Uses for Unloved Units #4: 45mm ATG

Where we attempt to find uses for the units no one seems to love, or writes off.

Previous installments:


http://www.coh2.org/topic/14441/uses-for-mechanised-groups

http://www.coh2.org/topic/15471/uses-for-stug-es

http://www.coh2.org/topic/16469/uses-for-unloved-units-3-the-dishka


As of right now the 45mm bulletin appears to be officially the rarest (even though it is not hard to get if you really want it - go play Winter Defence Challenge on General and don't upgrade your Guards with PTRS)


Unfortunatly the 45mm remains in the grossly unloved Defensive Commander and the niche Urban Defense Commander.

Unfortunatly no one really takes the Urban Defense Commander to get 45s, they tend to go T2 and get motars. And if you are getting Mortars, you can get a ZIS. Which is much better than the 45 and not substantially more expensive.


The 45 comes in at 200 MP and 5 Pop Cap.

At least it will Vet fast.


Anybody out there a fan of this unit?

I only get the 45mm with the Urban Defence Commander. Tier 0 for the start with the trademark 4 conscript build and a forward HQ on a building instead of T1/T2 early on. You can then hold the forward point against pretty much anything, while capping a huge amount of the map. You can defraying the manpower cost of the forward HQ by not building medics at your base given the forward HQ has them anyway, meaning the only effective cost is the fuel cost of the building. I think this is a fair trade off, given how insanely powerful the forward HQ can be.

Sane german players will attempt to do one of the following against a forward HQ:-
1) MG's
2) Mortars
3) Mortar HT's
4) scout cars, half tracks, etc.
5) medium armour or call ins, such as stugs

Mg's can easily be countered by sticking a conscript squad in the building and shooting them down combined with flanking from the other 3 squads. Mortars can be dealt with by conscripts running around, since most german commanders tend to retreat mortars as soon as you get within molotov range this tends to discount mortars as a serious threat unless you stick the Forward HQ outside the front door of their base, which is stupid.

Next up is the Mortar HT. The 45mm has about equal range to the ZIS, which means it has more or less the same range as the mortar HT. It also does something like 35% damage to half tracks a shot. If your in open ground and you position your 45mm's correctly and then charge in with a conscript, it's extremely difficult to get a mortar HT out since the HT takes 2 shots realising it's in danger. A third hit gets the kill. My record in a single engagement like this is 2 mortar HT's, plus 2 of the 3 upgunned scout cars that the chap had covering them against AT grenade wielding conscripts. He promptly rage quit.

The 45mm has incredible synergy with AT grenade wielding conscripts when dealing with medium armour IMO. At only 200 for the single 45mm gun, it's very affordable deploying at least two given that you can't get a single ZIS for that if you take the T2 cost into account.

The 45mm moves fast, and can be used to terrify medium armour. You'll rarely get kills without something heavier to finish the job, but you'll always drive it off the field in a smoking wreck assuming that you have any idea about positioning and catching things in a crossfire. Basically, with conscripts it's difficult to get grenade hits on tanks on the side armour because they turn to face the conscript, right? Do that with a 45mm (or two) around and repeated flank hits hurt badly enough that the tank more or less has to retreat. Don't do it, and get the AT grenade and end up disabled reversing slowly out of the fight with 45mm shells raining off the front armour. With the addition of a ZIS, they become an absolute terror to anything short of a tiger.

They can (and do) pay for themselves just in anti inf capability. They don't damage inf much with splash, but they do shred cover quite nicely helping conscripts in the AI role. They do also get direct hits on inf occasionally in prolonged engagements, and those occasions are kills. A single gren kill obviously drops a gren squad by 25%, and lets a conscript easily walk up and finish the job in a 1v1.

Going T4 and adding a SU85 makes the combination a tremendously effective trap since the SU85 can run down anything that the AT guns mangle. Even tigers can't reliably deal with this sort of firepower and have to be wary of it.