Profile of Dharx

Thats in the game for like... ever?

Really? I can't check it right now, but I'd swear I've never been able to make use of that... And I've been playing this game since pre-release. Welp, apparently I'm a turd

Ah, I thought this was about adding green cover to crewed vehicles.

Penals should definitely not get sprint or proper 7th dude, that would make them oppressively potent. But a vet 3 officer with basically no combat performance could be an option to make up for the lack of survivability in the late game, as suggested above. It would be pretty flavourful, wouldn't suddenly turn them into stock shock troops, but it would give them more staying power like cons have, but in a less consistent, risky way.

Going back to the original topic (1v1 perspective, v4 balance mod):

SOV will have more breathing room after 5m grens and Osttruppen are toned down, so we will finally see how they actually perform. The faction will probably need some additional touches after the patch goes live, because SOV are currently being balanced around 2019 meta, which is not exactly relevant anymore. T1 will still probably not be an option in competitive games, as the builds will struggle to recover from any mistake due to expensive backteching and no chance to reach T4 with limited map control, but it might become a a viable option in less competitive environments. Overall I believe SOV will strugle at the top levels of play, because other factions have moved forward in terms of raw power and build diversity, whereas SOV will remain stuck with the core T2 build that everybody knows how to play against, but now also with reduction of power level of almost every key unit.

OST will probably end up struggling adjusting to the older playstyle. The faction's success will rely a lot on early MG42 play. If outplayed and not getting the early map control dominance it now enjoys in most game by default, it will not be able to make use of the great possible 222/Panzergren/P4 timings and that will turn it back to the "defensive" faction it used to be at certain points. Its great team weapons and late game potential of T4 builds will carry the faction into many comebacks though.

USF will remain the dominant allied faction. Despite some nerfs to its current popular builds, it still retains the great combination of strong mainline infantry thoughout the whole match, impressive early game, mobile, efficient and potent late game AT and useful doctrines backing all that up. SIgnificant nerfs to common UKF/SOV builds will also contribute to USF remaining the default allied pick.

OKW will emerge as the biggest winner of this patch cycle. Pretty much zero nerfs to core units, multiple improvements to its roster including economy/performance/utility buffs and some new build options on top of that. At the same time, all three allied factions received nerfs to their respective utlralight vehicle builds (scout car/UC,jeep) and main light vehicles, which is what held OWK back the most. OST power increase was also a contributing factor to OKW being picked less last year, so upcoming OST nerfs will contribute to ladder/torunament popularity of OKW correspondingly.

UKF position in the meta will not change much. Its nerfs and reworks are not big enough to warrant a complete change of playstyle (and there is little room for that anyway) or disappearance into obscurity, but it will still feel the hit. USF will therefore remain the default "meta" pick for allies due to its higher flexibility, but UKF will still have a decent mathcup in OKW and will now have a very balanced matchup with OST too, which will ultimately contribute to faction's ladder popularity.

Comet is great, but it's not overpowered. Most of all, it's necessary to be in that state. UKF would otherwise have no ways of going forward in the late game, as they lack rocket arty and agressive infantry that can push out of cover. I've never been a fan of end-all units with no weaknesses, as tehy hinder variety, but UKF simply has no other options and limiting or nerfing Comets would simply doom the faction in longer games.