Fix Mein Kübelwagen!

Mein Kübelwagen is broken!

Peter von Bradenbad jumped the Rhine in mein Kübelwagen and now mein balance is all off! Mein schwerer Wehrmacht-Schlepper pushed the Allies into the road and we lost control!

Mein Balance Proposal

The Kübelwagen is over performing at cost, and also has an identity issue. These changes should reinforce the Kübelwagens roll as a mobile suppression platform, without being the Konigs Kübelwagen Self-Defense Robot (Special Edition). It should feel more like a traditional machine gun, while still having better mobility and the ability to soft retreat if a player is being attentive.

1. A small reduction in rotation speed

Will require players to be more mindful or where it is placed. It will also allow for more nuanced gameplay to distinguish between a well micro'd Kübelwagen, and a poorly micro'd Kübelwagen
(Example: Players must react faster when responding to threats or risk being flanked).

2. Add a tear down time

It should be short, but there must be a tear down time in order to provide options on how to take this thing down. It is very difficult to kill a well micro'd Kübelwagen because of its ability to reverse away from flanking squads. A perfectly executed three direction flank on a Kübelwagen can be shut down because its rear armor is easy to protect, and the RNG roll on the front armor is too large of a cushion.

2A. Alternative: Add a toggle for suppression mode

Allow Kübelwagen to toggle into suppression mode in a setup position. This provides similar functionality as the tear down penalty, and allows squads to threaten a kubel when flanking.

3. Add a frontal armor buff when setup

The goal is to make the Kübelwagen stronger when stationary to compensate for reduced mobility and turn radius. Currently the Kübelwagen can take a lot of frontal damage from other MGs and suppressed blobs. More should be done to discourage blobbing, and encourage flanking. Adding a slight buff to the frontal armor of a Kübelwagen when setup will help discourage frontal assaults, like an MG is supposed to. It will also encourage flanking, as the reduced turn speed and tear down time allow flanking squads a solid opportunity to threaten the Kübelwagen.

Balance cat has some striking green eyes

I like these proposed changes. Flanking a kubel would be really rewarding if the damn thing couldn't just back away so easily. I like that the kubel actually has a role now it's just waaay over the top and frustrating to play against.

I really don't like the idea of a tear-down time, it'd make it very very clunky to use. I'd sooner remove light crush than add tear-down (oh you stopped for 2 seconds? well lets make that 4 seconds just because).

Vehicles should never have a tear down as it makes them impossible to use. flack track suffered from this and was nearly unusable as a result.

I support these changes. Maybe a reduction to acceleration as well, but that might be unnecessary with the tear-down time.

To the nay-sayers: I think the tear-down is absolutely needed to balance to strength of a highly mobile suppression platform. For the sake of US faction design, flanking needs to be a viable way of dealing with the Kubel. Currently this is often not the case, since the Kubel can back away so fast that it avoids the damage. Compare to an MG, which usually has to retreat if a squad gets too close.

I also think this is a different situation to the Flak HT - that thing suffered from the tear-down time because it was a significant fuel investment, and by the time it hit the field things like AT guns were available that turned a slight mistake into a very expensive loss. The Kubel is in a different place, being available from the start of the game. The tear-down time would just force OKW players to use the Kubel more carefully.

Its rotation speed is already terrible.

I feel like it would be better served to make the kubel have a mode like defensive stance where it trades mobility for suppression rather than a somewhat unwieldy tear down. You could make the tear down part of swapping between the two modes.

I would suggest that it had an ammunition toggle one mode that supresses but makes the vehicle highly immobile and or reduces damage output, and another that does higher damage but no supression. This way it can be a supression platform and chase down snipers.

Im not a fan of teardowns b/c you can just not move the unit for a few seconds then its stuck, but a toggle removes this sort of annoyance.

Don't forget there's a bug that lets it suppress on the move. Keepo

A toggle instead of a tear down is an option I considered. Toggles are pretty fun compared to tear downs.

The root of the issue is forcing the Kubel to think about when and where it sets up. A toggle would make it work a lot more like a regular MG, and may be less clunky than the tear down. I like it as possible solution to the issue of excessive mobility.

Don't forget there's a bug that lets it suppress on the move. Keepo

do people still not know how suppression works? like EVERY unit deals suppression but the Kubel just shoots fast enough during its mobile mode that it can suppress.
its not a bug its a direct consequence of its stats.

do people still not know how suppression works? like EVERY unit deals suppression but the Kubel just shoots fast enough during its mobile mode that it can suppress.
its not a bug its a direct consequence of its stats.

Erm..... that doesn't change the fact that it isn't working as intended. It's not supposed to suppress on the move, end of story.

Yes Relic said it needs to have that suppression symbol floating above it to suppress but it suppresses anyway

im saying that its not a bug, and that the system is working fine. if its intended or not is another matter.

im saying that its not a bug, and that the system is working fine. if its intended or not is another matter.

You're arguing semantics here, it's obviously not supposed to be able to suppress while moving, and if it is Relic needs to seriously question their design decisions.

I like the idea of having it "set up" into locked movement suppression mode with the same stats it has now.. possibly on a cooldown.

needs a set up time. increased armour when up and a increased upkeep.

reduced acceleration to simulate tear down time.