[Feedback Needed] So explain to me...

Relic has a tester servers and a private forums on SEGA forums to discuss about the new changes and balance feedback.

On the molotov discussion -

Riflenades have no upgrade cost (apart from Tier 1 but that's useful for a lot of other things), deal all their damage as frontloaded, have a reasonable area of effect, do an OK amount of damage to M3s(allowing you to finish one after a faust), can one-hit buildings, are much easier to fire from out of line of sight/behind obstacles, usually don't require you to leave cover (and therefore are telegraphed less) and also have a botched warning right now.

'Molotovs are also something I've been thinking a lot about lately. The utility they give from start to finish is just unparalleled for their price point and early arrival.' doesn't really cut it when riflenades are a free upgrade and have at least equal utility.

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I'm not sure I'm a high-level enough player to comment with authority but it seems to me like you're expecting hard build order counters for strategies designed to have a synergy where each part of the strat compensates for another bit and the real counters are a matter of play (so, flank the snipers or use the scout car and FHT to force the Soviets to keep their forces bunched up, or alternatively get a mortar halftrack to put pressure on the snipers or whatever). If you're getting outplayed by a really good Soviet player I'm not sure that's evidence that the Soviet 'meta' is OP relative to the Ostheer...

Most of the good players I watch who play both sides regularly seem to feel that the Soviets are the weaker faction at the moment.

I envision continuing changes to both sides, please dont consider this a "nerf soviets!!11Eleven1!" thread because I consider their changes more pressing.

Rifle nades are not the god send you might think they are.

Using two early game eats up basically your first LMG or flamer which has long term impacts on your squad's survivability, vetting, ability to do its job, and hold territory vs aggressive sov early game play. As long a sov player holds a fair number of points or a high munition, maps like langres pretty much make molotovs "free" because you will never throw more than your income can support. There is no tradeoff early game like if I throw a molotov I wont be able to get a PPSH, or something.

Therefore the imbalance doesnt come from the strength or availability of the molotov itself, it comes from the fact that munitions arent realistically limiting its use. If a pgren spamming german tried to throw bundled nades as often as molotovs, he would go broke fast.

Some of the advantages you mention for rifle nades are bugs IMO, such as the verbal warning and the building spontaneous combustion. Hopefully these will be fixed ASAP.
The front loaded damage is nice but anyone who is paying attention to their units can anticipate a rifle nade same as I can see a molotov coming. Conscripts are designed to get up close and personal on grens--if you HTD and go afk as the grens back off to rifle nade, thats your fault not the game's.

The nature of 6 man soviet squads is that a rifle nade does damage more often than it gets outright kills. A guard frag grenade on the other hand regularly kills 3-4 of my grens leading to much rage on my part. I dont think the frag is stronger but german entities path closer to eachother so it ends up more effective.

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Regarding counters soviets have hard counters to every german unit, why should the inverse not be true? All props to soviet players who can micro well, but that doesnt mean I should have to buy an elefant to kill a non-doctrinal unit that appears 10 minutes into a game.

Their is an invitational Relic test server and a "secret" invitational board here on coh2.org from what I gather.

They have a beta build constantly running - there were invites a while ago but it is fairly select I gather (I suppose to not 'deplete' the game automatch') but not necessarily elite - several of my clan are in and not all high level.

We're all too grown up and polite to openly discuss specifics but I have a few impressions. There is a sense of surprise that it hasn't been releases but know not why, i guess it could be more thorough testing OR they are trying to pack more in, don't forget it will include world builder so this could slow it. I think they may even be trialling additional things to make it a big patch.

I will say I have a good impression and think things may be shaken up quite a bit.

On molotovs

I would also like to see the chance to crit removed completely (with flame weapons in general) in favour of a much stronger dot. I find it currently frustrating for both sides - soviets gringe when they see a grenadier squad standing 2-3 seconds in flames and nothing happens, and germans gringe when 1-2 grenadiers jumped for a millisecond back to cover where the molotov landed and die instantly.

I would also make all grenades uncancelable. Good soviet players will cancel their molotovs if they see the opponent dodging. And then try it again. An endless circle. I lays too much emphasis on micro in every infantry engagement for my taste. Not the good kind of micro, but the you have to watch all the time and must do one specific action or you suffer micro.


Regarding hard counters for strategies designed to have a synergy

I always like to imagine a perfect scenario, where every player executes his gameplan and micro flawless. Like two koreans that play 18 hours of CoH2 every day.

There will be no suprise flank that catches a sniper, there will be no unguarded(pun intended) su85 that get's circlestrafed. At the end of the day, one unit composition is stronger than the other.

I don't understand how having access to panzerfausts, the PAK, and the panzershrek upgrade for pgrens by tier 2 can be construed as lacking a hard counter for soviet's tier 3 unit: the t70. Upgunned scoutcars tear through t70 rear armor nicely as well, especially with vet.

*Edit
Also, there is the german AT mine. Albeit it is expensive, but it's pretty much a oneshot kill, and even if the t70 doesn't hit it, no soviet tank handles hitting that mine well. Infantry not setting off mines can often make a combined arms push quickly lack any combined arms.

I don't understand how having access to panzerfausts, the PAK, and the panzershrek upgrade for pgrens by tier 2 can be construed as lacking a hard counter for soviet's tier 3 unit: the t70. Upgunned scoutcars tear through t70 rear armor nicely as well, especially with vet.

*Edit
Also, there is the german AT mine. Albeit it is expensive, but it's pretty much a oneshot kill, and even if the t70 doesn't hit it, no soviet tank handles hitting that mine well. Infantry not setting off mines can often make a combined arms push quickly lack any combined arms.

PAKs are so slow and often innacurate (yay RNG) that people will just drive right past them. If you watch vonivans stream or andy they will buy 3 and just purposely drive up to it and decrew it. they might lose one or two but at that point it doesnt matter because it was the only threat to their rush

More importantly PAKs are defensive and you cant push without vehicle support outside of your immediate defensive area because a t70 can float along the perimeter and hit where the PAK isnt - mobility

Teller mines work great 95% of the time (I've seen a t70 survive occasionally) but smart players will avoid main roads when t70 rushing. Worse its hard to even get the munitions for mines in the first place in a game with heavy soviet pressure on your resources

Shrecks are kited by a t70 and pgrens will then die when they try to retreat. Also 120 munitions is way too expensive

T70s could use a small speed/mobility nerf (its a tank not a race car) but the meta that gets them out at 9 mins in as much at fault too, if not more so
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Munition costs are voluntary for soviets (abilities) and mandatory for ostheer (upgrades). Thats a flawed balance that contributes to soviets having an easier time managing munitions

Worse the cost of a 120mm precision strike, which will instantly kill a squad or support weapon is only 45 munitions... as much as a frag grenade. Difference is frag grenades you see coming, and they dont launch from halfway across the map. GG

Demo charges require no upgrades, not even the minesweeper one for 30muns, and at 90mun will kill any squad/squads in the game outright. they probably tear up vehicles but I dont see people using them against that. Good bye vet3 PGREN squad 25 mins into a close game because you tried to capture a VP. Ostheer naturally cant build them for some reason

T70s could use a small speed/mobility nerf (its a tank not a race car) but the meta that gets them out at 9 mins in as much at fault too, if not more so

And the german meta that gets a piv out at 10 minutes is ok? BTW. T70 is only 3% faster than a t34, how much slower do you want a unit that only has its speed for defense to go?

Munition costs are voluntary for soviets (abilities) and mandatory for ostheer (upgrades). Thats a flawed balance that contributes to soviets having an easier time managing munitions

Soviets have no upgrades to get. They can't improve their unit performance in combat even if they wanted to. LMGs are not required, halftrack flamethrowers are not required, scout car upgun is not required, G43s are not required, tank MGs are not required. But they are huge increases in their respective unit's dps so it makes sense to spend munitions on them. What do soviets get? Penal flamethrowers kill off their long range dps, leaving them as a really mushy short range combatant. Quadmount lets m5 attack air and increases range but overall dps remains pretty much exactly the same. DPs are a super gimpy version of the LMG42, even if you got 3 instead of 2 they still wouldn't be as good as a single LMG42, so you only get them for button.

Worse the cost of a 120mm precision strike, which will instantly kill a squad or support weapon is only 45 munitions... as much as a frag grenade. Difference is frag grenades you see coming, and they dont launch from halfway across the map. GG

I think the 120mm is a very problematic unit in its current state and should not have gotten precision strike as it makes it completely overshadow the base soviet mortar. But hitting with a precision strike requires your opponent to be standing still for >20 seconds, or for you to predict accurately where a unit will be at that time. Try having more map awareness if you are having so much problems with precision strikes, because when you know your opponent has them (and you really should know when those mortars hit vet1 as you'll even see the level up animation on the hit that gets them that level) you really should be able to dodge them most of the time.

Demo charges require no upgrades, not even the minesweeper one for 30muns, and at 90mun will kill any squad/squads in the game outright. they probably tear up vehicles but I dont see people using them against that. Good bye vet3 PGREN squad 25 mins into a close game because you tried to capture a VP. Ostheer naturally cant build them for some reason

As we all know, demolition charge spam is a major problem in the current gameplay. I mean I've seen a player other than myself make them like once every....50 games? Personally I see absolutely no problem in letting ostheer build them as well, but hardly consider it a major issue. Also they're really bad against vehicles because the damage tapers out pretty fast and is not that high to begin with (satchel damage is higher for half the muni)

PAKs don't cost any fuel. Getting a soviet player to make three t70s to deal with one should be considered a major win for the Germans. That's a major fuel investment that will seriously delay proper soviet armor. The soviet player is giving german tier 3 the blank check to run amok. But with PAKs being a defensively minded unit, I'll admit that t70s are able to shut down german's ability to make an offensive push until their own tier 3 hits. At that point t70s are mostly useless outside defensive maneuvers themselves.

Putting a teller mine on the flank of a PAK is a great way to lure any t70 to their doom. That or positioning shrecked pgrens around them to prevent that charge. It's an expensive investment those 120 munitions, but it is one of the most effective anti tank weapons against soviet armor. It's not worth trying to chase one down with a single pgren squad, or even two unless the t70 is one shreck away from death, but there's also panzerfausts to consider for those instances.

I don't see anything wrong whatsoever for soviets having a unit that has only a few minutes window of time of effectiveness and can really only functions to hold off german t1 and t2 until the germans finish fielding their own first tier 3 unit.

PAKs don't cost any fuel. Getting a soviet player to make three t70s to deal with one should be considered a major win for the Germans. That's a major fuel investment that will seriously delay proper soviet armor. The soviet player is giving german tier 3 the blank check to run amok. But with PAKs being a defensively minded unit, I'll admit that t70s are able to shut down german's ability to make an offensive push until their own tier 3 hits. At that point t70s are mostly useless outside defensive maneuvers themselves.

I don't see anything wrong whatsoever for soviets having a unit that has only a few minutes window of time of effectiveness and can really only functions to hold off german t1 and t2 until the germans finish fielding their own first tier 3 unit.

Once again this thread is not about t70s as the focus. However:

This optimistic scenario presumes that the german player recovers from the triple t70 rush, when in reality thats often a game ender 10 mins in. Even if you do manage to kill the tanks, chances are at least some of your squads were killed in the process because retreating men and ostheer squads are killed very easily by t70s. It then becomes an uphill battle as your opponents simply switches to t34's for 30 fuel more, and maybe makes another t70 or two as the game goes on to continue infantry harassment. T70s ARE proper soviet armor, they just dont kill panzer 4s.

The problem with that time window is it punishes anything short of perfection on the ostheer player early on. That strategy is designed to quickly end a game, not as part of a prolonged strategy.

Plus I disagree that t70s ever become useless over the course of the game. They repair quickly and infantry never become less vulnerable to harassing tactics.

I like smart t70 harassment a lot because it rewards quick thinking and skill on the soviet player; I dont like that the unit enters the game before german hard counters or even many soft counters, are practical.

@cruzzz
Didnt realize the speed difference was so negligible. In that case I'd rather see decreased accuracy while moving. This should help retreating squads survive and decrease the racecar driveby shootings this unit is known for.

I agree the soviet meta should have more options for munition play and upgrades. The secondary effect is that munitions have an opportunity cost to them, instead of being 'fun money' that gets turned into mines and strafing runs "because I have nothing else to spend it on"

Demo charges stat and price wise are fine, or will be when soviets have more choices for their munitions. I would like to see them introduced for ostheer, theres really no reason not too... judging from the sov squad sizes theyd probably survive with 1-2 guys anyway

In regards to the T70, if the germans have been harrassed on their fuel the whole game, this little moster comes into the game very quickly and can basically make the german retreat any squad they want. at which point the germans lose any map control they had, normally still needing a fair amount of fuel to get a p4 out, at which point the soviets can easily get at least 1 T34.

T34's are normally spammed at this point, and the germans have no reply, pak guns normally get killed very easily, infantry die in secs, and the p4 has no chance.

Even if the roles are reversed and the german has done well and harrassed the soviet fuel, they can still manage to get a t34 out around the same time as the p4 making german armour rushes redundant. Unless the german really dominated and the soviet was completely restricted on fuel.

Since the T34 changes were introduced last patch this tank has become a monster for the price.

Not only did they make it fairly useful against tanks, it is crazy effective vs infantry and paks. I would like to see a price increase on this tank to say 100 fuel.

Nice post focusing on 1vs1 gameplay. Great analysis !

But in 3vs3 or 4vs4 (bigger maps), its the German war machine with it's fast tanks that win the day most of the time given even strength players.

To help solve both problematics, i suggest :
Germans need: non doctrinal FwHQ vCoh style + cheaper mines.

Soviets need: Swap Doctrinal T34/85 with Su85. Reduce penal bat. to 310 manpower.

Nice post focusing on 1vs1 gameplay. Great analysis !

But in 3vs3 or 4vs4 (bigger maps), its the German war machine with it's fast tanks that win the day most of the time given even strength players.

To help solve both problematics, i suggest :
Germans need: non doctrinal FwHQ vCoh style + cheaper mines.

Soviets need: Swap Doctrinal T34/85 with Su85. Reduce penal bat. to 310 manpower.

Before changing the builds specifically for 4v4s I would really like to see how implementing resource sharing would impact COH2.

My impression is that people just tech as quickly as possible and then spam end game units like panthers or elefants and powerful abilities.

1. I think resource sharing should be a no brainer for inclusion in team games. a +20 fuel income would turn into +5 for each player in a 4v4, +7 for 3v3, or +10 for 2v2.

2. Alternately they could simply replace many of the high value points with basic territorial control points, maybe leave 1 high fuel 1 high munition in the center to fight over as bonus income.

3. Third option could be to artificially increase the price of teching (german tiers, sov buildings) depending on the number of players in a match. Ex. 200% cost modifier applied to in a 4v4, 150% in a 3v3, 125% in a 2v2. This presumes that soviet and german tiers are equal which ATM I dont believe is correct, however the concept is valid after any rebalancing off tier meta.

I also liked your idea in your thread a while back about giving custom games more options. I see no reason other than difficulty in programming (if there is any, I wouldnt know) to implementing custom options like no bulletins, no commanders, no heavy tanks, whatever as checkboxes when setting up a game lobby. Obviously this wouldn't apply at all to ranked matches.

Well the 4v4 maps are terrible really, just uninteresting. City 17 looks nice but it's just a support weapons fest until tanks come out. Montargis really was the best 4v4 map and I'd like to see it back...But what made it fun to play was the multiple fuel and ammo points which meant that for brief periods both teams might hold them, particularly one of the high ammos.

Perhaps what they should do with the 4v4 maps is actually remove ALL the fuel and ammo points so it becomes more a matter of defending OPs and tactics, instead of the current Ostheer-favored configuration. MGs lock down those fuels too easily, so my default response when playing 4v4s is sniper spam, which is a bit vulnerable to the proper counters unless I have helpful teammates.

Before changing the builds specifically for 4v4s I would really like to see how implementing resource sharing would impact COH2.

My impression is that people just tech as quickly as possible and then spam end game units like panthers or elefants and powerful abilities.

1. I think resource sharing should be a no brainer for inclusion in team games. a +20 fuel income would turn into +5 for each player in a 4v4, +7 for 3v3, or +10 for 2v2.

2. Alternately they could simply replace many of the high value points with basic territorial control points, maybe leave 1 high fuel 1 high munition in the center to fight over as bonus income.

3. Third option could be to artificially increase the price of teching (german tiers, sov buildings) depending on the number of players in a match. Ex. 200% cost modifier applied to in a 4v4, 150% in a 3v3, 125% in a 2v2. This presumes that soviet and german tiers are equal which ATM I dont believe is correct, however the concept is valid after any rebalancing off tier meta.

I also liked your idea in your thread a while back about giving custom games more options. I see no reason other than difficulty in programming (if there is any, I wouldnt know) to implementing custom options like no bulletins, no commanders, no heavy tanks, whatever as checkboxes when setting up a game lobby. Obviously this wouldn't apply at all to ranked matches.

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  Resources sharing would be an interesting start for sure !
  Adding maps (3vs3/4vs4) with more cutoffs, choke points, difficult terrain.
  Ah Montargis ! so many great battles. I long to see you.
  A bigger Steel pact for fast and furious bloody battles !
  Maybe map design could surly be part of the solution and as a bonus it add variety.
  

This forum and thread like this are what make the coh&coh2 family so great ! keep the good work friends ! thank you !

Excellent post. Somes things up very well.

For me it is only once you get to play against high level soviet players especially in 2v2 that the problems start to occur.

Molotovs are far superior to rifle grenades in my opinion and if you are to use rifle grenades regularly you put at risk your ability to place mines and shreks.

By the time I try to move my squads out of the pool of fire the response time is sooooo slow they seem crawl around on the floor buggering about.

Rifle grenades rarely kill a squad member, compared to soviet grenades which have an uncanny ability of wiping out an entire squad.

120mm mortar is ridiculous the range is incredible.

And although im sure it is my poor micro skills with the almost useless mg42 having a pak is such a risk as it just gets flanked.

I can see why there are people who still feel soviets are op as if I play against a low/mid rank player victory is fairly easy to achieve mainly because these players are prepared to use diverse non linear strategies. But against high level soviet players the same strats are deployed that eventually overpower the germans.

Once again this thread is not about t70s as the focus. However:

This optimistic scenario presumes that the german player recovers from the triple t70 rush, when in reality thats often a game ender 10 mins in. Even if you do manage to kill the tanks, chances are at least some of your squads were killed in the process because retreating men and ostheer squads are killed very easily by t70s. It then becomes an uphill battle as your opponents simply switches to t34's for 30 fuel more, and maybe makes another t70 or two as the game goes on to continue infantry harassment. T70s ARE proper soviet armor, they just dont kill panzer 4s.

The problem with that time window is it punishes anything short of perfection on the ostheer player early on. That strategy is designed to quickly end a game, not as part of a prolonged strategy.

Plus I disagree that t70s ever become useless over the course of the game. They repair quickly and infantry never become less vulnerable to harassing tactics.

I like smart t70 harassment a lot because it rewards quick thinking and skill on the soviet player; I dont like that the unit enters the game before german hard counters or even many soft counters, are practical.

Alright, I get your point with there being a difference between these counters being practical and being available. The Germans have all of these counters available to them, they just not be practical for them to utilize against a rushed light tank. And quite frankly I think that is the exact purpose of the T70: to force the german faction to make a less-than-practical move for the first (and only) window of time in CoH2. Let's not forget that upgunned Scout cars, which are already pretty popular for most german players to begin with t70 threat or no, deals extensive damage to the t70 rear armor.

Between PAKs, tellers, scout cars, panzerfausts, and the potential for shreck investment, I think there are plenty of feasible choices available to german players. The t70 is the first unit soviets themselves can field that can hard counter german t2 units: specifically the flame HT. (Which is silly to rush if there's grens or pgrens near it because they can reinforce and faust/shreck.) The window of time the t70 shocks the field is even narrower if you consider the time it takes for either engis or the self repair to fix the damage of one panzerfaust and its guaranteed engine damage, nullifying its speed advantages.

I'm not trying to beat this into the ground at all, and I get that t70s aren't really the point of the thread. I think you've got some good points, but despite them I really cannot believe that the germans aren't well enough equipped to handle an early t70. Every option may not be the most practical, but all the options certainly shut down the shock value a t70 could have.

All that aside, I like the ideas of resource sharing in team games, a reanalysis of tech pricing and timing, as well as Nullist's idea about tweaking how flame damage works. IIRC fire damage ignores the bonuses units get on retreat which is why it is especially common for entire squads to die by fire. I've never liked that about fire. All it should do is treat cover in the opposite fashion as small arms. All in all, that's it's purpose.

I disagree with the OP on everything. T1-T4 play is pretty much only viable on Langres. SU-85s are terrible on any map with a lot of shot blockers.

Outside of bullshit RNG rolls, like a 120mm wiping out squads or getting a heavy engine damage on your tiger by an AT nade, the better player usually wins. This latest patch is probably the best balance I've ever seen ANY Relic game, ever (and I've played them all at a top level).

Very interesting thread, guys.

Lots of food for thought. And this thread created a little email chain here at Relic.

We're always looking for this kind of information so that we can roll potential changes into our test betas for feedback and game metrics analysis.

PAKs are so slow and often innacurate (yay RNG) that people will just drive right past them. If you watch vonivans stream or andy they will buy 3 and just purposely drive up to it and decrew it. they might lose one or two but at that point it doesnt matter because it was the only threat to their rush

More importantly PAKs are defensive and you cant push without vehicle support outside of your immediate defensive area because a t70 can float along the perimeter and hit where the PAK isnt - mobility

Teller mines work great 95% of the time (I've seen a t70 survive occasionally) but smart players will avoid main roads when t70 rushing. Worse its hard to even get the munitions for mines in the first place in a game with heavy soviet pressure on your resources

Shrecks are kited by a t70 and pgrens will then die when they try to retreat. Also 120 munitions is way too expensive

T70s could use a small speed/mobility nerf (its a tank not a race car) but the meta that gets them out at 9 mins in as much at fault too, if not more so
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Munition costs are voluntary for soviets (abilities) and mandatory for ostheer (upgrades). Thats a flawed balance that contributes to soviets having an easier time managing munitions

Worse the cost of a 120mm precision strike, which will instantly kill a squad or support weapon is only 45 munitions... as much as a frag grenade. Difference is frag grenades you see coming, and they dont launch from halfway across the map. GG

Demo charges require no upgrades, not even the minesweeper one for 30muns, and at 90mun will kill any squad/squads in the game outright. they probably tear up vehicles but I dont see people using them against that. Good bye vet3 PGREN squad 25 mins into a close game because you tried to capture a VP. Ostheer naturally cant build them for some reason

Not meaning to sound too skeptical but I get the impression you've played a lot more Ostheer than Soviets (especially in terms of reasonably high level games) and consequently you've experienced horrible situations a lot more as Ostheer than as Soviets and you're always on the receiving end rather than the using end of these units. Hence, you probably don't see the 120mm studiously missing everything you barrage at for half a game, you probably don't experience the frustration of your conscripts being incapable of scaling against grens because of LMGs (your spare munitions won't help you), you won't find a north Langres start where you have no munitions and no manpower and no fuel and in spite of killing a scout car, an FHT and the first Ostwind yet there's still no way back onto the field on account of how many tools the Ostheer have for sitting on that cutoff, you won't get a T-70 only for it to be cleverly ambushed by shreks/a pak and a faust and thus find yourself pretty screwed, or go for the Von Ivan T1-T3 T-70 rush, be fiercely contested and then struggle like hell to deal with P-IVs on account of backteching being prohibitively expensive. Similarly, a game where Von or Andy have the fuel to have THREE T-70s by the time the first PAK is out is usually a game they've already won rather than a typical close early game. If they had a similar fuel advantage as Ostheer they would be sitting very pretty.

This is just going off streams but it seems like most of the players who are very strong with both factions think the game is a bit Ostheer favoured, I think it's very hard to make an authoritative argument about the balance needing fixing when you only experience the frustrations of one faction.

(For instance, Von Ivan, if he's not massively winning a game, does not usually have a load of munis as Soviets because of how much he oorahs, molotovs and uses AT nades. Likewise, T1->T4 with Guard Motor is usually an extremely muni-expensive strategy... and Ostheer were successfully countering it even before both the SU-85 and the Soviet snipers received serious [albeit, imo, justified] nerfs)

Edit: watching your game... I'm not really sure it's good evidence for your arguments. You have a roughly even early game, then your first P-IV (which was able to arrive reasonably ahead of the SU-85 despite even fuel control) gets stopped from capitalising by running into a mine, and you lose your second vehicle (the Ostwind) as soon as it comes out thanks to playing very aggressively with it and getting it AT naded when you're aware an SU-85 should be around. After the Ostwind loss you fairly quickly lost most of your grens.

Tsubaki doesn't generally have a load more munis than you and I think it's reasonably obvious from the replay that your play, whilst you started off pretty well, really dropped the ball in the mid-game against a very good Soviet player on a map that's pretty good for the T1 T4 strat. TL/DR: looks like you got outplayed rather than a key top-level balance concern but what do I know?

I play guard motor T1-T4 almost exclusively when I play soviets. I'm always running dry on munitions. Only time I'm floating is when I reach my cap limit pretty much.