Uses for Mechanised Groups

So far this is one of the rarest 4 achievments

BLITZKRIEG
Deploy 50 Mechanized Assault Groups and 50 Mechanized Grenadier Groups

So, for those of us who are completists or creative and don't want to dismiss anything as useless, what can we do with them?


Both of them are 520 Mp and 40 Fuel and give you an infantry squad in a 250


Mech Assault Group
PGrens in a 250

Mechanised Gren Group
Grens with an LMG in a 250



The Mech Assault group comes in the Mechanised Assault Doctrine:

0 CP AGrens
3 CP Mech Assault Group
5 CP Stug E
8 CP Light Artillery Barrage
10CP Tiger

Specifically this a doctrine that I understand if for limited or no teching, though that's not often viable.

I suppose you can put Shreks on the PGrens and use it kill armour while it's being distracted, but that's a big investement in a vulnerable unit

Or you can just take the PGrens out and use this call in in lieu of T2.


The Mech Gren Group comes in Mechanised Doctrine

3CP Mech Gren Group
4CP Smoke Bombs
5CP Scope
8CP leFH 18 Artillery
8CP Command Tank

It's interesting to note here you are paying MP and Fuel but getting something that costs muntions as the Grens come with LMGs


Both of these look like an Ost clown car, but both come too late to act as one. By the time 3CP comes there are plenty of things that can kill them and the time for swift capping is done.

I have used both in late game where infantry is depleted and a mobile capping unit can fill gaps, that works.

They may also way to move a capping squad that is semi-resistant to shocks.


Thinking if there is anything more.


The 250 itself is underwhelming, it doesn't seem to have any guns, and has an implied cost of 140 MP / 40 Fuel or so


In both cases I have considered doing the following:

Call in the Unit, take the infantry out and use it elsewhere.

The 250 can then either be used as an expendable scout/distraction

Or, you can put a Pioneer in it and use it as a capper (possiblty with flames)



What does anybody else think of these?

I never use them myself but i've seen them doing alright in specific situations. For example against a support weapon heavy strat, or with shrecked up pgrens to chase down pesky vehicles. Both callins are also great for chasing down retreating units.

But i think you should use them as a reaction to your opponent's play, and not build a strategy around them.

Mechanised assault groups work very well as an alternative to flamer halftracks. Mech assault groups provide mobile, stable DPS that can easily cut down conscripts and force shock troopers off the field. As a bonus, it doesn't cost you any munitions so you can buff up your grenadiers with LMG42s and/or save up for some Panzerschreks.

"Both of these look like an Ost clown car, but both come too late to act as one. By the time 3CP comes there are plenty of things that can kill them[...]."

This is plain false. At best there will be a single AT gun on the field. But if you are spending munitions on LMG42s, your opponent will likely not get one that early because he knows you can't afford a flamer halftrack and mech assault groups are a rare sight.

Unlike the soviet clowncar, the 250 is also very resilient to small arms fire and won't die to a single AT nade. If you keep your pioneers close, you can quickly repair the 250 after an AT nade to continue the onslaught.

Both are useful, although the window of opportunity to use them are short. The PzG ht murders conscripts.

By the time my halftrack blows up, my panzergrenadier/grenadiers are often vet 2.

I find them useful for harassing single units that are trying to cap around the flanks. That being said, its an awfully expensive unit just to do that : |

I find them useful for harassing single units that are trying to cap around the flanks. That being said, its an awfully expensive unit just to do that : |

This.

I agree with Torniks and FestiveLongJohns. I use them later in the game in team games to cap around the flanks and force off enemy units trying to do the same.

They are good for this role as later in the game you can usually afford the expensive cost (in team games), and the main battles are taking the majority of your opponents army. Meaning pulling an AT unit and an infantry unit to deal with it can be too much of a hassle for your opponents.

This is plain false. At best there will be a single AT gun on the field.

Well, 3CP is 1CP after Guards and 45mm; and AT Grenades will be around too

++++++++++++++++++++++

Also I want to try vetting this vehicles with no guns up just to see if that is possible.

It will only be doable by running people over or driving through fires

Mechanised assault groups work very well as an alternative to flamer halftracks. Mech assault groups provide mobile, stable DPS that can easily cut down conscripts and force shock troopers off the field. As a bonus, it doesn't cost you any munitions so you can buff up your grenadiers with LMG42s and/or save up for some Panzerschreks.

I tried this yesterday for fun on Semois and had relative success with it. Went T1 heavy upgrading as many grens as I could with LMGs to bate out shock troops. Then called in mechanized gren to counter the new shocks. Worked pretty well, and the durability of the 250 is surprising. It feels about the same strength of the 251, maybe a little more, which surprised me, I always thought it was much more vulnerable.

Wish that the 250 could be upgraded with spotting scope, would definitely give it more late game use. As it stands now the 250 seems to fall off too drastically as the game goes on to be practical in closer games. The 251 can still reinforce rear positions late game, but the LMG 250 really can't do much at all once the first T70 hits. Unless you go T2 for shrek pgrens, in which case you might as well have gotten a 251 for a fourth of the manpower and less fuel.

The Pgren Mech group seems like it would have more practical use hunting down wounded tanks, but it's still a big risk. I don't have the Assault Gren commander tho, so I haven't tried it in practice.

Well, 3CP is 1CP after Guards and 45mm; and AT Grenades will be around too

++++++++++++++++++++++

Also I want to try vetting this vehicles with no guns up just to see if that is possible.

It will only be doable by running people over or driving through fires

You can't run people over with the halftrack. Light vehicles don't have the right crush stats.

Also, you are right about the guards and the 45mm AT gun. I disregarded them for 3 reasons:
1) I see a shock trooper response 90% of the time when I go for assault grenadiers.
2) The mech assault group is a substitute for the flamer halftrack, which you probably would not be getting anyway if you see early guards.

However, even when there are guards or 45mm guns, the mech assault group is still excellent for clearing out flanks.

The 250 HT is an almost completely useless unit. There are RARE moments when I call in a mechanized PG group. Either when I'm just wanting to spend MP because the match was boring and easy, or when I'm low on gas, desperate for some AT, and I skipped tier2.

It carries a single unit quickly over the battlefield. That's IT. Not worth the 500+ manpower.

Overpriced and unlocks 2 late... pretty good at harassing points but they cost so much for so little...

They used to be quit useful against the a Quick T70 build because the Assault Group could be upped with Panzerscrecks capable of chasing down the T70.

Now that the T70 is kinda useless though, the call in is kinda useless aswell. Using it against Conscripts is a death sentence considering AT nades exist.

You could, of course, take the Pgren/Gren out of the halftrack and put a sniper in there. Nothings more frustrating than a German equivalent of the sniper-scoutcar on steroids MVGame.

I think the mechanized grenadier group is just too expensive. Normal halftrack costs 20 fuel, this thing costs 40. Gren squad + halftrack costs 240 + 120 mp = 360 MP, this call-in costs 560 in MP.

It is too expensive, even though you don't have to pay the munitions for the LMG. I don't think 60 munitions equates to 200 MP since german reinforcement costs are quite high.

It would be fun to try one of those but even though I have picked the commander that comes with that call-in I haven't been able to afford it. Variance is something that the ostheer has been lacking since day one, especially for me since I don't buy DLC commanders so this one could be a fun thing to experiment on.

^^ Mech PGrens is a dumb unit too. Who the hell really wants to spend all those resources on a unit that's only good at stopping Engineers capping your territory?

It's like a completely different team at Relic developed CoH2...garbage costs for bland units. At least let a halftrack reinforce. Gotdamm.

At least let a halftrack reinforce.

I thought the call-in halftracks could do that, or has something changed in the later patches? If they can't, then they are totally useless. And even if they can they are overpriced.

After further use I can say it's situationally pretty good. The halftrack is great if you're going T1-T3 and your opponent went shocks to counter you.

If you think about it the LMG Mech group costs 520 and 40 fuel. Or the 250 halftrack costs 280 mp and 40 fuel.
The T2 building itself is 120 mp and 15 fuel, and the 251 halftrack is 120mp and 30 fuel. So including tech the 251 costs 240 mp and 45 fuel.

So if you only want an armored unit that can stand up to shocks, and you don't care about pgrens, paks or scout cars, the 250 is arguably a better choice than using your pios to retreat and build T2. And the LMG group has strong mid game options with spotting scopes, P4 command tank and the option for leFH.

The only major problem I have with the 250 is late game it has very little utility. It's basically completely relegated to driving off lone engi squads, suicide scouting or suicide attempts to force AT guns to displace late game given its inability to reinforce or be equipped with scopes. Still, as a early-mid game stopgap for T2 it seems pretty useful.

It's interesting to note that since I opened this thread it has now become the rarest acheivement

Over the weekend I played a 3v3 where a teammate bought one and immediately put a flamer pio inside. It made for a handy flanking unit and generally terrorized all the support weapon teams. Has anyone actually tried putting a sniper inside?

I like them. They are highly situational units however and I find that they excel against Soviet players who have either Shocks and/or do not build T3.

I highly recommend you watch this game if you wish to learn multiple ways to utilize the 250HT. Thanks to Atr3uh for the cast!