With July's launch of the Spanish Civil War DLC, our players have received half of their Field Marshal package DLC. And now your battles will continue and Field Marshal editions will be complete as we reveal some details and insights on the next chapter of the Axis Operations Grand Campaign.

As a foreword: the full scenario list will be coming soon with the launch of 1939's DLC store page, so be on the lookout for that!


While the Spanish Civil War was a great opportunity to explore a new setting and new mechanics for Panzer Corps II, we definitely want returning to mainline World War II to have a much more classic feeling.

Well not too classic, because we've been very happy to see the overwhelming majority of our players celebrate the return of Degrees of Victory through bonus objectives. You will definitely expect to see more mission variety once again, and more new and exciting rewards to purchase with your hard-earned Commendation Points.



In fact the bonus objective of the very first mission of Axis Operations 1939 is... to not destroy a single enemy unit. We said that the Czechoslovakia mission had some special mechanics, and we meant it!

You will have to carefully navigate the (relatively) peaceful annexation of Czechoslovakia with a carefully measured hand instead of barging in and destroying everything in sight (that comes later, don't worry). For those with the knowledge and abilities to carefully control enemy positioning through suppression and retreat, another unique reward awaits. But just to make sure our first mission isn't stonewalling our players right out of the gate, preservation of hostile forces is of course only a bonus objective.




After your stint in Czechoslovakia, expect a very healthy sized campaign that will take you from missions on the French/German border conflict of Operation Saar, to the classic battles of the Polish invasion, and beyond as may you find yourself already running afoul of Soviet forces advancing from the other direction...

Opportunities abound to acquire new equipment to outfit your personalized force with, so always be on the lookout for various secrets and other non-standard ways of procuring new weaponry!



But as your personal Panzer Corps continues to grow and expand, new enemies and challenges will also continue to evolve and change as well, so don't get too complacent!




As with the Spanish Civil War, the end of the 1939 campaign will ideally not be the end of your campaign journey. At the end of Axis Operations 1939, your CORE forces and their haul of captured equipment will once again be saved for future use...

While our historically minded players probably know what historical battles still lie ahead... we think it's a safe guarantee that extra mission variety and exploring relatively unexplored conflicts will continue to make visiting the European theatre of World War II both familiar to those with historical knowledge, and yet still fresh and new as we dive into interesting historical details to shape the battles you will fight through.




While we were thrilled to hear so many of our players enjoying the new and innovative features of having an AI counterpart fight alongside you, we want to point out that such a partnership isn't a mainline feature of the Axis Operations. It has no historical place during the 1939 campaigns and battles, and we're not going to try and shoehorn it in where it doesn't belong.

So gone are your AI Ally controlled infantry, once again full access to German infantry forces dominates the battlescape!



Will we see friendly AI forces in the future? We certainly hope so, when it is historically appropriate. For example, working alongside with Italian or Romanian commands is absolutely on the table. Ideally, we will also refine the system for more control. For example, it would definitely be helpful to order general directives to some friendly units, but not all units at once. So one group might be sent to hold a particular position, while another is sent out hunting for enemy scouts.

We hope you enjoyed this extra reveal and are looking forward to returning to your Panzers for another new campaign full of new battles coming near the end of this month!

The first DLC for Panzer Corps 2, Axis Operations: Spanish Civil War, is out now.



FROM COUP TO CIVIL WAR

Experience the entirety of the Spanish Civil War from start to end in this full length campaign stretching from July 1936 to March 1939.

Fight your way through more than a dozen battles of the Spanish Civil War including major engagements at Madrid, Malaga, Brunete, Teruel, and even the massive Battle of the Ebro.

Explore this rarely covered conflict through new bonus mission objectives taken straight from the pages of history. In addition to normal combat, you'll be tasked objectives such as airlifting Franco's Army of Africa from Morocco to Seville, attacking the Republican battleship Jaime I at Malaga, or assisting one of the last mass Cavalry charges in the history of warfare at Teruel.

AXIS OPERATIONS HAVE ONLY JUST BEGUN

The end of the Spanish Civil War is not the end of your campaign though, it is merely the beginning.
At the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War DLC, your Wehrmacht army will be saved for use in the next installment of the Axis Operations Campaign.

Any campaign of the Axis Operations can be played individually as a standalone campaign.

The next installment of the Axis Operations series will be 1939. Stay tuned for more information in the future.

Last but not least, if you'd like to see Spanish Civil War played live we are going to play Spanish Civil War live on Twitch at 6 pm BST today on the Slitherine channel.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1351261/Panzer_Corps_2_Axis_Operations__Spanish_Civil_War/

We are releasing a patch for Panzer Corps 2, in preparation of the release of Spanish Civil War in two days.

It includes a fix for a crash occuring at the end of the last scenario, and introduces the missing localizations for Briefings and Debriefings in the new Spanish Civil War campaign.

Changelog:
- Added missing languages for Briefings and Debriefings for Spanish Civil War
- Fixed issue with crash at end of Madrid 1939

All players who own the Field Marshal Edition of Panzer Corps 2 are now able to update the game automatically through Steam and download the first DLC, Spanish Civil War.

Spanish Civil War is the first DLC in the Axis Operations series, an ambitious series of linked DLCs representing the entirety of World War II from the perspective of the Wehrmacht.

Command the German expeditionary force to Spain and fight alongside your Nationalist allies in a series of 16 scenarios.

For everyone else the DLC will be released next week, on July 16th.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1351261/Panzer_Corps_2_Axis_Operations__Spanish_Civil_War/

If you own the Field Marshal Edition of Panzer Corps 2, Steam should now update your version automatically. If not, try to restart your Steam client.

Important: unfortunately we have run a bit late with localizations. Localization in languages other than English are incomplete and might have unlocalized strings. We apologize for the problem and we acknowledge it is our fault. We are working to complete them as quickly as we can, and it should be a matter of days before they are fixed.

The DLC is accompanied by a patch, Patch 1.1.4.

v1.1.4 Changelog:
- Unit plates now display new markers for heroes and medals
- Added an option to toggle hex markers (victory hex, secondary objective and supply hex), and a corresponding hotkey (Shift+H)
- Loading screen now shows loading progress (by background gradually transitioning from dark to normal)
- Added three final tactical advisor clips to Tutorial Section
- Added russian and chinese localizations for Spanish campaign
- Various minor tweaks and fixes
- Added 54 camo skins and new colours for Field Marshal Edition and General Edition owners
- Added 9 camo skins for all players

Spanish Civil War will be released tomorrow to all Panzer Corps 2 Field Marshal Edition owners.

Tomorrow we will give you all the information you need on how to access and download the first DLC. For everyone else, the DLC will be released one week later, on July 16th.

We're aware many of you want to know everything about the DLC. You can ask us anything you want on the forum, but you can start by looking at the new store page, which contains new screenshots and information on new content and features, including a full scenarios list.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1351261

Last but not least, last Friday we livestreamed one of the scenarios coming with Spanish Civil War. We just uploaded the video on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVRGBBApiec

With the Field Marshal access of the Spanish Civil War only days away, we have one more dev diary for you to enjoy before you embark on your own journey into the new Panzer Corps 2 DLC. In order to properly represent the battles of the upcoming DLC, we have added dozens of unit models and also unit entries to the game files.

And today, we want to highlight the fantastic work our artists have done for us in providing you with these awesome new weapons of war. At the bottom of this announcement, you can find a complete list of all unit entries that have been added to Panzer Corps 2 alongside the first two Axis Operations DLC that are included in your Field Marshal editions.


Panzer I Breda



First off, we have a conversion of the humble Panzer I. Historically, this field modification was done as the Nationalists, Germans, and Italians in Spain quickly realized the machinegun armament of the Panzer I was insufficient to take on Soviet made, Republican manned, T-26 tanks.

Experimental Tank Design Codename: Verdeja 2



THIS INFORMATION IS CLASSIFIED. THIS UNIT IS UNAVAILABLE BY NORMAL PURCHASING MEANS AND CAN ONLY BE ACQUIRED BY ALTERNATIVE MEANS...

Henschel Hs-123a



Next, we have a biplane unit that many players will probably recognize, as it continued to serve with the Wehrmacht into World War II. The Henschel 123a proved to be a reliable and rugged ground attack aircraft even in very cold weather conditions.

Heinkel He-70 Rayo (Spanish nickname: Lightning)



The primary recon aircraft for the player in the Spanish Civil War, the He-70 Rayo offers great movement speed, high vision radius, and spotting bonuses against nearby enemy units. For the time, it was an extremely fast aircraft, setting numerous world speed records even before the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Sdkfz 221



The predecessor to the very well known and popular German recon vehicle sdkfz 222, the 221's most notable different is the smaller, machine gun armed turret.

Heinkel He-112



One of many fighter designs Germany was eager to experiment with during the Spanish Civil War. Despite performing exceptional well in trials and even seeing some combat testing in Spain, ultimately the sleek looking He-112 would be overshadowed by the superior performing and now well renowned Messerschmitt BF-109 fighter.

Trubia



Our first non-German new model to look at today, we have the bizarre Trubia tank. Pressed into service, the Trubia wasn't a purpose built tank. It served as one of several tractor conversions fielded by Spanish Republican forces to combat their Nationalist foes. Despite its large barrels looking like cannons, the Trubia was armed exclusively with machineguns only. The thick covering that makes the barrel look like a cannon are actually cooling jackets.
By the way, if anyone designs plush toys, let us know. We want an adorable Trubia tank plushie please!

Bilbao



One of several armored cars present in the campaign, the antiquated Bilbao vehicle will be a regular, but not terribly threatening, sight on the battlefield, especially in the early years of the Spanish Civil War.

UNL-35



Unlike the maligned Bilbao, the UNL-35 was a much more formidable armored car. It is clear to see the design's Soviet origins, and the performance of this vehicle is actually respectable and perhaps even superior to the somewhat under-gunned sdkfz 221. A potentially valuable prize to capture and field in your own army.

I-16 (Spanish Nationalist nickname Rata, Republican nickname Mosca)



No coverage of the Spanish Civil War would be complete without the presence of Soviet I-16 fighters. These aircraft operated in Spain as early as late 1936, and proved extremely effective at dealing with German He-51 biplane fighters. Not until the arrival of the BF-109B would the Ratas finally be cleared from the skies of Spain during the massive Battle of the Ebro.

Spanish Militia, Guardia Civil, Regulars, Colonial Infantry, and International Brigades



We touched on the various new infantry appearing in the Spanish Civil War, but here is a closer look at them. Both sides fielded various militia and guardia civil units. Nationalist Regulares are the equal of the Republican Brigada Mixtas. Franco's elite professionals of the Army of Africa take the form of Colonial infantry, while various Republican International brigades offer extremely determined resistance to any Nationalist or Condor Legion assault!

We hope you enjoyed this preview showcasing just a few of the new unit models arriving soon in Panzer Corps 2. You can look forward to discovering even more of the new unit models once you launch into the Spanish Civil War DLC Campaign!


CONDOR LEGION
Panzer IA
Panzer IB
Panzer IIA
Sdkfz 221
Sdkfz 222
Sdkfz 231 6 rad
3.7cm Pak 36
Panzer I Breda
2cm FlaK 30
3.7cm FlaK 18
Sdkfz 10/4
8.8cm Flak 18
7.5cm FK 16 nA
10.5cm leFH 18
He-51
He-112
BF-109B
He-70 Rayo
He-123a
He-45
Ju-87a
Ju-52 bomber
Ju-86
Do-17z

SPANISH NATIONALIST
Militia
Regulares
Guardia Civil
Colonial Infantry
ES Cavalry
Verdeja 2
37mm Bofors

SPANISH REPUBLICAN
Militia
Brigada Mixta
Guardia Civil
International Brigade
BT-5
T-26
Trubia
FT-17
BA-6
Bilbao
UNL-35
AAC-1937
37mm M1930
45mm M1932
20mm M33
75mm Vickers M31
76.2 M31
70mm Schneider M08
75mm Schneider M06
105mm Vickers M22
122mm M10/30
152mm M10/30
I-15
I-16
Tupolev SB

ITALY
CTV Infantry
Cr32
Lancia Ansaldo 1ZM
SM81

GERMAN
Azul Infanterie
Azul Infanterie 43

CZECH
CZ Infantry
CZ Engineers
LT vz.35
LT vz.38
OA vz.30
3.7cm KPUV
20mm VKPL
83.5mm Skoda
75mm vz.15
100mm Skoda vz14/19
150mm vz.25

DANISH
DK Infantry
DK Guards
DK Motorcycle
37mm Bofors
20mm M/38
75mm FRC M27


All new units and units models are available FOR FREE for all owners of any edition of Panzer Corps 2 to enjoy in their own custom content. These units and unit models will arrive in a patch alongside the Spanish Civil War DLC or Axis Operations 1939.
No extra purchase is required for any non-campaign asset.

After last week's DLC reveal announcement went out, we were humbled by our community’s fantastic response and excited enquiries, so we've prepared a follow up for you to further sink your teeth into.

Here are a few additional details regarding Panzer Corps 2's upcoming Axis Operations - Spanish Civil War.





Extra details on the Spanish Civil War


The Axis Operations campaigns aren't just going to be more scenarios.  The goal is to be bigger, better, and more advanced than the campaign that Panzer Corps 2 has already provided.  

1.  The factions involved, and new mechanics to represent them.

So, in our research of the Spanish Civil War, we uncovered a wealth of information that we felt deserved some recognition in the gameplay.  The Spanish Civil War wasn't just a Nationalist faction attempting to overthrow a Republican faction, there were Falangists and Communists and Monarchist and Anarchist factions all taking sides. Not to mention all of the foreign involvement from fascist Italy and Germany to the International brigades and Soviet military aid...

Suffice to say, it was not a simple conflict.






Historically, German aid to Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War was fairly unique in nature.  There were no mass divisions of German infantry roaming the battlefields of Spain.  Such a level of military aid would have seriously undermined the legitimacy of the Spanish Nationalist cause.  The Condor Legion was primarily made up of aircraft, though there were some other armour and supporting artillery and air defence assets at their disposal.

To try and properly represent some of this complexity, we've done several things.  

Firstly, we're adding a wealth of infantry types to the game.  Players should expect to encounter everything from Republican militia troops to Franco's professional Army of Africa colonial troops to standard Republican Mixed Brigades (Brigada Mixta) to various International Brigade formations and more.

Each infantry type has been carefully stat balanced to present a good spectrum of unit types, and here are just a few of the infantry that we've created new models for, all based on historical references.





Secondly, rather than just placing pre-scripted friendly AI controlled units on the board, we've added a new system of communication so that the campaigning player can influence the behaviour of their computer controlled friendly forces!  We felt this would be a very interesting new feature to bring to Panzer Corps 2, and look forward to putting it in your hands very soon.

The reality of this conflict has dramatically altered gameplay, because it means that the player has no German infantry of any kind at their disposal for the length of the Spanish Civil War.  You will be expected to work closely together with the AI controlled Spanish Nationalists to achieve your victories.

With the player controlling tanks, artillery, and air forces and the AI controlling all infantry forces, coordination and co-operating between you and the Spanish Nationalists is the key to achieving victory above and beyond the most basic of objectives.





And prepare for the dramatic conclusion of the Spanish Civil War that will feature the very first multi-sided, 3-way conflict in a Panzer Corps 2 campaign scenario.

Because we realize that this design change may be too radical for some, we have taken an extra step to make sure the Italian CTV (Corpo Truppe Volontarie) has proper representation in this conflict.  If a player is so inclined that they feel they must have their own infantry, Italian CTV forces are available.


2.  New Enemies

To aid in their fight against the player, the AI has received several improvements since the launch of Panzer Corps 2, and it also has received several new types of orders that it can use to good effect.  Hit and run tactics were especially prevalent and are at the AI's disposal in these campaigns, so maintaining secure flanks and good vanguards for your forces will be more important than ever before.

Additionally, we're levelling the playing field by introducing Panzer Corps 2's first appearance of enemy units with hero abilities attached to them.  Double Fire artillery and Zone of Control ignoring tanks have joined the ranks of the enemy, so watch out.

There might even be a very special “Nemesis” level enemy unit that might just haunt and harass you throughout the course of the entire campaign... unless you manage to defeat them decisively!  Mechanically, this represents the first appearance of enemy units that can potentially survive and progress between scenarios.





3.  New scenario victory conditions beyond Victory Hex capturing.

One complaint about the traditions of Panzer General and Panzer Corps is the lack of mission variety.  We've all seen maybe a bit too much of 'Capture all Victory Hexes' by now, we think.

While we’ll still make appropriate use of this mission type occasionally, players will also see a lot more objective variety moving forward.  Missions types such as rescue, escort, interception, mine laying, and others have been spread out across the campaign.

And the way we've balanced this is by bringing back Degrees of Victory.  Rather than have every mission be a binary 'win or lose', we've added more variety.  Every scenario has a basic objective that you must complete to progress the campaign.  This is the lowest degree of victory though, and is suitably easy to achieve.

However.

If you really want to see some very unique rewards and bonuses, you'll want to push yourself to accomplish the far more difficult and varied bonus objectives.

We've even implemented a new currency system to handle this interaction.  As you complete bonus objectives, you’ll earn Commendation Points.  At various points in the campaign, offers will be made to players who have earned enough Commendation Points... offers of fantastic bounties of captured equipment, special prototype units, and possibly even access to famous and legendary historical aces and officers of the war.





A full roster of new units being added to Panzer Corps 2 alongside the Axis Operations – Spanish Civil War release will be coming soon, as will complete scenario lists for both Axis Operations – Spanish Civil War and Axis Operations – 1939.

We hoped you’ve enjoyed this bonus reveal and are looking forward to firing up your Panzers for a new campaign full of new features starting next month.

When Panzer Corps 2 launched in March we saw a very good critical response and we were joined by many thousands of players, all eager to fire up their Panzers and dive into classic WW2 gameplay on a beautiful new game engine.
With that launch there was also an offer of a Field Marshal Edition of the game that included the first two DLCs that will be coming to Panzer Corps 2.

Now we're finally ready to reveal details of the first two of Panzer Corps 2's exciting post-launch additions. We're calling them the new Axis Operations campaigns!


The New Axis Operations

Ever since Panzer Corps 2 was announced, a new Grand Campaign was by far the most frequent request which we heard from our players. It was hardly surprising, because the Grand Campaign was the most popular series of DLCs for the original game. We always listen to wishes of our community and give such things top priority. Axis Operations is our response to all of the people who wished for the creation of a new Grand Campaign. Simply put, it will be a series of campaigns that can be linked together, to form one giant, potentially 100+ scenario, behemoth of a campaign.

The Wehrmacht Campaign in Panzer Corps 2 is a good introductory campaign which many players have enjoyed and learnt the basics of Panzer Corps 2 gameplay in the process. But it was not without problems. Some issues which you, the community, raised were: missing mission debriefings, degrees of victory, historical heroes and the need for more varied objectives. In general, some players felt that the campaign did not offer enough storytelling and immersion in historical events.

Axis Operations will address all these issues. There will be more storytelling and interesting characters in these campaigns. There will also be a lot of innovation in terms of gameplay features, mission design, bonus objectives and rewards for fulfilling them, and more. The AI won’t remain the same either, so be prepared for some nasty surprises from your computer opponent!

The original Panzer Corps Grand Campaign stretched from 1939 to 1945, covering a whopping 144 scenarios. Our aim is to go bigger and better for the new Axis Operations. Even though Panzer Corps DLCs covered a lot of historical ground, we will still visit lots of places never explored before, and battles which you’ve never fought in the past. Find it hard to believe? Read on.

The first two DLCs included with the Field Marshal Edition of Panzer Corps 2 represent the first two links of the Axis Operations chain.




For starters we aren't going to begin in Poland this time. We're turning the clock back a bit further and the first campaign of the Axis Operations takes the player to the prelude to World War II, the Spanish Civil War, which we will be releasing on July 16th.
This campaign will give players the opportunity to experience content that not even the original Panzer Corps, with its extensive library of DLCs and expansion packs, managed to cover.

In Spanish Civil War you take command of the Condor Legion and in line with the Grand Campaign traditions you will be able to transfer your veterans, hardened by three years of fighting in Spain, to the next campaigns.

A unique and innovative feature of the Spanish Civil War campaign is how you will communicate and coordinate with your AI-controlled allies. Nationalist Spanish troops are not under your direct control, but you will still be able to issue high-level orders to your allies (like “Attack”, “Defend” and “Hold Ground”) so that their actions better match your own strategy. This creates a completely new experience never seen before in a Panzer Corps campaign. We can’t wait to hear your feedback about this new way of playing.







The next part of our future content plans will release on August 27th, and it will be Axis Operations: 1939.

But once again... we're still not quite in Poland yet. Axis Operations 1939 starts in March of 1939, which I'm sure our history buffs will recognize as the important date when Germany marched into Czechoslovakia.

That scenario, by the way, has some very unusual mechanics attached to it. If you've ever wondered why they call them Panzer 35(t) and Panzer 38(t) you'll found out here.

After that... we're still not quite getting to Poland just yet. Something else happened in 1939, a battle that might have actually changed the course of history. There was a French invasion of Germany! We're going to explore that conflict.

To compare with the original Grand Campaign, we're already looking at more than 20 battles worth of new content before we get to the fighting in Poland in 1939.

After 1939 is completed, once again your CORE force will be saved, so that they will be ready for the next instalment of the Axis Operations.


Field Marshal Edition - 7 days Priority access

As mentioned above, the first two Axis Operations campaigns will release on July 16th and August 27th. We do have an extra surprise for all our Field Marshal Edition owners, though.

All of you who own the Field Marshal Edition will get priority access to the first two Axis Operations campaigns, a full seven days before their release dates!

Field Marshal Edition owners will be able to download, install and play Spanish Civil War on July 9th and 1939 on August 20th.

More information on both DLCs will be available in the future, with a complete description, scenarios list, details on new units and new screenshots!

We have three new Panzer Corps 2 advisor clips!

The three new clips feature Entrenchment, Support Fire, Retreat & Surrender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MYve2VFDBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W2hcVbFNZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJqy_Kn_zYM

We hope you'll enjoy them. This concludes our series or advisor clips, but do let us know if you'd like a new issue on a specific feature or mechanic, and we'll consider it.

Surely many of you are eager to know what future content is coming, and when. Stay tuned, there will be news about it very soon - next week!

We are publishing a new, massive update for Panzer Corps 2.

This one is rather big, and you can find all the details below. We're looking forward to hearing about what you think: all the bug fixes and balance changes were implemented thanks to players' feedback. Your opinion is always very important for us, so we can keep making the game better.

We are now really close to announcing the first DLCs, the two which are included in the Field Marshal Edition. Stay tuned, it won't take long now!

(v1.1.1)

Bug fixes:

- Fixed the game crashing on launch for a few people
- Fixed the AI getting into infinite loop under rare circumstances
- Fixed dead units sometimes interfering with mouse clicks
- Fixed switchable units being captured into two separate pools of equipment
- Fixed merge command, so that the unit automatically mounts if needed to reach the other part. Also, if split parts are too far to merge this turn, merge marker is shown in red.
- Fixed selection marker in strategic mode not working well for aircraft
- Fixed "Reduced slots" and "Zero slots" heroes refusing to unassign from units in reserve because of insufficient free slots
- Fixed workaround of "Green Army" player trait by using unit upgrade. Now, upgrades will also use green replacements when there are no elite replacements left.
- Fixed spotting issues when a unit is deployed mid-mission on a high ground hex
- Fixed spotting bug when an allied unit is destroyed near your own units
- Fixed chat not scrolling to the end automatically when a long (multi-line) message is added
- Fixed "create screenshots for saved games" option
- Fixed some issues with "Shroud" advanced option (rivers showing through shroud, minimap artefacts)
- Fixed player selection UI when a custom multiplayer scenario is selected in the list

Gameplay changes:

- All units contributing some bonus to combat will now get experience for it: 20 for mass attack and 50 for any other bonus (recon, military engineer, distraction, leadership, aiming assistance). Among other things, this allows recon planes to earn experience.
- Dismissing a hero now gives a bonus of 1000 prestige (value configurable in Rules.json file).
- Discarding organic transport now returns its cost in prestige, so it can be repurchased later.
- When a unit embarks on an air transport which cannot carry its organic transport, organic transport is discarded.
- Split units equipped with organic transport will now unmount after a short drive, as normal (non-split) units do.
- Each star will now give +10% to unit's accuracy (instead of +8%), and reduce enemy accuracy by 4% (instead of 3%).
- Units with "suppressing fire" trait will slightly (+5%) improve their chances to outright kill the target (instead of suppressing it) with each star.
- Green strategic bombers now destroy 20% of ammo (instead of 1 point) with carpet bombing, and additionally destroy 20% of target's movement points. Each star adds +10% destroyed. Overstrength/understrength also increases/decreases damage done proportionally.
- On the other hand, suppression now reduces effectiveness of carpet bombing, so AA units will provide protection from this threat as well.
- Units with "Alpine" trait (mountain infantry) are now immune to the opponent's high ground bonuses, and move faster over hills.
- Aircraft can now be upgraded and disbanded if they are assigned to an airfield which is a supply hex (being straight over it is no longer required).
- River hexes (except settlements) now have zero base entrenchment, because units don't benefit from entrenchment when they are "crossing the river".
- Units adjacent to Engineers will now ignore up to 4 points of enemy entrenchment (instead of 50% previously), which means that engineers can enable other units to fully bypass base entrenchment of any terrain (except fortifications)
- Changed rounding method to "nearest integer" when applying bonus to initiative from entrenchment. One important consequence is that forest's base entrenchment of 3 now provides +2 initiative to the defender, instead of +1.
- Weather during deployment phase is now always Clear. You can see the weather that will be on the first turn in the forecast.
- Motorcycle recon units got "close combat" trait, which makes them more useful in close terrain

UI:

- Added a new "Deployment panel" visible during the Deployment Phase. It contains mass commands (replace all, disband all, undeploy all etc.) which allow to speed up typical tasks during the Deployment Phase.

AI:

- The AI can now give both green and elite replacements to its units.
- The AI will distribute fighter cover more evenly between bombers

Random maps:
- Random maps now always start with a deployment phase (using "custom army" is not needed)
- Experience growth rate is now 5x normal on random maps, so units can actually gain a few stars and maintain them with elite replacements in the course of the battle.
- Random maps now also use custom medal requirements, so it is possible to get more medals in the course of the battle. Medals can be turned off in advanced option, if needed.
- Human players can now choose their commander traits in the beginning of the game (as in the campaign). The AI will also pick some random trait(s) for itself. If this is not desirable, set number of picks to 0 in advanced options.
- It is now possible to purchase ships in random scenarios with ports (Coast, Big Island, Big Lake).
- Special challenges can now be activated for random maps in advanced options. "David vs. Goliath" only affects (makes stronger) AI units. "Europe of a Shoestring" only affects human players. "Race against time" obviously affects everyone on the map.
- When a year is specified, date is now set to 1st of July that year (mid year) instead of 1st of January.
- The generator will now give more priority to more recent units when generating starting armies, instead of using equal weight for all units available on scenario date.
- More airfields are now generated on larger maps
- In FFA, starting airfields are now defended by an AA unit
- Random scenarios can now have cloudy and rainy days (if not desired, weather can be turned off in advanced options as usual), and will display weather forecast for the next three days.
- Prestige of all opponents can now be seen in tooltips over player icons, so you can now better plan the wars of attrition with them.
- Filled some gaps in equipment in 1939: France now has a tactical bomber option, Great Britain has more choice of artillery, and Hungary has a strategic bomber option. Also, USA now has a recon option in 1942.
- Allied late war tanks (IS-3, Tortoise, T34 and T28) no longer have "no purchase" trait, and can be bought to counter German super tanks (like Tiger II, Maus and E-75) in 1945.
- Reduced number of enemy overstrength units when playing Defense and Survival missions against the AI
- Defense mission no longer has zero slots and thus allows to purchase units if the default force is disbanded
- Various tweaks in turn count, prestige and slots

Multiplayer:

- Fixed several more issues which could lead to desync in online MP mode
- Fixed replays of the opponent's turn in PBEM (only new games will show replays)
- Fixed "end turn" not working properly in coop MP when it is played in PBEM ("offline") mode
- After making a turn in a PBEM game, the player will now be returned to MP game list, not main menu
- In team games on random maps, allies will now give each other support fire and share airfields
- In random maps, AI teams no longer have "simultaneous movement" to reduce camera jumping around the map
- Fixed prestige sharing in Minsk scenario

Other:

- Changed yellow markings on Ju87 B and D, so that they are more different from contemporary fighters.
- Added hero images for US, GB, RU, IT, HU, RO factions. Heroes of other factions will display a generic hero image
- Added generic medal images which will be displayed in case there are no specialized images for a given nation
- Updated Polish localization (thanks Grzegorz Kłos!)
- In tactical puzzles undo is now set to Unlimited, so that it is much easier to experiment with different solutions.

Editor:

- Removed most "not implemented" data fields to avoid confusion and save screen space. They will return as they get implemented.
- Fixed "share prestige" and "share core slots" options for sides, and added "share auxiliary slots" and "share airfields" parameters.
- Added "prestige visible to enemies", "default experience", "max experience" and "experience growth rate" parameters to each player (advanced options section).
- Added an option to specify custom rules file. For now, custom file must be in the game's Content/Data folder.
- Added options to control what unit classes each player can purchase.
- Added options to specify custom unit skins and insignias, both on player (in Scenario Params) and individual unit (in Configure Units mode) level.
- Added a new checkbox for "Capture victory hexes" objective: "Only check at scenario end"