Opinion from my playtest with the British:
- Initial engagements feel better without T0 MGs which also affects the British, infantry play feels more dynamic and "natural" as ground is disputed by both sides and can end in either hands before being locked down by MGs.
- Would be nice for Infantry sections to get a "Medical" and "Artillery" officer when upgraded with their respective upgrades to further have a visual representation other than just the icon. Plus since it's now a passive ability it just doesn't make sense for a squad that look like ordinary riflemen to act as medics for example, this would "explain" it so to speak, I also think another mod did this but I can't remember which one. Minor cosmetical suggestion.
Base on my experience removing and replacing models with another tends to be buggy. In my previous mod I added an officer as part of the squad increase. My plan for this mod (next update) is to replace models of some squads with "Sergeants" for cosmetic changes and for a more diverse battle field.
- Squad having fixed number of members and not being able to be bolstered makes more sense balance wise and nostalgically hits home, for me at least.
Fun fact, I never played CoH1 online and only played the campaigns. All of my design choices have very little impact from CoH1
- Specifically for the Mortar, it's a nice addition to the British and allows for a more mobile force if the player decides to go that route, needs some more polish like a new icon and it's name should be "3-Inch Mortar team" instead of just 81mm Mortar, very minor cosmetical thing.
Icons and other symbols will come later. I am not very good with creating icons or using GIMP so I may have to
steal borrow other peoples works. Fun fact, my avatar Icon and the previous was created with Microsoft Word.
- Anvil and Hammer allow for a choice on behalf of the player, neither forcing or restricting the player into choosing to specialize in either for the rest of the game. I only have 2 suggestions for this, the first is if possible, it would be arguably more "realistic" and "unique" if you could switch between the 2 like the Ostheer can in the CoH: Eastern Front mod so the choice the player makes is inforced instead of having artificial side tech that allows for more units and abilities like the CoH2 Ostheer. My other suggestion being, some sort of mobile reinforcement point to "synchronize" with a mobile Army which the mortar also now supports as well being tied to Hammer. Basically it would be like this:
Anvil > Static defense (Forward Assembly and emplacements) and heavier but slow units ( ie Churchill).
Hammer > Mobile offense (with a mobile reinforcement point that can't provide infantry with weapons but perhaps can have a retreat point similar to the FA?) with quicker but less well armored or hard hitting units (Firefly is a good example of this, it's a glass cannon with a fairly good gun but paper Sherman Armor).
Granted both OKW and UKF both lack non doctrinal mobile reinforcement points it would however create a large amount of adjustments for other things as well.
UKF:
The cost of hammer and anvil is one reason why I moved them to T1. This created a proper timing for the AEC and bofors, so a toggle idea probably will not work out all too well. The toggle idea also does remind me of CnC generals USA. Having the M3 behind Hammer and the forward assembly behind Anvil would be quite fitting. The Forward retreat point would be late enough so it wound not require T2. However this may just destroy Advance Emplacement. As much as people do not like it, I still want to make it viable. The quickest and easiest fix I see is replacing the WASP in Mobile assault with the M3 call in so at least two doctrines.
OKW:
With volks not having non doctrinal upgrades a mobile reinforcing would be quite beneficial. There is one mobile doctrinal reinforcement unit. Adding any non Doctrinal unit would mean replacing this ability entirely. I see two options for mobile reinforcing.
1. Add the reinforcing opel blitz non doctrinally
2. Make the SWS able to act as a mobile reinforcing point as well able to hold two squads. I am more leaning towards this idea. I would give it the same constrains as the USF ambulance, only able to reinforce while in supply and stationary. The cost of the SWS would increase by 100 to 200 manpower while the tech structures manpower cost would decrease by 100 to 100.
- The addition of the 25 pounder is very noslagic and spot on, I think you have nailed everything about this unit except for it's damage, I noticed a lot of shots landing near infantry but killing no models, it could be just me but that's just what I saw. My only suggestion for it is to give it more abilities like in CoH through the Artillery Doctrine, as in Creeping Barrage, Counter Battery, Overwatch if possible, same for the Sexton, plus as now the Valentine is put as a default unit for Hammer it just feels weird having the Sniper in there, it would make sense if it were a let's say "Canadian" squad but yeah...
I will look at the AOE values. Fun fact, the sexton body was based on the Canadian Ram tank chaise.
That's about it to be honest, I had a lot of fun playing with the mod and I still think you did a really solid job with it, I was just so excited playing the Brits with a bit of a freshen up so to speak that I just wanted to share my feedback and opinions on my limited time with it.
And lastly, I would go as far as to say that in my honest opinion you should be part of the community balance team, if not for balance your "design" mindset is great and what this game really needs right now, you didn't even need to do a complete redesign of an Army in order to make it good again which just proves how very few changes in the right spots can make all of the difference, too bad they're considered as radical by most of the community but I guess that's just life for you...
P.S.
Just to further elaborate on my Anvil/Hammer suggestion, basically in Eastern Front the Ostheer can switch between it's Offensive and Support modes, paying one price the first time a choice is researched and a smaller price to switch to it at a later point.
United States
1
Tordenskjold
Lord Ægion
Bobzenho
Relic Entertainment
