I’ve recently read many threads about unit balance, arguing that one or another unit is too weak, strong, expensive or cheap and none of the arguments seem to go anywhere. Either the unit is too closely tied to popular strategies or it balances out another unit, resulting in a domino effect of other balancing issues. The only unit that may be exempt from this, I have found, is the transport. The transport is one of the games staple units due to its niche land unit carrying ability. Practically all nations* (Russia) need them to progress in the game. The main problem with the transport though, is that they are too expensive and hinder the power of amphibious assaults or eat up too much of a Nations income. The 7 IPC price tag ultimately hinders both the axis and the Allies strategies:
Sea lion is too expensive for Germany,
The US can never seem to land a force large enough in Europe,
Italy never seems to hit hard in Africa after Taranto raid,
Pacific island hopping is very dull because Japan rarely takes US airbase/outer perimeter islands
(I only made this thread to discuss whether this is a fair argument and I don’t want to see this moved to the house rules forum)