Now don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning balance here. I'm under no delusions that I somehow know better than a team of experienced modders with access to the numbers and a wealth of playtesting data. I'm not sure I could make any meaningful contribution to a balance discussion.
What I'm talking about here is design. Again, I'm confident you know better than me here (and imo better than Relic on the Stuart/AAHT swap). I ask questions because I want to understand.
Back to Assault Engineers:
If the problem is "how do we bundle a halftrack and Assault Engineers together in a call-in without making it prohibitively expensive" the current solution is excellent.
Nevertheless it feels a little awkward: you've got to faff around rearranging vehicle crews to get the Assault Engineers out. I don't think it's a matter of dispute that having a normal vehicle crew in the halftrack is more straightforward.
Mechanized has a lot of doctrinal abilities in it: the new WC51 and Sherman Modifications alone have enough abilities to make a commander (old WC51, Mark Target, 75mm Sherman Bulldozer, 155mm Artillery, M4C 76mm Sherman). Unless having the Assault Engineers is important might it not be a net benefit not to have them? You cut down on the amount of doctrinal stuff in a commander that presently has a fair bit more than its counterparts and you make a small QoL improvement to the M3 Halftrack.
Given that Rear Echelons get mines and that Demo charges are no longer stupidly OP, Assault Engineer utility feels significantly diminished. However, given that the bundle solution seems to work, it seems like an OK workaround to maintain the original flavour of the ability, without introducing something stupidly OP (e.g., yet another unique doctrinal USF infantry squad).
Keeping Assault Engineers in the call-in is also a nice excuse to fix that waste of a unit for other doctrines too.
Do note, however, that the commander has lost access to easy-to-use off-maps. WC-51 dodge requires a dive to call in the artillery at the desired location.
Romeo
Mr Smith
Luciano
Mr Smith
Relic Entertainment
