Profile of bulldozer

Jump back to quoted post17 Dec 2016, 14:33 PMBartonPL

well, historically Penal battalions were very good equipped due to their hard role in combat, they use SVT-40, that could be like rifles standard rifle, give them upgrade for 90 munis that gives them flamer and 3 Ppsh, also i think that some standard nade or molotov at least would be a good idea, maybe AT nade? that way Penals can make a good close combat role

Jump back to quoted post16 Dec 2016, 19:41 PMBudwise

I don't need to try it though. What they're failing to understand is in COH, not every building needs to counter every other building. Not every unit needs to have 20 abilities and sub classes. If you go heavy T1 and you allow your opponent fuel to get a vehicle before you get AT you SHOULD be punished. Every tier is not a damn swiss army knife. This is not balancing this changing game mechanics to your personal taste.

Jump back to quoted post15 Dec 2016, 05:36 AMTheMachine

When I first made the video talking about PTRS Penals and I mentioned M42, I couldn't articulate my thoughts on it so I breezed over it. I have had a think about putting the M42 on Tier 1 as opposed to PTRS Penals and I have come up with the following issues, aside from the fact that its out of scope and probably not possible to get cleared by Relic anyway

• It's a boring overlap to just have a shitty version of the Ziss gun on Tier1, whether or not its got some gimicks to make it useful. PTRS Penals is a more unique approach that's completely different to the Ziss gun. This makes Tier1 actually feel unique instead of "It's Tier2 minus the Maxim." since you could argue that Sniper and Mortar fill a similar role. (dislodging and harassing static units)
  

• M42 won't scale into the late game where as PTRS Penals are mobile and still decent due to deflection damage. (Assuming that Penals can get a 3rd PTRS option later on in the game which we have coming for 1.3) If M42 gets deflection damage its then going to be the only AT gun in the game with deflection, where as all infantry-based AT weapons have deflection damage
  

• It will require the commanders with M42 on it to have a new ability, which will be more work and would put it even more out of scope of the patch
  

• PTRS Penals gives a lot of fun synergy with M3 and M5, which will help those units become more interesting because currently they're not very useful or at least one-dimensional. (M3 as Flamer Clown Car, M5 as Quad.)
  

• Having to build the M-42 instead of just upgrading PTRS to ward off light vehicles will make Tier 1 even weaker, and that's the opposite of what the concern is now of making people actually want to go Tier1 over Conspam and/or T2. Conspam gives better early game pressure and more AT utility, Tier 2 is more robust and gives better strategic flexibility (and Maxims are OP) Without Flamer Penals being so overpowered, and with Guards being nerfed, what reasons is there for players to want to go Tier1? The only real reason is the Sniper and better scaling of Penals compared to Conscripts.
  

• Whilst not necccesary buffing the anti tank of Soviets due to the heavy investment it requires, PTRS Penals give strategic flexibility to anti-tank in ways that all other factions have, since M42 will have the same counters and vulnerabilities as Ziss. In team games, Soviets can be in a very limiting spot late game if heavy Axis Tank destroyers nullify all their armour and Offmaps, Rocket Arty & Sturmtiger can constantly deny AT guns. With no infantry-based AT, Soviets have little options in these situations.
  

Jump back to quoted post14 Dec 2016, 05:02 AMCrumbum

The problem is that no one will want to go T1 now that penals are much weaker. Combine that with the lack of AT in the tier then whats the point? Most people will prefer cons with maxims + guards since it is much safer, can do the anti inf role just fine and and gives you a counter to light vehicles and even mediums with the zis in tier 2.

However going T1+T2 is rarely ever viable since spending 320 manpower will set you back a long way especially since going T1 in the first place already forces you to sacrifice some map control and time.

The reason why soviet T1 has been the meta for the last 6 months is because penals were OP and they complemented well with guards that could solve your lack of AT problems and still dominate axis infantry. But if ptrs penals are added or even the m42 AT gun then players are no longer shoehorned into the same boring strategy. The last thing you want is T1 becoming the old cheese tier that people rarely ever used, consistency and more viable strategies is whats needed.