German Sniper Health

Currently I think the biggest issue facing the German sniper is not necessarily the 2-man Soviet team, bigger Soviet weapon crews, occasional awkwardness of cover and cloaking etc. etc. but rather that he hasn't really got any survivability. Hence we're really not seeing much of him (aside from catching a little of Symbi using one like a champ against Barton in the TFN quarters).

The reason for this far as I can see is that he has only 40 HP. Which is half that of a single pioneer or conscript or whatever other infantry. Soviet Snipers also have 40 HP but they do have two models. He also has pretty good armour (2) so while he's not great against small arms fire he can generally survive a little, which is good but in contrast, against anything armour piercing he is *half* as survivable as a pioneer. The real weakness he has in my experience is the indirect fire - mortars, ZiS barrage, SU-76, any even close-ish tank shell will invariably vaporise him, even on retreat. A puff of a flamer will usually kill him straight out. Hell, even a normal ZiS shot can often just kill him straight out.

While most direct fire things are avoidable with experience, you're usually going to get a bit of splash from indirect fire or the occasional hit from vehicles on retreat even if you're very careful. Soviet Sniper teams tend to face less indirect fire (no SU-76 or ZiS) but also can generally cope with it a lot better since they tend to lose one model then retreat.

My suggestion would be to see if the German sniper having 80hp like a regular infantry model might make him a bit less of a liability. He could still be 1-hit killed by a direct tank shot or direct mortar hit but would be less likely to just be splashed to death by a barrage nearby, and would be more likely to make any retreats started in good time.

I'm not 100% sure if that would fix the sniper disparity at the moment (I think the German sniper could probably do with a cost reduction of about 60 tbh) but I think it might get people to sort of see what you can do with a German sniper in a way that people just aren't atm.

Anyways, thoughts?

It would certainly help a good amount given the amount of indirect fire the soviets have, though he needs a lot more love in general. Cheaper, better vet abilities, more survivability, etc.

Some part of me feels like they should just swap 2man vs 1man sniper teams since the german one is already fighting an uphill battle and this would make sniper spam more risky for sovs, though probably rather they just make them both 2 man or both 1 man and differentiate them some other way.

German sniper's armor = 2

Soviet sniper's armor = 1

@Shazz - probably should be a bit cheaper, I agree. I really like the explosive round tbh, though I think the Soviet sprint is more practical. Think increasing his health to 80 would up his survivability a lot in practical terms (or would at least be a start).

@Heeroduo - the point being, against anything that ignores armour (i.e. any indirect fire, flames from a molotov/flamer, splash from a missed tank shot) or anything the German sniper goes down instantly. These tend to be the same things that ignore retreat bonuses, which compounds the problem. The Soviet sniper team, thanks to two models, rarely has both hit by the same effect and is also facing less indirect fire normally, making them a lot more capable of lasting into the mid/endgame and vetting up. Which I think is part of why I see a fair number of Soviet snipers but almost no German ones.

Doubling the German Snipers HP would be totally fine... (I guess you would reduce armor to 1?). Not only does the German Sniper need a buff, but also this one wouldn't be huge because you would most likely still die most of the time against explosive things. The Soviets 2 man Teams biggest advantage is that a shell will not hit both models at the same time.

Tbh, I'd keep the armour and see if it was a huge problem - he's only one model so if he gets caught at close range by a squad it'd still probably be curtains. The main reason for the health buff is just so he has the same survivability against near misses from arty or tanks as a normal squad-member.

80 hp wouldn't be bad. It would also mean it has roughly the same hp as the sniper team, but in a single model.

We still have the problem with the soviet sniper: when you kill a soviet sniper, the sniper rifle is passed on to the remaining team member. They should either give slightly more range to the German sniper, or hands down remove the sniper rifle form the sniper team if it loses one team member (the flare ability remains, but you need to reinforce to regain that sniper rifle).

Personally I feel the health is quite ok. Just keep it away from likely places of arty/mortar fire is the best way to start.

My biggest issue with the sniper personally is the accuracy of the Ostheer sniper should really be increased, especially against units within buildings. It will provide at least another option, out of the very few viable options for Ostheer to deal with buildings in th early game.

Personally I feel the health is quite ok. Just keep it away from likely places of arty/mortar fire is the best way to start.

My biggest issue with the sniper personally is the accuracy of the Ostheer sniper should really be increased, especially against units within buildings. It will provide at least another option, out of the very few viable options for Ostheer to deal with buildings in th early game.

Increased? Its already at 1 (100%). It shouldn't miss, unless they are applying penalties for moving and such. I thought the Soviet Sniper team was the one that failed.

Both sniper teams regularly miss units in building.

Both sniper teams regularly miss units in building.

It is not that they miss, it is that the units are pointing out windows on the other side. Snipers can only kill when the units are facing them(when it comes to buildings) At least this has been my experience. I could be completely wrong.

Buildings have an accuracy modifier. Technically the sniper should have a chance to miss units in cover as well.

Yeah, here you go http://coh-moderncombat.com/CoH2Stats/Axis/Weapons/g43_sniper_sniper_mp.html

Technically the sniper should have a chance to miss units in cover as well.

No it doesn't have a chance to miss units in cover because the accuracy modifiers vs cover is 1 for sniper weapons.

vs buildings it's 0.4 which imo is far to low to risk using a sniper vs garrisoned buildings at the moment.