Infantry Survivability

[Cross]

Take an average meeting engagement, taking 20 turns. Two forces rush into each other without scouting and once they notice (or not) that they are facing an equal force they still keep going at it at full speed for the remaining 15 minutes. Does that sound historical?

I wouldn't have described a meeting engagement quite like this :) But it's true that this is a game, not a simulation, so has to be balanced in ways that make it fun and challenging while at least appearing to be realistic.

I think SPCamo have bravely avoided the 'Quake' turkey shoot, arcade game. Instead making infantry a serious challenge.

I somewhat see Narwan's point that infantry could/should be made even tougher, but personally I think armour is too easy to kill. Making armour harder to kill would probably make infantry seem less tough, and therefore may achieve a balance that some would prefer.

Realism is tough to model. Weapons may be accurate in test range conditions; but what about in an environment where:

Someone is shooting at you, trying to kill you
There's dust and smoke obscuring vision, and in your eyes
The cry of wounded friends
Organizing the evacuation of wounded
The radio is crackling with counter-orders
Trying to obey orders, while trying to stay alive
Confusion reigns
You are deaf from the noise
Mud, heat, cold
Hands shaking with fear/cold
Haven't slept in days, except a few winks in a ditch
No hot food since...
The battlefield is complete and utter chaos, testing human endurance to its limit

As for accuracy/effectiveness of direct fire HE over MGs, in WWI it is the MG that is generally credited with bringing troops to a standstill, not direct fire HE.