Actually Ml20 has 20% more damage so it explosion is more powerful than LeFH 0.023-4 wold be a better value
LeFH has 0.35 mid damage modifier compared to ML-20's 0.28 for that reason.
The sight bonus combined with the extra sight from g43s is probably over the top.
Since PG and tank need to be close for this to work and the tank attracts explosives shells maybe replace sight bonus with 0.9 damage reduction from ballistic weapons(?)
49 sight range, is not something I would call broken for an infantry AI-only unit.
You need an actual tank (not a light vehicle) to make use of the ability, and tanks produce noise; noise ruins flanks; you also need to keep up with the tank to provide vision.
Otherwise, the ability should be good in its intended role as launching an assault, and helping OST's rather limited recon options.
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On call-ins: I'm with strummingbird here, I would still like to non-tech call-in to be viable at least under certain circumstances (it shouldn't be as powerful as it currently seems to be, but still...). Also, I'm totally fine with OH T4 being an option rather than a must-have.
That said, I like the approach with call-ins being available if more expensive without tech. However, I would like to see a more differentiated approach. Also, you are changing a lot of things at once which makes it very hard to find out what will happen...
Let's go through some examples:
IS-2: Not sure if tying it to T4 is needed. Let's face it, IS-2s are rare as it is. And they weren't overly prominent in ESL or WPC either. GSC so far saw 1 (but SOV lost). Also, with Armored Assault you'll likely see T4 anyways but even with Shock Rifle I figure surviving just on T3 will be harder with the nerfs to the SU-76s. So, if nerfs are necessary (which I'm not convinced they are) maybe increase CPs (also, see Tiger below).
The primary reason you don't see IS-2 as often in GCS is because everybody beelines for the cheese (OKW vs DSHK & Penals).
I'm not convinced that a no-tech IS-2 can be countered at all with Stug nerfs. This is especially after the bruising you will get from SU-76 if you over-rely on T3 tanks.
KV-8: I'd argue this is actually more of a T3 unit in terms of at what time it has the most impact. It is quite strong but also has serious drawbacks but I don't see a KV-8 meta. Also, if we look at the doctrines that it comes with: Ok, we have Industry which requires T4 anyways; Shock Rifle, well, not sure how that works out; all other doctrines with the KV-8 would actually be more in need of a buff... If the KV-8 becomes an issue (and I doubt it would) what about making it slower?
KV-8 is priced as a Brummbar, and should perform at a similar level. We're already examining some ways to make KV-8 more solid as a unit.
Tiger: I'd like to see T3 plus Tiger still be viable. It will be harder to pull off now with the nerfed Stug-III and PaK-40 (which probably is not fully compensated by the P4 buff). In that context I'm not sure about the increase in damage as it becomes more of a jack-of-all-trades/less reliant on other units. Again, similar to the IS-2 maybe increase CPs instead?
In V3 of the EFA mod, you can still go for T3 & BP3 to get a tiger. BP3 only costs 60MP/10FU in the mod. I'm sure that if you went T3 you can also afford 60MP/10FU. Then, T4 is also around the corner.
Puma: Well, seems like the reliance on Mobile Defense was pretty much eliminated by decreasing the lethality of the light vehicles, so I guess this one is currently in a good spot.
Perhaps Puma could be released from teching clutches now that Light Vehicles are no longer bonkers.
Command P4: Apart from Mobile Defense (see above) has serious drawbacks already, gets nerfed in the mod an otherwise appears only in rather obscure doctrines. A further nerf might not be warranted and might make the lesser uses doctrines even more obscure.
Command P4's performance hasn't changed one bit in the mod in 1v1. Call-ins are an 1v1-issue only.
Elsewhere, you had better teched up to T3 (or T4) or be dead, because the CP's come too late to have a panic-P4 anyway.
So, yes, in general I like the idea, but I'm not sure if it is the best for all vehicles. Other options to make call-ins less attractive include (no idea if all of those are moddable):
- Make them buildable from T0 once you reach a certain CP level (and then adjusting build-times)
- Make it so that you can call in the first like you do now, but you need the tech building to call-in a second on, once the first is destroyed.
- Add resource penalty similar to the Tiger Ace (but weaker, depending on the power of the unit); this could be an alternative for the M4C, if the penalty stacks.
- Adding delays of any time to call-ins is not sufficient at all. We've already tried this with M4C Sherman somewhat, and that didn't lead anywhere.
We would have to increase CP's to make that work. However, on the other hand, increased CP's means you will never see call-in units utilised on anything above 1v1's, and only on call-in strats. We also have no way of predicting what CP level should be sufficient.
E.g.., in Caen, where players often engage in resource-denial warfare CP's stack up much faster than resources would allow you to tech.
- Limiting call-in vehicles to 1 without tech will not work for the heavies (a no-tech IS-2 will probably crush OST in the mod, if OST was foolish enough not to also pick call-ins).
It could, however, work for some of the non-heavies (e.g., Stug-E and maybe the M10). To make this work for KV8 and the KV1 it means that we will have to leave KV8 kinda inefficient, as is, and revert KV1 buffs. Again, this means you will never see either unit in anything above 1v1, since the new Panther will chew them apart.
- Resource penalties will hurt the long-term viability of these vehicles. Essentially, this means you will never see call-ins on anything above 1v1's; and you might only sometimes see call-ins in 1v1, when somebody explicitly wants to try a call-in strat.
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I believe increasing call-ins costs without tiers built is a serious mistake. There are more reasonable yet interesting alternatives to fixing the problem. Treating all the call-ins the same way is madness.
First of all, call-ins should be divided to two categories:
- emergency/utility call-ins, such as halftracks, mechanised grenadier teams, pumas, and ultimately the M10 tank destroyer (the Armor doctrine was designed in such way).
- powerful units, comparable or plain more capable than stock ones. T-34/85s, Easy 8's, IS-2's, Tigers, M4C's, Pershings, Calliopes, Elefants, etc.
This is why there has to be a middle ground. If I was in charge, I would implement the following changes:
- all call-ins from the first category would stay as they are. No additional costs, as the units can't completely change the tide of a game.
- all call-ins from the second category should be tied to tech exactly like 85's and Easy 8's in current implementation. Additional flavor based on faction could be interesting, like Wehrmacht having only to tech to Battle Phase 3 and not to build Tier 4 (as the ingame text states).
I urge the balance team to look at any concept that is not flawed and that doesn't interfere with classic coh gameplay.
Emergency units could stay as is, if we're talking about Soviets and/or Ostheer.
However, when we're talking about OKW and USF, we also have to take into account the non-negligible freebies they get.
USF gets two tiers with a free squad each and, then, when it's time to foot the bill with the Major, people tend to go the other way and just go for M10.
That's also because USF usually has little trouble fending off against infantry with their own infantry (until vet5 BS, of course). Then, M10 fills that niche of anti-tank, and you have a free-squad-fueled good army composition.
For OKW, you have healing and repairs. While I know that the repair upgrade feels more like a cherry-on-top currently. However, if OKW was playing fair with EFA wrt repair speeds, the repair upgrade would be more than worth it.
Call-ins still maintain the benefit of instant-build time over tech-tied counterparts, though. Thus, you still have the concept of emergency vehicles; you just have to "research" them first, or be prepared to pay a bit extra.
Apart from the Puma and the M10, are there any other vehicles you would consider "emergency" vehicles? I can't think of any, currently.
This change completely breaks the ability making useless.
Reason:
1) Flight path is fixed
2) Delivery comes in many planes over 80 secs giving plenty of time to move AA asset to counter.
Suggestion:
1) Increase cost of ability to 250 to follow standard conversion ratio.
2) Increase the cool-down to 2 minute
3) allow creates to be destroyed by indirect fire (mortars/arty)
4) Reverse all other changes.
Alternatives:
1) make supply drop able to be drop on any sector
2) allow player to chose between fuel drop for MU cost and Mu cost for fuel drop
3) haves planes follow random flight paths.
Planes always take the longest path. If you use it on a sector that's further away from your base than it is from theirs, planes will fly over your own territory.
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I think that while a lot of the changes are very admirable and successfully balance the game, they cut down on strategic diversity- something which COH2 already has precious little of. If T3 + Tiger strategies are too effective compared to T4, then should the price point of T4 or effectiveness of units within T4 not be buffed such that it becomes competitive, rather than gutting T3 + Tiger?
What goes on here is that techless strategies in the mod are disincentivized so heavily as to be the equivalent of teching strategies that currently exist in live. The 25% cost increase when it comes to heavy vehicles becomes so large that teching becomes de facto- there's no decision making at all, just as it is now where techless call ins are equally no-brainer choices!
This, all in all, results in blandness not in terms of unit to unit, but in terms of what tech you see every game. Elimination of viability of call-in units, which aid these interesting tech skip builds builds (stuge, puma) or create strategies revolving around them (T3 units + Tiger or Ace, KV1, stuge-tiger), unfortunately make the game less interesting.
We would have to nerf the manpower price of call-ins at the very least. This is because teching actually sucks so much manpower out of you (to give the opponent the opportunity to come back). Since teching costs so much fuel and manpower, you would have to produce 4-5 tanks to make up for loss of cost-efficiency you would get from call-ins.
I don't think you can ever have enough resources to produce that many tanks in the course of a single 1v1 game. Therefore, call-ins become a must.
What you're suggesting is that we nerf call-ins a bit, cost-efficiency wise, so that you don't have to produce as many tech-tied tanks to make up for the call-ins (generalist tanks should still be tied to tech, though).
If call-in price remains the same after you've teched, now you're paying for a cost-inefficient tank = you would never build it. In that case people would simply shift to off-map arty doctrines; offmap arty requires no tech, and it still costs the same after you've teched; it's there with you all the game.
Instead, if we improve call-in cost efficiency after teching, it gives an incentive to both have call-ins available (come-back mechanic) and gives you the incentive to tech.
That's exactly what we've done, though.
Bottomline; if 25% penalty is too big, we could consider slightly smaller penalties.
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You can get access to the source files for the mod here:
https://github.com/xxpatch/consmod
I think I tried both ways that you've listed. In both cases it seems that for the initial 30-ish seconds (when the grenades are on cooldown) the visuals do not indicate the correct number of seconds remaining.
At least that's what I experienced when I was debugging the mod in single-player.
I haven't actually tried infiltration units in multiplayer yet. If the count-down works properly, then things will also work for your mod.
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It recently came to my attention that parts of the Conscript Hit the Dirt (HTD) ability weren't working.
The ability should normally spawn some yellow cover for the Conscripts to use.
While yellow cover is, indeed, spawned, it seems that Conscripts aren't able to benefit from it at all.
I've tried increasing the radius of the cover. However this only works is Conscript A's cover radius is big enough to cover Conscript B. i.e., Conscript models seem not to be able to benefit from the cover they spawn.
I've also tried moving the cover around (offset), and it didn't work.
Does somebody have any experience with spawning cover types 
Apparently, WBP may have broken the ability; the only thing that changed with respect to conscripts is their squad formation SBPS file.
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Before you and the balance team do anything drastic with pop cap, please check how many of the GCS games had a USF that was abusing pop cap. IMHO, most of the players who complain about this want to camp until late game, when they can just roll in with their better late-game tanks.
If you have to do something, just make the Priest so that it can't be decrewed. Then put a limit of two of them, but put the same limit on every other howitzer, except the Sexton because anyone bad enough to build that POS deserves to lose faster.
Also, for USF, if you made vehicle crews have higher pop (like 6 or 8), there wouldn't be as much incentive to decrew vehicles unless repairing. Don't know what you would give in return as USF really doesn't need any nerfs right now.
Please be careful when buffing the Scott. Good players are already really good with it. Double Scotts wiping vet 5 Volks is really annoying. Maybe just give them a little longer barrage range.
Lastly, the M10 and M36 were built on the Sherman and should have almost as many hit points. The open-top turret should have given them sight range like a scout car but made them really vulnerable to main gun crits (fixed after recrewing). The M36 should be able to penetrate the front of a Panther most of the time, and probably do around 200 damage.
Popcap fixing goes both ways.
In one way, you have popcap abuse. This is only a factor when USF is still in the game by the late-game (rarely).
The other side of the coin is that you have a lot of garbage units that take up more than a quarter of your popcap, without you noticing. Fancy seeing how much popcap officers/ambulance/AAHT/pak howitzers/scotts take for what they give in return for their performance?
This clogs up your popcap and eats your manpower.
To be honest USF pop cap abuse is never a factor in 1v1s unless the match has already been determined for quite some time. I can see for 3v3 and 4v4 but never for 1s. I always need my vehicles and tanks not just sitting around doing nothing.
Scotts aren't that helpful to be honest. Even in pairs their more of a RNG machine and personally I'd make the barrage have a quicker cool down in exchange for less than effective auto fire.
Jackson should have the same HP as M10 and be faster and/or maneuverable then other medium tanks to really be a quick, hard hitting but fragile tank destroyer. By the way it already does do 200 damage and has 200 penetration which isn't bad by any stretch. Combine it with HVAP and vet 3 it basically has 100% to pen a Panther.
Bingo.
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Personally, for 1v1, I would like to see how 1v1 matchups perform (OKW vs Soviets, OST vs USF, etc).
In the current patch where 85% of games it's OKW, there's no way to get a clear picture of how the other matchups perform.
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USF
Stuart for attack =good but How long AA Halftrack gonna cost 300 Mp and
AA halftrack for defence - reduce frontal armor of Pz2 to defened itself of rush Pz2 to it.
Why USF should striktly avoid of T1
The main issue with the pz2 vs AAHT matchup is the fact that the luchs never misses against vehicles; even when it's moving.
Defense-wise, the AAHT can bruise an attacking luchs quite badly, and you can finish it off with a follow-up riflegrenade.
The problem is that if the conditions are not perfect, there's no escape for the AAHT.
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I really want to see how you'll balance USF late game with all such improvements for the Panther and Elefant.
Panther won't change much, tbh. Ostwind (projectile QoL is a mega-buff) and Brummbar (T4 availability & the fact that you can't predict which vehicle is coming out) buffs will, however. Elefant is almost a buff for USF, if Jackson wasn't such a pile of shit.
Easy:
- Fix USF popcap abuse
- Fix insane USF popcap requirements on basic units
- Make Jackson not shit
- Rationalise unit pricing for the late-game (officers cost more -> Tier units cost less; 340MP for a minelayer? wtf is this?)
- Improve USF late-game indirect fire options (Pak howie and partly the scott); so that they can break through pak-walls
- Tone down cheese doctrines
We won't do other factions though, until we're sure about the OST vs Soviet match-up.
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Romeo
Mr Smith
Luciano
Mr Smith
Relic Entertainment
