the USF should be forced into grenade upgrades.
It's part of the game meta that the Allies are "forced" into side teching in order to keep up with the axis and to delay the arrival of the allied vehicle. The Soviet, british, and american all put their infantry upgrade into side tech while the axis package their infantry upgrade into tier research.
a t0 mortar breaks the balance because it allow the american to skip grenade and rush for the stuart with relative safety. This is inherently broken. it make the american too safe in the early game.
if the axis managed to dig in too deep for normal rifleman, the USF should either be teching grenade or teching up to the pack howitzer, not buying a t0 mortar
The logic to this statement is true, to an extent. The game is largely built upon teching, upgrading and building units and buildings to counter what opponent is doing. However having to spend 25f and 150mp to access an ability that then has an ongoing muni cost to counter a unit that can be built from the start of the game is where your argument falls to pieces.
I am not disputing the effectiveness of grenades, rather the cost so early in the game as well as the fact no other faction has to tech to counter a unit built at minute zero. Please do not respond with "soviets have to tech to t1 or t2" or "soviets have to tech to flame nades" etc etc etc. Every faction has different teching cost, different starting resource and it is not required for this argument.
I am surprised however that the cost of grenades and weapon racks are not reversed.
If usf are, as you say required to tech to grenades, then the cost of t1 has to come down. M20 meta is virtually dead as it is.
Personally i almost never go grenades, unless i am facing mg spam ( 3+ ) or if the ostheer player is being overy agressive with mg positioning.