Profile of Corp.Shephard

Are some of the British Artillery abilities being looked into?

There are some late game British artillery abilities that are simply too powerful/offer no counter-play options.

One that has really bothered me is the Tactical Support Regiment's Artillery Cover ability.

The ability drops in with no smoke and appears to start the bombardment very quickly after being "placed" on the map. I don't have a huge issue with the way this ability works on infantry. I think it fires on units when there's no vision (which I don't like the idea of) but regardless it has a clear counterplay: just leave the area.

For countering vehicles and tanks though the ability is simply bonkers. The shells that the artillery drops:

• Stun/damage engine regardless of armor level. Even the highest armor unit, a Jagdtiger, was getting stunned/engine damaged with every shell. This is not just the JT (which is vulnerable to stun). Other tanks like Jagdpanzers and Panzer 4s have been stunned reliably as well.
  
• Never seem to miss or scatter.
  
• Always penetrate and do some damage.
  
• Don't appear to require line of sight on the tank?
  

Your tanks in the area of effect are chain stunned by these shells. When they aren't stunned their engines are always damaged by the first couple of shells and have limited/no mobility.

What is the counter play for this? I can't "hide" from the enemies in the fog of war as the bombardment seems to hit me anyways. I can't "run" my tanks away as the engine damage/stun makes my tanks almost impossible to control. I can't fight my way out because I am being stunned constantly. I can't even protect my tanks with my infantry as they are getting hit by cloud-burst shells that are very lethal and have to retreat.

Abilities like this need to have their power checked and I hope it's being looked into. In the very least they need a clear "counter-play" option.

Regardless of my problems...

I really like the changes that have been presented in the balance-mod! The flamethrower changes and many others look spot on. Please keep up the good work!

Idea reminds me of the old Panzer Elite infantry. Buy from HQ for 255 manpower and invest munitions for MP44s/Panzerschreck OR buy a squad with weapon upgrades already for 360 manpower.

Sort of interesting through that lens but I don't like the idea. Bunch of commander units running around sounds dumb. Riflemen, and the versatility of the Rifleman, are core to the US faction so giving US forces the ability to just spend manpower to build specialist troops goes against that.

It also would almost certainly be a balance issue without tuning as the US officer prices are manpower cheap due "one squad limit". 320 manpower for a LT squad is an excellent price for such a unit. Pay a one-time 40 manpower price for a BAR and Thompson is pretty sold. Captain is fairly similar.

US teching is already among the fastest in the game so being able to cut BAR and Bazooka research and just pick up specialist units would be pretty powerful.

I just don't really like it anyways. Don't need commissioned officers running around as basic units.

The quickest way to make this unit passably useful is to increase the health to 400.

400 hp is the same as the StuG (another assault gun). It's a good break-point because it means the SU-76 takes three shots before it dies to AT guns and Panzer 4s rather than two shots.

What is the point of an AT assault gun that cannot trade even one blow with an enemy tank without needing to immediately panic because it will die on the next shot? This is a huge problem for the SU-76 as a soft anti-tank counter. It is more likely to get picked off by what it is supposed to fight.

I think you could buff the health of the SU-76 and it could see play as the first unit you get from Tier 4 if you rush the tech. It would not be a unit that you would build beyond a timing push (much like the T-70 which is rarely beyond the first one) but it could be okay at that.

Buff the health and then look at the unit. Does it need penetration? Does it need more damage? Does it need more utility? Does it need anything?

I suspect it would probably need a smaller buff in addition to health but not a whole lot.

StoneTheCrow1:
Assuming equal fuel you can basically get 2 SU-76's for the Panzer 4 but the idea is that you use your earlier fuel tier units to push the field a little bit as you will have the first SU-76 well before any tank you can use him to barrage infantry or support weapons and kill any half-track, scout car etc. Hopefully allowing you enough leway to squeeze out another SU-76 to help fight the panzer 4. You don't need the third though if you get an AT gun if you went tier 2.

I wan to talk about this idea.

This is what a T-70 does when it hits the field early. It crushes enemy light vehicles and gives you significant map control. It drives away problematic infantry and has the potential to wipe them out.

A rushed SU-76 can never really do this. The barrage is clumsy and it telegraphs the attack with an icon over the unit. You can choose to fire a barrage from outside of the enemy's line of sight but it will almost always miss the first shots at such a range. You can choose to bull-rush enemy infantry and surprise them with the barrage at close range: which puts you in danger and is still telegraphed by your rush and then the icon over the tank. Both options are bad and have a 60 second cooldown.

The SU-76 cannot seize map control. You lose map control and potential early game power by advancing your tech and buying this unit. That costs 240 manpower for the building + 270 for the SU-76. That's over two units of infantry you could have had out earlier and fighting.

It is unrealistic to expect the SU-76 to do anything in the short term for map control. It is a long-term unit that extracts value slowly through barrage and using its 60 range cannon to snipe away at enemy armor.

The SU-76 has no late game though because it is too easy to kill while doing its job. This is the paradox of the SU-76 we have today. A long-term unit that needs to be rushed and has no real future.

Things that counter the M8A1 really well:

• Jagdpanzers - stealth and equal range means great ambushes on M8A1 when they come up to snipe
  
• Jagdtiger - Jagdtiger out-ranges the M8A1, one-shots unless unlucky damaged engine/gun crit
  
• Pak43 - For some awful reason the AT gun outranges the M8A1 unless it is vet3. GG artillery.
  
• Panther - Durable and fast. Can dart in to scare M8A1s and sometimes kill.
  
• Puma - A cheaper and more suicidal Panther. Not really good late game because Jackson two-shots it. Good as a fast response to early M8A1 though.
  

The key to using the M8A1 is to get one out before these counters can be feasibly fielded. An early M8A1 hits and starts building veterancy and wiping out infantry squads. Bleed his manpower by killing infantry and pressuring trucks. If you're some combination of lucky and playing well then you can wipe out a lot of OKW infantry and leave his late game tanks under-supported and easier to fend off. M8A1 before tanks is pretty good as long as you scout for Pak40s and protect it with Bazookas and AT grenade.

To keep your M8A1s safe screen them with infantry constantly. M8A1s are best when firing just behind a line of infantry. Alternatively use Pathfinders with their bonkers sight range to spot targets and barrage them without engaging.

Additionally M8A1s tend to work well in pairs. I find that one M8A1 is not enough to really do much.

As for Priests Cookies is basically right. A sneaky flank with a Puma or Panther is your only real option. Counter-barrage with a Walking Stuka doesn't really work, consistently, on either the M8A1 or the Priest. They can both take a rocket to the face and survive. You have to get two rockets to directly hit the enemy; something that is almost impossible unless they move into the second rocket while trying to flee your barrage.

I haven't the faintest fucking clue on how to get the Priest to kill shit. It's... and odd piece of artillery.

Can you confirm that the PTRS changes are listed correctly in the patch notes? If that is the case, then gaurds will be insanely strong

I can only rely on my experience but I definitely noticed a marked increased in PTRS accuracy against infantry.

I would say "trust in the official patch notes! Relic has surely edited them thoroughly to make sure they're correct!"

... but even they make mistakes. Take a look at this Greyhound change:

• Penetration has increased from 35 / 45 / 55 to 40 / 45 / 60
• Distant scatter max has been increased from 35 / 45 / 55 to 40 / 45 / 60

The Distance Scatter change makes no sense at all. Scatter distances are usually values between 1-15. Not 1-60. A panther's cannon has a scatter distance of 8 for instance.

It really looks like they accidentally copied the penetration values over to another patch change. So nothing is certain.

That being said the PTRS change is probably legit.