First, thanks to the developers for the exciting addition to my favorite game. I am impressed with a lot of it, but the awe is tempered with some frustration.
I'll start with my first idea, and add replys for any other's that occur to me, because my text window tends to bounce for some reason as the message gets longer. Pain in the ass.
ISSUE
1 - unit preservation, and it's reduced role in the russian
faction, current weapon's upgrade system
->Suggestion: Upgrades remain global, upgrades only affect
existing units, munitions costs for upgrades
reduced by at least half, rebuys would be
possible, giving all new units the upgrade,
and charging weapons of units that already
have the upgrade
->Reason: Mollify critics(like myself) who would like to see
incentive for keeping units alive, and who have a
philosophical problem with globals being paid
for with munitions.
->Biproduct: upgrade timing and unit building
decisions would be affected in a way that would
make choices more interesting, with obvious
trade-offs (vanilla mixed forces vs. lots of
upgraded blah-de-blah, or mixed forces with an
expensive upgrade for one or two of them
Post Merge: January 20, 2010, 11:38:13 PM
Issue
2 - Loss of retreat and recrewing mechanic. I like the idea of
no retreat, especially early game. But for all russian
units at all times to lose this, I think it reduces choices
on the battlefield. Those who have this complaint do
not seem to be interested in its affects on balance, but
on COH flavor. The Recrewing issue is an unfortunate
programming roadblock, so I will only say that weapons
should be recrewable(if ever possible), and unit sizes
should be adjusted accordingly
->Suggestion: Either limit the no retreat to only ingenery,
partisans, conscripts(and possibly the
command squad), or create an extremely long
retreat timer - unit must survive 5 minutes
before it is active, and another 5 after use
before it is available a second time.
->Reason: Retain the ability to make hard choices on
the battlefield, i.e. should I finish capping
that point, should I try to take out that last
mortar before I die, or should i send my unit
home to fight another day
Post Merge: January 21, 2010, 03:48:35 PM
Issue
3 - Teching is too linear, very few decisions to be made on
where to spend fuel. Teching to tanks is no brainer.
-> Suggestion1: First, I suggest a mixture of your current
tech tree and the wehrmacht teching system.
It would mimic the Wehrmacht, in that
there would be a global tier tech cost. It
would be distinctive from the wehrmacht in
that all buildings would be buildable from
the get-go. It would borrow from your
current model in that each building would
produce 3 to 4 tiers worth of units, but tiers
above 1 would have to be unlocked by
teching globally(all buildings would have
their tiers unlockedm once you unlocked
them by teching gloabally.
->Reason: This would diversify teching options. One
could build all 4 buildings for a spread of t1
units, or else, build a couple buildings and
tech for the higher units available in them.
Choice is reborn
Post Merge: January 22, 2010, 12:32:38 AM
->suggestion2: Spread units among 4 buildings. Only Brit
has 3 buildings, and while I'm in the
minority in liking them, their strategic
options seem thinner than the other factions
->reason: Having a 4th tier would be an added tax in
teching towards higher end tanks, because less
units would be unlocked to hold territory in the
mean-time if one chose to build that building
over others. Also, a 4th building would add one
more consideration to the russian player, when
investing fuel in different buildings.
->example: below is a sample tech tree(not really
thought out on balance)
Tier 1 to Tier 2 : 200 mp, 35 fuel
Tier 2 to Tier 3: 200 mp, 50 fuel
Tier 3 to teir 4: 200 mp, 65 fuel
(without a way to op, this fuel cost will certainly be too prohibitive. I think russians should have some op option, unique to itself, but in keeping with that optional focus other factions have)
Building 0: -starting hq- ingenery(cost hike), conscripts
building 1 - 200 mp, 10 fuel
Tier 1: command squad, conscripts(pour out conscripts)*
Tier 2 : tank hunters
Tier 3 : medical supply truck
Building 2 - 200 mp 15 fuel
Tier 1: Sharpshooter, conscripts
Tier 2: stelky
Tier 3: Guards
Building 3 - 250 mp, 45 fuel
Tier 1 :mortar, AT gun
Tier 2 : t-90
Tier 3: su-85
Building 4 - 250 mp 65 fuel
Tier 1 : T-70
Tier 2: ? Maybe nothing
Tier 3: t-34
Tier 4: IS-2
* conscripts at t-0, as well as t-1 might be overpowered, though bear in mind, the command squad would only be buildable from t-1, and ingenery would be much more expensive. Conscripts are supposedly too powerful now, so I would suggest a nerf to cost
