Profile of Blovski

Just singling out

4.
a. T-34 will normally deal with an Ostwind but it's not a dead loss if you have other AT. Ostwind is only really a first vehicle either if your opponent has not had the fuel for a proper T-3/4 or if they're really going in for shocks or guards on a map like Kholodny where an Ostwind can basically just sit on one side and scamper away when you see a tank. If you kite conscripts with an Ostwind you will maul them. More importantly, unlike P-IVs, an Ostwind will chew up a guard squad pretty much instantly.
b. Similarly, p-gren upgrades are a contextually useful item rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.
c. StuGs are also really cheap and are much better vs. infantry than they used to be. Yeah they need to be supported but they're still OK.
d. would like the scout car upgun to be a bit cheaper and maybe a little better vs. infantry but I kind of like it as is.
e. yeah, PAKs are troublingly vulnerable at the moment, and not having a good recrewing option doesn't help.

The 'realism' thing ain't helping.

Yeah, most of the German commanders need sassing up.

Incidentally, German sniper fires 1.5x as often... meaning he shouldn't be that much slower at killing squads. He can also come with supporting MGs and mortars on account of the tier system, while the Soviet sniper can't. He's probably still dying a bit too suddenly especially from indirect fire but I think people getting better at using the camo will mitigate that a bit.

The 6-man weapons are almost all worse than the German equivalent (MG in fire-arc and suppression, mortar in rate of fire and accuracy). Hence more survivable/less likely to get completely decrewed.

^

Not saying I think the sniper car is a good thing to have in the game but that's a *huge* early manpower and time investment if it's coming up first thing... if not, a German has plenty of time to get up a preemptive scout car. Risky in that it makes it hard to punish a quick tier 2 and will slow your capping down a lot not having the combat engis on the field. Losing whole squads to it seems indicative of pretty bad play.

Fausts *always* hit except for a possible bug if you retreat them right after. They tend to do enough damage to take them down with small arms fire afterwards. A double-faust will basically always kill a scout car.

The upgunned scout car is my preferred counter. Makes very short work of it.

Lets attack these one by one.

1) SU-76 barrage is pretty much gone. This is good. Stug's, however, suck now. They are not as good as a PIV against infantry, and they royally suck against tanks, particularly because it is slow as hell. It should have had a cost increase, not a statistical nerf. Shrecks are NOT worth it, it takes 120 munis form an already starving army, and the soviets can get insane anti personnel units before you can get any shreks out. Drop a shrek (since they are doubles, this is very likely), and you risk giving the most potent infantry in the game AT capabilities.

2)Ostwinds are too expensive now, although admittedly, now they can hit something. The only reason why Stugs arent your first choice anymore is because, as stated, they arent as useful. I don't want my stug to kill infantry. I can get an ostwind for that.

3)Scout cars can be countered, but you have to be expecting it. In 1v1, it is not a big problem because there is a fuel sacrifice for it. However, the scout car as a support unit is supperior, in every respect that matters, to the armored car. It kills faster without troops in it. It can house snipers, conscripts or flamers. It can cap with any troops inside. For a cheaper cost.

Welcome to the Eastern Front, gentlemen. Now I understand the meaning of the achievement called "Delaying the Inevitable".

1. Not played loads with the StuG since the patch because I'm mostly running up against heavily infantry based soviets but when I've used it supported it's coped with much more expensive Russian tanks, it's dirt cheap in terms of manpower and T-34s have become more fuel-expensive (there's a 40mp disparity, the Stug has *way* better penetration). Obviously it's not as good as the more expensive/versatile P-IV vs. infantry but then it never has been. Not that Shrek drops aren't maybe a problem but guard PTRS and lmg drops are much more common.

2. Well, it used to be I'd have to get a StuG as my first tier 3 unit whatever the mix of the enemy's infantry and tanks because P-IVs were way more expensive and pretty lousy vs. armour, and Ostwinds used to just not do much damage. Both of those tanks are now in a decent place. Which means StuGs are now your AT/cheap option, Pz-IV's your flexible one and Ostwinds your infantry maulers. Which is what they're meant to be, really.

3. Yeah, in 2v2 and above I've no idea if the scout car is balanced. On 1v1 however, a really early flamecar will cripple the start of Soviet early game. If it comes out after the usual 3-scripts or whatever it's not that big a problem. The Ostheer armoured car could arguably use a small dps buff and an upgun cost decrease but it's quite useful for dealing with back-capping or upgunned at taking out scout cars, SU-76s, observation posts etc. etc. As noted elsewhere, while the German scout car is pretty much en route to whatever other techs you do, the Soviet one is basically deciding not to have weapons teams or ZiS guns without a costly back-tech.

I get that the Scout Car hasn't been nerfed (I never liked the Werfer, though, glad that's been mooted a bit) but other than that (I honestly don't see how big a deal the car itself is... maybe reduce accuracy from inside it a bit more or up the fuel by 5 or something...) I don't see what's so pro-Soviet about the patch. Yeah, StuGs aren't monsters any more, but they're also 120 mp cheaper and the other T-3 tanks are SO much better at doing their roles... i.e. barely more expensive than a T-34.