Countering Early Panzer Grenadiers

Someone on COH2.org talked about facing early Panzer Grenadiers.  The essence of the strategy is that the Germans rush straight for Tier 2, saving manpower to crank out the superior PG squads to combat Conscripts (or even Soviet elite infantry).  They tend take back the map and force the Russians back into their base using most cost-effective, stronger infantry.

Here's the original post:
My early game on the Soviet side is pretty much Conscript spam. I try to follow that up in the mid-game with a quick T-34. I'm admittedly not a great play, but I'm able to win about 60% of my games with this strategy and manage to be competitive in most of the ones I lose...until lately.

I've been running into a German strategy that sacrifices early map control for a quick Tier 2. They only build two grens from Tier 1 and maybe one additional engineer. No support units (MGs, snipers, or mortars). In the very early game, I'm able to dominate the map, but at around the 6-7 minute mark (don't quote me on the exact timing), a couple PGren squads hit the field and manage to push me off the map. Maybe 6-7 minutes isn't that early for a PGren, but they seem to churn out 2 or 3 in no time, like they were saving up the manpower until T2 was built. By the time I get my T-34 out at around the 8-minute mark, one of the PGren squads is about to get shreks and there's a good chance they have a Pak on the way.

I think the obvious counter to this is Shock Troops, which I've tried. And maybe that is the right answer and I've just been outplayed (which is entirely possible). In one of the games, I think I was trying too hard to hold off the PGrens with my Conscripts and was draining manpower to reinforce them. As a result, I was only able to afford one squad of Shock Troops before the game was already pretty much over.

Any ideas on how to adapt my strategy once I see that early PGren squad? Or maybe I need a more versatile/flexible early build that will stand a better chance when this happens.




Here are my thoughts:

1. Exploit the early game. Recognize their lack of MGs and start capturing, hard. Especially make sure to deny them both fuels, which should be easy since you'll have more units.
2. Build just enough units to do the job, and no more. If he has two grens and a pioneer, you need no more than four Conscripts squads and could possibly get away with three.
3. Put up a Fuel Depot with your excess manpower, to even further the fuel gap. (see #1, denying his fuel)
4. Figure out what you'll do with all that fuel. You could start with a T-34 and see how long it takes him to get an AT gun. If he busts out the infantry AT, follow up with rocket trucks and Doctrine artillery. Alternatively, skip the T-34 altogether (you can do this if you've denied both fuels, as he then literally has no chance at getting a Stug or stronger onto the field) and just get SU-76s and rocket trucks. The free barrages are insanely good against slow infantry.

Don't be afraid to get MG teams, either. PGs are really slow and expensive, and they're totally useless when suppressed. The fast setup and pickup times of the Maxim (vs. the MG42) makes it much easier to use against PGs.

Hope that helps!

edit: Shock Troops can go toe to toe with PGs, but the point here is not to fight to a draw. Spamming them will only give him more time to bring his tech to bear. Tech "ahead" of him, not to the same level.