Profile of CieZ

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Offline United States
Posts: 1468 | Subs: 4

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Broadcast: https://www.twitch.tv/riseofthephoenix_
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV_ujoRNpEU_ERL9dW8H9w
Steam: 76561197995165748
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United States
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United States

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Thread: I want to like OKW...1 Jul 2014, 21:05 PM It's always interesting seeing differences in play styles and the way that people view the game. I've always viewed okw as being very defensive and in it for the long game. I think both styles are valid but I just can't see myself playing okw aggressively. I'll stick to my puma build for a while In: OKW Strategies
Thread: CieZ's Puma First OKW Build30 Jun 2014, 19:47 PM Hey everyone, just wanted to share a build that I've been working on over the past few days. I made this build as an answer to the M20s and USF AA HT that have been so popular in 1v1 recently in the OKW vs USF match up, but I believe that it is a solid opening against any USF opener. It also works well against Soviet T1 play, but is not optimal against Soviet T2 openers. The build: Volk, Volk, Volk, Mechanized Regiment HQ (the repair truck), MG34, MG34(the second is map/playstyle dependent but I like having two), Puma. From here if you're facing a USF Lieut you can grab a 251 flak HT, or just put up the healing truck and grab some Fallshirms. I prefer healing as my second truck over the flak HQ because getting elite infantry (Obers or Fallshirms) without healing leads to some heavy manpower bleed. Pros: Counters the M20 and USF AA HT using the Puma, while still being effective against riflemen. Early vehicle dominance can be used to leverage additional map control. Saves muni on early schrecks since Puma will counter vehicles for you. This means more mines, more grenades, or saving your muni for an off-map. Cons: Not as optimal vs a Capt opener because of easy access to a 57mm AT gun to counter the Puma. (You can hold off on building the Puma until you see a Lieut, that way if you see the Capt you can choose to immediately put up your healing truck, but you still get later access to Obers than a healing truck --> flak HQ build.) Not as effective against Soviet builds, except for T1 openers. Requires solid Puma micro. Anyways, if you want to check it out here is a YouTube video where I use one of my recent 1v1s to explain the build in more detail. In: OKW Strategies
Thread: 1v1, the Unbeatable Liberty & Democracy30 Jun 2014, 00:31 AM Jump back to quoted post29 Jun 2014, 22:10 PMCyridius You can't use a bug to demonstrate a balance issue. It isn't a bug, it's an unfortunate side effect of the way in which the modifier that Volley Fire applies to Rear Echelon Troops works. The Stuart, when using its ability can do extremely well against Pumas, especially if backed up by the Capt or an AT gun - both of which will be around if you have a Stuart on the field. In: COH2 Gameplay
Thread: 1v1, the Unbeatable Liberty & Democracy29 Jun 2014, 21:38 PM Jump back to quoted post29 Jun 2014, 20:57 PMDullahan Use cover. While I agree with this general sentiment it isn't always an option, especially on maps like Langres/Crossing where green cover is significantly more rare. Also it is still more than possible to suppress squads even in green cover. Using volley fire to make bazookas shoot like an autocannon is even more proof of how the ability is (currently) very broken. In: COH2 Gameplay
Thread: Heck of a 2v229 Jun 2014, 19:17 PM GG WP. Close/intense game. Look for the epic B4 howitzer shot from IpKai. Also Jacksons are good. Like... really good. In: Replays
Thread: 1v1, the Unbeatable Liberty & Democracy29 Jun 2014, 16:33 PM Jump back to quoted post29 Jun 2014, 12:09 PMCyridius Why do you have squads blobbed up against a suppression unit? Rear Echelons have paper durability and do zero damage. Literally the *only thing they can do* is spam Volley Fire, and you know what beats that? Having 2 squads. And as infantry units start doing more and more damage as the game goes on, simply using volley fire doesn't work anymore. One of the biggest issues I find with Volley is that it allows Rear Echelon to 1v1 any squad in the early engagements, due to permanent pinning(For those who don't know, standard weapons do suppression damage, so if Volley pins someone and then the RE keep shooting, they'll stay pinned). And that's something that, while I enjoy using immensely, needs to be looked at. Even for 20MU, a 160MP capping support squad shouldn't be able to solo a core combat infantry unit. And tell me, where is America's next tier of infantry? The bill ends at Riflemen and a single Lieutenant squad. The US has no Paznergrenadiers, Fallschirmjager, Panzerfuliser, Obersoldaten, or any other tier-up comabt infantry. Just the Riflemen. So, yeah, I'm not going to shed a tear when people complain about America's only combat infantry squad in the game. With that said, it is strange that the M1919 comes for 60 munitions, whereas Paratroopers get them for 120. So that needs to be fixed one way or the other by Relic. But I have to ask, do you not know what a tank is? Fuck, the Flak Halftrack will instantly rape any American infantry in the game. You're complaining to me that an 840-1120MP and 180-240MU investment is doing effective damage to infantry? Admittedly, quite effective damage. That doesn't "theoretically win every engagement", you just practically lose them. Rife squad engagements with any similarly equipped infantry as highly based on luck in how the damage is spread between the models. Fuck, Rifles can still lose to vetted up Sturmpios. 4 Rifle squads or more is such an easy strategy to punish, it's far too heavy on the manpower, delays all the vitally important teching the USA needs to do, and on top of that has absolutely no lategame payoff. And 3 Rifles? They get countered by any vehicle other than the damn Kubelwagon or Scout Car. They do absolutely zero AT damage and the only way they'll hurt heavier halftracks is if you're just sitting there while they surround it and shoot it for about a minute. The Halftrack is very potent, but it is USF's direct counter to the OKW halftrack. It's supposed to win. And frankly the possibility of Allies still experiencing a squad wipe if they retreat the instant they see the OKW Flak HT is still pretty high. Its splash damage is fucking insane, which is one thing the USF HT does not even compare to. Unless USF ignore Lieutenant and goes straight for Captain + AT Guns preemptively, they have absolutely nothing to handle the OKW halftrack, except for their own halftrack. It needs to be the way it is or the Lieutenant and his tech branch will never be used. 2 Volk squads with Schreks are more than capable of taking out the American HT, or at the least deterring it, though as with all infantry based AT platforms, that is not the most optimal solution. As you said, it's a glass cannon. If you take away the DPS, it will need a durability boost. Which would be a fine trade off for me. But if you nerf the USF HT without properly considering the consequences, you will skew the US-OKW matchup dramatically. I honestly believe that halftrack is the only thing keeping Americans competitive with OKW in the midgame. The instant response I - and all my friends, too - have when I see that OKW flak HT hit the field is "I need to get my Halftrack out NOW". My entire early game is geared towards securing that halftrack's existence as a preemptive counter to the OKW one. It's become so common that in a lot of my games the OKW builds AT before their halftrack, just to screw me up. It's very often that I just see Volks walking around with Schreks by the time I get my Lieutenant into the fight. The metagame with USF and OKW is very much "He whole halftracks the best, wins". Er, you realize that Rear Echelon Troops can easily suppress 3-4 squads at a time, even if they're spread out. This is what makes volley fire so broken. It gives a buff to the RET that increases their rate of fire/suppression modifier over time (also works for any equipped weapons - like Bazookas) and they're free to target any squad they want, and can even move. So yeah, with a little micro they just suppress entire armies for 20 muni... as a 160 MP squad with none of the disadvantages that a MG has. The ability is broken. USF has Paratroopers, which are EXTREMELY strong and what I'd consider to be USF "elite" infantry. As far as other elite infantry, USF has the Liet and Capt - both of which are stronger than normal rifle squads thanks to the insane thompson that each squad comes with. Not really sure where you're going with the whole "M1919A6 costs 60 muni and Paras get them for 120." Paratroopers get 2x M1919A6 for 120 munition, the same cost that any other squad could get them for, provided you have the commander that unlocks them. Seems fair to me. Contrary to what you seem to think, USF has tons of counters to the OKW Flak HT (which is not only significantly weaker than the USF AA HT, but is also much more of an investment for the OKW than the USF AA HT is). Bazookas are actually extremely good against it, especially considering it has a set-up and tear-down time. The M20 is a soft-counter, both because it has a Bazooka and because the OKW Flak HT has a minimum range, meaning if you can get the M20 right next to the OKW flak HT, your m20 wins easily. The USF AT gun is an extremely hard-counter, being able to get off two shots before the OKW Flak HT can pack-up and move (plus out-ranging it). Furthermore you have access to the Stuart, which just mops the floor with the OKW Flak HT and pretty much every other OKW vehicle until a Panther or Jagdpanzer. So yeah, both the Lt and Capt can counter the OKW flak HT with ease, although the Capt does it better. Of course rifles will (and should) lose to Sturmpios (although Rifles actually do extremely well against Sturmpios if you know what you're doing). Rifles are 280 MP, Volks are 320. Makes sense to me. Not to mention that Volks have abysmally low DPS - Sturmpios are the only thing holding OKW early game together, you need them around to win almost any engagement - and you still have to hope that Rear Echelons are not around to volley fire you. As far as your claim that 2x Schrecks will beat the USF AA HT - not against any decent player. The AA HT suppresses on the move, has no teardown time, and is extremely mobile. Trying to counter it with Schrecks will never work, it will always get away. Trying to use the raketen is essentially the same scenario. You'll never actually kill it against a good player. I'll agree that 4 Rifles is one too many, too much bleed but Rifles scale as well, or better, than any infantry in the game except perhaps Fallshirms/Obers with their ability to equip two weapons - and the effectiveness of USF weapons (although they do need this, to a certain extent). Anyways, the unfortunate consequence to the ridiculous power of the USF AA HT is that it makes the only viable OKW opening going for a fast Puma. Anything else will instantly lose to the AA HT, and even then the Puma has a harder time than it should killing an AA HT once the 37mm is able to fire (the penetration is a bit nuts, as well as the shots per clip). Sadly, the Puma isn't great against a Stuart and is easily countered by bazookas. In: COH2 Gameplay
Thread: Why WFA is the best thing to happen to COH 229 Jun 2014, 16:09 PM Gonna take this chance to try and clear some things up, I think some people mis-understood me or I failed to get my point across in a few areas. The reason I think that WFA is such a good thing for coh2 is not that the game itself is perfect but rather the change that I've witnessed in the way that Relic handles their interactions with the community. I said that I had talked with old community members about how Relic did not listen to them at the launch of Coh 2, not to bad mouth them or try and insult them - on the contrary, I'm very glad that they made such efforts to improve CoH 2 and I was sad that Relic did not listen to their feedback. Additionally when I first became involved with the beta this was definitely the case - and was a major reason Industry/Elite Troops were released in their broken state. The testers gave Relic feedback, but it was ignored and we all know what happened. However, this time around Relic REALLY did listen to our feedback and it looks like something that they're willing to do in the long-run for this game. I don't think I ever claimed to be some sort of hero in the video, and if I came across that way it was certainly not my intention. The entire private and public alpha did a great job testing and providing valuable feedback (at least I assume it was valuable because I saw numerous ideas from numerous different people being implemented by Relic, all of which improved the game). There were plenty of people that played alpha more and provided more feedback than myself. Also (@Cyridius and maybe others) I never said that we as a community need to basically suck up to Relic or anything like that and I've never felt that way. I believe that I've been one of the most critical alpha/beta testers in multiple aspects of the game (from balance to design to maps etc etc) - hence why I mentioned that I hated WFA when I first got my hands on it and talking about how close I came to quitting and jumping ship. I wrote numerous harsh essays directly to the dev team basically saying that the entire initial design of OKW was complete shit. I'm simply trying to impress upon the community the importance of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. There are, in my opinion, way too many posts that are essentially "LOL this game sux Relic" or "Stupid [insert faction here] fanboi l2p [insert unit here] is totally balanced." That sort of thing only harms the community and doesn't help Relic at all. I just wanted to show how willing Relic is to listen, provided people provide them with legitimate criticisms. Finally @Baba, you need to re-watch the video and get the timeline correct. I was extremely critical of Relic's design decisions during the WFA alpha (which I started playing in early April). Actually your post is just too long and too wrong to respond to in this sort paragraph so yeah, if you want to talk please make sure you actually understand what I was talking about before making such a long, and completely ignorant post. I think you'll see, upon further analysis, that I've come to essentially agree with a lot of what the older community members(Inverse most specifically since he actually provided constructive feedback) were saying about CoH 2 at release, and in the video I say that early CoH 2 was, admittedly, not very good(both balance-wise and design wise). But to be fair, we've come a LONG way from the game being in that state. Other than that thanks for the feedback guys - I do appreciate both the positive and negative feedback and will take it to heart going forward with any other videos that I decide to make. In: COH2 Gameplay
Thread: Does USA/OKW halftrack arrive too fast ?29 Jun 2014, 05:04 AM The penetration of the 37mm autocannon on the USF AA HT is (at least from my experience) way higher than it needs to be. It easily penetrates the Luchs and can even heavily damage pumas. Anyone arguing that the USF AA HT is balanced is a bit silly, it's extraordinarily hard to beat, especially considering how early it comes out. Just look at the USF 1v1 ladder. Three people in top 10 have 0 losses (including OMGPOP at 25-0). IpKai does not use the AA HT but the M20 is seriously good as well. I dunno what Ivan does - maybe he can chime in? But either way it is pretty obvious that USF is overperforming in 1v1. As for my own placements games I went 9-1 with my only loss to Ostheer. All my games vs OKW were complete stomps, even against top 10 OKW players. In: COH2 Balance
Thread: Does USA/OKW halftrack arrive too fast ?27 Jun 2014, 23:41 PM I think the USF one certainly needs to be toned down. Probably the OKW one as well. I haven't had much trouble dealing with the OKW Flak HT but the USF AA HT is a huge nightmare - and when I'm using it, it feels so brokenly overpowered. Not even a Puma can reliably beat it. It has enough health that it isn't really scared of AT guns and just bleeds OKW so hard. Combined with volley fire (topic for another thread I guess) I don't see how USF loses to OKW at the moment in 1v1. In: COH2 Balance
Thread: Why WFA is the best thing to happen to COH 227 Jun 2014, 19:34 PM Before anyone says anything about video/audio being out of sync I think I figured out how to fix it - I think I should just turn on my webcam mic instead of using my headset mic. Will have to test for the future. In: COH2 Gameplay