Usefulness of Raiders

[yanivtal2003]

Are raiders actually worth it? Are they actually cost effective against anything except tanks? Are they actually good in assaulting enemy infantry/trenches?

[shde2e]

I would say they're situational.
They can wipe out trenches very quickly, and without losing whole units in melee.
But it does require you to stand an expensive unit in front of an enemy trenchline, which often requires good timing and lots of suppression, and is very easy to miscalculate.

They're good at assaulting, but not supply-efficient. They can be useful if you need a very compact and strong attack wave, so you can create a foothold in a single wave. That can often be cheaper than having to attack the same defenses multiple times with cheaper units.

[Brutallisck]

I believe that even if by design Raiders being situational as intended, they - and flamethrowers - have an issue of survivability and value.

Against a player/AI using snipers, a whole company of raiders/flamethrowers won't make it to the enemy trench - this is an issue, that even if the situation fits, makes such troops a risky investment, that likely won't return the research/ money/supply back. This is an issue for the entire infantry research tree - as (in my opinion) without raiders and flamethrowers, this tree is too defensive in nature - that's not that historical (due to ww1 development of infantty infiltration and assault tactics being a factor in breaking trench deadlock), it's also not good for overall balance.

Combine this is the difficult UX around them and you have mechanic that simply doesn't work.

I've said it quite a lot now, I'm still thinking that raiders need to have more men/health/armor in their company, generally be more "spung" like regarding to taking damage, as they are using infiltration. And flamethrowers should be as vaunrable, but be deadlier also when fighting in side the trench (basically a dedicated trench/blockhouse clearing unit)

[Cronos341]

Originally posted by yanivtal2003:

Are raiders actually worth it? Are they actually cost effective against anything except tanks? Are they actually good in assaulting enemy infantry/trenches?

i think raiders are worth it from a devensive stance. theres not enough AT in this game so keeping some raiders in the back trenchs and then getting them into position (if done right) to take on the attacking armour has worked great for me as they make short work of even the buffest of bois

[Gray Riders]

I've occasionally gotten good use of them--they can clear trenches much better than even Elite companies when they work--but they're quite finicky and, as noted above, it's easy for things to go wrong.

One big problem is I find they favour melee over just using their grenades, even when they aren't suppressed and i'm sure I selected the enemy unit and not the trench. If that were fixed I'd find them a lot more effective since they wouldn't need to be micromanaged as heavily.

[Cronos341]

Originally posted by Gray Riders:

I've occasionally gotten good use of them--they can clear trenches much better than even Elite companies when they work--but they're quite finicky and, as noted above, it's easy for things to go wrong.

One big problem is I find they favour melee over just using their grenades, even when they aren't suppressed and i'm sure I selected the enemy unit and not the trench. If that were fixed I'd find them a lot more effective since they wouldn't need to be micromanaged as heavily.

thats why i defend with them. aint gotta worry about it and plus, i find them too expensive to assault a trench line with. at least the first line anyways. ill call them in as i progress through an attack so they can help hold, or clear the next trenches

[Marcus Scholasticus]

Raiders (and flammers) cost you 30 supply.

For these 30 supplies you get 2 units of regular infantry and one salvo of heavy artillery.
At the same time, the 2 regular units can also be used more flexibly.

So it can be said, that raiders and flammers are not cost effective during an attack.

The biggest problem with these units is, that they too often attack trenches with stupid fist fighting. I really hope the developers improve these units.