Profile of GI John 412

AT rifle do not suit German units (maybe ostruppen) but one could have an axis units armed with faust that do not cause engine damage. The weapon could have a performance similar to bazooka.

I think a lot of folks (or Volks? Lol) give the Germans too much credit for having only the best equipment. AT rifles were used during the later part of the war by the Germans for the same reasons they used other older equipment alongside their other, newer and better, equipment: because they didn’t have enough of the good stuff.

It is totally reasonable to see AT rifles in the hands of German infantry units from 1939 all the way to 1945 because they never produced enough replacement equipment to meet the needs of their operational forces in the field. Even the US fielded M1903 Springfield bolt action rifles in some numbers in units fighting in Italy in 1945 (and not as sniper rifles, I mean as regular infantry rifles), and it is without a doubt that the US was in the best position in terms of production of war material when compared to anyone else at the time.

TL, DR: AT rifles are fine historically for the Germans to use and I do like this proposal to give a little bit of flexibility to the Ostheer, who do struggle vs light vehicles.

Problem is how tough tommies are and how little they bleed

280mp 4 man squad with only 28 reinforce cost is really good, but combine that with bolster (25% survivability and DPS bonus), free on the move AOE healing and which means their models are always at 100% health and trenches and sandbags means they have HUGE staying power.

I actually like the frontline healing, it makes them feel very tanky and defensive. I feel like the AOE and moving parts are too much.

Regarding bolster, I’ve already commented my thoughts that it should bring them up to par with other mainlines instead of making them more powerful, and the lower early combat power would compensate them starting with one mainline infantry squad

Pretty much my point.

Current 4 man tommies are too weak.

Current 5 man tommies are too strong.

Revised 5 man tommies as suggested will still be able to get BREN guns to boost their DPS up to an almost current level of power in the late game but still require weapons racks as a way to scale.

Right now weapon racks are unnecessary since current 5 man tommies are so good.

Remove the bolster, but make Tommies 5 men by default with a reduced DPS per model. Now tommies start a little bit better, but don’t get a huge boost in the mid game.

RE get a 5 man on vet. I think they are fine.
They beat pios from mid range. And about equal in green cover close range.

I never said they aren’t fine, (in fact I explicitly said that they are) I’m just trying to get discussion going about how to make them more interesting.

What I’m trying to do is suggest things that could make the game more interesting both gameplay wise and thematically. At the moment REs are a rather bland platform for minesweepers and Bazookas.

My point isn’t that they are bad, my point is that they could be better. By better I don’t mean in raw power or combat effectiveness either. What I mean is that the unit could be better designed to fill its original role and give players a reason to build them.

When was the last time you saw someone actually build a squad of RE? Almost all players simply use the one starting squad as a sweeper unit and then out Bazookas in them because they have no other purpose. Occasionally you see a second squad to repair the Pershing but that’s an exception, not the rule.

Pioneers, Combat Engineers and Sturm Pioneers are all interesting units that can have multiple roles and really give the player a reason to build more than one for a number of reasons. Rear Echelons don’t really have any of these extra roles or incentives to build more than one, and since you already start with one you don’t need to build a second one and since their role as bazooka carrier can be done by literally any other squad and USF tanks can repair themselves there is often no reason to even replace them if you lose them either. Try not replacing your builders as any other faction and you’ll see why they’re so important and why Rear Echelons just aren’t.

Rear Echelons aren’t bad, they’re just kinda stupid.

I like this idea. Rear Echelon seem to have no real use in the game. Their small squad size and reinforcement costs means they're not even great for recrewing weapons with like Osttruppen.

The obvious problem is how do you do it without RE spam becoming a problem.

One way might be to give them a debuff to weapons racks weapons, most importantly BARs. Double BAR REs would effectively negate the moving accuracy penalty of the reworked Carbines. Without also reworking BARs a player could spam REs and use them defensively until unlocking weapon racks which would allow them to scale too well offensively. Giving them a BAR that has poor moving accuracy would still allow them to be strong defensively but retain their weakness on the move. M1919A6s still can’t fire on the move and as such shouldn’t be a problem, plus they are doctrinal. Bazookas are also fine as they are now, as they cannot fire on the move anyways.

Cromwell is a pointless/useless unit no doubt about that. It does nothing well and has no special abilities.

UKF you'd think should be able build bunkers too. They are definitely out classed by OST. MG42s (probably the most all around OP unit in the game) are highly punishing to UKF as are the cheese Assault Grens.

The MG42 is far from being op, it’s simply the standard HMG that all others are taken from (At least in theory).

MG42: all around very good.
MG34: weaker in every way to compensate for OKW having better infantry.

M2HB .50 cal: more expensive HMG that can damage light vehicles while still being very powerful vs infantry. Only major downside compared to an MG42 is that it’s more expensive.

Vickers HMG: better damage, worse suppression, no anti vehicle ability but can shoot farther when in a garrison. Trades utility against light vehicles for better area denial when combined with a garrison or trench when compared to the MG42.

1910 Maxim HMG: faster set up time and with a more durable 6 man team, the Maxim is meant to trade firepower for mobility and survivability to allow it to be used more aggressively. (Death loop bug kinda destroys this, but that’s not by design. Hence the current Maxim is considered by many to be up and has been changed a lot in an attempt to normalize it.)

1938 DShK HMG: the only doctrinal only HMG is similar to the USF M2HB in its role as an HMG that can also threaten light vehicles, but is locked to only a handful of Soviet doctrines. (Honestly I couldn’t tell you which one is better on paper, but they are pretty comparable in their intended roles.)

Back on topic, the Cromwell does suck though. I’d like to see it’s MGs get a damage boost so it can be more like a T-34/76 in its utility, but without ram and a bit better vs medium tanks.