Profile of Napalm

IMO the biggest balance issues are:

• G43s are too powerful after this patch, and they're the only weapon in the game that has no drawbacks at all. Conscripts, Penals, and Shocks don't stand a chance at all against multiple G43 squads since they do good damage at all ranges, while Cons, Penals, and Shocks are only optimal in close range.
  
• Grenadiers running up to a Maxim squad, shooting a rifle grenade, and killing off half the squad even if they're spread out.
  
• Conscripts seriously under-performing when compared to flamethrower Penal Battalions and DP-28 Guards.
  
• A properly defended Elefant is invincible.
  
• Panther's vet 2 is ridiculously OP. Transforms it into a heavy tank with the mobility of a light tank, the armor of a heavy tank, and range of a tank hunter.
  
• T-34/76 is only good for ramming after mid game.
  
• KV-1 relies almost 100% on luck in order to destroy a Panzer IV since it has 50/50 chance to penetrate its frontal and frontal/side armor.
  
• SU-76 is useless since we already have ZiS for barrage.
  
• T-70 now has way too many counters by the time it hits the field.
  
• Too much engine damage on both sides. It's a bit too easy to damage expensive tanks' engines, rendering them useless. Tanks die almost every time if their engine is damaged and that's a huge reward for spending only 25 munitions on an AT Grenade or Panzerfaust...
  

You all will be happy to hear that the majority of issues Coffee brought up have been addressed and are in testing now.

This is going to be somewhat long.

In my honest opinion, CoH2 will never, ever be a complete and balanced game. There are several reasons for this, outstanding of the issues brought up from the recent patch. Of course this can be said for pretty much any RTS game. It is indeed very difficult to balance a game that is complex, has multiple unit types, different strategies, etc. without just copy/pasting each army. It's not impossible to win as soviets. I've won my fair share of matches playing them, even with the new patch. With that said, it is much more difficult, and usually victories require a lot of hard effort, especially those that extend far into the late game as a battle over victory points.

The commander system is the root of balance issues in CoH. This system has created enormous advantages to some commanders, and severe weaknesses to others. I do not believe Relic will ever alter the current commander system, so obviously all balance issues are going to be worked around it. Obvious current examples (that should be addressed) are things like Assault Grenadiers - the only unit which is available at 0CP.

Germans will always have the advantage in the late game. The best soviet units that can actually counter the germans better infantry and tanks are tied up in commander trees (IS-2, T-34/85, ISU-152, Shocks and Guards). If the wrong tree is chosen, for example conscript commander, you will have 0 useful call-in units to counter late game german armor such as panthers. But of course, you're thinking "just build an Su-85, mines, at grenades to counter it!" True, but let's compare the Su-85 and panther for a second. These are both units designated as support units. Tank destroyers. The Su-85 has 0 AI capacity. It is designed to kill tanks with a casemate style hull. It is decent at vet0, but once vetted to 2 stars, it's very good. In comparison, the panther is very fast and mobile. Your only hope of killing it is by getting a mine hit, or engine damage (even that won't slow a blitzkreig panther down). It's one of the fastest vehicles in the game. It can be upgraded at small cost with an mg42 that can easily rip apart opposing infantry, especially if they are not veterans. Yes, it is more expensive. This does not neglect the fact that it is nearly indestructible, especially when granted veteran status. This brings me to my next point.

Veterancy is completely in favor of the German faction. German tanks are more survivable. German infantry are more survivable. Therefore, the German faction can more easily gain veteran status on their vehicles. Think to yourself, how often do you see a 3-star Su-85? How often to you see a 3-star Panther? The answer is it is easy to get a panther to 3-stars. If you have an Su-85 at 3 stars, the enemy has screwed up horribly. Soviet vehicles are designed to be disposable. The germans are not, so apparently the only strategy soviets have is to have more armor than the germans, and if you lose some (even the vetted ones) they are to be replaced by fresh units.

Lastly, I'm going to do a quick comparison of the basic german vs. soviet tiers and units.

First, soviet T3 - the Halftrack, T70 and T34. Compare this to german T3 - Ostwind, StuG III and Panzer IV. Yes, the german vehicles are more expensive, but they each have the advantage of being more survivable, and are much better at their task. The ostwind can rip apart any infantry squad the soviets have.

The T70 is only useful for a very brief time in the game. Once this time has passed, it is completely useless. The ostwind, brummbar and panzer IV are relevant the entire game. The T34 I would also consider useless in late game, especially against vetted units, except for its ram ability. It is completely disposable. When was the last time you saw a vet 2 or 3 T34? Compare that to a Panzer IV.

Next up, T4. Soviets T4 - Su-85, Su-76 and Katyusha. Germans T4 - Brummbar, Panther and Panzerwerfer.

The Su-76 is a useless unit. While it's free barage is useful, it is easily avoided and its AT capacity is garbage, even against light vehicles. The katyusha is a very specific unit, that is often only made if the Soviets are already winning the match. Otherwise, the Su-85 is the only useful vehicle. I'm not saying that it's not used in conjunction with other units, but it will often not get used at all due to call-in units or the need for an su-85 for AT support.

The Brummbar is an excellent, but under-utilized unit. It can wipe infantry squads with ease, and prevent units from capping. The Panther excels at almost everything it does. It is by far the best armor the germans can field in the game due to its multirole capacity. Lastly, the panzerwerfer is not only better than the katyusha at killing infantry, but has a more concentrated barrage.

I'm not even going to bother comparing infantry, since so many of the most useful are tied up in specific commander trees.

Overall, my point is that relic's position that "Soviet units are hard-counters" is obsolete because german units are simply more survivable, and thus easier to vet up and become even more survivable (see the panther's +30% frontal armor which still hasn't been addressed). The price difference turns out to matter not due to this aspect. If german vehicles are in danger of being killed, they can use panzer tactician to get away easily. Soviet armor requires more micro to manage them(Good luck backing up an Su-85 from a charging panther, yet alone an ISU-152), especially su-85s and su-76s and any other casemate style, turret-less TD.

Read through your post, we think the next update will largely resolve many of your concerns. We don't think veterancy on the whole is an issue, perhaps on one or two units. The Panther at veteran level 2 might be too strong for example, this is something we're keeping our eye on. That said, Soviet mid-late game will be on par with the Germans in the next update. For example, IS-2 and ISU-152 will take on a more significant anti-vehicle role.

Jump back to quoted post3 Apr 2014, 23:26 PMAnTi_GeL

Great news! I was actually going through the 3 pages of your signature link and thought