Add a Marksman to USF Recon Company?

So just had a little thought.

Would it be a nice addition/replacement to add a Marksman unit to Recon Company instead of I&R Pathfinders? The pathfinders are just so limited in utility and are only somewhat useful for the 180 muni 155mm barrage. Their recon utility could easily be fulfilled by a Marksman unit. The Marksman could act as a regular one man sniper unit for 360 MP, and have some sort of vet 1 ability. It would be a nice addition and would diversify the USF meta, outside of Rifle and Heavy Cav, to deal with garrisons and team weapons and such.

Thoughts?

360 manpower call-in unit that replaces a DLC commander's three-man recon/ artillery unit. Quite a big change.

Don't Pathfinders of both types already have sniping capabilities anyways? I rather a three/four man squad that has chance to snipe when targe is below a health threshold, than a 360 MP squad that is one guy (and hence Ostheer sniper clone) and very easily killed, that does the same job but slower.

I'd rather Pathfinders just get an actual Marksman ability rather than a discrete squad. They had this in Ardennes Assault, it was basically an ability to instantly snipe a target for munitions and cooldown.

How about no?

If anything, then what nee said in last paragraph.

360 manpower call-in unit that replaces a DLC commander's three-man recon/ artillery unit. Quite a big change.

Don't Pathfinders of both types already have sniping capabilities anyways? I rather a three/four man squad that has chance to snipe when targe is below a health threshold, than a 360 MP squad that is one guy (and hence Ostheer sniper clone) and very easily killed, that does the same job but slower.

I'd rather Pathfinders just get an actual Marksman ability rather than a discrete squad. They had this in Ardennes Assault, it was basically an ability to instantly snipe a target for munitions and cooldown.

Are you confusing the Pathfinders from Airborne with the I&R Pathfinders from Recon? As far as I'm aware, I&R Pathfinders dont have the snipe crit ability.

Idk know about an "Assassinate" ability or whatever, especially if it cost muni. I'd be up for it if it was free and had a reasonable cooldown I guess. But it might be a bit OP if it grants a 100% chance of sniping the last model of a retreating unit though.

How about no?

If anything, then what nee said in last paragraph.

And why not? It might actually make people use Recon lol.

And why not? It might actually make people use Recon lol.

I use recon.

These pathfinders are one of its most powerful units, being able to call-in off-map arty that arrives fast and gives no global warning popup.

The one single thing wrong with the doctrine is paradroped combat group which is overpriced because of POS AT gun that doesn't even get crew, meaning you need more then 1k mp, pathfinders and beacon planted to even consider dropping it outside your base.

Take away useless AT gun from the paradrop, reduce its cost by AT guns price, MAYBE tweak greyhound somehow and there, doctrine is fixed.

Are you confusing the Pathfinders from Airborne with the I&R Pathfinders from Recon? As far as I'm aware, I&R Pathfinders dont have the snipe crit ability.

I don't have Recon Support, so I don't know for sure. I personally think they won't be that overpowered if they did, though.

Idk know about an "Assassinate" ability or whatever, especially if it cost muni. I'd be up for it if it was free and had a reasonable cooldown I guess. But it might be a bit OP if it grants a 100% chance of sniping the last model of a retreating unit though.

It's basically what you said- for munitions cost, you can instantly kill a model of the targeted squad.
It's a perk of Able Company in the AA campaign. It was also a feature of the British in CoH1 if you chose a certain upgrade over rifle grenade and Bren LMG. Really nifty when you want a certain squad down to numbers right then and there, and of course great for finishing off a target like Obers or Falls.
Munitions cost was considerable and cooldown is quite long, so it's hardly something you can spam.

Through this, you don't need to replace I&R Pathfinders with a new unit, you just give it a new ability that expands their role. That is, of course, assuming they don't already snipe on their own.

I don't have Recon Support, so I don't know for sure. I personally think they won't be that overpowered if they did, though.

It's basically what you said- for munitions cost, you can instantly kill a model of the targeted squad.
It's a perk of Able Company in the AA campaign. It was also a feature of the British in CoH1 if you chose a certain upgrade over rifle grenade and Bren LMG. Really nifty when you want a certain squad down to numbers right then and there, and of course great for finishing off a target like Obers or Falls.
Munitions cost was considerable and cooldown is quite long, so it's hardly something you can spam.

Through this, you don't need to replace I&R Pathfinders with a new unit, you just give it a new ability that expands their role. That is, of course, assuming they don't already snipe on their own.

I guess when you put it that way, yeah I could settle for that. Its something that could make Recon more viable and enticing to use atm.

I think we can all agree that Recon needs a fair bit of adjusting though.

I don't know if you can kill the last guy of a retreating squad, never tried it myself- kind of tough to have Pathfinders be the last guys standing in a fight.
If it's too easy to pick off a running squad, this can always be tweaked by lowering the odds of a hit by a percentage, which already works for retreating squads when you try to attack them.

I use recon.

These pathfinders are one of its most powerful units, being able to call-in off-map arty that arrives fast and gives no global warning popup.

The one single thing wrong with the doctrine is paradroped combat group which is overpriced because of POS AT gun that doesn't even get crew, meaning you need more then 1k mp, pathfinders and beacon planted to even consider dropping it outside your base.

Take away useless AT gun from the paradrop, reduce its cost by AT guns price, MAYBE tweak greyhound somehow and there, doctrine is fixed.

Uhm Rifleman vision is bugged, Greyhound is shit after canister nerf, it loses to 222, have trouble killing HT. This doctrine is only good for I&R Pathfinder and High attitude recon, still worse than mechanized: at leeast that doctrine has no crap ability.

Recon just needs Greyhound reworked and airdropped combat group changed to something useful. I use it once in awhile.

Revert canister shot to its old values (or SLIGHTLY less). It used to be great for punishing blobbers but with low hit points would die really fast to a shrek blob. Unfortunately, being able to punish blobbers was something clearly unacceptable to the A-moving community therefore they whined hard here until Relic nerfed into oblivion.

Spending 900 mp for two paratroopers with bazookas and an unmanned AT gun? Probably the worst high-cp ability in the game.

If they made any changes to pathfinders, they should add a mine-laying ability which would fit in more with their role. No permanent sniper, maybe a snipe ability that costs munitions. USF somewhat OP right now in 1v1's, but this commander isn't part of that.

make the greyhound a T-70 clone with less armour

I like the pathfinders but I think the loss of one squad member & no crits & no scoped rifles is a bit of a rip off. The art barrage is a bit pricy too.

The combat drop is good but costs too much & comes a it too late to be effective. Why waste 900 MP on infantry when by that time you should be planning to roll out a tank?

The over nerf on the canister shot is shocking- fired into a SP blob last night & killed only 2 models. Weak.

Recon doctrine is only good for all-in 5 to 6 Rifle super aggression build orders, where massed Greyhounds rape their base and Pathfinders take out base turrets.

Entire commander has no "oomph" and using purely nondoc USF stuff is actually hard, because if you mess up the standard 3 Rifle M20, you are done for completely.

Airborne Combat Group sucks, recon sweep is good, greyhound is only good as soft AI/light vehicle fighter and baseraper that must be rushed for good timing, I&R Pathfinders arty is great but they have no utility. (Don't say recon, when everything in the commander can recon.)

And Forward Observers only purpose is scouting for MGs, but with smoke grenades and proper rifle play you don't need this ability at all.

Make forward observers upgrade and much better, make Gravyhound 25 fuel or buff its gun, give IR pathfinders one scoped M1 Garand, buff Airdropped Combat Group by making the AT gun come manned, and the Paratroopers "Elite Paratroopers", that come with Thompsons and can camo at vet 1, with maybe better received accuracy.

Forward observers is a bit of a waste when you have cloaked pathfinders that already have a pretty big range of sight & are cloaked.
In theme with this Doc I think an early airdropped MG team would help immensely.

Forward observers is a bit of a waste when you have cloaked pathfinders that already have a pretty big range of sight & are cloaked.
In theme with this Doc I think an early airdropped MG team would help immensely.

If fighting pits weren't so fragile, a forward observer in a fighting pit would change your mind (after upgraded with machine gun).