Give Me Tips

I haven't even watched this replay but I feel like maybe it has examples of places where I could improve. Critique me if you want! I would love to get better.

Woops double post.

Now that builds are getting a bit more polished I think the four Conscript opening is too slow and very manpower intensive. I would rather see the fourth unit you build be a Combat Engineer and to build tier 2 or upgrade Molotovs. Basically getting a force multiplier to lock down an area of the map.

Conscripts cost 20 to reinforce while set up teams cost 15, even the HM-38 120mm mortar. Maxims can effectively hold down important sectors to get you faster resources and allow the rest of your mobile infantry to flank. They provide a really efficient manpower trade with how many model kills they can get and the ability to shoot even while pinned.

Guards are also essential if you are upgrading your Conscripts so much since button slows any vehicle to a crawl and reduces vision to almost zero giving you time to sticky bomb them.

This game when he goes into the house with the 42 you could have made a quick smaller mortar to negate it or a Maxim and sent it to the south with infantry support. Neither molotovs nor stickies are really going to help all that much in the first five minutes. The gas you save on upgrading the scripts so early can be invested in T3 or 4 for a fast T70 or Su-76.

First things first - the maps without snow/blizzards are infinitely more fun to watch/play in. There's a fluidity to the game that is much more enjoyable and familiar. A blizzard while you're being pinned back in your base would have 1. allowed you to come out (unfairly as he's much better at the game then you) 2. prolonged this another 10 minutes. /exitblizzardblowsDICKrant

Secondly, this guy is simply a much better player than you in terms of micro and macro. His strategy of going t1-t3 was really strong, and once he secured his side he was constantly depriving you of fuel. The game really hinged on him saving that first mg and getting it in that house at the beginning. Does anyone else really enjoy this map btw? Screams Ango (even in the snow). You wasted time and munitions constantly throwing molotovs even as this guy rarely got stuck in one.

Your reliance on HtD to win you engagements ended exactly in the cheap failure that it realistically should. If I understand it right, and I don't think it's implementation is good at all at the moment, HtD is a defensive weapon, not an offensive one. It should be used to prolong a fight so that you can get other units into it...not sprint up and slam yourself on the ground, in no cover, and expect results. Because you selected your doctrine for HtD, basically that entire part of your plan failed. He used the offensive capability of the officer squad for fuck sake...and you just slapped HtD on and prayed for the best. Clearly he has thought long and hard on how to deal with your strat. Here you lacked versatility or adaptability to the resulting situation. He spammed T1, yet you continued to think a mortar, or an OP maxim, or an AT gun for that T3 rush wasn't ever going to be needed, even after no t2 units appeared on the field.

If it makes you feel any better, Kholonbifdgoifdgughwhatever is probably one of the only maps where osteer are really allowed to shine simply because it's small with a distinct cutoff. The other ones in rotation? Not so much.

Thanks for the tips Dave! Those are really helpful! I thought HtD would be good on the offensive because the difference between "sprinting up and slamming yourself into the ground" and "hitting the dirt to prolong a defensive engagement" seems to be non-existent: there's no such thing as a "defensive" or "offensive" engagement when it comes to the numbers and what the units are actually doing - engagements are only defensive or offensive depending on their overall strategic context. If Conscripts can win a "defensive" engagement with hit the dirt by prolonging it until reinforcements arrive, they can win an offensive one like that. And I agree with you about the blizzards

Defensive means you're trying to hold territory that give you an advantage. Traditionally this isn't done immediately outside your base...

Offensive means you're being aggressive and trying to take territory from the opponent that is valuable (ie a cutoff or a fuel/muni point). In reality the soviet army mirrors the Americans with hints of brits while the osteer are a hybrid between wehr and PE as far as the meta game goes. Against good opponents on balanced maps you will have to use combined arms to gain a victory or elite micro ability - you used neither of those here. Of course, you could always make 2 scout cars and lame yourself to victory, but, again, I think that strat is becoming more map dependent.

While sitting there fighting him in HtD you weren't gaining any resources therefore he out tech'd you because you refused to build T2 to dig yourself out of an early resource dearth.

K Pumpkin?

A developer just said in the HTD has to go thread that the defensive bonuses stack with cover.