There's no way to change models on the fly. You can add models to a squad but you can't remove or change old ones. It's unfortunate, have to keep the squad models as grenadiers or PGs to even offer the MP40 choice.
Ah, that's a shame. I'd say to switch the Volk and Grenadier, but then the Volk probably doesn't have a proper Rifle Grenade animation either... The MP 40 Volks with Panzer IV Ausf. J's were the most fun I've ever had with OKW though, so I'm just a bit sad to them reverted to being the old AT Sponges.
And the PIV has a decent chance of deflecting even the EZ8...
I just think the PIV's main gun could be better, lesser armour was a trade-off to not make it over-perform. As much as I love the Panzer IV, it's not too useful as of late because call-ins nullify them too easily. Yet at the same time, stock tanks struggle against them unless they get good RNG. I was trying to hit 2 birds with one stone with my suggestion.
For the most extreme example, At mid range, PIV vs E8, deflection chance is 8% for Easy Eight shooting Panzer IV (29% if Vet 2), and 49% for Panzer IV shooting Easy Eight. I understand there's a cost difference, but the fight is far too lopsided and promotes heavy tank play. M36 and Easy Eight are a death sentence for Ostheer T3, hands down.
Oh and unrelated, but someone suggested vehicles take 25% more damage from rear hits, what do you think?
Probably too radical to make them as good as rifles, it'll look weird that conscript ppsh do stuff at range while shocks don't, but they could still be improved somewhat at mid range.
Don't really like this, and don't think it would actually benefit the PIV in either of these engagements (it would help against IS2 though, because there the PIV armor is already meaningless). Overall I'd consider any change that trades armor for penetration a nerf for the PIV right now.
For clarification, I meant the squad's own KAR / Mosin rifles, not rifles as in Riflemen. At long range the squad would have default DPS, with the SMG's only providing their bonus at close range.
As for the PIV, the idea is that it would make the allied stock options useful against it, while also making it more useful against stronger tanks which would have always penetrated anyway.
Reverted volk & sturm situation. 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.
While I like the Volk model returning, I really hate to see the SMG upgrade go, it gave them a purpose other than "AT Meat Blob" and felt way more authentic (not that you care about authenticity) . How about an "Assault Package" that gives them the MP 40's and changes their model to Grenadiers? (is that even possible?) MP 40 Volks were my favourite part of the mod, it's really a shame to see them go.
The thing about aim time (on a weapon that can't fire on the move) is that this will reset whenever the unit moves, including rotating, reload just magically happens even while moving. So with a high aim time, your unit will never fire if it's say being pushed by an enemy vehicle.
And wasn't necessary thinking of a full reload time for the first round, I just want to see if there are ways to delay the initial firing by like 3-4 seconds without affecting other things.
Maybe play with the distance modifiers for aim time / cooldown / reload. I don't know what the difference between cooldown and reload is (the Panzerschreck currently has no cooldown, but a 1.25 post fire aim time 7.75 reload). Perhaps you could use distance modifiers to create a 3-4 second aim time at long range but not at close range, whilst having the reload scale the opposite direction so the time between shots is always the same? I think that could work anyway, but I've never actually worked with the stats.
Also if you don't mind, what do you think about my Panzer IV and SMG Upgrade suggestions?
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. Unfortunately they have a bunch of other 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.
Couldn't you just increase the aim time on their Panzerschreck? That'd be much better than requiring them to stand in combat for ~7 seconds before shooting the first volley
and I think a double MP44 upgrade for VG is more suitable(like vCOH the squad leader holds one MP44), the MP40 further sacrifice its long-mid range damage, which isn't a good upgrade for them.
Like I said, the only model with animations for the Kar and StG is the Stromtrooper model. Also I would rather see the Volksgrenadier MP 40 and Constript PPSh aligned with rifle DPS at medium / long ranges instead of replacing them.
SMG's are the only small arms upgrades that lower a squads capability outside of the designated range, while LMG's, BAR's, and G43's slightly improve it.
Oh and by the way, vCoH squad leader shot his MP 40 on single shot with the same rate of fire and damage as a Kar 98, iirc the only difference was he reloaded less frequently.
Nah. As a matter of fact, if you look at the nominal OOB of VG divisions (and the ID 45 OOB), StG 44s were supposed to be overrepresented at the expense of all other infantry weapons. In fact, 2 out 3 platoons in every rifle company were armed exclusively with them.
I only know the basic squad loadout (1x MG 42, 1x MP 40 (SL), 1x G43, 6x Kar 98), I know that Volksgrenadier were divisions were smaller but armed with a higher number of automatic weapons though, including Submachine Guns, Machine Guns, and Assault Rifles. Nevertheless, AR's and MG's are already used by units in the faction, while SMG's are surprisingly completely unused in OKW. That makes the MP 40 upgrade more unique than any other option.
I personally don't see much problem with Schrecks on Volks. It promotes a boring style of their usage, but I don't see any more attractive alternative right now. I don't see any viable role for Volks without them, and Schrecks on Sturms just plainly won't work, at least unless the Püppchen is significantly buffed. Sturms are expensive and extremely slow to reinforce, they have to sweep, they have to repair, and they have to do the heavy lifting in OKWs early anti-infantry combat. As an intermediate AT unit, they will work even worse than PGrens, and Pgrens are backed by the infinetly stronger Pak 40....
Cheap infantry (235 / 23) with a medium squad size (5) and godlike veterancy are a terrible choice for AT weapons. With an AT Weapon, they gain Veterancy very quickly, and they have decent durability to start with. Their easily gained Veterancy gives them enough bonuses to make them more durable than Shock Troops, making for a squad that is not only very difficult to wipe without explosives (especially one-shotting hits like demo charges), combined with Obers for ludicrous AI ability make the perfect blob, one that can hard-counter Infantry and Tanks at the same time. It's just a terrible design choice.
What's your problem with having one weapon for two squads? G43s are doctrinal and I really don't mind having them as upgrade for Volks.
LMGs are not my favorite choice anyway but StGs wouldn't be such a bad idea, especially because Sturms will become AT squads later on.
It's just uncreative to use the same weapons over and over, MP 40's are unique to the faction. StG's are already used by Sturmpioneers, and might not be possible since the only unit in the game that uses Kar and StG are JLI / Stormtroopers, and only the JLI / Stormtrooper model has access to both Kar and AR animations.