How would you fix the core problems and not bandaging it?
I know 99% that there won't be a grand patch that fixes the core of the game at this stage but it would be nice to hear it or have it on record at least. ofc im not talking about general "universal fuel upgrade" what not.
Well a start would be in changing the original factions. Like I said before I think that some things should always be there for a faction, scouting units being one of them, CoH2 has a little focus in this.
For ostheer which would be the most standard faction:
T1: addition of a cheap scout unit, could be the kubel of OKW. grenadiers changed to overall be weaker than their allied counterparts but be more of a meatshield, this would mean changes to the squad size possibly 5, better long range, mid range on par with the other allied infantry and close range worse. This would play more into the mini games of ostheer wanting to keep the enemies at long range. However give grenadiers access to some close range upgrade that could come in to replace the LMG so that ostheer has a chance on more urban maps.
T2: change so that you can only have access to either the 222 or halftrack, each of them having a different role depending on what you want to do, 222 being an harass unit with relative less hp than the HF, halftrack being a more tanky unit with frontline reinforcing (this would mean changes in the overall tankyness of these units), so you could think of the 222 of a unit that is good on its own, it doesnt need an army to back it up and could offer something else than the HF while the HF needs an army backing it up to be really strong and with the HF buffs you could see it being a good option, also the 222 wouldnt have AT capabilities, it would be all AI.Furthermore addition to an elite long range unit in this tier ( I said before something like ostruppen to T1 and move grens to T2. This would give a natural progression over the T1 infantry unit and removes that hard as hell to balance grenadier that we have at the moment.
T3: Pgrens moved to here, they would be the only good close range unit (non doctrinal), Stug-E added to this tier, with the stug E being buildable and non doctrinal its easier to balance this unit regarding cost/effectiveness, Stug remains as a mobile AT choice.
T4: Ostwind and P4 moved to T4, brummbar removed and possibly make it doctrinal and buff it(its useless atm), give buffs to ostwind and P4 so that they do their roles better, T4 has now access to a good AI tank, a balanced tank that both does well against AI and tanks and finally the panther that is only good against tanks.
This would make T3 and T4 more worth to tech to, since T3 is the only tier that gives you good elite close range infantry (Pgrens would be buffed) and decent tanks, T4 would be a more reliable tier with access to tanks that do their own job very well opposed to the worthless brummbar that we have at the moment.
For soviets:
Main idea: make Conscripts be the backbone of the soviets, T1 and T2 will then both be options that you can go from instead of what you have at the moment in which conscripts are an option on their own. This might seem bad to read at first and it might seem like it would take depth out but in reality it gives grounds for better and more relevant choices. Lets be honest right now you are not going conscripts AND t1, they overlap(if you did go it would be for the sniper). So by making the start more simple in which you use the conscripts as the backbone you can give more identity to the T1.I always thought of soviets as a super flexible faction and thats what I aim here. After I talk about the changes ill go over this again because it will be easier to express myself.
T0: Engineers are now a unit of 3. Conscripts are now a unit of 4, they are cheaper, they capture points faster and are overall bad at combat (still better than the engineer), to summarize they are bad at long range, bit better at medium range (still worse than the ostheer T1 unit at this range) and better at close range but still overall should lose to the ostheer T1 unit because of their squad size. This would mean conscripts would fit the role of a more capping and utility oriented unit, meaning that you would use them to throw AT nades, clear buildings with molotovs and cap around the map more than to fight but because of their cheaper cost(would have to balanced well) you could still swarm the enemy (keeping it in theme with soviets), besides the normal upgrades one more would be added called increased squad size (yes like the UKF one) in which conscripts could have +1 on their squad and you could upgrade this again for +1 totalling 6(costs of these upgrades would be cheap). How would the new conscripts compare to the old ones? Well they it would dependent if you invest on the squad size plus this new squad idea of conscripts is hard to compare to the old ones because their idea is not to be a full fighting unit but to give strength to the faction in other ways. The main idea is that the unit would be more cost effective due to their utility and depending on the squad size it can change to a more fighting oriented unit but with their own added costs. Tiers are now unlocked in the HQ. Each tier upgrade makes the conscripts stronger in some way, meaning that the conscripts scale more via upgrades than any unit before. M3A1 is now unlocked in the HQ after one of the tiers has been unlocked. units cant get inside the M3A1.
T1: penals are the only elite long range unit soviets have, their squad size goes down to 5 and its a unit that doesnt need teching investement to be more effective unlike the conscripts. Sniper down to a unit of 1 and buffed. So what is the incentive of going T1 now? What are the pros and cons? Well you would still tech T1 to get the sniper on its own since its a really strong unit, other than that the penals would be good on their own because it would mean less investment in various upgrades which could mean getting to some later tier faster and since they fill the long range role it means that you can take a "long range approach". T1 could possibly have upgrades to make penals specialise in other ways(havent tought of it yet).
T2: maxim down to 4, mortar down to 4, Zis down to 4 (the supports units should never have so many men on their squads) Keep in mind costs would go according to many of these changes we are talking about design here. T2 gives you the support weapons, which means this tier wont go obsolete for later stages of the game, neither will T1 be.
The rest of the tiers are "alright", I would probably change the T70 to be more of an annoying unit than a squad finishing monster.
So to go back to what I said before now that I went through the "big"changes, well I think this would give more depth to how you teched in soviets, you have would have MANY options, conscripts would never be useless due to their utility and could even be really good fighting units if you invest all the upgrades in them, this means that the conscript would be the backbone of the army, so by making you start with the conscripts you can add more variety on the faction for options made later on. Opposed to right now where you have pretty much 3 options (where one of them is a cheesy one, that being maxim spam that is only strong because of the squad size of the maxim and overall set up times), which are conscript spam into T2, or T1 start. With the changed conscripts you can go the whole early to mid game upgrading cons, you can go T1 for a more reliable frontline early that needs near to no investment to be good, or you can use the conscripts with the support weapons which is a choice that is currently still here, not only that but because of the nature of the amount of upgrades you can get on going on the conscripts it means that there are many variants of these openings. This is a rough "sketch" of something that could be fun to play with.