Hey, thanks for taking the time with such a thorough reply. I can see the issue here and there are of course a lot of factors that will be mismatched given the change I am suggesting. Tbh I don't really know how you could make Penals viable if you gave cons a weapon upgrade because then you would have to completely change the design of them to make them different and in any way effective. I agree with your statement on cons having some of the best utility in the game.
Like you say the scope of balancing is very limited and to come close to any more balance that we have right now will be really hard without a complete overhaul of the entire design of the different factions.
My problem is still though you in a fight vs. a gren with a con and you will just outright lose it with no ability to outplay at long range. A little bit of a lackluster answer here since I don't really know how you could change them without making penals obsolete.
Last thing in terms of the meta on certain maps you still go tier 1 sniper and penals vs. Wehr but you are right in tier 1 is blatantly better than cons vs. OKW because as you say the volks just outperform the cons in every way.
No problem, always willing to help those who ask. To be fair, I have no idea how to make penals viable while giving cons the boost they need, hence why 2 mainlines don't work. Although if I was forced to have 2 mainlines, what it is now is very close to optimal IMO. Against 1 faction you go T1, and another you go T0 and into T2 later. I agree you can go penals and snipers against ostheer on certain maps probably. Crossing in the woods comes to mind as a map known for heavy sniper play, although I wouldn't ever want to play against ostheer on that map as any faction.
It may have been a lackluster answer from your perspective, but that is why you made this thread, to invoke the minds of others with the possiblity that they come up with an answer you potentially missed or never thought of. It cannot be stressed how important that idea is.
Long story short: I agree with you entirely, but there's almost nothing you can do unless someone decides to rework/scrap penals or the faction.
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