Hello friends,

It’s been about five months since we introduced Ranked Play and Matchmaking into Axis & Allies 1942 Online with Patch 5: Turning Point. Since then, we’ve seen a tremendous community response, with players from all skill levels vying for the top spot on the Season 1 ladder.

With today's patch, we’re bringing the game’s first season to a close. Season 2 kicks off with a ladder reset, alongside some exciting features and updates to Axis & Allies 1942 Online.

Patch 11: Season 2 will include:

• Ranked Ladder Reset
• New Ladder bracket thresholds
• Platinum Rank Decay
• Friends List and Profile Updates
• Changes to Transport loading
• New Destination Markers
• Performance and Server Improvements

Read on for details and full patch notes!

Ranked Ladder Reset

Patch 11 resets all player rankings, kicking off Season 2 with a fresh start. Congratulations to our Season 1 Platinum-Ranked players!

• All player rankings will reset to the base ranking
• Players will need to participate in placement matches again
• Everyone who competed in the previous season will have their final Season 1 rank preserved and viewable in their Player Profile

New Ladder Bracket Thresholds

We’ve reworked the ranking thresholds to distribute players more evenly across ladder brackets.

• Over the course of Season 1, we noticed many players quickly ascended into the upper tiers, while lower tiers were underpopulated
• Currently, almost 75% of ranked players sit in Gold or Platinum tiers
• Season 2 thresholds will be more evenly distributed across ladder brackets
  • This will be most evident in the Platinum tier— this ranking will be much more difficult to achieve in the new season

Our vision for competitive play is for each tier to feel like an achievement, with the Platinum tier reserved for the “best of the best.”

Platinum Rank Decay

In order to keep Platinum rankings dynamic, we’re introducing Rank Decay into the Ladder at the top tier.

• Players who achieve the Platinum rank must continue to defend their title
• Platinum players will no longer be able to rest on their laurels, and must continue to play in order to remain in Platinum
• Platinum player’s ranking will slowly decrease until they drop into the Gold tier (or until they play in a ranked game again)

This will allow for more movement in and out of the Platinum tier, and keep ranked gameplay competitive.

Friend’s List and Player Profile Updates

This patch makes it easier for you to search for and add people to your Axis & Allies 1942 Online Friends List.

• You can now search for friends within Axis & Allies 1942 Online with the new Friends menu.
  • Search for friends by using their Commander Name and a new unique ID number
    • Unique IDs are visible next to Commander Names in the following places:
      • Player Profile
      • Finished Games
      • Friends List
      • In-game.
• Steam friends are automatically added to your Axis & Allies 1942 Online friends list when they own / purchase the game
• The new friends list allows you to:
  • View the online status of people on your friends list
  • Challenge friends to custom games
  • View your friends’ profiles from the new Friends screen (accessed in the Main Menu)

Updated Player Profile

The Player Profile now includes two distinct pages:

• The Player Profile
• Game History

The Player Profile is publicly viewable to those who search for you via the Friends List. It Includes:

• Commander Name
• ID Number
• Ranked Play Statistics
• Custom Game Statistics
• Previous Season Rankings

The Game History page provides a new dedicated space for reviewing previous matches. It includes:

• Your past 5 online games
• Additional details about the game including:
  • Ranked vs Custom matches
  • Victory/loss
  • Game Type
  • Starting Scenario
• Options related to players you recently played with
  • View their Player Profile
  • Add them as a Friend via their Profile

Transport Loading Improvements

We’re rolling out the first major Transport update since Patch #5. We’re adding four key improvements to the overall experience:

• Transports now load on a first-come, first-served basis:
  • Units load onto the first available Transport slot in a stack, which will help when loading Infantry.
  • This means Transports will now be loaded on a first come, first served basis
    • We don't automatically sort Transports anymore

• Transports can now be loaded by selecting the unit and moving it into the sea zone:
  • Select a unit next to a Sea Zone containing a Transport
  • Right-click the Sea Zone (highlighted in blue) to load the unit into an available Transport.
  • The previous loading method (Transport, then click on Unit) remains intact

• Transports will no longer be removed from the original stack visually on the board when loading in the original Sea Zone
  • A Destination Marker will still appear in the region
  • Unmoved, but newly loaded Transports will remain grouped together in a stack until they are moved
• You can now cancel loaded units on a Transport directly from the Dossier

We recommend players still make use of the Dossier to confirm and directly control their unit movements and Transport loadouts to avoid making mistakes.

We'll continue to refine the user interface and controls to improve the overall experience.

New Destination Markers

Patch #11 introduces context specific Destination Markers. This is the first phase of our plans to overhaul this part of the UI.

• Each type of movement is now reflected by distinct Destination Markers, including:
  • Combat Move
  • Cargo Load
  • Noncombat Move
  • Destination Markers no longer display a number representing the movement of units
    • Exception: Mobilization will still show the total number of units mobilized into a region

We’ll be refining this system with more functionality and features in future, so stay tuned!

Performance and Server Improvements

We’ve added a large number of performance and server optimizations to Patch 11, including:

• An overhauled server infrastructure, providing a faster and more stable experience
• Optimizations to our rendering engine
  • The frequency of the “black screen/no units” issues some players have been encountering should be eliminated or drastically reduced

What’s Next?

Many of the features and fixes introduced with this patch will build a foundation for future improvements. Here are a few things we have planned:

• A new User Interface
• An overhauled Phase Confirmation experience
• Configurable timers for Custom Games
• And more to come!

Thanks again to all our players for your feedback and enthusiasm. We’re eager to hear your thoughts on the update, and excited to start the brand new season of Axis & Allies 1942 Online!

Sincerely,

Cody Ouimet

Producer, Axis & Allies 1942 Online

Other Patch 11 Updates:

• [Settings] - Render Scale graphics setting changed to only use Low, Medium, High settings
• [Destination Markers] - Removed expanded view from Destination Markers
• [Commander Names] - Every player has been assigned a new Identification Number (ID Number) to identify them from other players with the same Commander Name
• [Gameboard] - Some units and Destination Marker placements on the map have been adjusted to allow for better visibility
• [Transports] - Resolved issues with teleporting Transports
• [Offshore Bombardment] - Resolved issues with not being able to move units after an offshore bombardment
• [Games List] - Players “Active Online Games” lists will no longer disappear
• [Phase Skip and Button Presses] - Introduced a fix to reduce the frequency of people having their phases skipped
  • Players can no longer spam the “End Phase” key by clicking on the button with the mouse, then holding “Enter”
• [Animations] - Fixed crash when disabling certain animations in the Combat screen
• [Online] - Resolved crash when a player is kicked from a game
• [Crash] - Resolved issue where players were encountering “Uncaught error” crashes
• [Online AI] - Resolved several issues where the online AI would encounter an error and stall out taking turns
• [Retreat] - Units being killed during combat no longer invalidate the retreat options for other units
• [Gameboard] - Panning the map on load no longer causes game to crash
• [Optional Combat] - Players can no longer flag regions that do not contain optional combats as “Friendly”
• [Custom Games] - Private Custom Games that are changed to public will now appear for all players in their Active Online Games lists