Profile of NinjaWJ

could be lag or it could be that bug where units dont respond to orders. who knows

1. Maxims have never been op. They're annoying but at the same time easy to deal with.
2. Your whole point doesn't make any sense. OKW has plenty of alternatives to the puma even though it is the best option. (Schreck Volks, Jagdpanzer, Raketen)
3. Panther isn't effective at all.

I get the feeling that you're one of those forum gurus who likes to argue about a game that he doesn't play.
(no offense)

Perhaps i did not get my message clearly through. The message i am trying to convey is that, judging from the player buzz, people feel they are "forced" into certain units because the next best thing is a piece of crap. Not sure if your 3rd point is sarcasm, but lets jsut say, if the Ost players want more infantry flexibility, he or she ahs to get commander-specific units/upgrades. So due to the design of the game, you are pigeonholed into Grenadiers all day.

Sorry if my examples weren't the best

295 fuel is referring to the Panther I assume. That number is incorrect though, as OKW starts with 40 fuel so it's really 255 (40 for T2 or T3 but -40 for starting fuel, 80 for T4, 175 for Panther). Puma is 70 fuel.

Post also disregards the Jagdpanzer, which can come at 135 fuel (40 for T2 but start with 40, 135 for the unit)

I quoted it from a thread on the official forums. you can view it here http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/coh-2-balance-feedback/111505-puma-comes-to-early-in-my-opinion

I find this "crutch" units concept quite interesting. But what units and why, this is a little debatable. For instance, I would agree that Puma can be included in this cathegory, but not with ISU. ISU is not just a heavy AT, it has excellent AI capabilities. Main infantry should be the backbone of an army, so from this point of view I can't consider grenadiers a "crutch" unit. For soviets, you can start with T1 or T2 both starts being viable. So maxim won't be a "crutch" unit in my view eather.
Comming back to Puma, it depends on what enemy does and against what faction you play. If your enemy will go on infantry intensive tactics, you won't need it tbh. But in most situations he will try to build vehicles fast and many because he knows you can't do the same. In this situation yes, Puma is a "crutch" unit.

I apologize for the "not go good" examples. I still think the game could be more. Looking at all the comments about schrecked volks and how good they are is a good example. THey are very effective throughout the game, but the next alternative (that doesn't cost fuel build) is raketen which people say is trash.

I think people maxim spam because cons lack fighting ability. People wouldn't be making so many and annoying players if COns could be a bit better. In this case the maxim is a "crutch" because your core infantry unit performs poorly. Same thing goes with the sniper vs OKW. People complain that there is no other way to deal with the powerful OKW units, so they rely on snipers to keep them in the game.

PLease tell me if you need more clarification. i hope i fleshed out my point a little bit ore

I was browsing a topic on the official COH forums and came upon a thread discussing the early arrival of the OKW Puma. Here is a quote that i found quite interesting

"The Puma is a life-line for early game if the allies are using any light vehicles or armor of any description, as it takes the OKW a whopping 295 fuel (minimal teching costs and unit cost), without making any outside purchases, to gain access to their first and only dedicated heavy anti-armor unit that has the mobility and defenses to deal with allied threats effectively."

Now i started thinking, "Why are these "crutch" units allowed to exist? By "crutch" i mean these units are the only things keeping that faction in the game, no matter how OP, annoying, unrealistic, or silly it may be. I can think of several other examples:

1. Maxim spam due to bad Soviet core infantry
2. ISU152 being good at AI and decent at AT probably since Soviets have no heavy AT
3. LMG Grens being super good (because you got nothing else to build)
4. Schrecks on Volks because Raketen is unreliable

I don't think Relic ever intended to "force" us into using a particular unit. I am sure they want players to experiment and use different units. However, players have learned which are units"good" and which are unreliable (bad). This leads to players defending a unit that may be OP because the alternative would be very unfavorable.

I personally think that these "crutch" units should be fixed and/or their alternatives changed/buffed. I am not asking for all factions to be the same, but i think some units and upgrades are just a no-brainer. To make matters worse, factions lack varied units because all of the other alternatives are commander-specific. This issue may also seem worse depending on what is the dominant meta

Relic needs to open up more RELIABLE alternatives for players. This could be done via adding more nondoc units or alternative counters more reliable and better. I am tired of seeing the same unit(s) and upgrades being made over and over.

Tell me what you think

There's an incremental accuracy modifier for small arms which increases accuracy by x% for every infantry model in a y radius around the target. Currently this is enabled on most machineguns (not the light variety), but is missing from every weapon used by infantry that isn't a HMG. It's not a huge effect by any means, but it does mean there is a minor damage taken increase for blobbing up against vehicle MGs and infantry HMGs.

wow interesting. they should add that on every weapon. I think in terms of blobbing, once you get some powerful units, you can basically just ignore all bullets that don't come from hmgs

Pretty fun game because the Axis team raged hard at us. I think they lost their nerve and started to play poorly. Just a fun 4v4. Hope you guys enjoy