Penal Battalion anyone?

Now that the super early Shock troops are the main infantry force of most soviet players armies I rarely see the good old trusty Penals being used.

I use them allot still as they are great for clearing early defences such as buildings,MG nests and mortars ect. with their awesome satchel charges.

I was just interested to see if anyone still use them and if so in what role?

I love them, I wish they were better but honestly they're just terrible for their price/tier placement, and the flamethrower is a super awkward upgrade for a 1.0 armor squad that gets shredded by close-range LMGs, PGrens, G43s, MG42s, etc.

Nowadays I usually go 1x Combat Engineer*, T1, 3x Penal Battalion, and sometimes a Scout Car for support.

It can be risky, but it's fun and it gives you some good firepower.

*For 2 total.

I usually build two squads when going guards. If I manage to keep them alive until they vet, which isn't always easy due to my monkey micro, they really pay off.

But they are a very awkward unit imo...

i see them a few times in 4v4s, they are very powerful when put inside scout cars, since they are also good at range.

You must have one constript squad on base for reinforce them. 30MP for reinforce is expensive and drain your MP.
I try penals many times. They are fun, but dont have as dynamic fight as consripts. If you use green cover, wait soon rifle grenade ripe 3-4 mens.

Con/Rofl Command/Penal/Penal

or

Con/Con/Rofl Command/Penal/Penal

usually works for me. Penals are far better for fending off infantry from cover, but their inability to build cover or ward off vehicles of any sort (satchels require the vehicle to be immobilized or microed by a monkey), in addition to them being expensive, glass-cannon Cons, relegates them to novelty. Cons are far more cost effective (you can see this in most any end-game screen). Vetted Penals are a terror, but they can't Ura! their way around an MG--since all of the Ost tools were made to halt Cons (that can, by default, Ura!), Penals get caught and unable to maneuver around the threat or escape without very advanced planning and a very good idea of where the MG/suppression source is.

The total lack of battlefield utility makes Cons more appealing. This is, in fact, my biggest gripe with how CoH2 infantry was designed.

Why do we need one unit to build sandbags and another unit to build barbed wire? Why does one faction have access to MG nests and the other doesn't? Why do I need to buy a DLC in order to make tank traps? This was a huge deal in vCoH, being able to mold the battlefield to your needs by creating cover for yourself or denying it to your opponent. Engineers could build MGs, sandbags, wire, mines, OPs, and tank traps. Riflemen (~= to Cons) could build, with an Infantry Company specific unlock, wire, sandbags, OPs, and mines.

WM infantry, while having more basic options, had no prerequisite, and could construct wire and sandbags right off the bat. Pioneers had the same building abilities as Engineers (regarding field defenses).

In addition...mines no longer grant veterancy? What? This was a huge reason to want to have mine-planting ability for your infantry. This was a fantastic way to vet up squads that were less than useful in combat (see: Combat Engineers). Now there is little point to use mines as they focus on raw damage rather than a disabling effect(their main boon in vCoH) or, in the case of Pioneers, are too time consuming/expensive to place.

/rant

TL;DR, Penals are fantastic killing machines but have little in the way of actual utility. No merge, almost pointless expensiveness relegates them to very niche rolls that pale in the overall usefulness and cheapness of Conscripts.

I really hate them. They are too expensive for what they can do. Having to keep a conscript squad in the base to manually merge also sucks. It's actually quite hard to click merge on a squad and it's just really awkward to do quickly.

I think Penals should be the call-in while Guards come from a building.

i love these guys, especially in a laggy game, satchels destroy morale and grenadiers.

but these guys are best when fighting at max range and in cover. very potent as a fire team and a prime rifle nade bait. they could do with more armour though.

well penals are definetly on there way to being viable! i can field a penal squad and make good use of em througout a game.

the initial cost of buying them i think should be given a slight decrease though

Also just because You can merge profitably with Conscripts doesn't mean you HAVE to.

I really hate them. They are too expensive for what they can do. Having to keep a conscript squad in the base to manually merge also sucks.

+1

They are the most useless non-doctrinal unit in the game. Satchel charge would be fun, too bad they are so shite...

EDIT: how about re-making them into 200MP slightly more effective version of osttrupen with satchel, makes no sense they cost more then regular soldiers anyway and it would make for some suicidal fun times

+1

They are the most useless non-doctrinal unit in the game. Satchel charge would be fun, too bad they are so shite...

EDIT: how about re-making them into 200MP slightly more effective version of osttrupen with satchel, makes no sense they cost more then regular soldiers anyway and it would make for some suicidal fun times

Actually, it makes perfect sense they cost more then scripts.
Penal battalions are made of experienced officers after all, they know how to handle themselves.

Penal companies are made of the lesser troops.
What however doesn't make sense is why they have such a high price for such a low efficiency compared to literally any other 360 unit and even some 240 ones.

Actually, it makes perfect sense they cost more then scripts.
Penal battalions are made of experienced officers after all, they know how to handle themselves.

Penal companies are made of the lesser troops.
What however doesn't make sense is why they have such a high price for such a low efficiency compared to literally any other 360 unit and even some 240 ones.

This has been a source of confusion for me for awhile, so just to clarify;

Penal Battalion =/= Shtrafniki?

They shouldn't cost the same as Pgrens, yes I know that they don't have the same reinforcement mp but either way they are still expensive being at 360. Guards are better in every way besides intial DPS.

Yes, penal battalion translates as shtrafniki. Shtraf means penalty in Russian.
I think they are great, I have won a lot of early game engagements with them but I would love to see them doctrinal rather then coming from the building. Guards would better fit their spot so T1 would have at least some AT capabilities.

I personally use them all the time when I get tired of my regular build (3 cons, mortar, shocks spam, SU76)

Guards would better fit their spot so T1 would have at least some AT capabilities.

The last thing this game needs is the capability of having shocks and guards and snipers with only one tech building.

Oh yeah lol, I didn't think of this, my bad)

ULTIMATE POWER!!

1.25 armor? Reduce reinforcement cost to 20? Reduce initial price to 320?
They need some love.