I think Grens are probably fine against Soviets and UKF at the moment but have issues against USF until you are able to get them to Vet 3 and upgraded. I think the problem is more with Riflemen being really good at everything right now and with Double Bars being extremely strong when attack moved especially in a blob. Although it might also be the combo of Rifles being better plus getting an officer followed up by an extremely fast light vehicle that might be more problematic especially for OKW. Officers should probably be made more expensive, maybe make the tech the same cost as the squad, so 280 mp and 35 fuel but reduce the cost of the side-tech upgrade from 50 mp and 20 fuel to maybe just 20 fuel or so. This delays the officer slightly but would allow you to still push out light vehicles quickly if you have good fuel control with your 3 Rifle squads. |
As of general 1v1 balance at the moment I would probably rank the factions as follows:
1. USF - Really strong faction overall right now as Riflemen after the buffs are probably the overall best mainline infantry. They have good light vehicles that can apply pressure at different timings and probably the overall best machine-gun next to the MG42. The Jackson is still probably the best tank destroyer in the game, the HE Sherman slaughters infantry and USF has multiple viable doctrines at the moment in 1v1's allowing them to play multiple different strategies that are all useful in there own ways. Pak Howie is still good, the 57mm isn't perfect but still more consistent that the current Raketen and really USF's only flaw is that they don't have a non-doc rocket artillery unit. This can sometimes come into play against multiple MG's and Pak's. I would look at slightly toning down Rifles, maybe finding a way to prevent HE shells from being so devastating against infantry and otherwise look into finding a way to get more people to go Captain since currently LT seems much more common.
2. Ostheer - Ostheer is much better this patch and I think is overall in a good state currently, probably what the game should be balanced around at this point in time. Grens after the buff are actually good at Vet 3 finally, they still have good team weapons and the Ostwind is finally nasty against infantry. P-Grens are versatile and good for their cost, I feel really the only problem Ostheer has is cost-effectively dealing with Allied Tank Destroyers (especially the Jackson). To me this problem is more detrimental than USF's biggest issue.
3. OKW - This one was difficult because I think Soviets are similar in power level to OKW this patch but I still think Volks are solid for their cost, they still have great light vehicles in the Puma and Luchs. Battlegroup is kind of in a rough state as the Flak HT is better but still not the better option overall and having to pay for healing plus the truck is too expensive overall. Still, I think being able to get Obers slightly earlier is kind of nice and I still feel the OKW P4 is the overall best non-doctrinal medium tank atm. Falls are also too cheap for their performance but that will probably be tweaked in the future. OKW does have multiple problems though, I feel like they struggle against light vehicles if you don't go Puma simply because the Rak was made only marginally better but had it's cost increased to 290 making it too pricy to go for more than 1 in most cases. I do also think the JP4 struggles slightly too much against heavy tanks considering Allied Tank Destroyer are similarly priced and don't have the same penetration problems. OKW is decent in their current state but have some things that need to be toned down and others that need some slight buffs.
4. Soviets - I definitely don't think Soviets are in a bad state but I feel like you have to play specific strategies in certain matchups otherwise you struggle. I still think Conscripts are not viable against OKW currently because even if you rush for the 7-man upgrade it simply takes too long to be able to get it out. Plus if you purchase the upgrade you still have to pay full price for Tier 4 making it semi expensive side tech. Honestly I would just allow people to purchase the current 7-man upgrade once the side-tech from Tier 3 is researched. This would allow Conscripts to be a viable option in both matchups but would still give Penals a heavy advantage within the early game if you prefer to be aggressive with the M3 and Penal combo. Soviets do have some other things that could probably be toned down slightly in turn, The T-70 is probably slightly too good at killing infantry especially once it gets vet. I feel like otherwise the SU-76 is fine currently and the M5 is actually good but the T-70 just overshadows it. Tier 2 is almost viable but I still feel like currently either the Maxim or the Soviet Mortar just needs a little love to equalize Tier 1 and Tier 2's power levels. Still Soviets are enjoyable to play this patch.
5. UKF - Well we can definitely see how the entire factions power level was tied to batshit OP Infantry Sections and now that Tommies are reasonable I just don't think this faction has a really good unit outside of the Churchill or maybe a really fast Centaur. I don't think Brits necessarily struggle heavily against armor but now that Tommies don't absolutely dominate I think the Cromwell could probably use something to make it more consistent against infantry units. It doesn't have to be HE Sherman levels but maybe similar to the Ostheer P4.
My other issue with this patch is that although heavies are now tied to tech which is fantastic, I think the CP amount needs to be increased by 1-2 CP's for most of the heavy tanks as I feel currently with their performance being generally buffed across the board, they might come out slightly too quick catching your opponent before they would realistically be able to get more than 1 medium tank out to counter. |
Really my only problem with the 50 cal is that you can generally attack move it all of the time because it sets up so quickly. It's squishy but it has great suppression and can generally react to flanks much quicker than other MG's. Maybe just a slight nerf to the set-up time would be fair enough. |
I would be fine with Caches only counting for the player that builds them instead of instantly giving the entire team more resources, that way it doesn't impact 1v1 that much but still will have a profound effect on larger team games. |
Why do you predict OST is going to be last when the 1v1 tourney we saw a ton of OST play. Unless they revert the grenadier received damage bonus, I think personally it would look more like this:
1. SU
2. USF
3. OST
4. OKW
5. UKF
I feel the power creep is still a big problem as it seemed in tournament play Ostheer only worked with specific commander choices. OKW also received quite a few nice buffs in the 1.3 version of this patch and I still think Brits have some strong units (Churchill) that will prevent them from being too week. Ideally if the patch is really good it should be extremely difficult to rank them. Ostheer really depends on if they keep the damage reduction change at Vet 3 since I think Grens are probably one of the major reasons the faction struggles as a whole in the current patch. |
OKW is cheesy in the current patch against USF and Soviets if they don't go for the tried and true M3 into Penal strat. Brits are also stupid in the current patch as well but both factions are being toned down. Honestly USF is going to be pretty good if not one of the best factions if all of the current changes are kept. The Rifle buffs in tandem with Volks being made slightly more expensive and starting resources for OKW being reduced have caused Rifles to now be better than Volks at most parts of the game now instead of struggling against them until you are able to get weapon racks and upgrading at least a single BAR on every squad. USF is still good against Ostheer even in the current patch and will probably continue to be into the future. Although I am looking forward to some of the Ostheer buffs hopefully making them more prevalent versus OKW being played 90% of the time in the current patch because Ostheer is really only better on very specific maps.
Current Patch Rankings (In 1v1)
1. UKF
2. OKW
3. USF
4. SU
5. OST
Next Patch (Predictions)
1. SU
2. USF
3. OKW
4. UKF
5. OST |
Yeah, I think the Panther is fine in it's current state but Allied Tank Destroyers are probably slightly over-performing relative to their cost (SU-85 and Jackson). If they aren't going to significantly increase the cost of these I would say they should look to reduce the Panther back down to 175 and I think the Comet could also see the same price reduction since I think Churchill's are still slightly over-performing at the moment due to being spammable and cost efficient against Panthers usually allowing you to outnumber them. I was fine with the cost reduction for the Firefly but I don't feel like tulip cost needed to be reduced significantly. |
I am alright with how they are at the moment as I generally mix them with Volks so I have early snares, sandbags, flame nades, regular grenades, and better scaling in the late game. I do think they will need a slight cost reduction though since Riflemen are being slightly buffed for some reason even after OKW early game received multiple nerfs in the original patch notes but also in 1.2. I think having PF's be 260 mp would be a good change. |
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Something I would like to see is a rework for Grenadiers since every other infantry squad has benefited from the general power creep. I would like to see the bolster upgrade from German Infantry become a non-doctrinal upgrade for Grens after they build their Tier 3 or Battlephase 3. Replacing it within the doctrine could be a 3x G43 Package for 60 munitions. This upgrade could also replace the G43 upgrades within the other Ostheer commanders that contain it. If the upgrade proves to come slightly too early it could be pushed back to 3 Command Points to prevent too much G43 spam in the early game. |