Sanders once said the 10 pop stayed due to triple zooks. Which logically in turn means that AI Rangers could be worth only 9 population, but well.
Overall they are an okay squad, but bland in their design and gameplay.
Stupidest argument possible. If actually using zook rangers to some great effect except for having them parked near the points of interest to defend against tank dives, then yeah, but assaulting anything with triple zooks means that only a slight micro is needed to keep the tank out of harms way and bleed rangers. Of course, noobs can still fall for the smoke cover sprint combo and claim how sprinting rangers with zooks are OP, but that's mostly a 4v4, lower rank problem.
Since I play with rangers a lot, I tested them plenty of times. You can forget triple BAR on them, even if the drop chance was 0%. For some reason, 180 muni upgrade is worse at 0-20 range than a 90 muni one.
The only way they can win against obers or falls later on in the game is if you somehow manage to teleport within 5 range of them. Which is not difficult in 1v1 I guess, but 2v2+ downright impossible.
God forbid Sander nerfed fussies, which he always spammed and blobbed when I played against him.
A squad that can:
a) Run'n'Gun perfectly
b) Snare from across the map
c) Give sight
d) Give even more sight with flare
e) Great nade
f) In amazing commanders
but when I tested rangers and made a post on how they lost to other elite units at all ranges except extra close range (and only if you charge over yellow cover constantly); coupled with the fact that the only utility they get is a nade. For CP3, 10 pop and 350 manpower, nobody in their right mind can claim that rangers are not a UP unit. Not in a sense that the tommy rangers are weak, because they are not. Tommies can shred everything at close range. But in a sense that the performance does not reflect the price.
Rant over