BATTLEFIELD™ 1 SPRING UPDATE NOTES
PLATOONS
Get ready to team up. Today we are introducing the first wave of Platoons features for Battlefield 1. It’s something a lot of you have been asking for, and that we are very happy to finally release. Our focus in this initial release is to add some of the core and most essential Platoons features, such as the Platoon Tag, while building a robust system that we can continue to expand and improve going forward.
Below is an overview of what’s available in this initial release:
Create & Manage - Any player can create a Platoon; you are however limited to one General role, the highest rank and the rank a Platoon creator starts with, at any one time. When creating a Platoon, you can add the following info:
Name - This is required and must be 3-24 characters. Names are not exclusive.
Tag - This is required and consists of 1-4 alpha-numerical characters. Tags are not exclusive.
Description - This is optional and can be up to 256 characters long. Use this to describe your Platoon however you see fit.
Emblem - You can choose an emblem for the Platoon from your own personal Emblem gallery. The emblem is then “copied” to the Platoon, meaning that if you later update your own emblem, it’s not automatically reflected in the Platoon emblem.
Access Type - This selection defines how other players can and cannot join your Platoon:
Open - Anyone can join the Platoon instantly.
Apply-to-Join - Anyone can apply; Platoon members with permissions can accept or reject applications.
Closed - No one can join the Platoon while in this state.
It’s always possible to change any of these values or settings at any time, as long as the Platoon member has permission to modify it.
General - This is the highest Platoon rank and there can only be one General in the Platoon at any one time. The creator will initially get this rank, but can transfer it to someone else (which must be done if you want to leave the Platoon). The General has access to everything, including the option to change name, tag, and even disband the Platoon.
Colonel - Colonel is the second-highest rank and has access to most Platoon management tools, such as editing the description, emblem, and the access type. This means they can step in for the General most of the time.
Lieutenant - The Lieutenant is the lowest level rank with management permissions. Mainly their ability is to accept or reject Platoon applications, if the Platoon is set to “Apply-to-Join”, as well as link their Rented Servers to the Platoon.
Private - Private is the initial rank any new member gets in the Platoon. This rank doesn’t give you access to anything, besides the fact that you are now a member of the Platoon and can represent it and join other members playing. As a rule of thumb, you can always promote someone else to one rank lower than your own, and demote or kick members that are one rank or lower than your own. Rank permissions also always stack, so if you’re promoted you can know for certain that you have the same access as before – and more.
Find & Join - Platoons is all about playing together. In the “Find Platoon” section, you will sometimes get a list of recommended Platoons to join, which is currently based on other Platoons that your friends are representing. Once you’ve found a Platoon, its access type will determine how easy it is for you to join. Maybe you can simply join it right away, or you must apply. If you’re unlucky it’s closed, and that’s that.
Representing and Playing with Your Platoon - For many players, representing your Platoon is what it’s all about and we have tried to make this process easy, smooth, and awesome with the new system. First, you can always only represent one Platoon at any given time, and you can also choose not to represent any. You will retain your membership and rank in the Platoon; it’s basically just something you toggle. When you represent a Platoon, its tag will automatically be displayed in front of your name and its emblem will automatically be displayed wherever your emblem is usually displayed. This essentially “overrides” your equipped emblem; when you represent a Platoon, we want you to really represent it.
Besides having the tag and emblem, if you fill up a squad with other players that represent the same Platoon, the squad will automatically be renamed to the Platoon’s name. Furthermore, if your represented Platoon contributed the most to a Flag Capture (with at least two members present), a pennant carrying your Platoon emblem will be shown on the flag pole. More bragging rights for you.
We currently employ limitations of 100 members per Platoon – if your group is more than 100 people, we suggest you create more Platoons with the same name, tag, emblem and description – and you can at max be a member of 10 Platoons. This includes pending applications; if you are a member of 8 Platoons and have 2 Platoons with pending applications to join, you will not be able to join or apply for any other Platoon unless you leave a Platoon or cancel an application. Increasing these limits are something we will consider going forward.
One of our primary focus areas has also been to more easily facilitate playing together in groups, so we’ve added the ability to always see where your Platoon is playing and join them.
NEW FEATURES
MEDIC REVIVE INTENT
If you’ve ever played as a Medic, dashing through hailstorms of bullets and explosions disregarding your own safety to get to a fallen team mate, only to have them “skip” at the very last second, you know how frustrating it can be.
You can now “spot” the dead player to indicate that you are on your way to them. The player will see your name blinking in the death screen and show as “incoming medic”. The medic will also shout that he is coming.
If they decide to skip anyway, they didn’t deserve to be saved in the first place.
NEW FEATURES
SERVER ADMINISTRATION
This is one of the areas where we are getting a lot of feedback, so it feels great to be able to finally release some new features to the community:
Server admins can now add other players to a list to give them admin rights to the server.
A server can now be set to need lower numbers before pre-round ends (from 20 to 6).
We are also adding the ability to use password protected servers.
Just as with the other parts of the game, server administration functionality is something we will continuously improve over time. This is the beginning. Please keep giving us feedback on what to improve next.
NEW CONTENT
WEAPONS
Other feedback from the community is that more weapons are wanted. And we agree! With this update, we’re introducing four new weapon variants – one for each class:
HELLRIEGEL 1915 DEFENSIVE
SELBSTLADER 1906 SNIPER
HUOT AUTOMATIC OPTICAL
MARTINI HENRY SNIPER
Complete special weapon assignments to unlock each weapon.
NEW FEATURES
RIBBONS
We brought in the Ribbon system from earlier Battlefield titles with the Winter Update. We’re very happy with how it turned out, so with the Spring Update we’ve decided to expand the system by adding 19 new Ribbons.
The focus with the new Ribbons is to promote teamwork. You will now get Ribbons for performing tasks such as spotting, reviving, resupplying, repairing, healing, and more.
NEW FEATURES
DOG TAGS
There are five more Dog Tags to get with this update:
Battlefest 2017
Answers HQ
Sakura & Murata
Regimental Stein
Play to Give
MAPS & MODES
GENERAL
Frontlines - Fixed issue where combat areas weren't activated during warmup, meaning you could go out of bounds.
Frontlines - Fixed issue where timer would not start. Longest game recorded was over 3.5 hours long.
Fixed issue where combat areas could cause minor visual bug in minimap.
Updated the physical material for rivers and lakes on the terrain. Water explosions should now look correct.
Set small game modes on consoles to be 60 Hz.
Increased width of rain texture to avoid tiling patterns.
MAPS & MODES
AMIENS
Fixed multiple glitch spots.
MAPS & MODES
ARGONNE FOREST
Fixed multiple glitch spots.
Fixed an issue which allowed players to get on top of a bunker they shouldn't be on top of.
Tweaked lighting to make the map look better.
MAPS & MODES
FAO FORTRESS
Adjusted height of fog when in airplane or parachute.
MAPS & MODES
FORT DE VAUX
Operations - Update to intro camera.
Operations - Made Elite pickups disappear once the defenders won a battalion.
Conquest - Readjusted the spawn locations to avoid spawning near enemies.
Conquest - Adjusted the capture area sizes of A, C and D.
Conquest - Hero kits will be spawned at the HQ of the losing team, if the enemy team owns all capture points.
Conquest - Adjusted the combat area around the German spawn.
Rush - Moved the first MCOM in the 3rd sector closer to the attackers and adjusted some spawn distances due to high rate of successful defenders.
Rush - Adjusted the spawn locations for better balance.
Rush - Added additional cover in the 3rd sector.
Reduced the bloom scale for the customization screen.
Fixed issue where players were able to access unintended area.
Fixed an issue with an invisible collision in a corridor.
Fixed issue where players could not be revived on top of drainage systems.
Fixed issue where climbing the bridge would sometimes not work.
Fixed an issue where players could climb on top of the fort.
Fixed issue with enlighten rendering on some pipes.
MAPS & MODES
GIANT'S SHADOW
Fixed boundaries for free camera when spectating.
Fixed some interactions with doors.
MAPS & MODES
MONTE GRAPPA
Conquest - Fixed issue where players could capture C from an unintended position.
MAPS & MODES
RUPTURE
Operations - Fixed issue where players could spawn in the Behemoth before it was ready and later got teleported back.
Operations - Added a tank for the attackers to the first sector of Rupture
Operations - Adjusted some of the capture and spawn points for better balance.
Conquest - Reduced the number of planes from 3 to 2 per team.
Conquest - Changed size of capture area of A and D point.
Conquest - Swapped B and C flag.
Conquest - Moved motorcycle out of bush near team 2 spawn.
Conquest - Moved spawns back for team 2.
Conquest - Added spawn area AA guns for both teams.
Conquest - Removed an MG position that wasn't supposed to be usable.
Rush - Weakened defense on first and third sectors based on community feedback and telemetry.
Rush - Moved the attacker tank from the first sector to the third sector.
MAPS & MODES
SINAI DESERT
Fixed issue where players were unable to get out of a Fk.96 field gun at a specific rotation.
Moved field gun a meter back to give it a bit more clearance.
MAPS & MODES
SOISSONS
Operations - Added an additional AA gun for the defenders on the last sector to balance the attackers' vehicles.
Operations - Tweaked balance based on feedback and telemetry.
Operations - Fixed issue where players could spawn in the Behemoth before it was ready and later got teleported back.
Conquest - Fixed a bug around one of the field guns and fixed an issue related to spawn camping.
Conquest - Readjusted the spawn locations to avoid spawning near enemies.
Conquest - Adjusted the size of some of the capture areas (made them bigger in general).
Conquest - Reduced the number of tanks from 4 to 3 per team and moved one of the 3 tank spawns to the closest capture point (A and E). By this, the enemy team can deny them and influence the tank situation on the map. It also adds more value to points that get less attentions by the players.
Conquest - Increased the tank respawn time to add more value to their use.
Conquest - Reduced the airplanes per team from 2 to 1.
Conquest - Reduced the hero kit spawn respawn time.
Rush - Weakened the defenders by adjusting their spawns in the first and third sectors.
Rush - Fixed an issue where players could spawn outside the combat area.
Fixed boundaries for free camera when spectating.
Toned down exposure while indoors.
MAPS & MODES
SUEZ
Fixed issue where player could not be revived after dying in a puddle near the British HQ.
MAPS & MODES
VERDUN HEIGHTS
Operations - Adjusted some of the capture and spawn points for better balance.
Operations - Changed the tickets from 250 to 350.
Operations - The Howitzer in the first sector now spawns after 5 minutes of the first battalion.
Operations - Tweaked the weather on Verdun.
Conquest - Adjusted some of the capture and spawn points for better balance.
Conquest - Adjustments the Hero kit spawn delay.
WEAPONS & GADGETS
GENERAL
Fixed all sniper rifles to have separate cocking pieces.
Fixed incorrect scope sway when using 2.00x or 1.25x magnification.
Wrench will no longer make repair sounds and play repair animation when vehicle is fully repaired.
Fixed an issue where the repair indicator progress was not updating when repairing with a wrench.
Fixed issue where the weapon skin "The Seaforth Highlander" was misspelled as "Higlander". There can be only one.
Corrected UI for rate of fire for the M1903 Marksman and Sniper from 51 to 54 rpm, which is the actual ROF for these weapons.
Fixed issue where K Bullets could hurt tanks farther than 150 meters away.
Fixed incorrectly low drag for the Chauchat.
Increased M1903 Experimental trigger pull weight to match the ROF change done in They Shall Not Pass.
Removed post reload delay when using K Bullets on the Martini-Henry.
Fixed an issue where the crosshair disappeared when zooming in using the Villar-Perosa.
Fixed a bug where certain first person reload-animations that were interrupted when killed would not play after being revived.
Fixed bayonet bug that allowed player to be killed without triggering the animation when there was no obstacle between them.
WEAPONS & GADGETS
GRENADE CHANGES
Added a 0.3 s throw delay to all grenades
Reduced the outer blast radius of the following grenades:
Frag/Stick: 6.3 from 7.0
Impact/Min/Light ATi: 5.6 from 6.0
Increased fuse timings on the following grenades:
Mini/Frag/Stick: 1.4 s minimum delay from 1.3 s, 0.85 s fuse from 0.7 s
Impact: 1.2 s minimum delay from 1.0 s
Incendiary: 1.4 s minimum delay from 1.3 s
Rifle Frag: 0.8 s fuse from 0.7 s
Increased lethal grenade resupply timers:
Mini: 28s
Gas: 35s
Light AT: 42s
Frag: 49s
Impact: 49s
Incendiary: 49s
Increased magazine size for smoke grenades from 1 to 2.
Reduced damage of AT Grenades against standard soldiers by 10%.
Increased ammo box resupply rate modifier from 3x to 3.5x for all lethal grenades.
Grenades will no longer resupply unless player is near supply crate or pack.
Grenades should no longer collide with team mates within 10m.
Incoming suppression will halt resupply progress of grenades without an ammo box, and will reduce resupply speed with an ammo box to two thirds its normal value.
Fixed position of rib sight for 12g Auto.
Added folded bayonet when no bayonet is equipped instead of completely removing it for Automatico.
Fixed incorrect 2x zoom level for Bodeo1889.
Tweaked muzzle VFX of Hellriegel.
Fixed spread decrease being too slow for Infantry version of Lebel Model 1886.
Fixed bipod having no influence on recoil and hipfire spread for Sniper version of Lebel Model 1886.
Fixed issue where K Bullet icon would not be visible when using the Lebel.
VEHICLES
GENERAL
Fixed a bug where the first-person camera on the Artillery Truck could be in the wrong position.
Fixed a bug where the 1st person camera in the St. Chamond tank would not reset when exiting and re-entering the driver seat during the camera transition for the Pigeon Carrier Artillery.
Corrected BL9 Gas Shell Friendly Fire Behavior. Now damage will be disabled with friendly fire off instead of suppression.
Moved weapon components for St. Chamond equipment from under the vehicle to near the top to allow them to be used in shallow water.
Increased AA cannon blast damage multiplier against planes:
Fighter: 0.8 from 0.7
Attack Plane: 0.75 from 0.7
Bomber: 0.65 from 0.6
Fixed incorrectly low damage of rockets against other planes.
Increased sniper rifle damage multiplier against planes:
Fighter: 1.2 from 1
Attack Plane: 0.9 from 0.75
Bomber: 0.375 from 0.3125
Increased inner blast radius of AA cannons from 4 to 6 meters when the detonation is triggered by a vehicle.
Removed impact impulse from plane MGs.
Ranken Darts:
Increased reload time from 12 to 15 seconds
Decreased blast damage from 20 to 16.7
Decreased blastradius from 3 to 1.5 meters
Direct damage no longer hurts soldiers
Fixed bad behavior on crashing planes by disabling rotor critical state when landing gear is deployed.
Removed physics impulses from Desert Armored Train AA weapon projectile.
Fixed issue where player could sometimes falsely see two available vehicles instead of one in the deploy screen.
Fixed issue where artillery shells would explode midair.
Fixed an issue where the saber sound kept playing when jumping off a horse while swinging.
CONTROLS
Fixed horse melee and camera toggle gamepad button mapping issues related to the alternate and Legacy Southpaw schemes.
Fixed the airplanes throttle input mapping in Lefty buttons + Legacy Southpaw stick combo.
Fixed issue where the Legacy Southpaw control scheme for the Field Gun made the RS have both Strafe and Look functionality.
Fixed issue where using a joystick alongside a mouse would cause the keymapping to revert to default functions.
Added advanced gameplay option for adjusting the Stick Aiming Acceleration. Allows setting the soldier aiming when using a stick, as seen in Battlefield 4.
Removed invalid binding for Left Alternate controller with the horse. Gallop and Melee were being bound to left stick click, which is not possible. Removed the melee attack binding and from now on only gallop will trigger (melee attack would never trigger anyway).
Fixed a bug where vaulting could be triggered while transitioning into prone.
Diving underwater and resurfacing can now only be triggered when the soldier has finished the previous dive or resurface animation.
Fixed a bug where certain inputs would stop working after vaulting.
Separated dead zones for joysticks and gamepads.
Added options to adjust the axial dead zones of the gamepad sticks and the joystick.
Added options to adjust max input thresholds for sticks and gamepad triggers (L2/R2).
UI
Changed the RTL alignment of the squad count text element to avoid the overlap in Arabic.
Changed the alignment of the kit-rank so it is displayed correctly in Arabic.
Changed alignment of progression tracker text for weapons and medals in Arabic.
Changed alignment of XP boost percentage in Arabic.
Adjusted the columns on the scoreboard to restore score and latency to their intended font size.
Fixed issue where an overlap was present in squad menu for the XP boost and the padlock.
Fixed issue where wrong weapon and weapon skin would sometimes appear on the killcam.
The Squad XP boost logo is now responding correctly to the highlight.
Fixed issue where player was unable to see nearby medics if he/she killed him/herself with gas or incendiary grenade.
Fixed issue where weapons bought for Warbonds in the menu system would not show as unlocked in the customize screen.
Fixed issue where some game messages would not show up in the chat.
Fixed issue where other classes than Medic could show up in the "Nearby Medics" list when dead. Can still appear in some rare cases.
Fixed issue where the same map could show up in both slots during vote map.
Added a gameplay option to turn off the Player-Created content.
NETCODE
Fixed jitter for spectator when movement starts.
Replaced Ping in Scoreboard by Latency for all platforms.
Players with a connection above 100ms will have to lead their shot as server side hit detection is performed, indicated by icon in upper right corner.
This should lower the hit around corner effects and impede a penalty for high ping players to hit players.
Improved extrapolation handling for jittery players. Movement should now be much smoother and allow the other clients to have better hit detection on those.
Lowered thresholds for network latency warning icons.
Latency:
Yellow 90ms
Red: 200ms.
Fixed issue with grenade unspawning when owner died. When you dropped a grenade right before you died, it previously just disappeared.
Allow bullet damage from killed players if the victim got his shot off while he was still alive. This will allow killtrades, but in a fair manner.
Improved level loading times during network syncing phase. Will improve the time joining into ongoing matches.
Prioritize hit information over other information during networking.
Fixed issue where bullet impact FX would appear at the wrong impact positions.
Moved hit effect in more sync with networked shooter/shooting.
Changed warning icons to use average fps for fps instead of CPU spikes.
Improved algorithm of calculating lag compensation.
OTHER
Fixed issue that would make map loading times longer than necessary. Should cut ~10 seconds of loading per map.
Fixed issue with flickering water when running the game in SLI.
Fixed a tracking issue with heal and revive scoring criteria.
Map voting is now on as default on official experiences.
Updated game credits.
Added the options to turn off aim assist in rented servers.
Fixed issue where server would crash if 24 players connected at the same time for Domination.
Fixed issue where players could exploit damaging and repairing a vehicle for experience. No more!
Game will now always de-spawn a corpse when the player spawns in again. (Seeing your own dead body can be scary.)
XBOX
Fixed issue where logging out on Xbox One during the first few seconds of an Operation
intro video caused a freeze at black screen after the video.
