis Robot Defense +5% Removed, HP +10% -> +15%


	Bipedal and Thruster Robots Soft and Hard Attack values all swapped
		(Dev Note: Swapping around the stats of the two variants for support robots may seem very confusing and unnecessary at first glance, which is understandable. Part of the reasoning for the change has to do with the other differences the two equipment lines bear, namely in speed, armor and the split of defense and breakthrough. We're essentially of the opinion that a more soft attack heavy bipedal robot unit and a more hard attack heavy thruster robot is a better archetypical setup, however slightly, both for the game's state now and for the purposes of future balancing.)


	Protectron Mk1 Breakthrough 4.5 -> 5, Armor 10 -> 12, Piercing 7 -> 5. Handy Armor 4 -> 6, Breakthrough 5 -> 6
	Protectron Mk2 Breakthrough 5 -> 5.5, Armor 15 -> 16, Piercing 10 -> 8. Gutsy Armor 8 -> 10, Breakthrough 6 -> 6.5
	Assaultron Mk1 Piercing 13.5 -> 11. Blasto Armor 12 -> 14
	Assaultron Mk2 Defense 23 -> 22, Breakthrough 7 -> 6.5, Armor 25 -> 24, Piercing 17 -> 14. Blasto Mk2 Defense 19 -> 17.5, Breakthrough 8 -> 7.5, Armor 16 -> 18
	Heavy Lifter Hardness 60% -> 65%, Soft Attack 12 -> 13, Sentry Bot Mk2 Breakthrough 20 -> 19, Hardness 80% -> 75%
	Eyebot Soft and Hard Attack 8.5 -> 8, Robobrain Soft and Hard Attack 13 -> 12
		(Dev Note: The goal here is that the changes in this patch will help limit the absurd heights of Sophisticated Robots somewhat without nerfing the early game technologies quite as much, continuing on the gradual trajectory towards a place where Robots can be viable for more than just the nations given the strongest modifiers and technology yet not too absurd when in the hands of a nation which is specifically built to use them.)



Support Changes:

	All Support Technologies Research Time reduced by 10%
		(Dev Note: While higher limits on research are something we're generally pleased with, Support Company technology is an area where countries may often feel that they can't afford to branch out to all the different units they might otherwise consider. This is in part because Support Companies are often low impact for the research time they require, given that they often serve purposes more focused on utility and make up a smaller portion of a division's total stats.

		We hope that this change, however marginally, will enable more flexibility in this regard, slightly alleviating the total research burden on nations in a manner which encourages a more mixed army composition rather than enabling the rushing of equipment for specific frontline units. This is something we plan to expand upon in a future patch, likely including scaling increases of research time for techs that require higher tech levels as has been done for some other areas recently. Said scaling will still make for only a slight cost increase, though.)

	Demolition and Fireteam line battalions Piercing +30% -> +40%



Doctrine Changes:

	# Automated Warfare
	Dynamic Tactics Integration Robot Defense and Breakthrough +5% changed to all Army
	Robotic Commander Proxies Planning Speed +5% -> +10%
	Robust Network Coordination +5% -> +2.5%
	Combat Simulations Planning Speed +5% removed
	Standardised Blueprints Experience Soldiers Losses -30% -> -25%
	Networked AI Robot Organisation +8 -> +7
	Internal Replicators Robot Hardness +10% -> +5%
	War Games Robot Soft and Hard Attack +5% replaced with Breakthrough +10%. CnC Organisation -30 -> -25. Daily Command Power +0.1 changed to a multiplicative +10%
	Human Commanders Robot Breakthrough +10% removed, Soft and Hard Attack +5% -> +10%. CnC Organisation -30 -> -25
	Age of the Machine CnC Soft and Hard Attack +20% -> +15%, Organisation -20 -> -30
		(Dev Note: In tandem with the previously listed Robot changes, these doctrine nerfs generally target doctrine techs more the later they are in the tree. While we don't want to change the idea of Doctrines ending with some of their most powerful modifiers, doing this helps us lower the ceiling for Robots while keeping the earlier techs relatively strong, thus making it more feasible for a nation not typically set up to make Robots to pursue them anyway. This is something we will continue to pursue for the future, as perhaps the biggest central theme for the balance patches since 4.0 has been increasing the amount of viable approaches to playing Old World Blues, however difficult a task it may sometimes be.)


	# Conventional Warfare
	Forward Firebase unit granted -20% Defense, Breakthrough -90% -> -80%
		(Dev Note: The negligible Breakthrough of Fireteam equipment makes the latter change extremely minor in practice.)
	Rapid Redeployment Firebase Entrenchment +2 removed, Organisation +5 -> +10


	# Outsider Warfare
	Mutated Strength Mutant Soft Attack and Hard Attack +10% -> +8%



Air Changes:

	Land Unit Air Attack damage per hit reduced by ~9%