And Rifles/Tommies with double upgrades were... not changed at all.
People seem to think because 5 > 3 that all OKW things are just significantly better because vet. While I think there are some units that are, some are far from it.
This is a huge problem and it's really evident in the DBP. I'm currently doing some testing, but from what I can tell, volks are almost worthless right now in nearly every single situation, and it seems to be mostly because of over-nerfing due to the perceived "5>3".
Right now, in neutral cover, if vet 3 cons w/ PPSH's attack vet 5 volks, and close in from maximum range, the cons will win with 4 models left. Meanwhile, if Vet 5 volks w/ MP40's attack vet 3 cons and move from max range, it's almost always a tie (1 model left with almost zero hp). It doesn't make sense for there to be this much difference between the two (almost identical) units, especially with volks requiring tons more xp to hit max vet.
This general trend applies to a bunch more units too, like you said with the JP4.
The difficulty for the balance team is that it is impossible to properly balance and fix the various issues because the faction design is so flawed. (A lot of it stemming from non-linear teching)
While challenging, the balance team missed many changes that were/are needed to fully fix many of the 'meta' strategies (at least in 2v2). Double bar and double M1919 are still very dominant compared to any mainline axis infantry in every combat situation, especially with vet. The same can be said for tommies with double brens. Despite this, no changes were made to rifle's combat power or tommies (except for cover bonus nerfs and a moving accuracy nerf), and as a result both these units continue to massively outperform grens, and now even volks thanks to a nerf, requiring the cheese/rush meta of things like the luchs and flaktHT.
These are huge changes that would never get approved, how else is it possible to properly balance Penals without making them gimicky/cheesy or never used?
Personally, I would just give the penals an 'upgrade' kit. At T1/T2, the penals would be re-balanced to perform similar to grens/volks; less HP, less damage at range, etc. At T3 or 4, an upgrade would become available (45 muni?) that would upgrade the squad to its current stats.
This would result in penals being balanced in the early game, and meaning that a wiped penal squad would actually be costly in the late game, rather than only a slight annoyance. Right now the vet 0 penal stats allow for them to tie/win against vet 5 volks and mid/close, which is quite problematic in late game. It's a pretty 'obvious patch' type fix, but I think it would work.
Speaking for 3vs3 and 4vs4 game format only.
I'm sad for you, but I disagree completely.
All games were always the same with OkW using all the same units over and over.
This problem wasn't just OKW though, every factions falls back to incredibly repetitive builds in most games. USF will always double-bar rifles in the late game, supported by jacksons. Soviets will always go Penals supported by T34's/SU85s depending on enemy vehicle composition. Brits will always go double-bren tommies supported by fireflys/commets.
Doomlord52
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
