Profile of EtherealDragon

*starts slow clap for British Tech changes*

Wonderful, current live patch it always felt like you couldn't upgrade Squad Size, Grenades, Etc. if you wanted to tech up/get vehicles any time quickly. Getting an AEC now or a Cromwell with faster tech is a nice strategy choice to have too. Kind of sad that Wasp didn't get some of its damage back closer to the 16 range... feels a little lackluster now for 90 Mu after the second damage nerf.

One thing that I would like looked at is the drop rate of Brens/Piats on Infantry Sections: they get sort of weapon pinata-esqe at Vet3 it feels like. Being able to repair the Vanguard Operations HQ glider would be swell as well

+1 on #3

Engineer's can repair an entire damn bridge but not a glider? Wouldn't be OP either... the thing is still fragile and easy to take down with artillery/ tank fire.

I also prefer the Churchill as I feel it synergies best with the overall Brits design and units.

1. Less Fuel
2. Perfect shield for Fireflies
3. AI isn't far behind Comet's
4. Airburst Shells makes up for the crappy scatter on 25 Pounders
5. Heavy Engineers help reduce MP Bleed late game
6. Perfect Command Vehicle

Don't get me wrong, I like the Comet but it feels a tad too squishy against Axis AT and with the pending nerfs probably overpriced for it performance. Freaking love the White Phos. shells at Vet 1 though.

At the risk of another heated Brace thread.... for those have you who have tested out the Balance Preview Mod what are your thoughts on Brace in it?

General Points:

1. Relic wants to avoid Sim City 2.0 by high cost/ Pop Cap of Emplacements

2. Brace is needed due to the static nature of emplacements + to protect your investment in them

3. Infinite Brace with no cooldown is arguably OP (at the very least super frustrating for the Axis player) and almost certainly needs changed.


As of now Brace has a 1 Minute cooldown after the Brace effect ends, which I feel presents a significant threat to emplacements due to the multiple threats to them.

1. Buffed LEiG - Now with better range and accuracy, short barrage timer means you can widdle down emplacements fairly easily (especially with multiple guns)

2. Mortar Half Track - Incendiary Barrage currently wrecks emplacements

3. Buffed Walking Stucka or Stuka Bomb Drop/Other Artillery Call ins ('nuff said)

4. New Volks Incendiary Grenades - Emplacements are weak to fire and now mainline infantry have fire; their grenades also currently wreck bunkers in 1 grenade due to DoT. I haven't tested them vs. emplacements yet but I fear a similar effect. This could end up being a wide-spread hard counter.

5. Tanks, AT Guns, Etc.

With the new cooldown any combination of these counters slightly staggered after brace is popped leaves a high chance of emplacement death. Counters are fine and needed but when you consider the current cost of emplacements the Brit player is faced with losing 320~400 MP + 0~70 Fuel depending on the emplacement in question. This is pretty devastating given the Brits current manpower bleed situation.

Due to this I feel like a shorter cooldown (30 sec?) is probably more appropriate and/or changing the way brace works (diminishing returns as amount of damage is received increases?). Either that or emplacements need a cost/pop cap reduction to offset the increased likelihood of losing them or slightly buffed damage resistance when not in brace.

tl:dr I feel like the 60 sec cooldown on Brace in Preview Mod is too long considering current counters to and costs of emplacements. Additional tweaks may be needed or else emplacements may not be viable.

Slightly buff base Penetration or something like make AP Rounds cheaper with Vet (its kind of silly to force USF to spend munitions to reliably deal with heavy armor when its already Munitions starved). Heck, without AP rounds it bounces quite a bit on OKW Panzer4.