Profile of GI John 412

I think if the opportunity presented itself the best possible rework for USF would include that.
Officers are not free
Officers have unique upgrades (LT thompsons CPT lmgs)

Outside of the rifles only t0 and officers are also rifles problem usf is in a very good spot though.

Above quote is reduced for clarity....
Below is copied from myself in an earlier thread about redoing USF officers. Redo the officers as below allows for more specific roles for officers and is also more historically correct roles too. In this case history and gameplay are not at odds and it really can be a win-win. However, theses specialty squads should still not be “free” as that does not relieve the problem of USF being forced into having too many infantry squads if they tech. USF tech should be more like British Tech where you unlock the tier and then unlock the Mechanized Platoon/Company separately. So you would need either a Mechanized Platoon or Company Command post unlocked or both regular Platoon and Company Command Posts unlocked before teching to Major, as is now. Change nothing about Major tech and reduce the cost of teching to the platoon and company level slightly to take into account that you no longer get a free squad, but not too much otherwise you’ll end up with very fast Shermans. Not sure on the exact numbers but thats up for discussion.


I’ve been doing a study on WWII infantry tables of organization and equipment for the US, British and German forces. Real US infantry platoons had one sniper rifle that was unallocated to a specific man and kept as part of the Platoon Headquarters section with the Lieutenant. Additionally, there were no Thompsons at the platoon level and the Lieutenant himself would’ve had an M1 carbine.

At the Company level, the Captain has access to six unallocated Thompsons, six unallocated BARs and five unallocated Bazookas. He would also have been armed with an M1 carbine as would several other members of the Company Headquarters element unlike the Platoon HQ which would’ve all had M1 Garand rifles. Additionally, support elements in the weapons platoon of the company had M1919A4 or M1919A6 Machineguns and would be dispatched at the discrediting of the company commander (the Captain).

Considering all of that, here is how I would rework the USF officers.

Lieutenant: 5 man squad with 3 M1 Garands on Riflemen models, 1 M1 paratrooper carbine on the Lieutenant himself and 1 M1C sniper rifle on a Rifleman model. The squad has better vision than a regular Riflemen squad and has access to regular grenades and smoke grenades when teched and starts with an AT rifle grenade shot at Vet 0. No upgrades are available but can still take up to two weapons from the weapon racks. No changes to abilities or veterancy. This unit functions like a superior rifleman squad that can snipe at long range like a pathfinder squad, but with only one sniper rifle. It would also have less overlap with dedicated SMG units like Rangers and Paratroopers.

Captain: 5 man squad with 2 Riflemen models with M1 Garands, 1 Captain model with a Paratrooper stat M1 Carbine and 2 Rear Echelon models with the weaker Rear Echelon M1 Carbines. Abilities stay the same but has two mutually exclusive upgrade options. An M1919A6 upgrade for 70 munitions where one of the Rear Echelon models gains the LMG making the squad a dedicated long range squad that is good at supporting against infantry and a double bazooka upgrade for 100 munitions that gives the two Riflemen the Bazookas making the squad a good bazooka support squad but has almost no anti infantry ability. Squad abilities and veterancy remains the same. The squad can still upgrade with weapons from the weapon racks and still gains smoke grenades from the grenade tech.

The T-34 in-game has armor skirts available, but are unused. Those were added by the Germans and would be a perfect fit for a German T-34.

I don't think any sane person would steal a Mosin, though...

Actually a whole bunch of captured Mosin-Nagant rifles were used alongside captured DP-28s. They used the same ammo, many of the Ostruppen were once in the Red Army so they would’ve been trained on Mosin-Nagants and DP-28s and since they were generally employed in a supporting/rear area role the ammunition resupply was not a big issue since ammunition expenditure was expected to be minimal. This allowed the Germans to avoid retraining Ostruppen “volunteers” (some were willing, some were not) with new equipment and gave a use to captured gear.

I fully support this new commander idea, but I also think ALL Ostruppen should use Mosin-Nagant rifles and be upgradeable to have one “Captured LMG”. The captured LMG upgrade would be a random BAR, BREN, or DP-28. This would represent the many captured and reissued weapons the Germans captured in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Russia, namely the wz.1928 (Polish BAR variant), ZB-26 (Czech LMG that would become the BREN) and DP-28.

Make Ostruppen “Ost” again!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_wz._1928

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZB_vz._26

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542191242612020749/

The last thing this game needs is more snipers.

It appears that the majority of people agree with you by a wide margin.

I myself have no deep love for sniper play, but I am surprised that the majority is so overwhelmingly anti sniper.

I already commented this in a post about the Conscript Assault Package, but I think it apples here as a way to buff Conscripts but not make them too op.

I’d also like to see the 7 man upgrade not lock out other Soviet Doctrinal upgrades. Make Conscripts still able to get PPShs or SVTs or PTRSs if they get the 7 man upgrade. A slight nerf to the 7 man upgrade would be in order here to avoid cons getting too powerful at the late stages of the game, perhaps removing the in cover bonus. I’d also like to see the 7 man upgrade come with an icon change so it’s readily apparent to all players which squads have it. As it is right now a slightly damaged 6 man squad with all of its members looks exactly like a 7 man squad that has lost one man but has all of the other models at top health. Both would have the same unit indicator showing 6 models in the squad with about 85% of the health-bar full. My proposal would be to rename the 7 man upgrade from mobilize reserves to squad commissar or something like that. The upgrades squads could have a small star added under or above the crossed rifles and the extra man would use the commissar model. This visual change would help identify units that have the upgrade, use a model that is very cool but under utilized and also better explain why the upgraded squad has better stats compared to an unupgraded squad. The leadership of the commissar inspires the men to fight better and his political ties allow him to get recruits easier hence the lowered reinforcement cost. Just a thought.

I’d like to see the conscript Assault package PPSh upgrade be more like the Volksgrenadier StG44 upgrade, a universal buff at close to mid range while being roughly the same at long range, but not being super strong at close range either.

Change it to be:

40 munitions for 2 PPShs
Takes up all weapon slots.
Still allows for 7 man conscript upgrade, but no other weapon pick ups.

Adjust damage profile of Conscript PPSh to be similar but slightly weaker than Volks StGs at long and mid range, but slightly better at close range. This preserves the dynamic between Conscripts and other mainline Axis infantry, where Cons win at short range against un-upgraded Volks and Grens.

New Con PPSh damage profile should be equal to Con Mosin-Nagant rifles at long range just as Volks StG44s are the same as Volks K98s at long range, but also like Volk StGs they get better as closer ranges.

This would make Cons much more viable and basically emulate the effect that Volk StGs have. It’s a no brained upgrade if you have the munitions where the only downfall is that you can’t grab a dropped weapon. With only 2 PPShs it would make Cons better, but not op and as a doctrinal upgrade it would not be used to excess.

Since "snipers" were not a thing for Americans historically (they had designated marksmen in squads), I vote no. Instead, Pathfinders and Rangers (as they are both recon units in real life.......

Your history is incorrect sir.

Each US infantry platoon was equipped with one sniper rifle, to be issued at the discretion of the platoon leader (a 1st or 2nd Lieutenant) so the US most certainly had snipers during WWII, in fact probably more than the Germans had when you consider that each US platoon had one sniper multiplied across the entire US Army.

Rangers were special assault troops, not recon troops. They were tasked with special assault missions and were organized accordingly with extra sub machine guns, light machine guns and other direct firing weapons while lacking in heavier weapons like AT guns, 81mm mortars, water cooled machine guns and artillery.

I’ll give you that Pathfinders were recon troops, but their equipment would’ve been the same as a regular Paratrooper, so an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine. Most paratroopers carried M1 Garand Rifles because that is what they were, Airborne Riflemen, and as such were so equipped. The special M1A1 folding stock Paratrooper Carbines were issued to troops that would normally have been issued M1 Carbines, like bazooka teams, machine gun crews, mortar team members and officers. The idea that regular parachute infantrymen carried Carbines is a myth.

On your point about USF and OKW not needing snipers due to their other counters is a totally valid opinion. I think USF and OKW getting snipers would be interesting, but it’s not necessary for balance. Your point about voice lines for them is a good point too. OKW could just copy WM sniper lines, but the USF one would probably just end up using Pathfinder dialogue and seem odd. (Too bad you can’t just import vCoH lines. I miss the old ‘boogeyman’. Lol)