https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSpjWnDko2I
Newest GCS USF game, you can see easily why riflemen are bad between two similar skill level players. More model drops on the riflemen than grens.
Not really, riflemen might have more casualties but not because grenadier are better.
First engagement is 1 riflemen vs 1 gren +1mg + 1 gren most casualties are on retreat from mg point blank.
Second encounter is riflemen vs pio point blank.
Third encounter is 2 gren vs 1 riflemen that soft retreat and then attempt to charge 1 gren trough red cover while they have taken damage and are down to 4.
In all initial engagements riflemen where in a disadvantage and in addition VonIvan retreats his grenadiers early to avoid casualties (minute 3:52).
Most of the casualties in initial engagement are probably from pio (3) and MG (2) and not from grenadiers. Most of the damage from grenadiers comes later from rifle grenades.
Shock Troops
Reinforcement price from 31 to 30
Call-in cost up 10%, can now also be built from T1 for normal price. (To make T1 more oriented for heavy infantry use. The building could also provide some sort of tech bonus to infantry)
New vet 1 ability "bulletproof" *0.75 target size *0.90 accuracy for the duration, cost 25 munition.
Maybe replace some of the vet 3 accuracy bonus with reload and/or cool-down.
B-4
Fix direct fire ability to make B-4 work as ATG (similar to 88) with much smaller range (60?) firing AP round only. Replace the vet 2 -25% recharge barrage bonus with some crew movement speed for the unit to become more responsive.
Replace Ml-20 (6 commanders) with B-4 (1 commanders).
Partisan troops remove explosive grenade (too much squad wiping potential), make Molotov available without tech, replace camo with static one make improved camo available with veterancy, increase size to 6 unit spawn with 4, increase cost to 240 reinforce cost to 20, Conscript can now merge with them. Change vet 3 40 accuracy buff to target size *77%.
or
Alternatively replace unit with a unit similar to Pathfinders.
Partisan Tank Hunters
Partisan Tank Hunters make their camouflage static scaling to movement camouflage with veterancy ,replace the reload and penetration buffs that make the shreck better in their hands than German units with "first strike" bonuses.
Guards
Call-in cost up 10%, can now also be built from T1 for normal price. (To make T1 more oriented for heavy infantry use. The building could also provide some sort of tech bonus to infantry)
The vet 1 ability of guard is simply too strong since it increase the DPS by around 14% it is also a bit confusing since hit the dirt for conscripts reduces DPS.
My suggestion would be to make PTRS work only mostly vs vehicles similar to Penal. Add the new vet 1 timed ability "take aim" for a munition cost (20 mu?) Guards drop to the ground like with hit the dirt and can now use the PTRS to hit infantry, the ability is also passively activated when in garrison. This also makes sense in real life since the weapon was to heavy to be fired while standing.
Change button to debuff that work even if Guards do not continue to fire on the vehicle (maybe for smaller penalties).
T34/85 Medium Tank bring the mgs of the unit inline with other Tanks they currently have too much DPS making the have good main gun, lots of HP and good AI. The vet 1 ability "secure mode" could be replaced with a new ability "hail of bullets" where the mg fire with increased DPS but the unit has a movement penalty so it can not chase down retreating infantry.
KV-8
Suggestion make KV-8 a call-in tank (with a price penalty) since it specialized it will probably not cause much problems and it could allow soviet skipping T4, the unit should still be be able to be built from T4 for the normal price to stay relevant across modes with different economies.
KV-8 could also use the same mechanics of reduced damage of KV-1. In addition I would suggest to remove the DOT for the flamer (for all flame vehicles) and adjust DPS if needed. Replace the vet 1 ability "secure mod" with the new one "set ablaze" creating a DOT (maybe increase damage a bit) on a specific area the ability could scale with veterancy. Replace all mobility vet bonuses with range and HP/Armor bonus. Adjust rear armor values.
Shock Troops
Reinforcement price from 31 to 30
Call-in cost up 10%, can now also be built from T1 for normal price. (To make T1 more oriented for heavy infantry use. The building could also provide some sort of tech bonus to infantry)
New vet 1 ability "bulletproof" *0.75 target size *0.90 accuracy for 25 munition.
Maybe replace some of the vet 3 accuracy bonus with reload and/or cool-down.
IS-2 Heavy Tank
Replace vet 1 ability "secure mode" with a new ability "defensive maneuver" lowering speed to *0.80 increasing turret rotation *140, lower vet 2 bonus weapon rotation speed to *130.
Maybe lower Armor/HP from Vet 0 and replace Vet 3 mobility bonuses with armor/HP bonuses.
Also fix main gun to be more constant (less kill radius less scatter).
KV-1 Heavy Tank
Move the damage reduction to a vet 1 ability. Replace "secure mode" with a new vet 1 ability "Russian Colossus" ("Russischer Koloss") reducing damage *0.8 for 1 minute for 30 mu. Ability could even scale with veterancy (10/20/30)
Replace vet 3 mobility bonuses with Armor/HP bonuses.
Bring rear armor inline with other tanks.
DShK 38 Heavy Machine Gun
Remove sprint ability. New vet bonuses for vet 1/2/3 increasing penetration 2/4/6 for AP round ability.
HM-38 120mm Mortar Squad
Replace "flare" ability with new ability increasing synergy with PM-41 mortar. New ability "heavy support fire" for 20 mu (?) increase range of auto-fire by 20 and projectile speed for 1 minute.
M-42 45mm Anti-tank Gun
Redesign unit as light vehicle counter. Increase accuracy keep penetration and damage low. Reduce reaction times/time to fire, increase angle. Replace vet 1 "tracking" ability with "rapid movement" similar to 6 pounder. Replace vet 2 reload buff with faster tear down setup and replace vet penetration with the reload speed. If unit become very effective increase cost to 240.
M4C Sherman
New vet 1 ability radio net similar to USF ability. New vet bonus (since the reload bonuses make the units able to fire with reload time lower than 2 secs) similar to PzIV increasing Armor. That will make the Sherman different than other Soviet vehicles.
"KV-2 Heavy Assault Tank" remove sight, target size penalties, reduce minimum range is siege mode. Replace mobility vet bonuses with armor/HP bonuses. Replace "secure mode" with new ability "tank commander" the tank commander emerges from the hatch increasing sight/accuracy/reload for duration (animation already exists).
Recon overflight replace with Conscript Assault Package upgrade. Reason commander has accesses to Ml-20 but can destroy enemy arty with recon/off map making to powerful combo. In addition conscripts upgrade fit the commander that has no call-ins.
Soviet Industry Tactics
KV-8 Flamethrower Tank replace with Recon overflight since a call-in KV-8 would be used as transition to KV-2.
"Allied supply drop" replace with "Engineer Salvage kits" since it does not fit the commander thematically. Salvage kits should be tweaked to cost 40 munition, allow salvage and increase repair speed. Optional give XP for repairing.
"Vehicle Crew Repair Training" replace with "green T-34/76" build from T3. Optional replace with a new ability "Soviet industry" allowing player to built T4 without T3 requiring both T1 and T2. The T4 would have Su-85 and Katiusha disable (until T3 was built) and T-34/76 would have a premium on fuel (10-20?).
"KV-2 Heavy Assault Tank" remove sight, target size penalties, reduce minimum range is siege mode. Replace mobility vet bonuses with armor/HP bonuses. Replace "secure mode" with new ability "tank commander" the tank commander emerges from the hatch increasing sight/accuracy/reload for duration (animation already exists).
Soviet Reserve Army
"Rapid Conscription" replace with "mark target".
Soviet Shock Army
"ML-20 152mm Gun-Howitzer" replace with B-4 since it more of "shock" weapon and overlap less with HM-38 120mm Mortar Squad.
"Conscript Assault Package" replace with "hit the dirt" ability to avoid overlap with Shock troops.
Tank Hunter Tactics
"Conscript PTRS Package" replace ability with "Penal battalion PTRS Package". Reason, the ability is simply too cost efficient because it overlap with Penal PTRS. Move it to Penals and the ability is fine.
"PMD-6M light Anti-Vehicle mines" replace with a the new ability "AT fortifications" providing PMD-6 At mines and Tank traps to C.E. PMD-6 mines could work with a tweak to use the old USF mines mechanism adding critical when more than 1 is hit.
"Tank Hunter Ambush Tactics" changes to ATG as explained. Ability now available only for Su-85/Su-76 ability increases rotation speed. Reason ability should useful to AT assets and not for increasing Tank's AI.
"ML-20 152mm Gun-Howitzer" ability replaced by "Engineer Salvage kits" or ""mark target". An AI unit does not fit the commander thematically and the combination of ML-20and bombing is simply too strong vs OKW trucks.
"IL-2 PTAB Anti-Tank Bombing Run" redesign the ability to do less damage to infantry and building. Optional: completely redesign ability and instead of destroying any slow vehicle to cause a number of criticals. One could reduce the time to drop making harder to avoid but causing criticals instead of catastrophic damage.
Terror Tactics
Urban Defense Tactics
"Forward headquarters" move to CP 1-2 to reduce impact in teamgames.
"Booby Trap Territory"reduce cost to 50, replace damage with incendiary, ability now moved to C.E.
"Incendiary Artillery Barrage" replace "IL-2 PTAB Anti-Tank Bombing Run" or "IL-2 Precision Bombing Strike" or "mark target". Reason Commander lacks premium medium or heavy call ins an can use powerful off map.
The theory that Shock troops where nerfed, simply does not hold water.
Patch notes:
Shock Troops
Shock Troops have been adjusted to have lower bleed effects on a player’s manpower due to their short-range while their grenade has been improved to assist with flanks and dislodging team weapons.
Reinforcement time from 6.5 to 5.5 (buff)
Reinforcement cost from 33 to 31 (buff)
Trip-Wire Flares removed
Veterancy 1 now reduces Smoke Grenade cost from 15 to 10
Veterancy 2 -40% Smoke cooldown moved to veterancy 1 (buff)
Grenade Far AOE from 0.15 to 0.5 (buff)
Grenades now share a cooldown (nerf)
Grenade damage type from small explosive to big explosive; can now damage ambient buildings (buff)
Note that the grenade does more than 3 times damage Far which is major buff and the reason why it share CD with smoke grenade.
Thompson do not use a typical SMG profile since their mid DPS is way to high and the reason is to make USF elite infatry more attractive than the already strong riflemen.
(A better solution imo for USF elite would be to lower CP, restrict weapon upgrades and increase utility by providing smoke/fragmentation grenades without tech.)
FYI the Guards one:
- Immobilizes squad
- Cooldown decreased by 25%
- Range increased by 2.5m
Keep in mind that increasing range also increase DPS since now the squad will fire with accuracy of 35 to 37.5. That alone (without counting Cooldown) should increase their DPS by around 7%.
That makes guards ability one of the strongest vet 1 abilities.
M4C Sherman
New vet 1 ability radio net similar to USF ability. New vet bonus (since the reload bonuses make the units able to fire with reload time lower than 2 secs) similar to PzIV increasing Armor. That will make the Sherman different than other Soviet vehicles.
DSHK 38 Heavy Machine gun
Since this does weapon does not fit the theme of the commander it could be reskinned to be 0.50 with the same performance as the DSHK (due to 6 men squad) making the change esthetic.
M5 Half-track Assault Group
Replace it with M15A1 AA Half-track to provide AA without mu investment. Change would also be better thematically.
Conscript Repair Kit
Replace this ability with "lend lease" Guards. CP 3 340, x6 mosin naggat able to upgrade with 2 bars or 2 bazookas.
Mechanized Support Tactics
Anti-tank Gun Ambush Tactics
Make ability break when unit moves (not rotate) remove movement penalties, make first-strike bonuses come with veterancy or change them to accuracy bonus only or remove them.
Mark Vehicle
Replace ability (powerful combos) with a the new ability "AT fortifications" providing PMD-6 At mines and Tank traps to C.E. . This ability fits the "support" theme and allow player to protect the ISU-152 from mass light vehicles rushes. PMD-6 mines could work tweak to use the old USF mines mechanism adding critical when more than 1 is hit.
IL-2 Precision Bombing Strike
"IL-2 Precision Bombing Strike" (counter to enemy artillery) replaced by IL-2 single pass strafe.
(or Incendiary Artillery Barrage)
NKVD Disruption Tactics
Recon overflight replaced Conscript Assault Package Upgrade so that commander has strong infantry (and to avoid recon/Sturmovik attacks combo)
Rapid conscription replaced by commissar squad. Commissar squad 5 men squad 4 Guards naggat, 1 pistol having the ability to force retreat similar to Strumofficer proving an Aura to 20 unit. Conscript in aura gain 0.80 target size and x1.1 Accuracy when using ourah. Penals gain x1.2 speed x0.9 moving accuracy (so that they can not wipe out retreating infantry).
Optional: Replace "IL-2 Sturmovik Attacks" with "IL-2 Precision Bombing Strike"
Partisan Tactics
Partisan troops remove explosive grenade (too much squad wiping potential), make Molotov available without tech, replace camo with static one make improved camo available with veterancy, increase size to 6 unit spawn with 4, increase cost to 240 reinforce cost to 20, Conscript can now merge with them. Change vet 3 40 accuracy buff to target size *77%.
or
Alternatively replace unit with a unit similar to Pathfinders.
Partisan Tank Hunters make their camouflage static scaling to movement camouflage with veterancy ,replace the reload and penetration buffs that make the shreck better in their hands than German units with "first strike" bonuses.
Shock Motor Heavy Tactics
IL-2 Precision Bombing Strike replace ability (powerful combo) with "Fear Propaganda Artillery" (or Rapid Conscription to reduce Shock troops bleed.)
Shock Rifle Frontline Tactics
Optional: Incendiary Artillery Barrage replace with booby traps as thematically "front-line" tactic. Or a new ability "Not one step back" infantry goes to "hit the ground" position gain +5 range, *105 accuracy, immune to suppression, 0.8 received accuracy and can retreat (can not move).
...
Either buff RM by give them smokes back or remove the sandbag from Volks. You don't need to remove the sandbag from tommies since their cap rate got nerfered.
....
That is incorrect the change to cap rate did not made into the patch.
Most of the issues with VG come form the ST44 upgrade which actually uses a profile closer to g43.
As for sandbag imo they should not be available to any mainline infantry even doctrinal (maybe only to conscripts/vgs with no weapon upgrades). Even if they where they should be built very slowly by mainline infantry.
If you think t-34/76 has best ai then why are multiple posters tests in this thread proving you wrong? P4 with pintle does best AI DPS and even if Cromwell got buffed to t-34 mg DPS p4 would still be better.
You know because it already is and Cromwell mg DPS would just be a clone (or slightly worse until you upgrade commander)
And P4 would have even more DPS in reality to these tests as pintles have better arc of fire.
You're the one clutching at straws when tests are proving you wrong. Cromwell AI needs some love and even with the love I suggest P4 will remain top dog due to its armour and superior AI. You are making some serious mental gymnastics here to prove your point but in reality the buff I suggest is not that outlandish.
The buff just seems silly but when you look at the fact the mg is taking roughly 5 times ttk as p4 mg or 4 times ttk as t-34/76 mg it suddenly doesn't look outlandish at all.
You are entitled to your opinion.
It is my opinion thou that generally buffing a unit's stat to OP levels to cover other issues of the unit is actually bad design. In this case increasing the DPS of hull and coaxial mg to levels over *200% of the average (as it was done for T-34) is a step in the wrong direction since similar units (medium tanks)deliver damage with different mechanisms.
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
Heartless Jäger 
