Balance Preview Mod - Your Thoughts After Using It

So after playing many games using this mod, I can say mod is kinda odd but decent. I still feel that shrek should be given to sturmpios. Truck upgrade is okay for me and I enjoyed soviet after so much time. 3 penal squads with upgrade can tear apart axis infantry but then again I am yet to see 3-4 volks with upgrade going up against 3 penals with upgrades.

As I said, only downside for me is the removal of shreks. They are very important for axis. I would highly recommend Relic to give it to sturmpio.

I think we could learn to live without shrecks as OKW but i am not happy with the spawning spot change

I have a question...
Does Panther drive out from Schwerer?

I have a question...
Does Panther drive out from Schwerer?

Its a tad too big to be core infantry or small weapon team

Its a tad too big to be core infantry or small weapon team

Ah, so it only applies to infantry... Good to know.
Lack of time to test it myself

It's historically accurate and not really unfun

Tank that was designed and balanced to be best used in swarms.
Not it can be used in swarms and doesn't feel grossly underpowered.

Hardly cancer, at worst you're allergic, tears will flow, but you'll live

Yea, it really does provide a much better experience that facing endless blobs of random shit, so I guess it's a bit better than cancer blobs. I still have mixed feeling of the T-34/76 spam, but the majority of it is good rather than bad.

Its similar, but little different situation really.
You can skip T2 and get DSHK.
DSHK also arrives later.

If MG42 call-in is still 1CP, then we have superior weapon which arrives earlier then stock one as you most likely won't put up a truck before 3rd minute and will unlock MG34 regardless of which truck you build first.

I honestly haven't paid attention to CP of it(was playing elite ops and scavenge on preview), so someone who has used it can confirm its CP value.

3CP

It's certainly a replacement for the 34 but not in a timely manner. If you pick the doc you have to be judicious with the amount of 34's you make knowing that you will likely be replacing them.

Sexton still sucks hard!

OKW is now stronger, that's for sure!

wow I guess the Luftwaffe Ground Forces Doctrine from OKW is now much better with sprinting volks/Stgs, if you activate valiant assault

3CP

It's certainly a replacement for the 34 but not in a timely manner. If you pick the doc you have to be judicious with the amount of 34's you make knowing that you will likely be replacing them.

Alright, ty for confirmation on the CP.

Sexton still sucks hard!

You are right. That is pretty obvious if you read the patch notes alone. It still way weaker as Priest because the Priest has a much higher AOE and they not even raised the AOE of Sexton by a single inch. The size of AOE is very important if you take into account how inaccurate those shells are.

In addition they don't adressed the Valentine which sucks too as the second core element of this doctrine next to the sexton.

I wish the sexton would offer something else than beeing a way weaker version of priest without disembarkable crew. It shouldn't mirror Priest of course so it should just be different because of some interesting special abilities. Atm it is still way more interesting to get a land matress out at 8CP than a Sexton for similar CP.

Sextons are much more mobile than a mattress and the brits have a great deal of artillery available to them in general. I think it's something that could get some love but at the same time nothing as sweeping as some of the other unit changes we've seen made.


I dislike the RNG roll nature of artillery wepons so I am obviously pretty biased when it comes to lobbing squadwipe shells cross map.

After playing around a bit I can say that I really like the spot STG Volks are in: they are good, but not too good. If anything I hope Relic keeps the STG package as a Shrek-Alternative upgrade. I still find the total lack of hand-held AT disconcerting... it just feels like a core functiona all factions should have. Some kind of alternative like giving Obers a HEAT grenade that deals a good bit of damage but no snare would be appreciated.

On top of that the additional fuel cost of side-teching feels extra punishing since OKW is now so reliant on vehicle AT now and that extra delay hurts... on top of that losing tanks really hurts because trying to hold the lines with only Rakens isn't easy at all. It feels good thematically with OKW being the "strong but resource deprived" faction (if Relic is even trying to do that anymore) but balance wise I'm kind of skeptical.

You are acting like there is a mortar added into current US builds. The truth is that it is a totally different build where a mortar replaces a rifle squad.

All that changes is that USF has more options to approach the a MG heavy situation. And both options have their benefits and faults. The mortar is in no way superior to grenades like you are making it out to be.

Why get grenades when you can use a mortar and get faster weapon upgrades? Especially now that grenades were directly nerfed versus suppression.


I think factions should have clear cut weaknesses. Elite mod did the same crap where it added units for the sake of variety even when the factions had perfectly fine existing ways to fill that role. I'd be fine with it if the mortar was doctrinal though.


US lacks indirect fire in the early game because of how great riflemen are against other infantry. It's not like US was underperforming versus machine guns, they just had to deal with them through flanking or grenades.

In team games you'd have shreks and caches...and ostruppen

Also TWP, cheap spammable TDs in Stugs, plus the doctrinal arty/air support options are much better for Ost over OKW. I think Ost is better at defense and OKW is more aggressive, they just both have a non-doc HMG now...

After playing around a bit I can say that I really like the spot STG Volks are in: they are good, but not too good. If anything I hope Relic keeps the STG package as a Shrek-Alternative upgrade. I still find the total lack of hand-held AT disconcerting... it just feels like a core functiona all factions should have. Some kind of alternative like giving Obers a HEAT grenade that deals a good bit of damage but no snare would be appreciated.

Giving a choice between Schrecks and STGs wouldn't solve anything. There was a reason why they were removed from volks entirely, and that was to prevent blobbing. It would only make the problem worse. While I do agree that the lack of handheld AT is a bit disconcerting, the solution wouldn't be to give it back to volks. Giving Obers a HEAT grenade would be rather pointless because:
1. They're dedicated AI
2. It isn't a snare, yet it costs munitions for every use.
3. Volks have the panzerfaust to cover for that.

Giving a choice between Schrecks and STGs wouldn't solve anything. There was a reason why they were removed from volks entirely, and that was to prevent blobbing. It would only make the problem worse. While I do agree that the lack of handheld AT is a bit disconcerting, the solution wouldn't be to give it back to volks. Giving Obers a HEAT grenade would be rather pointless because:
1. They're dedicated AI
2. It isn't a snare, yet it costs munitions for every use.
3. Volks have the panzerfaust to cover for that.

IDK, I'm inclined to disagree. Giving players an option to Upgrade STGs at the very least makes the Shrek upgrade less of a no-brainer since even Vet 5 Volks struggle with upgraded infantry and can consider an AI upgrade. Realistically you can only build so many Volks and even if you build 5 then 2 STG Volks + 3 Shrek is a lot less obnoxious than 5 Shrek Volks. Of course many players will still opt for all Shreks but if Relic decides against OKW 3.0 then at least the Shrek spam in theory can be mitigated somewhat.

The Ober suggestion was more of an off-the-cuff idea I just feel like some kind of mobile AT is needed... my other idea is to give Volks 2 Fausts that share a timer. One is the OST version and the second is the high damage version with no snare (unlocked at T4 to prevent light vehicle rape?) The perpetual munitions sink would suck I admit but its supposed to be used sparingly as support not like Shrek Volks are used now.

IDK, I'm inclined to disagree. Giving players an option to Upgrade STGs at the very least makes the Shrek upgrade less of a no-brainer since even Vet 5 Volks struggle with upgraded infantry and can consider an AI upgrade. Realistically you can only build so many Volks and even if you build 5 then 2 STG Volks + 3 Shrek is a lot less obnoxious than 5 Shrek Volks. Of course many players will still opt for all Shreks but if Relic decides against OKW 3.0 then at least the Shrek spam in theory can be mitigated somewhat.

I suppose it could work if the STG upgrade remains with the requirement of med/mech HQ, but the schrecks should be unlocked after getting a flak HQ. I still think that this idea won't work out at all just because of the sheer hostile retaliation from those who use mostly/only play as allies, or those whom are mentally scarred from the old schreck blobs. It's not really the schrecks themselves, it's just the infamy they've gained.

Not had a problem playing OKW without shreks. Honestly i feel the entire issue could be solved by simply giving cloaked raketens a range bonus and possibly slightly more damage first shot from cloaked. Novel idea would be to be able to choose whether T4 is built with the flak gun or a anti tank gun (could make for some interesting placements if it could deter tanks but still be vulnerable to indirect fire or infantry

Why does the cheap rak deserve the range of more expensive AT guns? It already has the same pen as the 320mp zis (which is silly to begin with), and goes against less-armored allied tanks.

It is available in EVERY build order, unlike soviets and Wermacht.

It can garrison and cloak baseline.

If anything, the crew just needs to be spread out so the don't get hit by mortars so easy, or given cover bonus.

Why get grenades when you can use a mortar and get faster weapon upgrades? Especially now that grenades were directly nerfed versus suppression.


I think factions should have clear cut weaknesses. Elite mod did the same crap where it added units for the sake of variety even when the factions had perfectly fine existing ways to fill that role. I'd be fine with it if the mortar was doctrinal though.


US lacks indirect fire in the early game because of how great riflemen are against other infantry. It's not like US was underperforming versus machine guns, they just had to deal with them through flanking or grenades.

Because going mortar reduces the number of rifles you can attack with (from 3 to 2), so if you do get a breakthrough you have less capping power. You also must have the mortar with your rifles at all times to get smoke, bringing smoke with you guarantees that you can always have it.

US was underperforming on city heavy maps where a single unit in a building meant that you had to immediately pick a doc with flames or get nades and burn away your munitions. This helps to alleviate this difference in strength by providing a natural, albeit light, counter to players sitting in buildings and stifling USF attacks early with little thought.

The extremely static build order from USF was also bad, because an opponent could know prior to the first mouse click the USF build order into the 4th minute. This should not be part of the game, you should have to make choices at all points in the game.

USF still lacks indirect fire, the mortar, as you should have noted from player feedback, is unlikely to be satisfactory in the role of bombarding an MG to death and getting more than one is probably near impossible in any game mode.

I understand that you are upset with the way the game is progressing, but I am afraid you need to accept that and decide if changes within that framework are worth your input. If not, I suggest at this point that COH2 is no longer the game for you.