If they can design a faction like USF that is entirely lacking heavies, there's no conceptual reason why a faction with only light and (relatively rare) mediums like Italy couldn't be balanced with the rest of the game. Even if they had to use a couple of "borrowed" German units for doctrinal support and unit variety. It could work in the context of CoH2.
For CoH3 they could actually break the mould and have the game be themed around 1942 with 1943 being the absolute upper limit. If they were REALLY bold they could have a 1940-1941 setting, permitting maybe even a French faction! It's only their own utter hard on for Tigers and Axis late war equipment that seems to be forcing them into this mindset where Germans are the only worthwhile axis factions.
Well like I said, Germany's allies didn't have anything worthwhile in the time frame presented. They could do without if it wasn't for the fact that IS-2's would be unstoppable juggernauts and M36's would 2-shot everything they own. Germany's allies relied on Germany to supply them with vehicles rather than make their own designs, and were never far from Germany's lines. With the exception of Japan of course, which also used light tanks, but because they did a lot of island hopping and rarely fought anything larger. WW2 was a weird kind of arms race where several countries didn't bother improving their forces until they ran into something they had no answer to. |
Imo all howitzers need to be looked at. The LeFH and the ML-20 need to fire more shells and need some mechanic to protect them from easy wipes. I'd also prefer the ability to choose between accurate fire and saturation fire, because sometimes you want to hammer that one bunker, and other times you just want to hammer the whole defensive line. Maybe accurate fire could fire 4 shells and saturation could fire 8.
The B-4 should also be changed to fire 3 weaker shells in a barrage, and precision strike may remain as-is. I feel the B-4 change is needed because the current B-4 is essentially RNG incarnate. You have a high chance to do no damage, a moderate chance to do some damage, and a low chance to do devastating damage. And once RNG smiles upon you enough, you earn the ability to buy your damage. |
Maybe if they stopped making every alternate Axis faction "The other Germans" they could avoid some of these issues.
Problem is Germany didn't have any worthwhile allies after 1943, and even in 1943 their allies' technology was obsolete compared to the US, Britain, and Russia. "The other Germans" is really the only way to go if you want the faction to be competitive past the 15 minute mark. Imagine a faction that is stuck with only light tanks for late-game, maybe the ability to trade fuel to his German teammate so he can make more Tanks because he does not have his own. Silly right? |
We're not even halfway through the 5-year-plan, we won't hit the middle until June 25th. They're not going to abandon the game for a different project. Especially after doing all the ESL work. |
Just why, oh why, did they abandon target tables? The use of which for balancing purposes should be overwhelmingly obvious? Me no comprendre.
Late but they said they removed target tables because they were overly complex. Not only was it difficult to gauge the reliability of your units due to performance being different vs every unit, but it also meant when they wanted to introduce a new unit they had to individually set the performance against every other unit in the game. Instead of setting up the stats for one unit, they had to do it for 30+, for each new unit they added.
As a game designer you want to think of unit roles first,and then build the unit around the role. You don't want to overlap same units from the existing german faction, so you're probably gonna have to use some of the more obscure unit designs that weren't as massed produced.
Sad thing is I think OKW was originally designed with Panzer IV's and StuG III's but they went with lolheavytanks instead. There are voice lines for the StuG III arriving, and screenshots / splash screens feature the Panzer IV a lot. |
It's one of the game-breakingest bugs CoH ever had, I'm sure it's going to be a top priority. |
Crew repair is fine, instant crit repair is not. You can have stop infront of an A-move MG 42, hop out, repair crits, and hop back in, before the MG 42 can fire. USF's critical repair is basically stock on any crew (crew vet is meaningless), costs 10 munitions and a small micro tax, and is done instantly. OKW's emergency repair comes at 4CP, costs 50 munitions, and takes 15 seconds to heal 100HP and a critical.
USF Critical Repair is too good, OKW Emergency repair is shit. There should be a middle ground that both abilities occupy. |
Add a breakdown mechanic
Yeah that way RNG can make or break a game with zero player input!
Nah. |
Critical repair is the problem here, it's badly designed. Imo it should be redesigned so that on activation the crew start repairs for X seconds. During the duration no health is restored, instead X health restored and critical removal are applied instantly upon completion of the ability. |
Early-war factions would be cool, but they'd need to enable a comprehensive "random faction" system that allows enabling / disabling different factions you want to play for easier matchmaking. And even then matchmaking would be split between people who like early-war and people who like late-war.
You think it's hard to find a game with AB <-> CD, imagine it as AB <-> CD | E <-> F |