Winter balance (1/2020) feedback Soviets

Soviet 1.3
HEAVY TANKS

In order to make it more rewarding to kill heavy call-in vehicles, all heavy tanks, heavy tank destroyers and heavy assault guns now have the following:

-Recharge standardized to 3 minutes
-Cooldown on ability now starts upon death of the heavy tank

*Special thanks to community modder Sneakeye for providing the solution for this implementation.

IS-2

-AOE damage from 1/0.35/0.175 to 0.75/0.35/0.175
-AOE distance from 0/1.35/3 to 0/0.85/3
-CP requirement from 9 to 12
-IS-2 Armor from 375 to 340

KV-2

-CP requirement from 9 to 12
-Now gains +25% rotation rate, and +20% acceleration/deceleration at veterancy 3 in addition to its 160 health increase

Generalist Medium Tanks

In order to make generalist medium tanks more viable in the current meta, their durability is being increased by lowering their target size, making them more difficult to hit.

These changes should reduce the chance to get hit by 7-10% on medium to far range - ex: an 88% chance to get hit becomes an 80% chance.

The changes will not apply to Tank Destroyers and specialist vehicles based on a medium tank chassis. Units like the Sherman Firefly and Sherman 105mm will remain the same due to their role.

T34/76 and T34/85

Target size from 22 to 20

ML-20

-Population from 15 to 13

Conscripts

Seven man conscripts were performing slightly too efficiently for their cost

-Reload cover bonus from 7 man removed.

In order to slightly reduce strength of the Mobilize Reserve upgrade, the reinforcement reduction has been slightly lowered.

Mobilize Reserve reinforce reduction from 3 to 2; changes reinforce cost from 17 to 18



Airborne Guards

Minor changes to encourage the use of airborne guards, which were slightly underperforming.

-Manpower cost from 380 to 360
-Airborne Guards Strafe from 60 munitions to 45
-PPsH-41 upgrade now grants Tactical Assault ability; similar to Paratroopers and Stormtroopers

For Mother Russia

Standardization change to bring in line with other similar abilities.

-Sprint now cancels when in combat

Soviet HQ

-Medic radius from 20 to 25

ZiS-3/SU-76 Barrage

This change puts the barrage from ZiS-3 weapons inline with other direct-fire weapons and mortars that receive penalties when striking units in heavy cover.

Heavy cover damage modifier from 1 to 0.5

Airborne Weapon Crate Drop

Price from 45 to 60


Bugs fixed:

-B4 target size from 1 to 20
-KV-8 45mm should now recognize prioritize vehicle commands
-Fixed an issue where Assault Guards were 6 population rather than 8
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1.2
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1.1
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ver 1.0
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(updated to vet 1.3)

Give 7men Consript more Nerf……reduce reinforcement cost maybe should remove from 7men Consript and add to PPsh upgrade……also I think vet3 Consript RA maybe reduce to 0.78 same as Volks,PPsh upgrade give some RA bouns，vet3 PPsh Consript RA still 0.7
IS-2 shouldn't need all building,and maybe not Nerf armor，just increase IS2 CP and fuel cost to 245
Show some love to su76 and some nerf to T70……

Give 7men Consript more Nerf……reduce reinforcement cost maybe should remove from 7men Consript and add to PPsh upgrade……also I think vet3 Consript RA maybe reduce to 0.78 same as Volks,PPsh upgrade give some RA bouns，vet3 PPsh Consript RA still 0.7
IS-2 shouldn't need all building,and maybe not Nerf armor，just increase IS2 CP and fuel cost to 245
Show some love to su76 and some nerf to T70……

IS2 needing all buildings is almost completely meaningless because T1 is 10 fuel, T2 is 15 fuel and you always build T3 and T4 anyway.

IL2 AT rocket strafe needs to be nerfed. Same with SVT Cons.

Shocks and ISU slightly too good too.

SOVIET ver 1.0

IS-2

CP requirement from 9 to 11
IS-2 Armor from 375 to 340
Requires all tech buildings (experimental change - may not remain)

Weird, the IS2 is 10 cp not 9. Can't believe the mod team made that big of a mistake.

IS2 needing all buildings is almost completely meaningless because T1 is 10 fuel, T2 is 15 fuel and you always build T3 and T4 anyway.

IL2 AT rocket strafe needs to be nerfed. Same with SVT Cons.

Shocks and ISU slightly too good too.

SVT conscripts are doctrinal just like other doctrinal squads. I think they are fine as it is and still die easily.
Nerfing Il-2 AT strafe will make the commnader handicapped with no heavy tank or potent AT ability( strafe is already hit or miss. Watch the recent tightrope replay where he casted Ashablois 2 v 2 and both players took airborne. You can see the deficiencies in the commnder.)
I have argued in other thread too and gave reasons why its okay right now.

Shocks are good? Yes they are. Are they too good? Hell no.

Weird, the IS2 is 10 cp not 9. Can't believe the mod team made that big of a mistake.

yes it was 10 cp because of geater armor

IS2 needing all buildings is almost completely meaningless because T1 is 10 fuel, T2 is 15 fuel and you always build T3 and T4 anyway.

IL2 AT rocket strafe needs to be nerfed. Same with SVT Cons.

Shocks and ISU slightly too good too.

Emmmm……IMO，I'm not think heavy need “all” build is smart change,also it maybe will work,but all factions have different tech tree,give same limit it's a really stupid change……I think now medium tank tech + cp is good combination，just increase CP is enough，and balance heavy with cost，Tiger is criterion，IS2 is strong than tiger，so increase MP and fuel cost，Pershing is weak than tiger，so reduce some cost

HEAVY TANKS
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IS-2

-CP requirement from 9 to 11
-IS-2 Armor from 375 to 340
-Requires all tech buildings (experimental change - may not remain)


Imo the problem is that IS-2 has 375 but that it start with 375 armor. The actual problem is the vet bonuses that are tailored made for the unit.

Unlocks the "OF-471 Fragmentation Shell" ability.

+50% weapon rotation speed.
+25% range of fire.
+20% accuracy.

+30% reload speed.
+20% rotation speed.
+20% maximum speed.
+20% ac/de-celeration.

If you look at the bonus they all are about fire power and mobility. Replace these bonuses with bonuses that are about tenacity and even if the unit has 375 armor at vet 3 the unit would be fine.

In addition the unit will have a unique design as a durable heavy tank.

KV-2

-CP requirement from 9 to 11
-Requires all tech buildings (experimental change - may not remain)
-Now gains +25% rotation rate, and +20% acceleration/deceleration at veterancy 3 in addition to its 160 health increase

Glad to see that KV-2 has become the CP as IS-2. Again imo the vet bonuses should tailor made for the specific unit. That can include tear up/tear down, reducing minimum range.

Bugs fixed:

-B4 target size from 1 to 20
-KV-8 45mm should now recognize prioritize vehicle commands
-Fixed an issue where Assault Guards were 6 population rather than 8

Great job as always.

Conscripts
Seven man conscripts were performing slightly too efficiently for their cost

-Reload cover bonus from 7 man removed.

Glad to see that the upgrade being problematic has been recognized as I had pointed on the preview but imo the approach to fix it is in the wrong direction.

Currently the upgrade is competing with other doctrinal upgrades for conscripts and even without the cover bonuses it will probably be superior. That would mean that the other doctrinal options will have to be buffed leading to power creep.

Additional imo it problematic because it allows conscripts to fully man support weapons and made conscripts repairs OP.

It was designed allow rebuilt conscript vet in the late stage environment (something it does not do very well since one has to sink allot of resources to them with mediocre result) but it has simply allowed already vetted conscripts to become almost immune to wipes.

So imo the upgrade should simply be redesigned. Instead of an expensive upgrade that take up a weapon slot make it cheaper, less powerful but with less restrictions.

Suggestions:
Mobilized Reserves:
Reduces model reinforce cost to 17
Increases veterancy gain by 20%
Costs 50 munitions Cost down to 20 mu

(When upgraded with Mobilize Reserves, weapon cooldown and reload on Mosin Nagant rifles is reduced by 30% when in cover. Removed
Increases squad size by 1, Removed
Takes up 1 weapon slot Removed)


Imo with these changes the upgrade will:
be more inline with its original design of helping vet 0 conscripts in late game
stop competing with other stock upgrades
help with re-crewing/repair from conscripts


Other thing that should be look about Conscripts

PPsh should also take up a weapon

SVT upgrade is problematic for many reasons (that I will not list here). I would simply remove the ability but if it has to stay simply replace it with a DP-28 drop.

Airborne Guards

Minor changes to encourage the use of airborne guards, which were slightly underperforming.

-Manpower cost from 380 to 360
-Airborne Guards Strafe from 60 munitions to 45
-PPsH-41 upgrade now grants Tactical Assault ability; similar to Paratroopers and Stormtroopers

Imo the problem with Airborne Guards is not that they are UP but others:

Identity crisis.
The units suffers from the inverted problem of Fallj. It is an infiltration unit designed as an airdropped unit.

With the SVT the unit is quite capable to wiping support weapons when it spawns and this would actually be a problem if it was cheaper and come at earlier CP.

Commander abilities overlap
Weapon Crate Drop make conscripts/Penal overlap with AG and take up the munition for the expensive LMG upgrade.

The unit simply brings too little compared to other abilities.

Suggestions:
Redesign the unit an infiltration unit.
Lower CP to 2-1
Lower entity count to 5 or 4-5 at spawn
Lower power level 280-320 mp and make cost of the ability fit the number of entities
Have the unit start with mosins and have weapon upgrade available
Add camo
Add other utility abilities like:
demo, charges, mines, traps, increased sight

For Mother Russia

Standardization change to bring in line with other similar abilities.

-Sprint now cancels when in combat

A good change.

Once more I would suggest to reconsider the bonuses of offensive and defensive abilities. Imo RMR an offensive ability would work better if it provided defensive bonuses to lower one's casualties on attack instead of "squad wipe" mechanism.

Airborne Weapon Crate Drop

Price from 45 to 60

Welp at least the cost is now fair.

The entire unit needs to be redesigned into the Stormtroopers/Commandos mold.

Renamed to Airborne Riflemen
Cost decreased to 300mp
Deploy from buildings with 6 Guards mosin nagant rifles.
Can upgrade to 6 PPSH smgs for 60 munitions.
Elite camouflage
Smoke grenade
Slightly decrease arrival time of vet 1 pin strafe.
Remove tactical advance

The entire unit needs to be redesigned into the Stormtroopers/Commandos mold.

Renamed to Airborne Riflemen
Cost decreased to 300mp
Deploy from buildings with 6 Guards mosin nagant rifles.
Can upgrade to 6 PPSH smgs for 60 munitions.
Elite camouflage
Smoke grenade
Slightly decrease arrival time of vet 1 pin strafe.
Remove tactical advance

Why would you ever replace GUARD mosins nagants at all hmmmm....

ZiS-3/SU-76 Barrage
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comments:
Was there a similar issue with SU-76 barrage? has it been fixed?

Airborne Weapon Crate Drop
Price from 45 to 60

comments:
The ability is simply problematic for large number of reason. (uncounterable munition transfer across teammates, too powerful,...)

Simply replace ability with normal upgrade or a DP drop.

ZiS-3/SU-76 Barrage
Show Spoiler

comments:
Was there a similar issue with SU-76 barrage? has it been fixed?

Airborne Weapon Crate Drop
Price from 45 to 60

comments:
The ability is simply problematic for large number of reason. (uncounterable munition transfer across teammates, too powerful,...)

Simply replace ability with normal upgrade or a DP drop.

I don't think it is too powerful. Just like combining recon of a teammate with a direct strike. Its supposed to help teammates in team games.

Can they buff the ISU152 instead? KV2 is perfectly fine, nobody ever asked for this buff, looks like somebody just wanted to hand a little gift to Kimbo, so who is this groupie amongst the balance team?

If they want to make other soviet heavies more flavored, why not directly look at the ISU?

Can they buff the ISU152 instead? KV2 is perfectly fine, nobody ever asked for this buff, looks like somebody just wanted to hand a little gift to Kimbo, so who is this groupie amongst the balance team?

If they want to make other soviet heavies more flavored, why not directly look at the ISU?

But ISU isnt underpowered, is it?

If anythin, its currently way better than KV2