The shovel is really a pretty useful tool, but in more recent campaigns seems quite lacking in use. While digging trenches can be quite useful, their use still seems quite crude. I think being able to enable an option of “snapping” certain structure types into a shovel-dug trench could prove rather useful.
Examples include:
- Sandbags, they can snap into the sides of the trench, possibly reaching all the way up the sides, to help block some explosive damage. (I’ve used this tactic in their current form, and it works to help reduce blast effects. Its just very difficult to place currently.)
- Barbwire. Its already a common tactic to put barbwire in a trench, allowing snapping could make it a bit easier to place, and less instances of it sticking out the top at awkward angles. This is an issue because it makes it far too easy to deconstruct from behind a wall or other cover.
- MG nest. Snapping to the side of a trench it could lower the machinegun closer to the ground, without it being too low to operate. This can increase their survival rate especially in combo with additional sandbags around the sides. Allowing engineers to make more effective improvised bunkers, which can often turn the tide of a battle.
- AAA gun. Snapping into a trench would flatten the ground beneath it, giving it a bit better angle if built into a slight slope.
- Czech Hedgehog. (Possibly controversial). This would take quite a bit more work, but I really think needs to be considered, please hear me out. If this structure is placed in a dug-out trench, it should change the object itself, into supports for a “bridge” of sorts, also creating a connection between them on the top. I bring this up for multiple reasons. The main one being that its a common tactic to dig a trench, to be able to stop tanks, in the current build of the game. Its ridiculously effective, completely stopping all tank traffic through that location, permanently. Adding this could add an option to change that. In addition, it could create some top cover for infantry, giving an option to counter Artillery that is extremely OP without much way to counter it.