Why is everyone talking always about LARGE reworks that take years to complete? What's to say that the "new" brits would not be poorly made? Most people want reworks just for the sake of reworking. Brits can easily be fixed by adjusting a couple of things like the 5man upgrade, giving them proper blob controls, making units unique that does not require some gimmicky ability (like the vickers getting an ability instead of vet range) and things like that.
Because UKF is an incredibly broken faction with a few really strong units covering the holes in its roster.
Let's start with the "5 man upgrade" (i.e. bolster). How do we adjust it, and what's the goal of the change? Some people think that it makes IS blobs too powerful, since it gives them a 400hp pool on top of being 5 models with zero downsides, so what downsides to do we give it? Does it take a weapon slot similar to OST's VSL? Doing that means it needs to become a 'per-squad' upgrade since it can't be applied to squads holding 2 weapons. If it does become a per-squad upgrade, what is the cost? We could make it 60 muni as it's effectively a "weapon slot" upgrade, but that'll impact the early-mid game muni eco, since it's currently not designed around dumping 180-240muni into non-DPS upgrades or abilities; so that sort of change would mean much less use of grenades and artillery, which UKF needs since they have no mobile indirect fire (i.e. mortars). Is it just free? Does it cost MP instead? What about accessing the upgrade cost itself? If the upgrade costs 60muni + 28mp (VSL), is the cost to unlock it (150mp/35f) still justified? If it's not, does removing the MP cost alone make it valid? If that's not enough, we start impacting the timing of other techs, as over-all fuel investments have changed.
Additionally, if it does cost, how does it work with future squads? Right now squads built after the upgrade arrive at 5-man strength; bolster doesn't just give another model, it's actually making the squad cheaper
per model when it arrives after the upgrade has been unlocked. If we need to buy the extra model after getting the upgrade, it means new squads after about 10 minutes will cost an additional 28mp (plus the bolster upgrade cost), putting the squad at 298mp. It's not a huge change, but that does impact balance.
Additionally, let's say it does take a weapon slot; consider the amount of "utility" that has been piled onto IS' over the years. This is the current list of upgrades:
- 2x Brens
- 2x Piats
- Gammon Bomb Grenade
- Mills Bomb Grenade
- Pyrotechnics Supplies Upgrade (artillery call-in) – Blocks Medic upgrade
- Medical Supplies Upgrade (healing) – Blocks Pyro upgrade
- Bolster (+1 model)
- Build Sandbags
- Build Fuel/Muni Caches
- Additional abilities from doctrines
Having double upgrades on 4 models means a much higher chance to drop upgrades, and it also means much less 'effective HP' per squad; which can be quite a problem late-game.
This is just what I can think of - I'm sure actual pro players could think of even more issues. As a result, I think it would be much simpler to just redesign the squad around having 4 models at all time, just like every other mainline infantry squad (until the 'recent' 7man cons), and less upgrades and abilities (moving them to other units). Having less variables will make it much easier to balance them.
As for the rest; what kind of blob controls do UKF need? They already have the vickers (which is decent), the centaur, the Cromwell (surprisingly decent), IS' "best in class" DPS when fully upgraded, the mortar pit and bofors (not mobile, but effective on some maps), artillery
on their infantry, and of course everything in docs.
How do we make units "unique"? I agree that the vicker's range-vet-ability isn't great, but what do we replace it with? Every MG is currently on a scale going from high damage and low suppression (Vickers) to low damage and high suppression (MG42). That's about it in terms of "unique" abilities for MGs (AP rounds aren't unique), so I'm not sure what else could be added or changed.
Everyone always talking about some huge reworks in a game with more variables than an average american can count. Does anyone really think they can balance it out? Create some perfect balance paradise by completely reworking everything? It's not really hard and the only reason it's not being done is because Sander and his lackeys won't be bothered. Relic is probably also limiting them but if they are doing it for free (I assume that they are not getting payed), why would anyone invest a braincell to do a good job. Especially when those you have are quite precious.
So, no. A rework is not needed, just a little bit of brainstorming and a decisive balance team.
If you think it's easy, and the balance team just lacks the will, pitch an idea; how
do we fix UKF (specifically, as in with stats, costs, etc.)? And you are correct, they are limited (at least, to my understanding); some changes have been blocked because they change the "design flavor" too much, despite them being good ideas (at least on paper).
1. Give tommies anti-tank grenade (It's not like they are uncountably good at inf. fight now)
IS' currently have so many abilities they're running out of UI space to put the buttons. If we start removing some existing abilities, sure, but as-is, they can do far, far too much for a single squad to be giving them even more abilities (see list above).