PTRS has a chance of one-shotting a model (not a high chance, its about 5%?) and also makes the squad jump around if they miss (they toned this down a bit, it used to make them jump for days on end).
@JHeartless: Why do you feel that the Guards munitions are a problem? Considering those abilities, when spammed, allow the squad to take on pretty much the entire German arsenal of T1 and T2 (minus an MG42 with a spotter) is pretty amazing.
Let's just compare the unit to the Panzergrenadier:
-same MP cost
-same armor and hp per soldier
-6 Guards vs 4 Pgrens
-lower reinforce cost per soldier
-same nade with same cost
-default guard AI much weaker than default Pgren but has AT
-upgraded guard (60muni) AI weaker than default Pgren but has AT and CC for vehicles
-default guard AT weaker than upgraded Pgrens (120muni) and has slightly weaker AI
-upgraded guard (60muni) AT weaker than upgraded Pgrens (120muni) but has slightly better AI
Considering how you can't unequip your shreks after you buy them, I don't see how the German equivalent is light years ahead of Guards, especially considering Germans have to spend more ammo to even have AT on the squad and also more ammo spending overall as a faction (ie, losing out on opportunity cost - medic station even costs ammo).
Note that pretty much all the Guard doctrines have Mark Target - any more damage from their PTRS's can result in some serious bullshit.
Becaue as slub said they are the only elite infantry thats meh..
Yes they can survive longer than pgrens. No they are not at all like rangers lol. They arent AT they are anti vehicle. Also rangers had better AI.
Having 6 models with 1.5 armor is good but it adds nothing to their combat effectivness as the last two are always the ptrs gunners. The least relic could have done was make the ptrs kill infantry well since it does 0 to real tanks.
Combat wise they truly are just vanilla grens. Thats pretty weak for 360 MP plus 145 plus muni. This is assuming you buttoned once threw one nade and got dp lmg. Then add to this mark vehicle and you just burned through a ton of muni.
On the dp lmg having better AI than pgrend with shreks. This is true only if they are in a garrison. Otherwise they roll around and do PT rather than aiming thier dp lmg half the time.
I would honestly prefer PTRS as a paid upgrade so they could put out slightly less AI than LMG 42 Grens by default. If there are no light vehicles Guards are just a manpower sink tbh. Its all about cost to performance to me and with hiw easy it is to cancel button i just dont see alot of value in it. 9/10 times i go guards motor i wont even build Guards. If i want decent AI i can go Penals and have scripts to AT nade and i always get better results barring of course a flameht. Thats the only time