Just buff conscript damage when at close range and make them a bit cheaper and call it a day
And what will be the difference between them and penals then?
These two have exactly the same combat role, suck at range hard, ok but certainly not excelling at point blank range.
If penals would be decent at range, then cons could get buffs for close range and yet the two wouldn't be too similar.
I don't know what PQ have up his sleeve to solve this issue, but I hope it won't make it even worse then it is now.
For now, cons work against only mid skill players.