Army size and lacking resource generation

Hi there!

First of all, let me preface this: I'm a newbie, so I'm probably missing something very obvious in the following scenarios. That's why I'm here to ask for some tips to help correct my mistakes.

So, whenever I play 3v3s or 4v4s, I always seem to be behind in army size/resources for some reason, especially during the mid-game. For example, I was using OKW a few matches ago, and I built my tier 2 headquarters into tier 4. Once I could afford my first Panther, I grabbed it and rolled it up to the VP point that I was covering. The enemy player who was contesting that VP, along with another ally, sent some infantry to try to capture the point. I thought that I was fine being that I had the Panther and an MG squad there, plus some misellaneous support units here and there. Suddenly, two Fireflies, two Shermans, a Jackson, and a Cromwell all rush into the point and nearly instakill my Panther. Between the two players, how'd they get the resources to build that much armor when I just got to the point where I could get my first armored unit? Both sides had a fuel point each, so we shouldn't have had a massive difference in resource generation.

I know that the OKW units are more expensive than most other factions, but this happens when I play in other factions as well. If I'm playing as Soviets, for example, and buy a T70 once I can afford it, I'll bring it up to mid only to have it get wrecked by a blob of five or six upgraded Panzergrenadier squads and an AT gun, all owned by the same enemy player. Obviously, I should've been paying attention to it and pulled it back once I saw that blob, but I'm just trying to make a point here. Enemies always seem to be able to afford way more units and upgrades than me, even if we're fairly evenly split on points and map control. Even when I get to the late-game and have two or three tank destroyers and the enemy decides to do a big push, their tanks just keep coming. My armor eventually gets destroyed, and even though I can't afford to buy more, the enemies still have an endless stream of tanks coming in.

So let me get to my question, I guess. Am I supposed to just pump out as many units as I can once I can afford them? I like to have between 300-400 manpower as most times so that if I need an emergency AT gun or replacement set of infantry or something like that, I can get them. Am I supposed to just constantly be creating units though? I don't seem to understand how my enemies can afford so many vehicles as well when I can afford few to no vehicles myself at the time. Along the same lines, am I supposed to be purely armor-focused during the late-game? I usually have a mix of infantry and armor, but it always loses to the sheer amount of enemy vehicles that appear.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Pump out more infantry and a rakuten, gain resource points. Tanks can come much later

Odds are you’re not matching their income in some regard. Either by territory or caches

If the enemy is ahead of you economy wise, it's usually caused by sub-optimal combat performance that translates into map control. You could have the same number of the same troops as the enemy and still fall behind economy wise if you don't take the right engagements. You can exercise your engagement quality by playing some 1v1 or 2v2 games. You can also learn from top rank games via ingame feature for spectators.

Of course 1v1 and 2v2 experience doesn't fully translate into 3v3 and 4v4. In large teamgames your build order and army composition need to be perfectly matched to the situation and terrain, meanwhile in 1v1 you can just go 4 Cons in 95% cases. You should always know why you are building the units that you're building.

Good early game can improve your midgame and snowball your advantage if you play it right. Both the cover mechanic and a larger army can help you win engagements easier. For example, shitty squads in green cover beat elite squads when they are out of cover, also 2 squads win vs 1 similar squad significantly faster and with lower losses. Large teamgames heavily punish retreating squads due to the long distances, this lowers your field presence and translates into lesser map control. Additionally, there are caches that you can build, but this is only really going to improve the lategame. In the early/midgame, it's ususally more efficient to invest MP into squads to just take the point from your enemy. Him not having a point vs you having it is 2x the resource difference. For example, let's assume you and your enemy are both at 26FU income, if you take his FU point, suddenly you earn 33FU and he earns 19FU - this is 14FU difference per minute which is the equivalent of almost 5 fuel caches. If you lose your fuel to the enemy for just 5 minutes without repaying him dearly, you are putting yourself in resource disadvantage.

Once you adjust your build order to the enemy and your surroundings you should be able to improve your resource control and be in the lead.

Last but not least, flanking is super important. You can help your teammates immensely by going behind some enemy forces, forcing them to retreat now, or suffer wipes on retreat later. Sadly, not all maps are good for flanking, which dumbs down the game to frontal stalemate, therefore you should adjust your vetos based on your preferences.

Replays are the best tool you can provide for people to know what you are doing right and wrong.

https://www.coh2.org/replay

Unless you save the replay, it only shows the last game you played under the name temp.rec

Just some things that could help you decide when to invest and your standing in the game. Note ahead: larger game modes usually have earlier timings by about 1 min, also caches are very common and can screw with your assessment. If you see a cache factor that in.

1. Resource income in a perfectly split map is approx 35 mun and 29 fuel (might be off a few points, but it's very close). If you earn less than that for a longer period of time invest in AT guns because your enemy will have his tank earlier than you. If you have more than that buy offensive infantry and rush a medium or LV.

2. Invest in infantry until you're at about 50-60 pop cap. More than that will bleed you, less than that will cost you map control. You should have about 3-4 line infantry, an MG, 1-2 ATGs and for larger modes a mortar.

3. Standard timings for vehicles (approximately)
LVs:
OST: 5 min
UKF/USF/OKW: 7-8 min
SOV: 8-10 min
If you for example as SOV are at 12 min and think about getting a T70, it's usually better to get an ATG instead and save fuel for a medium or SU85.

Mediums: about 15 min, SOV 1-2 min earlier, OKW 1-2 min later (if you invested in a LV obviously you delay your medium).
If you have seen neither a LV nor a medium in a balanced game by 17 minutes, expect a heavy.

Heavies usually come at about 20 min (will be pushed back a bit by the current patch).

When you plan for a medium, make a short assessment of how long it will take you with an income of 25 fuel. Then you'll know of you're behind on resources or not.

Ideally you want to keep your MP resource low unless you are saving for a specific tank or other unit. Keeping 400mp in the bank at all times means you are basicly always playing with 1-2 squads fewer than you could be playing, which puts you at a disadvantage.

Ideally you want to keep your MP resource low unless you are saving for a specific tank or other unit. Keeping 400mp in the bank at all times means you are basicly always playing with 1-2 squads fewer than you could be playing, which puts you at a disadvantage.

Might add that this applies mostly early on and while been low in popcap.