Given what our good Comrade Bear President Napalm heroically informed us of our glorious Relic overlord's watchful surveillance of the CoH2.org forums, I shall dive right in.
The Red Army Worker's Militia.
Historical Background -
During some of the more dire days of the war in 1941 and 1942, large units of factory workers and other bodies were variously volunteered and pressganged into service with the Red Army. Although poorly trained and often poorly equipped, they served bravely in the fighting, often at tremendous cost to their own. Many units would gradually be incorporated into regular Red Army units as parent units were destroyed or broken up.
Design Philosophy -
This faction is designed around its support weapons and its veterancy. Unit preservation is key to the force's success. If either support or veterancy is not present then this faction is doomed to be at a great disadvantage to its opposition. In this way, this army is very much a late game faction, where its veterancy and support (which involves high amounts of rocket and tube artillery) will enable it to turn large areas of the battlefield into kill zones and flatten defended positions. Tanks in this faction play a secondary role and are largely inferior to the opposition. Instead this faction must rely on its infantry's AT weaponry (which it has all kinds of excitement in store) and AT guns, as well as non-doctrinal heavy artillery firing over open sights to engage and defeat the enemy. This army thrives on slowing the enemy down and crushing him as he stands. If this faction proves itself unable to prevent the more mobile enemy from slowing down, then it is at a significant disadvantage. As part of the emphasis on unit preservation and veterancy, this faction receives 5 levels of vet. Although your standard unit of Worker's Militia is on par with Partisans in terms of effectiveness early on, their only redeeming feature being their relative cheapness, with 5 levels of vet, by the end of the cycle, they are at a significant advantage, At veterancy 3 they perform on par with Grenadiers and by veterancy 5 they are even more effective (within reason, but they need to out perform other units at their top veterancy, so a vet 5 workers militia should out perform vet 3 grens).
Teching structure.
This could be a kind of weird teching structure. But I don't want the dodgy teching structure the Soviets have or the linear structure of pretty much everyone else. So. It works like this. You select either Tech 1 or Tech 2, that locks you into that building and you can't build the other one until you've built Tech 3 or 4, once you've built one of those, you must back tech to tier 1 or 2 to get the final T3/4 building again. Each building should be able to perform effectively on its own. However all buildings should be affordable and it should be entirely possible to get all 4 buildings, if not guaranteed in a decently sized game. All buildings should be decently priced, it is entirely reasonable that the Worker's Militia build all their buildings before all the other factions, given the effectiveness of their units. (subject to balance)
Teching doesn't have to go like this, it is merely a suggestion for something different.
Tiers (the fun stuff)
I can't think of any exciting names for the tier buildings, I'm sure if this faction were to be put into the game then something more exciting would be put in place.
T0 - Militia Headquarters
Red Army Sappers
- The standard builder/engineer unit with a few twists. Whilst they remain rubbish in combat like their combat engineer counterparts, these units must be kept alive until late game, where they really come into their own, as they carry a whole host of abilities that come with veterancy.
Combat strength - minimal.
Wire cutters and sweeper upgrade as normal.
Able to lay mines, Tank traps and demo charges, as well as build caches and non-doctrinal artillery (discussed later). After a building is built, they should also be able to build 37mm AA emplacements (like the Bofors of vCoH) these should be manned by women. (google the 1077th Anti Aircraft regiment and their role in Stalingrad)
Abilities Vet 0 - Satchel Charge (same as Penals).
Vet 1 + 2 general stat buffs, preferably survivability.
Vet 3, anti tank molotov - a molotov cocktail is thrown on a tank, which temporarily stuns and blinds the tank, doing minor damage (read, very little) to it in the process. After being stunned and blinded, the tank has an engine overheated crit for a few seconds afterwards (engine overheat requires testing for balance) .
Vet 5, Antitank Ambush mine - The engineers throw an anti-tank mine as they would a grenade (though the range is extremely low) The mine is unconcealed and maybe shot at and destroyed, if a tank rolls over it, the mine performs as a normal Soviet mine would (I'm tempted to add a stun, but that might be OP, testing required)
Worker's Militia
- The Bread and Butter of your army, pitiful at vet 0, fearsome at vet 5. Preserve them as much as possible. Squad of 6 armed with Mosin-Nagant M.38 Carbines, which are slightly faster firing but have reduced accuracy . They follow a kind of bell curved progression where they go from being inferior to all opposition (and thus relying on support units discussed later) to being superior to vetted enemy infantry as a result of veterancy. They come with AI grenades. Early game they are heavily dependant on other units for support, but by the end of their veterancy they can look after themselves confidently.
These guys should be relatively easy to vet 1-3, but more difficult 4-5.
It'd be cool if as these guys vetted up they looks less like green troops and more like veterans. Early on they should look like a mix of partisans and cons, later on a mix of guards like units (lots of medals, lots of equipment on them, if possible)
Vet 1-3 Significant Durability and damage buffs.
Vet 4 Unlocks multiple upgrades. 2x PPSh-41s or 1x DP-28 (more on the DP-28 in this army later). Only one upgrade maybe purchased.
Vet 5 Unlocks AT Molotov Cocktail (see Sappers)
Komsomol Dugout - T1
This building is designed around supporting your Worker's Militia, providing AT and suppression to back them up as well as preparing for some of the heavier assets that will arrive in your army soon.
ZiS-6 Truck with DsHK
- this is an interesting one, I'm not sure if it can be implemented or not but here goes. Basically you have your standard Soviet Flatbed truck with a DsHK on top. How it functions is that when mounted on the truck, it acts as an AA Machine gun and acts as such. When unmounted, it remains on it tripod, the truck remains moveable and can reinforce your units around and the DsHK is able to suppress but cannot fire at aircraft. I think this one would be an interesting change as Machine guns always suffer from being unable to scale well into the late game. This unit meanwhile I envision being able to have a use throughout the game, particularly given how effective German lategame airpower can be.
45mm M-42 AT gun
- This gun is the same as we have doctrinally now, but with a unique twist. This one comes with the ability to switch between AT and HE rounds like the Sherman does and at Vet 3 to use the treadbreaker, similar to the one in vCoH. However, it's penetration remains poor against modern German tanks. When switched to HE, it should function roughly similarly to the T-70's main gun. It's tempting to recommend that it be possible to garrison it...
(45mm is in the foreground)
Red Army Scouts
This is a small 2 man squad (I know what you're thinking, it isn't). The unit has 2 standard rifles and a hold fire. However it has camouflage similar to the German OH sniper. Their job isn't to kill stuff by themselves. Instead it is infiltrate enemy position, recon and vector in all your support weapons (trust me, you'll have it) onto key assets. Think of them like your scout sniper squad, with out the snipers. In a perfect world they'd receive half the veterancy for artillery hitting stuff, I'm not sure if that's possible.
Abilities - Binoculars, provides them with 60 view range, but makes them immobile (can be used in cover whilst camouflaged)
"Thunder in the East" - Like Victor Target or whatever it was in vCoH. Calls down all artillery in your army onto the marked position, regardless of cooldown or range (I'm tempted to suggest that you'd be able to call down all artillery for your side, which would be hilariously awesome, but hilariously OP, so I'd rather not). I'd recommend 3 rounds of fire. In a perfect world the unit receives veterancy for damage inflicted to the enemy. Calling the barrage reveals the unit.
Veterancy
1 & 2 - general mobility increases
3 - binocular sight range increase
4 - Creeping barrage (costs piles of munis, more cooldown, uses same timer as God of War) 3 step barrage, 2 salvos in each
5 - God of War Barrage does not lay down smoke.
Regimental Command Post - T2
This building is designed around having a stronger Anti-Infantry presence and more elite infantry, but sacrifices some Anti-Tank power as well as suppression and Anti-air.
Morskaya Pekhota
- That's it, Naval Infantry, the Black Death. Finally some elite infantry. These guys come in units of 5 with Mosin-Nagants and a single DP-28 right off the bat as well as Smoke and an Anti-Infantry Grenade. These guys are designed to be your elite infantry. These guys shouldn't necessarily do too much damage (though the DP-28 helps a great deal), but they are designed to be able to take a lot of hurt from enemy infantry. Think of them as a damage soak type of unit.
It should be possible to not build Worker's Militia units at all and instead focus only on Morskaya Pekhota as an alternative infantry.
120mm Mortar
- same as the current Soviet one, but non-doctrinal, the first unit that may heed the call to a "Thunder in the East" Artillery Barrage.
Anti-Tank Rifle detachment.
A three man team with passive camouflage (similar to fallschirmjagers...) armed with 2 PTRD Anti-tank rifles. These are similar to the PTRS, but with a slower rate of fire, but more accuracy, penetration and damage. At veterancy 2 they gain the ability to knock out the vision blocks of enemy tanks, temporarily stunning the tank for 5 seconds or so (like what the Stuka fragmentation run does to tanks). They are designed as a light vehicle counter and a tank speed bump.
T-60,
this is an extremely agile, but poorly armoured light tank with a 20mm cannon for a turret. Similar to the T-70, but lighter, more dangerous to infantry, but the only antitank it has come in the form of AP rounds similar to the current DsHK.
Corps Command Post - T3
This building around Superior close quarters infantry to support your vetting infantry, at the expense of providing you with no armour support.
----Artillery Unlocks operate in that each building, be they T3 or T4 have a particular artillery piece tied to them, once that building is built, your sappers may now build them as you would with a doctrinal artillery piece such as the ML-20 or LeFH. The idea with the Worker's Militia is that you have lots of artillery. By the end of the game you will have access to both artillery pieces and may mix and match as you wish.----
Artillery Unlock - Emplaced 152mm ML-20 Howitzer
(the emplacement gives it a better chance at survival like the Brit 25 pounder in vCoH) The same as the current doctrinal weapon it should have a barrage, a 40 range direct fire to defend itself against enemies, as well as heed the call of a "Thunder in the East" barrage.
Storm Group.
This 4 man squad is armed with PPSh-41 SMGs, has access to the Ura! charge, as well as carrying (with vet) a full suite of grenades. At first they carry only AI grenades, with vet 1 they pick up smoke, at vet 3 they "acquire" a panzerfaust and at vet 5 they acquire a satchel charge. These guys are designed to get in close and lay down the hurt. Think of the reverse of Obersoldaten. These guys are meant to be good, they are designed as a kind of safety net, which gives the player a chance of things have gone to hell in the early game and they've been unable to vet their Militia, these guys still give them a fighting chance.
57mm ZiS-2,
functionally similar to the US 57mm, though perhaps with only 60 range.
122mm obr 1938 Howitzer,
This is an artillery piece designed to move up with the infantry similar to the infantry gun. However unlike the infantry gun the howitzer should be effective at close support though somewhat inaccurate. It should represent a threat to light and some medium armour, but shouldn't be core AT, instead it should perform the role of heavy anti infantry gun basically. It's squad wiping capabilities should be limitted. It should be able to barrage as well, but only if ordered to. If it is in combat it should ignore the call of the Thunder in the East Artillery Barrage.
Front Command Post
This building is designed to give you all the stuff that's been rather lacking so far, tanks. They aren't meant to be very good however, once again. They're more designed to lock those tanks down in place. What this building is good at is providing you with a good range of dangerous tanks quite early on.
Artillery Unlock - Static Rocket Artillery, M-30,
a 300mm rocket artillery piece mounting 4 rockets (despite the picture showing 8...) For explosive effects think of the damage done by German heavy rocket artillery (280mm in calibre) in the vCoH defensive doctrine. Extremely weak, no emplacement, short ranged, high arc. Deadly to everything it hits, inaccurate and slow reload.
Think along the lines of this:
ZiS-30,
A ZiS-2 AT gun on top of a Komsomolets tractor, what can go wrong? This unit comes with a range of 70, has decent mobility, but has zero armour and can be damaged by small arms. Think of it as a worse Marder IIIM from vCoH. Gains camouflage with Vet 2. An Ambush bonus is given at Vet 3.
(I can't choose which T-34 to include, so here's a selection, choose which ever fits best)
OT-34,
A T-34, with a flamethrower in the hull. What can go wrong? Same stats as the current T-34, but with a flamethrower in the hull.
OR
T-34-57,
a T-34 with basically the same stats as the current model, but with a 57mm gun, which has much greater penetration, 50 range, but does less damage
OR
T-34/76 obr 1941,
with the older turret with the single piece hatch, that maybe upgraded to the T-34-57.
The T-34s here represent effectively the only mobile armour element of the faction.
SU-122.
Basically a mini brummbar, but slightly faster and comes out earlier. Also may barrage (though for only a short range.
BM-8-24.
Another Katyusha variant mounted on tank chassis (T-40 or T-60), though this time it is armed with 32 80mm rockets. Basically a calliope without the armour.
Playstyle.
I see this army as requiring a lot of cunning and finesse. It doesn't have the raw power of other armies at first glance, its armour is intended to very poor (although arrive decently early). This army's main strength is the cooperation between artillery and infantry. The Infantry must find way of locking down enemy tanks and preventing them from moving. Meanwhile the artillery goes to work and pounds targeted tanks to dust. Flanking and manouevrability is extremely dangerous to this army and it has to do all it can to prevent the enemy from doing the unpredictable. This army revels in head to head battles, where application of the God of War can prove absolutely deadly. Don't dismiss the tanks out of hand either, as their relative speed may enable them to surprise an enemy. But they definitely can not stand up in a head to head fight, where they are out performed by almost everything. Instead, trust in your AT guns, your artillery (if it can be brought to bear) and your (hopefully) veteran infantry, who possess more than enough to slow the enemy tanks down for long periods and seperate them from their supporting infantry. Unit preservation is vital in this army. Cautious application of elite infantry will help also in taking the ground that has been obliterated by your artillery. My vision of this army is it being capable of winning without building a single tank.
Comments, suggestions, criticism are entirely welcome. Some of my ideas maybe a little bit imbalanced, but I'd like to think I can balance the powerful nature of my artillery with the uselessness of my tanks and the inflexible nature of tanks.
Please be listening Relic, I doubt this would require all that much work compared to other ideas...
Edit: Would be worth even emailing Relic with this?
2nd Edit: Added Somenbjorn Leningrad Commander
3rd Edit, changed name of artillery barrage to "Thunder in the East"
Doctrines,
with thanks to Somenbjorn and Braciszek for the suggestions, feel free to add your own!
Just some additions that might perhaps fit better in specific commanders in this faction:
PPS upgrades for basic infantry. Similar to PPSH upgrade but deals less DPS but are cheaper, meybe issue 3 instead of 2?.
Reason for this is modelling how the PPS waa armed to the milita in Leningrad and was liked because it requires less work to produce.
Garden it lets to a Leningrad commander!
2CP
Hold the line!
Units gets greeen cover, fires faster and have less recieved accuracy during 30 seconds, during this time they cannot move or retreat.
3 CP
PPS upgrades.
6 CP
Road of Life
Ice forms on lake Ladoga allowing people to be evacuated and resources brought in. For a set amount of time Muni and Fuel income is increasd, MP is decreased as a result of people leaving.
8 CP
Br-18 (or Br-17) Heavy howitzer. Fixed emplacement, B-4s bigger badder czech brother.
10CP
Naval Bombardment.
The guns of the Baltic fleets pummels the enemy position. Either targetting a sector or a wide range.
(Maybe able to fire like zeroing artillery if the Scouts have vision? )
Edit:
Another doctrine based around supply, suggested by Braciszek:
Restock and Reaffirm:
"Attempt to retrieve more supplies from the front lines while keeping your artillery stocked and keeping the enemy within your sights".
2 CP: Spy Nest.
"Convert a building to a spy nest, and allow yourself to monitor all activity within the building's territory".
For set fuel and set manpower, you can convert a building to a spy nest where it will look like an ordinary building, but it will mark all enemy units in the sector on the minimap. If you spend munitions, then for a short amount of time, you are given all sight of the sector. When a spy nest is established, the enemy receives a tip that there is a nest in a group of sectors (enemy has to find which sector is holding the building), and the building looks no different and shows nothing different when the enemy hovers over it, but if the enemy guesses right and occupies the building with the spy nest, then the nest is instantly destroyed.
3 CP: ZiS ammunition truck for set manpower and fuel with limit of one (and this truck can tow around artillery to adjust them in better positions)
"This ZiS truck carries ammunition to your artillery/rocket batteries, allowing them to fire more frequently. The truck is also willing to tow around static artillery in case of enemy advances" - The truck reduces any artillery cooldown by 15% in a set radius. Has a small animation of hitching artillery and towing it to a new location at a reduced speed. Has to deploy though and pack up so it cant simply drive everywhere and assist everything nonstop, and is vulnerable to enemy flanks this way as well.
3 CP: Weapon loss compensation (passive)
"Weapons that are lost on the battlefield are resupplied for free at the HQ when the squad reinforces. Additionally, all units with any active ability cooldowns get their cooldowns reset once they retreat back to the base".
Any unit that losses an upgraded weapon or PTRS while on the battlefield gets their weapon returned once they return to the base via retreat. Unit cooldowns on abilities reset once units reach the base on retreat.
OR
3 CP: Weapon Preservation Rewarding (ability like mechanized vehicle refunding)
"Stavka rewards you with munitions whenever you return valuable team weapons that have been lost in battle."
Would require fancy coding: Soviet team weapons lost in battle can be refunded with munitions once recaptured and brought to the base (and has to be coded that the weapon was decrewed outside the base). Use ability and click on the team weapon, and the members of the crew will drag the weapon out of the map. Example: 25 munitions per weapon or each team weapon has their own muni value.
4 CP: Resource Depot
"Build a resource depot in your base to send off ZiS resource trucks to receive resources from the front lines (AKA: CP's). The further away a CP is, the more you gain in resources."
A neater version of extra supply gain, you build a supply depot in your base which can build and field a max of two ZiS resource trucks to gather resources (does not take up popcap). They spawn empty, and you can automate them to bring resources from a CP. Selecting a CP will have the truck automatically come to and from the CP and resource depot. Once arrived at the CP, the truck will go through the animation of loading resources, and once full, it will return to the resource depot. There, it will go through another animatiom of unloading, and then you get resources depending on how far the CP was from the base (would need hefty adjustments and tinkering). This would be a cool way to simulate resource gathering compared to the Opel blitz, and the ZiS truck is very vulnerable when traveling to and back from the CP, and perhaps the resources from the truck can be sabotaged by the enemy once it tries to return to base.
Sabotage brainstorming: if truck with resources is shot by small arms, it has a high chance of being abandoned upon death. In its death, it will become an ambient vehicle wreck that cant be used but the resources on the back can be retrieved by any infantry. Critical wont work with tank guns and explosive weapons/explosions.
Perhaps you can draw the trucks' path of travel on the minimap to the chosen CP.
6 CP: Watch that enemy!
"Any unit that is seen in your sight can be targetted with this ability, sending a Red Army plane to stalk the unit until the plane is shot down or its time is up".
Works like mark target's spotter plane, but obviously the targetted unit receives no debuffs. Lasts for a minute or until it is shot down, and is marginally cheaper than mark target.
This commander simulates logistical support in both the ammunition truck and resource truck. It is cool to have these small factors going around and contributing to resource production and ability cooldowns compared to the fact that everything has unlimited ammo and does not need logistic support in this game, and you gain resources magically through capturing land. Guards PTRS and DP's of the basic Soviet cant even be bought back, so i might as well make this faction a passive commander ability to get lost equipment back for free. Helps the PTRD squad and in case of DP squads who pick up an extra weapon and lose the DP when they retreat back to base with one man. OR you can get some muni off of late game weapons teams lying around. The spy nest and recon plane help the awesome stock artillery gain sight of targets.
(good thing)
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cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
