The Soviet Union

Lets start in a straight line down the list
1. Soviet infantry
Soviet infantry are mainly conscripts due to a lack of material and information on Soviet infantry formations, units, and their training. Conscripted soldiers were used en-mass, as the Soviets sustained heavy losses in their defense against the Germans, and in their offenses into German territory. Conscripts are generally not well trained, and as such, their lack of training and skill is shown.
Sources on the varying Russian infantry units, and their training would be helpful if you’d like to help improve the selection of infantry.

2. PTRS
The PTRS used to be a powerful anti light-vehicle weapon, generally taking about 2 shots for a Kübelwagen and roughly 3-4 for a SdKfz. 222. It received a nerf after some complaints were lodged about its “extreme power” and they received a heavy damage penalty, but instead received a boost in crits on vehicles. I won’t deny that they seem woefully underpowered, for anti-tank rifles, they take a oddly lengthy time on smaller things than tanks. Infantry with PTRS’s were given basic AT grenades, as the PTRS is currently set up to slow down, or snare a vehicle for AT grenades. PTRS teams have FREE-TO-USE AT grenades to compensate for the lack of punch their 14.5mm AT rifles have. I can’t help but agree that they are quite underwhelming, but we will have to live with them for the time being, till a change is made.

3.KV-1’s, and T-34’s
I understand the frustration with this, and would inclined to agree. The values are a little low for a F-34 or ZiS-5 gun. It is up to the devs to change it, should they desire. I see no harm in raising the penetration to 83mm, as the penetration would then be more effective against Panzer IV’s, StuG’s, and the like. You would still need 2 T-34’s for every 1 Panzer IV though, as the reload rates are quite..slow. The reload is not going to change though, as thats the average reload of a T-34/76.

4. Guards doctrine
Guards doctrine has some of the best infantry in the soviet unit line up. Stormgroup could probably receive a level of Vet with the unlocking of their advanced equipment, but they are by far some of the best infantry the soviets have. Full PPSH load out, Guardsmen HP and stats (greater than conscripts), Combat officer who can suppression break them, and himself, and powerful support options (Mainly your air support). KV-1 and KV-8 are locked since the doctrine has 75mm Shermans to support infantry, which do better than T-34’s against other tanks, and infantry (increased fire rate due to reload speed, and overall increased accuracy while on the move due to stabilizer) and KV-1’s, while not a direct upgrade in terms of Anti-tank work, are an upgrade in terms of infantry support tanks; Shrapnel shell, increased armor, and heavy crush for obstacles. The KV-8 really needs to have a CP lock, as that moving piece of fire-spewing-hell can destroy a lot of hopes, dreams, and acreage with its flamethrower. Sure, its 45mm gun sucks, and won’t do a lot to tanks, but its really meant for LV’s; its not an anti-tank piece, its an anti-infantry based tank.
It has been contested about the infantry upgrades not carrying over, but I don’t think they can transfer over, as you can get a load of options, and have varying upgrades the can’t carry over (PTRS mainly). You get full SVT’s now, as that was a change done to alleviate the munitions sink a little.

Guards Rifle AT Tank hunters(4 man squad)
– Capped at 1
– loadout is x 2 MP-40, x2 bazookas, grenade and smoke grenade
– Captured Panzerfaust 60 (requires “extra equip” tech tree unlock)
– Can upgrade “Veteran Sergeant”
– Gives extra squad member with STG-44
– Gives squad a 3rd bazooka
– Cost is 80 mun
This is why its capped at one; You have a better AT team, that can now effectively engage armor with their ranged weapons. They have 2 MP40’s, which helps them out up close against infantry, smokes to help them move up, or cover a section of LOS to provide cover, their Panzerfaust 60 can penetration the heaviest of tanks, and the veteran sergeant upgrade allows them to one tap most T3 tanks. The Bazookas are close to the best AT weapon, as they travel relatively quick, and deal a good amount of damage (not to mention its a HEAT weapon, so it loses no penetration over distance, and does a decent amount of damage). Soviet Guards are a direct upgrade to the conscripts, and with the DP or rifle grenades, aren’t hard to obtain, unless you are constantly sending them into battle without fully recovering from before.

The chances of the soviets getting a total overhaul is quite small, as they are one of the more recently completed factions. The doctrine has its own shortcomings, but that is part of the design. You get some of the most (inaccurate, and costly) devastating rocket artillery (short of a massive Katy rack build spree by Partisans) to be fielded by a faction (barring the Calliope, but thats pretty damned accurate).

Arty getting a dump is possible, but most likely won’t, as the cool down timer keeps you waiting and carefully playing a juggling game of resources, to ensure you don’t waste all your munitions destroying the land with a barrage of artillery fire.

Partisans have quite fragile and poor infantry for a reason; You have Advanced Evasive Action. You can literally camouflage and move with good speed, and your infantry gets quite strong upgrades: Partisans get the ZB LMG, the “Original Bren”, which makes them quite deadly, and they can easily screw up any infantry unit with that lazer beam of an LMG. Your Red army Partisans are well set, with their loadout being not as oppressive as when they came out (They had to be nerfed, and have their AT option swapped around, and the PPSH’s tech locked, since it turned into an infantry melt fest when they uncamo’d infront of infantry).

Honestly, in comparison to the British, the Brits need the rework rather than the Soviets. The British faction is one of the oldest factions to be done in the mod, and could use an update to bring them up to speed with the newer factions (Soviets and Wehrmacht).

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by BWChief.

Atm, the Kübelwagen takes 5 shots from the PTRS, I have been collecting data on the PTRS as I very much dislike poking LV’s with the AT rifles of all kinds.

Honestly, the reason its mainly conscripts, is because of the the lack of certifiable documentation of soviet training programs, otherwise, I am sure they would have more soviet units. Conscripts are the only type of soviet mainline infantry due to the lack of information on most other organized units.

The “Rocket house” isn’t meant for anti-tank work, its actual design is anti-infantry and structure to structure fighting. http://www.tankarchives.ca/2014/10/panzerfaust-russian-style.html?m=1
This is what it is based off of, and its not an Anti-tank weapon, it was mainly added as a anti-bunker piece, so that Guards rifles had some sort of infantry based anti-bunker equipment besides engineers.

Honestly, I will hold that the KV-1 should require an unlock; it is capable of bouncing Panzer IV shells at range, although slightly, it still can bounce them, which happens to me quite a bit. They still are pretty decent for anti-infantry work, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them getting increased penetration. It’s also quite a game changer to have a heavy crusher at T3, since things like the IW rubble barrier (which can withstand a lot of damage when fully built) is rendered useless when a heavy crusher vehicle enters the field. This is similarly shown by the US’s use of Sherman dozers, which can be done with any and all 75mm shermans used by the US.

“It has been contested about the infantry upgrades not carrying over, but I don’t think they can transfer over, as you can get a load of options, and have varying upgrades the can’t carry over (PTRS mainly). You get full SVT’s now, as that was a change done to alleviate the munitions sink a little.”

Conscripts get a load more upgrades compared to Soviet guardsmen. You have the two packs, and the PTRS, which the PTRS doesn’t carry over into the guardsmen’s potential upgrades at all. “I don’t think they can carry over” comes from the fact that you literally are creating a new squad when you boost conscripts to guardsmen, and I don’t believe its possible to transfer over all the upgrades from conscripts to guardsmen, in a tools perspective (the devs do the coding, I just help maintain the chat channels. This combined with the inability for my PC to work with the tools)
So in short; I don’t think its possible to transfer weapon upgrades, as its a whole new squad being made, rather than it changing into a new squad. It deletes the conscripts, and spawns guardsmen.

Honestly, You should retire the PTRS squads unless you need a stronger infantry based AT presence, and at around Vet 2, they should get the ability to throw two grenades at a single target.
As for the Jagdtiger, I believe with the coming of 3.4.4, the grenade launcher no longer insta-wipes infantry;
-Nahverteidigungswaffe ability for JT, Sturmtiger and Panther Ace nerf
– Damage reduced, AoE reduced, suppression increased.
– Will insta-pin enemy squad and usually kill 1 squad member.
– Will not squad wipe anymore
– Reduced Cost and recharge time to compensate for nerf (50mun 70s to 30mun 60s)

so max losses are now no longer a thing with the Nahverteidigungswaffe.
As for Partisans, they feel strong enough atm. Not supposed to be a mainline combat unit, as your supposed to retire them when you build up your army; Swap them out for Red army partisans, and weapon teams (AT and MG). It’ll save you some MP for the swaps, and the teams will greatly out perform your partisans (Dual LMGs, more PTRS’s, and Panzerfäuste)