Profile of The_Courier

Minor cost increase (to maybe 310) and popcap to 8 is more than enough IMO. The unit is powerful, but not quite Elite. Its toughness mostly comes from the fact that they are the only Axis 6 men infantry apart from Osttruppen.

I think the only part that makes them seem overly powerful is OKW's MP float which allows them to be spammed. But that's a larger problem than just the unit.

You'll notice that all the vids are around the same length, between 30 and 40 seconds ish, except for that one video of the volks getting hit by the RNG gods, and that one with the HE rounds.

Let me know if you need more video evidence or if there are any other scenarios you want me to try out.


Just for fun, I made this video, this was the first try:

https://vid.me/k8JD 4 double zook riflemen squads against a king tiger with no mg upgrade.



It's relevant because the thread is about volks blobs being op. But they aren't, because even stock infantry can kill them when they are equipped with schreks, you can test it yourself, even cons beat them pretty handily when both are max vet. I just don't think it's that big of a deal to handle. I'm not trying to say volks blobs are bad, I'm trying to say they are not OP.

Nice videos (even if testing in a vacuum never tells the whole story; for instance, almost all the zook videos had RNG and pentrated more than 60% of the time) but couple points;

I don't think shreck blobs are OP. I think they are way too omnipresent because Volks are badly designed. Regardless of balance, the best AT weapon in the game doesn't belong on a cheap mainline infantry, even moreso because it requires no tech unlock. It leads to a stale metagame where the same multi-purpose unit is always fielded and always upgraded because it has almost no downsides. I dislike playing against OKW mainly because of that.

The results are decently similar on medium tanks; I'd like to see what pitting them against heavier armor does. Say shrecks vs Pershing/Churchill and zooks vs Panther/Tiger. And then for fun's sake 5-6 shrecks vs IS-2.

And zooks are US. As I've said, I believe WFA factions benefit from power creep in their design and are allowed to get toys that are just better than a lot of what other factions field. Not that I think factions should be homogenous, but the fact that these things work doesn't mean I think they should work, if I express myself correctly.

Also at least zooks require an upgrade and dual zook rifles are fairly impotent against infantry. You are severely hamstringing your AI capabilities if you don't give rifles upgrades. They also cost more than volks, and OKW's chronical MP float means that they can more easily afford elite infantry on top of shreck volks, US doesn't always have that luxury. That's why zook blobs are way less common than shreck blobs.

A lot of that is down to WFA power creep. OKW got a buff across the board, while Soviets are left to fend for themselves despite a good third of their roster being intensely mediocre at the best of times, if not outright sucking.

Conscripts aren't terrible, but they are woefully outmatched by a lot of Axis infantry. Their vet 3 makes them quite durable, but they still have crap DPS so late game their primary use is Oooorah into AT nade while probably losing half the squad in the process, and 1v1 they lose to any similarily vetted Axis squad unless they land a molotov.

This is made worse by the fact that the only infantry that can give them help is doctrinal, thanks to Penals sucking.

Personally I'd change their vet; slightly reduce their received dmg bonus at vet 3, and give them one SVT40 (good daame at short and medium range) at vet 2 and another at vet 3. So they end up having decent firepower with veterancy. It also works with the flavor of them being entrusted better weapons as they prove themselves.

-Change vet 1 ability to something that has a snowball's chance in hell of being used.

-Increase accuracy a bit, especially on the move.

That's more or less it, I think. Its pen is the same as the Tiger's IIRC, and it gains range with veterancy. It has kickass frontal armor. Its only glaring problem is that it misses too much, which is especially crippling with its reload time.

yea, i have to agree with this.

t34/76's only strength is in numbers. but to keep the reasonable lead in the numbers game, as soon as you have 2 76s and enemy has 1 p4, you have to destroy it because 3 76s v. 2 p4s is not the same. even if you get to manage to keep 2:1 advantage, there will be more paks and tellers as the game progresses.

so massing t34/76s turns into "all in" game, where you have to constantly make plays to stay on top. and making plays with tanks is the most risky thing in the game.

Precisely. Once you commit to this strategy, you win with it or die with it. You need to stay in the lead, because while vetted T-34s can deal with Volks, Paks out of position and unvetted P4s/Stugs, if you need to attack a defensive Ost/OKW position (or worse, face vetted Panzers with vet 0 T-34s), you're basically dead.

And if the way to use a unit is by massing it once you've won both the early and mid game, well, I'm sorry to say so but that does not mean it is a very good unit at all. I can win by spamming Brumbars if I crush my opponent's early-mid game, doesn't make it less of a bad unit.