Literally no one expects them to work independently and spamming either alone is a sure way to lose the game - they were independent exclusively when they were op and, that clearly was not intended given how they no longer are.
It was always about paying for their own cost and scaling into late game for both and both sucked hard until they started getting mandatory changes. To not see that is to be in denial about state of these units.
At least try to read what has been said before jumping in debate.
As I already stated that conscript squad with AT is stupidly expensive since you 390 manpower and 15 fuel (which is even worse if your also planning on paying for 75 fuel for the SU76). And if you go for more than 1 conscript then is there even really a point to go Penals?
If penals aren't allowed to be flexible and have a snare than give them more actual AT and the tools to better deal with vehicles.
FunPolice obviously expects them to be able to operate on their own, you can debate the issue with him and not me.