How do you guys know so much about units and the game?

Where do you guys get all the unit stats and all the data on how units are able to perform or when they are not performing correctly?

I have to confess, after playing coh 2 for so much years, I really don't know anything about the in-depth game stats.
Like all these "received-accuracy, scatter, target size, burst duration, single target..." I can just guess what they mean, but I have no idea what they are or how they work in the game.

How does pop-cap affect the game besides limiting the army size?

The other day somebody pointed out in a stream that the SU76 has bug that affects the way it acquires target, or also I never knew that each infantry squad has a different model formation assigned to it.

Hell I didn't even know that vet 1 in most infantry unit just adds an ability without changing stats, I always used to believe a vet 1 unit is supposed to perform better.
Where do you guys get all this data from? As much I look for it, I don't see any clear explanation on how this stuff works.

Where do you guys get all the unit stats and all the data on how units are able to perform or when they are not performing correctly?

We don't have any "data", balance modders might have some limited access to certain metrics, but other then that, we basically use "eyes", if one unit or doctrine is dominating meta completely, its likely its overperforming.

Same when something is never being used.

I have to confess, after playing coh 2 for so much years, I really don't know anything about the in-depth game stats.
Like all these "received-accuracy, scatter, target size, burst duration, single target..." I can just guess what they mean, but I have no idea what they are or how they work in the game.

They aren't all that hard to understand them, its just, there is shitload of them to learn first.

How does pop-cap affect the game besides limiting the army size?

Affects "spammability" of certain units or upkeep you pay for them.
If a unit has good stats, but is spammed, you increase its pop cap, so it becomes more expensive to have on field and you can not get other unit you otherwise could as now you need to consider if you want 2x X unit or 1x X and 1x Y instead due to pop cap restrictions.
That ofc is just an example, but in-game example of that would be Churchill Mk VII.

The other day somebody pointed out in a stream that the SU76 has bug that affects the way it acquires target, or also I never knew that each infantry squad has a different model formation assigned to it.

Yeah, these things are being found out mostly by modders who dig the files and can catch correlations or lack of it between similar archetype units.

Hell I didn't even know that vet 1 in most infantry unit just adds an ability without changing stats, I always used to believe a vet 1 unit is supposed to perform better.
Where do you guys get all this data from? As much I look for it, I don't see any clear explanation on how this stuff works.

There is no one definitive source.

Some info comes from guides, some from pages like https://coh2.serealia.ca/#51 and some from aforementioned modders digging something out.

Where do you guys get all the unit stats and all the data on how units are able to perform or when they are not performing correctly?

I have to confess, after playing coh 2 for so much years, I really don't know anything about the in-depth game stats.
Like all these "received-accuracy, scatter, target size, burst duration, single target..." I can just guess what they mean, but I have no idea what they are or how they work in the game.

How does pop-cap affect the game besides limiting the army size?

The other day somebody pointed out in a stream that the SU76 has bug that affects the way it acquires target, or also I never knew that each infantry squad has a different model formation assigned to it.

Hell I didn't even know that vet 1 in most infantry unit just adds an ability without changing stats, I always used to believe a vet 1 unit is supposed to perform better.
Where do you guys get all this data from? As much I look for it, I don't see any clear explanation on how this stuff works.

https://www.coh2db.com/stats/

^ 80% is up do date, and the other stuff is something that I try to remember from the patch notes of the last 2 years.

Two other very important guides if you wanna learn stuff:

https://www.coh2.org/guides/29892/the-company-of-heroes-2-veterancy-guide

https://www.coh2.org/guides/88945/the-coh2-ability-guide-mark-2-0


Knowing all this stuff is not necessary to be a high level player but it can make a noticeable difference

Oh and the most basic other stuff is something that I learnt over time through google and asking other people.

Short version:

Target size:
The value that determines how easy it is to receive a direct hit by the enemy with this unit. If a unit has a received accuracy bonus, it means that the target size of that unit gets lowered. Infantry also has a target size which is usually between 0.5 and 1.25

Accuracy:
The accuracy value is the chance -multiplied with target size of the enemy- for a direct hit. For example: If a panzerschreck has 4% accuracy and an IS2 has 22 target size, that means 4*22 = 88% chance to hit. Note that the accuracy values depends on how far the target is away

Scatter:
If a shot misses (accuracy RNG roll failed), then it scatters around the target.

AoE:
Area of effect, the area in which the projectile deals damage.

Burst Duration:
Keeping it simplified, this value basically determines the rate of fire of full-automatic weapons at certain ranges

https://www.coh2.org/topic/84257/useful-interesting-threads-2-0

While it's not as complete as coh2db stats, it's has a more recent update.

https://i.serealia.ca/files/coh2dps.html

To answer the title, it's basically years of experience, reading, digging and interacting with people who know more.

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

How does pop-cap affect the game besides limiting the army size?

Just in case this wasn't clearly answered:

Your manpower income goes down as your population goes up.

The more population you use up by having certain unit compositions on the field, the more you will struggle to reinforce or replace units if a fight goes poorly.

So increasing the population cost of a unit does have an impact on your game beyond mere maximum army size.