Profile of Crells

The past week or so I have been doing t2-t3 Russian builds consistantly. Whilst going t1/t2 to t4 does feel some what more reliable, there is nothing wrong at all in going t2-t3. As pqumsieh just highlighted do not go t1-t3 unless you have complete fuel dominance because you will lose everything to a well microed p4/ostwind due to no respectable AT.

If you play for the fuel as Russia, get out 2 T34's as your opponent has only a single P4 on the field you can actually take him head on with your tanks. The marked vehicle ability will win it outright for you. My general unit composition of this army consists of 1-2 engineers, 3 conscripts, 1 maxim, 1 guard, 1 Zi3 and 1-2 T34's when playing this stratergy. Despite initially losing a lot with this stratergy, testing it against good players, utilizing many commanders I have finally begun to win with it +50% of the time. I hope to write a guide on this approach of the game.

The way I see T34's currently in 1v1 games:

• Great anti-infantry tank. Can deal with some shrecks ambush.
  
• Deters heavy tank based play due to threat of ram on Elephant or Tiger.
  
• Ram only when an opponent overextends a tank to within my own territory and I can easily destroy it and repair my own tank back up. Do not ever ram if I can't save my own tank, unless I know I have the fuel advantage and can replace my tank whilst my opponent can't replace his loss.
  
• T34 at vet2 are one of the few Russian units that actually get a damage increase at vet2. Keep this in mind of the damage they bring to the table if you don't suicide them.
  

Do T34's deserve a buff. Yes, but only a small buff. I believe they only need a slight increase in the penetration damage or chance they do against opponents armour. Not much but just a bit to give a bit more of a soft counter and chase down very hurt p4's a bit better. At the moment I find with t2-t3 the greatest difficulty is getting the final killing blow on your opponents vehciles due slow ATG movement/fire rate you can often only get off 1-2 shots, so Guards or Conscript AT nade can finish of a enemy tank that is extremely hurt. A T34 should be given that chance a bit more aswell. It should not be the dedicated counter though, purely chips in like 10-15% damage to the p4, whilst combined arms from ATG, Guards and Conscripts do the work.

Aside from that the T34 unit is fine and balanced. Damage verse infantry is great, health, speed, rotation of vechile and turret and most importantly the cost. 280 MP and 95 Fuel is perfect. Having a high fuel price for T34's prevents the awful mass ram based tactics that made utilizing German armour in previous patchs impossible almost due to overwhelming T34 tank number superiority. If you ram and lose your T34's in doing without killing your opponents, you should be punished as it was a poor decision to ram.

I agree mostly with you post but not fully. 95 fuel for what you are describing is essentially a bigger T70 with ram... it just does not seem to fit into t3 for me. the only reason to buy it is for ram? seem like bad design to me. Trying to balance a tank over one gimmicky ability will always lead to imbalance issues.

The fact that a Dev said you have to go t2 to make T3 viable seems like a bad joke to me, RTS games are suppose to promote new strategies being formulated NOT trying to force you into pre determined build orders.

I would like to see Ram changed to a vet 1 ability which only stuned each vehicle for 5 secounds and then boost it's damage vs vehicles or reduce it costs. i find it very strange people are arguing it is ok to pay 95 fuel for a battering ram...


This is just my opinion but i find anyone who thinks teh T-34 is fine in its current state a German fan boy and values there own interests over that of game balance.

I do not think the current T34 has anyplace in the game currently, the Ram ability is a one trick pony that is hurting balance, you get no cat and mouse gameplay, you can not use your tanks to flank enemy tanks because the only time you can kill P4s is with a ATG in support and they can not flank well..., there is no tense positioning moments, oh look p4, RAM bring up ATG. or oh look t34 pop smoke get too close for it to ram and kill it.

Ram makes the tank game Dull, boring and leaves no room for tactics.

and, call Guards and a little clown car, those 160 MP, 120 Ammo, and 20 fuels will be toasted

Clown car T1 Maxim T2

They are however it forces a certain doctrine on you and i really dislike that fact

The problem is they are so cheap and can deal one on one with a panther that cost almost double. And they are insanely fast in reverse and will shoot with near perfect accuracy driving backwards. They don't need a turret when they can just speed reverse and turn toward target and rarely miss. After the p4 speed nerf it impossible to circle it with less than 2 p4s unless you have the blitz ability. The one tank that can deal with it costs twice as much and will lose most of its health fighting one. Unless that panther was early its very likely by the time it comes out there will be more than one su 85. And 2 su 85s will eat everything short of an elefant for breakfast

Considering the fact that they are tank destroyers and are practically useless vs anything else i find them being able to effectively kill tanks, even tanks that are more expensive than them perfectly fine. P4's do a good job of killing infantry, same with the panther.

I would like to add that the game is not played in a vacum and there are lots of ways to get around the 85 problem.

IMO it is fine and if you would like to nerf the SU-85 then i would like to hear your suggestions as how to compensate the Soviets in dealing with heavy armour as it stands the su 85 is the only thing capable of doing it.

Really people are now bitching about the SU-85 as well now. i swear the German players love to moan.

The only point i agree with is the cone vision proving sigh up to it's max range. my solution make it the vet 1 ability or attach a muni cost/decent timer as previously suggested.

Counters for the SU-85 in a vacum are: shrek, PAK(the 85's shitty AI makes it loose vs a PAK) P4 which is vet 1 with smoke, panther with vet 1. PAK43. They can be counters and it comes down to how well you plan an attack, PLEASE remember it is an assault gun, it can be circle strafed, and if you faust it, the turn rate is also slowed down making it literally a sitting duck.

End of the day the SU 85 is the ONLY AT weapon that can reliably hurt panthers and up, the ONLY one soviets have. The damage must stay the same. the range must stay the same.