Frankly, my first question when i saw the patch notes was 'How the hell is the t70 worth 70 fuel?'
After playing a couple o matches, though, i've found it extremely useful - much to my surprise. It seemes to have much higher long-range proficiency than before, that allows to properly kite grens and do tons o damage. Or is it just my perception? What do you think of the t70's place in the new meta guys?
On an unrelated note, the m3 feels more tough and generally reliable, doesn't it? I've been using an opening like this: conscripts-t1-penal-m3-penal-con - with some degree of success; mostly due to the surprising long-range offensive power of penal squad in m3.
I'm yet to play a couple of games for the Germans to make my mind about the patch, but for now I'm loving it Certainly better than the last one, lol
It's always amazing to see history discussions on this forum; people seem to forget that the game is, above all, a work of fiction. Gameplay > Realism, as they used to say on the GR.org
That being said, ... Warning: wall of text!
TL;DR: IMO the best thing to do about the campain is to disregard the whole thing altogether, or, at least, to treat it like some bad fiction about the war - which it inescapeably is.
P.S.: I should mention that I am Russian There is no denying to all the terrible stuff that the Soviet Union did: the war crimes in Germany, the collectivisation, the forced relocation, the gulags - history has some really, really dark pages here.
It's just really disappointing to see the worst of what happened selected and applied to everybody. Especially when it comes in context with the very neat, civilized and white-washed WW2-era Germans.
You are right, it probably wouldn't work universally. I'm not that good a player myself tbh. I simply saw how powerful the pios were in this new patch and decided to give it a try.
I should also mention that the game took place before the new-found usefulness of the m3s and 222s was discovered.
I can't currently watch the replay as well, but i'll try to remember the build order. Sorry in advance for any misrepresentation that may occur. So, AFAIR, my build order was:
- get >=6 pios
- throw munition OPs all around, get flamethrowers
- stall the game until t3, keeping the pio numbers steadily >=6
- build (and immediately lose) a p4
- stall the game until Tiger is unlocked (also, bathe in resources)
- Tiger-Tiger-Tiger
There was also some mg-bunker-building done in between the steps.
Now that i think about it, the succes i had in that game was mostly due to the surprise factor (of pios being the new shocks). Also, a very decent teammate. This game is in no way a definitive proof of piospam's universal viability.
Nevertheless, I think that piospam used to be one of the most (if not THE most) broken thing in CoH - second only to the roos when they were cheap. Piospam being anywhere near viable in CoH2 is, in my opinion, a huge red flag saying that the balance is off.
Yeah, the lack of reliable midgame light vehicle is really frustrating. For quite some time before the patch i've been experimenting with skipping the Molly-tech and going straight for a fast t-70. Unfortunately, now it seems impossible.
So, are we supposed to dump a ton of micro into what would only serve a temporary purpose and not have our units fighting elsewhere?
To be honest, 'digging in' goes straight against my playing paradigm People keep bringing up infantry lethality in vCoH, but there you could easily be all over the map with your 2E/4R start as the US, come from all directions and reign the field during the early game ^__^
That's my ultimately favourite playstyle Not every soviet player wants to blob
I think the game should be able to support dynamic playstyle. Otherwise it would lose all the fun and just suck.
dont know why everyone is going crazy over pios,assault grenadiers. Whenever i play the soviets, pios usually lose to 1 conscript pretty bad. They lose 2-3 men before getting in their optimal range. Same with assault grens. Before they get into close range, my 1 conscript killed 1-2 assault gren before they had to retreat. I dont know why, but last patch for me assault grens were much of a bigger problem since you could blob 3 of them and just force everything away.
There are some situations when pios do not have to close-in under fire, or have yellow cover - and in that case they actually can force retreat a single con squad. The thing is that, like a lot of people have pointed out already, a basic builder unit is not supposed to be able to take on mainline infantry (engies vs volks/grens for example).
Besides, now you can use vanilla pios in conjunction with grens as improvised 'assault infantry' quite effectively, especially in the very early game.
However, the biggest problem, i think, lies in how cost-efficient they are right now. Cost-efficiency suggests building more of them, and with that piospam-like strategies might become viable. When you have 5-6 pios on the field, you
- get superior capping power
- can have quantity advantage in most engagements with conscripts/penals
- have a lot of spare manpower, fuel (you don't need the buildings) and free pop cap
I've tried that in 2v2 and teched through t3 to 3 tigers, 2 of which hit the field almost at the same time when i've hit the necessary cps.
OH MAH GEHRD! Imagine it's the previous patch. Let me do the magic:
We checked the numbers on Shock Troops after some concern was brought forward and they are working as intended. MG-42 and the 222 used at range handle the Shock Troops extremely well. Try using a flammenwerfer for additional close range damage. If you use Grenadiers, spread your units out and kite the Shock Troops or hinder their advance with riflenades. If you are kiting, try to kite left to right as opposed to backwards, as this will enable you to fire on the move.
Now why didn't we hear that when all the QQ about the shocks being op was going on?
Pacing and Tech Progression
The goal of this change is to slow down the introduction of medium and heavy vehicles within the game and better integrate light vehicles into early combat scenarios. This results in medium and heavy armor being set back by about 2 minutes across the board.
this is taken directly from changelog i believe this is the right direction maybe finally infantry will have a pretty decent role
I think it is a good idea to push the medium/heavy tanks further into the lategame, but why bring t70 and the halftrack along with them?
This is actually good advice. I don't know why there is so much hate.
Mainly because it's tone is mockish and obnoxious, I would guess. While micro is far more important now than it was before in the Soviet gameplay, it's not right to assume that people only lose because they lack it.
Certainly better than the last one, lol 
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