AoAGeneral1 wrote: A few problems arise when you add explosion deaths to units.
First one is they become very situational and limited to their use. This scenario happens and happens only then don't build them anymore. It was the same problem that happened to flamers in CNC95. If the grenadiers had their explosion removed you would see some more use out from them.
Second thing is you alienate the unit build combos that RA already rarely has. Some players have infantry mixes of minigunners, e3, flamers, etc and are a good and smart unit combination. If the flamers explode you won't see this anymore because they will start killing infantry packs. Reducing the flamer explosion damage will still harm e3 to much due to their lower HP pool.
Strongly against explosion damage.
I do an rifle/e3/flamer mix myself, and you're absolutely right, if this were the case I'd use them strictly for flame rushing. Same goes for if the explosion was removed from grens, I'd probably mix them in, although I'd have to experiment as they're faster than units in my normal composition. Completely agree with you, against adding a damaging explosion to flamers.
Fortnight wrote:
At first glance it looks like Soviet has more to offer on the offence with their Grenadier / Flamethrower units but come late game the Allied Tanya easily weights just as much as the early game Soviet advantage with her C4 and dual Colt .45 pistols. However since it's the early game when Grenadiers are the most dangerous those helpful explosions do come in handy when defending against surprise attacks, feels like they are needed.
I agree with this bar the sentiment that the availability grens in the early game is remotely comparable to the availability of Tanya in the late game.
Fortnight wrote:
As for the Allied Spy the Soviet's Dog actually feels like a fair counterpart and the Soviet Hijacker of course covers the Allies' Mechanic. I'd like to see some kind of alternative purpose with the Hijacker though, just for fun and more ways to play the game.
Really? A buggy dog that costs $200, takes a single rifle shot and can detect spies (although you'd have to spend 2k on dogs and scatter them liberally around your base to deter a $250 or $500 unit) and jitters 4 times when it targets before going in for the kill is a FAIR COUNTERPART to a unit that can put you into low power for 20 seconds, steal half of your cash, grant the spawning of vetted infantry, tanks or air units (and naval units?) or cover the entire map with shroud even when explored map is on?
Fortnight wrote:
Overall things feel pretty balanced on the infantry front after thinking about it! Soviet got the early game but Allies got the late. Its for different playstyles for sure though.
I strongly disagree with this, Allies have the early game, and the late game. Gren/flame rushes are actually very difficult to pull off effectively, they can be game ending vs a low skill player, but they're generally a waste of $1650 for a gren rush or $3850 for a flame rush, especially vs an allied player who can counter that immense early investment with a $400 pillbox and then sell it for $200 + a vetted minigunner.
So to sum up, Soviets have grens which explode and are only useful for early game rushes, dogs which are too expensive and/or buggy to be useful for anything beyond lucky engineer snipes, hijackers which are expensive, buggy and even if they weren't buggy, it would take luck and great scouting, planning and micro to pull off and an actual useful unit that people seem to think should be nerfed...
Allies have medics which do decent AoE heal (Allies get AoE heal and Soviets get AoE damage?), take zero skill to use, are very tanky, and IMO increase infantry effectiveness 3 fold, along with increased chance of retaining vetted infantry. Mechanics, which are nice to place next to naval yards, helipads and ore refs for healing, work mixed in with an army with zero additional skill or micro, and you can pick up tanks/harvesters/MCVs that you kill as you go along. Spies which I've already listed possibilities for, and Tanya, who you can sneak in for tech snipes, stick in a pillbox for infantry desolation (as if artillery wasn't enough), or a-move with your army to leave nothing but tanks for the e3s.
/rant
If it is fixed then something else needs to tip the scale, like for example lower damage against wood armor for grenades.