Profile of miragefla

.50cal already got what it needed which was the rifle nade vet 2 nerf. Aside from crew reinforce fixing, it does well like any MG when I'm a good position or screened unless you want to go fixing all LMGs. I've had very good success vs OKW with it and even Ost when I reposition after suppressing while rifles keep the greens suppressed before the ridiculous vet 2 bonus.

And go re-read all the changes for MGs which the Maxim is finally getting next patch and the nearby suppression boost its getting.

I think people are mistaking that high-reward/high-risk should = squad wipe. And people saying that they are needed to negate blobs, well, the demos I've seen in replays and those I have used myself aren't used to decimate massed infantry. They're often decimating lone units instead without warning.

People are saying to simply sweep them and shoot them once detected, but you are not going to be going everywhere with sweepers, especially if you're just simply going to cap portions of the map with a lone squad. It punishes lone capping squads just as hard as it punishes blobbing. 90 munitions wiping out a fully vetted LMG Gren squad, or if Allies were getting hit by them, fully vetted LMG Paratroopers/Guards is not justified. You can't always bring sweepers, especially if you need to rapidly recapture portions of the map, either because you were driven off, or you're taking advantage of displacing your opponent off the field. Also, you're probably not going to have double sweepers early on and you might have a flamethrower instead if you're fighting on Urban maps or want to make your pios combat effective. OKW generally doesn't have double Sturms to be everywhere though maybe it will change next patch.

If you're on a map like Semoisky with your fuel being de-capped and you send your pioneers down mid to sweep for possible mines a grenadier squad has probably been assigned to re-take the fuel and drive away what squad might of been there because pioneers with sweepers are not combat effective unless the other guys has minesweepers on his engineers as well. With the distance between mid and fuel on a map like that, you can't have your pios sweep in a time efficient fashion when you need that fuel point back ASAP.

While Tellers and M20 mine may also be similar in the sense they kill any vehicle with less than 400hp which cost more in terms of fuel while also being cheaper then a demo, you depend on your enemy driving over them, they only strike vehicles and you can't pick what dies or not. M3 rolls over the mine and not the T-34? Yes it's a loss, but you'd probably want the mine hitting the T-34 if the M3 had lived up to that point. You also have a better idea of where mines will be placed while a demo could be anywhere on a capture point, or behind that wall, in the crater, behind the sandbags, or that building you want to jump into for cover.

S-mines can be just as devastating, especially on retreat paths, but they have signs while TM-35s have become a lot more bearable compared to the super mines they used to be. Though they still kill everyone if the squad AI decides to clump.

Anyways, I'd make demo charges cheaper, but make them on a timer to actually make them be used for their intended role, killing structures and demolishing obstacles, not remote-controlled mines. Also, make it so they don't generate green cover if that hasn't been fixed.

Maybe we'll see more Bazookas being fielded to counter the light armour that might come out to deal to counter LT tech given that the weapon rack are combine. While people say bazookas suck (sort of true against actual armour), the M20 vehicle crew is already enough to deter 222s from chasing/pushing and I don't think the Flame half-track will be that difficult to deal with. Even if you don't need those bazookas, you can BAR up all those rifles with that early stockpile of munitions.

Also, LT still has the shock value of having an anti-infantry squad of the Lieutenant and the early M20 which is always a pain to deal with. Furthermore with the changes to rifle grenades which will make .50cals live longer, you've got a tier that does very well against infantry that relies less on RNG (pack howies). Should be noted LT tier is USF access to something with a sight range of 50 in the form of the M20. Keep it alive and you have something to spot for Jacksons or other ranged units.

Of course, yes it doesn't sound as good in the long run as you're saying, but LT tech generally wasn't about establishing/preparing for later stages of the game. It's meant to capitalize/gain the advantage early-mid game and has a lot more pushing power than Captain tech thanks to its cheaper light vehicles, LT, and now with the changes, the .50cal supporting rifles against the Axis infantry who would be getting their upgrades. While it's no longer as cheap for the rush to Shermans, it's very good at taking map control for those resources.