Since mods have an inexplicable allergy to people responding to threads from a while ago that are still relevant to present discussion, I am reposting my comment so that anyone who would like to respond has the ability to.
If COH3 is released within this millenium, I hope infantry armor stays as far away from it as possible. It's incredibly unintuitive and is needlessly confusing for newer players. MP40s in Company of Heroes fire the same bullets right? Well, why does that bullet suddenly gain homing properties against paratroopers? Do they wear armor magnetized to attract 9x19 Parabellum? I played CoH for a few years and I never caught on to *any* of that. It's not communicated to the player in any way. I only learned of infantry armor years later when I decided to visit the CoH1 wiki for funsies.
I think it makes sense to balance the game around adjusting units speciically, not how accurate/ damaging two other factions' weapons are against it based on what arbitrary "type" of unit they are. Which is unknown to the average player.
I suppose that I can see its advantages. (E.g. "Oh well paratroopers are quite good against grenadiers but against volksgrenadiers they are too strong so lets just give volks access to such and such armor later on in the game so they are less susceptible to the M1919s" I'm not saying that that's the way it is in the game I'm just making up an example BTW)But there should be some kind of in-game explanation for it or at the very least a unit encyclopedia (A La Men of War 2) where every single infantry model is listed page by page, and you can see the exact stats of that infantry model.
In men of war, I can access the encyclopedia and see that this recon team model actually has access to the "Aimed Shot" perk which would allow it to snipe enemy soldiers if it were to loot a sniper rifle off of an enemy. Or that this militiaman infantry model has lower health and lower accuracy with rifles than the average soldier. All of this data is accessible within the game. I think that CoH should have that as well. In fact, I think they should with or without infantry armor added to the next title. |
If COH3 is released within this millenium, I hope infantry armor stays as far away from it as possible. It's incredibly unintuitive and is needlessly confusing for newer players. MP40s in Company of Heroes fire the same bullets right? Well, why does that bullet suddenly gain homing properties against paratroopers? Do they wear armor magnetized to attract 9x19 Parabellum? I played CoH for a few years and I never caught on to *any* of that. It's not communicated to the player in any way. I only learned of infantry armor years later when I decided to visit the CoH1 wiki for funsies.
I think it makes sense to balance the game around adjusting units speciically, not how accurate/ damaging two other factions' weapons are against it based on what arbitrary "type" of unit they are. Which is unknown to the average player.
I suppose that I can see its advantages. (E.g. "Oh well paratroopers are quite good against grenadiers but against volksgrenadiers they are too strong so lets just give volks access to such and such armor later on in the game so they are less susceptible to the M1919s" I'm not saying that that's the way it is in the game I'm just making up an example BTW)But there should be some kind of in-game explanation for it or at the very least a unit encyclopedia (A La Men of War 2) where every single infantry model is listed page by page, and you can see the exact stats of that infantry model.
In men of war, I can access the encyclopedia and see that this recon team model actually has access to the "Aimed Shot" perk which would allow it to snipe enemy soldiers if it were to loot a sniper rifle off of an enemy. Or that this militiaman infantry model has lower health and lower accuracy with rifles than the average soldier. All of this data is accessible within the game. I think that CoH should have that as well. In fact, I think they should with or without infantry armor added to the next title. |
Being able to choose from AP and HAVP rounds is an option for the 76mm Sherman the same way that being able to choose from HE is an option for the 75mm Sherman. It is no away disadvantage.
Look, it's the same argument I made for the rapid shell switch disadvantage. Just imagine the enemy tank as something with higher armor. The point still stands that you'll have to commit to a shot or waste it on the other tank. That is a disadvantage, no matter how you put it. |
Like I said, I don't consider shell switching to be a disadvantage in the totality of the unit, but in a situation such as this the Sherman is undeniably at a disadvantage. Is it a major one? Likely not so much. But it is a disadvantage nonetheless.
And yes, you could certainly drive everywhere with AP rounds loaded just in case a tank comes out of nowhere, but is that reasonable? I would think that HE rounds would be preferable because of the potential to wipe being a lot higher. Honestly I don't know. My brain isn't big enough to have tried engaging enemy infantry squads with AP rounds to be completely honest. To me it seems like it would be inefficient. |
Not really.
If it is a 75mm Sherman the player can engage the engineers with AP rounds just fine, he has the option to decimate them with HE if he want to. He can then switch after firing adding a slight delay to the reload (that might even be lower than the time required to fire on the new target).
In sort the player used little more micro and got more from his units.
In a similar manner the the player using the 76mm can swamp to HAVP after firing. The difference in performance vs an ostheer PzIV is only substantial at max range. The AP round is even better at point blank.
In sort little micro allows users to get more out of their vehicle.
You are describing a situation where you are forced to commit to firing a round with the Sherman at the infantry one more time instead of being able to instantly engage the enemy tank despite being in an advantageous position to do so. Your comment is self defeating. I hope you realize that I'm not conpletely disagreeing with you. There's no need to tie yourself into knots defending something so blatantly apparent. |
It really is a disadvantage when having to change targets quickly. For example, a sherman and Pz.iv run into an identical situation. You use the tank on a less defended flank to attack some engineers, say. All of a sudden, a wild enemy tank appears, and lucky you, it was passing by and due to user error it exposed its side armor to you. Now the panzer 4 can immediately take advantage of this situation by switching to prioritize vehicles and fire at the tank as soon as it reloads. Meanwhile the Sherman has to take the time to switch rounds.
It's a disadvantage in scenarios like this.
Now, as far as it being a disadvantage with all things considered, that argument is definitely harder to make. If you have the time to switch shells before engaging a target it's much less of a disadvantage.
I haven't really tested the M4C AP rounds against infantry so I don't know how effective it is, so I can't comment on that, but I do think it's important to note that the M4C comes with mobile smoke which is quite nice for Soviets. |
Assault Guards aren't bundled with the M5 anymore in the balance patch. Though I struggle to find the purpose of Assault Guards now when Shocks and Partisans are just better versions of Assault Guards.
Very true that partisans and shock troops outshine assault guards in terms of damage but if I understand correctly they will be upgradable with bazookas which should give the SOV faction a very nice AT infantry squad effective against mediums that they don't have. |
I think you might be able to pull off some cute plays with it in its current state. Now that it gets the ability to cap at vet 2 you can put minesweeper engis inside and perhaps sneak into an undefended territory point and decap with the scout car while your engineers place mines to harass the enemy units coming to recap. You don't have to worry about mines because mines cant blow up when revealed and the engineers will reveal the mines before your scout car runs over them.
You could also use it as a mobile minesweeper unit for that same reason. Send it in first on a flank and you'll know if there are any mines along the path. Even if it's destroyed by AT guns it's not much of a loss. And with the increased sight you might even be able to prevent losing it.
I have to be completely honest with you, I think minesweeper halftracks are the best thing in the game. Perhaps even unbalanced.
Edit: another thing, minesweeper halftracks followed by tanks are neat because once mines are revealed you can attack ground on them with tanks to remove them instead of wasting time having the engineers uproot them from the ground.
Edit 2: Oh and also penals too because they can also attack ground now. |
Are assault guards still going to be bundled with M3 this patch? If so, can someone explain to me why that is? I mean it's certainly nice the first time around so that you can get an AA gun, but if you want another guards squad you have to get another M3 too. A bit rough on popcap. What would be wrong with the commander ability also including an ability to build them at the base for a reduced price (and obviously shared cool down with the active ability to prevent spam) is it part of the balance of the unit or is the code not able to support such a thing?
Edit: I think I may have the call in Halftrack mixed up with another. If so the Halftrack is still nice for a mobile reinforce and heal point but my point still stands about it being a little limiting forcing the purchase of the Halftrack with every assault guards. |
you could hold ctrl and press 3, then you would make the ambulance control group 3, then whenever you double-tap 3 you will center on the ambulance. For squads when you give them a control group you will automatically select them when you press the number.
I give my engineers the 2 control group. When I pull a damaged vehicle from the frontline I can just hit 2 and then the vehicle and the engineers will go to repair without me even having to see them on the screen.
Oh and also if you click a squad while holding ctrl you will select all squads of the same type. If you hold shift you will add squads to the selection. (I.e. you could bind a grenadier and a panzergrenadier to control group 1 without them having to be next to each other.) |