This is an ongoing personal project that started as an attempt to bring back the fun of Wargame:ALB's combat while incorporating the newer systems in Red Dragon. Years, and several overhauled systems later, the scope has far exceeded the original intent, but I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.
This was designed primarily with Coop PvE in mind and considerations towards the campaign, focusing on "believability" as opposed to "realism". Gameplay takes priority, though it should still feel authentic.
--------------A Few Highlights - Tank ammunition identified in the unit panel - Large scale tank armor and ammunition reevaluation - Cluster munitions damage infantry - Anti-aircraft guns fire in burst lengths - Radar anti-aircraft units have non-radar versions of their guns - New 1986-1991 CAT era; 1992 and after is its own era - All decks now require a National/Coalition and Specialization. No general decks. - New deck type for USSR called Tank Regiment - Unit Availability and Pricing Rebalance (see below) - ATGM Rebalance (see below) - Anti-Air and SEAD Rebalance (see below) - MANPAD Rebalance - Infantry/SF size and ammo Adjustments (see below) - Command unit repricing - (Red Dragons) Implemented core suggestions from "Fine-tuning NK/China" thread - (Yugoslavia) Implemented several suggestions from "Fine tuning Yugoslavia" thread - Replaced Dutch-German Corps with British-Dutch Corps - Tracked vehicle road speeds reduced - Fuel autonomy replaced with "Mean Time Between Maintenance" (doubled autonomy) - Many new and revamped units, emphasizing authenticity
--------------New Units - (USA) M6 Linebacker - (USA) M1064A3 120mm Mortar - (USA) F/A-18C Hornet (ASF) - (USA) LAV-L supply truck for Marines - (USA) MH-6 Little bird transport - (USA) M270 MLRS - (USA) Cavalry Scouts in '75 and '90 versions - (USA) US Airborne in '75 and '90 versions - (USA) Light Riflemen (merged into a single '85 unit with LAW/M240) - (USA) CMD M1A1 Abrams - (USA) F-16CJ (SEAD) - (USA) F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel (SEAD) - (USA) F-16C Block 52 (AGM-65G) - (USA) F-4E Phantom II (ASF) - (UK) CMD Challenger 1 Mk.1 - (UK) LAAD Starburst - (UK) F-4M Phantom FGR.2 - (UK) Sea Harrier FRS.2 - (France) Super Etendard (Iron/Cluster Bomber) - (France) VAB SANTAL (6x Radar Mistral) - (W. Germany) FRR Roland 2 - (W. Germany) Gebirgsjager shock recon infantry - (W. Germany) Jaguar 2 TOW-2 - (Sweden) Prickskytte Spanare recon sniper team - (Israel) AMX-13 Nimda - (Israel) M1064 Soltam K6 120mm mortar - (USSR) Su-24 Block 15 (Iron Bomber) - (USSR) 2S3M1 Akatsiya - (USSR) BMP-1P / BMP-2 recon transports - (USSR) T-55AK command tank - (USSR) T-72B1K command tank - (USSR) Mi-8T supply helicopter - (USSR) Granatomotchiki AGL infantry - (USSR) Strela-10M3 with 9M333 missile - (USSR) Buk-M1-2 - (USSR) T-72AV - (USSR) BRM-3K Rys exceptional optics recon IFV - (USSR) Mig-29K ATGM plane for Marines - (USSR) Su-27K cluster bomber for Marines - (Yugoslavia) M53/85 Praga LRU antiaircraft vehicle (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sr&u=http://www.paluba.info/smf/index.php%3Ftopic%3D20149.60&prev=search) - (Yugoslavia) Nora-B ERFB long range artillery - (North Korea) Pokpung-Ho - (China) Z-9A good optics recon helicopter - (China) Fang Hua Bing '90 engineer team - (China) ZTZ-59D
--------------Core Changes
Tank Availability
Spoiler : :
Goals - Encourage large scale battles, using formations instead of single units - Properly balance tank pricing and deployment numbers, maintaining asymmetrical balance as often as possible - Reassess each nation's tank selection for Gameplay and Authenticity, in that order
Changes 1. Tank availability has been generally increased, while availability bonuses during deck creation are removed 2. Tank cards are available in multiples of their doctrinal platoon sizes 3. Removed or rerolled many obsolete tanks into fire support units within the Vehicle tab 4. Updated ammunition for many tanks depending on historical and gameplay concerns 5. Smoke ammo added to guns of fire support units that are not meant to fight tanks (Scorpion, V-150, etc)
This is the core of the mod and still very much ongoing. Here's an example from my spreadsheet to get an idea.
Anti-Air
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Goals - Deter proliferation of air power and reduce micro-intensity of maintaining a useful AA net - Achieve a healthy compromise between Eugen's abstracted system and realistic map-wide radar coverage - Allow AAA to adequately perform a secondary role of fire support without marginalizing IFV's - Reduce general effectiveness of MANPADS against aircraft without limiting anti-helo capabilities
Changes 1. Radar Missile AA and SEAD range increased proportionally to a maximum 7km range 2. AA cannon ground range increased based on caliber, generally less than IFV autocannons 3. MANPADS effectiveness rebalanced according to real characteristics (MI-24 hitpoints reduced to 8) 4. Air to air missiles with less than 5 damage have been buffed to 5 damage
ATGM's
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Goals - Represent ATGM's on the battlefield in its intended role as a tank killer without exaggerating their capabilities - Add granularity to existing ATGM mechanics using a technological basis
Changes 1. Noise has been significantly decreased, generally slightly quieter than autocannons. (Helo missile noise is not modified) 2. Critical chance has been dramatically increased, as high as 84% 3. Accuracy has been somewhat increased, usually 5-10%
ATGM dynamics have been vastly improved taking into account unique technological characteristics of individual missiles. I'm extremely satisfied with the result in gameplay.
Infantry Size and Ammo
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Goals - Increase survivability of small teams - Reduce the "clown car" effect with some transport units - Reduce apparent number of SF members on the battlefield - Standardize ammo capacities while better reflecting reasonable ammo loads
Changes 1. Infantry size bonus, number of men, and ammo count standardized according to a set of rules I created
Ground Unit Speeds
Spoiler : :
Goals - Strongly distinguish the differences between tracked and wheeled vehicles - Reduce the "convoy" effect of tanks when fast-moving - Add strategic variety to unit selection, pronouncing the benefits of speed (Air Assault > Wheels > Tracks)
Changes 1. Tracked vehicles road speed set to +10km/h over off-road speed 2. "Autonomy" was replaced with "Mean Time Between Maintenance". Ground units will be able to go twice as long before refueling.
Because of the way the pathing system works, the closer road speeds are to off-road speeds the more often a unit will off-road. This results in units spreading out when fast-moving if there isn't a direct road route, which is far more visually appealing, tactically sound, and enemy AI even become a little less predictable. A drawback is that the fuel system in the game is based on time, not distance, so faster units are more fuel efficient. I've decided to replace "Autonomy" with "Mean Time Between Maintenance", which considers any kind of non-combat related maintenance, to justify doubling ground unit autonomies.
Vasily Krysov wrote:We want this: over this
Artillery Rework of artillery
Spoiler : :
Goals - Encourage use of medium-end howitzers - Encourage use of batteries of artillery instead of one or two units - Use a technological basis for denoting unit characteristics
Changes 1. Artillery aim times adjusted according to ammunition and fire control systems - Mortar : 10 sec - Howitzer (rudimentary) : 25 sec - Howitzer (average) : 20 sec - Howitzer (modern) : 15 sec - Heavy Artillery : 30 sec - MLRS : 45 sec 2. Artillery dispersion affected by distance - Max dispersion kept the same / Minimum dispersion is 1/2 of max - Corrected shot multiplies dispersion by 0.66, except for MLRS
CONCEPT : Tank Cannons Rescaling of aim time, accuracy, and stabilization
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Goals - Create long range and short range weapons for tanks, just like infantry rifles - Use a technological basis for assigning tanks an aim time, accuracy, and stabilizer value
CONCEPT : Infantry RPG's Rescaling of all infantry RPG's damage, range, and accuracy
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Goals - Create a new range scale, generally shorter - Use a technological basis for assigning RPG stats
--------------Game Setting Changes
- Game Settings
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[list][*] 10v10 Maps Unlocked for created lobbies (Gjoll is bugged and not included) [*] AP damage scales by one per 227.5m, resulting in +10 AP at point blank for 2275m range guns [*] All AP weapons will fire at 1400m regardless of whether they can inflict damage [*] Helos have a takeoff and landing time of a 8 seconds [*] FOB supply capacity to 40k and hitpoints set to 50 [*] Critical damage multiplier increased to 2 instead of 1.5
- Command Unit Repricing Every command unit has had its price reassessed based on a set of rules I created.
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- Camera Freedom Ability to zoom in close to the ground, close to units, and look upwards a high degree
--------------Nation Specific Changes Not intended to be a comprehensive changelog, only highlights. Its been three years since I started this project and I can't remember what vanilla stats are anymore. Assume everything has been altered in some way.
USA
Spoiler : :
Overview US in vanilla Wargame felt very stale. Many units were intentionally left outdated while others seemingly tried to compensate as powerful superweapons with controversial gameplay effects. I have attempted to remove the clutter and represent the equipment and doctrine authentically.
Changes + Added US Airborne '75 and '90 + Added Light Riflemen, representing 10th Mountain Division...(1985, Regular, light infantry with LAW/M240) + Added shock 5-man fire support teams with Dragon and LMG for non-mechanized/armored deck...(Company level fire support) + Bradley M3 variants converted to transports for Cav Scouts + Renamed Riflemen to Mech. Riflemen and restricted to Mechanized and Armored decks ...(Dragons and CQC LMG) + Corrected TOW missile variants for each vehicle according to year of introduction + Updated Delta Force...(Colt Model 723, M203, and suppressed SR-25) + LAV series restricted to Marine decks + LAV-25 converted into a standalone recon and recon infantry transport + M1097 Avenger given M3P .50cal + M270 MLRS rearmed with cluster rockets + Rerolled AH-6C Little Bird as good optics recon helo + M1025 humvees (Mk19 and minigun recons) set as recon infantry transports + Added CMD M1A1 Abrams + M48A5 USMC and M60A1 USMC moved to vehicle tab as fire support vehicles + A-10 given Hydra rocket pods + A7E Corsair II rerolled with 2x AGM-62 Walleyes and 2x AIM-9 instead of napalm bombs + F-16A rerolled to iron bomber with 6x 227kg Mk82's + F/A-18A rerolled to iron bomber with 2x 1000kg Mk84's + Added F/A-18C Hornet as a Marine ASF + F-4G Wild Weasel V given two AIM-7F Sparrows + Added F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel with two Standard and two AIM-7M Sparrow + Added F-16CJ with two HARM and four AIM-9M + Added F-16C Block 52 with two AGM-65G Mavericks and four AIM-9M + Converted F-4J Phantom into F-4E Phantom with M161, 4x AIM-9L, and 4x AIM-7F - Removed Super M60 - Removed MBT-70 - Removed M60A2E2 Starship (the one with the autocannon)
France
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Overview France has one of the strongest motorized decks in the game, however it suffered due to the meta game of armored/mechanized pushes. While I don't believe I can resolve this entirely, I did make some small changes for balance and consistency. Combined with my ATGM changes, I find them usable again.
Changes + Tank pricing looked on favorably due to the lack of stabilizers and armor + Adjusted stats of many light vehicles for more authentic accuracy and rate of fire + AMX AuF1T added, providing a high end howizter + Super Etendard added; 1979, mixed cluster and iron bombs, 30% ECM + VAB SANTAL added, providing a strong short range SAM for motorized decks + Crotale converted into a radar SAM + Marines standardized to 15 hitpoints, like all other marines + AMX-10's moved to the Tank tab + AMX-13's moved to the Vehicle tab + ERC-90 moved to the Recon tab + Tigre HAD rearmed with Hellfires instead of HOT-2s - Removed AMX-30
Germany
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Overview My goal here was to fill in some of the gaps and relieve the disparity between German unit selection and more recent national additions.
Changes + Wiesel vehicles can be taken with helicopter transports, for a mechanized airborne assault + Roland vehicles given radar and nonradar missiles + Added FRR Roland 2 + Added Jaguar 2 Tow-2 + Armbrust added as replacement for RL-100 Blindcide...(slightly better than M72 LAW) + Jager, Heimatshutzen, BGS, and Fernspaher are reequipped with Armbrust + Jager training increased to shock + Panzergrenadier and Panzergrenadier '90 training reduced to regular and price reduced by 5 pts + Added Gebirgsjager...(shock recon with PzF44 and I.MG3) + M48A2G2 moved to vehicle tab as fire support + PAH-2 Tigre fitted with 8x Hot-3 missiles + Alpha Jet A refitted with long range CRV7 rocket pods - KPz 70 removed - Raketenjagdpanzer 1 removed - M48A2G removed
Blue Minors
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Overview Most individual nation's changes are too short for their own section so the highlights are compiled here. All nations follow a similar pattern- Unstabilized obsolete MBT's removed or moved to vehicle tab, units repriced, a loadout change here and there, all small steps to making the game a little better.
United Kingdom - UK 120mm HE (HESH/HEP) damage reduced to 3 + Added CMD Challenger 1 Mk.1 + Added LAAD Starburst MANPADS team + Challenger 1 Mk.3 added to mechanized + Tornado GR.1 equipped with 8x 454kg iron bombs + Added Sea Harrier FRS.2 with AIM-9L and AIM-120 + Jaguar GR.1 given AJ 168 missiles + Jaguar GR.1A given 4x IBL-755 and 2x AIM-9L + Harrier GR.3 converted to rocket attacker + Harrier GR.5 given 4x 454kg bombs + Harrier GR.7 reequipped with 2x CPU-123/B laser guided bombs + Added F-4M Phantom FGR.2 with AIM-9G and Skyflash + Stormer HVM weapons separated to allow selection of ATGM or AA missile + Lynx AH.1 TOW renamed Lynx AH.1 HELARM and date set to 1980 + Lynx AH.7 renamed Lynx AH.7 HELARM, date set to 1985, and TOW-2 replaced with ITOW + Lynx 3 replaced with Lynx AH.7 FITOW with "Further Improved TOW" featuring a tandem top-attack warhead (30 AP); Date 1994 - Removed Harrier GR.1 - Removed Chieftain Mk.2 - Removed Tornado F.2
Scandinavia + Strv 121 given Lahat (not authentic, but make an interesting unit out of a mundane one) + Swedish militia infantry given grenade launchers and LMG, turning them into a powerful infantry counter + Sweden given Prickskytte Spanare (Sniper recon with Barrett M82) + JAS 39 Gripen rearmed with RB71A Skyflash 90 instead of AMRAAM + Added PVHKP 9A TOW-2 helicopter + Danish infantry given greater access to cheap trucks than most other nations + Denmark given unique, regular 2-man recon teams
Blue Dragons Small tweaks for authenticity, though I gave South Korean tanks the best possible ammo for their timeframes. This is a consideration towards the campaign and makes them unique for having good firepower on less optimal chassis.
+ Many Japanese vehicles renamed for readability + K113 I-TOW name changed to K113 TOW, given basic TOW, and date set to 1979 + KM113A1 I-TOW name changed to KM113A1 TOW-2 and given TOW-2 + AH-1S given TOW-2 and date set to 1986 + M48A5K AP damage to 15 + K1 AP damage to 17 + K1A1 added to mechanized - AH-1T removed
Israel I find Israel to be an exceptionally interesting mix of equipment, but I feel like there were some questionable balance decisions and missed a few opportunities.
+ Helicopters and aircraft renamed with equipment identifiers...("Peten" becomes "AH-64A Peten", "Ra'am" becomes "F-15I Ra'am") + Merkavas have access to their 60mm C-06 mortars + Shayetet 13 and Maglan traded roles (recon vs infantry) + Merkava IIA and IIB traded roles (tank transport vs tank) + 60mm HVMS adjusted to fire 3 shot bursts and can fire at helicopters like an autocannon + Added AMX-13 Nimda with 60mm HVMS + Added M1064 120mm mortar + Tiran-5 Blazer moved to tank tab + Machbet radar removed and range decreased
USSR
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Researching Soviet technology and doctrine has become a hobby of mine since I began this project. It's sad to say that the USSR in Wargame is very poorly represented, as if it were forced into NATO doctrinal ideas and then forgotten about after Airland Battle. I've attempted to revitalize its unit selection, deck compositions, its equipment, and to resolve inconsistencies. Units were especially created or converted to allow for accurate formations.
WIP : Deck Specializations - Replacement deck specializations (Motor Rifle Regiment, Independent Naval Infantry Brigade, etc) This is currently finished except for a bug which is yet to be resolved. Certain units will not appear when entering a match, even though the units appear in the created deck and the armory - Selectable decks not affected.
New Units - T-72B1K (command tank) - T-55AK (command tank) - Granatomotchiki (AGS-17 infantry) - PTRK Metis and Metis-M (5-man Metis/LMG teams, specific to BTR regiments) - VDV rearmed with lightweight RPGs - Mi-8T supply helicopter - Su-27K Marine cluster bomber - Mig-29K Marine ATGM plane - 9K37 Buk-M1-2 (Buk-M1 with extended range) - MT-LB Strela-10M3 (Copy of Yugo M90 Sava) - T-72AV (1985 update with Kontact-1) - BRM-3K Rys (exceptional optics recon)
Unit Changes - Mig-31M replaced with Mig-31B using R-33S; ECM reduced to 30% - Mig-31 ECM reduced to 20% - Mig-27 rerolled into rocket attacker - Mig-27M given two additional missiles - IL-102 replaced with Su-24 Block 15; 12 250kg bombs - Su-24M renamed Su-24 Block 24; 2x 1500kg bombs - YAK-38 rearmed with rockets and R-60 missiles - YAK-38M bomb load reduced to 4x 250kg iron bombs - BRDM-3 set as recon infantry transport - Reworked Tank Lines T-64: T-64A, T-64B, T-64B1 T-64BV1 T-64BMV T-72: T-72 Ural-1, T-72A, T-72AV, T-72B1, T-72B, T-72B obr. 1989, T-90 T-80 : T-80B, T-80BV, T-80U, T-80UM
- All variations of armor, composites, ERA, and ammunition considered for T-64/72/80 stats (next up is T-55/62) - Tank guided missiles distinguished according to their various models - T-72B obr. 1989 model changed to T-90's - VDV '85 given RPG-26 - Spetznaz GRU given AKS-74U and RPG-27 to compliment Dragunov SVD - Spetznaz VMF given AS Val and RPG-26 to compliment VSS Vintorez - BMD-3 given AGS-17 - KA-50 given S-80 rocket pods instead of Iglas
Yugoslavia A very interesting mix of Soviet and Western technology, but included some questionable equipment and missed some opportunities.
- Several names corrected - Padobranci '90 rearmed with RT-20 anti-tank rifle instead of Bumbar missile - PORS Fagot-M rearmed with Drug-M; 1996, 2625m, 25 AP - Malyutka standardized to Malyutka-P1B1 if 1982-1992; 19 AP - Malyutka standardized to Malyutka-2 if 1992 or later; 23 AP, 2625m, 60% acc - Fagot-M replaced with Fagot; relevant intro dates corrected to 1989 - PAST Izvidjac moved from recon tab to support tab; renamed M53/55 Praga LRU; range and accuracy increased - Added Nora-B ERFB; 39km, 9 HE - BOV 30 removed
This is still being worked on regularly. Please comment with any ideas, constructive feedback, or any source documents I can reference. Thanks to the community for providing the guides and tools that made it possible!
Last edited by Sireyn on Wed 1 Jan 2020 23:55, edited 57 times in total.
If you think seriously this I recommend the followings:
Cut back all gun ranges with one increment to give real role of ATGM on battlefield and modeling the RL ACC of guns. The current CTH from a moving tank against a moving target is simply funny. In RL the CTH in case is theoretical.
Set different aim time and dispersion to older arty to give them real role. Is no good reason why has almost one scale better dispersion between an M109 and K9 Tunder or CEASAR. Top tier arty should have 10 sec aim time, M109A3 AUX F1 and similar A/B cat arty 15 sec and all 105/122/152/203 mm arty should have 18-20 sec. The dispersion of any arty should not be higher than ~7 km and maybe even top tier arty should not have better dispersion what currently Msta has. Rocket arty aim time shold be 10-20 sec
Sadly because of decks system and veterancy you cannot bring back soo many things from WG:ALB which was better. The easiest thing what you can do currently is playing era games, only problem most of players do not play era games. Ever...
You may find ATGM's are far more usable. Above all, their noise was reduced so they can fire from cover without getting instantly spotted. Their critical chance is very high so they tend to disable optics, tracks. etc even with old missiles. Due to map compression I think the current gun and atgm ranges are the best balance. The next step would be to increase tank aim times and decrease stabilized accuracy.
Here is about the limit of their stealth against medium optics
Set different aim time and dispersion to older arty to give them real role...
I generally agree with you. I just don't want to start setting values arbitrarily. I want some sort of technological basis to assign values to aim time, reload speed, and dispersion. For instance, according to my knowledge, most older Russian artillery relied on its commander to receive fire control inputs, as opposed to modern batteries with built-in computers in every vehicle.
- A Gvozdika might have a very fast reload, moderate aim time, and cheap ammo but dispersion increases dramatically with range. - An Msta might have a moderate reload, fast aim time, moderate ammo cost, and dispersion stays mostly the same across its entire range.
I want to take into account the minimum size of a barrage to be effective, the supply cost of an effective barrage, and the investment cost of getting a usable sized battery on the map.
Sadly because of decks system and veterancy you cannot bring back soo many things from WG:ALB which was better.
The deck system is simple enough to modify. You can add and remove nations from coalitions and define valid deck types. I even removed "Armored" as an option for France since it became redundant with "Mechanized". Generally, stat-wise, if you can imagine it you can do it. I suppose it would even be possible to make everything identical to ALB, though that's not my intention.
Last edited by Sireyn on Fri 7 Jul 2017 05:20, edited 1 time in total.
If you set much higer range for HAWK, Kub, Buk, Neva and other SAMs you should consider restrict their avail and also their price.
I have to say it would be great to have such decks system where generally you get much closer to RL ratio between air/helo/land/AAA units. It is insane that a player can use so many combat helos what a full division has for support while has only 2-3 APC and 2-3 tanks which are defeneded by two SAM/AAA which is half or a whole regiment AAA/SAM defense...
I reinstalled the game just to give this mod a try. I like it.
If I might ask, though, why is favor always given to the M60A1 ERA over the M60A3 in terms of ammunition availability/fire control? The M60A3 TTS (the majority of the M60A3s produced) incorporated a ballistic computer which the A1 never received, including after the RISE update.
While the M60A1 (Rise) (Passive) (which is what I assume the M60A1 ERA is supposed to represent) should be better armored by virtue of its application of ERA tiles, the A3 should be in the same range bracket as the A1 ERA while having the same ammunition and superior accuracy.
I know it's a really little thing, but it's just been setting off my OCD since 2014, and no mods have really addressed this. I'm not asking for the M60 line to be buffed, just for stats to be switched at most.
I think the M60A1 ERA was an artificial balancing decision by Eugen, and one I haven't looked into closely from a technical standpoint. If you know of any references I could look at to compare M60 models, I'd be happy to adjust the lineup.
Awkwardly, most of my sources on the matter are literary and I don't want to just throw a wikipedia link at you. I'll try to find some comprehensive information on the internet.
By no means would I want you to release a whole new version just for this silly change. I was just wondering if there was a reason or, perhaps, something that I didn't know that was leading to Eugen and every modder to assume the ERA/RISE passive was a more up-to-date vehicle.
My only guess is that it was used by Marines in Desert Storm, so it was subject to hasty upgrades while the older M60A3's were replaced by Abrams.
If you come across any good references then these are exactly the kind of changes I like to make. I have a side hobby of collecting technical and doctrinal resources.
I was not able to find any reputable online sources that look any more professional than Wikipedia. So when I get home in a few hours, I'll just post a selection of pages out of R.P. Hunnicutt's book on the subject regarding A1 and A3 upgrades, life extension programs, etc.
Evidently I can only attach three files, unless I'm doing this incorrectly. All pages missing from the order are either pages with nothing but pictures, or about the M60A2 which it outside the scope of this discussion.
