Profile of Mr.Smith

75mu for a throwing grenade is ridiculous to begin with. To justified the price of 75 munition, the gammon bomb would either need to be undodgeable or to be a nuke.

The gammon bomb is, indeed, ridiculously overpriced for 75MU. There is no doubt about that.

However, what I can't tell for sure is how the gammon bomb compares to the penal satchel with respect to efficiency. (I haven't built Penals since the explosives bug).

My understanding is that the Gammon bomb performs like a weaker version of the penal charge, but with longer anti-tank stun.

From what I recall:
- Gammon bomb stuns for ~5 secs (is this correct?)
- Satchel charge stuns for ~3-ish secs (again, not sure)
- Satchel charge definitely one-shots resource caches/bunkers
- I can't remember how satchel charge behaves vs weapon teams/Pak43/LeFH
- Do both have the same anti-building capability (i.e., tearing down ambient buildings, not garrisons)

Could somebody care to enlighten us about how the two abilities compare? I'm curious, but I don't have the time to look it up today.

I haven't had the time to fight as or fight against an 222 spamerino. Thus, I can't comment on the price. However, I know the following:
1. I'm happy that the game is promoting more light-vehicle play (as opposed to rush-to-medium/heavy strats)
2. However, if light vehicles are the way to go, something needs to be done about the call-in meta.
3. This goes for all factions.

I mean if you are planning on banking on 222's/AAHT + Stuart/Puma + Luchs/AECs for you early game, that's fine. This makes the game interesting and should be an option for players. Note, though, that the fact that you opt for an aggressive early game might make it more difficult for your opponent to tech up.

However, picking the "right" commander should not reward you with a no-tech Crocodile/Calliope/Pershing/Command Panther/KV8/Tiger/Elefant/Stug-E etc on top of your spendthrift early game.
- Either put all call-ins behind tech unlocks
- Or do it (Cruzzi's) Kappatch style (callins buildable from Tier structures at normal price. Call-ins still available without tech for X% more expensive price)

Actually, I forgot to mention the MOST important aspect in armoured engagements: ALWAYS focus on Command Tanks first.

Everybody raves on about how OST & OKW TDs seem to be so potent in large games. This is nothing compared to how OP aura-stacking becomes when the size of the game scales up.

Command Panzer IV:

Features:
- This tank gives FREE -20% damage reduction (i.e., +25% HP) to all allied units nearby
- The tank is also affected by its own aura
- Its main cannon is quite good vs infantry-based attacks; thus, if heavy TDs are also present, you need to double-up on your infantry-held AT.
- Is cheap enough to be easily replaceable. Thus, you can't pull decent armour trades for this tank.

Counters:
- Try to use Tulips on the Command Panzer to take it down, or scare it off the main engagement
- Don't try to Tulip other targets near the Command Panther (Tulips will deal reduced damage due to Aura).

vs Command Panther:

Features:
- Comes with a Mark target ability (+50% damage). Thus, keep any slow moving targets (Churchills, Centaurs) safe in the rear
- At Vet2, the Command Panther also benefits from the standard Panther Vet2, which gives it extra HP and Armour.
- The aura has an insane range, and its buffs start getting progressively ridiculous at Vet3.
- If the Command Panther ever makes it to Vet3, there is no coming back. You have lost the game. GG.
- Did I mention that the buffs also affect all allied units in the vicinity?

Counters:
- Try to deny Veterancy to this unit as much as you can.
- This means no mass-Cromwell pushes unless you can guarantee 100% that the Command Panther will go down.
- It also means that you should keep slow-moving units (e.g., Churchills/Centaurs well in the rear). Damage debuff = fast Vet for panther.
- The Panther can easily outrun PIATs. Thus, you really need to eliminate all support for the Panther before you can move in with Fireflies + Tulips.

Thus, in a combined arms push:
1. Your first priority is to deny the Command Panzer IV buff to the enemy army.
2. Secondary priority is to deny veterancy to Command Panther
3. Then, start working your way in to the enemy's heavy TDs with your PIATs
4. Finally, and once the coast is clear, see if you can destroy the Command Panther.

Didn't we already try this? and it sucked?

If a similar change was ever trialled before in the game, I can't remember it. However, I haven't been around since the very start. Could you tell us a bit more about what that change looked like?

I agree with most of the OPs points. However, when it comes to soviet and Ostheer mortars, they certainly do require micro with the placing of them due to their short range.

The exact AoE profile change I proposed is arbitrary (it just happens to correspond with the AoE profile of a bugged unit). Naturally, values can be tweaked, and some care should be taken to adapt the AoE profile to the other characteristics of the other mortars. For instance:
- OST and stock Soviet mortar have lower range
- Mortar Pits have insane range and can 1-2 their shells and still wipe units; (may need to desynchronize the shells even more, or make each mortar target a different squad)
- The Leig also has insane range but small AoE to begin with
- The Pak Howie has great AoE but shorter range and it's quite expensive.
- The 120mm mortar has bigger AoE radius but fires the slowest of the lot (also expensive).

To reiterate, my goal with proposing some AoE profile changes is:
- Given that we will probably never see fixes to squad formations, at least find some way to nerf low-micro squad wipes
- Make yellow cover seem a bit less of the deathtrap that it is today (nowadays you have to micro your units OUT of yellow cover, which is a bit tricky due to sticky cover).
- Retain the ability of mortars to punish static play.

Thus, if a mortar shell hits a clumped up squad, at most 2 models would die instantly. The rest of the squad will still be completely-bruised up (at below 20% HP), and would have to retreat. With respect to blobs, the mortar would still retain its profile as a blob deterrent.

Just nitpicking here. Some of the things you mention have been fixed/addressed with the most recent patch. Your mileage might vary.

Comet:
Comet is an expensive good all rounder tank but has a few issues:
- It has a habit of missing often, making it a bit of an RNG machine. Sometimes it does amazing against inf and tanks, sometimes bugger all. May have to do with the comets lack of a projectile.

The Comet projectile issue has been ninja-fixed. This is one of the unsung heroes of the February 25 patch
I haven't used the Comet much since the patch, thus I can't comet on its accuracy (which was previously affected by the missing projectile)

- The smoke shells have excellent utility and really make the comet shine, the problem is the ability bugs out when its needed most, sometimes making a complete mess of things. White phosphorous shells can stop a schrek blob in their tracks, so be generous when sharing with the axis.

Just like most bugged abilities, make it a habit of hitting "Stop" right before activating the ability (then you can keep moving as the canon rotates). Works 80% of the time.

- The grenade ability while useful, should not be relied upon or be used in a situation that puts the tank at risk. It does a small amount of aoe and often fails to kill the weapon crew its aimed at. Churchill on the other hand has a nuclear powered grenade which is good at wiping out most things (and currently its only useful feature). Not tried a comet since latest patch so I’m not sure if the ability still bugs out.

Comet and Churchill grenades have been rebalanced (that short line in the bug subsection of the notes).
- Currently, both Comet and Churchill nades are identical (both resemble Rifleman nade stats iirc)
- Previously, Comet nades were the weakest nades in the game -- worse than Shock nades
- Previously, Churchill nades were best nades in the game; better than Light gammon bombs.

Thus, another advantage of the Churchill lost (face it, you won't use Comet nades much with the OP WP shells).

- If you insist on going for comet spam (not recommended at all – better to have a mixed armour force) then go for a commander with vehicle repair and smoke ability. Really makes a difference at keeping your force going.

Either that, or get 2 Sappers to Vet2 (they gain increased repair speed; something that's NOT affected by the vetbug). Also get 5-man squads (25% more models = 25% faster repair). Best way to gain Vet? PIATs.