Since CoH2 is all about having the right intel at the right time, the game is all about knowing where the units of your opponent are to position/move your units in the right way. This is pretty much realistic because it was the same in reality. Intel is the key to victory in every battle.
There are three main ways to get direct sight
1. planes (Commander / nondoc officers) -> medium munition cost / short-medium timed / counterable with AA
2. recon units -> get better with vet / constant
3. unit flares -> low munition cost / long timed
(commander flares will be probably and rightfully patched out of the game as it seems, so I won’t include them)
Since vision is so important in this game I don’t understand the huge difference between factions. Especially at recon units. While I found no allied unit which has more than 55 sight including Vet we have the doctrinal scope and the Infrared HT. Infrared HT gives 75 sight, scoped 222 gives about 70 sight without vet and 90 sight (which is really “overkill”) with vet while not moving. Its already 60 sight for vetted 222 without scope.
The 55 sight seems to be carefully balanced about risk vs reward, you always risk loosing your vetted M20 for example because there are AT units which can snipe you at that distance if your opponent has vision by himself (nondoc: PAK at Ostheer, JPIV at OKW / plus doctrinal ones). So I don’t understand this riskless “overkill” constant sight at axis factions while extra sight at doctrinal Vet3 Greyhound was stripped for example.
Proposal:
- all recon units should be capped at 55 or 60 (222/Puma) sight with vet
- Scopes and Infrared HT should have timed munition costing abilities that give them their sight range bonus (similar to timed sight from unit flares)
- 90 sight for vetted and scoped 222 is overkill, lower a bit even if timed
- Greyhound should get back its sight bonus in form of a Vet 1 munition costing timed ability (as proposed for IR HT and scoped 222) which should disable the weapons too while activated. This is RECON company and it has neither flares nor a vehicle that has better sight as the nondoc M20 (only the Pathfinders which you get without artillery call-in at Airborne too = same sight as M20)
Yeah this seems to be all about nerf axis, and to be honest yeah it is. But you can’t just make such huge differences at the key element of this game. Axis recon vehicles counter allied recon vehicles, since IR HT or 222 (with vet and/or scope) plus PAK or JPIV = dead allied recon vehicle. This isn’t the case in reverse.
The huge sight bonus of recon units wouldn’t get stripped from axis, this would be unfair, because soviet has nondoc mortar flares and UKF/USF get somehow nondoc recon plane in the course of the battle. The difference is, that all recon abilites that give more than 55/60 sight should be activated for a given time and cost some munition. That way recon would be standardized about ranges and cost somehow but still be asymmetric in its form.
If you nerf axis sight, then you must make axis and allies have the same TD range.