Soviet concept suggestion
by Wordsmith
The reason of this article is to propose slight changes to Soviet army [1.11] which IMO could improve the overall balance and playability of EF.
Since new patch [1.11] I had indefinite feeling that something is not right in Soviet tech tree. So I took all Soviet units and tried to arrange them into summary chart where I wanted to assign Soviet units according to their roles in game. I used this article as reference:
--> General unit summary analysis (http://easternfront.org/forums/index.php?topic=3320.0)
I just made a simplification and used following groups to which I assigned unit capabilities:
1. Anti Infantry - basic combat ability to fight infantry directly.
2. Scout - ability to scout terrain in front of advancing troops. Usually fast vehicles or cloakable infantry. Also comes with ability to hunt down and kill snipers effectively.
3. Indirect Combat - ability to bombard designated area with non-direct weapons. Usually deadly to all infantry units and dangerous to buildings.
4. Anti Tank - ability to hunt down and kill armored vehicles.
5. Diversion - means non-direct combat techniques like laying mines, ability to plant demolition charges or booby trap points. In case of PE it means also recovering wrecks of killed vehicles or using Vampire HT as radar and Goliath producer.
Usual goal is to make a mix of units which covers all those roles to some point so it will be able to deal with anything necessary on the battlefield. F.e. Soviet mix: T90, Su85, Mortar, Engineers.
The result is attached to this post, I made Soviet, *Wehr and PE units analysis. Same could be done also for Brit and US, and for Ostheer concepts too :)
Here's the Soviet chart:
(http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5918/analysissoviet.jpg)
I. Soviet tech
The main problems are the upgrades in Support Barracks and in Tank Hall. Soviet player really doesn't have to decide very hard which option to choose because the unlocked units cover wide variety of combat roles, mainly AT capability. This means either he choose Close or Medium range support he will have quite versatile units available. And same apply to Light or Heavy Tankovy upgrades. Result is that with few units available players tend to spam only those units then and not research another upgrades. It practically force player to spam only 1-2 units, which are available.
Another thing is Command squad which is now obligation to get for Soviet (there's simple no choice on that).
My proposal is following:
(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1281/sovietconcept.jpg)
HQ and Command squad - as I mentioned, now the Soviet doesn't really have any option on this - he just must build one Commander. To add a tactical diversity I propose Soviet player to start with 25 Fuel and Command squad cost + Support barracks cost increase to 25 Fuel too. This way player will have 2 options what to build in the beginning of the game - either Support barracks or Command squad. Fuel cost for Commander could represent that he needs to move with his staff from Moscow to battle area. Btw this is the idea of Paciat and I think very good idea and I support it.
Support Barracks - should have 2 upgrades: Support units and Specialist training. As it is clear from analysis, Support units upgrade will give player possibility to build support units only - meaning with only 1 actual role in game (Mortar and AT gun). On the other hand Specialist training will give player more versatile units but for higher price (Sniper and PTRD teams). Again player will have to decide tactically what to get, either cheaper upgrade but less versatility or more expensive one but with bigger possibilities.
Tank Hall - should have 2 options too: Light tankovy upgrade and Medium tankovy upgrade, but exactly according to their names should unlock only light tanks (T70/90) or medium tanks (T34, Su85). This should be player's another tactical decision if stick to quick light vehicles or wait and get medium tanks later. The situation now is that Soviet player really doesn't have to think about the upgrades because he will not make any mistake - with Light tankovy upgrade he gets fast vehicles and mobile AT gun too. Getting both Tankovy upgrades should unlock IS2 then.
Rest of the tech mechanics could remain the same (Strelky and Guards availability).
*Note to Wehr analysis: Wehrmacht unit availability (in terms of fuel cost) could be misleading becasue here is displayed only shortest possible route. Usually also lower tier buildings are needed to keep battlefield presence. Also Wehr veterancy means that all present and new produced units will have it.