Profile of ZombiFrancis

Lieutenant and Captain costing 100mp and not calling in a free squad really opens up USF a whole lot.

Way more than messing with T0 anything.

I agree that Rear Echelon should get mines. If it's so important that they don't initially get mines, they should either get flamethrowers as an upgrade, or the minesweeper upgrade should unlock minelaying.

Panzerfusiliers without their G43s are rather ineffectual. Still probably doesn't warrant less pop cap then a gren squad.

And unless you spam kubels like Sprice and Paul did to glorious failure, getting to 2 CPs without investing in other infantry is a challenge for OKW.

Agreed that maps are very much a component of the problem.

One of the major reasons for this are the restrictive number of territory options that mapmakers have to work with, as well as how cutoffs cannot really be created without putting more resources on the map. There could be so many more functional designs if there weren't just the selection of territory points available to mapmakers without modding.

However, there is another component to the issue: CP income. It is possible to be able to fully tech as Ostheer before acquiring the CPs to call in a Command P4 (or even a StuG E now.) Doctrinal abilities are all over the place in 4v4 as a result. I think this contributes to an illusion of inflated resource income.

That could help. However that still wouldn't be enough to convince to tech up to T4 to build a Panther, instead of building 3 Stugs. At best I would go for Stug + brummbar, but not a Panther.

So that's the thing, three unturreted AT focused vehicles and one unturreted AI vehicle. What then, is it that makes turreted vehicles less functional or inaccessible? If one will tech up to T4 and still build multiple T3 units, then there might be merit into looking at what units are left out of this equation: The ostwind, p4, panther, and panzerwerfer.

TBH, I personally go for T4 for the panzerwerfer. But all the other units are turreted vehicles. I think that's suspect to how Ostheer's design functions in a post WFA world.

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The Stug is a medium tank destroyer specialist. Slight modifications to the Panther will make either unit overshadow the other unit. Panther needs a rework to be complementary to the Stug; not a competitor. Then, Stug is what you would build to counter allied TDs, and Panther is what you would build to tank some damage, and hold advanced mediums (e.g., Comets/T-34/85) and heavies off.

I disagree: The StuG is an unturreted tank destroyer that can't defend itself when flanked. The Panther is a turreted tank destroyer that can maneuver to the flanks and defend them.

Essentially I have the entirely opposite position. The Panther should act as a heavily armored mobile tank that should be able to move to the flanks to cut off and engage enemy tanks attempting to flank the Ostheer position. StuGs, being unturreted and more expendable, hold 'the line' soaking up damage and holding off allied pushes.

Only the latter half is true right now, and more or less how Ostheer games play out: They defend until their opponents makes a particularly bad push (as in, not flanking the StuGs).

We're long since converged to the fact that the Panther needs to deal 200 damage to be worthy. This will allow the Panther to be better-optimised for a different class of targets than the Stug.

Really? Of all the suggestions I've heard for the Panther over the course of this game it's consistently been about its moving accuracy. I can't recall a thread where the Panther having 200 damage being discussed. Maybe I missed that one.

Given that the Panther can now come out faster (teching costs) and will deal more damage, I don't know what would be the balancing act (e.g., nerfing vet2 durability). However, the usefulness of the unit should change to match a 18/19 popcap performance.

Well, with the issue being its rate of fire before getting vet and its accuracy, especially on the move, I feel like those might've been the realm of the balancing act rather than tech costs and damage...

Looks good! I always forget about the fern object. That's probably your best bet for tropical looking foliage.

And I only just now noticed what looks like a bunker in there. That really fits the theme IMO. I wonder though how accessible it actually is, as in can it actually be garrisonned?