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Infantry Section | |||
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Army | British Forces | ||
Role | Core Infantry | ||
Men per Squad | 4 (5 with upgrade) | ||
Unit Cost |
280 7 | ||
Upkeep per Minute | -? | ||
Prereq. | None | ||
Produced By | Field Headquarters | ||
Cost to Reinforce |
28 1 | ||
Health per Man | 80 | ||
Infantry Type | Infantry | ||
Basic Weapon | Lee-Enfield Rifle | ||
Firing Range | 35 meters | ||
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Infantry Sections are the primary infantry units for the British Forces in Company of Heroes 2, armed with Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles and mutually exclusive medical and artillery upgrades. At the game's start, a single free squad is spawned in the base to allow the British player to capture points.
Infantry sections can also build sandbags to provide heavy directional cover and munitions & fuel caches on resource points. They can also build trenches that can hold one infantry unit, one sniper, or one HMG team. With the Advanced Emplacement commander, they can build and repair emplacements as well, serving as Royal Engineers that cannot repair vehicles or place mines.
Cover Fighting Bonus - Reduce cooldown to 30% and reload time to 50% of normal value.
Traits
As a 4-man squad with rifles for 280 manpower, they are possibly the least cost-effective infantry unit in the early game, though they are fairly accurate and sturdy. Much of their early value lies in their utility abilities, mainly construction of munitions and fuel caches. In cover or in buildings, however, they suddenly work their bolt actions much quicker, allowing them to hold their own against Grenadiers and Volksgrenadiers. They can further take advantage of this bonus by laying trenches or sandbags. They can be devastating when boarding an open-topped halftrack as they retain cover combat bonus, even in a mobile transport. Assault infantry will still make short work of them, though, unless another Tommy squad backs them up.
After investments in munitions and fuel to give them grenades, special weapons and medical supplies or artillery flares, as well as a 5th squad member, they scale well in the lategame and become worth their cost. They also receive decent veterancy bonuses - although not as strong as Obersoldaten, they fulfill the same role with just enough effectiveness to matter, for three-quarters the cost.
The biggest flaw of the infantry section is their lack of light anti tank equipment. Where Grenadiers, Volksgrenadiers, Riflemen, or Conscripts are capable of fending light vehicles off with their Panzerfausts and AT Grenades, Tommies do not have this luxury. They can be equipped with PIATs, but this hinders their anti infantry capabilities. This is the biggest flaw of British, as they cannot fight light vehicles off without dedicated anti tank units. Because of this, light vehicle rushes for 222 Scout Car, Halftrack with flame projector, or Panzer II Luchs Light Tank are dangerous.
However, there is a special version of this unit: the Tank Hunters Infantry Section, a doctrinal unit that is called in, available to the Special Weapons Regiment. This section is similar in most aspects but costs 20 more manpower and comes equipped with two AT rifles and more importantly, a HEAT grenade. The AT rifles can be a menace to light vehicles without losing too much Anti-Infantry effectiveness and the HEAT grenade is the true anti-tank snare for the British forces. The have the ability to detect nearby vehicles temporarily. This unit counterbalances the British weakness against early game vehicle rushes.
Abilities
Distribute Medical Supplies - The squad heals itself and nearby allies while out of combat. Costs Nothing.
Coordinated Fire - The infantry section throws a flare, causing each available base howitzer to fire six shells onto the spot of the flare.
Throw No.36 "Mills Bomb" - Throws a Mills Bomb, a British anti-personnel grenade.
Upgrades
Pyrotechnics Supplies - Increases the squad sight range and unlock the Coordinated Fire Ability.
Medical Supplies - Alternatively to the Pyrotechnical Supplies, the section can choose to equip medical supplies. These provide free healing to infantry around them and to squad members, provided they are out of combat.