I think the 45% win rate in team games is what makes them less fun to play...
Generally a 10% differential means there is something systematically problematic. Though I'll bet some of that has to do with maps. Redball and Whiteball need to be played less, as they REALLY incentivize MG42 into cache games. Though 2v2 also has the same divide. Statistically, the strongest Axis team is a 50/50 mix of OKW and OST, in every game mode. Still, this 10% differential is cross all team games. Something is systematically wrong.
This is a little off-topic but I think the problem has more to do with how the Sturmtiger, Walking Stuka, and LEFH scale into 4v4's. The 4v4 maps are only a little wider than 2v2's, which don't have balance issues. The Sturmtiger's weak point is lack of mobility, but that doesn't matter much on most 4v4 maps. The Walking Stuka is an all-or nothing wipe machine. It will often wipe a full-health, Vet 3, 7-man con, which is devastating for Soviets, not to mention the easy wipes on support teams. Even just going down to 3v3's makes those units less impactful.
MG's are part of the problem, but both Soviets and USF have good counters early.
I suggest OP does the same comparisons regarding infantry performance:
place 2 squads in front of said tanks and look if panther wipes them faster
The only buff that the Pershing needs is an availability buff. It should be available when all tech is researched/upgraded the same way that the KT is available, and possibly the same for the KV2. I don't think either of them need anything except possibly the Pershing needing a little more armor, and possibly not even that.
Making both of them more available would help eliminate the stale meta's that make allies less fun to play.
Isn't the OKW AI objectively worse? They keep throwing raketens out against infantry (and gift them to the opponent) and waste all their bonus manpower on Kubels, which are just free veterancy for all mid-game infantry. I just played an Expert AI to shake off some rust and the Expert AI seems to have gotten even worse. The AI tried using a Puma and raketens to fight Assault Guards while its Volks and Sturms keep running at the exact same angle into the same DSHKA I left parked on the VP for the past 5 minutes.
All of the AI's run into problem with team weapons and are prone to gifting them. They also have a tendency to rush units like Priests or Katy's into the front where they get destroyed.
I agree that Soviet is the toughest AI opponent...especially with the ZiS barrages. I also feel like the computer plays differently depending on the composition (i.e., 4 Soviets play differently than 2SOV/2USF), so they must look at allies as part of their decision making as well.
UKF...is trash XD
Accurate. However, the capping ability for an AI is sometimes better than the dropper anyway...
Soviets can be tough not only for the ZIS barrages but also the constant use of satchels. I've had games where a soviet teammate dropped and the computer got a couple wipes because there is no warning sound for satchels. It also typically doesn't try to pull off the light vehicle trick.
I really don't know what is with the UKF AI. It always seem to suck.
I have won automatch games with a computer, even 2v2's on maps like Vaux Farmlands. It's always a judgement call as to whether or not to drop when a teammate drops. The only absolute is that if a UKF player drops, I'll always drop because the UKF AI is comically bad.
In my opinion, the SU76 needs to become less unique to become more useful (hear me out). If the SU76 was literally a zis-3 AT gun on wheels, it would be much more useful than it is currently. It would allow players to have a more mobile version of the 2x AT gun meta we have all come to love, at the cost of fuel investment. In other words, it needs to gain pen, gain damage, and lose RoF. These changes would also more closely mirror the vehicle to its historical role.
This would make it scale better and solve part of the reason why Soviets struggle so badly in 4v4's. On a lot of maps, there are only limited places that you can place your AT so even if the player isn't scouting, they can often guess where your AT guns are and decrew them. Either that or you put them so far behind the lines that they don't do anything. I'd get SU76's on maps like Lienne where AT guns are nearly useless.
Oops, I forgot this part. It mostly happens in team games, but there seems to be a bifurcation in the algorithm.
Path A)
Teammate drops - AI decides you are okay - AI continues normal build
Path B)
Teammate drops - AI decides you're a wanker - AI spams Kubels to cap behind the lines
Not me, I moved camouflaged commandos onto a fuel point, okw dumped goliaths in cover. You cant reveal goliath until on top of the thing and it insta wipes a 400mp 90 mun squad. I thought I'd missed it and it must have been visible sooner the first time so tried again and again (it was 4v4 we were losing anyway vs a permade team) but no, the thing is not revealed until your squad is sitting on it.
They nerfed demo charges for this very reason, they were broken and now you can see them on map as soon as you're 10m or so, thats fair, they cost 90 mun to plant, goliath is 100 mun, can't be seen at all umlike demo and is drivable. Its a 2 click squad wipe.
I take it engineers can reveal with mine detectors then? I didn't think of that, why would I, the thing is not a mine after all it never occurred to try and use them. Never mind, guess I know what to do next time then.
I'm not a fan of powerful units like this, at least demos have to be planted.
I wasn't a fan of the demo nerf. I often used them in conjunction with a regular Soviet mine. The combo of the two would brew up a Panther, which often caused a lot of rage. Explaining that it was a "noob bomb" probably didn't lower the rage. I still think the visibility should only be for infantry.
If someone is patient with Goliaths then they are annoying. If they're moving then any MG or AA vehicle counters them well. I haven't tried sweepers but I rarely see Goliaths.
Piloting a Goliath takes the same amount of skill as moving 4 Penals squads together, and infinitely more funny.
There are some units that easily destroy goliaths, maybe some things that aren't even units. Maybe try figuring that out because I don't think you'll get it nerfed.
I couldn’t find an answer on this but, if this has already been discussed, please let me know.
I’m curious what drives the decision making for the AI. I’m aware they “cheat” with resources and understand their general build orders, but I have no clue what the priorities are for AI and so on. I’ve noticed the computers have not adapted to the latest patches well, so I’m thinking there was some stuff hard coded in there which didn’t translate well to the current game state.
Did anyone ever crack the code?
I can help with this. I love cracking codes.
It depends on what type of game you're playing. If it is just you and a bunch of computers then this is what happens:
Soviet, OKW, OST, and USF computers play somewhat normally. It normally seems like Soviet>OKW>OST>USF, but there aren't huge differences.
UKF is somewhat different. It will normally start by building emplacements in locations that it can't defend. Then after it loses everything, it will try to turtle by stacking everything it has left on top of your stuff. This makes it easier for the enemy AI by not requiring it to decide which targets to arty. This may seem disappointing at first, but it was carefully modeled by Relic after watching the behavior of actual UKF players in game. It's kinda your fault for including them even in a comp stomp.
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