US officer
Posted: 22 Apr 2017, 14:20
Let's talk about the American ranger captain.
While it's available to all US doctrines, it's a defacto Infantry doctrine exclusive. The captain doesn't affect airborne units and armor doctrine doesn't build enough infantry units to make it worth it.
Even for the Infantry doctrine, unvetted his command aura can only buff a single squad without risking a high chance of an unfortunate incident like an insta gibbing mortar hit. Not particularly useful, probably would have been better off spending 250 manpower elsewhere.
However, once vetted such that his command aura grows in size, he becomes a very useful option for an Infantry doctrine player as his command aura is now large enough that he can buff multiple squads using 'fire and manuever' tactics. This is excellent as it is encouraging a realistic infantry tactic.
Now here's the problem. The captain is a pretty frail unit and it takes quite a lot of work to level up the captain. It's also very difficult to do once the late game is entered so once he's dead it's not worth rebuilding him.
So, for the benefit of Infantry doctrine I think the cheap infantry upgrade should also give the captain free veterancy so he has the command aura to manage all those new recruits.
Secondly, I think there should be a more useful ability than an expensive rifle squad for the US captain so as to tempt Armor and Airborne doctrines. In comparison consider that the PE have a durable elite 3 man squad, UK's officers have binoculars, Wehr Officer can call-in an excellent mortar barrage without any onmap artillery/mortar requirements.
While it's available to all US doctrines, it's a defacto Infantry doctrine exclusive. The captain doesn't affect airborne units and armor doctrine doesn't build enough infantry units to make it worth it.
Even for the Infantry doctrine, unvetted his command aura can only buff a single squad without risking a high chance of an unfortunate incident like an insta gibbing mortar hit. Not particularly useful, probably would have been better off spending 250 manpower elsewhere.
However, once vetted such that his command aura grows in size, he becomes a very useful option for an Infantry doctrine player as his command aura is now large enough that he can buff multiple squads using 'fire and manuever' tactics. This is excellent as it is encouraging a realistic infantry tactic.
Now here's the problem. The captain is a pretty frail unit and it takes quite a lot of work to level up the captain. It's also very difficult to do once the late game is entered so once he's dead it's not worth rebuilding him.
So, for the benefit of Infantry doctrine I think the cheap infantry upgrade should also give the captain free veterancy so he has the command aura to manage all those new recruits.
Secondly, I think there should be a more useful ability than an expensive rifle squad for the US captain so as to tempt Armor and Airborne doctrines. In comparison consider that the PE have a durable elite 3 man squad, UK's officers have binoculars, Wehr Officer can call-in an excellent mortar barrage without any onmap artillery/mortar requirements.