Release Notes - 2019-11-27

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Release Notes - 2019-11-27


      Attention Generals!

      This week’s release brings a lot of new great features to Call of War! We release sound and music, implement a brand new army positioning system and adjust day changes in the game to make sure that no player has a default advantage due to the time zone they play in.

      We already talked about the implementation of sound and music, as well as the adjustment on how day change works in new game rounds last week. Something we would like to highlight today is the new army positioning system we are implementing today.

      This new system displays the images of units on the map slightly more separated from each other with lines marking their exact position on the map. This significantly improves overview on the map and makes it easier to distinguish between different troops, especially on cluttered maps or regions where many different units are positioned close together. The new army positioning system will be available with advanced graphics only.

      See the list below for a complete overview of what we release today.


      New features:
      • We implemented Sound and music in Call of War
        • Sound and music are available with advanced graphic settings only.
        • Sound and music can be activated and deactivated in the settings.
      • We implement a new army positioning system to improve overview on the map.
        • The new army positioning system is available with advanced graphics only.
      • We adjusted when day change happens in new game rounds. Day change now takes place 24 hours after a game was created.
        • Existing game rounds are not affected by this change.
      • We added a day change timer to the game
        • The day change timer can be found in the upper right corner of the screen on PC and at the bottom right corner of the screen in the mobile app.
      Graphical Updates:
      • We implemented new unit interface images, unit skins and added missing faction specific skins for:
        • Artillery
        • Anti Tank
        • Anti Air
        • Railroad Gun
        • Convoy
        • Armored Car
        • Light Tank
        • Medium Tank
        • Heavy Tank
        • Tank Destroyer
        • SP Anti Air
        • SP Artillery
      • We made attack vectors more transparent with bombarding units to improve map overview.
        • Attack vectors are not transparent when the unit is selected or hovered over.
      • We adjusted the relation mode and changed the used color palette.
      • We adjusted the way water and fog of war is displayed on the map. Both are slightly brighter now.
      • We improved existing and added new animations for airplanes and rockets when using enhanced graphics.
      • Rockets update their position in real time and exactly follow the drawn attack path when using enhanced graphics
      AI Modifications:
      • We reduced the popularity penalty for producing units when a player’s popularity is on a low level already.
      • We decreased the popularity penalty for sneak attacks.
      • We removed the popularity penalty for having war declared on you by someone else.
      • Player’s who get attacked by another country received a solidarity/popularity bonus.
      • The AI constructs buildings and units more strategically now.
      • The AI now attacks frontline provinces rather than backline provinces.

      • We fixed a bug that allows the AI to give Right of Way to players on Dominion maps.
      Bug fixes:
      • We fixed an issue that caused sea transports, airplanes or airplane convoys to have negative health and as a result being indestructible sometimes.
      • We resolved an issue that prevented the arrival time of units in the army bar to be updated immediately when the unit was dragged.
      • We fixed an issue that occasionally showed lines on the map when airplanes were airborne.
      • We resolved an issue that occasionally caused the attack timer to be displayed incorrectly.
      • We fixed an issue that caused a wrong image to be displayed in the unit research details for the Russian BT tank.
      • We resolved an issue that caused the wrong text and images being displayed on the reward popup for the winning team/coalition.
      • We fixed an issue that occasionally caused the redirect to the payment provider to fail in the shop.
      • We resolved an issue that prevented translated shop descriptions for high command to be displayed in the shop.
      • We fixed an issue that prevented parts of the game details of non-english games to be translated.
      • We resolved an issue that prevented players from buying blueprints for some units.
      • We resolved an issue that caused attack arrows and certain symbols to be displayed over airplanes when using enhanced graphics.
      • We fixed and issue that caused map borders to cover units and province names when using enhanced graphics.
      We hope you like the new features and updates, and which you best of luck on the battlefield!

      Your Bytro Team
      Discord: Call of War
      Facebook: Call of War
      Twitter: Call of War
    • Can I not just have the original default graphics? Trying to play and my brain hurts. I just want the basics. Green for my team. Red for the bad guys. Gray for everything else. All the units the way they were. Am I an idiot or can I not have that anymore? I've toggled everything on and off. This is unplayable for me.
    • Bojmir41 wrote:

      Can I not just have the original default graphics? Trying to play and my brain hurts. I just want the basics. Green for my team. Red for the bad guys. Gray for everything else. All the units the way they were. Am I an idiot or can I not have that anymore? I've toggled everything on and off. This is unplayable for me.
      I think you somehow switched either to the old graphics mode or you switched off the relation view mode. Check your menu settings (lower right) and enable enhanced graphics, then toggle on relation view. This will paint all enemies in red and all allies in green and all neutrals in grey.

      Unit graphics will not change back though because we are making all of them more realistic.

      Lennfys wrote:

      damn to much people hate this update, guys, we got the sound in CoW first, the things the most wanted !
      and bro, if u like the old version where u jast had to crate 30 lights tanks to win, it where too easy and the game except the RP's games where boring
      Actually I saw much more people in the chat who like this update. Of course we can't please everyone :)
    • freezy wrote:

      Actually I saw much more people in the chat who like this update. Of course we can't please everyone :)
      With respect, then I think you are not reading the game's chats. In the Hispanic server the vast majority is complaining, several players say that with these changes they will practically leave the game and to some extent, I find the reason at one point.

      The new graphics, but particularly those of the tanks, are very dark and have a rather unnecessary brightness effect, this causes that when the camera is moved away slightly, they are indistinguishable, it is difficult to see if you are moving an armored car, a light tank, medium, or a SPAA.

      For worse, aesthetically these do not look good according to the map, unlike the old graphics.

      If I look at the units with a magnifying glass, the units can be seen that these have more details and that is great, but that they are so dark and have that glow, from afar it is as if I were moving a lot of black dots.

      About the sounds, I do not complain, it is something that has been asked for a long time and in my opinion they are good, that they are improvable, yes they are, but it is not something that bothers and I could say that I am satisfied with at least Half of the new sounds.
      Make Chile Playable Again!
    • Was only refering to the english chat of course, where most people in the first 5h after the update reacted positively.

      I think the new graphics are stylistically quite fitting to the Enhanced graphics version (which is the official default version), they may however not be fitting as well in the old graphics version that looks a bit more cartoonish in general. Due to how the code works they had to be introduced in both versions though.
      The new unit graphics now show much more details and we used actual models from WW2 units for each faction, to give each faction its own unique historic look. Makes the game look better and more realistic. Over the next 2-3 months we will also introduce them for the rest of the units.
      Please play with them for some days and report back later if you still have usability troubles with them. Because I think a large part of this is just about getting used to it.
    • Hello,

      The new graphics are beautiful, but there are readibility issues :

      For the World Map icons, there are only Soviets units among me and my allies, but at least I can have a good look

      - Soviet Heavy (KV type) and medium (T34) look really similar, which is reinforced by the dark color of the Soviets not letting you see the details and the fact that the KV1 is not bigger than the T34 (when it should).
      - Soviet SP Arty and Tank destroyers could be swapped and it would still make sense : the Arty uses a Su-76 icon, which was also (and mostly !) a tank destroyer, while the TD uses - I think - (I)SU-122 which was also used as SP Arty
      - AT and Arty looks fairly similar, though I can see that some efforts were made there to use different types. I guess that's an hard one to solve there.
      - LT and AC are really distinctive (though BA-20 are ugly vehicles, I would have prefered BA-64)

      The assets in the production menu are a beauty. Keep them.

      The icon in the unit panel at the bottom (when you click on an unit) are in general good, with exception :
      - Soviet SP Artillery looks like the medium tank
      - Light Tank, SP AA and Foot AA look ugly, the angle of the view is different and it looks like it comes from another Art Direction.

      For other countries, I can only see a light tank, and the unit icon in the unit pannel looks a lot like a Sherman (but then I can't see what the icon for the medium tank looks like)

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Chimere ().

    • the new graphics make the icons for ground troops too hard to distinguish. especially on the phone. I believe the comment about people leaving on the Spanish serve,r because I have a couple of players on the English server who have said they can no longer play because they can't see anymore. not everyone who plays this game has perfect eyesight. I have trouble myself when using the phone. when on my PC I have to enlarge screen.

      Why can't it be like the graphics for the terrain and give us an option? one option has all the fancy graphics and the other doesn't, just looks like it did before this new update?
    • I agree with Bojmir41. I'm a long time player of Call of War. I have disliked most of the changes made to the game over the years that I have played but always found a way to adapt to them. The new graphics are as Bojmir41 said; Unplayable. I have enjoyed the years playing Call of War. I have already archived the games that I was in alone. I am struggling to try and play the three that I am in with my alliance mates but I don't think that I can continue those effectively either. I just can't distinguish the new graphics. They are simply blurs on my map. I WILL NOT be playing any more after these 3 games end.
    • I do not understand, they still have not implanted in the game of unique buildings of frabrications?
      because I joined a game that was new, after the update and there are not the buildings announced,
      and also I did not see in the patchnote the location of new buildings, they have removed from the update?

      thx for ur work
      French
      Leader of the "French Strategists" 's Alliance
      The win or nothing

    • Let's be honest, the new tank skins while more detailed are entirely not playable on mobile. It's impossible to distinguish between heavy and medium tanks now, without staring at them for ages. The old skins worked perfectly so I don't understand why they changed them.
      I think after the match I'm currently playing I might have to pack it in.
    • So far i have not heared not a single person who likes the new units graphics.. meanwhile the sound its ok because its mutable if you dont like.. on the other hand i dont like the old graphic but i enjoyed the old enanched graphic. this new enanched is not good because ,as ppl already said , i cant say what is what and to see i have continuosly check the stats of the units ( which i know in memory) to reconize what is what. Another example is the difficult to find the exactly point of units like railguns which are SOOOOO huge that covers even entire provinces while been in a very tiny spot so hard to find that i need to zoom 1000% to understand where my own unit is placed..
      Im someone who enjoy changes but those changes are bad..
      you should remodel those new units they looks like all similar and kinda weird in a way im not able to explain in english good enough.. like the borders units are so white that confuse me and the colors are all the same also the shape is all almost the same like a copy paste with very little differences which only an autistic could easly find ( no offense to autistic people its just an example)
    • freezy wrote:

      Was only refering to the english chat of course, where most people in the first 5h after the update reacted positively.

      I think the new graphics are stylistically quite fitting to the Enhanced graphics version (which is the official default version), they may however not be fitting as well in the old graphics version that looks a bit more cartoonish in general. Due to how the code works they had to be introduced in both versions though.
      The new unit graphics now show much more details and we used actual models from WW2 units for each faction, to give each faction its own unique historic look. Makes the game look better and more realistic. Over the next 2-3 months we will also introduce them for the rest of the units.
      Please play with them for some days and report back later if you still have usability troubles with them. Because I think a large part of this is just about getting used to it.
      Remove HTML5. Java client only. Introduce Pins. Revert sound. Open Source the old UI.
    • Lennfys wrote:

      wait, i'm in a new game with the sound ect... but there isn't the new constructs to produce army

      Test version 1.5 of COW - which is a different game than the regular COW 1.0 we are all playing (also in France) - is the game version with the new constructions (like the specialized Tank Factory). COW 1.5 test games were only available for a short period of time during the Test Event.

      Since the test event is over (except for maps that have not ended yet), one can't join new test games until the next test event. Until then, you can only join maps of the regular game COW 1.0.
      All maps one can join now are therefor regular maps of COW 1.0, albeit with new graphics and music, since the update of COW 1.0.

      Just to be explicit and clear - even though it could impossibly be a mystery to anyone who paid a tiny bit of attention - regular COW 1.0 games are not COW 1.5 test games and therefor don't have the test features of COW 1.5, including specialized weapons factories.
    • The new look of the units.

      <p>Well, like Freezy said, try to get used to it. In a few weeks, most players will be used to this new look, so try to get used to it.</p><div>However, if after a while players are still not satisfied with this look, a change will be required to meet the community's longing.</div>
    • Shiryu.Br wrote:

      <p>Well, like Freezy said, try to get used to it. In a few weeks, most players will be used to this new look, so try to get used to it.</p><div>However, if after a while players are still not satisfied with this look, a change will be required to meet the community's longing.</div>
      been not able to see the right place of your units , duo to bug on graphic or a bad work, is something people will not get used.. I was a guy that hated the old graphic now im forced to switch to that bad graphic because i need to know where exactly my units are placed because in the new graphics most of the times the red dots are not visible.. you should not try to defend them since they did a bad graphic work and licking their a** , by saying its all ok or "guys u will get used to it" is not going to help the game and the developers.
      We got an objective problem and not a soggettive issue here
      P.S To be more accurate once we put the mouse on any unit the red dot ( the dot that says the exact place of the unit ) disapear and sometimes, depending the position of the units, the dots are gone even without having the mouse on the units.. this is the Desktop version im not sure how is on mobile version since i dont use that much.
    • CzarHelllios wrote:

      Remove HTML5. Java client only. Introduce Pins. Revert sound. Open Source the old UI.
      I appreciate every effort the devs make to improve the game.

      However, I would like to sincerely suggest that improvements (= investments by Bytro) should come in an order of priority.

      Both music and looks are merely a question of taste and effect really only the existing player base. They do not address the IMO bigger issues that Bytro and its player-clients have with the game.

      These more important issues I can identify from my limited point of view are:

      A. Inactivity in maps
      Inactive players have to 2 distinctive characteristics, negatively effecting both Bytro and its player-clients:
      1. inactive players are causing boring maps, causing more players to leave a map or even the game
      2. inactive players (correct me if I am wrong) don't spend money


      B. Player retention
      Player retention is or at least should be a priority for any game publisher. Players that join to try out the game and do not come back have to 2 distinctive characteristics, negatively effecting both Bytro and its player-clients:
      1. 1-time players go inactive: see A.1. above
      2. 1-time players go inactive: see A.2. above


      The big thing to focus on should be to make the new players want to play their 1st map and 2nd and 3rd and onward.

      For this it is of the utmost importance to make sure the new players learn the game fast and well enough and also are incentivised to play on (see my earlier post on: tutorial issues), instead of being discouraged.


      No sound nor new graphs will change any of that, when someone doesn't know what he is doing here.

      Personally I like the new icons (except AA), but I have no need for sound, which anyway I won't be bothered with, because I play old style. Really, I can't stand the Enhanced Graphics and always immediately switch back to the cool game, which plays smoother and provides clearer and cleaner looks. That is all a question of taste and it is great that one can adjust the game to one's liking, but that all comes AFTER having learned to like the game.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by vonlettowvorbeck ().

    • On the computer I have no problem with the new unit graphics and I like the old map not the enhanced map.

      On the phone I can see some fuzziness in the images. But I survive.

      The music in the opening is rather a downer, and sound affects are nice but I turn them off to reduce the download bandwidth.
    • Zippofish wrote:

      I enjoy the new sounds and visuals. Of course it was initially a little odd, because it was different.
      I agree with Zippofish ... The visuals were a but odd at the beginning, but I got used to them by the second time I got on the keyboard- particularly the off white for my provinces, but I recall I could barely see my fighters a game or two ago in the old system ... Glad to see the red of enemy countries lightened p a bit- now I can see the roads better! ... :thumbup: