Normandy Balancing (At least for Axis)

Suggestions
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A lot of allies players are defending over how Allies CAS and tank superiority early on are justified because ‘Panther and FG42’, but many seems to forgot that the issue persisted all the way back. Even before the Panther-MP43 update were dropped into the Normandy Campaign. Amongst all issues, I decided to drop a pretty much idea for some serious rebalancing for both sides. I’m not sure how to give the Allies same advantage as Axis on end-game campaign, though.

Vehicles :

  • P-38 and Bf-110 are fine the way they are, leave them alone for now.
  • No Issue between P-51C-10 and Bf-109-G6 either, aside from some armament differences.
  • M4A2 Sherman x Pz. IV J? Well, pretty much equal variants between these two historical nemesis. Both sides can pen each other but the J have better penetration value.
  • Ju-188 vs A-20 is where the real issue starts. The former is a medium bomber with six 250kg bombs and no armaments, including the non-functioning turrets. On the other hand, the A-20 is a strike aircraft which has four 250kg bombs (500lbs) but 6x .50 Browning MG to go offense. The A-20 can hunt the former with the Ju-188 having ZERO way of defending itself, we can blame Darkflow for the dead turrets. But basically, Ju-188 is a medium bomber that can only rely on dropping payload when there is no other hostile planes in the air that decided to hunt them down. A single early plane like P-38 would spell its doom.

My suggestion is to replace the Ju-188 with the Bf 110 G-4 Strike Aircraft, which is just the upgraded variant of the early G-2 (With radar that won’t be usable in game + extra cannons, which results in lower speed and turn time) with the setup of a single 500kg bomb. Sure, the number ‘500kg’ might be unnerving, but comparing it to 4x 250kg bombs or the loss of 6x 250kg bombs… Well, it’s better than being a flying hunk of metal that is doomed when an enemy plane decides to chase after it. Thanks Darkflow.

Second option would be the Ju 87 D-5, with the setup of 3x 250kg bomb or 1x 500kg bomb. Yeah, sure, it could carry a total of 1000kg bomb, but we’re here for balance, not total annihilation of the map. I’m not that biased. Ju 87 might have the disadvantage against fellow fighters, but at least it can fight back with its good turn at arguably lower speed compared with other planes.

  • Jumbo vs Pz.IV H… OKAY, seriously. Who in the almighty hell thought this was a good idea? Axis suffered from Jumbo spam dominance from back then, and even now. It’s a literal heavy tank that is frontally impenetrable (except MG port) on both hull and turret, facing against a medium tank which is just another variant with slightly better engineering. Allies player were bullying Axis player with this tank- Literally. “Just flank them, its ez!” or “Skill Issue! You should aim for the MG Port!” When the Jumbo can penetrate Pz.IV from ANYWHERE it wanted. This is a clear issue of balance between those two. Darkflow could had given them an M4A2 with the 76 gun (Better gun than the Pz.IV H) While retaining their glass cannon compatibility between one another. No, there’s no excuses for this.

  • Bf-109 G10 vs P-38J-15… If they can have an upgraded variant of an existing plane ingame, I don’t see why Axis shouldn’t too. The Bf-109 G10 is a beast, but it lacks even the simplest CAS feature beside its autocannon because they gave the G10 the extra pair of 20mm Autocannon for extra TTK on planes. I suppose this line isn’t that crazy, You get a fighter with armaments to raise hell against everyone, and you get another P-38 with better engine… I couldn’t come up with anything for this one. G10 could have its twin autocannon replaced with a single 250kg bomb (Yes, it was the setup. Either pair of autocannons or a 250kg bomb). But I think we can leave this one where it is unless you guys think the US should get a fighter that focuses on other planes too like the G-10.

  • P-47D-28 vs Fw 190 A-8… Seriously, why? WHY? WHY DO YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? Axis already got a G10, why do you think that they need ANOTHER fighter? It only have half the payload of a Bf-110 too, only two rockets! The P-47 has a literal TEN HVAR rockets with even ANOTHER 500lb (250kg) bomb that is literally being spammed by all allied players after reaching level 27. The chaotic nature of the unbalanced CAS between these two is OBVIOUS to both sides you should be ashamed of doing this INTENTIONALLY, Darkflow.

The closest thing I could come up as a balance without changing the P-47D-28 setup is to replace the A-8 with the D-12 with maximum payload, which is 1x 500kg bombs with 4x 50kg bombs. No rockets, yeah. There’s a clear disparity between US and German planes in term of payload for their fighters, but what’s disgusting is how Darkflow didn’t even try to make it work between Axis and Normandy. Best option would be the P-47 reducing its setup armament to the 6x M8 rocket or 10x HVAR rockets without any bombs… But that’s just wishful thinking, huh?

  • (PREMIUM SQUAD) Pz.IV J vs Sherman Firefly… Seriously? Everyone knows how BS this is, let’s just skip this entirely. Don’t waste your braincell on this one. We all know they could had given us STuG or a Hetzer, but no. Just another Pz.IV variant.

  • (PREMIUM SQUAD) STuG III G vs Churchill III… I don’t want to talk about this, at all. STuG is one of the mass produced tanks in the war, seeing one turned into a premium just gives me aneurysm. Allies gets another heavy tank, so good for them, huh?

  • Panther A vs M10 GMC… Well, “JUST FLANK THE PANTHER, ITS EZ! SKILL ISSUE IF YOU FAIL”, Allies. Hope you enjoy that on your face now that your Jumbo means nothing in the face of this absolute terror. Sure, yap around about “LOL WE JUST GONNA BOMB IT”, your salted tears in the forum and discord over the Panther being ‘unfair’ is for Axis to savor.

On a more serious note, they should had given us Tiger instead. No, I’m not a wehraboo. It’s just that the Panther is too much of a leap that even if they drop a Tiger later on in the campaign, it would be obsolete by the Panther’s performance. Also for y’all complaining about the Panther, it’s a level 30 tank. You’ll be enjoying your dominance at least for a couple more months where more and more players who had grinded would be unlocking the tank to kick you all out of the beaches. M10 GMC pale in comparison, indeed. They could had given you a Pershing or something. So bear being in the short end of the stick for now.

After all, you just need to flank them, right?

Weapons :

  • FG-42 x M2 Carbine
    Get rekt, Allies. Seriously though, letting most Axis class units to be able to use FG-42s are just brutal. Though the M2 Carbine is some seriously brutal assaulter weapon. It’s definitely more effective than BAR and Thompson to use for many. M2 Carbine sadly is stuck with tank crews and assaulters. I don’t have a clear idea on how to get the FG-42 balanced other than making them limited/squads to prevent overuses.

…NGL though, my entire squad uses FG42s.

  • FG-42 II
    Stupid, hated by both sides. Why? Shots deviation was nerfed intentionally to make sure its not as OP as an FG-42 due to its scope, but the shots deviation are so horrible its essentially a CQC weapon. No, it’s not skill issue. It doesn’t matters how you lead the shot or how accurate you are, the bullet rarely goes straight. Even a 6* FG-42 with an overall of -30% Shot Deviation still makes me cringe. Fix the FG-42 II Shots deviation to some degree, its even ridiculous in medium range that you have better luck using it in CQC combat… for a sniper weapon.

  • M1 Thompson vs MP43
    …There’s no way to balance the MP43 or STG-44. It’s just unfair for the Allies, that’s it. US would later make rifles like M14s, before going for the M16. But yeah. They don’t have assault rifles back in WW2.

Well, that’s all, I guess.

2 Likes
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I mistyped, it should had been between Axis and Allies, not Normandy.

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simple skill issue

1 Like
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I take serious issue with this statement, as A) the P-38 G is bugged so it counts as an attacker and B) its where the root of all of Normandy’s CAS problems start. See, the 110 is an attacker, while the P-38 G is (supposed to be) a fighter, and the Bf 110 is strictly better than the P-38 G at CAS, as that is the point of an Attacker aircraft, and the WFGRs are so fricking big, an extra pair of M8s still don’t match it’s destructive capabilities. The devs balanced the campaign as so and thus, gave the Axis weaker CAS aircraft as they get theirs earlier than the allies. The A-20 and Ju 188 the come, and both fill a similar role and play similarily, so I won’t be talking about them. However, the issue then rears its ugly head at level 27 with the P-47 and the Fw-190, as now to make up for the fact that allies has two fighter squads and one attacker, while Axis has one fighter squad and two attackers. They also need to make it so that these aircraft fill a similar role to their opponents counterparts at level 4, but have to be better and thus, the whatever the allies get has to be a strictly better than the Bf 110 and whatever the axis get has to a strictly better than the P-38 J. Furthermore, the allied plane has to also be strictly better than the axis plane at CAS as that is the role of an attacker. However, the devs have put themselves in a bit of a pickle here, as there are no US CAS aircraft that meets those requirements, but also isn’t blatantly busted. Hell, there isn’t even a British ground attack aircraft that meets those requirements that also won’t completely overperform. To balance the CAS problem, you would have to match fighters to fighters and attackers to attackers for levels first. This would mean rearraigning the levels, and the devs have proven they are not willing to do that.

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This definitely gives a lot to think of, and also shows just how grim the future of this campaign is

6

cringe

2 Likes
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It gets worse, as now the Axis have three attacker aircraft, and the Allies have two, so you know the devs are going to have to add a new attacker aircraft to the allies with the same predicament in mind.

1 Like
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Increase dispersion until its balanced🙄

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No absolutely not, this is a lazy and stupid way to balance.

You want to end like r6? In that game the bullet can exit the gun at a 45° angle, you want this?

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Vehicle wise when it come to the one that are considered unablanced Jumbo vs PZ IV H is the least problematic both have big issues doing damage to each other from the front and with the maps design granting Germany Elevated positions PZ become immune so both tanks resorted into ignoring each other and doing infantry support in my expirience till CAS intervenes or there’s an opening like extremely flat angle to shoot the Jumbo and same for the Jumbo or some side armor to shoot the Panzer, other than that is could be lucky shots into shit like mg ports

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I told you what the problem is!

You know what the amricans want? A cheated tank!
You know what the german wants? A Tiger!

Let’s add both of them and we stop crying.
Screenshot_20220126-105442_Chrome

How many time I have to tell you?! Tiger is always the solution!

  • Berlin axis is underpopulated? TIGER!
  • Darkflow want to push people to grind to the max lvl? TIGER!
  • My mariage is going down and my wife is probably seeing another man? TIGER!
5 Likes
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So the Soviet counter in Berlin would also end up having insane dispersion lol

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Yes t-29 pls

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jumbo has m72 but this balance is made up for the panther just existing, which is the exact same as jumbo but with none of the downside of it and it has to face weaker shells since only the m10 has filled rounds and not solid shot. there is also the nice fact that 4/5 tanks can overmatch the jumbo’s lower side armor while only m10 can overmatch the panther.

P-47 true counter part is the bf110 at lvl 4 which both can be extremely deadly on the battlefield so if you want to nerf the 47 then you have to nerf the 110

love the salt, but now the devs have to add a more powerful tank to the allies to make up for panther which will almost certainly be pershing… and this is why i was against panther because of POWERCREEP
also remember that only m10 can overmatch and easily cripple panther

FG-42II is fine, but a disgusting weapon to use… i know this because i use it with the scope and the scope makes you think you missing more due to the tracers being more noticeable

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Clearly the Pershing needs to be a premium and give the M36 to counter Tiger.

1 Like
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Untitled

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Why not just T-29? Pershing could be penned by Panther

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Pretty early for me to say here rn but 4-4 so far and havent crossed much FG42 squads (doest mean they are right) but just to see how they dominate

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Doubt that the devs would actually go that deep since Russia never made a T-29 so it’s 100% fictional. All jokes aside it would be a nightmare for t29 to get added since it would be even more powercreep into normandy

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Or is there another way to bring back the playerbase you tell me?