How to bring back the LT from the dead

What if the LT was given zooks and the Captain was given bars, this would help with the balance of the tiers by providing the M20 a unit that can support it.

EDIT: and the zook and bars are unlocked when you purchase any tier.

I say give T2 units more utility. M20 can be cloaked but immobilized and given better sight range so its an excellent scout (right now it's "supposed" to be scout, but does nothing of the sort, no one uses it for that role, and nearly all other USF units have sight range bonuses from veterancy). AA Halftrack can get a sort of hull-down ability to make it more durable but immobilized, would give them a defensive role, what with being a halftrack designed to attack aircraft and targets from afar with paper armour.
HMG seems fine, just unit clumping that's the issue.

End of the day given all the changes, Captain is simply more efficient in the long run.

LT will be dead as long as the tier that you can get for almost exactly the same price gives you a light tank instead of a light vehicle. It would be like if OKW Mech HQ gave you the Luchs; nobody would go medics to start ever again.

USF teching should be liner, OKW teching should be liner, hail satan.

I do recall that in WFA beta the 50.cal had Armoured Pierecing bullets similar of that of the MG42 Incendary Rounds expect at Veternacy 0. I really liked this idea as it did provide LT tier some light anti-vehicle play against OST and OKW. Right now, even with veternacy 3, a 50.cal does poor damage against enemy vehicles. Rather a pity considering it shot 12.7mm rounds.

Just like the DShK AP rounds, they are simply are worst than the MG42s Incendiary Rounds for whatever absurd reason. I would like to see Relic test it out similar to the mod of July 21s. Give it back AP rounds starting off or unlocked past Veterancy. Damage and pen should be that of MG42s Incen. rounds. Let players test out Sept 3rd changes in a mod to see how much it'd effect the game.

I remember when I predicted the LT going obsolete and everyone thought I was insane

Move at gun to hq. Nothing else would work. But i won't use it anyway.

Most matches I watch the LT is skipped in favor for the CPT, fair enough, each to their own but from what I understand the major consensus is that it offers nothing of value over the CPT with its stuart for early vehicles and AT for good armor repellent.

I still go LT most games, I feel the M20 is vital to my early and often late game (mines) victory, many don't agree and that's fine but its no secret i'm the minority when it comes to teching LT.

What if, teching the LT also unlocked the BAR/Zooks or nades for the infantry and thus making them the only way to unlock them?

Give the LT a fuel+Manpower increase, or the M20/AA to balance the costs but it would certainly change the way the game is currently played. Well, until everyone goes LT and skips CPT of course, ha.

If I recall, USF are the only faction that needs to unlock weapons separate from normal teching, I understand the want for variety by making USF the most pain in the arse faction to play as, but maybe this would help (to quote relic) "create more diverse and creative strategies with the faction".

Locking BAR / Zooks behind LT is not buffing the LT. It's nerfing everything that's not LT.

LT isn't dead or at least I don't think so. I love using it to get my 50 cal. I have 3 suppression bulletins and the grouping depends on where it is. For me I think its better than mg42. But I also use both tiers like ratchet said with armor company Keepo.

Doesn't that show how pointless it is if you need THREE intel bulletins to make it worth anything?

IMO, make the .50 anti light armor or ffs give it AP. Why the MG gets AP is beyond me as that gun NEVER EVER had a history of anti-armor abilities while the .50 is rife with light anti-armor history. IMO, having the MG with AP is just beyond stupid as Axis has plenty of other early game anti-armor.

LT will be dead as long as the tier that you can get for almost exactly the same price gives you a light tank instead of a light vehicle. It would be like if OKW Mech HQ gave you the Luchs; nobody would go medics to start ever again.

USF teching should be liner, OKW teching should be liner, hail satan.

the inherent flaw of the recent tech changes. Moving the light tank too earlier.

there's a different between light vehicle such as the m20 and 222 and light tank such as the stuart and t70.

giving USF less options by gating what few upgrades they have behind the various tiers is not going to help the faction.

USF teching should be liner, OKW teching should be liner, hail satan.

Yeah really, Relic needs to decide whether USF tech is linear or not. Right now it's basically "you don't have to go CPT, but you're a complete idiot if you pick LT first".

I do recall that in WFA beta the 50.cal had Armoured Pierecing bullets similar of that of the MG42 Incendary Rounds expect at Veternacy 0. I really liked this idea as it did provide LT tier some light anti-vehicle play against OST and OKW. Right now, even with veternacy 3, a 50.cal does poor damage against enemy vehicles. Rather a pity considering it shot 12.7mm rounds.

Just like the DShK AP rounds, they are simply are worst than the MG42s Incendiary Rounds for whatever absurd reason...

I was under the impression that initially (that is after WFA release up to an unspecific point later on) the M2 HMG always had better damage characteristics copared to other HMGs. Guess I was wrong and it was no wonder the 50cals I fought weren't particularly threatening against light tanks.
But yes, M2 HMG is really inflexible when compared with the other HMG units in the game. If it doesn't have properties that make it innately more powerful than other HMGs then they should at least have abilities that do so. 50cal had AP/ incendiary ammo too, if anything those did more damage than 7.62 tracer ammunition; Relic might as well go all the way and portray flare projectiles as incendiary shells, because that's less absurd than MG42's vet1 railgun bullets ability.

IMO, make the .50 anti light armor or ffs give it AP. Why the MG gets AP is beyond me as that gun NEVER EVER had a history of anti-armor abilities while the .50 is rife with light anti-armor history. IMO, having the MG with AP is just beyond stupid as Axis has plenty of other early game anti-armor.

A halftruth that Relic likely exploit for creative license (though it wasn't like the MG42 really needed to be more powerful than it already is); the MGs did use the same 7.62mm Mauser as Kar98 rifles, and therefore you can potentially argue that the sort of AP/ incendiary ammo issued to infantry could be used. But that's the thing, those munitions were only issued to infantry/ snipers, not cobbled into links and expended within seconds by a machine gun. Germany didn't have the economy to outfit any machine gun crew with a can full of AP/ incendiary cartridges, even expert snipers wouldn't have more than a handful of such rounds for the occasional opportunity.

As for LT tier, refining the units in T2 would improve their attractiveness. For example as stated, HMG needs to deal more damage, or at least have abilities that offer more damage potential. One idea you can do is the "alternate" approach, where abilities of, say, HMG are comparable to the Stuart, in particular the HMG can have a form of Button Vehicle ability that performs the same role as Stuart's Blinding Shot. Another approach is "complementary": the HMG can "mark" a target it shoots as being more susceptible to critical hits, so it works as a crucial support multiplier: if you want that Panzer4 have engine damage, you get that HMG marking it while your RIflemen close in and launch the AT rifle grenade. This adds synergy between the two units and thus gives any USF player good reason to go for LT if they expect to live with vet1 Riflemen dealing with vehicles outside of bazooka.
Right now though, HMG is simply a manpower-based option to inflict suppression- RETs' (albeit shitty) Volley Fire and AA halfrack (which costs fuel) already provide that option. me personally I never really bother with HMG and just go for AA halftrack- sure it's fuel, but since I already went LT and need some more oomph than what the 50cal offers I might as well, the thing doesn't require setup time anyways, on top of being able to damage light vehicles.
M20 can have camouflage to hide from AT weapons, and AA halftrack can do something like hulldown to offer a durable but immobile firing base. It would make Fighting Positions entirely useless, but then again it already is.

If you REALLY want just a reshuffle of tier units, then just swap AA halftrack+M20 with AT gun+ howitzer, you at least separate them by support squads and vehicles.

The MG42 with incendiary rounds and the 222 hardcounters the entire T1 arsenal...

LMG Grens bleed Rifles

GG