May 15, 2013, 07:10:14 PM by Blackbishop

Hello Eastern Front fans,

It has a while since we posted an announcement, but now we bring some good news: the new version 1.8.0.0 has been released!

What does this patch contain? As you might remember, Company of Heroes' servers from Quazal were shut down in May 7th and Steamworks was integrated on it in order to ensure the multiplayer component remains functional, pushing a new patch within, the version 2.700; this new version made incompatible custom factions with our current set up and also made the Strawman(recrew) bug appear once more.

Now, you might wonder why we delayed so much to fix it, and the answer is just because we were(and still are) busy with our University commitments and other real life issues and just a couple of days ago Cope was able to fix it. This means two things, first one is that Eastern Front is now compatible with the "new released" version on Steam and no longer works with the retail version.

We do no longer support the retail version because we only support the official version, and having different versions of Eastern Front would lead to confusion and would split the community into playing different versions of Eastern Front, something which we are against. Apologizes for any inconvenience related to this decision.

If you are interested in reading the changelog of the new patch, you can check here. If you don't know how to switch your retail CoH into Steam, Relic explains it.

Props to Cope for fixing the strawman bug once more !

Since we haven't shown anything new for a while, I'll post a couple of screenshots:

This vehicle is going to replace the Observer Team in the patch 2.0.0.0.

We felt than Soviets needed a light vehicle to fight against enemy snipers properly, we thought about the BA-64, but at the end we preferred this new unit. It used to have a DP-28 in the rear, however ours is equipped with the Maxim 1910 HMG.

Credits to DMz and Beefy^ for the development and set up of this unit.

you might wonder what would be happening to the Observer Team... is it going to disappear? And the answer is no.

The Observer Team(left) will be put as reward unit for the Gaz 43 so, in case your strategy works better with the former, feel free to swap it.

Also, in this image we can see an old friend coming back... the Sniper Team(right) will replace the regular Sniper, and this time he comes to stay. As we become more experienced, we were able to fix the balance issues that this unit got in the past, we have been working on it several months ago, and it was included in the beta since the beginning IIRC. So far there is no issue with it so you can expect to use it on Eastern Front 2.0.0.0 that will be released in the future .

You can download the update with the EF launcher.

Thanks for downloading and continue to enjoy,

Eastern Front Development Team

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April 01, 2013, 03:21:10 AM by Rikard Blixt

Your chance to win a Beta Key to the Ostheer Beta! First 10 contestants to guess the target right wins a key (write the target's name in a post in this thread). Competition over! Winners have received their keys.

Your tank crew made the unfortunate mistake of challenging Klaus the Kübelwagen driver to a drinking competition last night and now they're paying for it with the mother of all hangovers. Help them identify the target.



The correct answer is the latest addition to the Ostheer arsenal, the Eselschreck, donkey armed with panzerschrecks! (April fools! No donkey for you in Ostheer!)

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March 13, 2013, 09:25:07 AM by Blackbishop

Hello Eastern Front fans,

This time we will disclose the Command Trees used by Ostheer. We had taken our time because the ones we had weren't final and we preferred to wait until the end to post them. Let's start then.

As the name implies, this command tree has several support units, on the LHS we have Brandenburgers, Aces High! and Carpet Bombing while the RHS is formed by Prioritized Resources, Ad-Hoc Detachment and Incendiary Rounds.

• Brandenburger ability calls a Ju 52 which paradrops a Brandenburger squad at the desired area. Brandenburgers are specialized in undercover operations, and they use soviet uniforms and soviet weapons. They have also the ability to capture a point instantly if it is neutral and to make neutral an enemy captured point, this ability doesn't work on Secured Points or in Victory Points.
• Aces High! ability calls the Ju 87 with Kanonenvogel over a chosen sector, it also fires at infantry if it is close to the armoured unit it is attacking.
• Carpet Bombing ability calls three Ju 88 in Delta Formation dropping bombs over the selected area, it covers a quite big area so, be aware of the chances of being caught on friendly fire for your or your allied troops .
• Prioritized Resources gives the Opel Maultier the ability to call a Ju 52, which paradrops some resources to your troops. The resources given depends of the secured sector and this ability cannot be used in your Commander Area so, make sure you are in a safe zone while you call this because your opponent can pick it up as well!
• Ad-Hoc Detachment is a call-in ability than enables the commander to call an Sturmfusiliers squads(they are AT infantry squads) and the self-propelled artillery unit Wespe(if you have chosen the support upgrade) or the Panzer 38t(if you have chosen the assault upgrade).
• Incendiary Rounds is an upgrade given to Panzerwerfers, it makes them able to fire incendiary projectiles instead of the normal ones. This upgrade is global , retroactive and automatic so, once you pick this your Panzerwerfers will no longer fire their original ammo.

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This tree gives your commander the best equipment the Fatherland can grant. LHS has as possible upgrades: Jagers, Panzerkrieg and Pincer Movement while the RHS has the following upgrades: Fire-Up, Ostkrieg and Sturmtiger/Brummbar.

• Jager ability calls a four men squad equipped with kar98 rifles, but capable of being upgrading with Gewehr 41s, StG44s and Panzershreck 54s. When you get the Gewehr 41 rifles, you unlock an ability than let's you snipe an enemy soldier.
• Panzerkrieg ability is a passive one; it allows vehicles to create an aura that boost infantry troops near them. This doesn't work with weapon teams.
• Pincer Movement is an active ability which grants infantry and vehicles offensive bonuses and more speed by a limited time, so they can try to bring down their enemies by trying to apply the tactic of the same name or just take the change to attack from the rear.
• Fire-Up is an active ability than affects infantry troops, it is a squad ability, so you active it on the squad you like whenever you want; it gives offensive bonuses like suppression resistance and improved weapon cooldown, reload, accuracy and damage(only for infantry).
• Ostkrieg is a passive ability than helps Ostheer infantry to get veterancy at faster rates.
• Sturmtiger ability let you call the self-propelled heavy assault gun who bears the same name, you can allocate it once and it has a munition nominal cost required every time it fires, although at the end it is worth it ;). It has as reward unit, the Sturmpanzer IV, also known as Brummbar, and it is a self-propelled heavy assault gun as well, although not as heavy as the Sturmtiger.

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As the name implies, this command tree is a defensive oriented one, at the LHS and you will dispose of Panzernests, Cover Camo and the leFH18; RHS grants you Medic Stations, Counterattack and the Elefant.

• Panzernest is a heavy structure unlocked in the Sturmpioniers defensive structures menu. It is a small metal bunker equipped with a single HMG-34, it's fire cone is not very big, due to the nature of the emplacement, but it is very resilant and impervious to small arm bullets.
• Cover Camo is a passive upgrade than, as you might guess, gives passive camouflage to Ostheer infantry units as long as they are in cover. They do not earn first shot bonuses though.
• The 10.5 cm leFH 18 is a light field howitzer buildable by Sturmpioniers on it's defensive structures menu. It's crew can be killed if left unsupported and the enemy could recrew the gun so watch out your gun!
• The Field Hospital upgrade, unlocks the upgrade that bears the same name on the concrete emplacements. As the name says, it makes the defensive structure into a Field Hospital, popping up medics and retrieving wounded infantry units. There is a catch though, instead of getting a new squad when getting five soldiers, you get a small amount of manpower.
• Counterattack is an active ability than works different on infantry laid on enemy territory and the one in yours(or neutral); it gives it more speed and reduces the chances of getting hit while staying on your own territory or increasing the damage output if you are on enemy sectors(excluding enemy Command Area).
• The Elefant is a heavy tank destroyer call-in that can be allocated as many times as you want, but it can be only one at time in the battlefield. It has an ability to jam/break turrets from vehicles(that have those ofc :P).

You can watch several Alpha matches from this site if you want to know more about how different the Beta version is going to be from the regular one.

Before finishing this announcement, you might be wondering what happened to the foreign units, because there is no mention about them and it was because we removed them from Ostheer, so we can make a reward faction featuring these non-german assets of war . We had many of them than we thought it would be too much to put all of that there. Expect more news about it later .

We expect to start the Beta this Friday, so stay tuned !

Regards,
The Eastern Front Team

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February 28, 2013, 02:58:32 PM by Blackbishop

Hello guys!

It has a while since we wrote an announcement, don't worry, we are not dead but just a bit busy . Since it has been a while, we have some points to cover, so let's begin:

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1vs1 Tournament

Congratulations to all the players that joined and played in this tournament! Specially for the winners:

* 1st place (50$)
   BartonPL

* 2nd place (one CoH2 beta key and access to the ostheer beta)
   Dentrag

* 3rd place (Ostheer beta access)
   JB

You can watch ImperialDane shoutcast of the finals here.

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Ostheer Maps Contest

Thanks to all the mappers than are involved in this event, and for those ones who forgot to join, the deadline has been reached(February 28th), and it is time to finish your map and upload it to the mapping section of the EF forums. For more information about the contest, you can refer to this post.

Good luck to all the contestants .

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Ostheer Sneaky Peaky

Now to the main business. We have some parts of Ostheer left to unveil, like the Command Trees, and we will be showing them soon. Meanwhile, I leave you some screenshots of units than Ostheer is using but haven't presented them before, at least properly:




Ostheer will use some aircraft units as well, more than Soviets or US; the JU87 "Stuka" is a Tank Hunter unit, JU88 is used as heavy bomber unit and the JU52 "Tante" is a logistics and transportation plane. These units belong to the Army Support Tree, so I won't say too much about them, because we will talke about them in the next week . JU52 original model by MrScruff, finished by Halftrack and Tankdestroyer. JU87 original model by MrScruff, Kanonenvogel 37 by DMz, textures by Slayerknecht, model finished by DMz and Beefy^. JU88 model, textures made by DMz, animations by Walki.


Flammpanzer III is the upgrade that replaced the stubby, we opted for this one because flamethrower tanks are useless in CoH, so we wanted to give a chance to this baby giving it a proper balance of course. One more reason, was to make different the role of the Panzer III and to make it more original, because an armoured unit with a low velocity gun was already present on Panzer Elite(their Panzer IV F1) but not an axis flamethrower tank. Flamer gun and animations made by Walki.


Panzerfusiliers remain almost the same, just than they have a different weapon, it is not the MP44/StG44, it is not the MP41... it is the Kar98k. Yes, you read correctly, they will wield the Kar98k rifle.

At this point you are probably wondering either about being a "meh" decision or a bad decision or an obvious decision due to the small weapons available to choose, certainly we had another plan in mind, and some old fans might remember it now: if you look at the weapon they carry, it is not a MP40 but an MP40/II. These weapons were manufactured in very limited numbers so, Panzerfusiliers now have the option to upgrade their regular weapons into MP40/II submachine guns, giving them double fire rate than the usual MP40 but double reload time as well.

Here is an additional picture for a close look:

As additional note, Panzerfusiliers can fire panzerfaust, but unlike Wehrmacht they use the Panzerfaust 30 "Klein". If you are interested to see the different types of panzerfausts, click here.


Ostheer will have access to the Sdkfz. 251/21 as a possible upgrade for the Halftrack. Known as "Drilling"(which is a German word that means triple), this HT has a triple-mount of MG151. Works as AA unit and also works wonders against infantry. Model, textures and animations(and OE job) by DMz and Beefy^.


The only objective of this screenshot, is to show how the vet system will be for vehicles. Some tanks and vehicles will have access to this upgrade system, which represents three options: armour, commander, engine. Each one improves the tank over a specific area, and once you choose one, every time you get a new veterancy level the bonuses you get are related to the upgrade chosen, which means that once you pick one you stick to that.

As armour implies, it improves the armour of the unit. For the commander one, it gives the unit a commander(which becomes a cupola gunner later and improves the performance of the main gun also as a late vet bonus) while the engine vet improves the vehicle speed and acceleration. The only armoured vehicles than get these three choices so far are Panzer IV, Panzer III(yes it has a gunner), StuG III, Brummbar, Tiger and Panther. The other units get engine vet.


The same thing can be said for the infantry upgrades. Infantry units can get Mechanic, Medic or Scout veterancy bonuses... the first one makes the infantry unit able to repair vehicles and makes them better once they get more vet levels; Medic makes them able to heal allied infantry soldiers and the ability becomes better once they get more vet levels; the last one is Scout, which help them to move and cap faster, allowing them to take less damage as well.

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Future Patches and the Beta

And the last point we would like to talk is about future patches and the beta, while the beta is close, this doesn't mean we will stop to fix issues until we release 2.0.0.0 (which will be the patch were Ostheer will be released to the public), the latest released patch should fix the nasty AI errors everyone was getting since the last update.

We are working on the last details for the beta, however, while we still have a lot of work in the 2D/3D areas because most of our models are not final, we are in conditions to start the beta. And thanks to the effort of all the active Devs the beta is very close. So stay tuned .

Also, AGameAnx has joined to our team as AI coder, to help us with the Ostheer AI(and maybe if he has time to tweak the regular AI even more). This doesn't mean Jojo resigned, he is also part of the team, however, he had an accident last november and he still needs to recover. Good luck comrade!

In the next announcements we will cover the Command Trees and the Veterancy with full details, so stay tuned !

Regards,
The Eastern Front Team

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January 06, 2013, 03:59:25 PM by Blackbishop

Dear Eastern Front fans,

today we want to announce a very special event for all of you; the second official Eastern Front tournament, brought to you by ApeMen!
Signups are open from this very moment on; just sign up via BinaryBeast Link: http://binarybeast.com/xCoH1301101

Important Links

• Forum rules
• Screenshotter_V3.31 (anti cheating measure)
• http://binarybeast.com/xCoH1301101

Prizes

• $50 cash prize (PayPal account required!)
• CoH2 Beta Key
• Ostheer Beta access

Schedule (all times GMT)

Friday, 25th January

• Start of the Tournament. Every round before quarter finals need to be played before the 1st of February

Saturday, 1st-2nd February

• Quarter finals - 5:00pm : [EF] Karachev (2)
• Semi finals - 6:00pm : [EF] Mstow (2)

Sunday, 3rd February

• 3rd place game - 5:00pm : [EF] Elbing (2)
• Final - 06:00pm : [EF] Demyansk (2)

Maps

As this is an Eastern Front tourney, games will be played on Eastern Front maps. Except for the games from quarter finals on, players are able to decide for a map by mutual agreement, choosing from the list below:

• [EF] Demyansk (2)
• [EF] Elbing (2)
• [EF] Karachev (2)
• [EF] Kotelnikovo (2)
• [EF] Mstow (2)
• [EF] Vienna (2)

Arrival, Tournament Start, and No-Shows

Please arrive in the chat lobby 10 minutes before game time. Matches on Saturday and Sunday begin on 5pm GMT. If you don't show up by 5:10 pm GMT, a post will be made on the forum thread by your opponent and you will be disqualified.

If your opponent doesn't show up they will forfeit and you will go through to the next round. Please make a post in your thread on the forum 10 minutes after kick-off to keep the Referees informed.

Important: In case your opponent doesn't show up at kick-off time, be sure to thoroughly check the forums so he cannot simply make a thread, claim you're not there and go through to the next round without you noticing (it can be hard for the Refs to track this).

If your games went extra long, you are allowed a 10 minute break before you must start your next Round.

Game Settings

• Name convention: Players ingame names should match the name shown in the signup thread. No smurfing.
• Server setup: 1v1, 500VP, Fixed Starting Positions (leave "Reversed Positions" unticked), Standard Resources
• Faction choice: Wehrmacht and Soviets only.
• Anti-Cheating Requirements: You must use Screenshotter_V3 (see above) during all your games. Please be sure it works on your computer before the tournament!
• Replays: Every player must save replays from EVERY game played, even when losing. Only one player has to post the replay on the replay section, but Tournament Staff can request any other player to post his replay too, for any reason.

Brackets

• Round format: Brackets are best-out-of-3 Games on the same Map. For the first two games you play one as Soviets, one as Wehrmacht.
• Starting Army: The player on top plays Soviet first and switches to Wehrmacht for the 2nd game
• 1-1 tie: In the bracket games, if there is a tie after 2 games are played, the VP leaders get to chose their faction for the 3rd (and last) game. Remember to write down the VP standing after each game!
  • The losing player will have 0 VPs left. If a player is annihilated, their VPs are considered "drained to 0".
  • The VP leader can be found by comparing who had more VPs left in the game that he won.
  • It is up to you to write down & remember the VP standing after each game. If it comes down to the third game, it is up to each individual player to calculate who is ahead on VP and therefore gets to choose their faction.
  • If you agree to go ahead with the third game, you cannot change your mind after the game has been played, claiming that you didn't know.
• Qualification: The winning player, scoring 2-0 or 2-1, advances to the next round.

Result Submission

One of the competitors, either you or your opponent, should start a thread in the Eastern Front Replays forum, titled like this example: "Quarter finals: Greshnack vs Baumbart".

Use these threads for arranging to meet in Relic Online, announcing the results, posting replays (use attachment function while posting a reply in the respective thread), uploading screenshotter packs, & reporting no-show opponents.

Failure to upload all of the replays and all screenshotter packs WILL result in you not being able to advance to the next round. Replays must be uploaded to the replay section accordingly before being put through!

As soon as the player is put through their individual topic may be locked until the end of that tourney day.


Judgement

• Rules: If any problem occurs that isn't covered in the rules, you fully agree that EasternFront.org staff's decision on the matter will be FINAL.
• Exploits and bug abuse are not allowed. If you suspect your opponent used an exploit or abused a bug, please contact a referee before you start your next game.
• Wrong Settings or Server Crash: In the event that matches aren't played by the map rules (fixed positions etc), the server goes down or a game drops for both players, the game will have to be replayed.
• Kicking: Kicking anyone from a game is not allowed
• Hamachi: You can use Hamachi if you want to, just remember to save and post the replays & screenshots.
• Connection issue: In the event that you absolutely cannot connect to your opponent due to NAT failures or other problems, the Referees may decide to shuffle you around in the groups or brackets to try to find someone you can connect to. In the worst case scenario, if you cannot connect to any opponent after many tries, you could, and most probably will be kicked from the tournament.
• Missing Screenshot pack: If one player cannot provide a complete screenshot pack from Screenshotter_V3 for one of the games, the other team can claim a win for that game. However, the other team can also decide to leave you the win if they believe you are clean.
• Cheating: We take intentional dropping/cheating very seriously. There will be none of it! You are instantly out of the tournament and barred from all future tournaments if you intentionally drop or cheat and that is final. You could also face a 3 month suspension of your EasternFront.org account up to a permanent ban.
• Unplanned events: In the event of a drop, or any other problem, all the players from both teams should take manual screenshots and save the replay every single time! The more items we have, the better will be our decision. It is your job to provide us all the necessary information, and if you can't provide any, we will not be able to help you.
• 30 second allowance: If a player drops from the game before 30 seconds for any reason, the game has to be restarted. There is a 30 second allowance to make sure you all don't have a really bad connection to each other. In the event of this, restart your game and try again.
• Late disconnection: If the game crashes after the one minute allowance, we are asking both teams to be as fair as possible regarding the situation and try to discuss and agree on the best solution for all.
  • If the game was balanced, we would highly appreciate to see you restarting that game, and your sportsmanship will be remembered.
  • If you can't find an agreement but one player can clearly be identified as the cause of the problem by our Staff, even unintentionally, he will be considered responsible of his bad hardware/software maintenance.
  • If you can't find an agreement and the cause isn't identifiable, EF Staff's decision on the matter will be final.
• Banned players: Players that have been banned from EasternFront.org cannot take part in any tournaments hosted by us.

Communication

• Players in the upper brackets will meet in the PLAYING COH MODS chat channel 10 minutes before Tourney kick-off time.
• Players in the lower brackets will meet in the PLAYING COH CUSTOM MAPS chat channel 10 minutes before Tourney kick-off time.
• If your opponents do not show for the game by 10 minutes after kick-off time, make a post in your tournament forum topic saying this and also tell one of the Tournament Moderators (i.e. a Referee) to check and put you through.
• Attempt to communicate with each other and get your game started, /addfriend "opponent's Relic Online name", ask in chat if your opponent is around, ask in the topic etc.
• Harassment of any of the Moderators may result in that player being banned for the next tournament.
• Disputes, questions, and rule issues can be addressed to ApeMen (Relic Online name: Greshnack) in the PLAYING COH MODS chat channel.

If you have any questions regarding the rules, post in this very thread.

Your Referees for the Tournament are:

ApeMen
dArCReAvEr
MaxiKing6

The rest of the CoH: Eastern Front developers will support them.

Thanks to Gamereplays.org and especially to Budwise for the permission to adapt their tournament rules.

Hoping for large attendance,

Eastern Front Mod Team

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