NSB turned USSR gameplay into an exploit fest

[Morbus Bubbonicus]

Just to survive combined Axis onslaught you have to use all exploits USSR had. It is always the same - convert MIC to CIC, rush purge and then stack -cnsumer goods to get 300+ factories by 1941 with spam.
The overwhelming amount of penalties devs stacked upon USSR resulted in exploit-plays becoming a meta as they present best waysto survive against vastly superior Axis forces.
And this is horrible exactly because such design approach promotes exploit and mainimax plays. Like pre-NSB abdurance of Axis industry bonuses spawned pure inf SOV+FTR plays or bypassing old Purge by declaring on minors. It was not unusual for multiplayer games to kick SOV players who refused to play with pure INF and wait for D-Day without advancing or changed their doctrine.
Now, overstacking -consumer goods just to be able to have a chance to survive is not adding anything fun to the game, it is just a chore that you MUST do in every SOV game. Like a Starcraft but where you have only one build order. Ironically, pre-DLC SOV had more variety in terms of available strategies(MP excluded)

 

[qer]

Well - consumer goods are probably the best modifier until you hit 0 % so it is not surprising that the player should aim for those bonuses. The tree is not bad per se, but I do agree it is a downgrade in various aspects, most importantly in that rather of strengthening your nation as anyone else you need to fix a lot of maluses without having time to fix everything. External diplo paths + 5 year plan are basically worthless save two-three focuses, paranoia is basically wasting 2 years of pp for some small bonuses, and some of the bonuses are a joke like half of the propaganda campaigns.

However I disagree that it is only a soviet problem because all focus trees have, by desing, the same problem: once you understand it, there is no reason not to min-max it for an optimal outcome.

 

[Morbus Bubbonicus]

80% of the DLC NF tree are worthless, because you have a list of must-do techs you have to get until 1941.

 

[MattZed]

Just to survive combined Axis onslaught you have to use all exploits USSR had. It is always the same - convert MIC to CIC, rush purge and then stack -cnsumer goods to get 300+ factories by 1941 with spam.

You don't need to be super optimized to get 300+ factories by 1941 in 1.11.3/1.11.4. You'll need some consumer good reductions and you don't want to put off the purge *too* long, but you don't need to be an intense min-maxer. There are already posts of this forum with 450+ factories by Barbarossa.

Some of the economic debuffs were a bit much on release, but with the recent patches and player experimentation the Soviet Union can reliably hold in SP.

You certainly don't need *exploits* to have a good USSR game these days.

 

[wyskass]

Just to survive combined Axis onslaught you have to use all exploits USSR had. It is always the same - convert MIC to CIC, rush purge and then stack -cnsumer goods to get 300+ factories by 1941 with spam.

I don't even really understand everything you're talking about in your post. I just play it like a game not as trying to figure out the best meta.
As SOV, after figuring out the need to be careful with allocation of factories and judicious with production, I was able to at first defend against Germany, and eventually win the world. You don't have the luxury of early high production, which is the main challenge. Adjust and use your manpower and land to your advantage.
There have been a few posts complaining about Soviet Union being too difficult to play against Germany, or unfairly modeled. Considering even just one example of a successful playthrough, makes these statements false.

 

[Th3master]

I'm not sure what all the clamor about SU being difficult in this patch is about. The first playthrough I did on .11 was SU and I was able to hold pretty easily without any exploits. Had about 200 inf divs and 2 medium tank divs by the beginning of the attack (which happened in august). I had 8 more produced by the end of the month and I was forced to fall back through the marshes in the center and the plains in the South (where I held at Kiev). The North held almost at the border and by Late 1942 I was able to push in to East Prussia. Early 1943 I completely collapsed the Northern Front and drove them back to the Romanian border in the south. By middle 1943 I was in the heart of Poland and by winter 43/44 I finished off the Reich. All without the help of the Allies who only invaded Norway late in the war and took a couple Italian islands.

Did a standard build with fighters/cas/inf/tanks. Nothing min maxy. Overall fun campaign and was only stressful in the opening months where I couldn't hold well in the South.

 

[Jays298]

So TLDR is game is hard so I try to cheat to win because if it was easy I wouldn't have to cheat?

I beat Germany with keeping all my mils, and switching to mils probably in 1939.

 

[PorkchopSandwiches247]

Personally I found that the Soviets arent really hard, just kind of tedious. Just beeline for the purge ones, then anything with consumer goods reduction, then factories/production. Its just annoying really, if you cant ignore it withoit crippling yourself I kind of wish the Purge would just happen without me having to maintain it.

Maybe Im just lazy lol

You start with such a huge army and solid amounts of factories to begin with unless you screw up you should be strong enough to deal with the Axis without too much trouble.