Profile of Lago

That makes a lot of sense for OKW. What about Ostheer?

What's this unit's role these days? I used to think it was a tank destroyer but on reflection I'm not sure what it's for now.

• It has poor anti-infantry performance which suggests it isn't a late-game generalist tank like the Comet.
  
• It's countered by the cheaper Jackson and Firefly which suggests it's not a late game tank destroyer.

It seems to be a slightly awkward cross between a tank destroyer and a generalist: it beats generalist tanks and has some mediocre anti-infantry capability that tank destroyers lack entirely but it struggles against a proper tank destroyer. A Tiger can do that and does well against infantry for a similar price when you factor in tech.

Is the Panther a non-doctrinal but inferior Tiger substitute or is there a useful role for it I've missed?

+1


Pretty much. Can't wait for dem ez mode Axis players to try to counter.

What would be the point? This thread passed the window for reasonable balance discussion a while ago. Now it's just the one faction players raging at each other as they climb to ever greater heights of bias and absurdity.

There is one thing I'll respond to though.

If you do want to take something away from us then you should at least include what OP thing you are willing to take from yourself.

What do you think you mean by us? You don't speak for everyone who plays Soviet. You don't speak for me. Balancing the game isn't a matter of making trades. It's a matter of finding out which units, builds and strategies are dominant and adjusting them so that multiple strategies are viable.

The way these threads constantly degrade into a partisan shouting match between the same people is why the Balance forum has the reputation it does and why it rarely achieves anything.

Do you have a replay? It's much easier to give strategic advice if we can see what you're doing.

they greet my squad with the axis engineer squad, they completely rip me a new one and i have to fall back.

That shouldn't be happening against an Infantry Section if you're sticking to cover. If you're moving all the time and staying out of cover I can see how the Pioneers might take the advantage.

A few useful things to know (apologies if I'm telling you things you already know):

• All units are less accurate on the move. Close range units with fast firing weapons have smaller movement penalties.
  
• Cover is incredibly powerful. Light cover halves your "received accuracy" which is the likelihood of shots to hit you: the enemy will miss more. Heavy cover gives this bonus and halves the damage you take.
  
• UKF infantry get cover bonuses on top of this but they're also weaker out of cover than other faction units.
  

You say you can flank MGs which means you've got most of the solution down already. MGs in buildings can be difficult to deal with. What you need is a way to force them out.

In most factions the answer to this is indirect fire. The other four factions get a mobile mortar with a smoke barrage to blind MGs so you can flank them and a High Explosive barrage to kill MGs that refuse to move. UKF's mortar is a very expensive static emplacement. If you can get this up and defend it you can drive HMGs out of every building in barrage range. You don't always have that option though.

The most effective way to clear a building is fire. Unless you have the Mobile Assault Regiment commander which allows Sappers to equip flamethrowers your flamethrower is on the Universal Carrier. If you aren't good with light vehicles this can be a difficult unit to use but if you can get the hang of light vehicle micro this'll burn out those HMGs with little trouble provided you stay out of their firing arc.

Another excellent option against HMGs but a micro-heavy one is the Sniper. This unit can attack HMGs from outside their range. You've got to be careful with your sniper because if the enemy can close on it it'll die but if you can learn to use this unit well you can pick off HMG models with impunity. An HMG spammer will have limited options to fight back against this unit because they've spent all their manpower on barely mobile HMGs and if they're sticking to buildings they physically can't close in. The trick to using a sniper is to attack move it so that it always fires at maximum range and to fall back if any enemy unit tries to get near it.

You can exploit flanks on garrisoned HMGs with your upgrades. UKF can unlock infantry grenades fairly cheaply: chuck one of these at a building and that HMG's going to get hurt. Chuck two at it and that HMG's dead. You could also give one of your Infantry sections Howitzer flares. Throw one of those at a building and your base howitzers will bombard it. It's 45 munitions but the HMG's got to leave that building or die.

Also remember that HMGs can't garrison buildings you control. Take advantage of that early on: if there's a building covering your fuel that the enemy HMG always takes then take it yourself with your starting squad. Build an HMG as your first unit, stick it in the building your Infantry Section is holding and then your Infantry section can cap points while your HMG covers them.

Finally, consider building a couple of HMGs of your own. HMG spammers usually have poor micro of their own and will struggle against their own tactics.

Just did a load of CheatMod testing on this. While I still don't care for the OP's attitude and tone I can understand their frustration now. Five SU-76s are very, very strong against the entire Ostheer vehicle arsenal.

I set up the following experiment. I found an area of open terrain on the Moscow Outskirts map. I turned Fog of War off so that every vehicle could fire at maximum range. I set up a line of enemy controlled SU-76s, then attacked them from the front with varying combinations of Ostheer vehicles.

My discovery was thus: if you charge five spotted for SU-76s over open ground with less than 375 fuel worth of vehicles (the price of five SU-76s) you will lose. Four StuGs? Dead. Two Panthers? Oblitered. Elefant? Annihilated. To beat the SU-76s in their element required more than the 375 fuel the SU-76s cost. It wasn't possible to play their game and come out on top.

Why is a swarm of SU-76s so powerful? The two obvious answers are range and penetration. The SU-76 can penetrate the frontal armor of an Elefant and its greater range means it gets to shoot at approaching vehicles when they can't fire back and those vehicles often get movement penalties when they do return fire.

Vehicle pathing also works against attacking armour. If you attack the SU-76 position with a group of vehicles they like to form a line. This plays straight into the SU-76's hands: they can kill the vehicle at the front before the vehicles at the back can fire and then repeat this for the next vehicle. The vehicles need to be commanded individually to prevent this suicide conga, adding an extra micro burden to the attacker.

The last two strengths of the swarm suprisingly enough come from the SU-76's weaknesses. The low armour of the SU-76 works in its favour. Late game armour like Panthers pay for their high penetration (they'd cost less if their penetration was lower) but get no value from it against paper thin SU-76 armour. The low health of the SU-76 is also an unexpected strength in numbers: any damage in excess of the SU-76 isn't transferred to another and is wasted, turning the slow firing high damage guns of the Axis tanks into a disadvantage. I call this their "overkill advantage."

So how can we turn this knowledge to our advantage?

• Don't engage them on their terms: if you attack an equal fuel investment of SU-76s over open ground with spotters for the SU-76s in place you'll lose.
  
• Use smoke. Smoke proved invaluable in testing: by blocking their line of sight you can close in without being fired on. If your StuGs can close to firing range without being fired on and can avoid moving more than the SU-76s they've got a good chance of winning. In addition to covering your advance you can use smoke to save your wounded vehicles and split the SU-76 pack up. The swarm is much less powerful when you fight it one or two at a time.
  
• Defeat them in detail. Every SU-76 you blind with smoke is less firepower the pack contributes to the fight. Invoke Lanchester's Law to your advantage.
  
• Try to fight the SU-76s with a similar number of vehicles. More guns means a lesser overkill advantage for the SU-76s and a greater overkill advantage for you. I found Pumas and StuGs to be the most effective options.
  
• Use infantry anti-tank whereever possible. Two Panzergrenadier squads will beat five SU-76s in isolation and are very useful in an actual engagement. Panzerfaust equipped troops are also very useful: if you can finish off a wounded SU-76 with a Panzerfaust you're not going to waste tank shell damage on overkilling it.