Profile of The_Courier

I think Soviets are in a good spot vs OH, but suffer a lot against OKW. Conscripts are basically a non-issue vs Sturmpios, struggle against Volks increased durability and grenade, and don't even have the DPS to properly engage the Kubel. Penal troops fare better, but going T1 means you have no AT whatsoever if they decide to go for AAHT. To counter that, you can go T3... but after you'd better end the game fast or float fuel for a doctrinal heavy because OKW panzers laugh at your T-34s. T4 is in a weird spot; the SU-85 isn't so good, SU-76 is Ok but won't do anything special, and the Katyusha was nerfed too much.

Going T2 vs OKW means your Maxim micro must be up to par, since as I said conscripts will easily lose to their infantry. You then need Shocks to supplement your troops, but that pigeon-holds you into certain doctrines.

Overall I've found that T1 to T3 works best. You need to pound the OKW to dust early game in order to have a chance. Vetted penals do rather well for themselves generally. A sniper works well and can be good against Obers but must be microed because they kill it in 2 seconds. Bring out a T-70 or T-34 to start picking off infantry, then save for an IS-2 or T-34/85s. Shocks are useful but always support them, especially against Obers.

There will always be blobbing. It's a crutch that bad players use to obtain success, just like all-in openings in Starcraft II. You will never truly get rid of it.

But as I said, counters exist and they work. The only blob I have problems against is the Volks + Obers one as US, since it has solid AT and also immense AI potential. But I usually win by spamming Stuart howies or HE shermans. As Soviets, blobs are usually very manageable. Demo charges are a lovely thing.

You mean like if 2 (say) Shocks attacked a MG from different angles and beat it? Because that's a perfectly valid counter. MGs are supposed to suppress one squad or several very blobbed one, not to act as a forcefield against any and all infantry in their arc. They do that job well, I find.

I don't know, after playing COH1, the blobs in CoH2 just don't scare me that much. After the zombie gren hordes, rangers that can ignore suppression, PE STG44 blobs that ran over anything, and the dreaded brit blobs, there's nothing in the second game that can really unnerve you. You have counter for blobs, they exist and fuck them up real good, and all factions have them. MGs are just there to allow you to line up the counters more easily, late game.

No one wants MG teams to be that powerful. What we do want is MG's to do their ONE JOB effectively.

Right now you can put an MG into green cover and 5 squads of obers / riflemen with BAR's can simply walk into its cone of fire and kill it without even getting suppressed before it dies.

What is the point of suppression if it can be broken by just attack moving your units forward without even trying to flank / use tactics?

Why is your MG without support? Do you expect 240 MP to stop (if 5 Obers) 2000 MP of infantry by itself? I sure as hell don't.

Also, yes it will suppress even Obers rushing at it. No way it won't. It will die shortly if alone, but it will. Then again that's like asking a lone AT gun to do anything but fire 1 shot at an incoming rush of 5 Panzer 4s. If your MGs don't help you deal with blobs, you are using them wrong.

And yes, if the enemy has overwhelming numbers and firepower, not having to use tactics against a lone unit is normal in any RTS game. What, do you expect that the game will make his units explode if he bunches too many of them together? There are numerous blob counters in this game. It's up to you to use them. One T-34 will counter any number of Obers. 1 microed Ostwind will counter any number of rifles, for a start. If they are suppressed, it becomes even easier.

I say give it 55 range, a slight fuel cost reduction and lessen its fire on the move penalty. It should work as a mobile tank hunter, I don't see the point of giving it more AI.