Profile of Cyanara

They're very different weapons.

The HMG34 team has a heavy machine gun that has to be deployed. Its main role is to suppress squads, rather than do damage. That said, at vet 1 it gets incendiary rounds that can be activated for only 15 munitions. That ability will do excellent damage against infantry and light vehicles while it lasts. Use it whenever you can.

Obersoldaten can be upgraded to a LMG34, which is a light machine gun. It doesn't need to be set up, and can even be fired on the move. It is pretty much the best hand-held anti-infantry gun in the game. It does excellent damage at all ranges, although doesn't suppress until the squad gets to about vet 4.

Fixed My Problem

After reinstalling with the latest version of Windows 10, and buying 16GB new RAM I still had the same issue.

Long story short, my CPU fan was clogged up with dust and my CPU was overheating big time (nearly 100 degrees celsius). Get RealTemp if you want to check your CPU.

My game now feels responsive in a way it hasn't for ages, even when fps drops. My GPU is still not at 100% utilisation in this game or others, so I think I have an additional issue, but I can run COH2 at around 60fps on highest graphics well into a 4v4 match.

I feel most units do this as well.

It was standard in COH1, but only one per click is the standard in COH2. Annoyed me for a while, but I wouldn't have it any other way any more. Allows for a much more tactical approach that doesn't waste ammo.

Incidentally, has anyone else updated to that new Windows 10 major upgrade recently? It was practically like doing an in-place OS upgrade. I had a Windows.old folder afterwards, and a lot of system settings went back to default.

I'm curious as to whether that might be related to the performance problems. I'm not yet sure if it's possible to do a clean install with that version though.

I applaud Relic's recent move to add counter-play to mechanics that lacked it. It's a clear goal, and one that is essential to enjoyable competitive gameplay.

However, I do think that some of it could use some further enhancement, namely base fuel drops like in Lend Lease or Soviet Industry.

The Mechanic

Planes deliver the fuel, instead of automatic conversion.

Explanation: The counter-play added here is that the fuel is dropped by plane coming from the longest direction over the map, making it vulnerable to anti-aircraft weapons.

The Problem

Anti-aircraft weapons are hard to counter and don't require gameplay to use.

Explanation: The problem is that anti-aircraft mechanics are one of the game's weakest aspects. There is effectively nothing about it that requires player input. The counter-play is literally build an AA weapon and don't engage it in battle. OKW's abundance of AA weapons makes this especially easy and inevitable in team games.

The effort required by the Allied players to counter these AA weapons, and lack of ways to utilise the ability, means that using the ability is actually more about counter-counter-play, and one that feels heavily unrelated or detached. Bottom line: There's nothing fun involved.

The Solution(s)

Make it more like Supply Drop Zone, where it comes down to micro and not AA.

Explanation: Draw from the supply drop zone ability for inspiration. Whereas fuel drops can only happen in your base, supply drop zone can only happen on an applicable fuel/ammo point. These tend to be in contentious areas of the map by design. This means that there is a deliberate risk that the opponent may be able to use land units to steal that fuel (or ammo). These planes can't be shot down, so the counter-play comes down to the two sides fighting to pick up the fuel first (helped by the drop happening over an extended period of time). Making sure some sort of indication or notification of the drop is made noticeable by the opposing team, and you have well-crafted counter-play.

Because variety is the spice of life, you could potentially combine the two. Instead of limiting the fuel drop to the base, and making the plane direction always the same, allow the player to make the drop elsewhere on the map. This can make the plane direction variable to improve its chances, but at the cost of increasing the risk of the opposing team being able to steal the fuel once it is dropped.

Thoughts?