How to not lose units/keep them alive?

Hi guys,

long time reader, not-much-poster here.

Started with COH1 (since around 2008), been playing it for good 10 years, then about year and a half ago I decided i was time to "transition" to coh2. I love(d) COH1, have also been a forum moderator on gamereplays...anyways, transition from coh1 to coh2 is/was much harder than I expected...I was a solid coh1 player (rank 16 all factions - back in the days when it still matterred), now I just can't seem to get a hold/grip of coh2...this game just feels a lot "faster" to me.

I love many new abilities, new commanders and everything but I just lose a lot of games and it's always because of the same reason - after the match, statistics sais I lose always between 10-20 squads...this is unforgivable...maybe a squad wipe or two, you can still make a comeback...but not so many.

So my question is, how do you guys (especially high level) keep up with multi tasking...do you all use tactital map? I personally don't really like it. But it seems that too often I forget about a unit, that I sent capping to other side of map, focus on other engagement and that unit is dead, kaputt, all gone...

I know that practice makes perfect and I really want to get better but I'm on such a big losing streak and am pissed cause it's always same error...micro.

Macro wise I know what I must to, which units counter which. I've been watching propaganda cast every day for past 10 years or so, regularly watch streams of high level players, etc...but my micro is just sub-par I guess...
we're not getting any younger, I'm aware of that, reflexes have also diminished in years I guess...but still I'm not gonna give up, I've invested too much time in that beautiful game (both of them) and I don't wanna surrender, I'm sure this can be improved/corrected.

Also, ingame, most of my wins are in first 20 minutes of game and most of my losses are in games that last longer than 30 minutes.

I play all factions (at least I wanna learn them all, played random in coh1), currently seat in rank 200-250, this weekend I dropped (with usf) from position 160 to 250...I won 2 out of cca 15 last games...
I know that "it's just a game" but I still wanna improve.


I would be VERY grateful for any tips.

thank you

Snip

The two things I can immediately reccomend are to;

A: Keep checking the top right of your screen for your unit cards, any that are flashing the "in combat" symbol should have your attention.

B: Don't try to micromanage engagements as much, if your squads are fighting out of grenade range, you don't need to keep staring at them. Keep flicking between all your fighting infantry constantly, you only need to micromanage a squad when there's a legitimate existential threat to them (Such as a squad closing in to throw a grenade)

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I don't use tactical map. I only play 3v3 USF competitive and OKW leisure.

I'm quite used to and can effectively use the minimap without the tactical.

I see you play 1v1, which is a bit different as there are less units in the field (much less).

Personally I use CTRL-1 for AI infantry (BAR rifles or volks)
CTRL-2 AT infantry (REs, zook rangers, major zook.... or spios)
CTRL-3 is for tanks
CTRL-4 is for support weapons
CTRL-5 is for maybe light vehicle
CTRL-6 for whatever is unbound.
CTRL-6,7,8 if necessary (can be tricky to press CTRL-8 with one hand but I have quite large hands so I win)

For CTRL 1 and 2, I use TAB to shift between units and put them on different places/positions so I do not blob (bad idea to blob in 3v3 vs stukas/werfers). Worst thing about using TAB. If there is a big latency (1 sec delay on a good day, 2-4 seconds delay on a bad day playing vs Asians), sometimes if you press CTRL-1 and you want to quickly TAB to the low HP unit, the TAB won't registre and you might end up retreating every unit in the control group. Other than that, CTRL-X + TAB works great.

You can use SHIFT to queue commands like capture->retreat or build->build->go capture

That's more or less my preference. As you've said, unless you're 100% committed to the game, expect your concentration to drop and lose focus and forget to manage

It's ok to fall back early if the engagement isn't going to work out for you. A lot of people seem to have a mindset that they should continue a firefight till the bitter end even if your squad had no chance of winning 1v1. I say this because if three engagements are going on in the map at different points, it helps to just call it on the fight that wasn't going to win anyway. Otherwise you may hyper focus on one fight and bam, squad lost elsewhere.

Late game especially in team games you'll eventually lose squads to big tanks. Most of the time a full health squad can take 1 Brumbar equivalent shot and not get wiped. The second one will wipe you so if you have a half health squad know that you are gambling with them until they are healed. The better the tank, the better chances they have of wiping your half health squad. A Panzer 4 can't wipe as well as a Brumbar, but that's just risk. Hiding with heavy cover towards a tank can save you tremendously and eliminate the risk of a wipe. However if your side is exposed its a free wipe.

What faction do you play? You're never too old to learn/master something, knowledge and good play take you farther then clicking fast.

Hi guys, tnx for fast answers.

@Pip:
A: yeah, will keep that in mind, I guess I focus too much on "main" map
B: I agree but there are exepctions (grenadier long-range grenade, artillery,...)

@Protos Angelus: I always CTRL group my units (I have my own "system" but that doesn't really matter) and use shift commands to spare time...

yeah, I guess I forgot to mention I play 1v1s exclusively. So a squad wipe hurts even more here, no ally can help you if you fucked up...

@MarkedRaptor:
As stated, I'm trying to learn all factions, currently I have only about 1000 games in total with all 5 factions but I believe, in that time, I should be better and not lose so many squads every god damn game!
p.s. Brumbär is a rare sight in 1v1 so that's no excuse for me

If you already have a decent hotkey setup then that's one thing less to tick.

As far as multitasking goes, you have 3 options:

-Use the minimap, which works fine as long as you play 1v1 only (too cluttered in teamgames)

-Use tactical map

-Use the top right unit hotkey bar, checking religiously every 5s or less. The problem with this is that you might notice some unit is in an engagement but it's hard to track every time where exactly those units are.

The best is a combination of 1 or 2 and 3.


I have 3 practical suggestions:

1- Take 5/10 mins breaks, specially after long sessions of play. Drink water and stretch a bit. Fatigue is something which affects your performance.

2- Look for an online "beeper" that triggers every 5/10s. This is a good way to practice and have present to always look at minimap/tact map/unit bar.

3- If you are playing in a big monitor with high resolutions, try and see if you play better by having everything in your field of view. If you have to turn your head or deviate your eyes so much to check the corners of the screen, maybe that's why you don't notice the minimap/hotbar when things are happening.

If you already have a decent hotkey setup then that's one thing less to tick.

You can customize hotkeys?

You can customize hotkeys?

Macro software, though I think he means assigning units to particular control groups, rather than specifically hotkeys.

You can customize hotkeys?

Macro software, though I think he means assigning units to particular control groups, rather than specifically hotkeys.

Well in fact it's both points.

You need to develop muscle memory that works for you.

Tactical map can be clunky to use until you set it up with a custom hotkey program to be somewhere in your mouse or near your resting stance of your left hand.

As far as control groups go, i think anything beyond 5 or 6 makes you change your position of the hand. Which is why i have a modifier for 3-4-5 to send 7-8-9 for those fringe cases i need to rarely check those units.
Those spots are generally reserved for long cooldown artillery units, a vision unit which is not combat effective at that point of the game (say Kubel) or just engineers which are only in "repair duty".