First large scale pvp experience of the latest versions (5.1.3)
Posted: 15 Dec 2017, 15:39
As many of my old mates came back to BK mod the past week since they have left in 2014/15, we managed to play up to 8 games in a row last evening/night. 2 vs 2´s, 3 vs 3´s, 4 vs 4 with randoms, against each other and each other with randoms in each team.
This is some sort of conclusions following the many games we played and our/my impressions.
At first, huge thx to the devs and all the nice changes they did so far. However, not all of my mates liked them as much as i do it. One of them for example loves to play with infantry and he got annyoed a bit buy hendheld AT weapons behaviour. But he never really learned to build more buildings than those were you get infantry and weapon crews.
Ok. I am listing down points that i think are great/not great and things that happen.
The played maps were goodwood revised, graves bridges, road to caen, Valkensward and another of the new 2 vs 2 maps. And road to cherbourgh revised, la fiere revised.
1. Who guessed, yes, the tank IV and sherman thing. In all games i easily managed to throw many tank IV´s (J) on my enemies. Sometimes three at once. In average, i lost i think 5 tank IV´s in a game but i always had a new one up when the first died (when i wanted). The only hard counter to that was RE doc with churchills and 57 mm/17 pdr´s. The US literally always got overruned by them. They didnt entirely finish the enemie, but they always almost did and threw the enemies far back, no matter how many Bazooka inf they threw at me. I didnt even use spotters in many occassions and just pushed forward.
Also, M10 wolverine ambush never killed any tank IV outright. The first shot always went through my tank IV, but never killed it. After that the second shot bounced always or my tank IV shot, failed, M10 shot second time and bounced and had to retreat at first.
I also had a couple of encounters to 76 shermans and they never managed to kill a tank IV. When i made the first shot, it was sure i will win, even when the second bounced off from 76 sherman. When the 76 oppened fire first and bounced, the Tank IV also won under gurantee. On top of that, ive oneshoted several 76 shermans. When i used AP on my tank IV, i also killed them outright or left them badly crippled. When the sherman opened fire and penetrated first shot, i still managed somehow to be the winner of the battle.
Basically, i lost Tank IV J´s only to M10/M18 and Pershing. Any other US tank failed badly.
2. The Light starting vehicles, and esspecially the jeep, seem to be more powerfull and durable than ever before. The jeep down at half HP was attacked by my full HP schwimm. Still, the jeep managed to almost kill my schwimm which had to retreat. Idk what you did, but that is again some sort of "light starting tank" rather than reconassaince vehicle.
2.1 The schwimm was my most successfull mid game unit which destroyed defenses, no tank could do. The enemie had a ranger squad with lmg, two sniper, recon and a M10. I rushed in my schwimm, killed recon and both snipers. The rangers did not much and were distracted a bit by my incoming volks. The M10 failed all the time to hit the schwimm which escaped saftey after that rush with little HP left (vet 2).
What i wanted to say is, that extensive schwimmwagen production and aggressive use can completely interrup enemies gameplay and standing light arms so well, that you can easily hunt the snipers. The real and more or less only counters to that is to always have M16/M15A1 or light AT gun arround. Since brits usually have recce and boys up, they struggle less (but they also use less often recons and snipers so it doesnt matter).
3. The Rifle squads feel very different. They really shoot faster which is great to have it working as a semi rifle. However, they didnt really kill much. Once, an angry rifle squad got my volks in a bad position. I just heard all the shots. Still, my four volks quite easily managed to increase the distance and to take cover to fight back.
The rifle nade also did little. Idk how many times i was under attack by those. But in all games i lost exactly one Volks soldier to it and a Puma light vehicle was damaged. I am not sure if we really improved them with the rifle nade changes and that they cant take any further weapon.
4. The aim time of the AT guns is just awesome. I mean, i saw vehicles i never saw before. And vehicles largely increased the dynamic. Sometimes, when i created havoc behind enemie lines with 20 mm puma (killing inf, halftracks etc), a british daimler did the same behind our lines. It was an extremly forth and back. Lots of fun. And thats over 30 mins long. Mines now also have a very good use in order to prevent this. Also anti vehicles vehicle such as 50 mm puma or halftracks with anti vehicle guns have found a good use now. I really saw them in use now. The first time ever, such as PE 75 mm halftrack.
5. The stuart. I saw a few in game but meh...A very slight cost decrease could perhaps really help this vehicle. Wheeled vehicles like greyhound, Staghound and sdkfz 234 doing much better for same or cheaper cost. They also have sometimes more firepower (better gun) or top mounted weapons.
6. Boys AT. Its still a weird unit. At the one hand, i managed to attack them with Puma directly and winning the fight with few HP left.
But also their damage in a hit is huge. I would still love them more with less damage per hit but with increased rate of fire when vehicles close in. When i killed them with puma, i drove right in front of them to bring my 20 mm to maximum efficiency.
7. Idk what you did to AA guns, but it feels very good. Planes get shot down but also not all. Double Ostwind was still a powerfull defense, but not a gurantee. Bofors and AA tanks could also not always prevent henshel and stuka attacks. Thumbs up here.
8. The comet is great. In a game (were i sadly crashed out as my inet was gone for 5 minutes) this unit entirely changed the course of the battle and caused us to lose the battle.
The Comet is i would say the best counter to axis Tank IV J spam, as it did there. The reason is simple: You get enough of them and the mobility is good enough to be right where its needed. I tried to break with tank IV´s anywhere on the map. So comets were the only tank quick enough and powerfull enough to meet and destroy them effectively. Shermans lacked firepower and the Pershing couldnt be everywhere quick enough were i launched a tank IV/Puma attack.
So, massive thumbs up here as well.
9. RE emplacement crew. In one game, i tried to overcome a 17 pdr and bofors enplacement. I fired smoke on them first and then attacked with volks and storms. Using assault ability and schreck. The 17 pdr pit ate 5 nades and crew wasnt dead. The Bofors ate two or three (one storm, one or two volks nades) but with the same result. That was a decisive blow to us. I expanded all ammo i had (over 100) with no effect. Thus i didnt get the fuel point i wanted to get and couldnt capture the bofros gun and 17 pdr. If it would have worked, the victory would have been ours.
10. The churchills have bounced extremly many schrecks. In fact, Gebirgs and Volks were the only scoring inf squads so far. Regiment 5 and AT squad couldnt destroy an exposed 95 mm churchill despite repeated shots. Maybe just very bad luck. idk.
11. The 50 mm AT gun is the best AT gun in the game. It combines good cost, short aim time, very good fire power, reload speed, powerfull abilitie(s), and mobility. Also good accuracy against tanks and vehicles. Light AT kills vehicles, but no tanks, Heavy kills tanks but is vulnerable to vehicles (accuracy and aim time). Technically, the 50 mm has no negative attributes so far. Its afterall capable to knock out even the heaviest due to the rocket shot ability. On top of that, medium AT guns have the highest accuracy against enemie AT guns. So i managed to use them as aggressive tank support in the offense. It has the speed to follow the movments, destroys enemie AT guns (what i did a few times) and prevents most flanking attempts or closing in attempts by allied tanks.
12. The cooldown for ammo switch on Perma HE tanks is too high. Its what? over 1 min? I am not expecting to change all 10 seconds.... but also not to wait 1-2 mins. I countered a vehicle attack with my Ostwind using AP. After that nothing came and for an endless time i couldnt get back into anti air mode. Arround 30 seconds would be largely enough. During attack our defensive gameplay, it would prevent you from destryoing combined enemie arms alone. But That i am standing there long after the enemie attack has ended is just.... I mean 2 mins later you might orchestrate your own attack at the other end of the map and you ostwind is still standing there and maybe forgottten to be put back into AA mode.
13. Get rid of that "Hit and run ability" on Achilles and wolverine. srsly.
This is some sort of conclusions following the many games we played and our/my impressions.
At first, huge thx to the devs and all the nice changes they did so far. However, not all of my mates liked them as much as i do it. One of them for example loves to play with infantry and he got annyoed a bit buy hendheld AT weapons behaviour. But he never really learned to build more buildings than those were you get infantry and weapon crews.
Ok. I am listing down points that i think are great/not great and things that happen.
The played maps were goodwood revised, graves bridges, road to caen, Valkensward and another of the new 2 vs 2 maps. And road to cherbourgh revised, la fiere revised.
1. Who guessed, yes, the tank IV and sherman thing. In all games i easily managed to throw many tank IV´s (J) on my enemies. Sometimes three at once. In average, i lost i think 5 tank IV´s in a game but i always had a new one up when the first died (when i wanted). The only hard counter to that was RE doc with churchills and 57 mm/17 pdr´s. The US literally always got overruned by them. They didnt entirely finish the enemie, but they always almost did and threw the enemies far back, no matter how many Bazooka inf they threw at me. I didnt even use spotters in many occassions and just pushed forward.
Also, M10 wolverine ambush never killed any tank IV outright. The first shot always went through my tank IV, but never killed it. After that the second shot bounced always or my tank IV shot, failed, M10 shot second time and bounced and had to retreat at first.
I also had a couple of encounters to 76 shermans and they never managed to kill a tank IV. When i made the first shot, it was sure i will win, even when the second bounced off from 76 sherman. When the 76 oppened fire first and bounced, the Tank IV also won under gurantee. On top of that, ive oneshoted several 76 shermans. When i used AP on my tank IV, i also killed them outright or left them badly crippled. When the sherman opened fire and penetrated first shot, i still managed somehow to be the winner of the battle.
Basically, i lost Tank IV J´s only to M10/M18 and Pershing. Any other US tank failed badly.
2. The Light starting vehicles, and esspecially the jeep, seem to be more powerfull and durable than ever before. The jeep down at half HP was attacked by my full HP schwimm. Still, the jeep managed to almost kill my schwimm which had to retreat. Idk what you did, but that is again some sort of "light starting tank" rather than reconassaince vehicle.
2.1 The schwimm was my most successfull mid game unit which destroyed defenses, no tank could do. The enemie had a ranger squad with lmg, two sniper, recon and a M10. I rushed in my schwimm, killed recon and both snipers. The rangers did not much and were distracted a bit by my incoming volks. The M10 failed all the time to hit the schwimm which escaped saftey after that rush with little HP left (vet 2).
What i wanted to say is, that extensive schwimmwagen production and aggressive use can completely interrup enemies gameplay and standing light arms so well, that you can easily hunt the snipers. The real and more or less only counters to that is to always have M16/M15A1 or light AT gun arround. Since brits usually have recce and boys up, they struggle less (but they also use less often recons and snipers so it doesnt matter).
3. The Rifle squads feel very different. They really shoot faster which is great to have it working as a semi rifle. However, they didnt really kill much. Once, an angry rifle squad got my volks in a bad position. I just heard all the shots. Still, my four volks quite easily managed to increase the distance and to take cover to fight back.
The rifle nade also did little. Idk how many times i was under attack by those. But in all games i lost exactly one Volks soldier to it and a Puma light vehicle was damaged. I am not sure if we really improved them with the rifle nade changes and that they cant take any further weapon.
4. The aim time of the AT guns is just awesome. I mean, i saw vehicles i never saw before. And vehicles largely increased the dynamic. Sometimes, when i created havoc behind enemie lines with 20 mm puma (killing inf, halftracks etc), a british daimler did the same behind our lines. It was an extremly forth and back. Lots of fun. And thats over 30 mins long. Mines now also have a very good use in order to prevent this. Also anti vehicles vehicle such as 50 mm puma or halftracks with anti vehicle guns have found a good use now. I really saw them in use now. The first time ever, such as PE 75 mm halftrack.
5. The stuart. I saw a few in game but meh...A very slight cost decrease could perhaps really help this vehicle. Wheeled vehicles like greyhound, Staghound and sdkfz 234 doing much better for same or cheaper cost. They also have sometimes more firepower (better gun) or top mounted weapons.
6. Boys AT. Its still a weird unit. At the one hand, i managed to attack them with Puma directly and winning the fight with few HP left.
But also their damage in a hit is huge. I would still love them more with less damage per hit but with increased rate of fire when vehicles close in. When i killed them with puma, i drove right in front of them to bring my 20 mm to maximum efficiency.
7. Idk what you did to AA guns, but it feels very good. Planes get shot down but also not all. Double Ostwind was still a powerfull defense, but not a gurantee. Bofors and AA tanks could also not always prevent henshel and stuka attacks. Thumbs up here.
8. The comet is great. In a game (were i sadly crashed out as my inet was gone for 5 minutes) this unit entirely changed the course of the battle and caused us to lose the battle.
The Comet is i would say the best counter to axis Tank IV J spam, as it did there. The reason is simple: You get enough of them and the mobility is good enough to be right where its needed. I tried to break with tank IV´s anywhere on the map. So comets were the only tank quick enough and powerfull enough to meet and destroy them effectively. Shermans lacked firepower and the Pershing couldnt be everywhere quick enough were i launched a tank IV/Puma attack.
So, massive thumbs up here as well.
9. RE emplacement crew. In one game, i tried to overcome a 17 pdr and bofors enplacement. I fired smoke on them first and then attacked with volks and storms. Using assault ability and schreck. The 17 pdr pit ate 5 nades and crew wasnt dead. The Bofors ate two or three (one storm, one or two volks nades) but with the same result. That was a decisive blow to us. I expanded all ammo i had (over 100) with no effect. Thus i didnt get the fuel point i wanted to get and couldnt capture the bofros gun and 17 pdr. If it would have worked, the victory would have been ours.
10. The churchills have bounced extremly many schrecks. In fact, Gebirgs and Volks were the only scoring inf squads so far. Regiment 5 and AT squad couldnt destroy an exposed 95 mm churchill despite repeated shots. Maybe just very bad luck. idk.
11. The 50 mm AT gun is the best AT gun in the game. It combines good cost, short aim time, very good fire power, reload speed, powerfull abilitie(s), and mobility. Also good accuracy against tanks and vehicles. Light AT kills vehicles, but no tanks, Heavy kills tanks but is vulnerable to vehicles (accuracy and aim time). Technically, the 50 mm has no negative attributes so far. Its afterall capable to knock out even the heaviest due to the rocket shot ability. On top of that, medium AT guns have the highest accuracy against enemie AT guns. So i managed to use them as aggressive tank support in the offense. It has the speed to follow the movments, destroys enemie AT guns (what i did a few times) and prevents most flanking attempts or closing in attempts by allied tanks.
12. The cooldown for ammo switch on Perma HE tanks is too high. Its what? over 1 min? I am not expecting to change all 10 seconds.... but also not to wait 1-2 mins. I countered a vehicle attack with my Ostwind using AP. After that nothing came and for an endless time i couldnt get back into anti air mode. Arround 30 seconds would be largely enough. During attack our defensive gameplay, it would prevent you from destryoing combined enemie arms alone. But That i am standing there long after the enemie attack has ended is just.... I mean 2 mins later you might orchestrate your own attack at the other end of the map and you ostwind is still standing there and maybe forgottten to be put back into AA mode.
13. Get rid of that "Hit and run ability" on Achilles and wolverine. srsly.