@Pwee: I agree with everything you said. However I stress that I dont think Sniper should be a building counter beyind what it already is.
Even though it suffers a 40% accuracy vs buildings, it STILL one shots those models in buildings it does hit, which is a huge difference to other small arms that spray and pray at buildings with already low accuracy values and low dps per hit past the cover modifier.
People dont seem to grasp this essential difference. A sniper will still outright kill any model it manages to hit in a building. Therefore its use vs garrisoned units is already inherent, existing and built into its stats.
My perspective on buildings, is the following:
Flamers are the counter, par excellence, because they dont give a fuck about cover.
Snipers still one shot the models they hit, whereas other small arms do their usual small dmg per hit past the cover.
Ordnance is a bit more complicated. I think Mortars, ATGs and vehicle shells should hit the building itself much harder. Thereby forcing the garrisoned units out, on pain of death in a collapse. Needless to say, the documented randomness of RNades is a problem here. Never should it instacollapse a building. Molotovs however, I think should more predictably set the building on fire to the result that, over time, it SETS IT ON FIRE and causess erious dmg to the building itself, rather than the units inside, to the result that you have to gtfo sooner or later, or the building will fall and nuke your unit. After a Molotov, Sov should only have to wait outside for the Ost to flee the soon to collapse building, rather than expecting the Molotov itself to dmg the unit inside.
HOWEVER
There is one more discrepancy, that I think, if addressed correctly, will improve the meta of buildings immensly, and be congruent with cover design overall, and that some other insightful posters have suggested.
This is that everywhere else on the field of battle, cover is negated when you move in close.
Im not saying that standing at the window of a building that is garrisoned, should reduce their cover to 0, as it would on every other cover. I am saying that I strongly think the cover modifier of buildings should be reduced against close small arms to the tune of 20%.
This would mean that small arms applied to buildingsmat close range would be 50% more effective than they are now, while still maintaining the buildings meta importance, because the units inside are still firing OUT at 0% cover to outside units, due to the close range principle (as it is now. If you shoot into a building at point blanc, they get a cover modifier, you, on the outside, get none).
Do younunderstand what I mean?
This would, indirectly, simulate "assaulting" a building. By being close, you half the cover of the units inside, to 20%, but still receive no modifier yourself, meaning buildings retain a strategic importance, but if you can carry the attrition, you CAN force a unit out with small arms, at close range.
TLDR:Buildings.
-Snipers:
Snipers still oneshot models, when rolling past cover modifier, with advantage of superior range.
Small arms in comparison spray and pray with shots constantly negated vs cover, amd little dps when scoring hit.
Snipers are GOOD vs garrisons, as they are.
-RNade/Molotov:
RNade should not dmg the structure at all. Only the garrisoned unit. No more RNade collapses.
Molotovs should reliably set the fucking building on fire, causing massive structural dmg over time, as well as garrison dmg, thereby invariably forcing the unit out from either flame dmg over time, or threat of building collapse.
-Shells and Ordnance:
Mortars, ATGs and Vehicle shells should hit buildings much harder. Thereby countering the building itself primarily, rather than the garrison inside. Point being that by forcing a building collapse, you force the garrison out, or it is fking nuked by the collapse.
-Building Assault modifier:
Small arms infantry within close range (ie:the range that negates cover) reduxe the buildings cover modifier to 20%.
Meaning small arms are 50% more effective than now at dmging units inside, while maintaining the buildings nominal function since the garrison fires out at the infantry at the existing 0% modifier for close range.