Pathfinders
This unit already confuses me... To my knowledge, they were supposed to be elite scouts who were dropped into landing zones before the main airborne forced arrived. This isn't well reflected by the game unit. They don't do particularily well in combat for an "elite' unit, don't have the means to hold a "landing zone" until help arrives, and also do not deploy from said landing zone.
In reality they were, but welcome to Company of Heroes 2, where swarms of Volksgrenadiers and their Brostruppen allies can defeat the endless Russian tide of tanks!
Seriously though they aren't meant to be an elite unit in the conventional sense. Their squad is small and their combat value is small...but unlike any USF unit they can snipe. They are good scout units and if you have other units taking the enemy's fire, they can be of real help due to the sniping system they have.
In the end though they are really just good light infantry that serve to support Paratroopers, they're also better used to capture points where your other infantry do their own work. Maybe not elite, but if they were then you might as well not have paratroopers which serve the role you are looking for.
First, the pathfinders equipment is a bit odd to me. The pathfinders are shown to be equiped with two scoped M1 Garands in game. As far as i know, M1 C/D (sniper variants of Garand rifle) were still semiautomatic, so i don't see why the firing animation of the rifle still has the pathfinder unit charge the rifle after every shot. Perhaps Relic was going for a scoped Springfield 1903, but then the unit is still holding the wrong rifle, and having the wrong charging animation.
Relic probably wanted scoped springfields but never bothered to finish that. They won't lose sales over it, so why should they spend the time doing it?
But it's not like they prevent the unit from performing sniper duties.
They also carry radios, which have no use. Why show them carrying radios if they can't call in artillery support or CAS. silly. AND I think its dumb that theres a seperate pathfinder unit, the I&R pathfinder, which is basically the same thing, but it can call in artillery. Only its for another commander: a commander that has the ability to drop TWO sticks of paratroopers despite not being the airborne comander. wtf??? but im getting ahead of myself.
Lasly, they are a scouting unit, seemingly not well versed for combat. why can't they deploy from buildings? adding this mechanic just makes them a little more worth getting, not to mention fitting for their job description.
I would think from a visual point of view, making them look different than other infantry units is helpful. Otherwise they would look just like paratroopers. Yes yes, most people rely on seeing the unit icons to identify, but I don't see Relic changing them to look more like another unit just because if they got radios then it should have a game effect. By that logic, Panzergrenadiers should also be suicide AT because they have rockets on their backs.
HMG call in
drops without a crew... for a MP cost close to just ordering one from base. yeah it comes straight to the field but then you have to crew it and retreat your crewing unit all its just a hassle. I'd rather just add extra MP and get a crew with the MG.
On one hand I agree, on the other there is the balance and teamplay aspect. Dropping a weapons team is probably too powerful because they can drop and then immediately start pinning nearby enemies. You can still already do this if you have a few squads around, and even if not, that one Rear Echelon guy left can still spot for that HMG team.
It also means that dropping this in a team game means the ally can utilize it without waiting for the enemy to annihilate the crew.
All in all, you're not really deprived of anything by the weapon dropping by itself.
Paratroopers
Meat and Potatoes of this commander.
Why can't paratroopers with thompson smg upgrade pick up weapons?
Its understandable with the lmg upgrade but why the thompson. I don't think it makes sense. I also feel like the lmg upgrade should be changed to BARs because the rest of the squad has carbines, a close/mid range weapon.
Some weapon upgrades take up a weapon slot, and this is the case for Paratroopers.
As for making sense, balance. Two paratrooper squads with SMGs and LMG upgrade, but both picked up bazookas or panzerschrecks, make for a very powerful combo that negates the need for using other units. On top of AT gun and HMG drop, too.
In any case, you're usually better off leaving those weapons for other units to pick up, they'll surely need it since they suck compared to paratroopers' firepower.
Also, it strikes me as odd that paratroopers don't have AT snare (TNT tar sock, AT grenade, mines). As a 3 CP unit, the paratrooper is a unit that an American player can transistion to from riflemen as the game progresses. It becomes less practical, however, when I need to keep one or two riflemen units solely for the AT rifle grenade, an ability useful throughout the entire game. I think riflemen are great, but I'm an airborne commander!!!
You're pretty much never supposed to "transition" from Riflemen to anything else. That's part of the overall faction design- Riflemen are useful from beginning to end, this conflicts with units that do the same things but much better, and in the case with paratroopers also drop straight into the field. It is clear that for all their benefits, Paratroopers were designed to be great support troops...but not really replace anything.
Commanders are designed to augment your regular capabilities. Those that do are problematic because it makes certain units redundant.
In short Airborne already promote a unique playstyle unlike any other commanders in the game. To make them more is to make other units less useful. Ultimately the point is to allow for good combined arms, this doesn't happen if the five abilities this commander offers let you ignore most of the core USF units. Why bother getting tanks, Riflemen and howitzers if Paratroopers can do all three things?
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cblanco ★ 
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VonManteuffel 
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