Thoughts on 0 CP Abilities

I've been experimenting with the OP Rifle Company thanks to the free rotation, and it got me thinking about the idea of doctrines with abilities that cost 0 CP (especially unit call-ins, thinking specifically of things like Mechanized Assault that offer a new mainstay unit). Specifically, I'm not sure if they are a good idea or not. One of the things I liked about vCoH was the way that doctrines could be chosen at crucial points to counter an opposing strategy, or multiply a strength of your own force. My problem with 0 CP unlocks is that it encourages you to pick a doctrine without knowing anything about your opponent, removing an interesting aspect of counterplay.

In particular, the Rifle Company is problematic for 2 reasons. Firstly, with this doctrine you are actually punished for delaying your choice. If you choose early, you can have more Vet. Rifleman instead of regular squads, giving you an advantage. Secondly, you are gambling very little by choosing early, since the Rifle Company is good in pretty much all situations (early game and late). Basically, if an American player has the Rifle Company there is very little reason not to choose it immediately in every single game (as many OKW players are discovering).

Accepting that this is pretty academic, since Relic isn't gonna just remove these doctrines, what do you guys think of such doctrines? Are they a good idea or not? My view is that, since they're here to stay, Relic should balance them to introduce an element of risk to denying yourself choice early on.

i agree at least a little bit
picking a doctrin instantly at the beginning of the game may seem strange to a coh-veteran like you and me, but i feel, that overall the impact of commanders is far less then the impact of doctrines in coh1, where a doctrin completely changed your playstyle.
this changes a little bit with 0cp doctrines like riflecompany or the assault grenadiers --> stug e doctrin, but still, they are not that important, so its okay imo

you are partly right with the missing aspect of counterplay, the thing which comes into my mind is isu152 and elefant, where the elefant doctrin is a hardcounter to the isu 152. but are there many more counterpick-options?

you probably did not play on the new patch, but rifle company was severly nerfed and it seems a lot better to me now

i like the idea of lots of different doctrines. i dont like some of the abilities though. Namely the call ins. but theres various abilities on some commanders that should also just be a part of the core army.

For the most part with the soviets, winning is ALL about proper doctrine selection and getting access to the right units. If you choose wrong you dont have much to do to adapt your strategy, you just try and hold out and tech up.

Well I definitely think there should not be 0 CP vehicle call-ins...