Profile of ZombiFrancis

Part of me wishes they'd remove two commanders if CoH2 wins.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the effects of cover completely nullified when units are within a certain range of each other?

I seem to recall that cover modifiers don't apply to units at close range. Assuming that this is how it is, cover only really effectively applies for a very narrow window of time unless both sides are completely static and at range. (Which happens about never percent of the time.)

I think this is why Shocks are so pronounced in their effectiveness: they're always closing in and fighting at close quarters which reduces combat to a matter of who has the bigger stats. Shocks with their innate armor levels and close range weapons (that are more accurate while moving) are insurmountable by any means other than superior firepower.

Of all the opinions I have an arguments I have heard, there have just been two things that have stuck in my mind: Sluggish unit responsiveness, and unimaginative map strategy.

Infantry units have always, always felt extremely sluggish just entering the battlefield, let alone retreating or finally moving out of base again.

It's hard to ever isolate a single reason, as if the maps themselves just seem off scale and too large, or infantry simply move too slowly across the terrain, but the amount of idle time units spend just moving has always seemed off to me.

But more than anything I have always felt that the unified resource points were a placeholder from an alpha build that just never went away. Scaled resource points puts a varying degree of value on territory. Strategy points with little to no resource income placed in key positions help provide a choice between cutting off enemy territory or taking it.

One of the main reasons Langres and Semois were so popular, ehough to be remade into CoH2, was because the fuel and munition points were very well distributed across the maps. The fuel point next to the HQs in Semois being +10 instead of +5 or +16 made a big difference to the balance of the map. The way the two +10 fuels on the right of Langres were set up versus the one of the left had very real strategic implications.

The commanders, the vet, the upgrades, the units and their tiers, I can chalk all those up with the 'new game, new strategies' jargon. But clunky unit movement and stale map fundamentals just seem like core issues for an RTS game.

I dunno, but if I could trade old commanders in for that discount or a refund, I'd be way more compelled to ever shell out any more money.

I'm not too keen on changes to snipers that affect 1v1 sniper battles. I think it was great how it was.

The problem with changing snipers around is that sniper blobs are just an extrapolation of whatever snipers are. If blobs are a problem (which they are) and not the unit itself (snipers are great) then the best thing to balance are its counters: bikes, jeeps, or simply affect how non-snipers react/interact with snipers.

For instance, if units that are shot by a sniper are given a temporary defense against sniper fire (in the form of reduced received accuracy) that lasts, say, the reload time of the sniper rifle, then the barrage of sniper blob fire on a single unit would have to be staggered for maximum efficiency. (I guess simulating the squad getting hit moving and acting under the realization there is now a sniper shooting them.) Also, attack moving a sniper blob at charging squads to spread out the shots usually works out poorly for the snipers' survival.

As long as it is short enough to never affect a single sniper, it would promote more surgical single sniper strikes, and reduce the impact of the first barrage of a sniper blobs fire. (The whole point and click unit deletion thing.)

Another option would be to have the negative zeal (which is effective for short range blobs, different for long range snipers) affect the sniper cloaking mechanic. Perhaps by unifying the cloaking timers and/or being revealed for much longer when near other snipers.

Although I must always keep in mind, the most powerful counter to snipers is, and probably always will be, the "Unit Sniped!" button.