Eastern Front ver. [IP address redacted]

Hello comrades,

It has been a long time since the last announcement we posted. After several months of silence, yet working non-stop in the shadows, we prepare the release of the new version. A lot of things have happened so let's begin with the bad news so we save all the good stuff for the end...



Steam Greenlight
At the moment we are still working on bringing Eastern Front on Steam. So far we have some build to test, but unfortunately Eastern Front cannot run as a Steam game at the moment. Thankfully Relic is helping us with this and they have supported us during all the Greenlight process. Let's hope they bring good news to us soon :).

New Models
We are still working on some of the missing models for Ostheer and Soviets, hopefully we will have them for the Steam version. Which new models we are talking about? The new T-70, T-60, T-34/76, T-34/85, SU-85, SU-100, SU-76, Katyusha. We have other models to fix but these ones have priority.

Now let's focus on the rest of the announcement on the good news!


Changes for this version
As we said in our previous announcement, the Soviet and Ostheer armies got several changes for balance's sake, in our internal test the gameplay was improved, so we hope you can agree with us. We decided to call this version internally the "Pre-Steam" version, because it will be the last version we release only in ModDB. As such, it is intended to be like a beta of what the Steam version will be, and you shold expect some stuff not properly finished so, please report anything odd you find so we can fix it for the Steam version. This version already works with the latest version on Steam.

The ZiS-3 field gun will be added in the Support Barracks replacing the ZiS-2, while the former will be unlocked when picking up the Propaganda Strategy Tactics Tree second upgrade in the right hand side.

The Commissar call-in was replaced by a "Commissar" upgrade. When you unlock it on your Propaganda Strategy tree, it will enable an ability that allows you to select and instantly upgrade a conscript squad into a Shtrafnie squad. This new squad gets three PPD-38 submachine guns, increasing their firepower in close combat. Regular Conscripts also got an improvement so early game combat against enemy units is better. The most easily things to spot in this new version are:

• The Soviet army now has a SG-43 Goryunov as heavy machine gun and anti-blob asset. It can be recruited from the Support Barracks. Thanks to DMz for the new model!



• The Mortar team also got a new mortar model, courtesy of The Soldier and DMz.



• The new Mustering Tent, Armoury and Support Barracks models are completely done, thanks to Burro and Walki.



• The T-34 series now have an additional upgrade: you can replace it's hull mounted machine gun with an ATO-42 flamethrower.

And for the Ostheer army, they also had several improvements, first of all some units were reallocated to another tier and some Command Tree abilities were modified. There is no medic halftrack for Ostheer (at least in this version) and the veterancy has been tweaked according to the feedback received and our internal tests as well. We have changed some infantry squad upgrades to other type of infantry units to create a better gameplay as well, in example: No more light MG 34 team, but Panzerfusiliers can now purchase these ones instead of the submachine upgrade and Landsers now use the MP40/II and at the moment they get the squad leader after they get the MP 40 upgrade(that will change for the Steam version to "when they get Seargant Promotion"); Jagers no longer get the MP 44(or StG 44 as it is known as well) or Gewehr rifles, but now they get a Mkb42(H) that is customized to do both weapon's job.

The Support Army Troops command tree received several changes: the first ability available at the left hand side is a medic kit airdrop. These will be airdropped just like paratrooper units are and you need to "capture" them before using them and they have a fixed time of use before they are depleted and "die"; they can be targeted by the enemy to avoid giving a break to some injured infantry troops or can be captured if the opponent manages to get to the landing zone first and then it will heal the enemy infantry until it is depleted or destroyed. Wespe now comes in it's own call-in at the end of the Support Army Tree, and the Luchs was removed from the Schutzen War Camp along with the Panzerjägers from the Infantry Gefechts Kommand and are now available as group call-in in the second upgrade in this very tree in the right hand side. The Ostheer Halftrack also got some visual improvements and we have a new Elefant model(which still needs to be scaled up btw), but you will see this by yourself soon. Now, we also present a small gallery of screenshots with some visible changes they got:



About the incoming models, we have some pictures of the new T-60:



Once we have more to show, I'll post them here.

Hopefully, they will be finished before we sort out everything on Steam.


Download here! | Mirror 1 | ]Mirror 2 | Changelog

Enable Simplified Chinese Locale

Compatibility Patch for 2.602 (READ INSTRUCTIONS)

At the moment we only have a full installer version and it is waiting authorization in ModDB so, to some of you it will appear as unavailable for a little while. Since it is a full version, the launcher is not going to detect it. We will add the mirrors as soon as we can.

Thanks for downloading and continue to enjoy,

Archaic Entertainment Team

Last edited September 14, 2014 at 4:38 AM by Enrique 'Blackbishop' E.

It's close to steam version, are the devs still working on the campaign of EF?

Not at the moment, but I expect once the MP stuff we have left is done, we can so something about it.

Should I uninstal my current version, and download this new, full version?

I'm a little confused. I expected an easy automatic update - detected by the launcher.

We can no longer build the field artillery with the Soviets?

Last edited September 8, 2014 at 9:39 AM by Darren Marshall

Not compatible with steam?
Is of many sad

LCH98 wrote:
Not compatible with steam?
Is of many sad

It is


Also, Im gonna create a better version of the changelog with more clear changes, and see if I missed anything

Jeff wrote:

LCH98 wrote:
Not compatible with steam?
Is of many sad

It is


Also, Im gonna create a better version of the changelog with more clear changes, and see if I missed anything

It is?
I downloaded and installed, when i try to start from launcher i get an error message telling me:
"Game is not being run as a known Company of Heroes product.
Try again by launching game from Steam"

LCH98 wrote:
It is?
I downloaded and installed, when i try to start from launcher i get an error message telling me:
"Game is not being run as a known Company of Heroes product.
Try again by launching game from Steam"

Try doing a complete uninstall (with deleting all files frome the folders) of both CoH and EF, then reinstall them anew. I had the same problem and it helped for me

I didn't have any issues... I just DL-ed the latest version (didn't work via the launcher admittedly), but the installer over-wrote everything itself and it booted up fine...

Overall I think this version is an improvement, though it will take more than a single game for me to form a 'final' opinion. However, there is one thing I do want to mention already. For the Ostheer, you have removed the old concrete emplacement altogether, replacing it with pre-made medic/pak emplacements... Personally, I feel that the basic concrete emplacement should have been preserved, with both medic and pak versions being upgrades.
Was it done the way it has because of the population cost on the pak? Was there no way to make it be an upgrade and have it have a pop cost?

Anyway, off to play another game, see if I can find anything else to mention! :P

~JD

Its great to see you guys keep doing this ! :D Great job guys!

How is the ostheer commanding officer squad w/ 3 men? Are the 2 KCH bodyguards just like the regular knights cross except with rifles?

SchlagtSieTot wrote:
Should I uninstal my current version, and download this new, full version?

I'm a little confused. I expected an easy automatic update - detected by the launcher.

??

SchlagtSieTot wrote:

SchlagtSieTot wrote:
Should I uninstal my current version, and download this new, full version?

I'm a little confused. I expected an easy automatic update - detected by the launcher.

??

The uninstaller should delete all the old files, but I think you should do it by yourself to be sure everything is fine.

Oh... Well. And how do I do that?
I'm a plug and play kinda guy, I usually play on console so I don't know a lot about coms. -
-

I wanted to try this new version, but the game cannot be lanuched. I've got an error which says that my CoH product cannot be recognized and try to lanuch the game from Steam. Any ideas how to fix it? The game is installed in fine location.

I just noticed that when I want to play EF, in Steam it writes I'm playing TGW 1918 mod. I tried to uninstall it and it still writes that I'm playing TGW when I want to try EF.

TheDzierzanPL wrote:
I wanted to try this new version, but the game cannot be lanuched. I've got an error which says that my CoH product cannot be recognized and try to lanuch the game from Steam. Any ideas how to fix it? The game is installed in fine location.

I just noticed that when I want to play EF, in Steam it writes I'm playing TGW 1918 mod. I tried to uninstall it and it still writes that I'm playing TGW when I want to try EF.

I had exactly the same problem.
Solved it by deleting all the coh1 files in steamapps and then reinstalling both the game and mod.
Would seem the mod files conflict?

QuoteI had exactly the same problem.
Solved it by deleting all the coh1 files in steamapps and then reinstalling both the game and mod.
Would seem the mod files conflict?

Thanks! Going to test that later.

Hey, cool new patch guys, i really like the way the ostheer got cleaned up.
A few bugs/strange things i noticed from playing the first few games:

- [german version] Tooltip for IG-barrage missing
- [german version] Tooltip for Elite-Doctrine Arty-strike missing
- [german version] Outdated tooltip for Landsers
- [german version] Left and Right Tree for fortress doctrine dont have names
- medic vet seems to be gone (assuming that the thing with a crane as a symbol and the medic tooltip is logistic. Else medic does not give medikits)
- [german version] Logistic vet uses tooltip for medic vet
- Panzerfussilers cant dig holes anymore?
- Landsers dont seem to get a Mkb42 from the update, as stated in the update tooltip

Shiggythor wrote:
Hey, cool new patch guys, i really like the way the ostheer got cleaned up.
A few bugs/strange things i noticed from playing the first few games:

- [german version] Tooltip for IG-barrage missing
- [german version] Tooltip for Elite-Doctrine Arty-strike missing
- [german version] Outdated tooltip for Landsers
- [german version] Left and Right Tree for fortress doctrine dont have names
- medic vet seems to be gone (assuming that the thing with a crane as a symbol and the medic tooltip is logistic. Else medic does not give medikits)
- [german version] Logistic vet uses tooltip for medic vet
- Panzerfussilers cant dig holes anymore?
- Landsers dont seem to get a Mkb42 from the update, as stated in the update tooltip

-Army Support Doctrine Luchs call-in still has the Pz 38t / wespe description in the doctrine tree
-Army Support Doctrine JU-87D-5 bombing run still has the JU-87G-2 (twin 37mm cannon run instead of the bombing run) description in the call-in menu

All I've really encountered in my first two matches

EDIT:
The Ju-87D-5 bombing run constantly spawned from the enemy spawn point, and got shot down by T-90s every time i called it in and negated the use of it in-game entirely.

Last edited September 9, 2014 at 1:02 PM by LCH98

Whoohoo! Finally, the long-awaited patch! New changes are awesome. Great job, guys, I've always beleived in you  :)

Seeing how people report oddities of the new update, I'd like to throw in my 5 cents.
A whole lot of bugs about Shtrafnie:
- If the commisar is killed and then the Shtrafnies squad is reinforced, the guy who takes his place is a simple conscript, and not an officer. Maybe WAD, I don't know.
- They seem to lack the building animation: when I give the order to build sandbags, they just stand in a group and watch the sandbags being magically laid by themselves  ;D
- If the squad suffered some casualties (including the officer model), reinforced and fully healed, the squad's health bar will always be not full. This is probably because the commisar model has a bit more HP then the cons, so when a conscript replaces the officer (see n.1 in my list), a small portion of health is considered "lost", hence the not full HP bar.
- For some reason, when turning the Conscripts into Shtrafnie, the squad's icon does not change from rifle to a small square, so it's really hard to differentiate your Cons from Shrafniki.
- When idling out in the field and not in combat, they make the animations the soldiers usually perform only in the base sector. Well, I described it a bit fuzzy, still, to understand, try moving a Shtrafnie squad and, say, a Strelky squad out in the field and look at the soldiers. While Strelky will try to crouch, take cover, scan the horizon, look out for the enemies, the Shtrafnie will just stand tall and straight as if they are in the base sector.

Also, I concur with people above: many tooltips in the English versions are messed up, and some text is missing with BLANK written instead. But I'm sure it's all going to be fixed.
I hope all this helps. I'll probably find some more stuff later.

We can probably release a hotfix to patch up all the bugs

132 wrote:
How is the ostheer commanding officer squad w/ 3 men? Are the 2 KCH bodyguards just like the regular knights cross except with rifles?

Yes, the Officer has two knight cross holders as bodyguards who are armed with g43 rifles. The unit itself is pretty good in long range combat and buffs nearby allied units in a defensive manner, depending on the assault pool/support pool choice.

Hendrik wrote:
Yes, the Officer has two knight cross holders as bodyguards who are armed with g43 rifles. The unit itself is pretty good in long range combat and buffs nearby allied units in a defensive manner, depending on the assault pool/support pool choice.

Speaking of bodyguards, I understand that this is only cosmetic stuff and you devs should probably do something more important, but here I was wondering, could you guys do something about the bodyguards' models? Make their unifroms, I dunno, a bit darker and less shiny, maybe a bit more dirty? It's just this contrast between them with their perfectly clean uniforms for parades with all the shiny silverish details, medals and stuff, and the officer, with his dark mud-covered coat, dirty cap and a moody look on his face... I guess after serving on the Eastern front, his bodyguards would look more like him and less like they're just from a great parade in Berlin  ;)

Grand wrote:

Hendrik wrote:
Yes, the Officer has two knight cross holders as bodyguards who are armed with g43 rifles. The unit itself is pretty good in long range combat and buffs nearby allied units in a defensive manner, depending on the assault pool/support pool choice.

Speaking of bodyguards, I understand that this is only cosmetic stuff and you devs should probably do something more important, but here I was wondering, could you guys do something about the bodyguards' models? Make their unifroms, I dunno, a bit darker and less shiny, maybe a bit more dirty? It's just this contrast between them with their perfectly clean uniforms for parades with all the shiny silverish details, medals and stuff, and the officer, with his dark mud-covered coat, dirty cap and a moody look on his face... I guess after serving on the Eastern front, his bodyguards would look more like him and less like they're just from a great parade in Berlin  ;)

Agree. We already have a different model/skin for them, however the implementation caused buggy behavior. The model will be updated in the future. For now we'll keep them :D

The bodyguards themselves look as if they hold a higher rank than the officer (medals, binos, officer cap, etc)

So they do as much damage as panzer grenadiers with the g43 upgrade? With KCH health?

Grand wrote:
Whoohoo! Finally, the long-awaited patch! New changes are awesome. Great job, guys, I've always beleived in you  :)

Seeing how people report oddities of the new update, I'd like to throw in my 5 cents.
A whole lot of bugs about Shtrafnie:
- If the commisar is killed and then the Shtrafnies squad is reinforced, the guy who takes his place is a simple conscript, and not an officer. Maybe WAD, I don't know.
- They seem to lack the building animation: when I give the order to build sandbags, they just stand in a group and watch the sandbags being magically laid by themselves  ;D
- If the squad suffered some casualties (including the officer model), reinforced and fully healed, the squad's health bar will always be not full. This is probably because the commisar model has a bit more HP then the cons, so when a conscript replaces the officer (see n.1 in my list), a small portion of health is considered "lost", hence the not full HP bar.
- For some reason, when turning the Conscripts into Shtrafnie, the squad's icon does not change from rifle to a small square, so it's really hard to differentiate your Cons from Shrafniki.
- When idling out in the field and not in combat, they make the animations the soldiers usually perform only in the base sector. Well, I described it a bit fuzzy, still, to understand, try moving a Shtrafnie squad and, say, a Strelky squad out in the field and look at the soldiers. While Strelky will try to crouch, take cover, scan the horizon, look out for the enemies, the Shtrafnie will just stand tall and straight as if they are in the base sector.

Also, I concur with people above: many tooltips in the English versions are messed up, and some text is missing with BLANK written instead. But I'm sure it's all going to be fixed.
I hope all this helps. I'll probably find some more stuff later.

The first one was difficult, because for some reason it refused to work in the right way but it is fixed now. It is odd but it used to work in the internal version in the past, I wonder if the last Relic patch screwed it :\.

So far the only thing missing is the builder animations for the Squad, but the squad as it should be able to show it. I'm not sure what's wrong and why they aren't using it. The translations are more or less ready, but they still need to be uploaded to our DB and translated by our comrades translators and that will take some time.

Realy great job :). love the new units. But I noticed that WM Grens cant get any vet or the vet icons are missing???

LeL wrote:
Realy great job :). love the new units. But I noticed that WM Grens cant get any vet or the vet icons are missing???

aaaaaaaaaaaahhh crap... That's an error on my part. I played with some alternate, better looking vet icons for the Wehrmacht and USA. But it didnt work out well and I reverted it. However, I justed checked the files and well... There's a little error: I placed a "/" at a point where I'd needed to place a "\" instead. That's why the icons are not shown. It's only optical, the vet boni are still applied. Will be fixed with the next version.

We will fix everything you guys report and release a patch soon. Perhaps in two weeks or less, depending of the feedback and the bugs needed to fix.

@LeL
Somehow it seems the Grenadier vet icons are not the right ones, but yes, they earn vet.

LCH98 wrote:
[...]
The Ju-87D-5 bombing run constantly spawned from the enemy spawn point, and got shot down by T-90s every time i called it in and negated the use of it in-game entirely.

Ok, I'll check it.

Played last night and its great, me and my friend really enjoyed, keep up the good works

By the way, jägers can get more than 2 stgs when reinforced^^ maybe when they switched the fire mod a stg spawns.
Cant you give them 4 stg instead of 2? I hate those 2 with k98 rifle >:( 

Hi. i have problem. relic Send error. during playing game shutdown? how fix it? help me. my english not good.

LeL wrote:
By the way, jägers can get more than 2 stgs when reinforced^^ maybe when they switched the fire mod a stg spawns.
Cant you give them 4 stg instead of 2? I hate those 2 with k98 rifle >:(

No. We've made it this way for a reason. Thx for reporting the bug with the additional rifle, tho.

enkhbold wrote:
Hi. i have problem. relic Send error. during playing game shutdown? how fix it? help me. my english not good.

Hi. Wat?

Ok, too bad  i like the new stgs^^
But i have another issue... ;D

The SU-152  is in my opinion extremely strong. Compared with the Jagt-Panther or the Kingtiger, the SU-152 is better at everything.

-best At Ive ever seen (kills tiger and elephant with ease)
-very good armor (like Kingtiger?)
-cheaper than JP and KT (800 but no income drain for the next minutes)
-worst of all:..... it kills inantry like nothing. (JP never hit infantry and Kingtiger is no great inf killer at all but the su kills with one luckshot an entire squad of pe grens because of his huge splash damage. Even paks ( if hit) get killed in seconds
-and you can bring him over and over and over. He is good at everything and there is no hardcounter out there.  Compared to him JP , KT, Elephant and Pershing look like toys.

I like the SU-152 but please nerf him a bit so he is for example a one time call-in and match the Jagtphanter with a stronger gun but slower rate of fire and slower movespeed and no anti inf super weapon.

I love your mod I think its one of the best out there.  The last thing I want to do is piss you on with bad  criticism. 

LeL wrote:
By the way, jägers can get more than 2 stgs when reinforced^^ maybe when they switched the fire mod a stg spawns.
[...]

Thanks for reporting this. It was something I messed up, but will be fixed for the next update :).

enkhbold wrote:
Hi. i have problem. relic Send error. during playing game shutdown? how fix it? help me. my english not good.

Please read this: http://www.easternfront.org/forums/index.php?topic=11296.0

Last edited September 12, 2014 at 4:30 PM by Enrique 'Blackbishop' E.

LeL wrote:
By the way, jägers can get more than 2 stgs when reinforced^^ maybe when they switched the fire mod a stg spawns.
Cant you give them 4 stg instead of 2? I hate those 2 with k98 rifle >:(

Don't you mean the mkb 42 gun? or do they get 2 mkbs and 2 stg44s?

BTW what is better, the mkb 42 or the stg44?

132 wrote:

LeL wrote:
By the way, jägers can get more than 2 stgs when reinforced^^ maybe when they switched the fire mod a stg spawns.
Cant you give them 4 stg instead of 2? I hate those 2 with k98 rifle >:(

Don't you mean the mkb 42 gun? or do they get 2 mkbs and 2 stg44s?

BTW what is better, the mkb 42 or the stg44?

it shares both the characteristics of the kar98 and stg44. Overall the mkb is superior by far.

Just wondering, shouldn't there be a way to upgrade the katyusha's, similar to the t-34/85 and su-100 upgrade?
The currently used katyusha's are the ones used in the early years of the way, but by '44-'45 they had way larger warheads.

Right now there's the BM-13, firing 16x 132mm rockets.
Making it's combat debut in 1944 and proving highly effective in Budapest and Berlin, the BM-31-12 (firing 12 300 mm rockets) had a shorter range than the BM-13 but had a warhead more than five times heavier.

They were mounted on the Studebaker, just as the current BM-13, so only the rockets and the launcher would have to be modeled.
I have a few in-detail suggestions, but i'd rather wait to see if the devs agree with this or not.

And what is the advantage of such an upgrade  ??? More damage? I think Katjusha is excellent and dont need an upgrade or ingame buff by upgrade.

Gerrit wrote:
And what is the advantage of such an upgrade  ??? More damage? I think Katjusha is excellent and dont need an upgrade or ingame buff by upgrade.

A lot more damage, the BM-13's warhead is 5 kg, the BM-31-2's warhead is 28 kg.
As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

It would mean trading in a lot more firepower for a lot shorter range (historically about half the range of the BM-13), slower katyuhsa's, a longer reload time and upgrade costs.

Like i said; I cant see the advantage here. But i'm not a balancer ;)

LCH98 wrote:

Gerrit wrote:
And what is the advantage of such an upgrade  ??? More damage? I think Katjusha is excellent and dont need an upgrade or ingame buff by upgrade.

A lot more damage, the BM-13's warhead is 5 kg, the BM-31-2's warhead is 28 kg.
As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

It would mean trading in a lot more firepower for a lot shorter range (historically about half the range of the BM-13), slower katyuhsa's, a longer reload time and upgrade costs.

the current Katyusha model is from the very early stages of EF. At the moment a new one is on the way which will fit better into the late-war-period.

Hendrik wrote:

LCH98 wrote:

Gerrit wrote:
And what is the advantage of such an upgrade  ??? More damage? I think Katjusha is excellent and dont need an upgrade or ingame buff by upgrade.

A lot more damage, the BM-13's warhead is 5 kg, the BM-31-2's warhead is 28 kg.
As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

It would mean trading in a lot more firepower for a lot shorter range (historically about half the range of the BM-13), slower katyuhsa's, a longer reload time and upgrade costs.

the current Katyusha model is from the very early stages of EF. At the moment a new one is on the way which will fit better into the late-war-period.

Good to hear :)
Will it be like the T-34/85 and Su-100 upgrades, so you can choose between the 'old' katyusha with less firepower but more range or the new one, or will it replace the 'old' katyusha alltogether?

No. The new model will simply replace the old one. That's all.

LCH98 wrote:

As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

....The SU-76 and KV-2 would like to have a word with you :P

I think the Artillery emplacement should be brought back too... The 'red army' feels incomplete without it... Then again, I may be a little biased... When I think of the ww2 'red army', I think under-equipped conscript rushes and indiscriminate (and crude) artillery 'massed barrages' (the God of War ability).

I think 'mobile arty' should be pretty much non-existent for the Russians in general, as fixed arty fits better the 'Soviet' style of under-imaginative use. That said, the su-122/KV-2 use howitzer type guns, but they aren't actually 'arty' as they are direct fire, not bombardment based, so it would be tough to legitimize replacing them with 'fixed guns' (different role altogether).

~JD

Campaigner wrote:

LCH98 wrote:

As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

....The SU-76 and KV-2 would like to have a word with you :P

The SU-76 artillery is, to my opinion, no better than a mortar. It costs you 100 munition to upgrade and then has a longer reload time and a way smaller splash/AoE than the 107mm mortar, for just a bit more range.

KV-2 isn't bad but it's very inaccurate and you can only have one at a time, with a reload so long you could send the KV-2 to drive out there and direct-fire it instead.

Besides, the KV-2 and SU-76 aren't purpose-built indirect-fire artillery

LCH98 wrote:

Campaigner wrote:

LCH98 wrote:

As you say, the Katyusha is excellent, but this would add a bit more diversity, which i consider to be good, especially since this has now become the Soviets' only artillery following the removement of the 122mm Howitzer.

....The SU-76 and KV-2 would like to have a word with you :P

The SU-76 artillery is, to my opinion, no better than a mortar. It costs you 100 munition to upgrade and then has a longer reload time and a way smaller splash/AoE than the 107mm mortar, for just a bit more range.

KV-2 isn't bad but it's very inaccurate and you can only have one at a time, with a reload so long you could send the KV-2 to drive out there and direct-fire it instead.

Besides, the KV-2 and SU-76 aren't purpose-built indirect-fire artillery

Actually, you're not completely right. The 107mm mortar may have a Little more splash range (but it's really a matter of a few centimeters ingame), but the Shell damage is much lower. The SU 76 deals way more damage with ist Barrage, so you have a higher Chance of killing soldiers/weapon Crews with a direct hit than with the mortar. 
The KV 2 may shoot ist Barrage not as fast as the Firebase, but still, with ist huge range it's pretty useful.

On top of that, you've forgotten the artillery spotter. He provides line of sight for all your artillery, which makes them much, much more accurate compared to firing into the fog of war. And, if necessary, he can also use call in artillery strikes.