That's a well-thought out post. Some of the things you recommend I completely agree with, while, for some others, I am am against.
Infantry Section
As a result of the cover bonus being implemented as an out-of-cover penalty, Infantry Sections are less effective with both looted enemy weapons and British weapons compared to infantry of other factions and Royal Engineers. Changing the cover bonus to an actual bonus while reducing the power of some of the weapons in question would solve this. In addition, the proposed damage nerf from two patches ago has not been reverted from the Tommy's vet 3 Scoped Lee Enfields. Relic should probably get around to that.
- Bren gun cooldown multiplied by 1.2
- Bren gun reload time multiplied by 1.4
- PIAT reload time multiplied by 1.4
- Vickers K cooldown multiplied by 1.2
- Vickers K reload time multiplied by 1.4
- Lee Enfield cooldown multiplied by 1.2
- Lee Enfield reload time multiplied by 1.4
- Scoped Lee Enfield cooldown multiplied by 1.2
- Scoped Lee Enfield reload time multiplied by 1.4
- Scoped Lee Enfield damage increased from 14 to 16
- Infantry Section cover bonus changed to the following:
| Status | In Cover | Out of Cover |
| Cooldown Multiplier | 0.83 (1/1.2) | 1 |
| Reload Multiplier | 0.71 (1/1.4) | 1 |
Implementing the cover "bonus" as a cover penalty was actually one of the smartest things that Relic did when introducing the Brits.
Ask yourself this: what will happen if an Infantry section ever picks up an LMG34/LMG42? They will immediately turn into death-gods.
My personal beefs against Infantry Sections are (in order of disdain):
- Their Vet3 penalty (the one where they don't use their guns when they drop to 2 models)
- Their atrocious moving accuracy (-75%)
- Their static nature (both boring to play as, and easy to counter with indirect fire)
- Their complete lack of utility (even if you upgrade nades, you need to get close in order to use them; that's suicide)
Universal Carrier
The Universal Carrier suffers from poor pathfinding and has too little health to justify the relatively expensive weapon upgrades. Reducing the cost of the upgrades slightly and adding small health increases will probably make it slightly more useful, pending further balance changes if these changes are too much.
- Vickers K Mounted Variant upgrade now increases the Universal Carrier's health by 60
- Wasp Flamethrower Variant upgrade cost from 90 to 60
- Wasp Flamethrower Variant upgrade now increases the Universal Carrier's health by 60
I have seen something like that in Miragefla's balance mod, and it makes perfect sense.
Btw, for those of you that don't know, the standard LMG deals DOUBLE the DPS that the Vickers K does; there is currently no reason to ever upgrade to Vickers K.
Royal Engineer
Royal Engineers are currently better than Infantry Sections as a weapon platform due to their lack of an out-of-cover penalty. The changes to the Infantry Section help with this but Royal Engineers have their own version of the Bren with minor differences. Changing this so they use the same version as the Infantry Sections would fix this issue.
- Royal Engineers now use the same Bren gun as Infantry Sections
It's not difficult to be a better weapon platform than the Infantry Sections, when IS suffers from such a complete lack of utility.
Even with the suggested fix, I would never ever give guns to Tommies:
- At vet3, they will refuse to use their weapons (sometimes they will even drop them)
- Sappers receive better received accuracy bonuses
- Sappers have a comically-low (read: OP) reinforcement cost of 13 MP at vet3.
The only thing Tommies have going for them is their accuracy bonus at vet3 (currently at 20%, which is low). This is completely nullified by the penalty they receive at Vet3.
Cromwell Cruiser Tank
The Cromwell and Panzer IV are on roughly the same level as medium tanks. The Panzer IV has superior armour, fire rate and multiple useful upgrades while the Cromwell has superior penetration, speed and a smaller target size. Oddly, the Cromwell costs 15 less fuel.
- Cromwell price increased from 340/110 to 340/125
(I am writing this assuming that the AEC will eventually be rebalanced).
Individually, Cromwells are OP for their price. You have to consider, though, that the Brits completely lack any offensive capability (apart from the AEC, which will probably be retouched).
Brits NEED a good trading unit.
- By making the Cromwell more expensive, what's the point in making any, instead of just spamming Comets?
(if necessary) I'd rather go with a performance decrease; not a price increase. I can't recommend any stats though.
Sherman Firefly
The Sherman Firefly is an odd unit. It has extremely poor DPS when first built but can be upgraded to be able to destroy medium tanks before they can react and, at vet 3, is ridiculously powerful due to receiving both reload and damage buffs. Evening out the performance of the Firefly to make it more fun both to use and fight will make it better balanced.
- Tulip Rocket damage reduced from 240 (total: 480) to 160 (total: 320)
- Tulip Rocket recharge time reduced from 120 seconds to 90
- Tulip Rocket firing cost reduced from 100 munitions to 75
- Firefly damage increased from 200 to 240
- Firefly vet 3 damage bonus reduced from +80 to 0
- Firefly vet 3 penetration bonus increased from 0 to +15%
No. You are killing the Firefly here.
The Firefly is one of the few units in the Brits arsenal that's 1) well designed, 2) balanced for its price and 3) doesn't look like anything than existing units (variety).
The Allies NEED some sort of Alpha strike vs vehicles. The Firefly the ONLY tank destroyer than has ANY utility vs the Jagtiger, the Elephant and JP4. Any other tank destroyer the allies have will instantly go up in flames before dealing any damage.
(I am not saying that the Firefly is the counter to JT/Elephants. I'm just saying that it can deal damage and not die).
25 Pounder Artillery Guns
Given the current scatter values, its use as a fancy satchel charge and its inability to move closer to its target these guns are useless on all but the smallest maps. In addition, the guns are strictly worse than all other heavy artillery and their rotation rate makes certain overwatch abilities ineffectual.
- Penetration and AOE penetration increased from 120 to 1000 (Brings them in line with other heavy artillery)
- AOE increased from 6 to 8 (Brings them in line with other heavy artillery)
- distance_scatter_max reduced from 18.5 to 12 (makes it more accurate on large maps)
- angle_scatter reduced from 9.25 to 5.6 (makes it more accurate at long range)
- speed_horizontal increased from 25 to 50 (makes it quicker to rotate to a target)
- speed_vertical increased from 25 to 50 (makes it quicker to rotate to a target)
/Completely agree.
Also, something needs to be done with the Anvil airburst shells:
- Currently they deal EXACTLY the same damage/aoe as howlitzer shells (read: useless)
- They all come down on the same spot (easy to avoid)
- And they all come down very fast from one another (no area denial utility)
Commando Glider Insertion
This ability is currently overpriced compared to Vanguard Regiment's Logistics Glider. Reducing the price and allowing you to spawn more commandos from the glider would make it more useful.
- Commando Glider Insertion price reduced from 500 to 400
- Commando glider can be repaired and Commandos can be built when it is in friendly territory
Commandos w/ glider are already very cost-efficient at 500MP. It's the Vanguard commandos that need nerfing.
The only issue with commandos is that their ambush is doubly-bugged:
- Infinite duration
- But only affects some squad members
I agree with glider repairing capability.
Also, is there a reason why Infiltration commandos/Vanguard commandos come at 3CP, while glider commandos come at 4cp? If anything, Infiltration commandos should come LATER than glider commandos.
Valentine Tank
In the first or second patch after release, the Valentine had its damage reduced by 50%. Reverting that nerf would make it a good competitor to the AEC.
- Damage increased from 80 to 160
You might also want to reduce the Popcap requirement. At 12CP (same as the Cromwell), there is no reason to ever field Valentine tanks. Brits are already a popcap-handicapped faction (repair-unit popcap + unmovable emplacements popcap)
Churchill Crocodile
This tank is a mess. It treats the hull-mounted flamethrower as its main gun, costs as much as a Tiger but has essentially no anti-tank ability while taking the equivalent of two more hits and is not massively better versus infantry. Some adjustment is needed.
- Main gun moved to hardpoint 1
- Flamethrower moved to hardpoint 2
- Veterancy bonuses adjusted to refer to the new flamethrower hardpoint
- Target Armour ability added
- Main gun damage increased from 80 to 160
The inability to target with the turret is silly.
However, if I had to choose between the turret and the flamethrower, I would always choose the flamethrower. That way you can attack ground over obstacles/where you expect the enemy blob to move. (that's the current behaviour)
Instead, they could perhaps introduce a toggle button (like the KV8) that, instead, swaps the hardpoints so that you can aim both the flamethrower and the turret.
Air-Landing Officer
The Air-Landing Officer's Officer Charge is more than a little ridiculous. It reduces received accuracy by 75%, increases weapon accuracy by 40%, increases speed and reduces weapon cooldown by 20% for ten seconds. In addition it only costs 15 munitions and can be used every 90 seconds.
- Received accuracy multiplier increased from 0.25 to 0.8
- Weapon Accuracy multiplier reduced from 1.4 to 1.2
- Cost increased to 30 munitions
The Air-landing officer buff is, currently, completely insane. Give him double Brens, activate the buff and watch him melt everything.
Designate Command Vehicle
The recon plane ability of the command vehicle should have some cost.
- Cost of the recon ability increased from 0 to 30 munitions
Bear in mind that you are losing a vehicle AND 75 MU in order to acquire recon. 30 munitions is a bit too steep (considering you can get recon -- and all the insane bonuses -- for the same price at Vanguard).
Field Recovery Operation
Rarely will you need more than one Royal Recovery Engineer and their inability to build anything or receive the Heavy Engineer upgrade strictly limits their usefulness.
- Royal Recovery Engineers can now build all structures that a Royal Engineer can
- The ability only calls in a single engineer
- Ability cost reduced from 450 manpower to 300 manpower
Relic mentioned that the inability to build things was a conscious design decision. Being able to call only one engineer though, feels like a better idea though (Sappers cost 7/8 popcap, you don't want 2 useless sappers)
Tactical Support definitely needs some redesign help. Apart from its batshit OP ability, everything else feels like a click-maybe-once-per-game ability. None of the abilities promote any sort of interaction with the user. It's easily the most boring commander to play as in the game.
PS: Emplacements will not be missed.
Romeo
Mr Smith
Luciano
Mr Smith
Relic Entertainment
