Jackson still pricey, but I feel it's a good unit now, as the final AT solution for the USF.
I'm not good at math but the reload speed buff and the vet nerf more or less make it reload faster from the get go but end up being the same as old? It had -50% reload speed at Vet3.
From a Miragefla´s game... https://youtu.be/-xPRlK3xK6I?t=1204
Only one rocket FROM THE SECOND SALVO killed 3 volks ... And was not blobing.
Shit happens, sometimes a grenade, a mortar round, a stray tank shell wipes squad, the Katyusha is quite unpredictable for both the user and the one on the receiving end.
It has always been like this.
I assume this also fixes the fix reload after the ability runs out?
Then this might work out for the better, 40 damage isn't that important since USF has bazookas, more mean might mean the Jackson is more reliable and gets it's great veterancy faster.
1v1 matches usually end a bit after manpower bleed has started to settle in, USF has started to slump and there's so many paper tanks to micro. For teamgames, just double the effective duration of the match.
There's no point at building Jacksons by that point; everything can kill it in 2-3 shots, and there's so many guns around. Therefore USF goes for the infantry/tactical artillery spam game.
Damage tables are inconsistent behaviour, and inconsistent behaviour makes the game more difficult to understand, and more difficult to predict.
Let it sink in that the vast majority of the player base don't realise, or don't want to understand that there's a difference between OST Panzer4/Panther/Blitzkrieg and their direct counterparts at OKW, and factor in that you now want to make one unit behave differently, depending on what it is engaging.
The changes will make it so that the insane micro requirements of the jackson get lifted, but it will do so by losing some firepower.
The jackson feels too crappy at v1.3, if anything. So, some stuff like cost and move accuracy might be reverted. I think it's worth exploring the idea of a 640HP jackson with 160 damage that can shift to HVAP shells every once in a while.
Here is hoping that the accuracy and cost nerfs get reverted, I'd gladly trade in damage for being able to survive a slip of micro, allowing the Jackson to finally use it's awesome veterancy...
I wouldn't mind some HVAP bugs being fixed as well though! The Aimtime when switching targets is what kills this ability.
jackson is super fast, has a turrent, high pene and is cheaper...its a flanker td...useable in flanking and urban citys...
jp4 has one big problem: its low speed and has no turrent...it has bad accuracy while rotation (jackson has not this problem)
and is easy flankable by faster tanks/ turrent tanks...
so it can´t fast enough run away like a jackson ...and once it got flank..its dead....a jackson can maybe destroy the enemy while it got flanked...
Buffed Jackson is no longer "cheaper" than the JP4.
Yeah, I mean I understand because Jackson buffs were getting to be a bit much but I don't think it's a huge deal since 160 vs. 200 damage doesn't mean much vs. medium tanks. I'll take that any day over USF getting rofl-stomped by heavy armor because their only TD gets destroyed by a stiff breeze.
I like to think that HVAP Shells (both M10 and Jackson) will get fixed - the balance team seems to be good about getting Relic to accept the QoL and bug fixes that plague certain units. That, and patch notes always seem to be incomplete. Like apparently how the anti-air damage standardization is supposedly included in the DBP but is nowhere in the notes.
Here is hoping, else USF will still be largely gimped in the lategame, as their TD losses to tanks and their options are mostly geared towards killing mediums... Outside of the "needs a buff" P47s.