Profile of TehPowahOfWub

I plan to make threads of similar composition on the Soviets and Ostheer later on - I would like to focus on these three factions because I fear with the massive controversy with the OKW will leave the changes to the other factions overlooked. I believe USF is fine in the new patch (besides the potential of 5 man RE flamers) so I will leave them out, but without further ado let me return to the topic at hand.

I feel the British Forces will suffer very heavily after this patch. I've spent the past few hours playing around with the new patch against friends and AI alike, so at this point I'd like to say I have a fairly good grasp on the preview changes.

First and foremost - the changes to the Infantry Sections. Unlike most, I feel that the Infantry Section is one of the most well designed mainline infantry units of any faction. Their reliance on cover and penalties on the move discourage blobbing, but they are rewarded greatly for good positioning and use of cover. Yes, they do get very potent vet, but I feel it was balanced by these restrictions. I feel that the recent nerf to the damage of their rifles and their vet 3 were over the top, and I also think that the changes to their out of cover performance should not have been implemented as well. I think these bonuses were also justified by the fact that they did not have access to any AT snares and were not able to upgrade their weapons in the field, and instead had to invest fuel and manpower to unlock a weapon rack. They also have the worst grenade in the game, which also must be purchased, which I think further justifies their potent performance.

That being said, I think all changes on the Infantry Sections should be reverted - the fact that they are purely anti-infantry, coupled with their reliance on cover and standing still makes their pre-patch performance just right, IMO, and no changes were needed. Also keep in mind that they are the ONLY long range anti-infantry units in the British arsenal, they lack the firepower of Guards, Paratroopers, Panzerfusilers, etc, and they lack the overall versatility of Grens. The only thing I think that should be changed is that they should only be able to pick up 1 bren from the weapon rack rather than 2.

On to the Scottish Sniper - I feel this unit has a very strange role - it is the only AT snare that British have, so it can at least deter some of the units meant to counter it, but it is also slow to fire and doesn't have the extra durability of the Soviet sniper or the excellent veterancy bonuses of the Ost sniper. All in all, it is a well designed unit. I think making the critical shot ability a veterancy 1 ability will be detrimental to this unit, though. This unit is the only non-doctrinal AT snare the British have, as stated previously, but it is also the only reliable way to take out an Ostheer sniper. This unit has a lot running on him, and combined with his fragile nature, he needs to perform up to scratch to be worth it. The fact that he's now so vulnerable right off the bat to 222s and the newly improved Kubel makes his already risky investment even more so. The fact that unlike the Ost and Soviet snipers which are able to screen from light vehicle rushes with their mainline infantry, the UKF sniper, with his removed initial access to critical shot, makes him an extremely easy target for a 222 or Kubel rush, which instantly sends a 360 MP investment to nothingness. Also the fact that the critical shot ability is only effective against light vehicles and nothing else makes me feel that not having this as a standard ability will make this unit very easy to be killed and thus very unattractive.

So, as with the infantry sections, I suggest reverting the changes made to this unit - but I would also remove it's ability to temporarily immobilize assault guns/tank destroyers with it's critical shot - stunning is a ridiculous ability that should be limited to dedicated AT units only. Replace the critical with something like being unable to fire temporarily.

The 6pounder is another thing that concerns me - I do agree at 280MP it was overperforming - but I feel 300MP rather than 320 would be more appropriate. As talked about in great depth, the UKF lacks any sort of AT snare, only one exclusive to a very fragile unit, and even that snare is only useful against light vehicles. The 50% accuracy versus vehicles is certainly nice, but do remember that vehicles with engine damage not only get a similar bonus from all AT guns, but it also makes the vehicles top speed slower, which the British have no way of doing bar mines.

The verdict, reduce this units cost from 320 to 300.

Finally, I'll briefly talk about both Churchills. I'm entirely in favour of the standard Churchill's cost increase if it means the unit's HP is brought back up to 1600. I feel the armour nerf for this particular version of the Churchill was enough, but combined with the HP nerf I found myself never getting this unit, only ever going Anvil to gain access to heavy engineers. Now with the increased cost I think it's safe to say most won't even bother going for Anvil, especially with the added munitions cost to the heavy engineer upgrade (which I think was needed, by the way). If the unit's HP is not brought to 1600, I would suggest lowering its fuel cost to 160 instead, to make the unit at least not a total waste of space in the British Army. As for the Crocodile, I'm happy to see the increases in the requirement for veterancy, as this unit previously vetted up VERY fast. I would also like to see the vet 3 ability of self repairing criticals removed as well though, as I think it's laughable enough on USF vehicles, but at least USF vehicle crews had to disembark to perform this action, which adds a AT LEAST moderate risk and cooldown. The flamethrower range was also slightly over the top, but I think the range from 32 - 25 is too much. I'd suggest more along the lines of 30.

So, that pretty much sums it up. I do apologize if it's a long read, but I do plan to make threads on problems with the Ostheer and Soviets in similar detail later tonight. Please leave me your feedback, and hopefully Relic will see this thread and implement some of these changes.

Lol @ this patch.

OKW itself was not terribly designed, it needed some changes, but with this it will be obscenely OP. All Volks needed was some better AI and an AT snare instead of a shreck. Having access to an even cheaper shreck, combined with the full resource income, as well now having access to two very potent grenades, on top of their slight AI buff - I just have to wonder what they are thinking at Relic.

It's entirely safe to say to never go Lt. tier vs OKW. You will have no reasonable counter to the incoming P2 meta rush. Also would be very risky to go T1 as Soviets, since you will most definitely have to build T2 pretty soon thereafter.

I'm glad the rifle flamers were finally addressed, but I think even on RE's they will still be a bit of a problem since they are spammable and get a free 5th man at vet 2, which will come very easy now with their flamethrower.

The British were hit very badly on all accounts. Firstly, the nerf to infantry sections (and the .1 out of cover bonus to compensate, hur dur, still not worth using out of cover) in all departments was stupid. They scale so well because they have no access to free AT snares and their grenade (which both axis armies get for free, and are a million times better) are a joke.

As for the sniper, I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly, but it would look as if the critical shot can no longer reliably damage the engine of light vehicles. This is obscene, since the sniper was the only (expensive and fragile) AT snare the Brits had, and it's snare to anything heavier than a light vehicle was laughable. If they are going to change the utility of the British sniper this drastically, I'd rather he wasn't an AT sniper at all, just give him a standard rifle and adjust his veterancy bonuses to give him a better rate of fire like the Ost sniper, because now he's most definitely the shittiest of all snipers pound for pound. Either that or revert the changes, because now he is completely lacking in his defined role. At this point, killing the UKF sniper will be as easy as driving a 222/Kubel up to him and chasing him down, since unlike the the Ostheer and Soviets, the sniper has no mainline infantry to snare or screen for him, he only had himself to do that, and even when it was the case it was still risky. Now...nothing. Countering this unit should not be THAT easy, since countering the equivolant units of the other 2 armies can be a nightmare.

The AT gun cost increase was needed, but not up to 320. 300 would have been more sufficient. I know it get's the oh so amazing 50% accuracy vs vehicles, but this is because it has no AT snare to accompany it like other factions, so it was needed).

Lol @ nerf to standard Churchill. Will never use anvil again. Thnx relic.

Churchill Croc vet requirement nerf was good, but range didn't have to go down so drastically. 32 to 30 would have been better.

EDIT - Just did a test of the new vet 0 infantry sections vs vet 0 volks. Volks reliably won 6/8 engangements where I tested.

Played the preview, decided to create an account and thought I might add my 2 cents on the changes.

LEIG & Pack Howitzer - LeIG feels very unchanged, and although I didn't see the Pack Howitzer as much, I'm sure it is still relatively the same too. These units should be reworked. Suppression should be removed and other things thrown in to compensate - slightly more damage on the LeIG and slightly better accuracy on the Pack Howitzer.

Infantry Section Reinforcement Reduction - Good idea to keep the attrition cost down, but I feel 28 is a little too low. 35 was pretty high to begin with, as it exceeded the reinforcement cost of some elite/heavy infantry units, but 28 makes it less than the Ost Grens, which I feel this unit compares mostly too. I feel 30ish would be appropriate for both these units - sure Infantry Sections have great scaling, but they lack the rifle grenade and panzerfaust, and the overall usability out of cover that Grens have, so I think 30 would be perfect.

Commandos - This was really over the top. Not only are commandos themselves now severely gimped, but their Airlanding Officer brother is completely ruined, especially since he lacks the 5th man and camo of the standard Commando squad. Relic really needs to rethink this one. I think what made Commandos so strong was their cloaking ability, and I think maybe that should have been toned down (ie not being able to cloak while on the move or something), not the unit's DPS, since it already has a very large cost and is only effective at short range.

Churchill Crocodile, KV8 and flame changes - Justified, well done. Although I think KV8 could maybe remain at 12 damage instead of 10, since it lacks the mildly useful main gun of the Churchill Croc. The WASP on the other hand, might be a bit too powerful.

Churchill Armor & HP - I think the standard Churchill nerf was way too excessive, it should have kept the same HP and armour as it has now. It's not a terribly effective unit - it's slow and its gun is unimpressive. It's main utility was to be an expensive unit that can screen for other tanks, and if lost it was a hefty investment down the sh*tter. I forsee this unit losing any credibility in the meta, which is a shame because the concept behind it is very unique and fun. The thing I would have done instead would to be slightly raise the fuel cost, say to 165-170, but keep everything else as is. The specialist variants could use an armour reduction to about 240 or so, but 280 to 200 is just way too severe for any of these vehicles.

Constructive critique is welcome on my post.