Best Infantry Unit

[Panzerpimp]

I keep 2-3 Gerbgirsjager

I also like the Gebirgsjager and use them a lot in early years. But I feel than in late war scenarios they get really vulnerable, so I start to use grenadiers more and more. They are also great for defense. Normal infantry is also a great unit - fast and cheap, but again too vulnerable in late war maps.

[captainjack]

A pair of pioneers work really well to clear out strong points. The Sig 33 and later the mobile rockets are good companions but attract too much air attention. Best is one or two move hero towed arty (a stug with a range hero is also good). Move to contact. Arty either deters or shreds any attacks. Either fire, attack, fire attack or fire, fire, attack, attack according to preference and presto! No more infantry. You can swap a para or grenadier if you want a higher initiative unit in the team. Because you are aiming to suppress as many as possible to allow your low ini pios to attack, the 75 with it's 110% rof, low cost and plentiful ammo is ideal.

[faos333]

My order is:

Panzer Grenadiers 43, in my opinion, compare the stats and you will find out, movement is a minus. But it can solved, by upgrading infantry with movement heroes to PzGren.
Then comes FalschirmJagers, because of their air Junkers transport, they can save the day. I usually parachute them more than once in the same map. Jumping around.
Wermacht infantry reliable all years around main advantages 3 hex movement and stats.

[captainjack]

Early war, SE grenadiers for combat stats, and the extra ammo makes a useful difference.
Late war 43 inf are good. Enough movement to be useful with no transport (which means cheap to elite reinforce) , and good combat stats.
Even then, pioneers, gebirgsjagers and paras are useful.
Allies are more limited - rangers for US, guards for Soviets. In my UK mods which allow only small cores, I usually field one HW and one engineer in carriers, although LRDG are good.

[MaxF]

My preferred inf unit is Grenadier.
I also consider ammo for my choices, so I don't like to place them in danger. Since '43 the W.Inf is probably the best unit, also for the +1 ammo, but I don't like to downgrade my Grens.
Oleh Dir is Grenadier: 5 hex movement Gren since he got another +1move hero. He remained on Jaegers until got the other 1+ movement hero; he's been also a W.Inf with 6 movement.
Used Fallschirm extensively until Barbarossa started. Especially in Greece there were deployed 6 of them, to have a more historical scenario. Now I have 3 FS with heroes.

My question is those 2 new Gebirsjaeger of the 23rd division (Allerberger + Sutkus) which come with 200 prestige sdkfz250/1 ( 8 movement). These halftracks do Not affect the Soft Cap (they are ordinary inf, with SE halftrucks)! So you have 400 points on the field that won't count. But they count as you make elite replacements. Until now (end of 1943) I kept them on halftracks to have support for blitzkrieg maneuvers. OS to 11, to have some losses and gain more experience.
Another thing I've seen is that they lose the halftracks as you make them another kind of infantry: you can't have them Grenadiers on 250/1.

I had only 1 Pioneer until I faced minefield scenarios. Since I use one slow army of non-towed artillery and guns, I usually tear down the entrenchement before attacking. On the other hand I have more cost/effective unit in defence of the guns where the ignoring entrenchement bonus is useless.
I used Flammpanzer with Rondorf until Tiger I was available ^^, in my blitz group that needed anti-entrenched-soft targets. Eventually FS and 1 Pioneer.

[Ursulet]

My favorite inf is by far the fallschirm. They get a lot of kills early on, they can be very efficient on their own once they have 2* and overstrength, if they stay in close terrain, they are pretty much safe.
And they can be decisive, like in dijon, or vyazma to capture Moscow.

Until 43 that is.

[faos333]

Panzer Grenadiers 43 for me

[DerLeiter]

Depends a lot on the situation too, but early in the Grand Campaign I've always liked going with two Pionieres and the rest Wehrmacht inf. If I'm given a gebirgsjager I don't usually change it (except to remove a truck from the SE ones). Once Grenadiers are available I'll upgrade some of my better infantry to them, especially if they have attack or movement boosts (that one gebirgsjager you get in Warsaw is ridiculous as a Grenadier). Generally only like a handful of them though, but they do server as both my shock troops and mobile reserves.

I don't tend to use fallschirmjager unless it's multiplayer, and then only for sneaky stuff. Might try them out some more, but I always dislike their lack of ammo. Even if it's only 1-2 less, it always feels like I have to pull them back to resupply too often.

And ofc, the '43 versions are straight up better. Unfortunatrly the bridge eng and kradschutzen don't get better. Cavalry just no, and Volkstrum as mentioned are great for holding, surrounding, etc.

[faos333]

Cavalry in early years (1939-40) I got two of them, because of their movement they took part in many fights and helped, later when got two stars I upgraded them. Very useful.
In few words easy to gain experience and the upgrade.

[MajorClicks]

Hi,

Ive always thought I was missing out on something by not using Kradschutzen. Now thanks to this thread its confirmed. Thx.

Ive always thought that infantry are like tools. You only deploy certain infantry depending on the map, terrain and objectives. My fav are the Gebirgsjaegers. They seem to be able to take on most challenges and are fast movers. Thats why I dont use cavalry.

I tend to use pionieres for urban assaults where there are strongpoints. And standard inf pre-43 for other mop up operations. Only upgrading to grenadiers from 42 onwards. Then grenadiers past 43. Only one bridging section rarely, depending on the map.

These guidelines have held me in good stead for Col difficulty for the EAST and some of the WEST GC.

Im wondering should I keep to this when going onto harder difficulties when I replay those campaigns again?
Cheers

[goose_2]

Hi,

Ive always thought I was missing out on something by not using Kradschutzen. Now thanks to this thread its confirmed. Thx.

Ive always thought that infantry are like tools. You only deploy certain infantry depending on the map, terrain and objectives. My fav are the Gebirgsjaegers. They seem to be able to take on most challenges and are fast movers. Thats why I dont use cavalry.

I tend to use pionieres for urban assaults where there are strongpoints. And standard inf pre-43 for other mop up operations. Only upgrading to grenadiers from 42 onwards. Then grenadiers past 43. Only one bridging section rarely, depending on the map.

These guidelines have held me in good stead for Col difficulty for the EAST and some of the WEST GC.

Im wondering should I keep to this when going onto harder difficulties when I replay those campaigns again?
Cheers

I would say that experimenting with various Infantry units is the way to go to find the right mix, I have found on Ultimate difficulty the need for some experienced hard hitting Fallschimjaegers placed in just the right spot at just the right time is key to winning the impossible Decisive Victory's.

That said +1 Movement infantry become Grenadier's or Pioniere's. +1 Spotting become Kradschutzen.
Everything else I play around with various other units.

Oleh Dir is best as either a Grenadier or Pioniere.

Gebirgsjaeger are almost always my starting point with infantry and upgrade according to the heroes awarded.

[Panzerpimp]

Thats why I dont use cavalry.

A fatal mistake to be sure as highlighted in a post by Lifever in this very thread.
(Panzer Corps World Champion by the way...)
Cavalry unit is the heart and soul of this game.
There are cavalry playthroughs by the way out there:

viewtopic.php?f=145&t=98861

I would say that experimenting with various Infantry units is the way to go to find the right mix

Gebirgsjaeger are almost always my starting point

Totally agreed about experimenting with units and heroes on them. Although I'd like to say that lately I'm a bit disappointed with the Gebirgsjager. They can enter hills and mountains with their bonus ok, but they are not that fast really without a truck... So I prefer the standard Wehr Infantry. Well, there is Oleh Dir and other superheroes that change that balance, so it depends I guess...

[captainjack]

I usually convert move hero infantry to slower units such as HW/engineers so they can keep up, but it can be useful to convert them to gebirgsjagers. At 4 move, immune to mountains and with no transport, they are fast, very cheap, never get caught in their trucks and extremely useful in snow (since they don't ever run out of fuel). Other 43 model Infantry are also good with 4 move and no transport, with the higher HA partly compensating for being a bit slower over hills.

With trucks, you save 50 prestige on base cost, so both overstrength and in-game elite reinforcement are affordable, and unless you have roads, the movement is the same (or better in rough terrain). There is slightly less movement than in half tracks but the cost saving is much better.

I disable soft cap, but I'd expect that saving on transport could be a good thing for those that use it.

[LevV]

I'm still in process of learning of the game, i have played through vanilla and afrika once, I halted the GC play through on 43 for being too tough, recently started again from scratch will all new info in mind.
I never used half-trucks before, but now i'm limiting the use of trucks also. I use trucks only for heavy inf with no movement hero, and maybe for 1-2 reserve inf, so total only 2-3 motorized infantry for me.

Recently converted sight hero inf to cavalry with 2 stars, which become kind of fun in early war. Maybe will try add another one while it is still possible. cheap unit, works good in close terrain, provides the intel to move in armor.
I like the idea of fallschirmjaegers a lot, but except for specific operation cant find use for them. as far as i know in real war there were really few para operations, most of the time they served just as usual inf.
The pioneers are costly and slow, even though i usually have 1 or 2, i'm thinking how to trade them for more versatile unit.
Grenadiers are the guys who can kind of fight in line with tanks (utilizing terrain), so they are essential for my basic battlegroups.
regurlar inf of jaegers - i'm still in doubt. regurlar inf looks more sustainable and can be used as a motorized reserve.

On a side note i always have the idea of small mobile auxilary 3-4 units battle group that should have increased sight, maybe even half-tracked movement and some mobile firepower with them, to rush the flank, take airfield and minor capture points. Regret this is only possible in early war, while front-line is not yet that firm.

[captainjack]

There are some scenarios where you can benefit from a fast flanking force. Typically I'd aim for about 8 units. More and your main force is probably too weak, less and you risk getting destroyed if caught out. I'd either use best units or expendables, depending on confidence in my plans.
It sounds like you are already reading the briefings and checking the maps, so I can't add much. Let us know what works.

[Kawaleria]

I have 3 favourites infantry units

1. Gebirsjaeger

this is best infantry because of mobility. Even though after 1943 they become fragile but by the time each unit has +400 exp and 3 heroes sometimes +5 defense collective total

2. Kradschutzen

these guys can teleport via roads, Drawback is they are slow when weather get worse... But strange thing I never seen a unit which has more rugged defenses. Enemy always attack them and gets hammered. Also when you achive +1 or 2 spotting hero the unit become decisive. They are cheap , dont need of transport so its prestige cap wise choice

3. Bruckenpioniere

Players dont use them . Wrong ! You probably have one low exp unit but lets imagine this : Bridge Eng with 500 exp +2A +2 D heroes.... They have awesome defensive capabillities immune to artyllery and air force... When there is a river scenario placing them on river hex dont deprive them from defensive power. During 1944-45 scenarios you can always use them in city hexes.
More: they are cheap

[goose_2]

3. Bruckenpioniere

Players dont use them . Wrong ! You probably have one low exp unit but lets imagine this : Bridge Eng with 500 exp +2A +2 D heroes.... They have awesome defensive capabillities immune to artyllery and air force... When there is a river scenario placing them on river hex dont deprive them from defensive power. During 1944-45 scenarios you can always use them in city hexes.
More: they are cheap

You raise a very good point about this unit that may need to be reconsidered. Defensively with experience I bet they are devastating, and more importantly cheap.

I may mess around with these in 44 and 45

Thanks for expanding the dialogue

[stormbringer3]

I've never used a Bruckenpioniere in my core. I'm going to try this out. I just changed a D+3 Kavallerie to one.

[Kawaleria]

Brigde Eng are also very good decoy unit, enemy is very fond attacking them.... so excellent luring target.

[goose_2]

Brigde Eng are also very good decoy unit, enemy is very fond attacking them.... so excellent luring target.

Whoa? That does not make any sense. I thought they love attacking more expensive units. Why are they attracted to attack a cheap unit like that?