Things I Stuggle with. (American Mid Game)

As the American's I'm coming up with huge issues surrounding my midgame, Now i've discussed this with OMGPOP and he gave me a few suggestions but I keep finding huge flaws in these strategies.

"For Midgame versus Wehr on CQM: Rifle Company flamethrowers with Dual AAHT + E8's

for open maps : Armour Company with Dual AAHT + M10's and Bulldozers.

versus OKW: Infantry company + 1 AAHT + Prone m1919's + Jackson's and Shermans."

1. Now the issues I run into with this is that With the Armour company even with basookas I've dedicated heavily into Anti Infantry with these Dual AAHT's and the Opponent getting out a p4 and I cannot deal with them until 7cp's. I can have both these AAHT's out at around 5cp. So its quite a long time to spend exposed to Tanks. The p4 is extremely strong versus infantry and with a bit of micro and grenadier support its incredibly difficult to deal with.

2. Rifle company is strong and works very well for the most part except versus mass medical kits from the Wehr Luftwaffe Company where his Grenadier squads can comfortably 2 vs 3 against my riflemen. It gives the Wehr incredible map presence early game up until the emergence of vehicles. Grenades seem to be the only effective strategy for dealing with this but you end up using huge amounts of munitions up in resisting this tactic.

3. Versus OKW we run into the same issue as with the p4 that the Puma comes out incredibly quickly and I'm left open to it for a substantial time until the Jacksons/Shermans can be called into play.


4. This American policy of being forced into Committing into either Heavy Anti Infantry tree ( Lieutenant) or Heavy Anti Tank Tree (Captain) really makes it exposed to one or the other and with a glaring indicator of which tree you've chosen (Captain, Lieutenant) it makes it extremely easy for the enemy to identify it and counter it.

I've numbered them so you can address each point easily. If you would I'd like some suggestions as to how to deal with this in between time.

(Edit* I realise the title error it won't let me correct it... -.-)

1.) Take this with a grain of salt as I have not used armor company all that much, but I would recommend going T1 -> T2 after your first AA HT, as the captain gives you access to the M1/57mm AT gun for the wait until CP7, it also gives you access to a 2 bazooka squad. Also, just an idea, but have you considered skipping the first AA HT and rolling out a fast M20 utility car? It is an extremely micro intensive unit, but it is an amazing hit-and-run platform vs. enemy infantry, especially OKW. The mines it comes with can 1-shot a Puma and the smoke dispensers are free. It even comes with a free bazooka. I find it all around a better early game investment as the US, but to each their own.

2.) Rifle company is a good doctrine, but vs. the air spam, I find that capping in different parts of the map (he will probably be blobbed) will help you hold out for your first M20/ AA HT. Remember, he is draining his resources on those drops so I find it useful to engage in combat, then move away after he spends resources on the boxes. Another tactic you can try is using the mechanized doctrine, the CP0 jeep will help immensely vs. the grens at range. Personally, I use the recon commander because it gives your rifles great sight-lines to spot enemy gren formations before you have to engage them if Ostheer uses this strat. This is slightly riskier, but if you have local superiority, charge your rifles into his grens and attempt to block him from reaching the boxes while whittling down his numbers. In all honesty, i think that the resupply ability needs to be tweaked to not healing in combat like the US ambulance.

3.) Use the M20 mine and bait the puma in, one-shot-stop. With the AA HT, you should make sure to have a rifle squad with dual bazookas up by the time the Puma is out.

4.) I find that T1 -> T2 is a great way to counter this teching problem. I only build the M20 from tier 1, so you can still get the captain out in a decent amount of time if you don't over commit into T1. Remember, rifles have upgrades to counter the tech weakness! bazookas are extremely effective against light armor and BARs counter most non-elite infantry.

I've been playing against okw almost solely in 1v1 with good success so I'll focus on that point. I have been playing AB almost exclusively though (wish I had the rifle commander to experiment).

The basis for me tho is, ostheer = T1 for me, OKW = T2

So for OKW, I go a captain opener (see Ciez's strat), more or less. Don't be scared of an early puma, it's AI capabilities are pretty weak and your captain hits the field around the same time as the puma. Going T2 provides you with solid AT should you be lacking in fuel control and the AB doc provides excellent AI between an early pathfinder squad and dropping in some AB (with lmgs ofc). The main decisions you make are based on your resources and what they're building, those decisions being, nades vs bars(keep in mind you want lmgs on those AB), stuart or teching to T3. Typically I'm going bars over nades since AB can nade in a pinch without purchasing the tech and opting for a stuart to bullying around their infantry.

As a point of reference, maybe 3-4 of the 5 games I've just played i ran into some kind of fall spam strat with a puma or 2. Don't know if this is typical or not. Main thing for me is carefully engage sturm pios early as they rip you in the early game and harass harass harass. Pick your fights carefully and keep him busy

LW ground forces -> Fast Puma is pretty typical yeah.