Profile of Neph

Maxwell?

Good necro, but an interesting read none the less. T70 for SU76 swap would be interesting and could work.

Changing the fuel costs so you can go t1/t2 ---> t3 OR t4 would be good too.

So I've been thinking about different builds as Sov's recently, and I haven't seen much evidence/talk of going T1 and T2 Soviet, similar to the Ostheer T1/T2 into Pz IV/T4.

I guess I'm kind of curious to see if anyone has experimented with it and made it work?

I think what needs to be considered with penals are their direct equivalent Pgrens. I never see a game without Pgrens, either spammed or just used. It's rare to see a game with Penals. Pgrens combine awesome AI which will drill through all Soviet units with the exception of doctrinal Shocks. Meanwhile they can also upgrade to shreks and be able to destroy most Soviet tanks in a couple of volleys whilst still having reasonable AI and gaining plenty of vet which will increase their AI.
Meanwhile, Penals have okay AI (it's too easy for the enemy to either run forward or rifle nade them or have an MG42 or be pgrens)and zero effective AT (satchel is too easy to dodge). Compare it to Pgrens and I think I know what comes out on top. Both units currently costing the same just takes the biscuit.

I think you hit the nail on the head. To get Penals you have to go T1, which means you have 0 effective AT until you can get t3/t4, which means you really struggle against an early FHT/get picked to pieces by upgunned SC... Once again this forces you to go Guards, which are also more MP, and reduce the amount of Cons you can field, reducing your capping power and potentially leaving snipers (why else would you go t1) unsupported.

And it's just not viable enough to go Sniper/guards/penals. Together they're too MP intensive for what they offer, when Con's can effectively do what Penals do just as well, cost significantly less and give you AT support once you have AT grenades.

Seems interesting... How would you suggest that this doctrine is played?

I could see the liberation volunteers being spammed and abused... Maybe put a squad cap on them of 2/increase their pop cap.

The prisoner ability seems... Interesting. I wouldn't however refund the MP, that should be the cost of having to use the ability.

The shoot to disable would have to be balanced really well as well. It's not often that Soviets actually get some decent armour out of the field. I could see it working because most of the Soviet armour has reasonably good range and doesn't need to go deep behind enemy lines/it would be suicide to do it normally, so I highly doubt that they're going to do it. It could also backfire, and instead of you capturing his tank, he gets it back and managed to repair it... Again, could be subject to abuse so would need some careful balancing.

I think overall this would give the Germans a bit of a different feel, but I'm still interested to hear OP's ideas on how this doctrine would be played.

Cool idea, and good on you for having the initiative to come up with something new and share it with the community!