I'd like to see some towns occupied rather than 'simply' leveled... I say 'simply' not because it's an easy task.
An occupied town could become an asset, perhaps with factories or offer other logistical support; food, supplies et al and harming these assets while taking said town would reduce it's value to you after taken, and or reduce its value to your foe thus also making it a prime target.
Of course these would be defended by an airfeild and all that comes with one, but also opposing troops. This presents your team with the task of not only reducing these troop numbers, but dropping in a larger force; I'd love to see a mission with 5-10 C47s and supporting bodyguards raining down paratroopers, to fly over an armada of vehicle loaded infantry with tanks headed for an all out assault.... or both.
Intragrated with this concept I'd like to see troops used to help assault airfeilds, rather than bombing hangers all the time, use troops to deny access. A certain number of infantry could occupy and 'secure' these hangers in support of the air assault, of course airfeilds would have thier own defenders that would have to be out numbered or otherwise dealt with.
In a 1 on 1 troop vs troop situation, equal numbers of assaulters and defenders, various AI factors could help determine the outcome. Successful seasoned units gain in value with experience, but also tire and require 'rest' to keep a team from moving / using them too often... for example a battle hard, but rested, strak US Marine unit versus an untested one.
Other aspects of success would be the posisition and direction of assault, two sets of assaulting forces from different directions to flank, dropping paratroopers in 'behind' enemy lines or a combonation thereof.
The greatest aspect of your grunts success is, of course, how well your team supports them, not only combat wise but with re-supply.
Other uses for troops could include forward observers & scouts. Similar to BF1942, a gunner off shore manning the 8" could observe through the binoculars of a well placed FO to more accurately direct artellery... or said FO could offer grid square fire missions. A few well placed scouts could alert teams to oncomming attacks; rather than only relying on "Alert xx" chat messages.
Counter measures include dispatching / dropping patrols to find and report thier locations (or kill/capture them), and of course flying over one and lighting him up. These scouts could request 'help' and you can, if possible, scramble to support them.
