How do pro players counter Penal Battalion?

[Symphony X]

in the beginning there was huge аss poem of me praising this unit, but I've decided to get straight to the point.

Penals are too good for their cost and relatively fast appearance on the battlefield, with ability to throw huge аss satchel deleting unlucky enemy units or emplacements(with some exceptions) and ability to throw these satchels at vehicles once they get upgraded. They also can kill every other infantry unit in the game. For Obers and Fallschirms luck is needed, but usually by this moment I have tank instead of luck, and I would like to know how pro players kill these guys, so I can be ready before I run into these pro guys. By now the only thing that works nice against me are Flak emplacements or Flak car, but I know how to get rid of them, and in future they will probably also not work

[Froz7y]

once they has PTSD guns, they become weaker. They are expensive and not cost effective. Just having three Penal means you lose a lot of advantage. Penal cant counter MGs unless the manage to get close to throw their satchel charge and even that, its too slow to activate so you can retreat. Penal arent all that great. Mgs and mortal could make them useless. They are also expensive to reinforce so using a flak truck to replenish them is a bad idea because they drain.

[Symphony X]

1) I don't give everyone PTRS guns(PTSD, lol :) )
2) they are more expensive than any other line infatry, but they cost same as Grenadiers to reinforce
3) no unit can really counter MGs except huge crowd or unit that manages to get close enough to throw grenade(in Axis' case, it is every single unit), I flank it with penals. Last 15 matches and against expert bots MGs weren't a problem. I have my troops split up in case I run into MG, so I don't have my entire army pinned. Sometimes I also manage to flank MG before I find where it is. Not always intented, but I prefer to avoid the places where I would personally put an MG.
4) MG can't run from Satchel, 4 seconds to destroy is not enough for it to run away. This actually makes me thankful that Soviets have Maxim instead of some machine like MG42 because they can retreat fast(65kg gun runs away faster than 15kg gun, and people really think this game has German bias???)
5) why do you say Flak truck is bad idea against them when you say that they are expensive to reinforce? Isn't that the purpose of this truck?

[Felinewolfie]

Originally posted by Piece Of Time:

1) I don't give everyone PTRS guns(PTSD, lol :) )
2) they are more expensive than any other line infatry, but they cost same as Grenadiers to reinforce
3) no unit can really counter MGs except huge crowd or unit that manages to get close enough to throw grenade(in Axis' case, it is every single unit), I flank it with penals. Last 15 matches and against expert bots MGs weren't a problem. I have my troops split up in case I run into MG, so I don't have my entire army pinned. Sometimes I also manage to flank MG before I find where it is. Not always intented, but I prefer to avoid the places where I would personally put an MG.
4) MG can't run from Satchel, 4 seconds to destroy is not enough for it to run away. This actually makes me thankful that Soviets have Maxim instead of some machine like MG42 because they can retreat fast(65kg gun runs away faster than 15kg gun, and people really think this game has German bias???)
5) why do you say Flak truck is bad idea against them when you say that they are expensive to reinforce? Isn't that the purpose of this truck?

- Conscripts 240/6 : 40. 50% of 40 is 20.
- Grenadier 240/4 : 60. 50% of 60 is 30.
This is how it works

- Penals is 290/6 = So of course (I think reinforce cost is 23?)

Penals are basically PanzerGrenadier but earlier.
mid-range. Supah-strong grenade. Can trade 50% of AI for AT (So side-grade, not UP-grade)

Same as US Riflemen getting Bazookas. You trade Garand rifles for those bazookas.

- Very different vet 1 ability, however.
- As for Penals being op, they come at a cost : Usually, you miss out on support
(AT, MG, Mortar) unless you're okay with doing T2 as well, or using commander slots.

If Penals were auto-win, I think people would only play them, and they'd have a win
ratio of ~100%. Not the case.

I suggest you play sov penals only in pvp 1vs1 and let the enemy teach you how to neuter them.

[Symphony X]

Originally posted by Felinewolfie:

- Conscripts 240/6 : 40. 50% of 40 is 20.
- Grenadier 240/4 : 60. 50% of 60 is 30.
This is how it works

- Penals is 290/6 = So of course (I think reinforce cost is 23?)

No, Penals cost 27, Grens cost like 25. Conscripts cost 20, yeah

No, you were right. Penals are still 27 though

[Symphony X]

Originally posted by Felinewolfie:

If Penals were auto-win, I think people would only play them, and they'd have a win
ratio of ~100%. Not the case.

I see downsides of playing through them, like by the moment you spawn 2 squads enemy will have 4, but at my 3rd lvl of ranked this was never really a problem. I actually won my first match in the game, and I won it through penal+guard spam, so it's probably only good against non-pro players.
If I do well I can spawn T2, but usually I do too well and take enemy MGs

[we are number one]

Originally posted by Felinewolfie:

Originally posted by Piece Of Time:

1) I don't give everyone PTRS guns(PTSD, lol :) )
2) they are more expensive than any other line infatry, but they cost same as Grenadiers to reinforce
3) no unit can really counter MGs except huge crowd or unit that manages to get close enough to throw grenade(in Axis' case, it is every single unit), I flank it with penals. Last 15 matches and against expert bots MGs weren't a problem. I have my troops split up in case I run into MG, so I don't have my entire army pinned. Sometimes I also manage to flank MG before I find where it is. Not always intented, but I prefer to avoid the places where I would personally put an MG.
4) MG can't run from Satchel, 4 seconds to destroy is not enough for it to run away. This actually makes me thankful that Soviets have Maxim instead of some machine like MG42 because they can retreat fast(65kg gun runs away faster than 15kg gun, and people really think this game has German bias???)
5) why do you say Flak truck is bad idea against them when you say that they are expensive to reinforce? Isn't that the purpose of this truck?

- Conscripts 240/6 : 40. 50% of 40 is 20.
- Grenadier 240/4 : 60. 50% of 60 is 30.
This is how it works

- Penals is 290/6 = So of course (I think reinforce cost is 23?)

Penals are basically PanzerGrenadier but earlier.
mid-range. Supah-strong grenade. Can trade 50% of AI for AT (So side-grade, not UP-grade)

Same as US Riflemen getting Bazookas. You trade Garand rifles for those bazookas.

- Very different vet 1 ability, however.
- As for Penals being op, they come at a cost : Usually, you miss out on support
(AT, MG, Mortar) unless you're okay with doing T2 as well, or using commander slots.

If Penals were auto-win, I think people would only play them, and they'd have a win
ratio of ~100%. Not the case.

I suggest you play sov penals only in pvp 1vs1 and let the enemy teach you how to neuter them.

wow actually youre right I never thought about it but penals really are just p grens

[we are number one]

when you go penals you cant get support weapons that huge enough of a disadvantage if yo ask me also dont practice with bots they are nothing compared to a real game

[Symphony X]

I remember that piece of advice in the past telling me to play against expert bots because it is as much of suffering as playing against someone who knows what he's doing. Usually I run them when I have just launched the game so I relieve my muscle memory and such