Assault Engineers and Vehicle Crews are Useless

Both USF Assault Engineers and Vehicle Crews underperform considerably. AE's can barely fight Pioneers, let alone Grenadiers. The unit cost does not meet the unit's performance at all. AE's at least should be able to fight decent at close range, about the same as Assault Grenadiers. OKW's Sturmpioniere are amazing at close range, yet the closest US equivalent is horrible. Right now the AE is a pointless unit.

Also, American Vehicle Crews are horrible at combat as well. They carry M3 grease guns, which were considered the successor to the Thompson, yet they barely do any damage. In my experience, even 2 vehicle crews together can't even match a single Grenadier squad.

Besides mines, I cannot see any possible reason to make AE's instead of Rear Echelon Troops. And while you cannot make vehicle crews, they are UP completely, making them worse than engineers in combat. I understand they are considered a "free unit", but to me it's a useless unit besides repairs and taking points. If that was their only uses than they shouldn't carry the M3, which was a very effective weapon.

Relic needs to buff both of these units, to make them less useless.

I've had assault engineers used quite effectively against me by high level players. It was actually quite surprising. They're glass cannons, granted.

Vehicle crews do alright. I need to use them more.

Anyway the main reason people get AE's is because of demo charge abuse. One of the easier ways to win in competitive play is just to nuke squads with demo charges.

I thought vehicle crews were just intended for repairs? If they were combat capable as well, wouldn't that make them a little too good?

Their vet does not give them any bonus for fighting and they are even more fragile than partisans and cost a buckload to reinforce.

The Elite Vehicle Crews Upgrade is a silly ability that I think should be replaced with repair critical and put at 2cp while removing repair critical from the normal USF crews.

i guarantee youre using assault engineers wrong. at 8m or less, the squad does 52 dps. sturm pios only do 57 dps. assault grens only do 42. considering theyre cost, theyre pretty damn good. their only weakness is their damage drops off much faster than sturms and assault grens. they do barely any damage at 14m or greater.

get close. watch squads melt.

Vehicle Crews do not need utility in combat, because they are free with vehicles. You can upgrade them with thompsons if you want to make them perform better but it's a waste in almost every case. I agree assault engineers are not worth their cost. Not sure how to fix those though.

Yes and much like assault grens you have to know how to use assualt engineers for flanking and ambushing. They don't have sprint which makes that a little hard, but they more than make that up with their demo and mine planting ability.

Vehicle crews are just that, vehicle crews. If they are not piloting a vehicle, they should be used to simply cap, or used to repair other vehicles. Their vet abilities give them better repairing capabilities, not combat abilities. This should be an indication of their primary role.

Assault engineers are rather good in my opinion. Their close range DPS is huge but I mainly use them to plant demo charges to 1-shot squads.

Assault engineers can feel as a random experience, sometimes they just die like flies trying to close the distance and sometimes they just spank enemy squads.

I've tried to learn to use them more effectively lately and the only thing I can recommend is try to use them the same way you would sturm pioneers. What I guess you could try is this: First, use volks or riflemen to set up in any nearby cover to take fire. While they are acting meat shields, bring your sturm pioneers or assault engineers in from a different angle and close the gap, usually I right click and drag their positions right next to the enemy unit.

If all works like it's supposed to, the meat shields will take the bullets while your burst units close the distance in relative safety and cut down the enemy unit.

IMO assault engies don't justify their cost outside of laying demo charges. Yes they deal massive damage at point blank range, but the opportunities to get into that range without losing a model is pretty scarce. You really have to ambush around a corner to use them effectively as most competent players will just focus them if you try to charge.

Thompsons on vehicle crews just seems like a wasted slot in your commander tree.

Assault engineers can feel as a random experience, sometimes they just die like flies trying to close the distance and sometimes they just spank enemy squads.

I've tried to learn to use them more effectively lately and the only thing I can recommend is try to use them the same way you would sturm pioneers. What I guess you could try is this: First, use volks or riflemen to set up in any nearby cover to take fire. While they are acting meat shields, bring your sturm pioneers or assault engineers in from a different angle and close the gap, usually I right click and drag their positions right next to the enemy unit.

If all works like it's supposed to, the meat shields will take the bullets while your burst units close the distance in relative safety and cut down the enemy unit.

The problem with this is that if they switch targets to your AEs they are toast. The only way this works is if you are already close before you start your flank.

Assault engies with flamer seem fine to me. They are on the fragile side, but can pack a punch.

And I have found a great use for vehicle crewes-they are AWESOME at driving vehicles around and repairing them.

The problem with this is that if they switch targets to your AEs they are toast. The only way this works is if you are already close before you start your flank.

Personally I'm playing almost exclusively comp stomps, you might be right about the re-targeting of the troops you are attacking in online games. But wouldn't the same hold true for sturm pioneers? There's no difference in armor for these two units as far as I know.

Or maybe try to utilize cover to the best of your abilities when closing the gap as Relic intended cqc units to be required to do as of a couple of patches ago when they tinkered with the cover system and dps.

Assault engies with flamer seem fine to me. They are on the fragile side, but can pack a punch.

And I have found a great use for vehicle crewes-they are AWESOME at driving vehicles around and repairing them.

xDDDDD

Has anyone noticed that Assault Engineers have the same Vet 1 ability as the Vehicle Crew? That somewhat-imbalanced Critical Repair?

Yup. A way to get your tank out of the fight without even getting your crew out.

Regardless, I find I have to upgrade my Assault Engineers with that M2 Flamethrower (which has been behaving itself recently, thank god) to get any proper use out of them.

Assualt engineers really need some sort of endurance bonus with their vet. They just dissapear as soon as the axis get anything better then general infantry. Plus I really think flamethrower explosion crit need to be reduced. The damn thing is more of a liability then an advantage. I don't think I've gotten through a match where the damn thing didn't blow up and take the squad with it.

I think I might know the perfect ability to make these guys worth it later on in the game - a stun grenade. Namely the Mk3 grenade. The grenade might stun like the doctrinal German one, but does very little damage. Huge damage modifier versus garrisoned units.

Boom, insta-useful Assault Engineers (although I think that belongs in it's own thread).

I think I might know the perfect ability to make these guys worth it later on in the game - a stun grenade. Namely the Mk3 grenade. The grenade might stun like the doctrinal German one, but does very little damage. Huge damage modifier versus garrisoned units.

Boom, insta-useful Assault Engineers (although I think that belongs in it's own thread).

I really like that idea, could help them close the gap. Vet 1 ability perhaps?

I think the only thing Ass Engies really need is a little extra effective range on their grease guns.

Currently they start to drop off even faster than a shock troop PPSH. That's some damn close quarters you need to be to get your full damage output.

You could always pull them back from front-line duty after the first 5-10 minutes and have them devoted to demo charging duty- that's their strongest aspect anyway. having more DPS than assgrens and being able to instantly fix crits and repair is icing on the cake.