Profile of Cruzz

Another change I would suggest is increasing the crew size of the OKW buildable Flak. With a 2 man crew it currently gets decrewed by a single shot from a Sniper.

I tried that. The crew stands way outside the damn thing because there is no room in the flak model, so it takes them several seconds to reach the gunner seat and it looks really stupid for them to be standing out there. I'll rather just disable sniper kills on them than increase crew size if I can't figure out a way to get them to chill inside the sandbags.

Easy eight change made it too powerful and cost -effective again.Combined with the reload buff to t-34 all the less reason to build panzer 4 with its poor penetration.

.25 seconds off t34/76 does absolutely nothing to the fact that a PIV is far superior to it. Easy Eights I can't really comment on because I have not even been able to play a game against players yet where they actually showed up. If they really are overperforming that badly I will primarily start by reducing their anti-infantry potential or increasing cost though, because making them weaker against tanks just makes them more and more like the regular Sherman.

Was tiger change necessary,considering its already outclassed by is-2 at same price?

Yes it was. That squad wipe machine had to be changed.

Flamethrowers are the best choice IMO. OKW kinda lacks the ability to clear buildings and flamethrowers wouldn't make them too strong with higher vet levels.

Actually they would make them super strong, they would be by far the most durable flamethrower unit in the game and the relative lack of offensive vet on volks does not matter one bit to the flamer. I also don't think it's good design for the primary infantry to have a flamethrower, I was seriously considering doing something about the rifleman flames as it was but left them alone for now because they're doctrinal.

Sturms are expensive and extremely slow to reinforce,

Which is why they are the most fitting platform for schreks. The weapon is just too good when fielded in large numbers because the alpha strike without any reload time is enough to kill 90% of allied vehicles after you have 5 or 6. Too bad they have a bunch of other important tasks already.

I think I'll test whether I can force units to keep a weapon unloaded before combat. See if anything can come out of that vector of change.

Cruzzi? What's your opinion if getting the COH1 fast deployment speed of sandbag and wire to Pio, stumpio, Volks, Gren, CE, RE, infantry company Rifles?

This stuff should increase the strategic depth of the game, COH2 wire is too slow to be effectively letting players altering the environment for their advantage. Light vehicle also arriving too early able to erase the wire too easily. How about light vehicle able to crush wire but slowing the speed for a while?

Cutting wire doesn't making the cutter ultra vulnerable like COH1, how about adding this too?

Wire cut already gives 200% received accuracy and 300% received damage for the 5 second duration of the ability.

Sandbags, I'd rather not. Green cover is way stronger against non-small arms in this game than in coh1, if I made it easier to get green cover in every fight then I'd have to change all of those cover modifiers to worse.

Crushing wire slowing light vehicles down, maybe. I'll have to check if the crushee action will actually apply something like that properly. Faster wire and/or wire on more basic infantry? Not really a fan, I might consider looking into it much later but to be honest all I see coming out of that is weird abuse rather than "strategic gameplay".

This vet5 system is still a problem. Makes OKW superb in late game.

Which is why I'm seriously considering just adding vet4 to other factions. This will also fix a slight issue that most of them have of experience being largely meaningless for infantry units in games longer than 20 minutes because every squad that doesn't get wiped hits vet3.

Only issue is thinking up proper bonuses for each unit.

15 munitions ingame at the moment.

Thanks.

Since the inclusion of WFA, theres no longer a need to make vet1 an ability and the subsequent vet levels stat buffs. This means that some units could see their performance buff slightly at vet1 instead of a huge jump at vet2 (IMO PG are a good example)

Stats are easy but boring. I'd rather add some new abilities as ostheer and soviets don't really have a whole lot of them except for damaging grenades.

Maybe a US short range mortar is OK, but I dont believe OKW should have a mortar. OKW do not have many tools to deal indirect damage, this is intentional because they deal heavy direct damage (eg Obers).

Thier field gun is also quite good, all be it in a less mobile way than a normal mortar.

My issue with lack of mortars is that this means maps with a large amount of high obstacles which make the pack howitzer/LEIG useless hugely penalize these two factions. Plus I'm trying to turn OKW into less of a massive infantry blob (which they were kinda forced into as they have tons of mobile infantry with lackluster teamweapons and support units), adding new non-infantry options is a step on that road.

Rolled out a small update. Testing out suppression reducing ability ranges:

Kappatch v2#2

Bugfixes:
Fixed volk faust disappearing at vet4

Balance changes:
Applied 33% range reduction on suppression to all grenade type abilities.

Hm. Now, if I understood you properly, one serious issue I see in your proposed OH vs Soviet call-in dynamic is that Soviets would still have their heavies and 85s available at much lower tech/opportunity costs than OH. Plus, the inclusion of Guards into T1 (and the PTRS buff) would make it even more difficult for OH to counter heavy Soviet T1 play.
Also, Volks would be likely rendered pretty irrelevant, especially as I don't see the MP40 upgrade to be beneficial to them at all (they are too fragile to get close, 3 Mp40s dont deal much damage to begin with, and they will have a very hard time collecting vet) while Sturms would be overtaxed, seeings as they are OKWs sole repair/sweeping unit and would now have to shoulder intermediate AT duties as well.

560/165 for Tiger unlock and T1+T2. +150mp for heals.

400/170 for Soviet unlocks and T2+T3 or T4. +250mp for heals, and then nades...

I honestly do not see an issue.

T1 being more difficult to counter as Ostheer sounds good to me, because if all you do is Grenspam to tanks then soviet T1 is usually rather dead in the water.

Volks, fragile . Sturmpios being overworked is a valid point though, but there's only so many options you have with this stuff. Shreks on volks is just gonna lead to massive blobberino every single time unless you put some huge negative effect on the upgrade (like the no vet gain after it suggestion I had in the possible changes list).

shouldn't APCR be like - increased penetration in overall, no penalty for range (pen same at all ranges), same reload and lower damage?

Reducing damage or slowing reload are both fine, I'd rather have the round damage be consistent as a personal preference.

What are the two new units? Looked through the entire post and couldn't find it, maybe I just can't read

Just a mortar for both USF and OKW.

With people now being very excited about the upcoming February patch, I figured I might as well release the horrible little mod update I've been messing with for the past week and half before a patch comes and breaks it again. Being a bit more radical this time around, adding in two new units and messing around with the basic gameplay of OKW quite a lot.

Disclaimer: this has barely been played in actual matches. All numerical changes are up for change.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=384106750

Kappatch v2

Overview of mod:

This mod aims to improve gameplay by providing players with a more balanced set of options, changing frustrating gameplay mechanics and reducing the effect random events have on the game. Basic gameplay will remain largely unchanged from standard CoH2, any new units and abilities added will be to address existing balance concerns (OKW and USF indirect fire, or lack of thereof, for instance) rather than for coolness, historical accuracy or whatever other reason.

Suggestions other than new units are welcome.

Note: Values in parentheses are the original non-modded values.

Major changes to gameplay:

Call-in system adjustment:
All medium and heavy call-in vehicles have had their price increased by 15% for medium vehicles and 25% for heavy vehicles. Ostheer Puma, KV-1, KV-8 count as medium because the puma is more comparable to a medium than a light vehicle and kv-1/kv-8 more comparable to mediums than a heavy.

Faction HQs now have buildable versions of call-ins with their base prices that are unlocked at appropriate tech levels & CP count. These units have regular build times.
Show Spoiler

Added a minor 10% deflection damage value to AT-guns and tank destroyers (M10, Jackson, SU85, ISU AT, JagdPIV, Puma, Panther, Stug G). Won't affect much except for killing heavies with super low health.

Adjusting Vehicle Turn Plans, currently applied to light non-halftrack vehicles (WC51, Ambulance, M20, 222, Opel blitz truck, puma (both), m3a1). Hopefully makes vehicle pathing feel a bit more natural.

Applied 33% range reduction on suppression to all grenade type abilities

Some formations have been spaced out. MG formations now try to place the gunner at the rear, and the other squad members forward of him, this helps a lot because the gunner will no longer be the guy being automatically targeted by the blob in front.

Removed building splats for tech buildings, no more spying through fog of war.

Territory points without a cache no longer block shots or movement. Victory points remain solid as before. This improves vehicle pathfinding on maps without a lot of space.

All 3 death crits (abandon, main gun destroyed, engine destroyed) have been removed, vehicles now always get destroyed when they reach 0 hp.

All mines to 10(35) armor to guarantee detonation with infantry explosives and reduce time to kill with small arms. Demolition charges targetable and target size increased.

Removed 10% instant death critical for explosive damage on infantry models below 50% health.

No more flame criticals above 50% health either (previously 5%). Flamer aoe damage multipliers from 0.25/0.625/1 to 0.4/0.7/1 and aoe distances increased to make them better against bunched up units and to make up for reduced crits.

All LMG type weapons now max out DPS at 26 range and drop off slightly for the remaining 9 range. This is mostly to make it so you don't get maximum efficiency by a-move blobbing with LMGs. burst duration multiplier 0.75/1.25/1.5 --> 0.8/1.4/1.2

Mine damage values split into 100 basic damage and 120 anti-vehicle damage for soviet tm-35 and okw schumines, basic damage now falls off in the radius so squad wipes only happen with extremely clumped up or low health squads.

Flamer death explosions can only happen to the last unit in a squad

ML-20, LEFH and Priest now have suppression effects on every explosion to make them more useful against hard infantry blobs.

Demolition charge AOE radius has been reduced slightly. Demo no longer creates green cover, only yellow like other explosions.

Minor changes to gameplay:

Made tanks consider reversing for longer distances.

Changed origin of infantry antitank weapons to be higher, makes AT infantry destroying their own cover a lot rarer (though will still occasionally happen as some cover you can shoot through with small arms is way taller than infantry and I don't want schrek rockets appearing out of the sky).

Heavily reduced plane crash AOE, units will receive only minor damage unless they get hit directly by the plane AOE 6(15) Damage 240 (750)

Reduced cover seek behaviour slightly because I don't like it

Made all wrecks destructable with small arms and flamers. Note: this just means you can remove the final 1% of health, armor values are unchanged.

Percentage of unit on top of broken ice for sinking increased to 30% (20%) required. Looks and feels better, no more coastal sinkings.

Changed retreat range values to help the units getting stuck on retreat at base problem.

Faction changes:

Ostheer:

Grenadiers are available from HQ like other factions' basic infantry, but do not have access to any abilities without T1 built.

Tier cost and building cost reversed & adjusted, tiers are cheaper, buildings more expensive.

Show Spoiler

New vet1 abilities (replacing medkit):
PGrens, Stormtroopers: Smoke grenade, 20 munitions

Minor changes:
Removed Grenadier rifle nade range increase from vet, it made wipes from fog of war stupidly easy

Pioneer squad cost to 180MP (can't edit starting resources in racebps so I have reduced cost of T1 by 20mp to adjust)

Ostheer sniper increased to 56(48) health. Sniper incendiary round stun duration increased to 5 (4).

Flamer HT upgrade cost down to 100 munitions (120). Flamer upgrade keeps rear machinegun, forward one still removed because it looks messy and is awkward with attack move.

222/251 MG penetration to 1.6/1.4/1.2 (1/1/1). 222 acceleration increased to 2.6 (2.4).222 and 251 armor values increased to 12/5.5 (9/4.5). Enabled attack ground on 222 20mm

Smine build time to 15s (10s)

Ostwind minimum range removed

Pwerfer scatter max to 16(20), scatter angle 9(10)

LEFH vet0 damage to 200 (160), cooldown to 75s(90s). Vet3 damage from 200 to 240

Counter-barrage improved for all artillery units by reducing scatter and increasing range

Stug G penetration increased by 10 to differentiate it from PIV.

StuG E reload slowed, aoe slightly reduced

Removed highest exp reward for puma ostruppen callin, made vet1 and vet2 more probable

Tiger Ace sight radius to 40(50), Tiger Ace callin cost changed to 720mp/100f (800mp/0), Tiger Ace health to 1040(1280) to match regular Tiger.

Elite Troops stun grenades no longer freeze units

Riegel mines can now be laid with 222 as well.

Stuka Close Air Support target search radius to 50 (60), will only target vehicles
Ostruppen gain accuracy bonus while garrisoned in buildings.

Minor nerf to Tiger AOE and scatter to make it just a bit weaker against infantry without affecting anything else (mid distance 1.75 --> 1.5, scatter offset 0.25 --> 0.35)

Soviets:

Major changes:

Guard Rifle are now available at 2CP from T1 without a commander choice. They do not have access to DP-28 without a guard doctrine. PTRS no drop (to stop pinata effect), PTRS accuracy roughly doubled and fire rate increased, damage per shot decreased to 32 (40). It is now a half-decent anti-infantry weapon with the bonus of fairly quickly destroying cover an enemy is hiding behind.

Guards doctrines lets you buy Guards through call-in as before, upgrade DP-28 on them as before, and unlocks a 1xDP-28 upgrade for conscripts.

New vet1 veterancy abilities for vehicles:
SU-85: Overcharged APCR shells, increased penetration but slowed reload, gives more reliable damage against heavy targets but reduces damage against mediums, 30 munitions

New ability for m5 quad:
M5 Quad: AA mode, increases range, can't move, only fires at airplanes. toggle

Minor changes:

After you have a T3/T4 building, the remaining structure will cost 180mp/90f (240/120).

Anti-infantry partisans spawn with svt rifles and have instant, free upgrades for either LMG42 or ppsh now (so you can pick which flavor you get). Partisans have camouflage when standing still in cover.

Penal movement accuracy to 0.8, matching G43s. Accuracy far from 0.25 to 0.3 for a minor dps boost

DSHK aoe suppression modifier from 0.4 to 0.8, matching axis MGs for area suppression and giving it a reason to exist.

M3 acceleration 2.5 (2), front armor 6.6(5.4)

KV2 at 11cp (from 12cps) cost to 530/200 (630/230)

Soviet Industry manpower penalty reduced by ~17MP/s

B-4 gun/crew population cost rebalanced (gun pop 10 (0), crew pop 6 (15) ).B-4 vet3 changed to -20% scatter -50% cost on direct fire (+50% damage)

SU-76 AOE radius 1.2(0.5), making it a half-decent anti-infantry unit.

Sprint removed from Soviet Snipers, Flare at vet1 & munition cost of flare reduced & range of flare slightly increased

45mm atgun damage to 100, has camouflage by default

Soviet salvage ability now works on USF mortar ht, M15, ez8, ez8 brewed, bulldozer brewed, m4a3 brewed. Modified wreck values for soviet salvage to be closer to current unit prices.

Ram always stuns (previously only on deflect). Penetration to 200. Ram always causes engine damage on penetration (previously random crit from engine damage/destroyed/maingun destroyed).

120mm aoe radius increased, aoe damage decreased. Slightly less oneshots, more damage from near hits.

T34-76 reload max from 6.8 to 6.3 = 0.25s faster reload.

ML-20 damage up to 320 (300). Projectile speed increased to 45(30).

M3/M5 overdrive cost to 15(10), adds 15%(0) to speed max

OKW:

Major changes:

Volks now have 90 muni upgrade (as before) for one schrek which changes them to a tank hunter squad. This increases their reinforce cost by 4mp/model and decreases veterancy gain by 30%. Tank Hunters can buy an additional shrek for 50 munitions (not rebuyable for now). Volk schrek aim time for long and medium distance increased so you can potentially avoid getting fired at. Reload time decreased to compensate. AOE halved so it's not an anti-inf upgrade.

GRW42 8cm mortar teams are now available in the battlegroup headquarters.

Faust upgrade for volks at HQ for 125mp/25f.

Mechanized and Battlegroup headquarters cost an additional 40MP to setup. FlakHQ costs an additional 80MP. This brings OKW teching costs more in line with other factions.

Obersoldaten now start with 4 basic rifles and no LMG34. Base rifles slightly improved at mid and long range, and on the move. LMG34 damage reduced by 20% and no longer fires on the move, now an upgrade for 60 munitions. STG upgrade damage at long range reduced to offset better rifles+make stg obers less silly.

Raketen aim time significantly reduced, reload time increased somewhat to compensate.

LEIG Hollow barrage (AT barrage) damage increased to 120 (80). Slight improvement to barrage aoe damage multiplier. Slight improvement to scatter. LEIG vet2 bonus changed from speed and received accuracy to -20% reduced scatter, and vet3 gives range bonus to auto-attack along with the previous bonuses. Reduced minimum range to 30 (40).

Minor changes:

Made OKW HQ props (sandbag, generator etc) all passable so your units don't get stuck on them anymore.

Removed 1 second lifetime limit from fusilier at nade, kinda silly for it to be the only one to constantly go poof in midair due to it.

Jagdpanzer IV cost down to 400mp(470), build time 50 (55).

PIV J now come with schürzen automatically, rather than having to upgrade them.

Elite Armor Coordinated barrage range increased to 50 (35).

OKW Wire cuttable. Reduced build time by 33%.

OKW infiltration nades now cost 30(10) munitions

Can immediately purchase a new truck instead of waiting for 80MP/15fuel.

Luchs to 320hp (400hp)

FlakHQ gun no longer has aoe suppression(80%), range reduced back to 40(45), and penetration against vehicles reduced to 30/35/40 (45/45/45)

Fallschirmjägers are now dropped onto the map in similar fashion to USF airborne. Spawn cost to 420 (440), unit cost to 90 (95)

Puma smoke requires vet1

Supply truck armor to 3/2 (5/4.5)

OKW minesweeper range increased to match other factions

OKW combat blitz speed bonus to 50%(100%), received accuracy to -25%(-50%)

Reduced vet requirements for Stuka zu Fuss, LEIG, Sturmtiger by 20%

Sturmpio blinding grenades no longer freeze units

IR halftrack now gives a 6 second 5% received accuracy debuff to units it detects

Fusilier atnades no longer require direct line of sight

Stuka zu Fuss health to 240 (320)

OKW base defences can not be sniped. Still vulnerable to grenades. OKW base defense penetration halved so they don't counter light tanks. OKW base flaks no longer AA weapons. Buildable flaks still are.

B4, Soviet Sherman wrecks can now be salvaged.

OKW buildable flak crews gain -50% received accuracy and -50% received damage (= green cover) as the object cover for the flak won't work. Popcost now 0 (4). Added manual targeting.

Jaeger/Ober booby trap to 60 (50, identical soviet ability is 100)

FlakHT smoke to 20(0) munitions

OKW Heat Rounds now regular projectiles instead of artillery, should fix some weird accuracy issues they had.

USF:

Major changes:

You no longer gain a free officer for unlocking lieutenant or captain tier. You need to buy the officer to access vehicles in a tier, but can build non-vehicle units by just unlocking. Building unlock costs reduced by 100MP for these two tiers. Lieutenant and Captain cost reduced by 20MP each.

Ambulance 180mp (250), Zooka research 120mp (150) (adjusting tech costs). Captain tier fuel cost now 65 fuel (80), Major 100 (90).

60mm mortar added to lieutenant tier. Fast firing, accurate mortar that lacks range (lowest range of all infantry artillery units in the game). Smoke is White Phosphor.

Riflemen can buy BARs and Zookas on the field after weapon racks are unlocked for 70 per weapon. Can also be rebought on field when dropped.

Rear Echelons can now build these two mines at all times:
M7 Light AT Mines now 25 munitions, 100 damage, guaranteed engine damage. The antitank mines are also available to assault engineers, recon paratroopers and riflemen in infantry doctrine, as previously.
M2 anti-infantry mines added, function same as soviet defensive mines, smines that are built one at a time, 10 munitions each. Purposedly made them huge so you can't stack them together for instant wipes.

Stuart health to 400hp, rebalanced weapon stats for more of a light antivehicle flanker feel. Stuart moving accuracy to 0.75(0.5), penetration to 45/50/65(40/45/60), accuracy 0.035/0.045/0.055(0.025/0.0375/0.05), aoe 1.5 (1.75), scatter increased, reload shortened. Also fixed super weird fog of war multipliers, stuart had a massive 300% increase in scatter for firing into fog (usual penalty: 25%).

Recon paratroopers can now leave vehicles like every other USF infantry unit. Recon paratroopers now have 4 SMGs, 2 LMGs, or 2 zookas, with 33% chance for each (previously 50% for zookas and 25% for smg/lmg both missing one weapon). They also get access to the LMG/SMG special ability now.

Minor changes:

Easy Eight upped to 720hp, but added 35% scatter penalty (15% less than on regular sherman) on the move (previously was only vehicle in the game that did not have one). More durability but less anti-inf while moving.

Greyhound canister shot changed to flat 40-60 damage on infantry in a larger aoe. Greyhound main gun damage to 60(40).

Bulldozer scatter penalty on the move reduced to 50% (100%) to match other Shermans.

Increased reinforce radius of USF HQ.

Vehicle crew crit repair takes 3.6(1.2) seconds to complete, costs 30(10), does not heal tank

Bazooka damage to 100.

Enabled attack ground on USF AA HT

Paratroopers now cost 32MP(28) to reinforce

Pack howitzer reinforce cost to 50% (100%), precise size to -1. Reduced minimum range to 30 (40).

Major artillery delay reduced by 1 second, rounds increased by 1, vet2 delay reduced by 2 seconds

Added 1 sniper rifle to Recon Pathfinders

P47 Loiter area to 50(60), delay for first attack from 4s/8s to 6s/10s

240mm artillery radius reduced to 24(30)

Removed the two highest and one lowest veterancy reward possibility for elite riflemen call-in

Vehicle crew thompson build time to 30s(45s), cost to 60(90).

Removed forced move, 4 second suppression immunity from Captain's On Me ability, added 15 munition cost

USF Mortar HT: health to 240 (320).Delayed fuse barrage range from 56 to 80. AOE mid damage changed from 0.15 to 0.35 on autoattack/barrage/delayed fuse barrage (matches ostheer mortar halftrack). Scatter values reduced slightly for all firing modes except White Phosphor

Rifleman atnades no longer require direct line of sight

Recon Forward Observation now only requires cover, 2s delay on entering cover to gain vision. No longer checks for combat.

Increased USF Ambulance acceleration to 1.7 (1.3).

USF M3 halftrack health increased to 320hp (200hp) to match other faction reinforcement halftracks.

Withdraw and Refit refund increased to 85% from 75%. Also fixed WC51 fuel cost for refunding purposes.