Disclaimer: any value mention is just to give a general concept.
-Remove passive aura.
-Remove passive AoE retreat trigger on officer killed.
-The unit is now able to gain vet and get's new different abilities.
-Replaced focus fire (due to what Strummingbird basically said)
-Sturmofficer is now a 1 CP 3 model squad (1 officer + 2 Ober model). Mp to call in is reduced accordingly. Size changed to 0.7 (same as Obers).
-At vet 0, it get's a free muni 20s duration/60s CD ability which "supervises" a single unit increasing it's performance. +20% Acc, -20% Reload & Cooldown reduction. Ability can be used on support weapons (therefore the reload/cd components) but not on vehicles.
-Focus fire replaced by an offmap smoke barrage. I think it would work better to "breakthrough".
-Force retreat remains the same.
Abilities are disabled and buffs stops, the moment the officer is killed.
-At vet 1 it gains another model increasing the account to 4.
-At vet 2 it gains "sector assault". X muni cost/cd. The officer selects a strategic point to attack. While owned infantry units fight inside it, they gain X offensive buffs. Capping or making the officer leave the area, stops the buffs. Killing the officer makes all nearby units to retreat.
Alternative: it's the "supervise" buff in an aura and if the officer get's killed, nearby units retreat.
-At vet 3 gains another model for 5 total. Small +20% accuracy, -20% cd reduction.
-At vet 4, passive health regen.
-At vet 5, passive sprint.
Optional: vet 0 supervise could be toned down and improve with vet. Better stats, AoE, etc. I tried to keep the retreat on officer killed but as an optional "high risk/reward" option with counterplay.
Thus Shock troops simply did not overall get nerfed in December patch.
Choose one of this options.
1- Even with all small buffs, the removal of double nade made them even less desirable as a unit. That nerf overshadows all the buffs. Ex: while early-mid game the PPSH DPS might be enough to cause mp drain or wipes, it might not be the case for later in the game, specially if you don't have vet shocks so it's more important having a frag nade to use, because using smoke on them is almost mandatory every time.
2- The removal of double nade and buffs produce a net 0 increase in their powerlevel, leaving it equally useless or heavily niche. From a gameplay PoV, it made them more boring as you are moving it's power budget to be in the more passive department (less mp drain) instead of the more active one (offensive nade useage).
3- Shocktroops are in a better state than before. This either means they are ok now or the changes are in the right direction but more are needed in order to make the unit more desirable.
Look, you now have 3 valid opinions, nerf/burf/buff, cause at the end of the day most people agrees that Shocks need something since like +2 years ago. Even when KV8 was meta, Shock were not a must have unit.
That is propably AI could use AT grenades from squads that do not have AT grenades.
Now that you mention it, would this apply as well to commander abilities or other skills (sandbags). Would you be able to select a full merged squad (have any ELITE unit lose all but 1 model, merge and then lose that model as well) with other conscripts squads and be able cast an AT nade or help them build a sandbag/repair a tank ?
HAD
guards had a shit tier ptrs and couldnt stop dancing long enough to fire more than a shot and penal get NO rec acc buffs
It wasn't until penal were WFA'd that they became too much, and guards AT LEAST need a large muni investment and to be stationary for 4/6 of their guns to fire.
There's also the fact that upgrade weapons > stock weapons because it's more effective in focus firing and you are losing way less firepower when you lose models.
maybe because the rockets have no big explsion radius like LM?
maybe you look again and would see that the rockets hits directly the two mgs crews?
he flares the area to see where the crews is...but...it doesnt count..you can stay in a stuka rocket line and wil survive it! Not like other rocket arty which would wipe this crews EASILY!
like i said: imagine a katj, LM or caliope would shot in this blobb. we know both...they wouldn only kill 3 models..
But you can actually see the craters left by the explosions. The first rocket hits models but the rest are hitting nothing because the squad is way forward from the explosion.
Someone could correct me if i'm wrong but the problem is not the AoE of the rocket rather than the "accuracy" you have with the Stuka and sheer volume of rockets.
1st rocket hits way off target from the left maxim. The model that dies is from the PIV on the left.
2nd rocket hits behind the middle conscript squad and to the right of the left maxim. 1 con dies and damage but no models taken from the maxim on left.
3rd to the right on conscript and front of maxim on right. Really low health.
4th just behind the conscript which is advancing.
RNG issue is more about timing and critical moment. There are moments when having bad RNG isn't critical at all and other when it does.
You don't really care on having bad RNG on a unit you wouldn't have kill even with RNG favors. But you do care of RNG when it is about what the OP describes.
BTW, what the OP describes as example wouldn't have occure on Coh1 thanks to defletion damage. Dice Rolling for 100% damage or 100% deflection isn't the best design choice and shows till today how hard it make for the balance team to set the cursor for each unit. Dice Rolling for let's say 50 to 70% of the damage but you still have 50 to 30% damage guaranteed is in my opinion better in terms of balance.
That might or not be true because you end up having chip damage been more effective than intended when you achieve critical mass.
I don't think deflection damage should be something which applies to all sources but it could be specific to a certain type of unit (say heavies and AT guns). Problem is that you are adding another layer of variables in the balance box. BTW, this is not something which hasn't been tested in the past. IS2 original design had deflection been part of it's core, and that didn't work well for it.
adamírcz: Might be onto somethin here, combine side armour existing, maps where flanking is a viable option, and hopefully also heavies actually being less manouverable than mediums (lookin at you coh2), and it might be fun gameplay Last Monday, 13:39 PM
Willy Pete: Shouldn't coh3 heavies actually have insane front armor values? The glory days of 400+ Kt armor wouldn't be as bad when side armor is a thing. Not to say its a good idea lol Last Friday, 23:14 PM
aerafield: But then again, maybe CoH3 superheavies should actually have insane armor values because the whole game is designed for the clumsy & inept anyway Last Friday, 23:04 PM
aerafield: It's like you have to coordinate an entire orchestra of abilities and the correct units, meanwhile your opponent just clicks his 1 superheavy tank occasionally... Last Friday, 23:01 PM
aerafield: the giga frontal armor also made these units too oppressive in average or low ELO games Last Friday, 22:59 PM
aerafield: Massive HP pool but reasonable amount of armor is way healthier design Last Friday, 22:57 PM
aerafield: Say what you want, but the titanium frontal armor design of coh2 superheavies was bullshit. Too many bad players not getting punished for their bad micro because penetration RNG carries them Last Friday, 22:57 PM
Willy Pete: Also the attack ground with the pak40 looked perfect, that Pershing should be dead Last Friday, 19:18 PM
Willy Pete: Ahh just saw the other one that died. Some bad rng I think but there was an AT gun at med range for a chunk of that fight Last Friday, 19:14 PM
Willy Pete: Which KT? I saw one got almost deleted but it also showed its side to a hellcat AND the m5. I think the player even admitted he got lucky Last Friday, 19:10 PM
Lady Xenarra: I understand that the devs want to sell the Allied part of the DLC, but the KT got swiss cheesed like a COH2 bunker on treads Last Friday, 15:16 PM
SupremeStefan: They should make dlc separataly for axis and alies Last Friday, 10:28 AM
SupremeStefan: 25$ is actually a ok price for 40 abilites = 8 commanders = 4 battlegroups. But problem is that it comes in bundle Last Friday, 10:24 AM
Willy Pete: Have they shown the actual trees yet for the new commanders? Skimmed through the deep dive today, didnt see em Last Thursday, 22:29 PM