One reason for me is that during early missions, the machinegunners seem to be more useful for clearing rooms and going full auto outdoors if the enemy is swarming all over your squad. As such, my early squad has:

2 Snipers
2 MG
1 Engineer
1 Scout

Later on when the snipers get the powerful (some say overpowered) Always Critical perk, then replace 2xMG with 2x snipers

I checked my snipers in the base (the ones I don't use), and they already have their skill points spent, and NOT on (or towards) the Always Critical Perk.

Yer don't leave it till the very end :P
When the snipers at base are about level 7-8, take them with you. They would have *some* skills relevant towards the Always Crit ability. That ability is a Godsend for the latter levels.

The snipers at the base are level 7 now in my current playthrough, and they are still FIVE levels away from the Always Crit perk - and I'm already storming the Unknown Complex and have only Switzerland left to do.

Eh, it wouldn've been a good idea, I admit - having four snipers in the team with that perk sounds brutal. :)

EDIT: Actually I just discovered something strange - the skills of the members left at the base are random! I kept reloading a savegame and the snipers at the base often had different skill progression each time I reloaded. There were about three variations that kept apperaring and that 'five levels away from Always Crit' I mentioned earlier was still the best I could get out of the system.

Penetration is in and works the same in Silent Storm. They just didn't make the stat visible to the player like in Sentinels. Also it's pretty messed up in Silent Storm as the only rifle caliber that can penetrate PK's is the 7.62x54R, something they fixed in Sentinels. They cheated on the 7.62x54R which is why it's so good. Novik posted the formula on the strategycore forums but it won't do you folks any good without the editor.

Back on topic. Silent Storm infantry weapons that will damage PK's:

Heavy grenades. RPG-xx and the PWM-1.
7.62x54R weapons. Mosin, SVT, AVS and DP.
The PIAT is the only AT weapon that works.

Kinda screwed over the Axis guys didn't they?

I also recommend CCChargin's Skill Watchdog Hack to cut out the boring grinding for medical and engineering skill. Nice thing is you can easily edit the numbers to your tastes. I set mine so engineers and medics gain 5 points per level and all other skills only gain one point.

1. Don't play with watchdog. It makes this game too easy.

2. I recommended play with smaller team. The smaller the team, the faster you forget about watchdog :) You can also finish the game only with main character (which is tough, but fun). My favourite set: sniper, scout, soldier and grenadier. You don't really need engineer for most part of the game. Medic isn't that useful too, if you play smart. By the way, both of this classes have broken skills.

3. Use shurikens. They're one of the most powerful weapon in game. If you have a grenadier, or scout choose perks that will make you a better thrower. With the lower AP cost per throw you can kill enemy for 8 AP (or 6 with grenadier, as I remember) just by using 2 shurikens, so you can kill even 5 people in 1 turn. And you can still be undetected. Much strength appreciated (on higher levels, throwing range is just ridiculous).

4. PKs are for pussies.

If I made any mistake, I'm sorry. My english isn't perfect :) I tried to write as simply as I can.

The PWM-1 grenade is THE best infantry tool for beating a PK (the item code is 358). In most cases it will kill or disable it in one hit. Its an Axis weapon so i dunno why you're talking about them getting "screwed over" :P

Also most people don't realise this, but the Sea-Devil rifle does almost full damage to someone inside a PK. Making it best "standard" weapon against PKs in the game. Try it out you'll see.

One of the best mod for a game! So many weapons and other nice stuff!

Is it just me or the resupply of engineering tools is even more limited than we thought.

At first I thought picks and probes get resupplied after every campaign missions.
Then I check middle to late game it's not every, but once in a while.
And late game it's not even supplied at all. To be more precise, Axis Campaign, at Unknown Complex, and Berger Factory, there's no resupply of them. Luckily there's a resupply after leaving Berger's, so we have some probes to use for Org Base.

I check because I throw all the picks and probes on the ground of the arsenal.

One factor that keep it not as dire as it should be is that German Research RE map, that appear at the bordering line dividing upper right and lowering right quarters of Brandenburg, sometimes that picks and probes. More probes than picks. I know it because I farm it almost exclusively. the nearby German underground base at the major street intersection , northeast of it, is 3typegun only, so not really worth~ (I cant open Hannover so I dont know if its REs help).

I will recheck it with Allied campaign, but this time throw them on main office. Luckily I think UK got some RE got chests with loot.
EDIT: recheck. The allied campaign got resupply often enough that we have a little surplus. But the axis, when we try again after that, is screwed side ways and tattoo royal blue. I got a streak of 5 mission going on without any resupply, something I dont remember happen with the last Axis, and I am down to the last Advanced Lockpick. Admittedly this run I dont do the farming RE, but still. And this is with Skill Watchdog to ensure our Engineering keep up with levels and no need to train, and just do the pick lock in missions. Side note: I rearrange the inventory storage skill by making sure items fall into one group. Like 10 forceps at once, then 12 dynamite, for example. And all the picks and probes get dropped into the hall 1 to make sure no mistake.
(when I move the dropped wires from hall 1 to hall 2, two missions later I get a resupply, 2 probe, 2 advanced, and 2 set along with same amount in picks. Dont know what to think about that~)

Conclusion: in miscelanous-class loots, we got more medical than engineering, and more probe than pick.
Recommendation: Either use a mod that increase the number of uses in each engineering items. Or use cheat codes to insert more picks. Above all, use Skill Watchdog to make sure you dont have to waste tools to train Engineering. No Guilt!

The Sea Devil Rifle basically does normal damage to people in PKs. I won't say how to get this gun because I hate spoilers ;)

And I came up with this method of laying successful mines. I promise you, the enemy sets them off almost every time:
http://imgur.com/abt4vst