Soviet Mines and Munitions

Recently, almost every Soviet player I face as Ostheer has taken to spamming mines/demo charges all over the map, often building 2 Combat Engineers at the start in order to facilitate this, and it has been giving me a really hard time. I just can't see how its possible to hold on to map control when there are mines at every choke-point, resource point, VP e.t.c. This is particularly true in the case of sniper-based strategies where the appropriate counter is light vehicles - one Soviet mine can 1-shot a 221, which makes it very difficult to chase down snipers and losing a such an important investment really sets you back.

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that this is really an issue with Soviet munitions income/expenditure. All the other factions have something that they need to sink munis into in the mid-game, usually relating to basic infantry upgrades or abilities that result in a steady drain. Ostheer have the medic bunker and LMGs, OKW have Panzerschrecks, and the US have Rifle weapons/nades. However, unless the Soviet player builds a lot of Guards squads there doesn't seem to be anything comparable - Conscript AT nades and Molotov's are too cheap to qualify, and Shocks don't really rely on their grenades to be effective.

Personally, I don't think its particularly fair that the Soviets are free to spam mines all over the map, given how difficult it is for Axis (Ostheer in particular) to deal with, and my view is that giving Soviets something else they need to spend munitions on (healing, perhaps) would address this. What does everybody else think?

The mine spam is kinda one of the Soviets "things" in the game, they don't have very good non-doctrinal infantry so they get mines to spend their munis on. Just build another pioneer and use them to search for mines while they cap back points. If you get them close to non-flamethrower Soviet Engineers they should beat them in combat.

I think you need to check your definition of an 'advatnage'

With soviet infantry having no upgrades of any worth (barring Dp's for button , which is also now useless), they do indeed have a lot of munitions.

Funnily enough, OKW can spam mines too. And their infantry is as good (if not better) than the soviet counterparts.

They are given an option. Spam mines, or utterly wipe the floor with infantry upgrades? They almost always choose the latter.

Ostheer are in the exact same spot. They cooould buy loads of MG42's and render soviet infantry worthless, or they could spam s-mines and teller mines and combo it with snipers.

German munition upgrades are not a requirement. They are an option, and they make their infantry much more effective. But they can also spam mines. If they wanted to.



Why do you think you don't see any axis players spamming mines? Oh, yes, because upgrades are more reliable and pay for themselves better over time.

Soviet munition spending isn't something that needs 'addressing', it's simply their only option. Axis and OKW can also spam mines, they just don't. The only unfair thing is the soviet tech structure.

All the other factions have something that they need to sink munis into in the mid-game, usually relating to basic infantry upgrades or abilities that result in a steady drain.

No, the other factions have the option to spend munitions of weapon upgrades. You can spam just as many mines with the other factions as you can with soviets.

If you are going against a mine/demo happy Soviet player, use double pioneers with sweepers.

Not sure if its a joke thread or serious one yet because of last paragraph.

Anyway, in case its serious-use a pair of pios with sweepers.

If I start tripping mines, sure as shit my pios are getting the sweeper upgrade, and voila all their munitions are wasted by one unit if you're persistent.

I also find they stop planting mines if you keep clearing them

Ohhh so that is why I keep floating ammo.....(runs off to plant more mines)