USF 1v1 Build Order Issue

So i'm dabbling my hand at USF, pray to mojo

My build order is currently 3 rifles, into lieutenant, HMG, ambulance, then I have a gap where I float manpower until I can get the CP's for paratroopers and the major.

I try to rush a fast Scott and fill in the AT gaps with an AT gun airdropped in. So my composition by the midgame will generally look like 3 rifles, lieutenant,HMG, 2 upgraded paratrooper squads, Major, Ambulance, AT gun and a 9.5ish min scott. After that, I get Jacksons/Scotts as needed and maybe another AT gun. Nothing too innovative I admit.

The gap between the HMG and the 3 CP's required for Paratroopers is the issue. I tend to float manpower in this period and find myself stalling out as best as I can. I know most people go for a light vehicle and that gets them to the CP's, but is it essentially required with USF that you rush that light vehicle and make it pay?

Tbh I feel if I can make it to the midgame intact, i'm comfortable with my composition, but I can see that big old gap between my early game and the mid where i'm waiting on CP's for vital things essentially (paratroopers/AT guns) as an issue. I can upload a replay if people think that will help.

Cheers!

You can place a fuel or munition cash. Not only does it give you extra income, it also gives you some experience to get to 3cp faster.

Munition cashes are pretty good with airborne, those P47 strikes are extremely potent.

i would never go a 1v1 without a m20 utility car. it can lay mines. its great for flanking enemy MG positions, taking out kubel wagens, taking out sturmpios, chasing down retreating squads.. then once the m20 gets taken out by something bigger, you just need to evacuate the m20 just before the explosion and now you have some early AT units (the m20 driver crew comes with bazookas)

I've found a lot of the axis players I'm up against turtle in defenses. As a result I've been going captain. Most of the players are protecting themselves quite well for m20 and aaht, so their effectiveness is being lost for me. The m2hb is good, but it suffers from massive problems right now (crew easily killed from the front through the burst, moves like maxim, gun has low health, poor rate of fire and penetration, etc).

So I find the captain has the things I need. The pack howitzer even though it's retarded in it's expense, is very useful against defensive axis players. It's SUPER RNG too, sometimes it will suck, other times it might 1 shot a squad. The goal is to give the axis players exposure to it's fire for the most time. The best way to do this is by hiding pathfinders (hence my issue in the other thread with them jumping out of cover when enemy squads come within weapon range). Typically someone is prepared for LT building with a fast puma or luchs from okw, OST just needs pak and mines. The Puma and Luchs cannot be dealt with from the LT building. You have to be real lucky and one of them stupidly gets in range of aaht 37mm after being hit by at grenade or 2. With captain units, you have what you need. 57 will do the job easy, pack will hit them sometimes and does penetrate for good damage (especially vet2), captain himself with 2 zooks, and the stuart can also penetrate and chase (dangerous to chase puma though, use shellshock if possible). This helps against OST too, with fast panzerIV.

That just leaves an infantry war now.That's where I ran into the big problems. Rifles are the most expensive base infantry, but their performance is not always reflecting that. Bars are shitty, but I have found them helpful if you can eliminate the axis advantage. Long Range. If you can force axis infantry to either move frequently or get close, you will win with equal numbers. 2 units solve this problem, pathfinders and pack howitzer(m8a1 as well, but that's up to you, I don't get it all the time.). Pathfinders have an amazing .8 accuracy at long range. This might be for just 1 or 2 guns, I'm not sure yet. You will notice though, if you take pathfinders along with your pushes and just attack move them behind your rifles, the pathfinders will vet up really fast (because they are doing good shit for you). So , axis players are going to notice it and try to get closer. That's where shitty bars come in. Bars are decent at close range, so from medium rang on in, they will win. They also help against sturmpio spams or flanks. The pack will also obviously keep them out of long range.

I find this deals with a lot of my problems. Especially on Semoisky. To deal with the float, get a 4th rifle and as Aerohank said, put a cache down. For MG spammers, get grenades after teching and use smoke to approach with bars. Obviously, you need to hold on to a decent amount of munitions for it to work.

The last thing to deal with is Tigers and given the current Meta, you pretty much have to go airborne if not for the pathfinders, for the p47. It's about the only thing that can help reliably against tigers. Everything else is all RNG. Jacksons and 57mm bounce way too much.

i use jacksons a lot with 2 bulletins that stack with 4% pens and i have never failed to penetrate TIgers so far even at max range i score pens every time.

that being said against KT and JTs it seems to bounce but by the time they arrive at leaast 1 or 2 of my jacksons would have hit vet 1 to use sabot round.

So try it out guys.

Go for m15 if your opponent has shown you a Medic truck. Leave the game if he techs t2 (Puma) and rush M20 against Wehr. Airborne is nice when going for a straight T3 (Scott) because you can have an ATG without wasting fuel on a captain.

GiaA, you prefer scott over sherman?

Go for m15 if your opponent has shown you a Medic truck. Leave the game if he techs t2 (Puma) and rush M20 against Wehr. Airborne is nice when going for a straight T3 (Scott) because you can have an ATG without wasting fuel on a captain.

Leave the game?? LOL top 5 player saying that. you know somethings wrong and OP then. xD

Go for m15 if your opponent has shown you a Medic truck. Leave the game if he techs t2 (Puma) and rush M20 against Wehr. Airborne is nice when going for a straight T3 (Scott) because you can have an ATG without wasting fuel on a captain.

Lmao

I find against ostheer if your floating around the 6-7 minute mark it's always worth getting out an M20 asap. Against OKW players that have gone for the mechanized truck this is a lot riskier and I don't bother with LT vehicles against the mech truck as the puma shuts them down too hard. If you can push your opponent off the map, especially on semois, you can lay 2-3 key M20 mines that are game changers if they hit.

It delays your scott by about a minute but if you can bait his first vehicle into a mine it will always pay off. The m20 can also be used to harass capping squads, eat a faust, repair and cap the point at the same time, or just support your rifles anywhere that there isn't a pak.

Against OST The m20 is gold, and at 20 fuel there really isn't any reason not to get one if you find yourself with a bit of resources to spare after teching the LT.

Against OKW, if he goes medic HQ get a AA HT out, if he goes mech, tech LT, get 2 mgs and don't both with any USF light vehicles, just rush a scott or a sherman to deal with t2 vehicles.

Leave the game?? LOL top 5 player saying that. you know somethings wrong and OP then. xD

I think that comment was a little bit hyperbolic...I'm pretty sure someone with a .730+ win % isn't just quitting games every time he sees an OKW player go w/ the mechanized truck.

Thanks for the responses everyone, much appreciated. Seems like USF are pretty hand tied strategically