Profile of ZombiFrancis

The SVT is a result of being nerfed to changed Penals role. When they were 360 manpower, penals were one of the best long ranged units. Recrewing team weapons with penals was a powerful strategy as well.

I used to love having utility with conscripts merging into my penals to keep myself on the field in the early days of CoH2. Mind you, back then the command delay/input lag was so extensive that I could consistently wipe MG42 teams with satchel charges. So much satchel carnage. And the satchel charges have also been nerfed/changed multiple times as well. For most of recent months satchel charges have been outright useless. That's changed for now at least, but it really entrenched the current meta away from Soviet T1.

The game was very different in the early days. Hell even cover used to be mostly meaningless back then. But even then, the Soviet T1/T2 was problematic, especially with conscripts being T0. What Soviet T1, and mostly by extension Penal Battalions is a way to not be crippled by having to choose between T3 and ZiS. The best way to achieve this without just plopping some AT in for Penals or in T1 is to increase the utility in map control. The other T1 units, the sniper and scout car are almost the epitome of not having map control.

But I'll repost this:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=616064538

That's a simple tuning pack I put together to test changes to Soviet T1. Play the AI or grab a friend and try out some T1 modified Guards action.

Currently:

Guards are in T1. They come without PTRS.
PTRS upgrade added for Guards: a clone of conscripts upgrade. This upgrade is only available if a commander that normally would call in guards is chosen, keeping PTRS behind doctrine.)
Penals replace Guards in commanders, at 0 CP. (Guard ability changed to 0 CP, and made to call in Penal Battalions.)

Adjustments to balance:

Guard entity cost/time from 55mp/5.5 sec to 50mp/5 sec.
Guard Mosin nagant moving accuracy modifier from 0.75 to 0.6
Guard Mosin nagant far accuracy from 0.526 to 0.398 (4/6ths of grenadiers Kar98k.)
Guards DP-28 upgrade requires either T2 OR T3.
Guards grenades use requires both molotovs and at nades to be researched from HQ.
Penals SVT mid range accuracy from 0.46 to .555 (5/6th rifle's M1 Garand)
Penals SVT moving accuracy from 0.5 to 0.6
Dispatch recharge time fpr Penals set to 26 (from 36 for Guards; time to build Penals from T1 is 27 seconds.)

I find that Penal Battalions work well in a doctrinal sense. They weren't exactly the backbone of the Soviet Army to begin with, and in CoH2 they don't actually function as such either.

(Please note I use this mod to test things randomly, and I think the Panzergrenadiers STGs might be modified to use short burst fires at long range, not sure if I uploaded that build to the workshop...)

I'd like to point out that DPS is a gorramned lie.

Very rarely do infantry behave in a manner in which they actually put forth that kind of reliable DPS. Not to mention those numbers are almost always by squad, not entity, which means that they completely fail to account for squads that have lost entities.

It also doesn't take into account how squads lose entities. A conscript squad may deal 160 damage total to a Gren squad, which could result in 2 dead grens, or just wounding all four, which leaves them at 100% offensive capabilities.

DPS also ignores the impacts of movement, positioning, and using abilities. Player input between focus firing a squad versus auto attack is another factor that isn't really considered either.

There are so many variables at work that doing math equations to balance units is effectively a waste of time. Comparing things in a vacuum is likewise as silly an endeavor.

I get that, but Combat Engineers have flamethrowers too, and they don't require teching to get it. If I need flamethrowers, I don't take a unit that can get flamethrowers to build a building to buy a unit that can get flamethrowers.

And I'd much much rather use demos and mines over a Satchel charge against axis armor. Not to mention T2 for ZiS.

Also, Obers are also like the definition of a hard counter to infantry that have to get to close range. If I'm playing OKW and my opponent is making Penals it's more an invitation to get Obers than anything.

The thing with volks is that they got schrecks to give them that vet like crazy. Volks rifles do 8 damage. Schrecks deal 120.

It's the only unit I have ever consistently been able to get to vet 5 without even trying. Getting vet 5 on just about any other unit OKW has feels like an achievement, but for volks? Business as usual.

Their current role is not an 'elite' infantry. I think that's the confusion. They're like conscripts, which have specific utility.

Is your opponent spamming MG bunkers and throwing MGs in garrisons? Then penals have utility. Are you playing on Steppes? Then penals don't have utility.

Although I do agree that the Ostruppen always felt more like a Soviet design. The concepts for the factions seem so muddled.