...
Big plus to this.
Overall, Coh3 doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. Coh2 has a very satisfying, even addictive core loop.
The game shows scars mostly of Relic trying to create completely different factions with the DLC that they didn't know fully what to do with when they found out that their design doesn't work as intended. Plus some additional issues like outdated texts, XP system, some ability mechanics and so on. Issues that accumulated if there is no dedicated developer tasked with cleaning those up regularly.
On top of that, there are some engine limitations like missing side armor etc, but overall they are not game breaking.
I am also concerned about the asthetics and UI. So many things look like plastic, cheap figurines sold to tourists at trash shops. It starts with the people on the main cover, the soldiers on the loading screen, the soldier's heads in game when selecting a squad, many of the vehicles, sometimes also infantry models.
Literally all clickable buttons and abilities. Everything is rectangular or square with 90° angles, mostly white background and visually fully floating above the actual rest of the game.
They really need to fix this. In the end it would not be an absolute deal breaker if the rest is fine, but it just lessens the experience. If I start CoH2, I know it is a gruesome war with tragic heroism right from the main menu, simply by using a dark design with metal plates and some type of melancholic music in the background, completed by the flag of one of the nations. CoH3's main menu reminded me of the plastic toy soldiers I played with when I was little. |
XP used to be directly tied to cost.
Most patches that change the cost of unit did not change the XP values accordingly while some units had the XP changed so currently XP value are mess.
XP values of entities
Grenadier 60
Riflemen 56
IS 54
VG 50
Conscripts 40
XP value of entity itself is enough to determine only in wipes. In the case that squad survives one has to take into the total damage dealt multiplied XP so a weapon firing on conscripts squad probably has to deal 1.5X damage to gain the same veterancy as firing on grenadier squad.
But what I did not claim that ML-20 vet faster , I simply pointed out that I see no reason why LeFH would vet faster.
From my experience OKW trucks are a prime target for ML-20/120mm mortar since the are big and have high XP value and if one want to gain veterancy one should aim for them.
You didn't say that the LeFH vetted faster than the ML20, but you pointed out that Soviet models give less XP without the context of larger Soviet squads. It doesn't matter how much XP the single model gives, but how much a shot gives. With Soviet squads being 1.5x times larger than Ostheer ones, it makes sense that Ostheer squads need to yield 1.5x times more XP, because larger squads have a higher chance of being hit due to covering a larger area and you hit more models in general. How this plays out in detail from shots hitting in the middle of the squad to only clipping some models with their far AoE is difficult to answer. Maybe MMX knows more, but I remember him saying that TTK (in the case of infantry vs heavy tanks) does not depend on the squad size. But again, the only things I wanted to point out is:
1. Soviet infantry yielding less XP is a necessity due to larger squad sizes.
2. USF and UKF exist, which yield fairly high XP values compared to Soviets.
As a last point, there are also Soviet Penals builds which combine both high cost and large squad size.
I am not sure if that hold much water. One the most popular soviet commanders is Soviet Combined Arms Army that combines ml-20/reckon/IL-2 bombing that could clear LeFH.
I would guess that is Soviet did/do build less ml-20s is related to the fact that there are more option available to allies teams for arty like B4,Priest, Sexton, calliope, Land mattress or the fact that soviet have access to super heavies so they might choose to go for them instead.
On the other hand Axis are in need of counters to 120mm/Pak howizter/emplacements.
In any case is rather easy to delete howitzer with off maps which UKF/USF officer can easily reveal so I don't that usage speaks volumes about value.
On the other hand I do agree that removing counter barrage was a (probably justified) nerf to LeFH.
The dive bomb has been removed from Jager Armor specifically after the community requested it to be, because artillery to bleed out your opponent was one of the few counters to Elefant builds.
Sextons and Priests surely are a contributing factor. But if you look at the commanders in Ostheer and OKW back in March-June and the fact that your ML20 when in doubt would lose the shoot out (at that time especially with CB), it is not surprising that ML20s are not popular.
At least in the current build, Axis have a very good counter to emplacements and infantry based arty with OKW's Stuka. |
You're still wrong. The ML-20 always fires less, it just isn't as bad as it was before. The ML-20 always fires 9 now instead of starting at 8. The LEFH fires 10. The last test I did was several patches ago so it wouldn't be quite as bad on an artillery duel, but all the other points remain the same. The LEFH vets faster, particularly if you can set it up within range of the USF base. Also, nobody builds arty to counter other arty. Arty is at best a soft counter to other arty so talking about an arty duel is just a red herring.
The LeFH being dominant over the ML20 was one of the main reasons why you could see the LeFH in team games, but rarely the ML20. If you build an ML20, you usually got counter artied and lost the duel, feeding even more XP to the LeFH.
Pre-patch, CB was playing into this as well, as well as the Elefant being in the same doctrine as the Stuka dive bomb. However, if those were not available, counter arty is not just a soft counter, but the only counter you have. Especially on some maps like Essen, Hamburg and Angermunde which are hard to flank and go into the backline of your opponent.
Also these static howitzers are cheap and sturdy enough that sacrificing a medium for them is not really worth it if it is enough in the first place. |
Generally speaking soviet entities has lesser XP value than axis ones so I can;t say that can agree that Lefh vet faster.
Isn't the XP value coupled to cost (either directly or manually as a trend?).
Soviet squads also have more models that can be hit and give XP, so it is more of a question of how large the XP difference actually is. Basically is e.g. 6*Conscript XP similar to 4*Grenadier XP?
I don't know those values to be honest, but as long as the Grenadier XP value is roughly 1,5 times larger than the Conscript one, they vet similarly.
Also, the LeFH does not only shoot at Soviets. UKF emplacements are prime targets as well, and UKF and USF infantry are worth a lot more. |
I might be misunderstanding hannibal here, but he may mean AT capability vs the panther instead of AT in general.
While I agree that because of deflection damage the penetration buff would make it less prominent, buffing RoF would risk overbuffing the tank. The ISU can already 2 shot 640s and 3 shot panthers with mark and it doesn't need to be done faster. While in all honesty I've had fantastic success against the elephant with the ISU, probably due to the deflection damage, penetration would benefit more against super heavies while keeping TTK vs 640s-960s roughly the same. I don't really think the ISU needs a buff, I'd just like the ability it has to be more useful or changed.
I think it might not be very clearly phrased on my part, but I think I also mixed up pure offensive fire power and did not regd the fact that it can take more of a beating than the SU85.
Anyway, my point was that a pen buff is probably not that useful as an ability, which imo would just replace one boring, situational ability (CPR) with a different one.
That's why suggested a stun round earlier. Would be something new for Soviets, and believable for a shell this size.
I'll also throw in another idea, although it might be broken:
A long range mini-barrage. Maybe even only one shot with suppression. Probably an improved HE shot, potentially larger far AoE but not super wipey. Max range maybe 90-100, min range 80. Lobbed shot only if necessary. This would work with the ISU being an assault gun, at this range you can only shoot at static targets or places where you know the enemy MUST pass by unless you have very deep recon which the Soviets barely get access to. The min range is there to prevent the ISU from directly engaging after it shot this shell, forcing you to use it only as support to pushes.
There surely are some issues with this idea, but I'll throw it in regardless. |
ISU honestly already does slaughter any and all armor beneath elephant/KT/JT. However inorder to effectively beat the elephant in a heads up fight you require mark. The issue I have is its penetration at max is <50% against the JT, which just seems dumb. I had my ISU recently bounce against an OKW p4 and was surprised by that. Not that the ability needs to give it 400 penetration but its pen most of the time isn't what holds it back versus non-superheavies, it's the rate of fire and shell swap times. I don't think a +20% timed pen ability would really break the ISU any further than the current JT or elephant.
At the very least the CPR should be considered for a change, as many people have agreed with it being mediocre.
I vaguely remember that we once estimated the ISU's AT capability to be roughly equal to an SU85. So overall, it should lose to a Panther.
Your post got me the impression that you want the ISU to win or at least roughly be equal to the Elefant in terms of AT when the ability is activated. But pen buffs are as you said not as valuable for the ISU due to the deflection damage, which would mean damage and or ROF buffs. And those would hit lighter targets alike.
Not really. With "low" armour and low ROF, a single Panther will always be able to take on the ISU152. Soviets on the other hand will have trouble with the Jgd/Ele. First their RAM combo has been gutted and you need to invest a lot of micro/munitions/MP/fuel to take it down. Worse if the enemy is competent.
Jagd and ele should have massive damage and armour and HP, but their mobility and rotation should be extremely low as well, and abilities should focus on AT, not AI.
ISU152 has good good armour (340) and good HP. Suffers from mobility as well. It's AT is decent enough and it's AI is great. Overall a well balanced unit after the HE range nerf.
Jagd wouldn't even be that OP if it was not in the same commander as the fussies
As you can read from the post, my whole point was under the assumption that the ISU gets some type of timed AT ability that enables it to win against e.g. the Elefant, I was not talking about the current ISU.
CoH2 does not allow a unit to be good vs heavy units but bad vs lights, not with the current range of accuracies and target sizes. A buff vs heavies often works against lighter units too. The only way to somehow dofferentiate is by picking damage thresholds. And an ISU that wins against the Elefant MUST get higher ROF, meaning it will kill all other units more quickly. |
I completely agree with OP.
Converting AoEII fans to AoEIV was a huge achievement and showed that Relic can still give to RTS.
I trully trully wish that this treatment is reserved for COH3. WW2 is a huge genre, and few RTS ever got it right.
COH for me got it the best.
They didn't really convert the AoE2 base though. The DE version has only slightly decreasing player numbers. It does not explain where those ~20k AoE4 players come from. These must, for the most part, be players that are either new to AoE or older gamers that decided to pick the game up.
I think CoH2 will remain after CoH3 is released. I think the Mediterranean theatre is interesting, but probably not as widely known as the western and especially eastern front.
CoH3 however has quite an advantage over AoE4 though. AoE4 had to somehow outperform a VERY highly acclaimed and polished AoE2. CoH3 on the other hand has to outperform "only" CoH2, which still lacks a lot of features and fixes.
That's were CoH3 can really shine. I hope Relic realizes that. |
and they decided to add an anti-team weapon ability to a tank with 450 armor, guaranteed pen and extreme damage on each and every tank that it fires at in the game
do they care about that point anyway?
Bullshit on one unit does not excuse bullshit on others.
But even if we accept that the JT can fight team weapons:
There is a huge difference between the JT pushing back a single team weapon (probably an ATG which is supposed to counter it) that is a third of its price and population and the ISU forcing back the Ele/JT at a similar price level. Especially since this could have the side effect that an ISU that is capable of defeating the Ele/JT would slaughter the Panther and anything below. |
You'll answer yourself this question, when you sit for a moment and contemplate on how allies counter ele and JT.
That's quite nonsense.
If the ISU had great AT, even via a timed ability, you remove one of he few weak points it has. |
I slayed the monster you abooser apparently the AP shell's penetration is 200/230/260. I'd prefer a pen buff ability to manhandle the ele/JT from the front. That, I would gladly pay 60 muni for.
Elefant is probably the strongest and most specialized AT unit in the game. JT is supposed to be similar, for some odd reason it gets the AI barrage. The ISU however is fairly AI specialized, it shouldn't be able to really contest the Elefant.
But overall I agree. 60 mun for the current ability is not really worth it. |