Profile of ABlockOfSalt

I feel like the STG's for the volks are in the same vein as PPSH 41's for a mostly rifle wielding conscript squad.


They are the hidden powerfists of COh2...Basically the rifle toting squad members are ablative wounds at best in most cases but it lets the two stgs stay in the fight for a longer period of time.

Let's all calm down and de-salt.

If they are copying Miragefla's mod verbatum there is a version out there we can all play and test.


Lets play the game and then maybe make statements like "x is cancer"

Penals themselves aren't bad it's just that they don't have a defined role that isn't occupied by something overshadows them.

Demos are very situational, flame throwers come on other, cheaper, more readily available squads. If I need heavy anti-infantry then there's not much better than shocks which tend to be in good docs anyway.

Even if they did have the damage output of a 6man rifle squad their vet means they're still squishy as all getout, they have no grenades, they have no smoke, they have no way to avoid/negate suppression. As soon as they encounter an MG42 Penals are normally screwed so you're going to be going T2 anyway for Maxims and smoke so it's not like they're a do-all tool.

It's like saying the SU85 is bad. The SU85 is great..but 2 su76's are better in most cases since they have more health, do more damage, less vulnerable to flanks and don't cost you an entire tier.


The dynamic between the Penals and conscripts also plays a big role : cons are better in nearly every way past the 15 minute mark. Far more utility, cheaper, molos/at nades/ oohrah at vet 0.

I would think the role penals would need to fill would be a batch of cheapo horde infantry, like a 6man squad of RE's. Keep their vet, keep their skills, keep their flame thrower but drop the price and individual rifle damage by a small bit. I'd just drop their actual "per bullet" damage to 7 and call it a day.

They do all the bullshit that conscripts now do that are usually only fit for a wandering band of thieves/rapists/thought criminals;such as looking for land-mines with your feet, suicide rushing buildings to apply fire damage, picking up wepons and reinforcing them etc. They would be meant to trade effectively and put the hurt on more expensive units then run off. Also has the handy bonus of keeping the spotting up for your sniper.

So what would stop you from just spamming Penals all game? Well they aren't getting any more durable with vet and they are going to start trading inefficiently with other units who are better than them. Something like a target size of 1.125 (like cons) would be acceptable or just a straight up health nerf (from 80 to 70 lets say) to keep them from being overly effective in prolonged engagements.

What stops them from out-shining conscripts? Well you don't have any AT nades, ability to merge with more useful squads (lookin at you, Guards) and their molotov is more likely to hit something than the penals ridiculously telegraphed demo charge. Add in things like PPSH upgrades and you're still going to choose cons for most things. The Penals are there as a swarm of bodies you can equip flame throwers on to generally be a bully.

General bitching:

-The reload time is prohibitively long in alot of 1v1 circumstances
-While it comes early it's expensive for indirect fire.
-It controls blobs (sort of) but the blob will return before you are able to recharge your volley
-If you are aiming at specific point (an emplacement for example) you are going to be losing half your rockets to the aim mechanic
-When it does hit it's usually a wipe for stuff that gets tagged, which is sort of frustrating to be on the recieving end of (I don't think any arty except the ML20/Lefh/etc should be squad wipers but that's just me)

Suggestion:
-What if it had 6 stored charges that could either be fired off simultaneously or staggered depending on what you wanted to do with it?
-Maybe a toggle to switch between its current mode or the ripple fire mode
-If it was ripple firing maybe switch to a different damage profile to keep it from being the greatest wepons team killer ever concieved.


I think it would increase the utility of the unit while adding a bit of micro as well to keep your barrages well timed.

Just a thought.

I think turning it into a Quadgun bunker would be the right direction to go. Keep it around the price it is now, give it a min-range of 5 and a max range of 40, call it a day.

-No de-crew
-250mp/15fu/3cap
-480 Health

They're cheap enough that you can make a couple and not feel like you've been completely shafted but expensive enough to keep you from building one at every choke just because you can.

The OKW have enough AT options floating around that they aren't hurting to have the flak chase off m20's but another suppression platform is certainly welcome. A