A noob going at it (looking for advise)

Hi all!

I just played my first proper PvP game, and it was pretty exciting, even managed to win it, but one allways looks for ways to improve.

so if someone has time / wants to have a laugh seeing 2 noobs doing weird stuff, and could drop some advise, it would be amazing!

my main "concerns" are about my build order and unit choice (should I go conscripts if I'm gonna get guards? the flame truck worked, but it was just my oppo forgetting about the MG?).

Also any macro choice you see weird, the micro will come with time, I guess.

I would also love some advice about the 120mm mortar. The stat page says it was "efficient", but it just killed a guy and did some health damage. I looked it up and on the internet people talk like it's a mean, green, oneshot machine, how do you do that?

I really love the thing, got like 12 for my FoW army, and would like to use it better.

Thanks for your time, I know this is not the "look at this cool stuff" there is usually here.
Meperegri

Hi all!

I just played my first proper PvP game, and it was pretty exciting, even managed to win it, but one allways looks for ways to improve.

so if someone has time / wants to have a laugh seeing 2 noobs doing weird stuff, and could drop some advise, it would be amazing!

my main "concerns" are about my build order and unit choice (should I go conscripts if I'm gonna get guards? the flame truck worked, but it was just my oppo forgetting about the MG?).

Also any macro choice you see weird, the micro will come with time, I guess.

I would also love some advice about the 120mm mortar. The stat page says it was "efficient", but it just killed a guy and did some health damage. I looked it up and on the internet people talk like it's a mean, green, oneshot machine, how do you do that?

I really love the thing, got like 12 for my FoW army, and would like to use it better.

Thanks for your time, I know this is not the "look at this cool stuff" there is usually here.
Meperegri

Your first match ever and you are already in here being part of the community! I'm so happy

I'll try to have a look at it some times this week. For future reference though, remember to post such requests in the appropriate thread, which you can read more about here:
https://www.coh2.org/topic/51711/readme-requesting-a-replay-review

As for your questions about the 120mm mortar, it used to be insanely powerfull a few years back, but the damage has been nerfed since. It is still a very good damage dealer, but less efficient at wiping compared to earlier. However, the real strength of it is in its very long barrage range, which often makes it possible to bombard your opponents head quarters from a safe distance. but if you don't need this, then the standard mortar is also just fine

okay here goes. I'll review as I watch.

- your choice of doctrines is good and your tier 1 opening is fine as well.
- 4:00-5:00: your opening capping is really quite good and you make some good engagements. Don't be afraid to use the houses more though! Even if they only have one or two windows to fire out of, they still trade pretty good and also lets them stay in the fight longer so you can flank with other units.
- 6:00 on maps like crossing, you should try to get the opponents cut-off any time you have the chance. Also VPs are the lowest priority in the early game, so focus on getting fuel and other ressource points instead.
- 7:00 top level clearing of the mg in the house! For a first game you play really well and gives me the impression that you might have watched a few casts or twitch gamers before playing, because you are doing it by the book
- 8:00 quite risky staying in the scout car after getting the first faust. You were lucky that he didn't have enough munitions for the second one. if you can't get away just take your engineers out, because you risk loosing the entire squad if they are in the car when it explodes.
- 12:00 you blob your units too much. This is pretty common when you start out the game, but because of his mortar you suffer serious losses and it also makes your capping less efficient. try to work on this.
- 13:00 Amazing push and amazing steals. This game is probably sealed right there when you wipe a gren and steal the lmg42 plus kill and steal the Pak.
- 14:00 you are a bit to thirsty with your light vehicles which lost you the scout car and also gets your t-70 snared very close to the enemy base without you knowing what he might have comming out. generally you want to stay out of range from snares, especially if you are deep in enemy territory.
- 14:30 your mortar has stayed in your base for a long time at this point. Not that you need it because you a slaughtering your opponent, but remember to move it within usefull range. Also you haven't yet picked up the opponents dropped mortar, even though you had ample opportunity. The best possible way to punish an opponent is to kill their team weapons and take them for yourself. This is even better for soviets as they can man them with six men instead of four. If you can't or don't want a dropped team weapon, then try to destroy it instead so the opponent can't retake it.
- 16:00 against a better opponent you might want to not go as heavy into infantry and get your real tanks out sooner. at this time you push out a second guard, even though you already have one, two penals and two engineers as core combattants. Instead you could have built t4 and gotten a t34/85.
- also try to use some of your extensive amounts of munitions to buld mines on the roads and anywhere you might expect the opponent to come at you.
- 19:00 GG!

this was a pretty convincing win for you, so there is not too much to review. Generally you can get better feedback by either playing a more evenly matched opponent or posting a defeat, so your mistakes are more obvious

But to sum up your pros and cons:

The good:
- you have a very good core grasp of the strategy and game mechanics. Impressive even!
- you handle engagements resonably well and respond well to new threats.

The need-to-work-ons
- You should utilize buildings more and better.
- You should try to blob less
- Try to be better at prioritizing your ressources. if you already have 5-6 infantry units and 250 fuel, you will most likely want a tank rather than yet another squad

Hope this was somewhat helpfull and finally, in an act of shameless self promotion, I would also encourage you to read the guide I have made for beginners and people who want to improve
https://www.coh2.org/guides/70864/from-recruit-to-veteran

Thanks!

I have watched some games... like the whole 2v2 aniversary tournament and half of the 1v1.

the picking up the mortar... I sometimes feel like it is better to have the 6 guys arround than having to send them back to reinforce, but I'll take it into account. I guess that untill pop is a concern free is free, and it's not like you can charge a base with 6 soldiers aniway. (paints on the wall PICK UP DROPPED WEAPONS)

Too much infantry. ok, it's one of the things I had no idea when to stop. Also I have a thing for having at least 2 of each of the non-support stuff if I can, hence the 2nd guard. Maybe get 2 penals + 2 guards?

Not blobbing, yeah, i re-watched teh replay today to test the sistem and there is a mortar hit that hurts to see, will try and spread people more.

I'll re-watch it again with your notes, and then back at it

Thanks!

I have watched some games... like the whole 2v2 aniversary tournament and half of the 1v1.

the picking up the mortar... I sometimes feel like it is better to have the 6 guys arround than having to send them back to reinforce, but I'll take it into account. I guess that untill pop is a concern free is free, and it's not like you can charge a base with 6 soldiers aniway. (paints on the wall PICK UP DROPPED WEAPONS)

Too much infantry. ok, it's one of the things I had no idea when to stop. Also I have a thing for having at least 2 of each of the non-support stuff if I can, hence the 2nd guard. Maybe get 2 penals + 2 guards?

Not blobbing, yeah, i re-watched teh replay today to test the sistem and there is a mortar hit that hurts to see, will try and spread people more.

I'll re-watch it again with your notes, and then back at it

Good to hear!

You don't necessarily have to pick up the mortar (though I would have recommended it in this case), but then you could have dumped a sachel charge on it, so your opponent can't use it again. Never leave abandoned war materiel for your opponents if you at all can avoid it

When going t1 the amount of guards you need depends on the amount of penals with ptrs that you have, so if you only have 2 penals by the time you can get guards then you could get two guards, but don't hold back on building other units if you have the manpower. The rule of thumb here is that you generally don't want much more than 6 units of infantry (the rest should be a mix of team weapons and vehicles)

But I'm happy to hear that you a still hyped about the game so get back in there and keep fighting. It's when you start loosing games that the real learning begins