Profile of comm_ash

Is it just me or has that page not been updated yet?

Coh was originally designed as a game where all factions were balanced across all moments of the game. That is the best way to balance factions with wildly different unit compositions.

The idea was basically to have all factions with equal 'power' at all times, but with the aggressive advantage going to one side and the defensive advantage to the other for each game 'phase'.

Unfortunatly, with COH2, this design base was never solidified, and the game devolved into straight advantages for certain factions at certain times (okw, usf, ukf). The vanilla factions became purely defensive (ost) or offensive based with all the shock units (sovs).

Because of this issue, the game has become impossible to balance in the traditional coh way, due to the fact that both sides have advantages all over the place.

Short of perfect balance in terms of unit power with their cost, the game will always have balance issues, and even with perfect unit balance, some factions will still have the advantage based off of their ability to field "shock units" that give them the initiative (soviet t3, usf midgame).

I really don't know any simple solution to this besides a radical redesign of all factions, and since that is impossible, I also don't forsee balance ever really being perfect.

Not to say they shouldn't try, but i don't expect the game to become well balanced in any short range timeframe, especially when we have new factions and commanders arriving, and most certainly not with the synergies available in teamgames.

While a nondoctrinal mg would help, I would rather see volksgrenadiers reworked. Make them cost 300 mp and more popcap, with better stock rifles (grenadier stats?). After 1 truck is built, they can upgrade to either 1 panzershreck and the ability to build sandbags, or 3 STGs and some kind of utility ability (smoke?).

This way, blobbing volks becomes less of an issue, due to their high cost. It will also lessen OKWs propensity to float.

In return, OKW finally gets a good scaling basic infantry force, which can be useful on the assault with STGs, or on the defensive with their rifles and sandbags. It will also make OKW feel more like the specialist army that it was originally, and make OKW more decision based as to where they want their munitions going, making them feel more 'starved'.

Thats just my view on the matter though.

What if you don't want to spend money on that lousy commander and don't get any helpful drops from warspoils? Then what? Is all hope lost?!

Believe it or not, this game has been mired in dlc bullshit since release. All the factions (with the exception of soviets) are quite reliant on dlc commanders for their meta strategies.

Whether that is right or not is up to you to decide.

If you aren't willing to use "p2w" commanders, then I would recommend either luftwaffe for the mg34, or breakthrough for the panzerfusiliers (I recommend these). Panzerfusiliers with the G43 upgrade beat rifles at all ranges (yes, even flamer rifles), and also bring you a snare and good scouting abilities.

Don't forget to use the breakthrough ability (or whatever it's called) to quickly recapture territory, and the blob officer to force retreat enemy squads and buff up your own during big battles. If you use the officer, try to keep him behind the lines.

In terms of nondoctrinal counters, I prefer to use the flack ht in conjunction with a Raketen or two covering it's flanks. This allows me to use it with no fear of enemy stuarts and lt tier vehicles.

I like this idea. It also will allow OKW to get back some of the faction flavor its been missing.

However, I don't think that veterancy changes will be needed, as current flamer sturmpioneers can vet fairly well if given a chance. New STG44 sturms would be able to kill enemies t a faster rate, and would thus be able to vet faster.