Storm in the West’44

This mod strives for realism and tries to be as close as possible to the real life stats of the units displayed, as well as the orders of battle of the different forces engaged in that fateful battle. All the changes are made in that direction, trying to achieve both balance and realism. Note that the mod is firstly made in the direction of Multiplayer games.
The mod is now in its final installment and will not be updated again.

Many thanks to Panzeh for his videos he made about the mod. His channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/PanzehVideos

Join us in our Steam group to find other players and plan some games : http://steamcommunity.com/groups/storminthewest !
We have created a Discord server as well, so you can gather and organize games : https://discord.gg/q6FNkqr

A complete 59-pages guide has been made to help you understand better the gameplay changes of the mod ! UPDATED VERSION 16 Mar. 2019 !: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zxkx6m5ei63o2v/Manuel%20Storm%20in%20the%20West%202.1.pdf?dl=0

Support us with paypal : https://www.paypal.me/MrCrisps

IMPORTANT NOTE TO NEW PLAYERS : With the divisions overhaul, the Battlegroups from vanilla are not compatible with the mod, thus being deleted by the game when using the mod. To avoid that, either export your vanilla BGs in a text file before activating the mod. You would be able to import them later when you’ll switch back to vanilla. See the topic "How to avoid the BG swipe when switching from vanilla to the mod (or the opposite)?" to know more how to counter that.

Rhedd and Ginda from No Glow and Sound & Music Mods have associated with us to give you a more authentic experience.
No Glow Mod by Rhedd : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=944223734
Sound & Music Mod by Ginda : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=952081957
Big thanks to Zalteredbeastz who allowed me to use it’s genius idea of forcing the corpses of infantry stay on the field.

What’s different from the vanilla version ?

– New Sounds for all weapons and almost all units ingame. A lot of them are used under licence thanks to the generosity of Boris, from Boris sound Mod for War Thunder.
Thanks so much to him for allowing us to use his work for Steel Division.
If you want to know more about Boris and his awesome contributions, check that link :
http://www.moddb.com/mods/b0riss-sound-mod
Some of the new sounds come from the work of Ginda.
The planes engine sounds are used with the generous authorization of Automne & Villys :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=949663803&searchtext=

– The musics have been replaced with more authentic marches and songs for all the divisions.
Here is the playlist :

* Blood On The Risers
* The British Grenadiers
* Erika
* Le Chant des Partisans
* Ein Heller und ein Batzen
* The Battle Hymn of the Republic
* Pierwsza Dywizja Pancerna
* Panzerlied
* Le Chant de la 2e DB
* Schwarzbraun Ist Die Haselnuss
* O du schöner Westerwald
* Hussars March
* Alte Kameraden
* Luftwaffe March
* Its A Long Way To Tipperary
* Scotland the Brave
* Band of Brothers Theme

If you liked those marches and songs, you can download all the soundtrack here : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ywn8n2o8kllbtza/AAChpltSA0X5xbC3CNkH34gVa?dl=0.

– All armor values, as well as HPs of the vehicles have been modified to be closer to their real life counterparts. The armor have been calculated as an average value from the real armor values of the vehicles for each side (front, sides and rear).

– All the weapons AP and HE values have been modified. All the weapons AP values have been adjusted to their real penetration values at their max range. For example, the 75mm of the M4A1 has a 1500m max range and has 7 AP, because its real life version could pierce through 65mm of armor at 1500m.

– All the cannons have seen their Rate of Fire, aiming time and dispersion values to represent their real counterparts.

– The HE values of the weapons have been adjusted to multiple parameters such as : caliber of the round, rate of fire, quantity of explosives and type of explosives.

– The range of all weapons have been modified (the following values are against ground targets) :
* All 7.62 and 7.92mm MGs are now firing at 500m.
* All SMGs have now 150m range.
* All rifles have now a 400m range.
* The .50 cal and 13.2mm have now a 750m range.
* All the 20mm cannons have now a 1000m range.
* Short barreled cannons ranges have been modified :
– 75mm : 1150m.
– 95mm and 105mm : 1250m.
– 150mm : 1250m.
* The 290mm Spigot has now a 450m range.
* All the normal cannons for tanks and AT guns have now 1500m range.
* All the ranges for the artilleries have been adjusted around the half of their real life range.

– All the speed values be it on road or cross-country have been adjusted to their real life values. Yeah, the Churchills are snails, I know.

– All the AA weapons have received AP rounds but in low quantity (around 1/4 of their HE rounds). The AP value varies from the calibers.

– All the units equipped with .50s have received AP rounds. It’s not great at max range but is a great threat to any light armor at close range.

– Some low caliber AT guns are now able to fire HE rounds, as they were in real life. That’s notably the case of the Pak38, the PaK37 or the 37mm M3.

– Some units have received APCR, HVAP, APDS or HEAT shells, but in really scarce numbers. They’re really powerful but need to be used smartly to unleash their full potential.

– The accuracy and dispersion values have been adjusted for all weapons, taken into account multiple factors such as quality and level of zoom of the optics and the velocity of the shell.

– All the costs of the units have been modified and adjusted to be somewhat balanced. Don’t hesitate to tell me if you think something is fishy. I don’t bite.

– The Off-Map Artilleries have been tweaked a lot. Now limited to only one use for each kind of barrage, the Off-Map arties are way more powerful than before, but it comes at a huge cost. Use them smartly and they could really change the tides.

– Addition of new traits such as Waffen SS, German reserves, Allied Airborne or Experienced Crew to be fairer with veteran and elite units. Those can surely have a great effect on the gameplay and better differenciate rookies from experienced ones.

– The Stars and their effects have been completely reworked and is entirely different from vanilla. The stars are now a boost to morale only.

– The Spotting system has been entirely reworked. The Binoculars and the Double Time orders have been introduced. Lastly, tanks can now use smoke shells or smoke launchers.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your time on the mod ! See you in the game !

Sources :

Wikipedia
Nafziger Orders of Battle
War Thunder
Tank Encyclopedia
http://normandie1944.over-blog.com – La Panzerdivision Type 44
http://www.niehorster.org/ – WWII Armed Forces
http://www.dday-overlord.com/bataille-normandie/forces
Panzer Battles Normandy – Orders of Battle
http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=1821
http://www.bensavelkoul.nl/Tank_Battalion.jpg
1st Polish Armored Division Official Briefing – Flames of War
Citizen Soldiers Official Briefing – Flames of War
http://www.spearhead1944.com/shweb1.htm
https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=678 – German Infantry Divisions in the Normandy Campaign
https://fr.scribd.com/doc/219173969/WWII-Ballistics-Armor-and-Gunnery
https://www.militaryfactory.com
The Encyclopedia of Weapons of WW2 : https://archive.org/details/tractors-29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II
Fire and Fury Games Orders of Battle
US Field Artillery of WW2 by Steven J Zaloga.