This is a regular update to support the Desert Fox DLC which releases tomorrow, Dec 8th, 2022.
Changes and Bug Fixes
sheet render and typo corrections
added 250%, 300% and 400% UI zoom options
added Show/Hide Sidebar button to campaign screen
fix: history mode, goodie bag (for restarted game) not saved
fix: Aegean sea label in wrong location on the campaign map in Desert Rats
fix: oversupply shows "supply dump" animation in history mod
Desert Fox DLC Announced
After leading the Allied forces in Desert Rats, it's now time to turn around and take command of the Afrika Korps led by 🦊 Gen. Erwin Rommel!
Desert Fox, the new DLC for Unity of Command II, will be out on Steam on the 8th of December. Enjoy the time-proven pricing formula as our DLC remain priced at $9.99.
The expansion brings 25+ new Axis scenarios in North Africa, East Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The main attraction is the historical 1941-43 Axis campaign, and not one but two separate alt-history tracks on top!
Enjoy!
Hotfix 2022-10-11
Changelog: * enable the fix for "Dark Game Screen" bug on AMD Cards
If you have this bug (Dark game screen on an AMD card) you need to subscribe to the "AMD Fix" mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2874016049
Cheers!
Hotfix 2022-07-18
Changelog:
fixed incorrect name of 6-pdr specialist
fixed Churchill heavy tank spec name
correctly configured hms_terror and uss_corsica milestones
Hotfix 2022-07-15
Changelog: * fix: crash when placing Greek cavalry unit in Epirus Offensive (users that don't own Blitzkrieg DLC)
Desert Rats DLC Now Available
You take command of Allied forces as they attempt to stop first the Italians, and then the Germans in the form of Afrika Korps. See-saw action in the sweltering heat... Operations Compass and Crusader... Dogged fighting in Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.
21 British Commonwealth scenarios... Enormous maps of North and East Africa... Many new units in desert camouflage, and an alt-history non-stop drive to Tripoli with Monty.
All of that.
The DLC is now live. It's our fifth DLC in this series, and we are super grateful you stayed with us this long.
We are releasing the companion update to Desert Rats DLC today (Update 18), two days ahead of the DLC release itself.
First, a quick recap of the DLC: the release date is July 14, and the price is $9.99. You take command of Allied forces as they attempt to stop first the Italians, and then the Germans in the form of Afrika Korps.
21 scenarios based on British Commonwealth campaigns in East Africa, North Africa, and the Mediterranean in 1940-41.
Large map coverage expanded to include the Western Desert and the Middle East, plus a brand new map for East Africa.
Many new units from the Commonwealth nations.
Desert camouflage for existing Axis and Allied units.
An alt-history track in which, after the victory at El Alamein, a powerful mobile force conducts a non-stop drive to Tripoli (with Monty, no less).
New Desert Terrain
In this update, we added support for certain terrain features commonly found in the North African theater: dunes, escarpments, and ridges. The desert we previously encountered in the game (in Tunisia) was rocky desert, easily traversable for both infantry and armor. It is ideal terrain for mobile operations.
For this DLC we needed a terrain type that is more rough, as we are running into sand dunes of the Western Desert and Tripolitania. The resulting "dunes" terrain is difficult to attack in, and near impossible to traverse ( "A" movement cost). Enjoy!
Escarpments and ridges are long terrain features (hexsides) that extend over tens of kilometers. In our model, escarpments are steep cliffs that prevent movement, but allow for suppressive fire. If traversed by a road though, they are free for movement, and units can even attack.
Ridges are modeled as long, slightly elevated crests in the terrain. They provide a combat bonus for the defender, and impose and additional 1MP movement cost. It is to our surprise that legendary features such as Alam el Halfa, Ruweisat or Miteirya ridges are not more prominent geographically, but we think the characterization is fair and those battles clicked together well.
As you can see in the screenshot, starting with this update we added a map legend. It is enabled in all map views: terrain, supply, movement, and weather. Hover over items for detailed information in tooltips.
Odds and Ends
We added a standalone "Seydlitz" scenario to the Stalingrad DLC in this update. This is about the battles at Rzhev in the summer of 1942. If you own the DLC it will simply appear under "Standalone Scenarios". Enjoy the meat grinder!
Windows 7 Discontinued
We had to do this, please don't be mad. Unity of Command II is built with python, which discontinued Windows 7 in its version 3.9 from October 2020 (Microsoft did the same in January of the same year). We stuck with python 3.8 for a while, but now we need to move on.
In case you can't run this on anything but a Windows 7 machine, you have two options:
Switch to the legacy_windows_7 branch in the Steam Library (properties -> betas). This will continue to run anything you bought by this time just fine, but it won't support Desert Rats or future content.
According to user TacError (thx!), it is possible to get the game to run using nalexandru's "api-ms-win-core-path-HACK" library from github. If you know what you're doing this might be the way to go but we haven't tested it and cannot recommend.
Game Won't Run After Update
This happens after every update - a number of people get hit with this, mostly because some AV software mistakenly labels the game as a virus (a "false positive"). Please make sure to at least "verify integrity of local files" and add an exception for "uoc2.exe" in your antivirus before submitting an angry complaint ːsteamhappyː
There are other known reasons why the game might be running into problems, all listed in this helpful forum thread. In particular, Razer Cortex in-game overlay can cause the game to crash so please turn it off (this is a new one, listed towards the bottom of the forum post).
Desert Rats DLC releases on July 14th at 10 am PST.
Take care, and campaign responsibly. Cheers! ːsteamhappyː
Are you ready to fight on islands, in the snow, on the beaches, and in the desert in our most varied DLC so far? And how good is your British accent lately, sharp as ever? Jolly good, then...
Desert Rats, the new DLC for Unity of Command II, will be out on the 14th of July. Keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of inflation, we are sticking to the usual $9.99/€8.19 price point. Enjoy!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1884780/Unity_of_Command_II__Desert_Rats/ This DLC promises "see-saw action in the sweltering heat of the Desert in operations such as Compass and Crusader", and "dogged fighting in the mountains of Eritrea and the Blitz through Somalia and into Ethiopia". Here is what all of that means in terms of scenarios:
If this has you feeling like a Firebrand Crusader picking up his Battlaxe... and there are weeks to go before the Pugilism can start: please consider channeling your energy into an enthusiastic Steam review. It really helps! Double that if you have 100+ hours in the game ːsteammockingː
You can also go play the new standalone "Operation Seydlitz", now live in the Testing Branch: https://steamcommunity.com/app/809230/discussions/0/3415430580681485952/
Cheers! ːsteamhappyː
Hotfix 2021-12-17
Changelist:
fix: AI crash on security unit creation (yerevan scenario)
Hotfix 2021-12-13
Changelog:
typo: objective "Stepanakert" in Yerevan scenario
Yerevan objective fix
scenario editor: CTRL-9 hotkey to edit forts (ESC to leave)
fix: soviet allied nationality string
map fix: wrong terrain type (city) near Pyatigorsk
