Change the hammer/anvil structure!

I believe I even posted this in the UKF Alpha forums about a while back but nobody paid attention.

My wet dream was to have a sort of Eastern Front Ostheer's gameplay mechanic of switching between Offense and Defense, in the case of the Brits, more static and more mobile gameplay, ever since the Alpha.

Basically my idea was to have Anvil and Hammer be 2 swichable options in the Brit HQ and lock all mobile units in Hammer while locking all emplacements and the Churchill in Anvil, so if you go Anvil you'd get access to the Bofors, 17 pounder emplacement, upgraded trenches (I would just change the model and allow it to garrison mortars, for example) and the mortar pit which like Svanh said would be turned into a defensive position and you would have access to a mobile 3-inch mortar team by default, plus the Churchill and I was hoping that Anvil would also unlock a hull down ability for British tanks but sadly I think lack of animations are preventing that from happening.

While if you choose Hammer you'd get the Universal Carrier, AEC Mk III Armored Car, Comet and Firefly as well as some other offensive ability like the vehicle tracking for example or something.

As for the standard toolset you'd still have the Infantry Section, Vickers, 3-inch mortar team like I already mentioned, Sappers, 6 pounder AT gun, Sniper (altho he would have a Scoped Lee-Enfield by default and be able to upgrade to a boys .55 AT rifle like it was originally intended to be) and Cromwell without the need to invest resources into specializing into either defense or offense, you'd just still get sandbags and trenches by default to hold ground but not really dig in as effectively as if you were to go Anvil or take ground as effectively as you would if you went Hammer.

But yeah, you'd be able to switch at any time but of course would require to invest resources and time again, so researching would need 30 seconds to complete while the cooldown would be like 60 or so before you can switch again, giving the ability to the British Army to adapt to the Battlefield situation instead of locking units and abilities behind senseless side-tech. The only choice that you make that should be locked in is the Commander you choose, not side tech if you ask me, the trade offs are just not worth it.
And yeah sorry for the wall of text but I had to rewrite it and I'm in a bit of a hurry.

This makes too many sense => Lelic will never implement it.

This makes too many sense => Lelic will never implement it.

Thanks.

I actually like the idea if it is ''tweaked'' a bit to fix teching problems.

OP seems to be trying to address numerous problems with one change, and either doesn't know what all the problems s/he has, and/or isn't really trying to say them. It seems the problem being addressed is "Hammer. Anvil choices are only late game". Which I would reply with: "What is that a bad thing?"

Making T1 have four upgrade paths and predetermining their late-game much earlier isn't exactly a solution to anything. If you're talking about trying to have Vickers Engineers repairing Bofors or AECs before upgrading to get Centaurs etc, that's hardly going to help them with anything because the resources used to augment early game earlier can only help against an opponent trying to get Panzer 4s out to destroy your stuff. In that event you got nothing but PIATs, AT Sniper and AT Gun, and hopefully Bofors.

If you can go Hammer in T2, the only vehicle units you got are AEC (if you chose it) and UC, both light vehicles. Besides that you'd only get better grenades via Gammon Bomb. If you go Anvil early you can make your sim city last even longer because your Heavy Engineers are repairing Bofors much faster.
Such a change risks making them very OP and very UP, at the same time.

as it is right now, NEVER!

50 fuel is a lot of delay, 2 min + probably more because you will lose more territory because you won't have your tank.

doesn't hammer have 2/4 abilities related to tanks and anvil 3/4?

even with bofors and AEC tied into this upgrades, its very weird choosing an upgrade influencing mainly the armours not within the armour tier.

i would rather maybe expand the upgrades in the T2. AEC may come with gannon bomb and Bofors coming with air burst shells, etc etc. adjust cost ofc. or even mix in new abilities. Anvil and Hammer choice is interesting because it grants many things but Bofors/AEC choice is kinda boring.

To be honest, before Brits' alpha, I thought that hammer/anvil will be something like this:
Firefly / 17 pounder
Mortar / Mortart Pit
Comet / Churchill
Centaur / Bofors

Not just Comet / Churchill.

But right now, any deep change won't happen.
Personally I think that hammer/anvil is shallow ad has nothing to do woth making decisions but sadly it won't change.

I find that the hammer and anvil side of the Brit teching provides such a obvious warning as to what the British player is going to do.

No cromwell by the 12-15 minute mark but he has plenty of fuel? He is going for a comet. Nobody in their right mind will go for a churchill lol