Partisan Guide

So, Tovarich, we have been asked to brief you about our Partisan forces. Many brave men were cut off and encircled by the Germans during their huge advances in 1941, but our men refused to lay down their arms and surrender. Many civilians have also fled from the German occupation forces and have scrounged whatever weapons they can find. Just by existing, they are a significant problem for the Germans; however, we need officers like you to take command and properly direct them, so that they can best aid our conventional forces.

We will not be able to send you any heavy units, the equipment your forces have will often be non-standard and their training is basic. The Germans will usually beat you in a straight fight, so you must use intelligence, guile, stealth and opportunism, in order to ensure that you do not grant the enemy that opportunity.

This guide was written for the state of the game in January 2015 and mostly from the perspective of a large team player (3v3 and up). However, we also have some 1v1 input from a Strategy Specialist who likes to play unconventionally: thank you, Lenny12346.

This is an entirely passive ability, which enables you to listen into the Axis announcements, as they build units and buildings, and can enable you to identify enemy caches. The tactical map also pings the position, when a build is completed, or an enemy unit enters the battlefield.

The Partisans are a 4 man squad who can spawn from any unoccupied building, but if you try to make them spawn from an occupied building, the Partisans will enter the map from your base (like a normal unit). You can, of course, sometimes prefer simply to select the Partisans to spawn from your base, rather than an outlying building.

The Partisan squads come in 3 flavours:

• SMGs
  
• SVTs (same rifle as Penals)
  
• LMG42 w/Rifles

Abilities:
Can build mines and wire.
Can throw Molotovs, if you have researched them.



At VET 1, they can lay trip wire flares, like Conscripts. 10 MUN

29/9/15
Automatically with PPSH now
Can throw 45 MUN frag grenade without needing research, uses same cooldown as Molos
Come with camouflage and Hold-Fire for Ambush

A 4 man squad which spawns like normal Partisans, with either a Panzerschreck or two PTRS; the Panzerschreck team is probably the best allied AT squad in the game.

Abilities:

• Can build mines and wire.
  
• Can throw AT Grenades if you have researched them.

At VET 1, they can lay trip wire flares like Conscripts. 10 MUN


29/9/15
Automatically with Panzerschreck now
Come with camouflage and Hold-Fire for Ambush

For 15 seconds, all Units and Buildings are visible on the mini-map. This does not give vision for off-map strikes, but you can see the unit type, if not in garrison.

A targeted vehicle takes double damage for the duration of the ability.

Update 22/2/15. It is now 35%, Thank you Sarantini

With no call-in tanks or heavy off map abilities, this is not a Commander for people, whose idea of fun is to research as many of the biggest, baddest tanks they can as possible, then drive around the map killing everything, whilst humming the Panzerlied or March of the Soviet Tankmen. Instead, this doctrine rewards good communication and appreciation of the overall situation. This Commander is sometimes better used to help your allies win their fights, than to help you win your own.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of this Commander, is that you can quickly influence fights in parts of the map where you have no units, relatively cheaply. A battle happening elsewhere can be decisively affected, by calling out one or more Partisan squads and/or marking a target. Even better, is to cripple an enemy tank from behind, with a mine or AT grenade, whilst the tank is trying to escape from the attention of your teammates.

Most other Commanders only have one off-map ability, and that will cost a substantial amount of munitions; there are three Soviet doctrines that have 2 (Anti-Infantry, NKVD Rifle and Terror). The only other doctrine that has 3 abilities to influence a distant fight, is the Ostheer Close Air Support, and these have much higher CP values and munitions costs than Partisans.

In fact, you may wish to view Partisans less as units, and more as an off-map strike which costs mere manpower (and some munitions, to throw a grenade). Not least, because of their relatively high reinforcement cost and generally indifferent use as line infantry, you probably do not want the Partisans to survive, and the fact that, by definition, they have spawned in enemy territory, means they are probably not going to make it out alive anyway.

You also have very good intelligence about what the enemy is doing, through Radio Intercept, and you can relay this to your teammates. This works better if you are using voice chat and it also assumes that your teammates are going to be paying attention – which in random games cannot be guaranteed. With Spy Network, you can reveal enemy concentrations, strike where the enemy is weakest and flank. Mark Vehicle is what keeps your Partisans relevant in the late game, since the Axis will usually have high value targets for you to pinpoint.

Partisans are not especially durable in combat, and are relatively expensive to reinforce. Accordingly, they are best used sparingly, in order to leverage their unique capabilities. Also, because they are generally indifferent to keep around as line units, they should be regarded as expendable. One important exception to this are the Anti Tank guys with Panzerschrecks, who should be cherished as the best allied AT infantry in the game. No, we are serious.

It is also important to remember that your other abilities are either invisible to the enemy (Radio Intercept, Spy Network), or present in other Commanders (Mark Target). Depending on your other Commander choices, and how much attention your opponents are paying, it will often not be until you deploy any Partisans that your opponent will realise that you have selected this Commander. If you show the Partisans too early for a minimal advantage, the enemy will be alerted (unless they have fallen asleep at their posts - unlikely!); on the other hand, you also do not want to delay using Partisans in-game for too long, waiting for “The Right Moment”, since that special moment might never come.

Generally, you will want to deploy the Partisans just behind the fighting, to directly affect the outcome of the fight, but occasionally, you will want to spawn deep behind the enemy lines – your Partisans will be on their own, but the chances are the enemy will not be anywhere close to them, so they will have more time to carry out their allotted tasks.

Partisans themselves tend to lack DPS, so you want to requisition Molotovs and AT Grenades for their use, as well as mines. Unless you are laying mines or trying to decap a point, you generally want the Partisans to pop out in the rear of fighting, rather than well behind it, since isolated Partisans can be easily killed, even by wounded and depleted Axis units. Tempting as it may be to try to launch Molotovs at an OKW med truck, you may well find the enemy healing and reinforcing faster than you can kill them, if your squad is on its own.

Uses include:

• Spawning them behind team weapons that are holding up your, or your teammates' advance.
  
• Recon, including providing line of sight for your teammates' call-in strikes.
  
• Placing mines in unexpected and unwelcome places (like retreat routes).
  
• Placing wire to disrupt enemy retreats and pathing (this generally takes a long time though).
  
• Decapping cut-offs, resource points and killing caches.
  
• If there is fixed artillery outside his base, kill it. Even losing the vet and having to recrew will be unwelcome – but recrewing it for yourself is highly amusing, if you have the opportunity.

In addition, AT Partisans can add the following:

• Taking out bunkers from behind, which even PTRS teams will do quite nicely.
  
• If you come across an OKW truck, then a single squad can kill it. Given time, if you have the chance to hit an unprotected truck which is setup (or being setup), it is often worthwhile bringing in several squads to take it out.
  
• Destroying Mortar Half Tracks, Panzerwerfers, and especially Stuka zu Fuss. These are high value targets, whifch are well worth killing and often alone. Just make sure you throw an AT Grenade first to snare it, then finish it off.
  
• Crippling a tank from behind with an AT Grenade which is engaged with your teammates.
  
• Killing vulnerable armor which has retreated for repair; if it is under repair, remember that the two types of Partisans use separate cool downs, so you can call a normal squad to deal with any Pios as well as an AT squad for the tank.

There is also nothing to stop you keeping Partisans out of sight when you spawn them, and then attacking with several squads at once - this, however, requires a lot of manpower float. You have nothing except 'Mark Vehicle' upon which to spend munitions in the late game, so you can afford to be profligate in your use of grenades and mines and use them at every available sensible opportunity.

A standard T1 or T2 and T3 or T4 build will be fine. As your Partisans rely heavily on grenades for effectiveness, you will very likely want to unlock these as well – this does not necessarily commit you to building Conscripts, though you can certainly open with them. However, if you are not careful, you can find yourself with a mixed force of Conscripts and Partisans by midgame, which are eating up your pop cap and killing your MP income, without adding much breadth of capability.

or

On the face of it, T2 is generally the better choice, since T1 both overlaps with your Partisans and you will also almost certainly want ZIS Guns later, to supplement your own AT. However, an arranged team (or alert randoms*) can compensate for this; a T1 M3 clown car build is not only strong against OKW, but also provides early munitions use (which is not a resource you are going to lack) and an early build pause after your second M3 clown car, which you can use to research your med truck and grenades. Later on, you have the choice between T3 or T4.

or

T3 gives you the M5 for its utility, but basically means you are building T-34s for the rest of the game as your heaviest armour. Mark Vehicle helps here, but it only affects damage not penetration – so if you do not penetrate in the first place, it is of no use. However, enough T34s can swarm and maybe ram, especially if an AT squad is in support. You can expect to lose a lot of T34s though, since even in conjunction with teammates fighting late game, facing Axis armour with stock T-34s, is not something you can undergo without losses.

T-70s will not add anything; they will not have the value of surprise, since you have probably spent fuel to research grenades, so the T70 will not come early. You also already have good recon and other ways to kill light armour. Generally you select T3 if you are already winning or want to be more active, though the choice in part depends on what your teammates are doing.

With T4, you have the option to build Katyushas or SU-85s. This will probably cause you fewer losses than T34s, enabling you to spend more MP on Partisans – it will also be appropriate if your team are going munitions heavy and are short on fuel. Katusyhas will let you fight blobs which you are otherwise poorly equipped to deal with, as well as to smash trucks and defences from range. SU-85s will be helpful if the game goes long and you look likely to face heavy Axis armour in numbers.

Some people will suggest that there is a third unit you can build from T4, these people are Right Deviationists, Wreckers and/or Trotskyists and possibly Fascist Agents to boot. Report them to your Zampolit and ignore their input.

* Alert random teammates are not a Capitalist myth, however the SU-76 is.

The Partisan Commander is best suited to Urban maps, however Partisans can be used on maps with fewer buildings, not least because no one will expect them, and the buildings that do exist are often in important and useful locations. Maps like this include Hill 331 in particular, because of the positioning of the VPs and the buildings; Steppes too has buildings in interesting places, but the most relevant are the ones at the bottom and these are easily neutralised. Lazur Factory looks like it would be well suited to this Commander, but as it is mostly ruins, it works out almost as bad as Steppes. Lienne Forest left can be helpful if your team has not taken the city. Vielsam is to be treated with consideration, as the Partisan Commander tends to use a lot of mines, and this is a map where people tend to buy mine sweepers.

Radio Intercept works from the start, so that is an argument for making your choice early for maximum impact. However, it is frequently advisable to wait and see how the game develops, before picking a Commander and that is often appropriate here, since you may wish to see how the game develops, before committing to a choice. It may well be that, even if the map is suitable for Partisans, the situation on the ground will not be.

The Partisan Commander has no "orthodox" elite infantry (like Guards and Shock Troops, nor any call-in tanks, so you should consider picking other Commanders accordingly, who give access to both - such as Shock Rifle Frontline and Guards Motor Coordination. In addition, as Partisans prosper on an urban map, you wish to chose an ISU-152 Commander, in order to have that as an option for more open maps.

Reserve Army Irregulars will be somewhat similar to Partisans, so that adds little breadth. Urban Defence is also a good choice on Urban maps, so in turn overlaps with Partisans, but some view them as complementary Commanders.

Since you may wish to tech grenades before picking a Commander, you may wish to choose Conscript-based Commanders like Advanced Warfare, Conscript Support and Tank Hunters.

• Intelligence is only as good as the people using it, make sure you are good at using it. Your Partisan teammate will be able to supply you with valuable data about the enemy, even without talking to you directly - e.g. when he brings out Partisans, and uses Spy Network.
  
  
• Be ready with hard hitting armor and AT Guns, especially when he has "Marked a Target".
  
  
• He does not have Shocks, Guards or Heavy Armor; be prepared to fill the gap.
  
  
• Be ready to launch off-map strikes on targets for which he provides visibility, even if you
  do not coordinate to do that.

3% Partisan Accuracy. Uncommon
10% Partisan dispatch cooldown. Uncommon

The first of these is useful, the second much less so, since the cooldown is only 15 seconds anyway, so 1.5 seconds will not make much difference.

Also there are:

10% faster wire and mines, not often used in normal situations. However if you building these behind the enemy lines you will often be under time pressure

If you are happy to commit to a core build, you may wish to use bulletins that buff your unit of choice (T34s or SU-85s; you will end up building a lot of them, so they might as well be good.


Update:
7% range on Molotovs which will also help Conscript squads and stacks with itself.
This does not apply to Partisans, only cons. Thank you Sarantini

By its very nature, this is a reactive Commander who seizes opportunities, so there is not that much you can plan well in advance. However, currently OKW have Volksgrenadiers with Panzerschrecks, which shut down medium armor and Obersoldaten with LMG-34s, for which they do not pay munitions (and which results in much forum debate). It is a pity the Allies cannot requisition Panzerschrecks, or potent upgrades without paying munitions - oh wait they totally can, courtesy of the Partisans.

What follows is an attempt to leverage that fact, but it is crucially dependent upon the ratio between different types of Partisans, as to when you call them in - and there is no firm data on that. As such, it is pretty speculative.


Open with Penal squads and M3 clown cars:







It will take a while before the M3s arrive, but your Penals will not go anywhere faster by walking, where they will not arrive as quickly by waiting for the M3s. Meanwhile your engineers can go cap. When you research your Penal battalion, mount up in the M3, go kill Kubelwagens and mess up any OKW players, but try to avoid Ostheer, because Grenadiers can panzerfaust your M3s. Think carefully before buying flamethrowers, since you may need the munitions for satchel charges, in order to take out trucks. Whilst you are doing that, you probably do not want to be building anything else, so get ready for Partisans:



Not necessarily in that order, but depending upon needs. By this point, you should have reached over 1CP, and be knocking on 2CP. You need to reach to 2CP, so that you can start calling in tank hunters, although you might want to call in some normal Partisans before then, in order to lay mines and supplement your Penals.

Partisan Tank hunters with Panzerschrecks should be kept alive; Partisans with PTRS are expendable - these are your "volunteers" who will throw AT grenades and go lay mines in dangerous places. A similar approach is true of Partisans with LMGs, which are valuable, and those with SVT and PSSH, who are not as good. However, the core of the build is the Partisan Tank Hunters.

Ideally, you want to build up a force of Partisans with Panzerschrecks, who you should cherish. Whilst doing that, lay mines and wire with the Partisans who you do not want to keep, so do not worry about reinforcing them. When you can, tech up to T3:



You want to research at least one M5:




And you want to upgrade it with the AA package

After that:



Possibly with another M5:

The M5s you should preferably keep close to the Partisans with Panzershrecks; the Partisans will kill armor, whilst the M5s keep Axis infantry away and allow reinforcement of a depleted squad. Whilst doing that, build up your T34s to provide a strike force and to assist your allies in taking out Axis targets, using all the dirty tricks outlined above.

If you feel the urge you can add:




A Conscript squad will allow you to build sandbags, it is also cheaper to merge the Cons into Partisan squads and then reinforce the Conscripts, than it is to reinforce Partisans direct. This might, however, entail more tedious micro than you prefer.

If the odds of Panzerschrek v PTRS are 1:1, then the implied cost of each Panzerschreck squad is 540 MP - but zero munitions - and you can do stuff with the PTRS guys anyway. I have seen games when it has been better, which would lower the implied cost: at a ratio of 2:1 it would be 405 MP per Panzerschreck squad.

This is why this strategy is somewhat dependent on data we do not possess, and why once you research the Partisan Panzerschreck tank hunter squad, you should try to keep them alive (hence the M5s).

You should use your Combat Engineers to repair/plant desired demo charges, while the Partisans deal with fortifying with mines/wire! You should use Partisans to gain an (un)expected advantage in crucial engagements! Example: you play on Minsk, you cannot outflank an MG position, so you spawn a Partisan unit and throw (teched) Molotovs at the MG, which forces it to retreat and then afterwards, your Partisans try to take high priority support units. AT-guns/Mortars.

If you have enough Conscripts in an area, you can make a surprise attack against light vehicles such as the 222, Ostheer HT, OKW flak HT, or perhaps even a Luchs, using a sneaky AT-nade (also pre-teched) and afterwards taking the vehicle down with the primary weapons of the AT-partisan squad, or supportive AT-nades from Conscripts.

! Fun fact: OKW HT goes down to 3 AT-nades. To take out a Luchs requires 4 AT-nades! Consider researching an early munition cache, because the Partisan Commander benefits so well from a large munition income. Link orders with Shift+RightClick. Novice players do not always know this, but it is really vital to learn when playing with Partisans or fortifying in general. T2+T3 gives you both the defence and the offence(T34/76) that you need to survive on the battlefield, whilst giving your opponent some asskicking, with a surprise engagement supported by some all-around armor! If you are going for T4, note that Spy Network and Katyushas benefit extremely well from one another! (Remember to use the tacmap, so you can plan your nasty barrages even more efficiently!) - please note that a circle is displayed on the minimap when you hover the barrage spot on the map. You can also use this to further achieve your desired goal of destruction! lenny

Beware of partisans!

Passage at the mininum of two vehicles only!

Keep weapons ready!

The Partisan Commander is rarely encountered, and even more rarely to its full potential - the AI certainly does not. The simple way to counter the Partisans, is to destroy every building on the map, which is not always feasible, but a Pioneer squad with a flamethrower, or an OKW truck can make a start with those houses and buildings at strategic locations. You can also put your own units in buildings, in order to prevent Partisan spawn. Mechanized units can travel to hotspots quickly.

There is no way to counter radio intercept or recon; though you can try subtle misdirection, by altering your spawning points – e.g. spawning your tanks on the left side, then moving them to attack on the right side, may cause the Soviet to make some false assumptions about your intentions. However, most players are not going to be paying that much attention to where things are being built, and instead rely upon the audio.

Just be aware that the Soviet is reading your mail, and that the enemy team can see your minimap when they want to. You may then wish to keep a more central deployment, in order to avoid giving the Soviets any clues as to which way you are going. All that is a bit advanced, however, since most players will not use the Partisan Commander to that extent.

More helpfully, you should be aware that Partisans can spawn from any unoccupied building and that you have no true front line. You may wish to pull units out of the fight earlier than you would otherwise, to avoid them being attacked on retreat and wiped out; this is also true of vehicles, since retreating vehicles with a mere sliver of health, will be very vulnerable targets for Tank Hunters. Also, expect that any high value armor target will be a Marked Target, and any you are trying to retreat will receive an AT grenade thrown at it, or run over a mine at the most inconvenient time. In general, this means you must be more cautious than usual with your units.

Be very cautious about putting anything you do not want to lose next to buildings; this includes things like artillery, both fixed and mobile, as well as team weapons. Consider keeping something nearby, which can react to threats coming from behind.

Bunkers are not as good good, since they can be easily be stalked and taken out from behind by tank hunters.

ostheer

If needed, two pioneers, one with a flamethrower and one with a minesweeper, will be useful to patrol the backfield. They can remove any mines, kill buildings and fight Partisan squads reasonably well.

If a lot of Partisans are appearing, the Ostwind is often useful, since it has good Anti-Infantry ability and mobility. Whilst it is often not a front line unit, it can be kept back for its AAA duties and is also durable enough to take a few hits from Tank Hunters, and still keep firing.

okw

If necessary, one Sturmpio squad can patrol backfield and clear mines, but will be unable to kill buildings.

Be very, very careful where you place your trucks. Tank Hunters can kill them given numbers or time and a barrage of Molotovs at your retreat point, can really put a damper on your day. Pretty much every vehicle you buy is a high value target.

We hope you find this guide helpful in employing this under-appreciated and unique commander.

In addition to those mentioned in the credit we would like to express our appreciation to everyone who contributed photos to the thread, some of which we have borrowed for this guide, but especially to afrrs and Crecer13.

22/2/15 Sarantini confirms some things in the game file:
Changed Mark Target to 35%
Molotov Bulletin does not work for Partisans

23/6/15 New patch

I don't think this will change very much for this doctrine, but I will be giving it some attention anyway.

As a minus there are the changes to AT-Grenades that mean they are no longer necessarily an engine crit

As a plus the buffs to the M5 mean that anchoring your infantry around one becomes better


And the SU-76 is not terrible anymore

29/9/15 Update for post-patch September 17th

Since this guide came out there have been a number of changes that affect the viability of this commander almost all of them for the better.

With the changes to Soviet tech structure one now typically has access to both T3 and T4, and further with less of a reliance on call in tanks commanders without them have been de facto buffed.

In addition Partisans themselves have seen a couple of changes:

Partisans spawn automatically with PPSH and Tankhunters automatically with Shrecks. This makes getting them less of a lottery and allows easier accumulation of the AT-Shreck blob proposed back in the original text.

Further both Partisan types have Camouflage and Hold-fire, apart from facilitating an undetected build up in the enemy back field and devastating alpha strikes, this also enables them to stay cloaked and give line-of-sight as general recon or for your allies off-map strikes.

Basic Partisans now also have access to a fragmentation grenade for 45 MUN without needing to tech, this is excellent for hitting retreat points and as it uses the same cooldown as the Molotov it is possible that you may not want to pay the cost to research them even if the grenades themselves are more expensive. It's not like this tends to be a munitions heavy commander in any case.




Protecting a core of AT Partisans from infantry with an upgraded M5 is still possible but they will not be able to reinforce from it once it is upgraded, so you either want one of each or skip on field reinforcement.

As one does not necessarily want to unlock molotovs as you already have the frag grenade, you may wish to skip that tech and go T2 into fast T3 and get one or more units from there for immediate impact.

In the longer term, T4 now offers the T34/76 in addition to the SU-85 and Katusyha, so balancing your final composition now involves more choice. You still have good intel to direct Katusyha strikes, as you lack hard-hitting off-map abilities. SU-85 generally suffer less attrition freeing up MP for Partisans, but hit hard and are easy to screen with mines and AT-Partisans. T34/76 remain the most aggressive option.