Why Would You Not Pick German Infantry Commander?

I almost solely play random 2v2 and I'm curious as to why anyone would not pick this commander playing ost? The 5th man upgrade for pios (faster repair) and grens (G43 + free healing) is so powerful because you can use your grens offensively without worrying about getting one shot or instantly retreated from mines, mortars, grenades, etc. Trading better with allied infantry and free heals is a huge bonus in terms of map control since grens have fausts and can always do some damage to vehicles before retreating, so just being on the field for more time is a huge plus. It's also just a lot easier to micro them and spend my micro moving MGs/Paks/Tanks around just because they suddenly become....moderately durable.


Sure, the commander doesn't really have a late game but if you win in the early game you have so many more options available to you rather than instant T3, stalling for a tiger to catch up, or praying for a misplay.

Even in the late game, having vet 3 grens able to not get instantly killed is huge for just preserving vet to fight allied vet 3 squads. I find that OST map control really falls apart when you lose even one of those key vet 3 gren squads that are trading effectively and keeping your MG's firing. You can control the map with better tanks, but you just can't outcap your opponent when you have to fight double bren IS and double BAR rifleman vet 3 squads with fresh grens.

The only time I don't pick this commander is when I outplay my opponents to a degree where I'm playing more defensively sitting in green cover and the mg42 upgrade is better. Otherwise, it's a no-brainer in an even match. I guess if your gren and team weapons micro is pro level there's less reason to pick this commander, but I still see it get picked from streamers pretty often probably because it just makes the infantry battles so much easier. Any thoughts? Similar experiences? Potential downsides to just auto-picking this commander?

No skill planes. No win.

You don't count the frag bombs as a skill plane?

Command P4, tac smoke, Ele, stuka bomb, recon overflight, JU-78, camouflage MGs, Lmg gren blobs...
just to name my reasons i never pick german infantry in teamgames.
Allied vet0 infantry cant fight vet5 volks or vet3 lmg grens either so i dont get that point.
I dont want to say it is a bad commander but others are usefull for other situations, matchups or maps. I´d prefer Blitzkrieg and Jäger armor over German Infantry almost every time.
Not that 5man grens or free healing and especially the frag bombs wouldnt be usefull in some situations but its not worth a commander spot for me.

You don't count the frag bombs as a skill plane?

Nah, those usually take a bit of skill to land and time correctly. I mean stuka CAS, or p47s, typhoons for allies.

Tiger.

Grenadiers get only 1 G43, and the rest of the squad is K98. So that +1 does not do much for the DPS at all. I much more prefer the MG42 which is a monster when in the hands of grenadiers.

Also this doctrine has poor and pretty much no counters to early Bofors/Mortar Pit spammage. For example Spearhead or Festung Support grants you the ability to call in mortar halftracks which will decimate Bofors/Mortar Pits in 0 time. And if they try to blob, that will also last shortly. It works great in 2v2 as on small maps a good Bofors/Mortar Pit will make sure you can't move up agressively.

The upside is the upgrade for the Pios, absolutely.

But if it works for you and you use it all the time, then use it and have fun. I am against the whole "Only x and y commander are good the rest are garbage". Largely comes down to the player.

Depends how you play, if your cautious and don't put your squads into danger, the 4 man squads are not too bad these days with better spacing.

I'm intrigued as I've not used it at all though.

is a good commander but are better., as infantry commander i prefer the Jager infantry doctrine, That Jaeger 5 men infantry unit., can create a hole in the early to mid game of any enemy. also have flares., G43 and a pretty decent set of things.