Profile of Flyingsmonster

Is there any actual difference stat-wise between "support" Paratroopers and regular Airborne paratroopers?

I've played both countless times and they feel like the exact same unit outside of the upgrades / mines on support and the zooks that you get with support acting like panzershreks.

IR Pathfinders are stronger early game (especially versus Ostheer) because they have 3x elite carbine and 1x sniper that allows them to 1v1 Grens at all ranges and scout the HMG 42. Normal Pathfinders are weak at close and mid range because they have 2x snipers with low DPS on those ranges and can be countered by moving Grens in close. This is why IRPF need the cooldown penalties because spamming them early game would otherwise be devastating to Ostheer.

Is this seriously an issue? I've been playing Recon for long before this patch, and every day since the patch and I never see USF players make more than 1 I&R Pathfinder. Myself I usually only made 1 per match, as my first unit so I could contend with OKW sturmpio rushes.

I really only think it needed a price increase, it is already a more expensive unit than Grens, and the cooldown is pretty ridiculous. Might as well just make it a 1CP unit and be done with it, and remove all 0CP units in general. I've honestly never really encountered the scenario you describe in the hundreds of matches I've played using Recon (that is spamming I&R Pathfinders), then again I'm mostly playing 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 not 1v1.

Other options they could have taken was moved the I&R Pathfinders sight range to 40 at vet0, and then 50 at vet1 or 2.

Anyways, I&R Pathfinder spam would be a hilariously bad strategy, as it would deprive you of grenades / snare and a core infantry unit, which you need Riflemen to fill in that void. Maybe instead they could have also limited USF players to only 1 I&R pathfinder squad at a time?

I mean there's so many options to balance this unit and they picked a very poor choice IMO.

I rarely make more than 1 single IR pathfinder per game, and its main use is sighting for jacksons / sighting MGs. Recon is so ammo intensive that I rarely have time to upgrade BARs on anything too, especially if you plan on using the butterfly bombs against MGs / AT guns

That said, a price increase wouldn't bother me too much, as long as it's not 290mp like regular pathfinders because that would be awful.

I agree that the Paradrop / AT gun comes too early at 2 CP, it should be 3CP.

The greyhound was changed to 4CP for a reason, it came out way too late at 5CP and I think 4CP is a good place. I think players will adjust to counter it, the patch has only been out for a week. Either that, or adjust the greyhound so that it requires you build it instead of being a call in, other than that I don't know what you could do, you have to pay 60 munitions right out the gate to make it useful and its AT ability is very weak.

All of the above said, I love Recon, I've been using it since the last time it was balanced as my primary commander well before the current hotfix and I loved using it then, and love it even more now. I like that I can mix in an IR pathfinder as my first / second unit after a riflemen or 2nd RE squad, it opens up so many different build orders and I've even experimented with Riflemen-less builds relying on vetting RE, a Captain and IR Pathfinders mixed with Airborne, and it's worked pretty well in team games, though lacking a snare is the main weakness.

Do riflemen win matchups 1v1 vs other mainline inf?; check
Do riflemen scale great into lategame, with good vets?; check
Do riflemen have weapon upgrades, and good ones?; check
Do riflemen have 5 man, meaning they survive quite a lot?; check
Do riflemen have doctrinal upgrades, flares, sbags and all that crap?; check
Do riflemen belong to a aggressive/rush faction with smoke supports?; check
Do riflemen receive healing anywhere an ambulance is, even in frontlines?; check
Do riflemen get at least any form of garrison cleaning upgrade?; check

Sir im sorry to say it but this troop cant be expensive enough...

1) They don't in the early game, speaking from experience.
2) Yes, 120 ammo to give them decent firepower, and you have to go back to your base to get them. (can't just click upgrade in the field like Volks)
3) Volks are 5 man squads too though? What's the point?
4) Sandbags are in like 2 commanders, volks get sandbags from the get to for nothing. Sandbags are in a total of 2 commanders, 1 decent (Heavy Cav) the other just bad and useless in most situations (Infantry Company)
5) Riflemen no longer have smoke, so you need to rely on your mortar / other units for it, and almost every faction has some form of smoke and can play aggressive like USF.
6) Ambulance is 250mp / 10 fuel, and bringing it to the front lines is risky until you have a retreat point, most games it just sits in your base. Regardless, has nothing to do with Riflemen.
7) You have to pay 150mp / 15fuel and it will delay getting BARs, meanwhile Volks get it when their truck comes out, and their grenade is better in denying cover / denying buildings.

Volks do pretty much everything above and more for 30 less manpower, and also get vet0 snare which Riflemen do not get until vet1.

221 getting buffed?!?!? hahahahaha oh wow!

No bugfix on valentine smoke? the thing refuses to fire all the time...

Thought It was just happening to me, or I was doing something wrong, but I've noticed this too.