Profile of ZombiFrancis

At this point, I offer this suggestion:

Show Spoiler

I don't think my old test mod from which I harvested this suggestion from is anywhere close to functional anymore. (As in, I did some crazy things with USF and both Axis factions. Plus its a particularly old build of CoH2.)

Technically, there is a large congregation of people that bash the effort in v1.3, clogging up the thread, and making it difficult to receive feedback from actual in-game experience. The mod is out for less than 24 hours, the thread has received 117 responses; most of them stating the same.

Yet I doubt that people have really had the time to play the mod. That's because I was also on a lobby waiting for games to show up, so that I can also play the mod myself.

I think that's because a lot of people felt that the PTRS was an unpopular decision in the first place, so adding more felt more like a middle finger towards anyone putting their time into testing and giving feedback.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think we are converging to the same conclusion.

The overarching answer to the T1 conondrum has to be one of the following:
- Keep Penals OP, as they are (so that a T1 investment is worth it)
- Give T1 access to some AT options, so that they can hold off until T3
- Make T1 free/ultra-cheap (that way, a T1 will be less of a costly detour)

According to your feedback and responses so far (which have been helpful, btw), you seen to be converging very hard towards option #2. Correct me if I am wrong, but you've been advocating for homing CoH1-style satchels. That's already an AT option; and that's already something that a T1 could use to hold out to T3.

Kind of. I thought the first iteration of AT Satchels without homing worked just fine. The homing version works too.

The key thing here is access to the Satchel. Sticky bombs in CoH1 were like 80mp and 25fuel. Going stickies was a choice, and having Penals out the door having access to this option could be problematic.

Making the ability morph when there's an upgrade or tier structure built isn't intuitive and isn't so much a side tech choice as a side effect. I used to advocate removing Satchel access on Penal Battalions until they got a flamethrower upgrade. (So that they actually role changed from long range infantry to anti-garrison/bunker.) Nowadays Satchel charge access (with AT functionality) being tied behind the AT nade from HQ might be the best bet. You don't have auto access to AT, you still have a panic AT option, and you're not having to completely morph abilities or units around.

The AT solution doesn't necessarily have to be PTRS. However, if we are discarding option #1 (because we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot for other gamemodes) and option #3 (because that takes away choice; and also, we don't know how non-doc Penals & maxims will really look like) we have to go for option #2.

Personally, I don't care if option #2 entails PTRS, or AT nades, or M42 or something. However that option needs to be side-tech free, if T1 is to remain competitive. That option doesn't have to be a silver bullet, but it should be good enough to guarantee you will make it to T3 the majority of the time.

I advocate for switching maxims with snipers. This is NOT possible without Penals having that AT functionality to their Satchels. The switch alone doesn't elevate T1 enough and just nerfs T2. But with the AT Satchel buff, T1 becomes feasible, and T2 remains viable. It also breaks the ability for Soviets to stand on OKW's neck with T2 alone. But that's such a significant change that would require more than my perspective.

I'd demonstrate it here if you let me harvest the AT satchel from your guys' efforts: https://www.coh2.org/topic/57974/winter-balance-suggestions/page/1#post_id580297

But I also I understand this is out of The Scope.

T2 will still help; but that's the tapping-in option. However, T1-to-T2 shouldn't be the prescribed option; it should be the fallback option.

Like I've also been saying, the early game access to the ZiS has always been the problem with early soviet teching. You're never really going to beat a combination like maxim + ZiS in one tier.

I can add spoiler tags to allow people to home in on their preferred question. It's just tiresome having to deal with the same questions in 10 different threads.

I get that. It might warrant a few different threads because it'll become a mess to keep a conversation going with so many different points being presented and responded to at once.

You usually can't go wrong with a few craters and some scorch and damage splats to fill in a more or less bare area.

Also the roadways and mud/muck tracks help stitch things together.

Oh god the roos.

For a good stretch during 2.691 I just alt-f4ed or ragequit at the loadscreen when I saw the Union Jack. God my rankings suffered so.

But it was worth it for a good American v Wehrmacht game. And every so often a PE for good measure to keep things spicy.

The thing that always frustrated me most was bike pushing. But yeah snipers are the same as they ever were balance wise.

How about making T2 lik 40% cheaper if you went T1 and making T1 40% cheaper if you went T2 already?

That's actually a pretty good idea. Since the discount would only apply to T1 and T2 it wouldn't take away from rushing for T3, but ease having to go and backtech.

However, at the same time T1 and T2 are pretty cheap. They cost as much or less than a lost engagement. It's the cost of reinforcing a couple squad. That discounts like 60 something manpower and 4-8 fuel.