I think , i will disagree with a few points that have been made .
1) The PE based schock thingy , as far as i remeber , combined arms and schock unit reliance existed in the original factions of vcoh . Prime examples are m8s , shermans , rangers , pumas , ostwinds , strormtroops etc . Furthermore , once the first few minutes of a unit pass then it can be considered a part of the combined arms force rather than a schock vallue unit . Whats more is that some of the pros towards the end of coh2 ( symbiosis comes to mind )were playing combined arms even with PE and Brits with very good results.
2)Another thing i will disagree is the ostheer not relying on schock units or a better term of it would be units with temporal schock vallue . Completely untrue , i have not seen one game without a flamer halftrack or a p4 which currently are used in the same fashion as the m8 , with the riegek mine doctrine fht is identical to the m8 role .
2.5 )The reason you say that about soviets is because the whole game by forgoing pop-map control relations , giving resources with simple points , largely forgoing universal upgrades such as bars, vet , sy , etc .. has placed more vallue on tactics rather than strategy . What that essentially means is that micro is even more important ( by default ) and units that are favored by that as a direct sequence are schock units, the situation becomes even more schock unit based since coh2 is a lot more rock paper scissors all the way oriented rather than the soft counter early game followed by a more rock papers scissors but with early game units becoming more powerful as the game goes system vcoh had . The faster pace of the game only does things more micro oriented .
3 ) That is not to say that combined arms dont exist in coh2 . In fact t3 and t4 are completely self sustained as far as that goes , they have both at and ai units the diferent being that t3 are more multipurpose while t4 are more specialised ( su76s and m5s being the exceptions )while t1 and t2 are clearly intended to be used in conjunction with the commanders (that is a bit of clear OF influence since vcoh commanders didnt have that significant effect on gameplay ). Also with the addition of commanders such as -t34/85 120mm mortar- and -kv1 big howie- its entirely possible to go t1 t2 or reversed and then not build another thing relying solely on doctrinal abilities to win . Other uses of sybergy ( and therefore combined arms ) between soviet units are T34 T70 ram and finish p4 , button and scatchel charge , trip wire and indirect fire unit , guards and m3 to kill flame ht , at grenade and su76 swarm to take out heavy and medium tanks , softening up units with the 120mm and then killing them with cons , or using cons as meatschilds or scouts so that other units can kill ( ex guards killing pgs that way or su 85s getting max range pottential ) , cons merging with vetted schocktroopers / guards to keep them for a long time in the field etc ...
3.5 ) On soviets not being able to hold ground i ll reply one thing , mines , esp since 2 pios with detectors are just one too many late game mines are a very good tool esp on winter maps where fire pits , cover and houses are so frequented they are soo useful .
3.75
)On cons not scalling well in late game , that is a point of debate , imo cons are supposed to be be durable meatshields and at/mollie platforms late game , they are not riflemen , they cant cary you to victory , but they will help other units to do that . Add the ppsh commanders and then conscripts become as/more costeffective as/than grens esp with mollies forcing people out of cover which allows you to win with other units and have a resource advantage ( Uless ofcourse your facing g43s ).
All the above are both 1v1 and 2v2 territories as far as i am concenred .
4) As far as 4v4 is concenred , i would for no reason take into account that because we simply havent seen an 8 pro players gathering with good communication systems and sound map based strategical planning taking on each other . Giving me examples of ganging up on you in 4v4 scenarios and your team idly whistling has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the players while at the same time removing the human factor and therefore being useless as far as conclusion extraction goes
5) The game that sib won that was mentioned could have easilly been won for ostheer if instead of a second tiger he had gone for a panzerwerfer , mortars , or even suicidal acs and one more tank . Besides isnt the combination of su85s + snipers a kind of combined arms strategy ??
6 ) On soviet lack of infantry at , i can see the problem . I am also of the opinion it is more a psychological one rather than a practical .
Anyway , 2 solutions
a) Reduce schocks cost to 400 , price each model accordingly for reinforcement and arm them with svts once they are out give the player a free upgrade of either 2 ppshs or 2 antitank rifles .That will diffenrentiate them enough from the guards as they will be less multi role for a bigger price but tunkier as well and will make them less good in close range than penals ( the latter have already been improved i think ) . 2 Schock squads 1 for at the other for ai will just be too much to sustain in the late game as they will be alot less effective than they are now .
b) Increase penals health . reduce slightly their weapon potencey improve a bit their flamers and add an upgrade of at rifles in the same fashion as before (meaning mutually exclussive ) .
In both ways though i feel the change will compromise the guards a bit and that is only expected as their doctrines are the go to ones since they are the only ones of their kind ( ie soft ai and at in one unit )
, i got some theory crafting challenge and because i dont have the commander in question i want you to do my bidding 
. In the early game you are supposed to generally hold the line with the infantry and harrass with the assgrens or use them as flanking units to gain the upper hand in a large firefight . the mortar should be used to harrass capping cons when assgrens are elsewhere hit garrisined building etc . When you get the pgtrack you use it essentially like the old m8 releiving the assgrensw from that task and move it arround as both defencive and offensive harrassing and caping unit . AFter that i recomend getting a short barelled stug , its very cheap and will definitely force your opponent to go for some armor which should be dealt with tellers , fausts and screcks unless of course you had the fuel to built a stug 3 quickly . aFter the stug 3 get a second pgtrack and then a p4 
Ignatius J. Reilly
ringhost1
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
