Soviet Tactics please Help

Hi guys! i am really enjoying playing coh2 closed beta, its a fun game (i played vCOH too for a long time), but yesterday i was in a 2vs2 on russians side, the map was pripyat river spring, we have made a good early and mid-game, holding lots of territory and 2 or 3 vps all the time.

i thought that battle was impossible to lose but in like the 10 last minutes of the battle the germans owned us badly without chance to response(tanks, lots of inf and arty), they had just 50 vps and we had 400 or more, and in the end they hold all vps and won.

I used a 4 to 5 conscript build, followed by a support weapons kampaeya, making mgs and mortars. then i made a t70 light tank which last till the end of the game with 27 kills, made t34, some ats.. the normal i guess.

then i teched to mechanized armor and made su85 td, but in the last 10 to 15 minutes of the game i was a bit lost, in the need of some strong infantry and in desperation i made shock troops and lots of flame engineers, needless to say we good owned too lol.

i admit i made some mistakes mainly because i dont know that well yet the ins and outs of russians commanders and their abilities. what do you guys suggest to a late game strong anti infantry? my late game with soviets just seem to suck badly, i dont have a good tactic yet..

hope you can help me
thanks

Maybe your ally sucked?
Anyway from the wall of text you wrote, please use paragraphs, it is impossible to say.
All I can say is AT guns, tank destroyers backed by flamers and machineguns.

Hi guys! i am really enjoying playing coh2 closed beta, its a fun game (i played vCOH too for a long time), but yesterday i was in a 2vs2 on russians side, the map was pripyat river spring, we have made a good early and mid-game, holding lots of territory and 2 or 3 vps all the time. i thought that battle was impossible to lose but in like the 10 last minutes of the battle the germans owned us badly without chance to response(tanks, lots of inf and arty), they had just 50 vps and we had 400 or more, and in the end they hold all vps and won. I used a 4 to 5 conscript build, followed by a support weapons kampaeya, making mgs and mortars. then i made a t70 light tank with last till the end of the game, t34, some ats.. the normal i guess. then i teched to mechanized armor and made su85 td, but in the last 10 to 15 minutes of the game i was a bit lost, in the need of some strong infantry and in desperation i made shock troops and lots of flame engineers, needless to say we good owned too lol. i admit i made some mistakes mainly because i dont know that well yet the ins and outs of russians commanders and their abilities. what do you guys suggest to a late game strong anti infantry? my late game with soviets just seem to suck badly, i dont have a good tactic yet.. hope you can help me
thanks

HMGs are strong late-game against infantry, but some people forget to rebuild them if they are killed somewhere in the midgame, so that may have been one of your issues. T34s and T70s are both strong against infantry with T34s having a bit more armor, but they have trouble against enemy tanks; keep them away from tanks and they can deal with infantry incredibly well. The SU-76's artillery ability is strong against advancing infantry if you use the ability in an area that the units will be moving into (it can be hard to land if you use it too early or too late, and don't expect the enemy to stand in the location for long).

I've always had trouble using flame engineers and I dislike how vulnerable they are, especially if they are focused by 2 or more infantry squads. They can be strong if you use them with other infantry however, so they're worth using to follow Conscripts or Shock Troops. Shock Troops are quite powerful against infantry simply because they are so durable and their short-ranged damage is high, so if you place them in the front and use artillery/tanks to whittle down the enemy squads, you should be able to push them back long enough to take a VP. Remember to use Smoke Grenades to deal with pesky HMGs or vehicles.

Mortars are also quite strong if you constantly bombard areas that infantry may be in or move through. Alternatively, 2 sniper squads can take out half the members of any German infantry squad instantly, and if the enemy doesn't retreat and reinforce, you can kill the squad on the next pass. Their high MP cost can be an issue late-game, though.

Topic updated with paragraphs now, sorry well in the heat of the battle i always seem to forget that little details like using molotov cocktails on conscripts, using smoke grenades, t34 ram ability and more.. well i thing thats normal considering the early stage the game is.

Even since COH 1 my main problem seemed to be the late game, with strong early and mid game when in desperation or something i make wrong decisions or wrong units. Losing the game like yesterday can bring frustration since in the 30 minutes your always a step ahead, good flanking and good combined arms. i think russian tanks sucks right now, but i wasnt able to play or see ISU152 yet, elephants for example are uber strong. i Have made mortars too but german one seem to be stronger, as the AT guns too. MGs in the late game just dont seemed to supress vet german infantry, always died to fast :/

The comeback mechanism may have been the reason we lost the game, i dont know. My teammate made more damage than me but i received more XP, i dont know why lol. I still dont have defined if i like shock troops or guards better, i stil have to play some more games to find out..

Cheers xD

Topic updated with paragraphs now, sorry well in the heat of the battle i always seem to forget that little details like using molotov cocktails on conscripts, using smoke grenades, t34 ram ability and more.. well i thing thats normal considering the early stage the game is.

Even since COH 1 my main problem seemed to be the late game, with strong early and mid game when in desperation or something i make wrong decisions or wrong units. Losing the game like yesterday can bring frustration since in the 30 minutes your always a step ahead, good flanking and good combined arms. i think russian tanks sucks right now, but i wasnt able to play or see ISU152 yet, elephants for example are uber strong. i Have made mortars too but german one seem to be stronger, as the AT guns too. MGs in the late game just dont seemed to supress vet german infantry, always died to fast :/

The comeback mechanism may have been the reason we lost the game, i dont know. My teammate made more damage than me but i received more XP, i dont know why lol. I still dont have defined if i like shock troops or guards better, i stil have to play some more games to find out..

Cheers xD

Shock Troops are Guards have very different roles, so it's really dependent on what doctrine you prefer and what style you play. If you have light anti-tank typically, Guards are great. If you have light anti-infantry or few durable units, Shock Troops can be better. I love both of them as units and I feel they fit their roles well.

German weapon teams are stronger but have less men, so you're correct about them being better. Precise artillery, mortars and snipers can deal with them extremely well, often killing them before the enemy can respond. I understand that HMGs may not seem too great, but usually the reason they die is that they are too far ahead. Weapon teams in general shouldn't be used aggressively, and an HMG combined with a tank or squad of infantry can destroy infantry squads without much chance of them causing damage. I don't think veterancy reduces their ability to be suppressed, just significantly reduces the damage they take, which is why HMGs really need to be supported by other units late-game. They won't kill, they'll just suppress so other units can kill.

As for mortars, if you move before the German mortars start trying to counter barrage, you'll be out of range and can barrage again without having taken any damage, so unless they have more mortars than you do, I wouldn't expect you to have much trouble.

Russian tanks are certainly worse than German tanks. The only way to equal them is to get the IS-2 or ISU-152. Still, the T-34 and SU-85 are incredibly strong at anti-infantry and anti-tank respectively, so as long as you have AT guns and infantry supporting them, German tanks shouldn't be a major issue.

As you say, it's still early in the game and there are still many things to learn and remember. Try watching the replay and see if there were any small mistakes you did, like having to use MP on replacing squads because your unit preservation wasn't great. Usually the reason someone loses late-game is not because they don't know what to do, but because of the errors made earlier in the game.

If you want to learn strong late-game strats and mechanics, watch some of the more popular 1v1 replays. Specifically, watch how they transition from a mid-game infantry and weapon team composition into tanks, and especially how aggressive or passive they play with their units. Squad preservation is huge, and if you have more/better vet infantry than your opponent, it can be easy to beat them back (even if you have been losing most of the game).

i dont have all in my mind but if you choose to build shock troops or guards, you are limited in the commander abilites you have further in the game, because one doctrine gives access to guards and another shock troops, so maybe its not the best way to look at things like, do i need guards or shock troops?

for example the game i talked about yesterday could have resulted in a win for my side, just because there is a ability to offmap arty and with the commander i have chosen yesterday i didnt have any offmap arty, and man, that would be very very useful to deal with the infantry german blob (this map have some bridge chokepoints and great part of the battle is focused there).

i have been watching replays from expert coh players, like devm, inverse, and such, RnP and Krebs shotcast and even them make mistakes like idle units, losing all squad due to not reatreat, etc). I have a feeling that the UI is a little messy, sometimes i cant even see my units on the screen and they are in my front lol, intense battles tend to confuse me a lot, in vCOH i didnt had this feeling at all, it was all fresh and clean.

A question: how do you unlock ISU-152? i havent seen it in any commander. Is it from a new commander for high ranked players?

The ISU-152 is an assault gun unlocked by the first commander you get as Soviets. Around lvl 12 as far as I remember.

oh yeah im seeing ISU-152 in the customizer, but shock motor heavy tactis commander is locked. i am level 12 and playing almost just with soviets, just made 2 or 3 games with germans, and i already have another commander unlocked in germans lol. i need to be level 13 to unlock ISU152. i am getting better results by spamming conscripts in beginning, make mgs and mortars, then t70 and t34. I unlock IS2 through right side commander and special rifle building works best for me just to build at this stage. its easier to deal with early mid game by having more conscripts, thus better mobility in the field.