Profile of FunPolice

Personally anything that makes it easier to back tech as the Soviets would help them a lot imo. At least in terms of Penals.

I would love to just see T1 and T2 get a cost reduction once T4 is built. Something like 80 Manpower and 5 Fuel would make it a lot easier to backtech late game when you really really need to get them.

It's kind of similar to the OKW changes that made it cheaper to get Medics late game (different ways to go about it but same intention). Personally I would say ZiS and the other support weapons are much more important to have late game than medics are. Yet atm T1 has this massive cost to back tech for them.

So I want to repeat this but Penals still have this massive issue of expensive back techs to get basic tools like support weapons.
We saw the OKW get some changes to their teching so it's easier to get Medics if they are skipped. Penals should get a similar treatment because imo their back tech is far more important to the late game compared to medics.

Something like significantly reducing the cost of T2 and T1 once a player gets T4 would still leave penals without AT guns until the late game where it otherwise becomes very hard to function without them. It would also technically give the option to get T1 for builds that didn't get it although there's often little reason to. Without something like this Penals are still just have this big issue of having to do an expensive back tech delaying their late game even further.

I worry about the USF in team games with the various changes meant to curb their late game power. Like is it really necessary to have that 110 pop cap punishment? They already have only a couple non doc things going for them such as the Jackson. However stuff like the scott ain't exactly a super powerful unit even with the buffs and doesn't measure up as much compared to like rocket artillery in the late game. I hope this is considered what the Allies will have to handle stuffy like spotting scope elefants and what not in team games after some of these changes.

As for the scott itself what if you were to replace the smoke barrage with something like White Phosphorus Barrage? Obviously it should have a monitions cost and would likely need to be locked behind vet or something but it would be an effective way to make the scott have a strong area denial aspect to it. Just an idea to give it a stronger identity and role in the USF arsenal.

Imo the biggest issue with Penals overall is their dire lack of support tools. MGs, AT Guns, Indirects, and Snares are all things that are quite costly for them to get ignoring doctrinal units.

The support weapons require a backtech to T2 which costs 160 manpower and 15 fuel plus build time. This is an expensive endeavor seeing how expensive T4 is for the Soviets to get and even late game this is not exactly easy to afford. It can cause delays in timings for things like a T34 but is an almost necessary back tech because it is very hard to play the late game without AT guns (and no PTRS do not make a good substitute late game against stuff like Panthers).
A true snare comes from conscript squads but only after you pay for the 150 manpower and 15 fuel side tech that only affects conscripts. Similar to T2 this is expensive to get and has a very limited effect for it's cost as when going Penals you'll probably only have 1 or maybe 2 conscripts kicking around.

So a possible way to buff penals could be to make these tech easier to get.
For example making it easier to backtech to T2 in the late game would make it easier for Penal builds to get AT guns when they really need them. Something like once T4 is built it reduces the cost of T1 and T2 to just 50 manpower (-110 manpower and -15 fuel in cost).

The T1 backtech would have little use but would be there if someone wanted it. Mainly though the much cheaper T2 would make the late game for Penals a lot easier since they could offset their weakness late game by getting AT guns and MGs to better support them.

The other option comes from an idea in MirageFla's personal balance change mod which made it so once T1 was built the Molotov for conscripts was automatically researched.
So what if something similar was done with the current grenade package?
Whether it gets researched for free or or ends up getting a reduction down to like 75 manpower and 5 fuel (so 75 manpower and 10 fuel cheaper). Either would help make it easier for conscripts to get snares which would help give PTRS penals more power by making it more likely to have a snare to combine with them. Molotovs would also be a nice bonus to those conscripts although the AT nade is the bigger benefit.

I think a change along these lines would be the most beneficial and impactful way to help Penals and make them able to better stand on their own. A cost reduction on Penals is nice to see but isn't gonna be a super massive buff that makes them viable. Honestly I would return them to 300 manpower and look for something more impactful maybe like the ideas above.

So this is probably a bit of a weird idea but what would people think about giving strum pioneers a cost reduction late game?

Like say after you get Panzer Authorization they would go down in cost to like 280 manpower (-20 from base) and then like 6 pop (from 7)? At least the intention is that Strums are largely ineffective late game as a combat unit and as such making it easier to get a second repair squad (or third if counting the mechanized upgrade).

Thoughts on something like this?