The new Penals

I played 6 Sovjet games in a row whole night already.
Sorry, I don't do noobs game.

Keep going then, 4 more and you're out of placement vs noobs.

Look. Porygon. You posted a balance 'display' from over half a decade ago. You honestly argue as in Penal troops are unbeatable monsters.

Go watch some tournament play and watch penal troops lose. Or win! In either situation they are not overbearing, and your struggle to overcome them is not that you are a victimised martyr crushed beneath the weight of noobs pressing the 2EZ button.


This line of argument just makes you look bad. At the very LEAST bring up a few stats you think are too high and draw a few comparisons to similar troops.

Keep going then, 4 more and you're out of placement vs noobs.

I rather play vCOH if the meta is as silly as this.

Well, your rank in 1v1 as soviets is pending and your rank in 2v2 as soviets is 800, so yeah you are playing noobs.

I suck at this game but my rank as soviets is around 200 in 2v2.

So, yeah.

Anyone who says that Penals are Soviet Obersoldaten should try to play them this way in a 1v1 game.

Soviets have two choices: use weak Conscripts as main line infantry or Penals. Conscripts suck without T2 or PPSH and need fuel for things OKW and Ost get for free (Flame/Rifle Nade and Panzerfausts). Also Conscripts feel like they do no damage at all other than in close combat (where they drop while charging).

Penals on the other hand can fight on all ranges (while still doing A LOT damage in close), BUT they come with a cost that isn't measured in manpower. First you need to build T1 with your Pios (which takes longer to build than the OST T1) and you have to decide whether you build a Conscript squad first in order to maintain field presence OR wait for T1 to be finished.

If you get Conscripts, you have to wait about half a minute until you can PRODUCE the first Penals. In this case the OKW player has usually 2 Volks squads and the Ost Player 1 Gren and the MG.

If you do not get Conscripts, you can produce the Penals immediately after T1 is finished but then you have NO combat unit on the field until they arrive (between 1 min and 1:30).

If you do use T1 and Penals you also have to keep in mind that you cannot do shit against armor. PTRS penals are shit versus inf and as you do not get any MGs caused by skipping T2 you cannot do anything against massed enemy infantry once PTRS have been researched.

The Penal PTRS is something like an Anti Vehicle MG. They can keep light vehicles such as Flak HTs and Luchs' at bay but no decent player will lose a vehicle to them if paying enough attention. The sticky satchel has a range of about a meter, its for flanking tanks that hit a mine, or for out of sight advances. Penals have no Urrah so don't plan on chasing a functional vehicle.

Sovs needed something in order to make T1 a bit appealing, so they received the PTRS package as a last resort to be able to do anything in the light vehicle meta. Once light Axis vehicles appear, the T1 Soviet player has to play clearly better than his enemy until tanks appear.

Well, your rank in 1v1 as soviets is pending and your rank in 2v2 as soviets is 800, so yeah you are playing noobs.

I suck at this game but my rank as soviets is around 200 in 2v2.

So, yeah.

I quited COH2 around few months after Brits vanguard were released, but played COH2 since its closed beta. vCOH since 2007.
I knew the Sovjet well enough, thanks.

I am no longer in fond of COH2 1v1 because of its design. If I want 1v1, I will play vCOH, US/Wehr.
Rifles / Volks fight won't give you insane advantage just because "how much your penals costed higher than Grens" bullshit. Even a PG aggression can be countered by evading fight and strike at the right time. (Brits infantry 450, Rifles 270, when did IS being better than Rifles?)

Meanwhile in COH2, I saw a Penals capturing a point in green cover, I know I cannot win this engagement without putting 2 times manpower-wise units into it, and even if I insist, I am going to risk my damaged Grens/Volks getting squad wipe by clown car at their retreat path, which is extremely easy to execute, thanks god Penals no longer getting their flamers, but a clown car with penals can still squadwipe a lone strumpio / MG42 easy enough.

I actually have to agree, I swapped from allies to axis this last patch because I swap every now and then. As OKW I'm having a terrible time fighting Soviet T1, and it just gets worse and worse. Bleeding my Volks w/ upgraded STG's vs Penals is just brutal. A squad will grab the AT package and counter lights decently, but they pop out a su76 w/ the fuel control and then my lights are countered. Then they often roll into a Kv-8 flamer and back tech to some ZiS guns, the barrages eat you up, they get an MG out and it's just a bad day. Can't snipe the damn su76 w/ the rak, they die real quick. Volks can't stand up to Penals + MG, and anywhere you try and hard flank is a hefty barrage.

Then when you do get a tank out, you're facing like 1-2 at guns, a penal AT, su76, and you're just dodging shit like a motherfucker...


I think my only choice is to go STUKA and bomb the shit out of him to counter that. But it feels off. Penals do cost more, but I wish they costed less and were less effective?

They have been nerfed more than a year ago.