Profile of drChengele

Please no.

OKW does not need more munitions.

In fact, if anything, I would like to see the munitions resource penalty reverted to 33%. A lot of OKW problems over the past year boils down to Relic's inexplicable decision to reduce munitions penalty.

Most notably there is the rise of the Schreck blob, which influences the meta to this day. (This is not to say that massing Volks with Schrecks didn't exist, just that it really, really hurt the OKW player economically to blindly rush that one strategy). Then of course the scavenge arty was abused so they nerfed that into oblivion as well. And we now have incendiary grenades performing so much better than molotovs, which would have been definitely easier to swallow if OKW munitions income was more severe.

Literally none of these problems would have happened if the munitions penalty stayed at 33%.

That is not to say OKW is in a stellar place right now - it isn't, especially with the LeIG crutch soon to be removed. Obviously I am not suggesting that muni penalty be restored to 33% of total without looking to fix the rest of the faction somehow, but that's another story.

Input delay has literally nothing to do with bandwidth. If you increase your car's cargo compartment that doesn't mean it will get to its destination any faster.

In any competitive game people will sadly end towards homogenization because there is no game more balanced (and more boring) than a perfect mirror match. Due to setting limitations, CoH2 can't be Starcraft (though if you squint Shocks are pretty much reskinned Protoss Zealots and Osttruppen are Zerglings ) but the difference in materiel available to different factions, as well as difference in teching, is enough to produce unique experiences with each faction.

Homogenization has been around for a long time in coh2. Remember when IS2 had 11 second reload but its shell hit like a truck? Remember when they changed Blizkrieg so they also added munitions cost for Soviet light vehicles Overdrive (because otherwise it would be unfair, right? I mean, hordes of overdriving halftracks would totally wreck Ostheer, right?) ? Remember when a 152mm howitzer hit much harder than a 105 mm howitzer? Remember when t34/76 cost 40 fuel (me neither, I wasn't in the alpha that early)?

Relic has a track record of doing great divergent design, and then the balance team steps in and homogenizes the game because turns out Sturmtiger launching nukes, Churchill having 3000000 HP, Obers having 10x the DPS of other squads etc. kiiiinda slightly remove any intelligent counterplay and competitive aspirations the game might have.

Sometimes, as is the case with 34/76, this removes the core design intention of the unit. You can see the remains of this ingame. When Axis tanks spot a T34/76 the commander will sometimes say "keep your eyes out, they always travel in packs" or something like that. Such units, once changed, are often marginalized and are impossible to balance properly.

Another thing that leads to direct comparisons is people (and Relic balance team ) often fall into the trap of looking at units in isolation, instead of their position in the tech tree and the faction they play. This leads to comparisons between units and a feeling of unfairness. Who wouldn't like to have a vehicle crew pop out of their Panther and instantly remove engine damage? Well, okay, but to be fair, the US faction doesn't have Panthers and Tigers, that Sherman with superglue is the heaviest thing they get to field, so they really do need that leg up.

Players often neglect the "to be fair" part of the argument and focus directly on the weak points of their preferred unit.

Low-moderate damage w/ massive suppression is better. Hitting a mine should cost you field presence, not a unit.

+100

For the life of me I have no idea why they removed suppression from mines and howitzers when they carried them over from coh1. They were a rare instance of things that worked perfectly, were not OP but could still win you games, with five years of refinements - by the time the game was mature, nobody complained about them.

A lot of people seem to be on board for a 5 man Grenadier squad. I think this would completely change the identity of the squad. At the moment Grens are squishy and are supposed to be squishy. It's their shtick. That is why they are the cheapest mainline inf (in addition to cons), have long-range DPS profile, long-range abilities, and a long-range upgrade.

After years of back and forth, it can be said that the early game infantry matchups of all factions (except Brits who are still oscillating between UP and OP units, overbuffs and overnerfs) are more or less in the right spot. If you overturn years of finetuning you better have a damn good way to do it.

That battle phase 3 suggestion is the best of them all. Doesn't affect early game, helps with those late game wipes to a lucky tank shots.