How about we do the same comparison with Grens and Conscripts? Units that cost the same?
Or we factor in the additional cost of bolstering and weapon racks spread accross the four or so tommie squads an army will reasonably consist of. With all the extra resource and pop cap spent on british mainline you can bring out a support weapon or two for the tommies to be bad against.
Sure, do mind that I will include extra costs associated with Grenadiers, namely the medic bunker and T1 structure. I assume the 2 mp lower reinforcement of Tommies makes up for the extra upkeep of 1 more pop with bolster. I will give two very basic army compositions and compare their costs, detracting starting resources:
Basic army composition without infantry upgrades:
Ostheer: T1 + 4 Grens + T2 + 2 222's + Medic Bunker
UKF: 3 Tommies + Platoon Command Post + 1 Sapper + AEC + 2 Medic upgrades
This gives both factions 4 mainline squads, 1 engineer unit, sufficient healing and comparable light vehicle power.
Here is a performance comparison at max range in green cover:
https://imgur.com/a/mhvvpb8
1. Total cost without infantry upgrades on either side
Ostheer: 1460 manpower 60 munitions 110 fuel
UKF 1270 manpower 60 munitions 85 fuel
See images #1 and #2.
2. Total cost with UKF bolster + reinforcements and OST lmg42
Ostheer: 1460 manpower 300 munitions 110 fuel
UKF: 1532~ manpower 60 munitions 120 fuel
See images #3 and #4.
3. Total cost with UKF bolster + reinforcements and 1 bren and OST lmg42
Ostheer: 1460 manpower 300 munitions 110 fuel
UKF: 1682~ manpower 240 munitions 120 fuel
See images #5 and #6.
4. Total cost with UKF bolster + reinforcements and 2 brens and OST lmg42
Ostheer: 1460 manpower 300 munitions 110 fuel
UKF: 1682~ manpower 420 munitions 120 fuel
See images #7 and #8.
Mind that Grens without lmg get slightly better dps once they get closer and Tommies need yellow/green cover to prevent their -40% cooldown and -20% reload debuff.
My point is:
1. YES, fully upgraded Tommies should outperform LMG Grens, they're more expensive for that reason, BUT it shouldn't be by as big a margin as shown on image #8. A single stronger LMG would already make them very strong (see image #9 and #10 as example), while atleast allowing lmg grens to do some damage against them.
2. In the super early game, grens are really lackluster against Tommies, while not being that much cheaper, considering T1 costs 80 manpower. See suggestion in my previous post.
If you want grens to be scaling on pair with much more expensive infantries packed with resource heavy side grades, I hope you're ready to give up all of the potency of HMG42 to bash it down to maxim level.
I'm asking for a slighty lower power gap between unvetted grens and unvetted tommies/rifles/penals, at the cost of a 10 manpower higher upfront cost. Their performance once vetted would be the same as now. See my previous post. They often get overrun while in a superior position early on, in my own experience.
A quick look at DPS stats in and out of cover tell you you're wrong. Double BAR rifles blow Tommie brens out the water
Load up testmod if you think brens are so good, the upgrade gives you marginal extra dps at best. But it's biggest problem is unless you micro them into perfectly cover to cover they lose a chunk of DPS.
BARs you can just blob and kill everything, then you have good moving accuracy to boot. (Brens can't even shoot on the move and actually decrease close range DPS)
- Brens get exponentially more dps than BAR's at range 24 and up, Tommy rifles have far higher long range dps than Garands. Long range dps is the most important stat for mainlines IMO, altho rifles can also hold their own in that regard.
- The no-cover debuff is not that significant, considering it only affects cooldown and reload. Many top players tend to A-move their tommies once they get Brens.
- Please compare images #4, #6 and #8 to see the usefulness of Brens:
https://imgur.com/a/mhvvpb8
Considering that Grens are 240MP and tommies 280MP, LMG42 and rifle grenades doesn't need tech and comes way sooner and can be equipped everywhere (in allied territory) anytime and 1 LMG drop less than 2 Brens, Don't know if you did a fair comparison even if I don't support the existence of Bolstered tommies. Lets not forgot that HMG42 > Vickers, PAK40 > 6pdr. You can't just compare units like that, that's not how the game works.
- Tommies don't need an 80mp tech structure, have the early initiative by being your first squad (be it for 90 less starting mp), can build sandbags and can get cost effective healing without a 150 mp bunker, that allows you to heal everywhere anytime.
- Agreed that HMG42 is a better suppression tool than the Vickers, but with worse infantry in support.
- UKF 6 pounder is a carbon copy of the PAK40 with 50% bonus accuracy against light vehicles, but without TWP. Can't call it worse.