M8 Greyhound

I've been using this a bit more often. The M8 Greyhound has some serious punch with that Canister Shot ability - mauling squads and blobs. But the main cannon still completely ineffective versus anything that has armor on it and even infantry. So I decided to look up the stats for the gun and...

40 damage maximum. That's not even enough to kill a soldier on a direct hit with a 37mm shell.

Alright, there's your problem. Compared to the Stuart's gun (both are exactly the same in real life), the M8 Greyhound has slightly less penetration and HALF the damage. No wonder this vehicle is just a pile of steaming crap. It does half the damage of the Stuart (which mind you, already does half the damage of a normal gun, e.g. the 57mm AT gun). The only thing it has going for it is half the scatter, which would be nice if it could actually kill infantry.

To make matters worse, it comes out at 3CP, and compared to other nations, the USF gains CPs slower because they don't actually build base buildings. Effectively, it's coming out at 4, maybe 5 CP - simply worthless at that time.

Anyone feel like this thing needs to have it's gun buffed? Or not? Feel free to voice yourself. Buff some things about it and nerfs other parts, etc.

The bad gun is only part of the problem- there's also, as you mentioned, the fact it comes out somewhat too late to be useful, and more importantly:
It's completely redundant thanks to the availability of the M20 and the M5 Stuart, both of which have great and useful abilities themselves.

M8 is a canister shot delivery system. Think of it as the penal squad of the USF.

You use it to run up, burn some munitions and wipe a squad.

Anything else it does is a happy bonus.

Balanced? Probably not. Giving the main gun some more whack and toning down canister would seem sensible.

Remind me, does the canister shot come at Vet 1?

Maybe it could have that WP ability like the vCoH whatever-it-was armoured car that you could swap the Greyhound out for.

Canister Shot is available right off the bat. I'm not sure what Vet 1 ability the Greyhound has, if it has one at all.

If it was a Vet 1 ability right now, you'd never see the Greyhound simply because it will never reach Vet 1 using the main cannon alone.

I agree with you then, it does seem strangely underpowered for it's CP call-in point. Problem is the canister shot would be OP at 1 or 2 CPs.

I'd maybe keep it where it is and:

(1) give the gun some lovin' so it can threaten, if not pwn, Pumas

(2) make the canister round Vet One and up the muni cost

I think a player who invests in a couple and shows good micro, enough to vet them, should be rewarded with a viable light anti-vehicle unit.

The 40 damage is rediculous. Went through all the trouble to hunt down a lone stuka, just to realize it would take 10+ shots to actually kill it and had to give up.
It's good ai and scout unit, but I would happily pay a bit more so it would actually be useful against light armor, which it simply can't do right now.

M8 is a canister shot delivery system. Think of it as the penal squad of the USF.

You use it to run up, burn some munitions and wipe a squad.

Anything else it does is a happy bonus.

Balanced? Probably not. Giving the main gun some more whack and toning down canister would seem sensible.

+1. I don't wanna agree with Brachiosaurus but he's right. Improve the gun, tone down the cannister.

Yea, this thing is pretty terrible outside of canister shot, it will loose to 222.

I still like it.

the recon commander is crap

the recon commander is crap

Forward obsevers: adds like 2 sight range, pretty negligible and doesn't really give any real advantage.
I&R pathfinders: range on artillery is really low.
Greyhound: good AI but useless in AT.
Recon run: only useful ability
Airdroped combat group: Gives two decent units and an empty AT gun. Way overpriced and useless that late in the game.

So yeah, almost everything in it is pretty underpowered right now, which seems to be a trend with US doctrinal abilities and call-ins.

I find I use the Recon Commander more than I'd like. The Recon Run is actually indispensable with my style of play - grab munitions, and spam the hell out of that. The Airdropped Combat Group is also pretty good, you effectively get 2 upgraded Paratrooper squads with an AT gun (although I think it could be removed and the price dropped).

Canister Shot actually isn't as reliable as you'd like to think. I targeted a blob once, aimed, fired...and it hit a fence in front of the blob, blocking every single shot. No damage. I'd think a ball bearing flying at supersonic speeds might pass through a wooden fence without a problem.

But yea, I agree with you all - buff the gun, but nerf (possibly soft nerf) the Canister Shot, like making it 60 Munitions or a Vet 1 ability.

Considering just how munitions intensive Recon Support is (pathfinder artillery, greyhound armor and shot, and recon run), wouldn't it be better to just remove the instant death critical and reduce the price?

I'm pretty sure a ball bearing the size of your thumb hitting you is still going to cause some significant damage.

Nonetheless, removing the death critical might turn it into the RNG machine that Canister Shot was back in CoH1 - sort of like the StuH42, where sometimes it did absolutely nothing, and other times it decimated entire blobs in one shot. Even with reduced price, I'd rather have something more reliable.

Well canister shot already deals 40 damage base, it just never matters because the model dies anyway. Make it deal the full 40 damage in its 3 unit radius and it would be decent at seriously hurting clumped up models without killing them outright.