Shouldn't Mechanized be cheaper?

[GAGA Extrem]

MECH is quite expansive, but that's mostly due to the fact that they are also incredibly powerful.

A fully mechanized tank division becomes extremely fearsome due to the hardness increase, to the point where even INF with enough pierce won't stand much of chance against them.

Also don't forget that MOT gets a significant hardness boost from unlocking MECH I, so you have sort of an abstracted way to model the advancement of the early mechanized and semi-mechanized equipment.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Yeah but most people don't bother to build it, so maybe mech 1 should have its hardness nerfed and be made cheaper to encourage actual use.

If you are fine with lower hardness then you should just stick to MOT.

The problem is, at least from my POV, less the price and more the fact that it's a 1940 tech.
It enters the game too late for anyone but SOV or USA (and SOV doesn't really have the capacity in 1940 to make good use of it). Plus re-designing divisions during the war isn't exactly a grand idea and quite a bit of micromanagement.

However, moving it to 1939 carries the risk of making GER a lot stronger. I'd guess a fully mechanized Panzer IV + MECH I division would be utterly unstoppable with anything that the allies (or SOV) can muster at that point. Even if GER has just a handful of these, it could be a serious balance problem.

...although nothing is stopping you from trying that out. It's literally one number change in the related tech file.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

[...]The point is if you were gonna make mech, why didn't you just make a tank? For the same price you can have a 40width pure tank division with the required minimum 5 mot. Or you can have it reversed, all Mech except 5 medium tanks but this division is MUCH WEAKER compared to the full tank division but they cost the same.

The purpose of MECH is to replace the MOT brigades in your divisions. You build them because your tanks need something that provides HP and DEF.

Their main advantage over MOT is the significantly higher hardness. Since most division templates have much higher SA than HA, increasing hardness is an excellent way to reduce the amount of damage (and thus losses) that your tank divisions will take. Depending on what the enemy INF fields, using MECH over MOT will equal a 20-50% damage reduction. That's what you are paying for.

Aside from that main effect, they also grant a nice extra chunk of HP and DEF, some extra HA, armor and pierce, plus better mobility in forest, jungle and marsh terrain (since they do not have the movement speed penalty).

So MECH are more or less combined arms anti-infantry brigades. Is it worth to equip all your tanks with them? Probably not (unless you have plenty of IC - like SOV, USA or conquest-fed GER). But you can use MECH to create a bunch of fearsome elite divisions that can only be stopped by strong AT assets.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

I'd guess in a way motorized artillery is abstracted by the fact that SUPP-ART always uses the base division speed.

On the flip side: I'd like to see a support mechanized brigade for divisions.

 

[podcat]

will give lowering cost a try and see if it makes them attractive enough. The game doesnt support reduced mud modifier for mech since its not a real terrain etc, otherwise I think that is a good direction to go to give them a clear niche.