Profile of LoopDloop

I actually enjoy going lt and just relying on zooks on REs as a light vehicle deterrent simply because I find the M15 AAHT much more cost effective than the stuart. It's really squishy (2 rak hits will kill it) and only shoots backwards but it also lets your riflemen absolutely dominate the infantry battlefield, especially if you can get a .50 too. I skip the m20 because it's really expensive for what you get and takes a lot of muni too, but it's still a great unit (I hope they make it cheaper though). I also like to go mechanized on maps that allow because you end up with insane manpower float (like kubelspam levels) which is something that's very freeing as usf.

Basically, it's this.

If we tune Jackson to miss vs target-size 2 P4's, it's going to also miss vs target size 26 KTs. And, oh boy, it's also going to miss a lot vs target-size 13 Blitzking KTs.

You don't need target tables to settle this. You just need target sizes that make sense.

I'm guessing you mean 20-something when you say 2 right?

Actually nope. Usf just doesnt have access to everything at once like okw has. You either get access to mg or to an at gun. xD If you go lt you dont have access to an at gun but you are a little bit better vs AI. Cpt tier is more AT. It would be fine if LT was actually heavy AI and gave you something like luchs that is actually worth rushing for but what you do get is a miserable m20 that is hardly usefu;, a poor replica of an mg with very bad stats and AA ht that can only attack when turned backwards (which is a micro hell). Only thing actually good from LT tier is the LT because he has a bar and thompson gun which makes him great vs infantry. Besides him the units are not even mediocre. They are just bad at their main purpose. But its just fun to do something else for a change instead of defualting to cpt because you know lt tier is basically useless.

Now OKW on the other hand has a lot of tactical differences and advantages of each tier. Med truck gives you FRP, healing (on top of volks self healing and sturmpios med packages), autofire isg requiring no micro at all with great range, excellent AA ht with instapin and high dps and a cheating see through fog of war unit. Mech truck gives you the best and the fastest arty in game, best light AT vehicle in the game, best light AI vehicle in the game. Not to mention that either of them unlocks both fausts, nades and stg44 for your main infantry. Now thats what I call a great upgrade packet, usf has to pay 300 mp and 40 fuel to get the same. And each of these tiers gives you access to fantastic units and different playstyles. I mean what else could you even dream of in this game? Am I right? And all of this while also having always access to an at gun? WOW its so much fun! So yeah usf in return would humbly like to have access to both at gun and a tank without being forced to go a specific tier all the time, nothing special, just normal.

The point about not having access to things as usf is very valid, but I feel like you sell some things a bit too short. The .50 is actually really good, as it has great dps and a very fast setup/teardown, and can penetrate 222s and pumas. It does seem to be very inconsistent at suppressing though, sometimes doing it in less than one burst, and sometimes taking at least 2 full ones, which sucks because they're very short with long delays in between. The AAHT only shooting backwards isn't a huge deal, not enough to really mess with it beyond the shitty pathing that often means the death of a lot of light vehicles, and it doesn't have to setup or anything like the okw halftrack (which has its own merits). I find it a much better choice than the Stuart now, and people often forget it can pen luchs back, which is funny (it'll still lose badly in a 1v1 ofc, because Germans or something). The m20 is just severely overpriced.

Armour values aren't so bad (at least nowhere near as terrible as popcap and target size). What's bad is that penetration values across the board are very flat. Your medium tank has roughly the same chance to penetrate while sniping the enemy heavy from afar, just like going point blank (where it's kill-or-be killed territory).

At the same time, vehicles also lack side armour, which means that firing from the side might lead to, sometimes, your shots hitting front, or sometimes hitting the juicy rear armour. Since rear armour for heavies has been nerfed to be almost always penetrated by mediums at any range, you get the frustrating frontal rear-armour snipes that degrade heavies.

Also, designing a turreted tank that has a very high penetration gun might lead to pantheritis, where you get no reward for flanking the enemy (except for risking your own very expensive vehicle).

But yeah; penetration is the way to go if you want to draw a line between efficiency vs mediums and efficiency vs heavies.

I seem to notice that shermans have a decent chance of sometimes maybe penning a (nonvetted) panther frontally at really close range, like while I'm trying to flank, which isn't something I'd bet even one rifleman model on at long range, let alone a sherman. Same thing seems to apply to small cannons (base 20mms, flakhq, ostwind, etc) to sherman front armor. Other than that, I've never really noticed range making a difference, which kinda sucks.

I was mostly joking, but throwing smoke in front of an unturreted vehicle forces them to either back up, reposition entirely, or utilize attack ground.

None are actions I want to be taking when I'm the Elefant user. But TBH I rarely see smoke being utilized, be it my own experiences or watching streams. Especially since the USF mortar was implemented the amount of smoking and flanking taking place has diminished immensely.

To be honest though, I think there is an important point to be made with one of the Elefant commanders: the recon loiter. That thing has won me more engagements and given my allies invaluable advantages far more times than I think the Elefant itself.

One thing I found out on accident is that riflemen smoke grenades apparently slow enemy vehicles caught inside of them. It's really nothing that dramatic, not like an engine damage crit or anything, but elefants going any slower than they already do is ofc an advantage if you're really trying to kill it. As to people not smoking and flanking very much, against okw, as I said earlier, you could actually be shooting yourself in the foot, but honestly I think against ostheer it's just not utilized enough. I know I could certainly be better at it, I mostly just use it against team weapons (hmgs as well as paks) and while I'm trying to cap, and occadionally to cover Thompson rangers or paras, but really, it could be so much more than that. I feel like smoke is really underused in this game in general though.

Like you said, the recon run is great, as is the rear of the doctrine actually. The mines IIRC plant pretty fast, I think faster even than the m20's mines, and of course there's the glorious immobilize crit, and I do like to have a halftrack around in teamgames to reinforce. Spotting scopes are great for ostheer tanks, particularly the elefant and brummbar, and then there's the dive bomb. Opieop. And all those things synergize really really well.

A doctrinal choice to handle a doctrinal choice?

I mean, if we're talking how to handle a doctrinal endgame unit, I'm not sure the doctrinal nature of a counter can be entirely discounted.

That's a good point too. Although, it still doesn't actually counter the unit per se, just offers a way around. On top of that, I guess my problem is that I usually go mechanized to really press the early advantage as usf, and often choose doctrine early even when I don't.

OKW has far GREATER problem vs clown car then a god damn kubel against USF. As OKW you cannot afford to buy the reketen early game or you'll have a disadvantage in inf engagements (wher you'll already be on the back foot as early game volks are weak) and lack map presence.

I've never seen volks shred a clown car lol what am i reading. Even if you catch out the clown car out of position with 2-3 volks squads, it has the Armour and health to get away easy unlike the kubel (which is why you pay fuel for it). What automatic weapons are you talking about? you need the first truck deployed in order to upgrade to STG's.

When it comes to bleeding, before volks can upgrade and vet up you will be taking more losses then kills then lets say early game riflemen or penals thus, bleeding you alot more then the enemy. Its only when volks hit vet 5 they can start actually standing ther ground but that apparently is not allowed for axis inf

Don't forget, it often isn't a kubel, it's multiple kubels. Nobody builds more than one scout car if they actually want to win. Also, with the way okw is designed, it's ok to be on the backfoot at the beginning of the game. That's why they get 5 levels of vet and nondoc elite infantry and a nondoc heavy tank and all the other shiny stuff they get past 20 mins.

*Facepalms* read the quote. It says sturms. Remember those guys? The ones you start with? The m3 does have 0.9 more front armor than the kubel, but it also has less rear armor and less than half the acceleration, which means that its a lot slower to escape than the kubel. It does ofc have more firepower since it can have a squad garrisoned. I also have seen kubels reverse straight through 3 squads of rifles and not die (both my kubels and enemy kubels).

I don't think early game volks are as weak as you think. At long range in equal or better cover, they straight up beat rifles, and will win if they try to close without a proper setup or flank, and are notably less to reinforce. On top of that, you have sturms, who will absolutely roflstomp single rifle squads in any circumstance unless you charge through a road at them or keep them at max range, and are also a capable flanker squad in the early game. Then you have the kubel as well, which doesn't bleed at all.

I have another one:

Penal syndrome. Either go penals or lose the game. You have no other option but to go penals or you will lose straight up every game. Conscripts suck so hard, it can't be made to work vs stg volks.

I'm really sad about this one. I like soviets, but personally, I think penals in their current state are boring, as they are a good combat squad (at the very least bordering on overperforming) but don't have any AI upgrades and their only utility is satchel charges. But then there's cons.