Have suggestions on new grenades for russian tech tree with only one true Red Army option it feels boring and unfair here’s my findings for two options.
RPG-40 (ruchnaya protivotankovaya granata, translating to “hand-held tank grenade”) was a standard anti-tank hand grenade utilized by the Soviet Union Red Army during the early years of World War 2. As its designation suggests, the RPG-40 entered service with the Red Army in 1940. It would be ultimately used by Soviet-allied nations as well and see extensive actions throughout World War 2. Early on in the conflict, the RPG-40 proved its worth against the first generations of German light tanks (namely the [Panzer I]) and [Panzer II] series) and even against the [Panzer III . However, with the arrival of the better-armored [Panzer IV medium tank and this being followed into service by the formidable Panzer V “Panther” series - the RPG-40 was somewhat outclassed for the anti-tank role in part due to its simple High-Explosive (HE) warhead. The RPG-40 was, therefore, replaced in Red Army service by the improved [RPG-43]series of 1943 which sported a shaped charge HEAT (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank) warhead and proved much more effective against thicker armor sets.
Design of the RPG-40 was decidedly Soviet in nature - highly simplistic and easy to produce. It consisted of nothing more than a canister warhead mounted onto a cylindrical carrying handle. Weight was roughly 2.68lbs and length from top to bottom was 7.86 inches. The canister portion of the grenade housed 1.35lbs of TNT . The explosive nature of the RPG-40 was actuated by contact, which meant that the Soviet soldier need only throw the RPG-40 onto or against his intended target. However, this also meant that the soldier was required to expose himself to the battlefield environment and, with the RPG-40 weighing more than a conventional lobbed hand grenade, this also meant that the soldier would have to be in relatively close proximity to the enemy vehicle. The 760 grams of TNT in the warhead could penetrate up to 20mm of armor protection.
Really want to hear your suggestions about a white phosphorus grenade for the Russian tech tree. Potentially we could just Chuck these things.
WW2 Soviet Russian very rare glass phosphorus ampoule AK-2 for ampoule-thrower or airplanes. These glass grenades were filled with approx 1 liter of KS-1 white phosphorus fluid mixed with sulfur. Reaction of KS-1 with air was flammable. The ampoule-thrower was used till the end of 1942 year, but due of their dangerous for ampoule-thrower crew, this weapon was removed from the army officially, but unofficial was in use till the end of the war. Full Deco. Extremely rare example of unusual WW2 weapon.
Honestly, I don’t think adding even more AT GRENADES is healthy for game balance. Explosive packs are bad enough, and honestly need to be significantly changed or removed IMHO.
Tanks should be able to push up and out of the greyzone. The most prevalent reason why they DON’T, is because of the existence of explosive packs. It has gotten to the point where more players use explosive packs than any other grenade type AND handheld AT weapon COMBINED.
The fact that explosive packs are very easy to get one hit kills on tanks, but also double as a standard grenade, AND break fortifications, plus you can carry up to 3 of them, and they can be used by any type of soldier, makes them extremely overpowered.
So suggesting to essentially just add even more of these types of grenade to the game would be extremely counter-productive to bringing balance to the game.
TNT needs to be reserved for blowing up fortifications and useless against tanks. Each nation has plenty of AT weapons and even some not ingame like OP mentioned.
ineffective antitank grenade only works with pz. 1 and 2. 20 mm of armor no more. tanks need infantry to support travel in conquered positions. with germans having panzer Faust sturm pistol and standard At rifle grenades. very much doubt rpg -40 making a diffrantce in onslaught of the PZ-4 75 mm verses the 20mm non shaped explosive if it’s able to destroy a vehicle it be no different than an explosive pack. this is a concussion cap type grenade used for battlefield purposes…
When I play with friends, that is exactly what happens. The issue still though is AI often ignore players holding an EP, even at close range.
Just last night, I was surrounded by friendly infantry (AI), yet had an enemy walk right up within 10m of my tank, in full view of all of them, and blow me up. He then turned and ran away. There was at least 6-8 AI that were sitting there staring at him.
My argument overall is that a grenade shouldn’t be capable of outright killing a tank. Disabling it, by breaking a track or damaging a barrel, perhaps. However the actual ability to KILL the tanks should require an AT weapon or a mine (AT/ TNT) for infantry to kill a tank. ::Excluding AT field guns::
In the case of an enemy using TNT, it greatly helps combat the issue of AI not attacking the soldier as he’s attempting to plant it.
It’s conflicting for a lot of people, because generally players don’t want to give up something that is a convenience.
In this case the conveniences are:
they don’t actually have to pack any kind of AT weaponry
they usually don’t have to find a specific angle from which to use it (most tanks die as long as its “on top” of the tank somewhere)
they also function as standard grenades, rather than being specialized (look at AT launchers, the splash damage, or often times even a direct hit can’t kill infantry)
they devastate fortifications too
ANY soldier type can carry them
Its a ranged attack, you don’t even have to get close enough to plant it like you do TNT
The problem here is that it covers too many niches, and removes the need for a lot of other equipment which is specifically there for game balance.
Its an issue that ultimately filters down into many other facets of the game.
This may sound crazy, but look at many of the big issues in the game currently in terms of balancing. A LOT of them can actually be traced back to this exact issue.
Removing this convenience could bring a lot of life back into the game.
Fundamentally, the det packs are a hang over from Alpha/Beta days where there were very limited AT weapons - AT rifles which you needed to use pragmatically and snipe the crew out. The AT pack was a “give in” to the run and gun crowd that said the game became too static every time a vehicle appeared on the map. They returned dynamicism but to the detriment of the inf vs armour balance.
With the release of Stalingrad and the triggered satchel charge/det pack, all of the previous grenade det packs should have been removed from the game. Sure you can replace them with historical AT grenades, they even added the rifle fired variants of the AT grenades now, so there is no requirement for Det packs what so ever, and they should be removed from the game.