It comes with a lot of small fixes and quality of life improvements, but it's main highlight is the introduction of a brand new campaign scenario: Plan Martin.
"Plan Martin " is von Rundsted's proposed plan for the Ardennes Offensive, with a wider frontline and the participation of the German 15.Army in the main attack:
Phase I : Encirclement of Aachen with 15.Army from the north and 6.Pz.Army from the south and reach the Meuse line with 5.PzArmy and 7.Army.
Phase II : Advance to Antwerp from Namur (7.Army), Liege (5.PzArmy) Aachen (6.PzArmy).
Phase III : to Antwerp !
The scenario is a historical "what if?" because all the units deployed are historically available to both players. Three more High Level HQ were added to the OOB, General von Zangen German 15.Army, General Simpson US 9th Army and General Dempsey British 2nd Army.
The huge Campaign map is 155 x 156 hexes/km , 40 more hexes north than the Wacht am Rhein map.
Change History v1.02.00:
- Changed the IF/SET Logic processing and you can now pass strings in “” to exe or chk functions like exe(237,”VR Basic Lib”,”VictoryLastRound”,30)
- Made some improvement to AI artillery usage (less moving around! More firing!)
- Made some improvement to AI covering important hexes in some cases
- Redid combat calculations with indirect ranged attack capacity individuals (like artillery guns)
- firing on enemy individuals that have broken through or are in direct combat for the hex. Artillery (and other such troops) now more vulnerable to assaults by combat troops.
- Finetuned attack accidents to only happen now when making a KILL (no longer on scoring a RETREAT).
- Furthermore attack accidents & mechanical breakdowns during combat no longer will happen during ranged fire
- Improved supply deliveries in all scenarios (about +20%)
- Fixed crash with Cards Tab
- Editor addition: Added two optional combat modifiers (as well as reconSkill option) to the People data structure (accessible in historical editor). Note that A reconSkill >0 is only advised for trained specialist reconnaissance troops. If >0 it means the troops when ambushed will automatically fight in PROBE attack mode (reducing their casualties). Furthermore any recon points will be multiplied by the reconSkill. So for scouts a reasonable value to set reconSkill to is maybe 2 or 3
- One US roadblock card x turn
- Map fortification white dot, fixed
- Tanks unreliability reduced Tiger 1, TigerII 3, Panther 1, captured Sherman 2
- Ground levels >3 on maps checked and fixed
- Minor maps and oob fixes
- Improved scroll and map screen render speed a bit
- Improved DPI scaling speed and quality a lot (Prefs Tab)
- Defensive Intercept Fire now added to Firelist so you can locate it (or not) after battle
- Rule revision: Vigor recuperation: Note that Intercept Fire (even defensive) does not count as an attack now
- PBEM games on Steam version now save in the same cloud-linked directory
- Some small AI improvements for tactical movements
- ZOC can now longer capture Supply Source (you need to actually move a unit in now)
- Paradrop cards can no longer target enemy within 8 hexes (or more in large scenarios) of enemy Supply Sources (it is too gamey to do this!)
