Fixes for the game's worst abilities.

Updated version of my fix list. Added some abilities and changed some of my existing ideas based on feed back:


VEHICLE DETECTION (soviet)

Cons: -Waste of 60 munitions

-Lasts for a brief amount of time.

-Doesn't affect weapon crews (Which is absurd seeing as how it would be most beneficial for AT guns.)

-It's more munitions than a recon STRAFE, yet it reveals less information to the player.

-It's more munitions than spy network, yet the spy network reveals every enemy unit on the map.

-It doesn't reveal fog so when the vehicle is detected, units cannot even be ordered to attack it.

-Though you spent 60 munitions, you still need to move your infantry in the vicinity of a vehicle in order to detect it.

Fixes: Make this a passive ability available at 3 CP. Make it available for conscripts, elite infantry, and AT guns. When the unit is at rest, the eye symbol will appear above their head telling the player that the ability is active. Vehicles that are really far from the unit will be revealed on the minimap. When the unit gets close enough, its fog will be revealed and units can be told to attack it.

AT GUN CAMO

Cons: -Unit moves EXTREMELY slow when in camo.

-Only works when the enemy advances without infantry support which is rare.

-Completely useless ability if the player chooses T1

-Can only get one shot off before the enemy knows of the location of the AT gun. With the Camo'd AT gun's extreme slow speed, the panzer can easily escape/flank the gun.

-Infantry can kill the gun more easily than they could a non-camo'd gun since the player has to first deactivate the camo if they ever want it to escape.

-Can only be used to get a guaranteed shot. The shot has no modifyers to make it any better than a regular AT gun shot.

Fixes: Take away the slow speed and the activate/deactivate function. The gun will not be in camo while moving but will go to camo when it stops. When it's not moving, it will receive a larger sight radius. The first shot, since the panzer will be taken by surprise, should deal crew shock but all shots after that all shots will be normal and the AT gun will not go back into camo until it leaves combat. The ability will affect any captured AT guns to help T1 players. The ability will also affect howitzers (since there's an unpopular commander that gets both abilities). This will help the player deter the infamous recon plane/airstrike tactic to immeadiately wipe the howitzer. Not to mention, putting camo on artillery was actually used in the war to hide it from recon planes.



RAPID CONSCRIPTION

Cons: -120 munitions is INSANITY

-Very buggy. Entire squads can be lost without the player receiving a single squad.

-A max of 2 squads can be received ( last time I checked). 120 munitions ≠ 2 conscript squads.

-6 soldiers have to be lost in order receive a conscript squad.

Fixes: I have thought of a couple of different ways to fix this one. 1. Make it a passive ability at 2CP that costs no munitions. Whenever the player loses 3 FULL SQUADS, he or she will receive one conscript squad. It doesn't matter if the player lost a unit of a higher value, they'll just get conscripts. Not based on individual infantry losses but on full squads lost. 2. Keep the price the same. When the player activates it, TWO conscript squads are immeadiately released AND one more squad can be released by taking 6 losses. Make it a bit brief so the player doesn't have a HUGE window for the third squad. It should be activated prior to an assault and the player knows he/she's going to sustain some losses. 3.Keep the ability the way it is, fix the bugs, and decrease the cost to 80 munitions. I can see why relic was afraid of this ability. They thought people would engineer spam then revive their fallen engineers with conscripts but with the way coh2 is designed, that would never be a viable tactic ESPECIALLY for the soviets.


M42 LIGHT AT GUN


Cons: -Pretty much only affects light vehicles.

-No value against late game vehicles.

-I honestly feel it's not even worth 200 manpower.


Fixes: Change the ability name to light AT package. Allow M42 AT guns to retreat. M42 AT guns can be deployed for 180 manpower (so it's not a big deal if you lose it) and conscripts will be able to purchase the PTRS upgrade. If PTRS conscripts attack tanks along side of M42 AT guns, they could actually be a threat to late game armor. Perhaps make them able to garrison structures as well? Not sure about the historical accuracy on this one, but m42s were placed in bunkers and many soviet bunkers were disguised as farm houses. If that one is too far fetched, then it's no big deal.


RELIEF INFANTRY


Cons: -Strong german infantry are replaced with squads that are weaker than conscripts.

-90 munitions is too much for receiving, at most, 2 ostruppen squads.

-The ability is buggy. Whole squads can be lost without the ostruppen being dispatched.

-The player has to pay 90 munitions on top of losing infantry JUST to receive ostruppen.

Fixes: I have a few ways for this one too but the changes are generally the same as RC. 1. Keep the price the same. Upon activation, two ostruppen squads are released instantly AND upon losing 4 soldiers, a third squad can be released. 2.Make it a passive ability at 2CP, Upon losing 3 full squads, an ostruppen squad will be released. 3. Keep the ability the same but decrease the price to 50 munitions. Give ostruppen the model 24 grenade at 2 star veterancy.


TRENCHES (Wehrmacht)

Cons: -The player has to wait 2 CP to build them. Bunkers are more effective and can be built at 0CP.

- Units inside are sitting ducks for grenades.

-Units have to be kept inside for the trench to have any use. That infantry could be used for moving around and capping.

Fixes:-Make trenches 0 CP but 85 manpower to build. Give units garrisoned inside the trench a rate of fire boost. ( This will make putting mortars in the trench worth while). Finally, give the garrisoned units a large sight radius around the trench.

CONSCRIPT REPAIR

Cons: This can be a useful ability but I don't think an entire command point ability should be dedicateded to conscripts repairing vehicles.

Fixes: Change name to conscript construction kit. Allow conscripts to build howitzers (if the commander allows), trenches, and repair vehicles. This will be on par with the other build kits seeing as how the conscripts will not be able to construct any sort of machine gun emplacement.


WC51 TRUCK

Cons: -Not worth the 20 fuel.

-Gun has poor damage.

- A single panzer faust can kill it because the small arms fire it will receive after the faust will easily be enough to destroy it and then you'll be down 20 fuel.

- A kubel is much more USEFUL (not stronger, useful) and doesn't cost nearly as much fuel.

Fixes 1. Decrease price to 15 fuel. 2. Leave the price as it is and add a SLIGHT suppression feature to the machine gun. 3. There's an unused version of the WC51 that has a covered rear and no MG so essentially a transport. Have the truck come in as the transport version that allows the resupply of infantry in any territory (This will make it an effective unit in the late game). An MG upgrade can be bought for the truck but troops can no longer be resupplied. The MG will have a slight suppression feature.


M3 HALFTRACK W/ ASSUALT ENGINEERS


Cons: -Too high of a CP cost (3 CP currently) Wehrmacht mortar halftracks are a much more useful unit at only 2 CP.

-Too much fuel and manpower. The American has to worry about getting a major in at this point if he wants to effectively counter tanks.

-Pretty bad armor (I know they did that to make it historically accurate but at that armor, it's not worth its price)

Fixes: Decrease the price. Lower the CP cost to 2 CP. Make its armor similar to the M5 halftrack.


RAILROAD ARTILLERY


Cons: -Has red flare smoke in addition to a very loud noise.

-Though it fires three shells, the enemy will move before the first shell arrives (because of the smoke) let alone get hit by the other two.

-Inferior compared to divebomb yet it's more expensive.

-Dive bomb doesn't get smoke because the long delivery time and loud noise.......the gustav has a loud noise.....and a long delivery time.......AND SMOKE.

Fix: 1: 175 munitions. Fires two shells. The player can select the direction of the shells. No smoke. The loud crack in the distance, unit dialoge warning of incoming artillery, and the loud whine the shell makes should be enough to alert enemy. 2.Keep it the way it is. No smoke. Lastly, this is not just any artillery, this is the gustav! The largest artillery gun ever built! With that being said, the shell should kill any target(Other than HQ buildings). Call it OP, but like I said, there are more than enough warning signs to avoid it. Not to mention, the 2 commanders that can use it aren't the strongest/easiest to use.....


RIEGEL AT MINE


Cons: -50 munitions makes it hard to scatter multiple riegels

-Have to summon an overpriced/cumbersome/vulnerable halftrack just lay them.

Fixes: I realize the USF has to get the utility car to plant mines, but that can zip around with ease. The 251 halftrack is much more cumbersome, therefore, allow the 222 scout car to plant them. It's a much more damaging unit, (not counting the 251's flamethrower), faster, and less fuel. On a historical note, riegels were notorious for being difficult to disarm. A person trying to disarm had an extremely high chance of being blown to bits. Not sure if it will be OP, but maybe immunity to disarming? Let me know what you think. It'll still be able to detonate on explosives. So if you SEE the mine, you'll just have to throw a grenade at it or something.


PANZER4 COMMANDER


Cons: -His buff only affects units in controlled sectors.

-Has a weaker gun than the basic panzer 4.

-Same price as the basic panzer 4

-It can be argued that it has really good anti-infantry (which it does) but the base panzer 4 is more than enough to deal with infantry especially when you buy the pintle-mounted machine gun; something the command panzer 4 can't get.

Fixes: -Make his buff work in enemy sectors.

-Increase sight radius. (There's litteraly a guy with binoculars poking out the top.)

-Allow the commander to call light artillery barrages for 100 munitions around his panzer. The barrage will be weaker than the command point ability: "Light artillery barrage" which is 120 munitions.


AMBUSH CAMO


Cons: -30 munitions for each squad you want to give it to.

-Camo's the squad only when every member is cover.

-Grenadiers and Pgrens absorb enough munitions as it is, ambush camo is the last thing a player would want to purchase.

Fixes: 0CP unlock. 20 muniton upgrade. The regular first-strike buff should occur when a squad attacks when coming out of camo. When squads are camo'd with the hold-fire ability active, when they are explicitly ordered to attack when an enemy draws near enough, it should be able to stun the enemy squad. Camo is always active when every squad memeber in cover. If the squad stops moving for a certain amount of time in neutral cover, the camo will kick in. Cannot be camo'd no matter what when in negative cover.

VEHICLE HULL-DOWN


Cons: -Vehicle is a sitting duck for AT guns and air support.

-No sight boost to go with the range boost.

-Tanks without turrets can only fire in the direction they got hulled-down in.

-Enemy player can just simply avoid confronting the vehicle since it can't move.

-Not normally a wise move tactically since panzers are usually the driving force in an attack and there are already a plethora of units that can be used for defense.

-Vehicles can't be hulled down in enemy sectors.

Fixes: Allow vehicles to be hulled down in any sector. Make the hull-mounted machine gun deal a large amount of suppression. Allow the pintle-mounted machine gun to shoot down aircraft with extreme effieceny, this will goad the enemy into attacking the panzer instead of avoiding it. Grant a larger sight radius. Give tanks that do not have turrets a major range and rate of fire buff because let's be honest who's going to hull down a stug? Historically, tanks were draped in sand bags, logs, etc to detonate AT measures before they could penetrate the vehicle, therefore, I think a hulled down vehicle should receive increased resistance to AT grenades, AT rifle grenades, and Bazookas. This all sounds very powerful but the player can still avoid coming into contact with vehicle and the vehicle is still very vulnerable to artillery.


KV-8

Cons: -9CP and 145 fuel for an infantry killer. That's more than a panzer 4 which can engage both infantry and vehicles.

-It's main gun can only handle light vehicles. Light vehicles are scarce at the point in the match when KV-8s are ready. If the tank actually does see a light vehicle, it'll most likely get away since you hae to switch out of flame thrower mode.

-Every tank in the game can fire both their main gun and co-axial gun yet the the KV-8 has to switch between the two.

-It's flame thrower feels extremely weak. It takes longer than it should to kill squads to the point where it almost looks silly how squads of infantry are just tanking through the flames. Enemy infantry can charge through the flames and get panzerfausts off. That's unacceptable.

Fixes: Remove the weapon switching; allow both the main gun(45mm) and the co-axial gun (flame thrower) fire at the same time just like the rest of the tanks in the game. Reduce CP cost to 8 and fuel to 135. Because the tank is very slow and infantry are fast, buff the fire to the point where it can almost squad wipe; infantry should be afraid of this vehicle, not trying to charge it to get a panzerfaust. Coming from a pretty avid wehrmacht/soviet player, I would have no problem with this. At this point in the game, there's no excuse for the German player to not have suffcient AT measures. Seeing as how the OKW can get a non-doctrinal walking stuka which can EASILY squad wipe, I don't think this would be game breaking, I want to see this unit being used again.


ELITE VEHICLE CREWS


Cons: -70 munitions to give a vehicle crew SMG's.......need I say more?

-No one throws their vehicle crews into the fray.

-Their armor is not so stellar.

Fixes: Passive ability. All vehicle crews will receive their SMGs free of charge. Vehicle crews will also be able to hop in and out of their vehicle quicker, load their guns faster, and fire their tanks with greater accuracy/penetration chance.


SOVIET INDUSTRY

Cons: -Very odd ability.

-Results in the player getting less vehicles due to the sapping of manpower.

-Was popular but it's now rarely used due to major nerfing.

-Abilities similar to this one (transfer of munitions to fuel, tiger ace, etc.) are optional while the soviet industry player is stuck with the consequence.

Fixes: 1. Make it similar to the fuel transfer the wehrmacht gets. Instead of getting munitions, however, the player will have to pay munitions (or manpower) to receive a fuel boost. 2.Grant the player a soviet version of the opel blitz supply trucks. This is a bit far fetched but Zis trucks already exist in the game as transports, they could just use the same skin. This way the player can still get their fuel, still have their manpower, and the enemy can counter it by simply destroying the trucks.



ARTILLERY OFFICER

Cons: -Has no base buffs, you need to pay munitions in order to grant aura buffs.

-You can hear his luger firing. For some reason he shoots it as slow as a rifle.

-He's called an artillery officer yet his coordinated barrage is laughable. First, it fires a red smoke flare so the enemy already knows something is going on, then you have to actually have arty units on the map, and though it increases their range significantly, some units still need to move before the can participate in the coordinated barrage, and to top it all off it's 80 MUNITIONS! More than an LMG42 and not nearly as useful.

-He can offer artillery in his aura a range boost but you have to have a certain bullitin equipped to do it. It's one of the newer ones and it's an "uncommon" drop. (Though I actually have it.)

Fixes: Give him a base buff that allows artillery in his aura a decent range and accuracy boost. The bullitin that enables the officer to do this in the first place will just augment the ability. Make his luger fire with a decent rate of fire and decrease its range...maybe make it even semi-lethal at close range? Coordinated barrage is 30 munitions. No flare smoke on the barrage. There's a circle given to the player to show where the coordinated barrage is going to hit; If you're going to force the player to pay munitions to use his own arty units, not a single shell should land outside of that circle. All arty units should be able to fire from anywhere on the map other than mortars. Mortars, however, will sprint to a spot that allows them to participate in the barrage. This will make howitzers a viable tactic on larger maps (Though there's only one wehr commander that gets howitzers and officers. There's another list in the works regarding commanders.) If you haven't noticed yet, I usually add an idea to the end of the fix list that may seem a little crazy so I leave them up to debate. In the Ardennes assault trailer, I saw an ability where the player could click somewhere and a single artillery shell would quickly land there though they have to pay munitions every time they do it. Maybe have the officer do that at 3 STAR VET? 75 munitions per shot and a single red smoke flare for every shot?

I plan on adding more based on what you guys have been telling me, I just wanted to get this version out since it's been a while. Tell me whether you agree, disagree, or if there's something I'm missing.

The best ability in game is the one that gives Thompsons to vehicle crew. It's just insane

I wonder what they were smoking when they created this ability

The best ability in game is the one that gives Thompsons to vehicle crew. It's just insane

I wonder what they were smoking when they created this ability

Oh, yea I forgot about that. It's so bad and unnoticeable I forgot it even existed. Maybe change the name to elite vehicle crews. Give Tommy's to the crews, allow them to repair criticals without having the vehicle at max HP,and decrease their repair time.

Fear prop is in a good spot

Fear prop is in a good spot

To be honest, I mainly based my proposed changes to the ability based on the commanders that can use them. Terror tactics is pretty good but KV-8's are pretty bad these days so I figured they could tweak prop a bit. I love the ability too. The other commander that can use fear prop, NKVD disruption, is just god awful. That commander needs all the help it can get.

The best ability in game is the one that gives Thompsons to vehicle crew. It's just insane

I wonder what they were smoking when they created this ability

The same stuff they were smoeing when they left the insane reinforcement cost for them.

Like wow, Kidna Prgen cost.

If you attacked with 5 crews from 5 different vecs (for some insane reason) the reinforcement cost would break your MP bank.

AT gun camo really isn't bad but you don't need it most of the time. perhaps if it gave a first strike accuracy bonus it would be more useful.

and US tank crews can already repair criticals separately from health, it's the second repair ability.

AT gun camo really isn't bad but you don't need it most of the time. perhaps if it gave a first strike accuracy bonus it would be more useful.

and US tank crews can already repair criticals separately from health, it's the second repair ability.

You're right. The ability alone isn't bad but it's not worthy of taking up a whole command point slot. You only get 5 slots in every commander, and I hate when there's a commander that looks decent but one of these dirt-tier abilities are taking up space. Elite Doctrine? Every single one of his abilities are EXTREMELY useful. NKVD Disruption? Heh, you're better off just not picking a commander at all.

M3 HALFTRACK W/ ASSAULT ENGINEERS

Cons: -Too high of a CP cost (3 CP currently) Wehrmacht mortar halftracks are a much more useful unit at only 2 CP.

-Can't reinforce squads despite it being a halftrack.

-Too much fuel and manpower. The American has to worry about getting a major in at this point if he wants to effectively counter tanks.

-Pretty bad armor (I know they did that to make it historically accurate but at that armor, it's not worth its price)

The M3 with Assault Engineers can reinforce squads.

Historically, its armour protection is identical to that of the M3A1 Scout Car, and M5 Halftrack (M5 armour needed to be thicker because its production method meant it was less protective for the same thickness).

The real problem is the M3 as seen in USF Mechanized, only has 200 health. Thats 10 more health than a Kubel!

It's funny actually, the M3 and M5 were very similar, the M5 was just an export-only version with some changes. Yet out of all the Half-Tracks in the game, they also make up the weakest and strongest in the game.

If I recall properly in CoH1 camo AT guns received a damage and penetration buff on the first shot. At one point it was even the first three shots but that turned out to be OP. If camo AT guns received those bonuses (bonuses camo raketens already receive btw) then AT gun camo would be in a good spot.

An alternative would be to allow AT guns to automatically camo when in cover but I don't know if that is possible from a game mechanics stand point since the crew is always considered to be in green cover when attacked from the front.

Another useless ability—actually harmful to the player—is Soviet Industry. It fulfills its purpose for about two minutes at some point before skewing the player's economy too radically into more fuel and minimal manpower. If you lose a tank, someone without Industry could replace it faster because you are always waiting on manpower. Any effective infantry force becomes impossible to maintain.

Soviet Industry was good until they increased the manpower cost of all vehicles, now it's pointless because the fuel buff doesn't really help anything because you can't afford the manpower cost of your vehicles.

If I recall properly in CoH1 camo AT guns received a damage and penetration buff on the first shot. At one point it was even the first three shots but that turned out to be OP. If camo AT guns received those bonuses (bonuses camo raketens already receive btw) then AT gun camo would be in a good spot.

An alternative would be to allow AT guns to automatically camo when in cover but I don't know if that is possible from a game mechanics stand point since the crew is always considered to be in green cover when attacked from the front.

paks get camo at vet 2 right now and i don't really think they need an additional boost. i'm not sure if the soviet ability is different from the pak one or not.

I just want to point out that Propaganda Artillery works on team weapons, including paks, as well as infantry.

while were at it: why not overhaul some vet abilities

what? i made a huge post about that in the old alpha? what? there were leaks and it had to be shut down? the topic has been brought up a couple of times since? nothing changed?
communication problems i guess

while were at it: why not overhaul some vet abilities

I know they're not opposed to this because they did it with the Sturmpanzer, replaced TWP with Bunker-Buster. Not sure what it does, but it's new.

I know they're not opposed to this because they did it with the Sturmpanzer, replaced TWP with Bunker-Buster. Not sure what it does, but it's new.

It's some kind of barrage like SU76 if I remember correctly.

The best ability in game is the one that gives Thompsons to vehicle crew. It's just insane

I wonder what they were smoking when they created this ability

In 2v2 game as USF/SOV:

1. Build a vehicle
2. Decrew it
3. Let your soviet ally to capture it
4. Enjoy your free SMG squad

PROFIT!

VEHICLE DETECTION Form elite armor ?
this ability better than Call 2 panzer 4 with luck vet and I think usefulness form 5 ability for this commander for now
can useful for predict some tank and set AT Gun