Profile of CombatWombat

No need to experiment, the numbers are there provided by Cruzz. Rifleman with 1 BAR DPS outperforms STG 44 Volks DPS at every range. Low range DPS is over 150% more. Only mid range is close, but still about 120% afaik.

Not sure how you arrived at this conclusion, does this include the other members dps with rifles?

Here are the numbers from the Cruzzie files for the upgrades:

USF Riflemen BAR (60 muni each)
DPS: 13.2 / 6.5 / 4
dists: 5 / 14 / 35

Volks gren mp44, single (30 muni each)
DPS: 7.52 / 4.5 / 2.0
dists: 7 / 23 / 35

Note that the BAR has a very short mid range, making it only really effective at closer ranges.

The double stg44 is clearly better at medium and close range, while having a better effective range than the BAR. The stg44 upgrade is the more cost effective upgrade than the BAR but USF has the option to double equip.

Edit: forgot to mention rifles not included.

A lot of team games are ruined by devolving into cancerous arty spam fests and both allies and axis are equally guilty of this.

The advantage and disadvantage balance of arty game play is further worsened in team games where teammates can cover your weaknesses while the extra players on the enemy team provide a target rich environment, making it very attractive to spam arty.

One big problem when dealing with static arty is the general lack of stock options for counter arty. More often than not, if you did not pick the specific commander with the correct counters, then there is little you can except play the dodging game - what fun!

There are a few trends I've noticed, which make it appear as if the axis have the arty upper-hand.

Allies team players tend not to pick commanders that can counter static arty, ie have both recon and off map. A lot of commanders don't have both recon and off map but players tend to have load outs that have neither. If players want to play team mode then they really really need at least one commander with an arty counter. If you are USF then make use of the Major's recon - its there, use it!

Majority of allied players also neglect anti-air units and let axis recons planes free rein just because they couldn't be bothered.

On the other side quite a few axis commanders that are quite meta, do have access to a recons which makes a huge difference to both their arty and counter arty play. LehF's appear to be really accurate because they can see what they are shooting at and where they they should be shooting in the first place. Or they using counter arty.

With that said, there is one arrangement which I consider particularly cancerous, that is OKW specOps flares coupled with other arty. This is nasty, because flares have no warnings or markers, cannot be countered or prevented and the ability has a short cool down. It allows the specOps players to provide near constant vision for the other players who are rocking arty or powerful offmaps, removing the natural barriers to using arty. The only thing you can do against this is run away and loose ground.

Static arty cooldowns also tend to be too short in my option. When they vetted up they can fire almost non-stop which is just excessive.

TL;DR: Axis and Allies both guilty of arty spam. Allied players tend not to bring arty counters coz they don't plan ahead and specOps flares are nasty and needs to be looked at (from a team game perspective). Arty cooldowns are maybe too short as well.

@combatwombat comet has respectable pen iirc and its range is 45, not 40. But to everything else I agree.

Its chassis stats are plenty fine imo, it's like a slightly lighter Pershing. But it's gun let's it down. A bit more AoE and/accuracy. Hell maybe even a 0.66 modifier on moving accuracy instead of the 0.75 it was and the 0.5 it is now.

Woops, yes that correct, its 45 range for comet - Panther is 50 range.

The penetration (far 170), while better than the average medium, doesn't work so great against the axis heavies, which is what it will be facing.

Chance for Comet to pen Panther at max dist is 65%

Chance for Panther to pen Comet at max dist is 75%

Given that the Panther has more health, it really is an unfavourable matchup, which begs the question; what is the Comet good for?

I was under the impression the ability range is 20 vs 15 on the volk faust right?

30 range is very long. I believe small arms range is like 35.

Yes, 20 and 15 does sound correct. Pity ability range is not listed in the stat files.

Early or late access to unit is reflected their cost, in game. For instance the fuel difference between the t-70 and the T-34/76 does not reflect their difference in performance.

And this is bad design.

If want to replace a unit with a timing tax or build it at a point in the game past its prime, then I'm being punished just because a unit could have potentially come early and created shock value - that's just silly.

Worst still is that it creates this set of one trick pony units that only appear at a very specific times in the game, and not seen ever again, instead of promoting diverse armies with comprehensive synergies.

Units can be made to appear at the intended time in the game using build and upgrades times, no prohibitive costs necessary.

Now talking specifically about the wasp, its not a shock unit, so it doesn't quite deserve the timing tax. When it appears, the axis already have a full array of counters available and every thing can damage it. If I loose my wasp, I have to pay a disproportional more to replace it, if I want to carry on countering garrisons as Brits - doesn't seem right to me.