Opinions of Penal battalion

Penals are useless since molotovs just destroy bunkers for less cost.

If you're cool with having weaker and more expensive units without AT nades good luck.

They are garbage, there is no reason to use them instead of cons.

They are even worse now after the flame dot nerf.

Penals need more long range damage and satchel charges to be fixed since they dont do damage to buildings.
This will make them a great unit. Currently they suck

How are penals doing this patch? I need alternatives to doctrine infantry call-in reliance (shocks or guards) Vs the effing OKW ubermensche tidal wave.

How are penals doing this patch? I need alternatives to doctrine infantry call-in reliance (shocks or guards) Vs the effing OKW ubermensche tidal wave.

With the changes to flame throwers it's just more conventional to get combat engineers with flamers or just molotovs as an anti garrison unit so the uparade has no other significant benefits. The satchel doesn't damage buildings which I think is a bug. They seem to have less survivability than conscripts. Not so sure how well they scale into late game compared to conscripts. The only thing they seem to excel at it having semiauto rifles so a slight dps increase then conscripts. Over all its gotten really hard to justify buying penals or even going t1.

With the changes to flame throwers it's just more conventional to get combat engineers with flamers or just molotovs as an anti garrison unit so the uparade has no other significant benefits. The satchel doesn't damage buildings which I think is a bug. They seem to have less survivability than conscripts. Not so sure how well they scale into late game compared to conscripts. The only thing they seem to excel at it having semiauto rifles so a slight dps increase then conscripts. Over all its gotten really hard to justify buying penals or even going t1.

Did try going T1 a couple of times, made one of my games harder then it needed to be and the other a horrible defeat.

With that in mind (about penals), i guess its not worth it.

great on urban maps.

penals are hit and miss. sometimes they do great, other they suck.

But never make more than 2 squads, cause they are expensive as hell to mantain and not that good in general.

One strategy I like to use against okw is smoke the flaktruck then send one penal and one engi, put a demo near the truck then throw a satchel on top, It's end game for they. (if you go T1 I recommend going for guards motors for Guards+mortar).

If you use merge a lot then penals become really useful.

I still think they need a slightly buff on accuracy, since then can't hit anything even at medium range.

How are penals doing this patch? I need alternatives to doctrine infantry call-in reliance (shocks or guards) Vs the effing OKW ubermensche tidal wave.

Yo, check out the thread I made on Soviet strats about Maxims. Three Maxims are so good with decent micro. No need to worry about rifle nade wipes either... it's nice.
Against OKW I have no issue if I go 3 Maxims. Usually two cons. Molotovs work fine in urban settings. Get a third conscript if you need to get shit out of buildings quicker, and/or a mortar. You don't really need shock troops or guards although shock troop smoke nade really helps out a lot.

If you don't like using shocks because it's boring... I can understand that feeling.

I recently got rekt with penals + For Mother Russia wombo combo.

They have really good accuracy vet, so if you can steal a weapon like an lmg they become monsters. You can get a brit ally to drop them from the special weapons doctrine and they become pretty effective.

Yo, check out the thread I made on Soviet strats about Maxims. Three Maxims are so good with decent micro. No need to worry about rifle nade wipes either... it's nice.
Against OKW I have no issue if I go 3 Maxims. Usually two cons. Molotovs work fine in urban settings. Get a third conscript if you need to get shit out of buildings quicker, and/or a mortar. You don't really need shock troops or guards although shock troop smoke nade really helps out a lot.

If you don't like using shocks because it's boring... I can understand that feeling.

I know going T-2 works, was wondering if T-1 building (for penals) was a waste or not like usual.

It's a shame that so many elements of USSR tech tree are pretty sucky (t-34/76 i'm looking at you).

But yeah. Maxims and Dishkas with shocks or guards for support seem to be the bees knees against ubermensch blob.

From my experience with penals so far throughout, I too personally haven't been able to effectively use them.Short range dps is still decent enough to flank and assault support weapons,volks and grens but insuffucient to contest an area if relying on positional cover from medium to long distances.
I definitely agree with the idea of merging conscripts with penals to maintain strong early mobile presence.
I find the choice in going T1 is still pretty valid in larger spacious maps. The scout car still serves as excellent harass, quick transport and cover and works with the penals reasonably well.
Again, echoing everyone's opinion, the reason why penals are still somewhat desired is likely due to their satchel charge capabilty. A single penal flamer penal squad can level any early bunker play or cache investment without suffering much loss or risk.
T1 without T2 progression pretty much means you will inevitibly need to rely on call ins for early AT cover which is almost guaranteed necessary.
I have found the partisan commander incredibly synergistic with the mindset of mobile harass in large spacious maps. Radio intercept to identify early cache, 1penal for bunker/cache sabotage (the earlier the better), tank hunter partisans with AT grens for any vehicles up to medium tanks Partisan anti infantry (now more reilable than before) for flanking assaults and choke point harass. Partisan 'maphack' to find more information on how to respond mid game onwards