Walking Stuka

I play mostly all 4 factions daily (usually 2v2+) and I've been on the fence in terms of balance for quite some time since I believed each factions had their issues.

However, one unit which to me is just utterly stupid is the Stuka. I have no issues with any other artillery in the game and believe they all have their pros/cons.. static arty = offmap bait etc.

This unit pretty much guarantees entire destruction to anything in its path with a simple click and selection of what you want to annihilate with no risk what-so-ever since you can just drive off. It should not have a free 'nuclear precision strike' which the soviets have to pay for which does nothing of comparable damage. It also nullifies buildings which is just ridiculous.

People say 'don't blob' but that's not the issue, even if you have 3 weapon teams fairly distant from each other, but within range (which is quite large) of its end-to-end barrage, the rules of 2D math guarantee that at-least 2 of these will lie on a vector which means they will be destroyed.. and its not just de-crewed, they usually destroy the entire weapon.

I would like to see this unit at-least be given SOME scatter or cost munitions.. they could even greatly increase if fire time (e.g the rockets take longer to land) because at the moment you really don't have time to move your units.. its not good design that an 8 minute mobile dread-naught can nullify buildings and weapon teams from the get-go.. at-least make it a veteran ability to reward using it.

Omg not this again. It was nerfed once and that was enough.

Omg not this again. It was nerfed once and that was enough.

Please expand on this comment - which nerf are you refering to, and why do you believe it is in an acceptable state?

If you used that logic for everything relic has nerfed before we would not be playing this game..

Omg not this again. It was nerfed once and that was enough.

Oh?

That is funny, because patch notes only mention buff to its AT with deflection damage.

Feel free to provide patch note.

I like the way this unit preforms in 2v2 and 1v1, because it's such a significant fuel investment so getting it too early could mean a loss of frontline firepower, but in 3v3 4v4 it presents huge problems on some of the more claustrophobic maps, where spreading out to avoid it's line of fire is impossible.

While thanks to the new building changes it doesn't one-shot all structures, it still wipes the units inside most of the time.

Just imagine if the allies had a unit that could arrive potentially at the 8 minute mark and completely shut down all Axis team weapons/static positions with safety and ease.

Frankly, I don't think the unit is the problem, it's the map design of some of the maps where it's power is exponentially greater than on larger, more open maps.

It makes an unimstakable sound when firing, cost a fortune to build, has a long as cooldown.

There are two scenarios where a Stuka can actually hurt you;

1. You are camping.

2. Your opponent is very good in predicting your (retreat) movement (aka skill).

You can make the conclusion yourself.

when did this unit get nerfed? Its still making it impossable to use buildings or Support weapons in a defensive role. Please enlighten me.

There are two scenarios where a Stuka can actually hurt you;

1. You are camping.

2. Your opponent is very good in predicting your (retreat) movement (aka skill).

No. Just No.

Camping doesn't mean you are on the same position for 1 min, getting everything ready to attack.
Predicting retreat movement is piece of cake, play a map 2 times and you know the retreat path.

The Walking stuka is absolutely nuts. I don't understand how it is still in the game in its current state. It wipes squads regularly, often on retreat (which is not a hard thing to predict). It can kill M8A1 howitzers and katyushas very easily. It hard counters AT guns and completely invalidates the pack howitzer. Heaven forbid it gets within range of an HQ. The risk/cost of blobbing with katyushas on the field versus walking stukas are worlds apart. It does take a while to reload, but this comes down significantly with vet. And to round this all off, it comes out far faster than other rocket arty and has twice as much health. It is mind boggling.

Oh?

That is funny, because patch notes only mention buff to its AT with deflection damage.

Feel free to provide patch note.

Well if you used it at WFA release and would still use it now, you could tell the difference. Before it was whiping everything in its path. Now, almost all squads the barrage fully hits are left with 1-2 survivors. If it isn't in the patch notes, I am certain it was ninjachanged. So yes, I think it's in the right place now. Further nerfing would make it useless. I cannot imagine a fuel starved faction like OKW using an almost useless tool as the Panzerwerfer for instance. The fuel investment being so high for OKW (because income is poor) must be carefully placed. Making wuhrframen a worst investment that in the current state, would render this unit close to undesirable. But if you're an exclusive Allied player, you will say yes to this without an other thought. Of course.

I believe it got nerfed at the end of alpha/beta IIRC, or changed after the end of alpha but before launch like a lot of units did. It certainly isn't the Nuclear beast it was back then, regularly I see the bombs either leave a squad with 2-3 members or land either side of it missing entirely.

It's still a stick artillerystrike compared to PW, Katty and .. oh right USF doesnt have such thing

It makes an unimstakable sound when firing, cost a fortune to build, has a long as cooldown.

There are two scenarios where a Stuka can actually hurt you;

1. You are camping.

2. Your opponent is very good in predicting your (retreat) movement (aka skill).

You can make the conclusion yourself.

No camping? Is this COD now? lol

I'm just picturing Americans coming ashore on D Day.

"Stop camping newbs, omg now how am I supposed to 360noscope#420blazeit?"

the feul cost of this unit is fine, wat isn't fine is that it can be on the front in 10 minuts

Ya its pretty cool seeing how this unit punishes any allied player who tries to use combined arms allowing the horde of vetted axis infantry to steam roll anything else that is left. Stealing an abandoned one is just as good as stealing strumtiger or kubal and using it on an OKW player.

DIdn't the Walking Stuka get buffed at the same time the Katyusha and PanzerWerfer got nerfed?

I think the Stukas offensive capabilities is fine but it sure as hell need a health nerf. Make it as weak as the Panzerwerfer and Katyusha. If you managed to sneak a tank through the enemy lines and get in sight of the Stuka, it should be dead in one shot, just like its counterparts.

I do not find this unit out of control. It rarely gets more than 30 kills in a game (which is saying something because of its high cost) and it requires a bit of skill to use well. If you are struggling with it in team games you can use Kats to bombard it since they have longer range.

The issue here is the extremely potent OKW late game which it synergizes with and makes it nearly impossible for the Allies to do anything. In this case the Stuka is the final nail in the coffin as it wipes vet and allows high vet blobs to roll over the new recruits.

Short: Stuka is not the problem, OKW late game in larger games is still crazy strong.

I agree that it's way too tanky. It takes a stuart, t70 or greyhound a hilariously long time to take one out.

DIdn't the Walking Stuka get buffed at the same time the Katyusha and PanzerWerfer got nerfed?

Right. There was a time when we were thinkinh about nerf and then suddenly it got buff
I just dont understand why it has 320 HP.
It also punishes you for combined arms. Plenty of ZiSes, mortars, MGs can be killed with single barrage.
Have you seen Katy with 50+ kill? PzWerfer? I think not - maybe 4v4. Stuka can achieve 50 without any problems (at least in 2v2).