We caught wind of Battlefield V’s Summer Update in April, and the patch arrived this morning, along with a hefty tome of patch notes. The Summer Update is Battlefield V’s final content drop, and it adds some new maps, changes to game modes, new weapons and gadgets, and more to one of the best war games on PC.
At the top of the list of additions are the two new maps, Al Marj Encampment and Provence. Al Marj is located in Syria, and it’s an infantry-only map focused on close-quarters fighting that supports 64 players in Conquest and Breakthrough modes, as well as Squad Conquest and Team Deathmatch (with different player number configurations for each).
Provence has been enlarged and now includes farmland outside the occupied French town, so the map now supports tanks in 64-player Conquest and Breakthrough modes. These maps are both U.S. versus German forces. In terms of soldiers, the U.S. has 14 new soldier characters added in this update, while the Japanese army has two new soldiers. The team has also made some alterations to the Al Sundan, Twisted Steel, and Panzerstorm maps.
In terms of new vehicles, expect to see four new aircraft taking to the skies on the U.S. side, including the A-20 bomber and P-70 Night Fighter. The patch also adds the M-8 Greyhound armoured car for the American side, and the Puma armoured car for the Germans.
All classes will be able to use three new grenade types, which include a firecracker grenade, a demolition grenade, and the Type 99 mine – a magnetised anti-tank grenade used by the Japanese beginning in 1939.
Here’s the full list of changes, courtesy of Battlefield community manager Adam Freeman, who posted the notes to the game’s subreddit:
Maps & Modes
New Maps:
- Al Marj Encampment (Conquest, Breakthrough, TDM, Squad Conquest).
- Provence (Conquest, Breakthrough, TDM, Squad Conquest).
Additional Changes:
- Aerodrome – Removed the MG turret that was placed below the ground at the edge of the map.
- Aerodrome – Removed the stationary weapon fortification that was placed into the ground near Sector F.
- Al Sundan – All standard modes now feature U.S. vs. Germany. We presently have a known issue with incorrect Voice Over being played during rounds of Frontlines which we intend to solve in a later update.
- Marita – Fixed a hole in the wall by Zervos Farm which could be exploited.
- Panzerstorm – All standard modes now feature U.S. vs. Germany (except Grand Operations).
- Panzerstorm – German Army is now set as the defending force.
- Twisted Steel – All standard modes now feature U.S. vs. Germany (except Grand Operations).
- Twisted Steel – Outpost – Fixed the floating barrels and barbed wire near Radio Tower A.
- Twisted Steel – Outpost – Players should no longer be able to get stuck between the barrels and the bridge strut near tower D.
- Underground – Fixed an exploit that could disable smoke effects.
- Combined Arms – Fixed the missing tab on the end of round screen.
- Firestorm – Players will no longer enter a bleed out state when playing solo mode.
- Practice Range – Added the missing Panzerbüchse 39 & Boys AT Rifle bi-pod when using them on the range.
Weapons & Gadgets
New Weapons:
- Sjögren Shotgun (Support)
- Chauchat (Support)
- M3 Infrared (Recon)
- K31/43 (Recon)
- Welgun (Medic)
- M1941 Johnson (Assault)
- PPK/PPK Suppressed (all classes)
- M1911 Suppressed (all classes)
- Welrod (all classes)
New Gadgets:
- Doppel-Schuss (Recon)
- RMN 50 Grenade Launcher (Recon)
- Pistol Flamethrower (Assault)
- Shaped Charge (Support)
- Kampfpistole (Support)
New Grenades:
- Firecracker Grenade (all classes)
- Demolition Grenade (all classes)
- Type 99 Mine (all classes)
Additional Changes:
- Add-on Grenade Launchers for the Tromboncino and M1 Garand now try to switch to the main ammo type instead of the pistol when the player runs out of ammo. If no primary weapon ammo is available, a switch will be made to the pistol as normal. We think that this will lead to a better combat flow when the player ends up in these scenarios.
- The Breda M1935 PG’s fire switching sound can now be heard.
- Fixed a bug where smoke grenades would sometimes detonate in different positions for different clients, or not detonate at all.
- Unified the impact grenade’s trajectory with the other frag grenades for improved consistency of grenade throws.
- Slightly increased the time an impact grenade must travel, the amount it bounces off a surface, and detonation delay after bouncing. This won’t substantially change the gameplay of the grenade, but will improve the pucker factor of having one of these thrown at you.
- Fixed a bug with the Lunge Mine which would cause another knockback, when it had been selected again after a previous use.
Vehicles
New Vehicles:
- A-20 bomber (U.S. Faction)
- P-70 Night Fighter (U.S. Faction)
- P-51D fighter plane (U.S. Faction)
- P-51K fighter plane (U.S. Faction)
- M8 Greyhound (U.S. Faction)
- Puma Armored Car (German Faction)
Additional Changes:
- Improved the transition to ragdoll when players die in a vehicle and made it so the vehicle/wreck is followed for the victim to make it a more interesting experience.
- Fixed an issue with the Hachi that was causing it not to steer as well as intended when moving at higher speeds.
- Smoke screen weapons on tanks and airplanes now properly block spots, and name tags.
- Fixed a bug that would cause the vehicle UI to show an incorrect position of the cannon, if the player had used it, and then switched seats.
- AA guns now suppress on the same level as other vehicle MGs.
Planes
- 500lb bombs now have lowered blast damage, and increased irreparable damage to make it a two-pass kill.
BF-109 G2
- Specialization tree changes to compete with P51K.
- Start loadout includes spotting flares and 2x50kg bombs.
- Engine or gun upgrade at tier 1.
- Defensive options or finned barrels at tier 2.
- Ground attack options or leading edge for tier 3.
- Finally some less critical upgrades for tier 4.
BF-109 G6
- Specialization tree changes to compete with P51D.
- Start loadout includes nitrous, smoke, and 2x rockets.
- Explosion protection or gun upgrade at tier 1.
- Defensive options or finned barrels at tier 2.
- Ground attack options or leading edge for tier 3.
- Nitrous now functions in the same way as the super charger for the Pacific planes.
- Finally some less critical upgrades for tier 4.
Soldiers
New Soldier Characters:
- 14 New U.S. Faction Soldiers.
- 2 New Japan Faction Soldiers.
Additional Changes:
- Additional fixes to prevent players from getting stuck in a bleeding out state. If this does not fix the problem, we hope that it will decrease the rarity from uncommon to rare.
- Fixed a bug that would in some cases play the wrong voice over when a soldier spots a bomber.
UI & Other
- Fixed an issue that would cause spotted enemies to not show on the mini-map if the player walked into their own smoke.
- Added the missing descriptions for the Calliope and Hachi in the statistics tab.