British QoL Adjustments

Hi,
this might have already been suggested but I'd like to suggest a self destruct button on UKF Vanguard Glider HQ? Currently there is no way to retrain an Air landing officer if the unit is wiped thus requiring a new glider to get a new one. Unless i'm missing something obvious, without self destruct, currently the only way I've found to destroy the glider myself (i.e. without deliberately trying to get the enemy to do it for me) is with multiple commando demo charges which is extremely expensive, costing up of 400 munitions if the glider is at max hp as you can't team-kill it with your own tanks. I find myself deliberately trying to crash the thing pretty hard so that it takes more damage so I can destroy it more easily if I lose the officer. Alternatively, allowing the training of a new officer might make more sense (obviously only one at a time though).

Another thing I thought would be cool, although might upset balance a bit is the ability for the universal carrier to either deploy mortar smoke shells or upgrade to a mortar. currently every faction in the game has easy access to mobile indirect fire of some description, (USF has the option of mortars and Pack howitzers and doctrinal mortar half tracks the greedy B*******) As a Brit main, If I dig in on point. build machine guns or bofors or entrench myself for example, I could expect to swiftly end up facing several mortars or infantry support guns to dislodge me. The mortar pit is ok, although immobile and often ineffective as soon as frontlines become mobile and easily destroyed in team games if more than one mortar is present at a time. Particularly in this patch I find myself taking royal artillery with anvil for airburst 9 times out of 10 to counter Infantry support gun spam which I can almost expect in every game. Against a wehrmacht player however I can often face MG/mortar spam with no indirect fire of my own (unless i take royal artillery and airburst, which I can't get until Company command post at around 10 minutes in.), aside from a mortar pit which once I have ousted the machine guns can end up out of range of most of the fighting when I cap the point. I normally find myself using a sniper to counter mg's instead as I prefer the mobile aspect of it although this is extremely micro intensive and a lapse of concentration for a second results in it dying especially as mg42s seem to have longer range than is shown.

Anyway with Concentration barrage getting the (to be honest, much needed) nerf to it's ability to be placed anywhere on the map regardless to line of sight next patch, machine guns and mortar spam is looking to be pretty effective against Brits who generally struggle to push against the enemy without commandos or late game armour unless I build and destroy mortar pits repeatedly as I advance. My suggestion is basically:
historically Universal carriers could carry a 2 inch mortar to support infantry advance. Primarily, I believe, used with smoke shells. The ability for a Universal carrier to either deploy smoke shells like the valentine or mortar pit to allow infantry to advance on machine guns or better yet perhaps with a mortar upgrade (perhaps costing fuel like a usf mortar halftrack) allow it to apply pressure to stationary mgs and mortars with it's own barrage ability would be extremely useful for UKF as mobile indirect fire which they lack, also makes Universal carrier more Universal. As for balancing, if deemed OP, it could be locked to doctrine, or locked to one of the UKF choices i.e. armoured car/bofors or anvil/hammer. Best might be for armoured car as used in combination with bofors might be a little strong and goes with the theme of mechanised mobility, this would also encourage use of mortar pits with bofors instead as people seem to complain a lot about "uncounterable British emplacements". Alternatively, it was a 2 inch mortar not a 3 inch, could make blast radius less, the ability to apply pressure alone to stationary guns forcing them to relocate without spending 400 manpower on a mortar pit that won't have enough range afterwards would be useful enough.

Disclaimer: I'm not claiming machine gun/mortar/bunker spam is op, It's a valid fool proof strategy. It can be fairly straight forward to counter late game (or with airburst). Often in games however, I find myself matched in triple or Quadruple brit teams, against multiple OKW, where Infantry support guns and LefH guns can be game winning, pretty much locking me to taking Royal artillery to bail out my team. Having a little more useful indirect fire as UKF would basically allow me to use other regiments every now and then which would be nice.

Thanks,

MAKE UNIVERSAL CARRIER UNIVERSAL AGAIN!

I think the lack of a self destruct ability for the glider is fine. You're paying a decent amount for a forward hq, and it gives many advantages, but similarly you should be punished for being reckless with how you position it. This goes for OKW trucks and Soviet forward hq too, which are investments you make based on how well you think you can hold a territory, and if you fail to, you lose them fairly. This isn't the same for USF because they're a faction designed to be mobile but fragile.

As for your suggestion about the UC, it's an interesting one, and personally it would be more intuitive than what Brits currently have. However, as Brits are atm, the UC does not need a mortar given how fiendish the mortar pit is. Axis setup teams are punished enough by this thing, and as a static faction, Brits don't need such a mobile option considering the UC already has WASP (debatable as to how effective, but still an option).

Tbh, Brits need some changes to their main gameplay before things like UC get a rehaul.

The glider part is already fixed in DBP. You can replace officers from the glider, and the glider will self-destruct if it has crash-landed.

Yeah I understand the idea of punishment for poor placement/micro of airlanding officer, it just seems odd to me that the only way to destroy it is with 6 commando demo charges, I'd understand it a little more if it was just that you weren't able to destroy it? It almost encourages you to place it poorly so that it may get destroyed if you need it to.

@Mr.Smith ah yeah, actually come to think of it, I remember reading it in the preview Patch notes my bad. Came to mind again when I was thinking about making the thread

you should be punished for being reckless with how you position it.

That's a bit harsh pal, the thing is heavily RNG based with its landing, you are lucky if it lands anywhere near the guide you put down, let alone able to build units from it or retreat to it!

That's a bit harsh pal, the thing is heavily RNG based with its landing, you are lucky if it lands anywhere near the guide you put down, let alone able to build units from it or retreat to it!

Yeah, I suppose that's a fair point. Just makes me wonder why Relic thought the game needed more RNG :[

Self-destruct button should be added to all emplacements for easier removal like the delete button in CoH, this has been done in several mods and the ability even exists in the game files since it was used for the OKW HQ trucks before.

Gliders on the other hand are counted as units so I don't see the point in having a self-destruct button for them.

They should be able to produce and reinforce all the units they spawn in friendly territory if you ask me tho.

As far as the Carrier goes, a Mortar actually was fitted on to it but it was on an Australian version on a longer chassis: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Aust_3_inch_mortar_carrier%28AWM_134428%29.jpg

So no, it wouldn't be realistic or possible since you can't edit the actual models sadly.

If you want a mobile mortar check the link in my signature.

17 pounder needs a reduction in pop cap so I am not sure if that's counted as a QoL change but whatever, I think it's worth a mention.

And that's about it I think, I am totally fine with everything else with the Brits.

Well, a tank trap replacement for the fortified upgrade in the Advanced Emplacements doctrine would have been nice but eh... you can't have everything sadly.

Glad to see they listened to me and added a medic upgrade to the Forward Assembly tho.

I have to echo the RNG of the Crash Landing, nothing more annoying than spending all that MP on a glider that you set to land as far away from 'obstacles' as possible and RNG causes it to not land even remotely where you want it to and just being completely pointless!

I mean you can destroy your own emplacements with a tank if need be. A self destruct button would be useful though as destroying it with your own tank is just a waste of time, it's not particularly 'punishing' for placing it wrong, just vaguely annoying unless a waste of time is counted as punishing . The glider however seems to be immune to targeting by your own units.

Particularly with the pathing as terrible as it is in CoH2, being unable to remove something with a baseplate collision box as large as emplacements that may unforseeably end up in the way could cost you a tank if it needs to navigate around one on retreat, something that could in the end cost you the match. I dunno, to me that seems like a bit of a severe punishment for placing something in the wrong place early in the game.

I agree with the tank traps idea, that would be really nice for advanced emplacements as personally I find emplacements more useful with royal engineers or royal artillery than with the actual emplacements regiment, I'd use it more then as the actual utility of the doctrine is quite good. And yeah 17 pdr is maybe a bit population expensive especially as I reckon it's the only thing you can effectively fight a jagtiger/elefant with in this current patch, thankfully next patch the front armour is getting a nerf as finally they've seen flanking isn't always a valid option.

As for the universal carrier, as cool as one of the australian UC's would be, the mortar I was mainly on about was the smaller 2 inch one that was usually mounted on the passenger side in the front, not the one in the back like the Australian one. (https://youtu.be/bSNNNMYmTKQ?t=1477)

I think the unit you are looking for is the land mattress

Hahah yes land mattress is good, I mean why counter battery their mortars when you can just annihilate half the map. Pretty vulnerable though, and again it's locked to regiment. It'd be nice to have something to punish spammers of indirect fire without being forced to take a specific regiment. Best counter to it right now imo is any of the Churchill variants (for grenades, mortar or flamethrower) although they're all very late game and considering the spam of indirect fire tends to come at around 10 minutes in. It can be a little late meaning if you get pushed off point you can lose 150-200 points before you're able to retaliate. Also combined with the retardedly cheap price of the infra red halftrack right now OKW can decimate a, by design, defensive British faction. British have to pay 80 fuel for a regiment specific recon valentine. OKW only pay 5 for theirs and it comes as stock.