Hi, Thanks for the input. However, currently I am not working on the mod at all. I might do some bugfixes in the future, but there are no plans right now.

Vehicles can be disabled for various reasons. Some are not used correctly, such as the SturmTiger and the recovery truck. Others are locked when the game progresses to avoid the AI making dumb decisions, like the Kubel. And some are tied to the random AI strategy, so each opponent and match is a little different.

Counter-battery was a long-since disliked function in vanilla for the reasons that they had significant game impact due to sheer firepower brought onto target while not requiring micro on the part of the player - on top of its significantly extended attack range due to Counter-Battery's mechanics.

However because of the context of 170 - rather than remove them entirely - Counter-Barrage still exists on several units which are often on lower powered artillery such as the 81mm Mortar and the Buried Mortar Bunkers due to the nature that every unit is available and there are significantly more emplacements that can be used on the field at any time.

For larger artillery such as Wehrmacht LeFH - Counter-battery was instead given a veterancy nerf, moved up to to the 2nd level so that it would give the opponent time to neutralize and set back the LeFH by killing the crew, resetting the veterancy thus denying them the ability to use Counter-battery.

Conversely this also means that the Wehrmacht player must actively use the howitzer for a long period of time before they can activate Counter-Battery, meaning the enemy will know the location of the LeFH and have time to react to its existence - its a snowball ability that punishes the opponent for not dealing with it via recon and bombing strikes, or dive maneuvers.

The reason why its not on the Panzerwerfer and Walking Stuka is because they have significantly higher impact as rapid-response rocket artillery, capable of inflicting a significant amount of damage in a VERY short period of time, thus the use of Counter-Battery would cause them to inflict way too much damage if they fired at any offending artillery in the battlefield - this is in stark comparison to the LeFH and Mortar Bunkers which have a slow and spread out attack pattern over a longer period of time.

In addition to this, as mobile rocket artillery vehicles, they are much harder to kill as they can constantly relocate and stay in areas that are much more fortified and well protected as opposed to the backline of artillery which can often remain unguarded - meaning that they're immune to the enemy trying to return fire and they cannot easily pinpoint them, even if they are attacked by the Panzerwerfer/Walking Stuka.

Assault Grenadiers need the STG44 and Infrared Scopes as a general firepower boost to the squad as their MP40s are significantly overshadowed by the more lethal Allied counterparts -
most notably, the game is heavily dominated by ranged weapons - without it, they are highly outclassed in later stages of the battle due to the expensive nature of Ostheer's army and the reinforcement costs they suffer from.

Assault Grenadiers are not counterparts to the Soviet Shocktroopers but rather are early assault units that meant to flank and use their sprint ability to quickly pressure down opponents, as opposed to Shocktroopers which are meant to withstand prolonged fighting and win battles using their body armor.

Assault Grenadiers are meant to capitalize on their early availability, using their submachine guns to win gunfights against Allied units who typically do not have close-ranged SMGs in the early game, and even if they do such as the Royal Engineers - do not have sufficient firepower to match them one to one without significant casualties, meaning Assault Grenadiers exploit the fire superiority of their weapon type.

As a result, Shocktroopers have more deadly submachine guns and higher overall durability, being resistant to small arms, being treated as a proper elite squad because they have high damage potential but are far slower by comparison since they arrive at 2 CP instead which is when light vehicles and other powerful squads arrive.

The STG44s and Infrared STG44 utilize the weapon stats inherited from the Volksgrenadier STG44 - which is to say that its meant to extended their range and allow them to more competently fight from cover and middling ranges while allowing them to fight squads from entrenched positions without exposing themselves.

Something to note is that this slightly reduces their close-ranged lethality in exchange for slightly more consistent ranged power at 15 to 25 meters which makes it more comfortable to play with them to minimize casualties which is what you will need from the mid to late game in regards to teching and producing additional units such as tanks.

Guards Riflemen are already considered to be very braindead and a crutch by the community as their design allows them to counter both infantry and vehicles simultaneously to the point that its an in-joke that they turn any game into "easy mode" which I'm in agreement with considering just how much they can do.

The reason it was locked behind the DP-28 was to gatelock the ability so that fresh Guardsmen cannot instantly start pinning vehicles until he was upgraded, using your munitions supply to keep the Soviets from using other abilities such as Oorah, Grenades and their abundant TM-35 mines that they often hinge on to win battles.

Even then, the ability of "Button Vehicle" is a controversial yet necessary evil in the context of CoH2 balance due to snowballing and the nature of German vehicles, especially in the mod with the level of buff stacking that can occur with many of their combat vehicles.

Penal Battalions cannot and should not receive Oorah due to their usage of explosives and ability to deal significant damage to enemy vehicles. Satchel charges are incredibly strong by nature as they can outright wipe out and destroy enemy team weapons such as Pak 40s and MG42s, as well as effectively doom enemy light vehicles.

In practical testing, this ability would outright make light vehicle play impossible for the Germans as sheer damage output of Penal Battalions would be capable of inflicting is immense. The molotov cocktail was more than sufficient of a buff to allow them to scale into late game, giving them the same anti-garrison and anti-cover functionalities as conscripts so that they don't get outscaled - and even then, the ROKS-3 flamethrower is still an option for them, especially with how their veterancies grant them 50% additional accuracy as opposed to other factions which are limited to only 30% to 40%.

The proposal to make the Volkssturm's performance dependent on the presence of other squads is highly unintuitive for a few reasons - especially specific ones.

Volkssturm were intended to be an alternative to the defensive Osttruppen - as they carry more deadly weapons such as the MP40s and Panzerschreck, with actual offensive abilities such as the Rifle Grenade and HE Grenade.

In addition, their weapons are not bound by cover mechanics, instead their rifles innately have an effectiveness between an Osttruppen squad in and out of cover - having only half of the accuracy Osttruppen have in cover.

They are meant to be used more aggressively, fighting in the open to be disruptive to the enemy by inflicting significant damage as opposed to being line troops that are effective at playing behind cover - hence why their passive improves their performance when dying as they will often operate on their own, away from other units.

They are a fodder squad that punches above their weight and can deal tide-turning blows to the enemy using their abilities and weapon upgrades - hence why they cost 240 manpower and are not deployed via commander abilities due to their game impact.

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