(psst, that bonus is all weapon upgrades and grenades are free by default, locked behind time gate only instead of side costs, its also additional tier with units above "T3" level mediums)
Weapon upgrades that cap at 1 LMG per squad? Wheras every allied faction can have 2 or more per squad. (new doc of guard paras can get 3 DP's).
Id rather pay a fuel upgrade to buy grens their nade for the same cost as the brits or yanks, if it meant that a scott wasnt gonna roll on and 1 shot my vet-3, 4-man gren squad with no chance of avoiding it.
The issue here, and why I made this post, wasnt really about grens output. (while still being the only core infantry of any faction you cant blob and A-move delete all the enemy) Keep the cap of weapons at 1 LMG. Thats fine,
Its the survivability. THAT is the issue the 5-man squad needs to address. The fact that you cant go balls deep with grens, like you can other basic infantry, because their wipe potential (especially vs indirect fire, but even on retreat) is insane. Thats where Osteer lacks in competitive play, when one mortar shell hits and kills 2 guys, you HAVE to retreat, but if it was a 5 man squad and you lost 2? It can often be worth staying around and risking it.
Thats why even in these tourny's we see US and UKF blobs with 2 LMG's in a blob walking across a road in terminator mode. Volks cant really do that, but grens def cant do that.
RNG is a big part of this game sure, and I know a big argument is against this game in ESL because of the RNG values. And to be honest? They're right. Ive never had a 5-6 man squad 1-shot by a mortar, lieg or US-Pak howitzer. But ive had a LOT of 4 man squads 1-shot by Mortars, US-pac's, Kyetusha's and Scott carriages. 4-man squads are just more vulnerable. Unless the game physics change, that is just a FACT. But for some reason, other than the Engineer's and RE's the Allies have no 4 man squads. Not even their elites. Whereas the Axis have 4 man squads everywhere. Even their elites like obers, falshims and jagers. Which can all be insta-wiped by RNG despite what micro the owning player puts in. Compared to the 5-6-man shocks, para's, commando's etc
Thats not balance, thats not even asymmetrical balance.... thats just plain imbalance.