Breakthrough Doctrine- Mechanics

[bopokippo]

While they can be useful because of their advanced repair, I'm just not seeing a good reason to justify their cost which, while cheap, may not necessarily be worth it. Unless in some dire situation, I would always go for 2 extra ingenery which can repair almost as fast as a mechanic team and offers considerably more firepower than 4 pistols which are practically useless in combat. Luftwaffe ground forces at least have 5 rifles and the ability to construct unique flakvierlings right off the bat but I just am not seeing the position of mechanics in a practical situation. Maybe give them Mosins or maybe give them the sapper's "Expert Engineers" upgrade to boot, letting them overrepair things?

[stealthattack1]

i would still get them, even if they arent as good. they look beast.

[Pac-Fish]

They can speed up tank stuff . Although thats not too helpful is it? I think the mechanics lack something special but unfortunately I don't think they are being changed .

And IMO they dont look that great. They are mechanics after all .

[stealthattack1]

whaaat? those tan berets?? the pistols??

[cephalos]

Mechanics are as good as they are. They aren't supposed to fight, but repair or speed up building tanks. That's enough. 2 squads of Ingenery cost 8 pop cap, while mechanics only 4 popcap. They also are very good in repairing tanks fast.

[Cranialwizard]

Building field defenses is also a plus

[Sommarkatze]

They repair almost ridicalous fast?

[bopokippo]

is their repair rate equivalent to an advanced repair Panzer Grenadier?
And I agree with the population cap, but as of now I would compare them to vCoH Wehr officers. And, while maybe late-game the population cap could matter, they are not really needed early game as two ingenery which are only IIRC 40 more manpower than one mechanic squad can split up and build field defenses twice as fast. I know they shouldn't fight, but I feel that 260 manpower tied up in a non-fighting/repair/increased production/field defense constructor leaves something to be desired with its impact on the battlefield. I can't see situations where mechanics end up turning the tide of a battle...

[Cranialwizard]

I can't see situations where mechanics end up turning the tide of a battle...

If you have no more ingynery as they are useless to build unless you have Sturmovie, need a Mine detector, or you need to build a firebase. Mechanics help with a mobile army and help immensly with armor rushes like T3 T70-T90.

They're like Luftwaffe Ground Infantry. They are utter shit in combat (unless you grab a Shreck or LMG) but their practicality in other fields like advanced repair and building emplacements and speeding production in the tank hall can greatly benefit an armored-warfare player.

As for me, I know personally that I have decent infantry micro until mid-late game, where I tend to have to blob as when I play with a mousepad I can find it difficult to manage and maintain large armies of multipurpose infantry. However I have stellar tank micro (Or at least try to) because those are more valuable investments, and mechanics help my mobile army quite enough.

Also, it can be noted getting that T-34, KV, or IS-2 with longer build times out on the field faster can tip the battle.

[stealthattack1]

+the upgrades needed to get the tanks in the first place can be sped up which imo is a great help.

[Hendrik 'DarcReaver' S.]

They're extremely useful, whenever I play breakthrough I get one of these, they repair soviet tanks at a much faster rate than ingeneries. Which makes my enemies cry because the ISU 152 gets to full health much faster than his King Tiger :]

[vikingsteve]

I think they're worthless. Ingenery do just fine. The mechanics can't even build any new stuff, unlike the Luftwaffe. Speeding up tank production is meh. I don't think I've ever really needed the increased production.

I think they should be taken out in favor of something else. I never use them, and when I used to, they never changed anything. Why not just replace them with increased vehicle production and advanced repair? Doesn't have to be the first thing you get either. I mean, that's all people use them for anyway. Why make people spend manpower and have them be killable when you can just make it passive and maybe make it cost 1 command point more? Something like...

"Advanced Ingenery"

"Decrease the production time of all vehicles by x%, and enables Ingenery to repair vehicles at an increased rate."

Or they could just do something like the Americans have with Field Repairs (or whatever it was called) where you spend munitions to repair your tanks. Mechanics are slow, frail, and inconvenient.

[TheVolskinator]

^This. This is 100% true.

[MBJrP36]

Agreed, mechanics are worthless. I would love to see lend-lease return maybe a Valentine, Churchill, Stuart, or white scout car call in.

[Blackbishop]

Giving a new tank call-in to a doctrine already filled with tank call-ins is not what I'd call good idea .