We spent the last two weeks implementing a brand new combat resolution system. In the process, a lot of code needed to be ripped out and replaced. It was really too much to complete in a single week so we chose to delay update. These changes will have a large impact on the military gameplay and especially the AI. The work is not done but we wanted to get the new system in the hands of the Community as we make refinements. The biggest feature improvement in this release is the inclusion of Hit Points on all military units. We moved away from a single hit system that resulted in too much randomness to something that relies more on unit combat properties This means for example, Infantry can incur casualties and Armor can be damaged without necessarily destroying the unit. This system should give us greater tactical advantages from one unit type to the next. Reinforcements happen automatically using MPUs and Steel. You can also turn reinforcement off at the group level. More UI conveniences will be added as we proceed and there’s still a lot of balancing to fully exploit the potential of this feature. New events have been added for the United States and Japan that focus on the Pacific War. Most of these modify AI behavior like getting Japan to attack US & UK Colonies, and the US island hopping campaign. Several nations have new Infantry models since there were some uniform distinction we wanted to provide. Like the USA goes from Infantry I doughboy helmets to the traditional M1. Some key AI revisions are on the schedule for the coming weeks. Defensive tactics will be getting more attention. We’ll be directing the AI to better defend their borders including dependent nations like Puppets and Colonies - something they don’t currently do well enough. And as we progress, the Offensive AI will require adjustments to take advantage of all the Defensive changes. This work will likely be the last major system revision and it will take time to finish and get balanced. There are plenty of items left on our todo list. And while we want to get to a finished release soon, we fully intend to maintain focus and make The Second World War something we can be proud of. With the assistance of the Early Access community, we’re confident we can get there soon. Please feel free to inquire about features and changes. If you have a crash, think you’ve found a bug or maybe just noticed one of my spelling errors, post a note on Steam or email us at techsupport@factusgames.com. Visit our website to read how to get us debugging information: https://factusgames.com/pages/support. Notes for Early Access Update #5 - Fixed some unit model nation decal errors - Assigned higher-res Horse textures on Artillery units - Added new Infantry models for Infantry II: American, Italian. Soviet Japanese, Bulgarian. Spanish Nationalist, Polish, Portuguese, Hungarian, South African, Canadian, Yemeni, Ethiopian, Polynesian, Melanesian, Indian - Increased MPU replacement rates for higher Food tech levels - Balanced military units to work with new hit-point system - New Events for American Neutrality, the Pacific War, and Invasion of North Africa - Many updates to existing events, especially Barbarossa and Japanese Expansion - Revised Defensive AI evaluations on coastal defense requirements - Use Master Nations relations when calculating defense needs on dependent borders - Enemy threat assessment in the defensive AI is now Empire based - AI prioritizes building trenchworks when is an engagement in the region - Fixed bug trying to get last region of port related move orders - Added new Event trigger: TriggerRemoveNFactories - Added "bEmpire" property to TriggerConditionNationControlsRegions to change check from direct Nation to Intra-Empire - Increased AI priority on Event fed targeted regions - AI no longer skips non-sphere regions over water if that region is a target region or controlled by a target nation - Revised Propose Alliance AI scoring and to consider current enemies - End AI creating invalid convoy targets - Updated Combat Resolution routine to reflect new Hit Point system - Combat Power for land engagements now favors higher combat values - Damaged land and air units will now regenerate health while not in combat - Hit Point Reinforcement now charges MPUs and Steel - Allow players to turn off Hit Point Reinforcement by group - Updated Group UI panels to show Hit Points, Damages and Casualties - Group UI List area combines all unit types together despite nationality - Group UI List area shows nationality in the expanded rows - Updated Split panel to show Hit Point information - Adjusted nation power ratio check to lower threshold for nuking an enemy - Added available MPU check back to AI recruitment - Fixed math for charging steel and MPUs for Hit Point Reinforcement - Balanced Factory Output profits and build times - Increased output for Capacities - New Icons for Unit Panels - Fixed bug in Check Subordinate Revolt event - Changed assumption that kept Humans from getting many Events - Fixed bug in Total Casualties on the military panel - Fixed some sorting in the military panel

We spent the last two weeks implementing a brand new combat resolution system. In the process, a lot of code needed to be ripped out and replaced. It was really too much to complete in a single week so we chose to delay update. These changes will have a large impact on the military gameplay and especially the AI. The work is not done but we wanted to get the new system in the hands of the Community as we make refinements. The biggest feature improvement in this release is the inclusion of Hit Points on all military units. We moved away from a single hit system that resulted in too much randomness to something that relies more on unit combat properties. This means for example, Infantry can incur casualties and Armor can be damaged without necessarily destroying the unit. This system should give us greater tactical advantages from one unit type to the next. Reinforcements happen automatically using MPUs and Steel. You can also turn reinforcement off at the group level. More UI conveniences will be added as we proceed and theres still a lot of balancing to fully exploit the potential of this feature. New events have been added for the United States and Japan that focus on the Pacific War. Most of these modify AI behavior like getting Japan to attack US & UK Colonies, and the US island hopping campaign. Several nations have new Infantry models since there were some uniform distinction we wanted to provide. Like the USA goes from Infantry I doughboy helmets to the traditional M1. Some key AI revisions are on the schedule for the coming weeks. Defensive tactics will be getting more attention. Well be directing the AI to better defend their borders including dependent nations like Puppets and Colonies - something they dont currently do well enough. And as we progress, the Offensive AI will require adjustments to take advantage of all the Defensive changes. This work will likely be the last major system revision and it will take time to finish and get balanced. There are plenty of items left on our todo list. And while we want to get to a finished release soon, we fully intend to maintain focus and make The Second World War something we can be proud of. With the assistance of the Early Access community, were confident we can get there soon. Please feel free to inquire about features and changes. If you have a crash, think youve found a bug or maybe just noticed one of my spelling errors, post a note on Steam or email us at techsupport@factusgames.com. Visit our website to read how to get us debugging information: https://factusgames.com/pages/support. Notes for Early Access Update #5 - Fixed some unit model nation decal errors - Assigned higher-res Horse textures on Artillery units - Added new Infantry models for Infantry II: American, Italian. Soviet Japanese, Bulgarian. Spanish Nationalist, Polish, Portuguese, Hungarian, South African, Canadian, Yemeni, Ethiopian, Polynesian, Melanesian, Indian - Increased MPU replacement rates for higher Food tech levels - Balanced military units to work with new hit-point system - New Events for American Neutrality, the Pacific War, and Invasion of North Africa - Many updates to existing events, especially Barbarossa and Japanese Expansion - Revised Defensive AI evaluations on coastal defense requirements - Use Master Nations relations when calculating defense needs on dependent borders - Enemy threat assessment in the defensive AI is now Empire based - AI prioritizes building trenchworks when is an engagement in the region - Fixed bug trying to get last region of port related move orders - Added new Event trigger: TriggerRemoveNFactories - Added "bEmpire" property to TriggerConditionNationControlsRegions to change check from direct Nation to Intra-Empire - Increased AI priority on Event fed targeted regions - AI no longer skips non-sphere regions over water if that region is a target region or controlled by a target nation - Revised Propose Alliance AI scoring and to consider current enemies - End AI creating invalid convoy targets - Updated Combat Resolution routine to reflect new Hit Point system - Combat Power for land engagements now favors higher combat values - Damaged land and air units will now regenerate health while not in combat - Hit Point Reinforcement now charges MPUs and Steel - Allow players to turn off Hit Point Reinforcement by group - Updated Group UI panels to show Hit Points, Damages and Casualties - Group UI List area combines all unit types together despite nationality - Group UI List area shows nationality in the expanded rows - Updated Split panel to show Hit Point information - Adjusted nation power ratio check to lower threshold for nuking an enemy - Added available MPU check back to AI recruitment - Fixed math for charging steel and MPUs for Hit Point Reinforcement - Balanced Factory Output profits and build times - Increased output for Capacities - New Icons for Unit Panels - Fixed bug in Check Subordinate Revolt event - Changed assumption that kept Humans from getting many Events - Fixed bug in Total Casualties on the military panel - Fixed some sorting in the military panel