Kaos' post release support of Homefront continues with a brand new patch coming to the PC which will add a whole host of server options along with a few balance tweaks - and the ability to vote for maps.

While still not the DLC that has been promised to eventually surface for the title, it may be enough to bring a few players back on online for the title. The patch is in its final stages of testing - and is expected in a few days.

THQ's heavily marketed Homefront surprised gamers and reviewers when it managed to make a bigger than anticipated splash in its first couple weeks, selling over 1 million copies of the game. Unfortunately, this small success was mired by reports released the day after Homefront's release - which revealed that THQ's stock had plummeted after initial reviews of the game were lower than expected.

The full list of patch notes have been included below:

New Server Options

  • Increase Weapon Damage: Increases weapon damage for head and torso shots with all weapons.
  • Increased Weapon Recoil: 15% recoil increase across all weapons.
  • Reduce UI Elements Shown: Disables UI elements such as ammo count for all players.
  • Only Squad Members on Map: This restricts the player position information shown on the mini-map to only include squad members and players that have been spotted.
  • Only Show Ally Names: Player nameplates for enemies will not show up.
  • Require Manual Weapon Reload: Disables auto-reload for all players on the server.
  • Disable Death Follow Cam: Disables the follow cam that is ordinarily shown when players die.
  • Force First Person Cockpits: Third person view is not permitted for drones or vehicles when this option is enabled.
  • Reduce Ability Effectiveness: Limited duration for thermal goggles and personal UAV.
  • Force Ace Helicopters: Enforces ace as the difficulty setting for all helicopters.
  • NOTE: To disable specials and vehicles, scale the battlepoint earnings to 0% and set the initial BP to 0

Dedicated Server Tool

  • Improvements to the dedicated server tool UI.
  • Added new dedicated server settings to the tool:
    • Initial BP
    • BP earning scaling
    • Respawn delay timer
    • Idle kick time
  • Voting parameters:
    • Enable voting
    • Minimum players in a server before player voting is active
    • Vote pass %
    • Vote cooldown time (per user)
    • Vote duration
  • The autobalance status label will now display information on remaining swaps.

Balance Improvements

  • M4:
    • Increased damage vs. infantry head to be less effective at long range (compared to that of the ACR).
  • ACR:
    • Increased damage vs. infantry head, chest and abdomen to be more effective at long range.
  • SV45 SMG:
    • Increased damage values vs. infantry to be more effective at range.
    • Slightly increased infantry default material damage to be more effective at short range.
  • Diablo SMG:
    • Increased damage vs. infantry be slightly more effective at range.
  • M200 Sniper Rifle:
    • Increased damage values vs. infantry to account for enemy health regeneration.
    • Adjusted damage range to be more lethal at short/medium range.
  • Cluster:
    • Increased Battle Points to 1600.
  • Hellfire:
    • Increased Battle Points to 1300.
  • Phosphorus:
    • Increased Battle Points to 1600.
  • AntiTank Drone Dumb fire Missile:
    • Damage increased vs. infantry.
  • M1A3 Abrams:
    • Increased damage resistance from the front of the tank.
  • LAV Rocket (Seat 1):
    • Increased damage vs. M1A3 Abrams
    • Decreased damage vs. LAV
    • Adjusted over armor effectiveness to compensate for damage changes.
  • LAV 30mm Cannon:
    • Increased damage vs. M1A3 Abrams
    • Decreased damage vs. LAV
    • Adjusted over armor effectiveness of the Tanks to compensate for changes.
  • Proximity Launcher:
    • Decreased damage vs. M1A3 Abrams.
  • Rocket Launcher:
    • Increased damage vs. M1A3 Abrams, and adjusted over armor to compensate for this damage change.
  • MD600 Mini Gun:
    • Adjusted damage values vs. Scout Heli and Apache Heli. Prior to this change, a proficient Scout pilot could take out an Apache with one extended burst. It now requires at least one cool down to kill.

Anti-cheat Support

  • Cheat detection improved
  • Global banlist:
    • Each time a server boots, the entire global banlist will be pulled down from the URL specified in the playlist file.
    • On each round change an incremental download is done based on sequence number.

Private Messages

  • Added “Private Message” functionality: pm playername message

Voting

  • All voting information is sent to RCON tools (start information, result and individual votes).
  • Voting related UI (see pause menu).
  • Implemented match restart.
  • Supported vote types:
  • Kick player.
  • KickBan player.
  • Next map.
  • Restart level.

Server Splash Screen Added

  • We now display the server name, Message of the Day (MOTD), and a list of server options active at the start of the game when applicable (settings are located in the dedicated server tool’s checkbox game settings/options).

RCON Changes (for RCON Tool Developers)

  • Pm/bigsay/say (when used via RCON) have been changed to:
    • Adminpm steamID/playerName: Private messages players with the specified steamID/playerName.
    • Adminbigsay message: Broadcasts a bigsay message.
    • Adminsay message: Broadcasts a say message.

A lot of changes, to say the least, and with a little luck Kaos's next big announcement will be more maps for a title that THQ touted as being able to stand up on the level of Call of Duty, but hasn't really presented a particularly large following as of yet.

THQ might want to hold off putting itself in the league of Activision and EA until they've managed to thoroughly support their games and execute a competitive strategy.

Homefront is available for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and OnLive.