Profile of ZombiFrancis

Understand that the JT/Elephants biggest weaknesses are their mobility, reliance on the map geometry and pushing power. An elephant/JT isn't gonna dive your Katushyas.

Very good point.

They're very much defensive units. They can push a position about as well as an HMG or pak wall. But they can very well lock down a piece of map that's already been taken. (Much like an HMG or a pak wall.)

To be honest the amount of improvement that units actually standing behind the fucking cover they're meant to fucking stand behind™ had brought to CoH2 since it was altered has improved gameplay responsiveness and importance of cover tremendously unfortunately at an expense of aesthetics.

Is there any way we can strike a nice balance between the two, and just re-introduce a small measure of squad AI?

I believe there is a prioritization that can be made for types of cover at least. It could be made so squads only seek green cover or avoid red cover by ai, but not for yellow or open cover.

I'll have to wait til the weekend to test this ai anyway, let alone see what could be done with it.

So, to all you axis players out there, how does one deal with a JT or elefant in teamgames? Because some people say they can be countered. I haven't yet figured out how. So please, tell me.

Disclaimer: this is a bit of a rage thread, just lost a game to a jt on accross the rhine, basically impossible to avoid there, but I am genuinely curious as to what axis players have to say about it.

The Elefant is for ostheer. It is more or less a sitting duck without a full and vetted army supporting it. It doesn't have nearly the same stats as the jt either. It does one thing and one thing well: snipe tanks. It also comes in some of the non terrible ostheer commanders.

The jt is a whole other monster. It's got across the board the same or better stats, extra vet levels, and though it now locks out the KT, it has an OKW army to support it. The JT commander isn't too shabby either, and since okw doesn't need any doctrine, it's a great perk. I think more people get pissed off about panzerfusiliers and then the JT comes along to seal the deal.

The JT, much like the KT, is often the icing on the cake for the faction. The elefant, on the other hand, is one of the only crutches that can take over for the other, also unturreted crutch, the stug. Much of this has to do with panthers and tigers being highly inefficient choices for ostheer in team games.

Ostheer hits pop cap just trying to maintain field presence. OKW can dominate the field and rarely consider the impact on pop cap.

In short the Elefant and jt, at a glance seem like the same unit with some variations. In reality however, how they function for the faction they reside with is entirely different.

Still says 2.1 ingame. No squad AI to be seen when playing.

I feel a lot more comfortable with a t1 opener because I've practiced it plenty in 1v1, plus I just love having a scout car to rape Kubels/garrisons/any infantry without a faust. That or dropping off Penals behind a bunker, Penals chuck a satchel, hop back in.

However I feel very vulnerable to Luchs/flamer HT rush, especially since I don't have Cons with AT nades/ATG. Unless we dominated both fuels, a t70/su76 comes out too late.

So is it viable to go t1 then transition to t2 later instead of rushing for t3? Also, what about keeping a single Con squad around just to have a snare when needed?

The spare con still needs investment for that at nade, and one con can't be everywhere.

I find t1 into t2 to be viable if and only if you don't have, or think you'll have, the fuel for an su76 or t70.

Either way you'll likely only be going t2 for the zis. The maxim and mortar, however, are still useful options when your opponent is most likely taking an all in strategy and not deviating from a predetermined build order. It's a worthwhile option strategically speaking.

I often build t2 at some point regardless of build order when playing soviets in teamgames.

Ptrs on cons, penals, or guards aren't a good idea unless you've already been crushing your opponents resource income and their luchs or 222s are their hail Mary attempt to get some field presence.

This was the condition on most games before the last few patches because penals were hilariously more broken at the time. That's what made the ptrs so viable.