Hello all, I am writing today about the M2 90mm Mortar "Goon Gun".
3 - Goon Gun
Barrage (incl. smoke) range decreased from 105 m to 85 m.
Barrage recharge increased from 30 s to 60 s.
Smoke barrage recharge increased from 120 s to 240 s.
Range decreased from 100 m to 80 m.
I feel the changes to the M2 were excessive, and these changes have really killed what made the unit unique, while failing to properly address the greatest flaws of the unit.
The M2's biggest draw was it's ability to fire a larger shell than a standard mortar, and at longer ranges. This is fairly standard for a larger mortar. While I feel Artillery Plotting maps had (and still potentially has) an excessive impact on indirect fire weapons, especially the 90mm, I do not think by any means that the 90mm needed to have it's range reduced quite so much. It's max range and barrage range should both be set to 90m. 90m max range is the sweet spot where the 90mm's extra price (+50% Manpower, +25% Munitions, +50% Population) over the standard mortar really pays off, and the M2 90mm gives Infantry doctrine a sort-of-mortar, sort-of-artillery option to counter Axis mortars and field guns like the LeIG and Nebelwerfer.
The M2's biggest drawback, however, it's it's propensity to friendly fire indiscriminately. The 90mm shell's slow speed and long travel times means that it's unlikely to hit singular moving targets, and far more likely to hit friendly troops during the free fire process. This is potentially an issue for all mortars, but it's
especially true for the 90mm, due to it's slow projectile and large AOE. What is even more unfortunate is that the Hold Fire ability resets itself every time the mortar moves, making it very unreliable method of avoiding friendly fire. Because of this, the M2 90mm should have its free fire ability removed, and made a barrage-only weapon. Keep the barrage timers right where they're at. The 90mm could also potentially get a price increase to 90 Munitions, if necessary.
Please also give the 90mm Mortar the 25 Pounder VFX/SFX.
Let's look at Artillery Plotting Maps next:
60mm Mortar, 90mm Mortar, Rifle Grenades:
+10m Range, Damage -25%, Scatter -33%
I think if excessive mortar range is your concern, then Artillery Plotting Maps is your culprit. The +10m bonus should be reduced to +5m. This +5 would give 60mm mortars exactly equal range to their 81mm Axis counterparts, evening the field between them. The 90mm would now only have 95m range max (vs the 110m max range that was possibly before); still effective, but not excessive. The +5m range would give Rifle Grenades 40m range, equal to an LMG (vs the current 45m range, equal to a deployed HMG)
I think the -X% Damage debuff should be removed entirely. Giving a large -% Scatter buff, and then trying to counter-balance it with a -% Damage debuff, is unnecessary and overly complex. Just reduce the -% Scatter buff to a more reasonable amount, and eliminate the Damage debuff altogether.
So (this part of) the new Artillery Plotting Maps would be a much more reasonable:
60mm Mortar, 90mm Mortar, Rifle Grenades:
+5m Range, -20% Scatter
In all my games of playing Infantry, I feel it would be best to change the Goon Gun's range to 90m, and normalize the Artillery Plotting Maps selection a bit.
Thank you.
