Being said that what if all current handheld AT had some suppression effect when fired against other infantry? I mean, explosions, stuff and dirt blowing away should affect in some way to infantry.
It shouldnt pin down but could force some interesting situations, adding some realism but mainly a use in infantry combat. If this feature can force some squads to move slower to cover or to deny cover+soft suppression then AT could be a good way to fight in green cover troops. Or units near a tank getting hit by AT would force them to spread a bit. It could be useful against blobs too.
Now about the game implementation
-No amount handheld AT should lock down and pin down any other infantry.
-Suppression should last less than a second, like if it were some sort of soft stun.
-The AoE of the projectile should inflict the suppression, like arty shells or rockets do.
-No damage for the AoE of the AT projectile, just suppression, otherwise AT will become a anti infantry tool and it will break the current game design and balance.
-A worth to mention exception would be PTRS because they target inf models and that will mean a 100% accurate suppression (even when being shot with a big A** gun is frighting enough)
-The effect itself will be random because not always AT hits nearby enough from infantry models, therefore not useful for cheesy grenade wipes
PIATS,zooks and shreks are the 3 handheld AT that should be included with this feature.
*Some exploits like zook+bar or PIAT+bren should not offset their current drawbacks, to be able to perform a short suppression should not outweight the fact that the squad wasted a lot of muni and is half as efficient vs infanrty and also half as efficient vs vehicles.
*Double shrek pgren will suffer as soon as a single model drops down (50% less AI) even when they have