AT Rifles Kind of...Weak?

Is it me, or are AT rifles weak? They're only really good en masse upgraded (and they're usually units I wouldn't upgrade first because of their uselessness unupgraded as the other units have potential) or against motorcycles, which are only around briefly. They get mowed down too easilly by tanks or armored cars. Perhaps have their damage increased although it might not be historical? Because these things are definately not scary enough alone for the Germans to start putting armor skirts on their tanks like the guide says.
Also, as a side note, I don't think those are PTRD's. Shouldn't they not have a magazine on the top?

I agree with you. Their survivability is too low especially against the very things they're supposed to counter. Also the PTRD was a single shot weapon so it's not supposed to have a magazine.

Tank Hunters are beastly when garrisoned inside a building along with conscripts.

And they currently use BOYS AT rifles, but we have a new model coming in soon.

So for now, let's just say, the British have been supplying my troops with Bren guns and Boys AT rifles?

I should try putting them in buildings.

they are alright, they penetrate pretty well from what i've seen, but it doesn't matter since they are dirt cheap.

Last edited January 24, 2010 at 7:00 AM by SexyUnderwaterAction

Get a zis and support with AT rifles?
deters flanking and the zis can do the lion's share of dmg.

AT rifles are a light vehicle counter though can be surprisingly good if firing at the flanks of most tanks.

1.) no they are not
2.) they are ment to be weak
3.) play RO and try to take out a panther with one :P on EF you can take out 2 with 2 anti tank squads

Its easy:

1. Take Yoyr rifle.
2. Take ammunition.
3. Load it.
4. Kill the b*stard :)


:)

What about giving them the camoflauge ability? So that they become more of an ambush- or "hit and run"-unit.

What I REALLY want to see is for tank hunter squads to have the ability or % chance to immobilize enemy tanks (temporarily even). That's primarily how they were used in the war - that way they will encourage some tactical gameplay i.e. immobilize -> call down arty or mortar.

From my experience tank hunters are pretty poor unupgraded or by themselves, but rather quickly become extremely powerful when upgraded and in groups of about 3. For cost comparison, this is about the cost of 2 gren squads with 1 schreck. This little blob can tear apart light vehicles up to and including pumas within seconds and 6 PTRDs even do quite well against tanks (though I've never tested them against skirted ones, the description would seem to imply that would make quite a difference). Moreover, with 6 AT rifles there's a pretty good chance some of them will be sniping off infantry, and they also have 6 mosins between them so they aren't completely defenseless against infantry either. Finally, they do utterly obscene damage to buildings. I have no idea why they are so strong at killing structures, but 3 of them can easily take down most wehr (pe seems to have higher health for some reason) structures within seconds, and I would rate them behind only the KV2 and a sturm ingy squad at base raping.

IMHO AT rifles are too weak. I even don't build them at all. They are worse than shrecks and they don't have any positive things to build them. It would be nice if they would have a Tread Break ability.

Sudno wrote:
IMHO AT rifles are too weak. I even don't build them at all. They are worse than shrecks and they don't have any positive things to build them. It would be nice if they would have a Tread Break ability.

Again, upgrade them and get more than one. They're cheap for a reason. If you're micro inclined you can put them in cover for cloak and an ambush bonus that makes them quite strong. For their cost I will go ahead and say they're some of the strongest AT infantry in the game.

On a one on one basis of course they're worse than schrecks. Did you expect your 200 mp AT rifle to outdo a 300 mp 75 muni rocket launcher? The key to tank hunters is to get that 100 muni upgrade and then get at least 2 for light vehicle work or 3 for tanks. Using ambush, it's very possiblt to take out even panthers with 3 of them. This is the cost equivalent of 2 grenadiers with 1 schreck between them, which will definitely NOT be taking out IS2s, and would fail miserably even if they had 2 schrecks for 150 muni.

For positive things consider that 3 upgraded squads (again compare to 2 grens with 1 schreck) can 1 shot a puma before it even gets a chance to fire and you don't even need ambush to pull that off. Those same 3 squads can also handily beat a stug by simply zerg rushing it. Pz 4s will require some decent tactics because they have more health and better AI capabilities, but they're still perfectly killable with 3 squads. Ostwinds take strategy because surprise surprise if you don't hit from ambush you're gonna get minced by one of the best AI tanks in the game. Hitting from ambush turns it into a piece of cake though, since Ostwinds have barely better health than pumas and their armor is far from impressive. Even panthers will fall to 3 squads from ambush, which isn't quite as hard to pull off as you might think.

The most important to keep in mind is that tank hunters are a 200 mp unit. Aside from conscripts and the various engineers, this makes it the cheapest infantry in the game, and you get anti light vehicle ability with it. If you shell out slightly more muni than you would for ONE schreck, you get some serious anti light vehicle ability. If you then proceed to shell out another 400 mp, bringing your total cost up to 2 grens + 1 schreck, you have a very potent AT force that can take out all but the biggest tanks in the game if used with a bit of skill. To say nothing of their anti building capabilities...