[Shadowstar]

Proper infantry would be cool but I'm not sold on it. It could potentially add to gameplay, but the existing system supports vehicles better than infantry, and there's really no reason to add infantry (aside from aesthetics), when you can pretty much achieve the same gameplay variety by modding vehicles.

Besides, from a realism angle, if you're going to be deploying your army in different environments, you end up saving yourself alot of time and money in the end by just putting them all in tanks (alien-environment battle-suits for 5 men end up being more expensive to maintain and repair than a 5-man tank). If you want to simulate the actions of special forces squads or infiltrators, that seems to fall more under the area of intelligence than armed conflict.

Now, I could possibly see the value of using unmechanized infantry for militia, since they wouldn't need to adapt to any other environment than thier home environment, which they already breathe, but then I'd give them jetpacks, skis, or some kind of hoverboards so there is some explanation for the fact that they seem to float around in battle. Hey, it may be nit-picky but I like for things to make sense when possible.