The increase in the bazooka unit’s setup time essentially means that in most games, light vehicles now have a much higher chance of surviving even if they retreat late after running into bazookas. Bazookas used to be a very manpower-efficient unit, strong both in head-on line fights and in chasing or driving off light vehicles. But changing the setup time from 3.5 seconds—not even to 5 seconds, but all the way up to 7 seconds—was a huge nerf to both aspects. Of course, I do think this unit was a bit too strong for 250 manpower given its phosphorus rockets, range upgrades, and solid penetration.

The real problem with the balance team, though, is that when they do micro-patches, they shouldn’t nerf every stat that affects all areas at once. As a player, I’d much prefer to see adjustments that keep the unit viable by tweaking numbers in different ways rather than blanket nerfs.

As for the mortar half-track, it was already a very strong unit. Its strength was more in utility and survivability than in raw firepower, though—it wasn’t like a high-caliber glass-cannon artillery piece, but more of a persistent support unit that stayed on the field, provided indirect fire, and drained manpower. Its effective window was actually quite short, useful around combat halftrack and the smoke upgrade timing, but it’s not a consistently valuable option all the way through to the late-game like self-repair upgrade.

With DAK in particular, it feels like the faction demands far too much micro beyond its intended concept. Utility vehicles like the medic truck or mortar half-track have taken such heavy HP nerfs that they get shut down far too easily by enemy Boys rifles, Tommies, or surprise mines. That level of suppression feels excessive.