Update 1.0.8.2 is here with a host of improvements and content additions, big and small! On the UI/immersion side, we are very keen to hear your feedback on our first pass at turn resolution and C2 visualization improvements. On the content side, we have a ton of additions to German and Soviet forces in 1941, namely a the addition of 2 full new OBs: Heeresgruppe Nord, and its Soviet adversary the Northwestern Front, as well as an update to the "standard" German 1941 OB. All in all, lots of fun new explosive toys to throw around, and general interface improvements.

Immersive Turn Resolution and Dynamic Command Hierarchies:

Update 1.0.8.2 brings an experimental pass at improving the visualization of turn results and better visualizing command/control hierarchies. We are particularly interested in player feedback on both systems.

Improving Turn Resolution/Replays:

We have several improvements that affect both turn resolution, and the replay system:

1. Hexes now highlight after combats/barrages/air attacks, and keep a running tally of total casualties, per side, in that hex during the turn.
   
2. Enemy units now display directional movement arrows when they attempt to move/attack into one of your units, or your Zone of Control.
   
3. Turn replays include a modified version of both above changes that reflect what happened in each impulse, so you can better analyze what happened as the turn unfolded in retrospective.
   

In our internal testing we have found: 1) works incredibly well, and makes it MUCH easier to visualize what is actually happening as a turn unfolds. 2) Is a helpful addition. 3) Is a good pilot, but it only scratches the surface of what we could potentially do with replays, since replays do not have to worry about moving quickly, unlike turn resolution itself.

Regarding point 2, we initially experimented with displaying both side’s movement lines and color coding them, but this caused contested frontlines to descend into unreadable tangles of movement lines as both sides attempt march attacks through each other. Internally, we have discussed the idea of adding a series quick filter system to the turn replay system to let the player decide what interaction lines (movement, artillery, etc.), per side, they want to see and leave it to player discretion. But we have not yet prototyped that concept.

Visualizing Command Hierarchies

One of the biggest challenges in any large-scale CAOS scenario is identifying what units are relevant to each other at a glance. Who shares the same command hierarchies and thus, what units can benefit from integrity bonuses together? To help tackle this challenge, selecting any friendly unit will now highlight subordinate units with blue frames, and superior units/sister units (those that share the same higher command), with green frames.

This change allows you to visualize connections between entire blocks of units extremely rapidly. For instance, select a Corps HQ and see every single unit descended from it highlighted at once, from division commands all the way down to individual companies detached from some distant subordinate. This mechanic only shows the current, unbroken, chain of command. If an intermediate unit/HQ somewhere along the chain is destroyed, then its subordinates will no longer be highlighted by their former higher command as they are no longer eligible for integrity combat bonuses.

Heeresgruppe Nord and the Northwestern Front

Heeresgruppe Nord and the Soviet Northwestern Front in their late June/early July organizations have been added as playable OBs in any game mode. These are both Army Group level OBs, composed of 3 armies each, so we cannot fit a full discussion of either OB into these update notes. Check out their respective OB dev blogs below for all the fine details:

German 1941 Overhaul:

Germany’s standard 1941 OB is also receiving a fair amount of attention, primarily centered on the fine details of the panzer forces, with smaller updates to the other arms of the Wehrmacht.

Unit revisions and additions

Panzer/Mot Division Updates:

• Added various armored support vehicles to armored Panzerpionier battalions, including SdKfz 251/5 platoon command vehicles (with PaK 36s), and 28/32cm schweres Werfer Granat (the (in)famous Wurfrahmen 40).
  
• Added missing 2nd armored car company of the 37. Aufklarungs Abteilung, (7th Panzer Division) and added correct captured French (Panhard 178) armored cars to the unit.
  
• Separated Kradschutzen battalions out as independent units. We previously included them as a 3rd battalion inside the 2nd Schutzen regiment of each division for convenience.
  
• Separated German armored recon battalions into detachable Mot/Support and Armored Car companies, instead of trying to shoehorn the entire organization into a single attachment.
  
• Corrected gun mix of divisional flak companies in the 1st and 7th Panzer Divisions. Both companies erroneously had an extra SP-gun platoon in place of their towed platoon.
  
• Replaced armored pioneer company of the 32nd Pionier Abteilung (12th Panzer Division), with a motorized company. 12th Panzer Division was not authorized to have an armored pioneer company on June 22.
  

Infantry/Mountain Division Updates:

• Updated rifle battalion organizations for each Gebirgsjager Division to reflect the variant, and often unique, ToEs employed by each division as of June 22, 1941.
  
• Added extra Austrian/Czech and Norwegian 75mm mountain guns issued to 2nd and 3rd Gebirgsjager Divisions in preparation for Operation Barbarossa.
  
• Various minor tweaks to organizations of various infantry division wave ToEs, and variant ToEs for individual divisions. Tweaks include swapping out cavalry for bicycle recon where appropriate, and subtle differences in support weapon allocation within infantry regiments, and replacing Czech AT guns with French 47mms, where necessary.
  

Flak/Artillery:

• Added the 737th schwere Artillerie Abteilung, equipped with the excellent Czechoslovak-designed 15cm sFH 37(t) howitzer.
  
• Added the 625th schwere Artillerie Abteilung. Armed with 15cm SK C28M naval guns in the Heersgruppe Nord OB according to its June 1941 ToE, and 17cm K 18s in the German 1941 standard OB, according to the unit’s fall 1941 ToE.
  
• Went through 21cm Mrs 18 units with a fine-toothed comb and ensured each is using the proper 9-gun mobile organization, or 12-gun semi-mobile organization, according to each unit’s historical ToE on June 22.
  
• Split German AT battalions in 1941 into their historically accurate 3-battery organizations, instead of consolidating batteries together into 2 attachments for convenience.
  

General Changes/Additions

Soviet Equipment Changes:

The Soviet Northwestern Front brings with it a bunch of foreign, obsolete, and obscure equipment!

• Added AT value to all Soviet 76mm divisional guns in 1942 and beyond, as the USSR routinely repurposed their light divisional guns into an AT role throughout the war.
  
• Added Vickers Carden-Loyd (VCL) M1934, M1936, and M1937 light tanks, produced by Britain and employed by the Latvian and Lithuanian armies. M1934/M1936s are strictly MG armed, while the M1937 sports a 40mm bofors, and would actually be reasonably dangerous interwar light tank if it were available in meaningful numbers.
  
• Added Arsenal M28/29 Armored Cars, an inter-war Anglo-Estonian armored car used in limited numbers by some Soviet units. Modeled in both MG and 37mm cannon armed variants.
  
• Added Landsverk-181 Armored Cars, an inter-war Swedish armored car used by the Lithuanian army and employed in limited numbers by the Soviets.
  

German Equipment Additions and Changes:

A quick sampling of some of the rarer German equipment coming to CAOS in 1.0.8.2.

• Added Wurfrahmen 40 rocket artillery, used by German panzerpionier units.
  
• Added 24cm K(t), an Austrian/Czech siege gun in German service. Long ranged and hits like a freight train, but unbearably slow and incapable of fire-support missions.
  
• Added 15cm SK 28M, a 15cm naval gun mounted on the carriage of a 21cm Mrs 18. The SK 28M has exceptional range, but mediocre high-explosive potential for a weapon in its class, as it shells are designed for range and accuracy necessary in naval combat, not raw explosive potential.
  
• Added GebK 247(n), the German designation for the truly obsolescent Norwegian 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone Model 1911, used in limited numbers by German mountain units and occupation units in Norway.
  
• Added Panzerjager 35(R), a dubiously useful tank destroyer built on a modified French R-35 chassis. Relatively well armed, but slow and suffering from appallingly poor mechanical reliability during its combat debut in Operation Barbarossa.
  
• Added Steyr ADGZ armored car, an Austrian heavy armored car used in limited numbers by some German police units.
  
• Added OA. Vz. 30 Armored Cars. An obsolete interwar Czechoslovakian armored car used in limited numbers by some German police units.
  
• Added numerous militia, garrison, and rear-area security squad types, armed with all manner of captured equipment.
  
• Updated artillery fire calculations for all Czech guns in German service of 8cm bore and above. As we found better documentation detailing precise explosive payloads for Czech shells in German service. In general the fire support/barrage capabilities of all Czech heavy guns, except the sFH 25(t), have increased.
  

Other Improvements/Bug Fixes:

• The highest echelon unit now always draws ontop of a stack. For example, a corps HQ will draw over any regiments, or a division HQ over a regiment, and so on. This will make it more difficult to misplace your higher commands.
  
• Static units should no longer draw over mobile units that are stacked with them.
  
• Numpad +/- are now hotkeys to move turn replays forward and backwards through the impulses.
  
• Any PNG file in the assets > images > Backgrounds folder and add them to the main menu image carousel.
  
• Fixed a rare crash that could inconsistently occur when a battalion was detached via button press (but not hotkey) from a battlegroup, while the battlegroup was simultaneously stacked with the origin regiment of the battalion that was just detached.
  
• Fixed an AI turn planning bug that could occur if the AI detected that an uncrossable lake was the geographic centerpoint of defensive hardpoint.
  

Ever Onwards:

We are very happy with 1.0.8.2, and this is an update model we will carry forward. Most updates will not have 2 new full new OBs included, but the combination of new OBs paired with interface and engine improvements is one we believe works particularly well. This style keeps core systems developing while also providing novel new units, and ultimately future fodder for editor extensions.

The interface updates herein are still experimental and subject to change so please let us know your thoughts here, on the forums, or on discord. What's working for you as players and what isn't! In the mean time, will get back to cooking up update 1.0.8.5 which will bring various improvements to fortress/urban combat, and some much-needed love regarding priority alerts for enemy air/amphibious actions in the SITREP!