+1.
It is true that most of the time ( say 75% ) penals can be kited and At satchels are no real threat. However situations can easily arise where the axis player can find themselves at risk due to lack of care or misfortune.
The biggest problem is on urban style maps and maps that have pathing issues. There is nothing so frustrating as to be aware to the risk and try and avoid it only to have your tank/LV go full retard and start doing a 180 degree turn or get stuck on some object because map makers cannot help themselves and fill maps with clutter.
At satchels also become a real risk if, you misclick, hit a mine, experience lag or units get tangled at a choke point or tight space. Collateral damage is too great for 45muni. Late Game can also be an issue when trying to micro units everywhere and it becomes impossible to see every satchel, every At satchel and every demo.
The primary issue is frustration. When playing vs soviets, the axis player has to spend almost the entire game trying micro units to stay out of range of abilities that do not require tech and deliver too great a reward for their cost. Every time a tank or vehicle goes somewhere with blind corners or narrow gaps they are at risk
So lack of care or misfortune, pathing and charging around blind corners are all reasons to nerf the ability. I got it
If we care to speak about abilities that dont have side costs or tech locks but cause a hindrance to the enemy could we look at the osts VERY potent AT mine? Or self sighting no pop mg bunkers? Or 3 of the units in the game that can 1/2 health medium tanks? If you think pathing is annoying when there is a 240 damage snare around imagine what ita like when there is a terrain piercing 320 damage stun gun behind a building shooting at you. Or perhaps the one that can FULL health kill medium tanks from the fog of war and through buildings/trees/other shot blockers?
If players misclicking are to be basis for nerfs i would like to lodge a complaint about how effective machinegun fire is to unarmoured cars, it seems like if you dont pay attention for 5 seconds and they chew right through your kuble/wc51/bren/m3a1
If being punished for not scouting ahead of my armour in preperation for the enemy preparing for ME is cause for a nerf i would like to talk about the OP engime damage from mines (sure i could buy a sweeper but id really rather not be inconvenienced by having to take measures against my opponent playing the tactical game tactically if at all possible)
While we are at it can we also give machineguns a 360° arc, ita getting frustrating setting them up and having the enemy just go around and kill them.
As a matter of fact there should be a mode where you automatch against, like, a bot except there ISNT a bot, you just get to do what ever you want without worry of scouting, clicking properly, paying attention to the game, or having to deal with pesky counterplay. You just que in, maybe start with all the stars (uuugh dont get me started on having to KEEP ON CAPPING THEM OVER AND OVER WHEN THE ENEMY TAKES THEM) and you just win
But for real... Pathing, yea, its equally a bitch for all players (more so if your TD is made of glass like the jackson, or you dont have a turret like the stug), as is misclicks (but using THAT as an example of why something should be nerfed...really?) And considering its ACTUALLY the hardest snare to use AMD the only one that isnt a 2 click guarantee AND the only one that can backfire id say its hardly consider it too great of a reward for its cost (which despite being worse in EVERY SINGLE WAY to ANY other snare with the LONE exception of damage is MORE expensive than other, EASIER to use snares)
All that said, i dont see any reason not to tie the AT satchel behind the tech. I would even say reduce the deflection damage on the ptrs but add a 3rd to even it out so that the penal AI is thoroughly gutted when grabbing the package.