Balancing Marines

[HELLOBANANAPHONE]

Marine squads are pretty ridiculously powerful. http://www.gamereplays.org/companyofheroes/replays.php?game=25&show=details&id=283327

1v1 vs. CptJared, you'll see that I lose 10 militia before I kill my first marine (though I do kill a humvee, it seemed like a much, much easier target), and 15 militia before I get that small break and kill one of his marine squads. You'll also see four militia squads chasing a single Marine squad, and put so much fire into it that they actually *suppress* the Marine squad (yes, Militia suppressing something by themselves) and yet they only kill one Marine. No, it's not my best micro ever, but Army rifleman squads would've lost a significant number of these engagements because they tend to lose to militia at close range.

Much later in the game, you'll also see a Regulars squad lose to a capping IAR marine squad (I believe unvetted) at point blank range. While a grenade or upgrade to marksman/marksman shot probably would've turned the the skirmish in my favor, it should be noted that Regulars cost more than Marines to build, and capping units take penalties to combat effectiveness.

You will also see a vet 2 (which becomes a vet 3 squad quite early in the skirmish) militia squad lose at point blank to an unvetted MARSOC squad with Corpsman (without healing activated). Getting some info on PLA veterancy would help understand how these situations should play out.

There are probably more events throughout, but these were the ones that really stood out in my mind.

[I_am_a_Spoon]

Marines have already been significantly rebalanced in the dev version.

[HELLOBANANAPHONE]

Man you guys are good! Can't wait to see the next version.

[I_am_a_Spoon]

In fact it's funny how serendipitous some of your feedback actually is.

[SnowBlaZeR2]

Hopefully Banana doesn't mind me tagging along on his thread, but I wanted to point something out. The AAV's have been having an issue when attacking where they'll drive right up to whatever you're attacking instead of firing the weapon. Basically, I'll have them attack a squad, or vehicle and the AAV drives right on top of them then just sits there. The only thing I can do is back them off, halt them and try again.

I have some other things for the Marines, that I'll wait until the next patch to mention.

[Darkbladecr]

Any weapon with a minimum range is prone to that bug. Best thing to do is to use the attack move command to make sure it doesn't charge units.

[SnowBlaZeR2]

Is that something from vCoH we're stuck with?

[Darkbladecr]

As far as I know yes. We have tried to fiddle with the squad_ai where it will setup an ideal distance to engage when right clicking on an enemy, but it doesn't always work. This is why the RPG will not have a minimum range anymore.