OWB 4.2.12 Tech, Equipment and Unit Balance Changes

# 4.2.12 Tech and Units Balance Changelog

New Units:

	Added Combined Arms platoons, a new mainline platoon unit using a mix of Fireteam, Anti-Tank and Demolitions equipment. The unit is unlocked and buffed via the Anti-Tank techs and has unit modifiers balancing it around high piercing and hard attack. They do not count as Demolitions or Fireteams for bonuses but do count as Weapon Infantry



General Changes:

	Added Cavalry bonuses to the Animal Friend unit leader trait

	Entrenchment Combat Bonus increased from 1.5% per level of Entrenchment to 2%

		(Dev Note: This value was originally lowered from its vanilla value of 2% in 4.1.13. At the time, stall strategies and defensive combat were something of a concern. Since then, though, more offensive strategies have risen on account of both buffs and just greater popularity upon people discovering and experimenting with them. As a result, and to counter the huge dominance of mobility strategies, we're going to be trying to put this value back at its default. We'll be keeping a close eye on it and making sure this doesn't have any adverse effects.)



Infantry Changes:

	Militia unit Defense -10% removed, Supply Use 0.2 -> 0.15, Urban Movement +15% -> +20%, Urban Attack and Defense +5% -> +10%

	Enforcers unit Breakthrough +10% -> +20%
	Enforcers Crowd Gear equipment Defense, Soft Attack and Hard Attack 1.5 -> 2. Armor 15 -> 20
	Enforcers Riot Gear equipment Defense, Soft Attack and Hard Attack 3 -> 3.5. Armor 25 -> 30

		(Dev Note: Believe it or not, for a brief period of time during 4.0 and the minor patches that followed, Enforcers and Motorized Enforcers both had their times in the sun respectively as premier threats. The game has changed a lot since then, though, and they've been left to the wayside as the surrounding context is no longer as favorable to them. These small nudges to many of their stats should put them in a better position.)

	Power Armor Support unit Urban and Fort Attack and Defense +5% -> +10%

		(Dev Note: Generally, these bonuses were too minor to factor into the inclusion of PA support in templates. Given this bump and the lower frequency of buffs for these terrains across support units, though, this should be at least a noticeable quality of life improvement.)

	Power Armor Fireteams and Power Armor Demolitions Organisation 10 -> 15

	Advanced Servos tech Power Armor units Speed +10% -> +15%

		(Dev Note: Given the lower base speed of Power Armor compared to not only vehicles but also their Spec Ops counterparts, this adjustment helps make the minor tech slightly more meaningful.)



Support Changes:

	Fireteam Infantry and Demolitions Infantry platoons Soft and Hard Attack -10% -> -20%

	Makeshift SAW equipment Defense 12 -> 15, Piercing 16 -> 18
	Ballistic Fireteams equipment Defense 15.5/20/24.5 -> 18/23/28, Soft Attack 11/15.5/20 -> 12/17/22
	Laser Fireteams equipment Defense 14.5/18.5/22.5 -> 17/21/25, Hard Attack 10.5/14.5/18.5 -> 11/15/19, Piercing 28/33/38 -> 30/35/40
	SMMG Defense 28 -> 33, Soft Attack 22 -> 24, Hard Attack 21 -> 22, Piercing 41 -> 45

	Anti-Tank equipment Piercing 40/60/80 -> 30/45/60
	Anti-Tank tech Piercing bonuses +15% -> +20%

		(Dev Note: This change accompanies the introduction of Combined Arms units as a new additional source of piercing. It also is part of the process of further adjusting Old World Blues to the partial piercing changes from the base game patch released with By Blood Alone, which made Armor weaker at a default.)

	Dog equipment Defense 1/2/3 -> 2/3/4, Soft Attack 4/7/10 -> 5/7.5/10
	Cyberdog Production Cost 9.5 -> 9
	Training Programs tech now also grants a 5% Attack and Defense bonus for Plain and Desert terrains to Dog Support
	Military Training tech now also grants a 5% Attack and Defense bonus for Forest and Marsh terrains to Dog Support
	Training Programs tech now also grants a 5% Attack and Defense bonus for Hill and Mountain terrains to Dog Support

		(Dev Note: Dogs have always been a cross between combat and non-combat supports, acting as a jack-of-all-trades unit with no real definitive strength. On top of some minor stat buffs here, we're also amplifying the bonuses Dogs provide to the division as a whole in the terrains already covered by the unit's base bonuses. Flavorwise, amplifying the existing stats of divisions by percentual amounts is a nice way for us to reflect the role dogs serve as companions for infantry or military police. As for gameplay, this helps keep their niche suitably different from their competition to decrease the extent to which, say, demolitions support overshadows dog support or vice versa.)



Robot Changes:

	Precision Motors Robot Organisation +3 changed to Piercing +10%

		(Dev Note: This change might seem rather random, and repeatedly changing what the effect of a tech is beyond just its numbers is not something we like doing as we have with this one small tech. Sorry for that! However, Organisation is a stat that can be difficult to balance sometimes, and in the case of Robot units its distribution to Combat Robots is often high enough that Support Robots get phased out of their templates outright later in the game. Aside from the replacement Piercing fitting the description, though, Robots also have slightly lower Piercing than one might desire, so this change moves the needle very slightly towards helping with both of those problems. Hopefully, the Support Robot tweaks below will help move it slightly further.)

	High Power Optics Robot Piercing +5% -> +10%

	Scrap-Bot equipment Defense 8.5 -> 10, Armor 4 -> 6
	Bipedal Robot equipment Defense 13/16/19/22 -> 14/18/22/26, Armor 12/16/20/24 -> 15/20/25/30, Piercing 5/7.5/10/12.5 -> 5/8/11/14
	Thruster Robot equipment Defense 10/12.5/15/17.5 -> 11/14/17/20, Breakthrough 6.5/7/7.5/8 -> 7.5/8.5/9.5/10.5, Piercing 6/9/12/15 -> 6/10/14/18

	Scurry Bot Defense 17 -> 20, Breakthrough 5 -> 7

	Securitron Armor 18 -> 25
	Securitron third Mark 2 OS upgrade tech Armor +25% -> +50%



Vehicle Changes:

	Tank variant Armor XP upgrade changed from +5% Armor per level to +3% Armor per level and granted +5% Defense per level as slight compensation.



Air Changes:

	Global Ground Attack Land Unit Org damage and Strength damage modifiers reduced from 0.095 to 0.08

		(Dev Note: The effect of this change is that each point of Ground Attack will be worth roughly 16% less with
		regards to the amount of damage dealt to land units. We already lowered this value from 0.12 in 4.2.7 a few months back, but we feel more confident making this change to close air support as a whole because of the increased viability of prominent land-based damage sources in recent patches. This allows us to make the air war slightly less crucial than it was previously without as much risk of creating more stalemates during gameplay.)

	Strategic Bombing Damage factor increased by 25%

		(Dev Note: This is a hidden value affecting the final damage for strategic bombing, making this an effective 25% increase to damage from strategic bombing attacks.)

	Close Air Support equipment stages Air Attack 4/6/8/10 -> 3/4.5/6/7.5

		(Dev Note: All variants were also adjusted for each stage of equipment. The ground attack-oriented variants are the only ones which do not use the same air attack value. Their new air attack values are 4/5/6.)

	Xian-85 Attackplane Air Attack 4 -> 3
	VB-02 Gunship Air Attack 12 -> 9

	Airship equipment stages Agility 5/10/15/20 -> 10/15/20/25

		(Dev Note: All variants were also adjusted for each stage of equipment. The ground attack and air attack oriented variants are the only ones which do not use the same agility value. Their new air values are 8/12/16/20 and 12/18/24/30 respectively.)

	Airship equipment stages Air Defense 45/70/95/120 -> 60/90/120/150

		(Dev Note: All variants were also adjusted for each stage of equipment. The ground attack oriented variants are the only ones which do not use the same air defense value. Their new air defense values are 54/81/108/135.)

	Airship equipment stages Serivce Manpower 25/30/35/40 -> 15/20/25/30

		(Dev Note: Past attempts at blimp buffs have always been overly conservative. While concerns over air power becoming too dominant will always exist in OWB, the limitations inherent to Blimps prevent their potential to be an oppressive force--which is absolutely real in theory--from ever materializing. Every single time that air has been an issue in OWB's balance, it's been almost entirely on behalf of Fighters and CAS, with Blimps not even remotely close to holding the same power or influence. So now it's time to try some more aggressive changes on for size.

		Also, as a sidenote, we'd appreciate feedback on how Strategic Bombing missions via Blimps or Bombers feel following both this and the topmost air change.)



Doctrine Changes:

	# Automated Warfare
	Human Commanders granted CnC Robots +2% Initiative

	# Refined Warfare
	Combined Arms Power Armor Support Soft and Hard Attack +5% -> +10%

	# Conventional Warfare
	Mechanized Warfare Max Entrenchment -8 -> -4
	Anti-Armour Tactics granted +5% Hard Attack and Piercing to Weapon Infantry
	Portable Radio equipment Defense 2.5 -> 3
	Forward Fire-Base (doctrine tech) granted Recon Bonus While Entrenched +10%
	Rapid Redployment granted Max Planning +5%

		(Dev Note: The buffs to the Trooper Warfare side of Conventional here vary in purpose. While the Forward Fire-Base is a marginal change that's primarily flavor-oriented, the other 2 buffs are somewhat more meaningful. Trooper Warfare has always been stronger than its reputation because of how much harder it is to evaluate the impact of its separate equipment and the fact it is the only doctrine to require an extra industrial investment to reach its full potential. As a result, it's often underrated by the public, and at the time it last received nerfs those changes were fairly justified. The landscape has changed since then, though, with the newfound viability of much more accessible offensive power sources, namely the newly 1-width Demolitions platoons. This has led to Conventional actually getting weaker since it was immediately following its last nerfs even though it has received no direct changes since. By increasing the ceiling for the max planning it so quickly accumulates with its planning speed and initiative bonuses, as well as slightly raising the defense radios provide, it should hopefully be given the minor bumps to its primary strengths that it needs to stay in the competition.)



Implant Changes:

	All technologies base research time reduced by 25%
	Implant IV Production Cost 18 -> 14
	Implant V Production Cost 24 -> 20

		(Dev Note: This has been on the bucket list for a while. Players have long lamented how costly implants are, from both a research and production perspective, compared to their benefits. This is particularly troubling for a unique tech, and even more so for one that's often unlocked later in the game meaning high research times threaten to make it irrelevant for any playthrough of normal length. It's possible that some more buffs are needed to implant equipment, and we'll keep our eye on that, but at the very least lowering the tech cost should allow people to experiment with them more and find this out for themselves. If you do so, please direct your feedback our way!)



Unique Tech Changes:

	Gehennas Soft Attack 21 -> 24, Hard Attack 7 -> 8, Breakthrough 13 -> 15