Profile of buttcheeksontoast

there is enough overlap between doctrines as is.

I agree and think the part of Recon Support that could use a rework is rather the m8 greyhound. Coming at 3 cp it's largely pointless as its tiny peashooter is barely a threat to even a normal hafltrack, while it has zero AI capabilities outside of spending munitions on hopefully dealing good damage to a squad at close range instead of spending it on BARs/etc. which will guarantee you value unless you are careless and drop them.

Oh and while I'm too lazy to Photoshop a commander picture I would just love to swap out the KV-1 with the KV-8 in Counterattack Tactics (I know, not underused commander, but still). The KV-1 is decent in 1v1 with call-in meta and whatnot, but once FBP changes hit it will be largely pointless as it won't come as a shock unit due to cost requirements and it becomes obsolete vs. other armor quite quickly, whereas a KV-8 will always retain an anti-infantry niche.

That or just put For Mother Russia in almost any underused Soviet commander and that doctrine becomes like 10x better. That ability is amazing as it provides a really awesome muni sink for an otherwise largely muni-plenty faction.

yeah, this is super stupid, and only shows how much little experience Relic have with RTSes in general.

As far as I remember even in warcraft 2 this is not an issue.

Oh come on, this is a small QoL thing, not some central pillar of RTS design. There are always little QoL things missing in any game. I do agree that it should be changed though.

KV-1 was supposed to be a meatshield but health wise its on panther level which is joke.

Makes sense for balance reasons as it is "only" 145fu, and its armor is on par with a Tiger's, even better if you stack the armor bulletins. I would love a costlier but actually meaty KV-1, but I think it doesn't really change the fact that CE repair speed means your KV-1 will spending the majority of the match sitting in base repairing.

It's a small grievance but I agree with OP that Soviet heavies are in a pretty bad state.

Individual problems: the ISU-152 being really underwhelming for its cost. At least it isn't totally defeated by tiny changes in elevation with the FBP patch but it just doesn't ever feel worth the investment. If I want to break up pakwalls/wipe squads or blobs I'd buy 1-2 Katyusha to do the same thing for much less cost and without requiring LoS. The incredibly slow RoF means it doesn't perform at all in a tank-busting role either. You'd expect it to hit super hard if it fires every ten years but it often bounces on anything above a p4 and doesn't deal that much damage when it pens. I feel it's very overshadowed by the IS-2 which does pretty much anything the ISU-152 does while having a turret and not having to switch shells either.

The KV-2 feels like a 230 fuel Brummbar with a lower RoF, worse accuracy, and worse mobility. It becomes a lot better when immobilized but this doesn't really make up for it's mediocrity in normal mode as this makes it incredibly vulnerable to almost any offmap, let alone the JU87. I know the JU87 being stronk is another thread, but regardless of how strong the JU87 is, the time required to get out of immobilization and naturally sluggish movement of the KV-2 means it will take an incredible amount of damage. And while the JU87 is the most extreme example, the time required to switch modes means even most normal artillery offmaps can seriously cripple a KV-2 with no chance to dodge it.

The KV-1 as OP mentioned is hardly used because it also doesn't feel up to the cost. The KV-8 feels good to use because it actually is very strong against infantry and team weapons, so it being a slow damage soak fits with its role, like a turreted Crocodile. The KV-1 hits anything like a wet noodle while handing out veterancy to enemy tanks. And it's impossible to use as a damage soaker for SU85s or some playstyle like that because of repair times, although that's a more general problem.

All the Soviet heavies suffer from pretty dumb veterancy, especially Vet 1. Besides Tracking, which does make sense for the ISU-152, all the Secure Modes on the KVs and IS2 make little sense. There might be that one case where you don't have any infantry to cap a VP and you must absolutely cap it right then and the KV is the only thing there... but I'd much rather have a Vet 1 ability that's incredibly useful in all kinds of situations, like Blitz. The KV-1 hulldown is a nice start but I really wish for something better for the other KVs and IS2.

have more blob friendly units

I don't mean to derail but has anyone ever wondered why the Sturm Offizier exists? The retreat ability is kind of interesting but the aura and focus ability scream "blob for best results." Command Panther isn't as bad becuae it's a defensive buff and a decently large fuel investment whereas the officer is like 200-something mp (although the aura shouldn't apply to teammates units like every other aura imo).