It would be nice is our pioneers could actually carry their weight and be a semi-decent CQC unit for T1. Sure their DPS is semi-decent at close, but they have to be in hugging range
according to coh2-stats.com pios reach their max dps at 8 range, that is not hugging, cons for instance have their max at 0
pio squad at range 8: 21 dps, grens 16 dps.
each pio entity models deals twice as much dmg as a con entity at 8 range.
However the problem with pios, they don't get combat efficient veterancy boni.