Profile of Butcher

What about the lategame faction getting a lategame? Ost T4 buff is pretty inevitable.

Imo G43s are one of the best doctrinal abilities in the game.

- Your Grens get a dps buff on the move (different to the MG42)

- You safe 15 ammo per squad and per upgrade. That is decent considering upgrading your Grens is a necessity and you purchase the upgrade a lot.

- They do not drop (though this is arguably also a disadvantage).

A Sturmtiger damage buff - as proposed by the thread starter - will NOT make the Sturmtiger useful. Doing more damage does not help when the problem is that it actually can not hit anything fast enough. The range needs to be increased, so it can fire beyond the fog of war. Make it inaccurate or nerf the wipe potential so it does not get OP.

The AVRE works, because it has a turret and the other player can't as easily predict where the AVRE player is goign to aim the shot. The Sturmtiger moves the whole hull into the targeted direction so is easily dodged. Thus imo the only way to make the Sturmtiger usefull is more range.

T70 OP
Quad OP
T34/76 OP
T34/85 OP
Katyusha OP
Cons OP
Guards OP
Shocks OP
SU85 OP
M3 OP
ZiS OP
IS2 OP

Let's get it on boys, carry on!

No need to be sarcastic. The problem of Soviets isn't so much a single unit but the combination of good units overall, which leaves Soviets with no disadvantage.

It comes down to the question of what makes a good faction? I would say the following aspects (I marked every aspect for the Soviets with school grades (A - F):

1. Cheap units
a) Upfront unit cost (Soviet units are amongst the cheapest in the game) A
b) Reinforcement cost (Soviet infantry is amongst the cheapest to reinforce, Elite inf is a bit more expensive) B
c) Do Upgrades have to be researched? (This is actually a weakness since Molotovs and AT-Nades have to be researched) D

2. Firepower
a) DPS (Soviet infantry maintains a decent DPS) C
b) Wipe potential (Best wiping potential in the game due to big and cheap guns, 120mm mortar, Zis barrage, good mines, T-34/85, KV 8, ISU 152, smaller Axis Squads) A
c) Range (two 60 range TDs, Soviets are good here) A
d) Artillery options (Best artillery options in the game, 152mm, 120mm mortar, B4, Kat) A
e) Flexibility of their units (the abilites are good on some units like the ZIS and bad on others like the T-34 capping ability) C

3. Durability
a) Large squad sices (Soviets have the largest squads and the largest weapon crews) A
b) High HP and armour on vehicles (Again, excellent grades for Soviets, KV1s that can take more hits than Panthers, a great performing IS-2 and of course KV-8s that can dominate Paks even midgame). A

Now where exactly is Soviets weakness? They EXCEL at cost, firepower and durability of their units.

The IS2 is very durable because it doesn't face 60 range high penetration TDs. Of course with armour/penetration it's a lot about RNG. You can have a P4 pen an IS2 twice in a row if luck is on your side. Especially due to how rear armour works in COH2. Often times shots from the front that are slightly angled end up counting as rear armour hits.

Again, the JP IV needs better penetration and the StuG needs a better vet 2 bonus (vet 2 is almost useless). This would already go a long way to balance allied heavy tanks.