General guidelines for the Germans?

Hello 

So I’ve been playing the soviets alot and now it’s time for me to try on the german faction. I’m a noob to all that is CoH / CoH2. Never played vcoh or anything just started playing coh2 during closed beta and I’ve been having a lot of fun 

So I used to play starcraft 2 and I always loved RTS games, and I think I’m kind of starting to get my head around the soviets now after only playing them in 1v1s. So when I dipped my toe in the cold water of the germans I realized that I have no Idea what my goal is, what I’m trying to achieve and how the faction is played. So what I’m looking for is guidelines and some basic concepts to keep in mind while playing as the germans. Should I play defensive in the start? What Is the most important resource, munitions? Should I stall for lategame and keep my trust in tanks, I’ve heard a lot about extended T1, what is that. So any tips and general statements about playing that faction would be awesome! 

Overall they are a slightly more defensive faction than the Russian's though not anywhere near the contrast there was in COH1.

T2 gives you alot more flexibilty and aggressive options due to the hard hitting units I always go T1 first as I think there's too much that can go wrong with a skip to T2. Bearing this in mind, fuel isn't really needed early game so prioritize munitions from the start.

Grenadiers and MG42's will give you a solid foundation to deal with all early game soviet threats. Get a combination of these 2 units and learn how to play them together and effectively. If your opponent is playing quite passively and your not having to spend too much manpower on reinforcing then teching to T2 after the 4th T1 unit is a good choice as it gives you access to more cost effective units before the upkeep bites you in the ass. If your opponent is playing more aggressively then dont be afraid to stay in T1 for a while with a medic bunker back at base. You normally spend your first munis on flamers, though if you think you can make it into T2 quickly then it might be worth saving for a flamer halftrack instead which is a great shock unit.

The tech tree layout often means that the German player is reacting to the the Soviet player's tech choice so keep in mind what your opponent has available to them and try to build units accordingly thinking of not only what you see but what you are likely to see in the future. e.g. If he goes T1-T3. Then the german T3 is a very effective counter. If he goes T4 then pgrens with shrecks are a good choice as they can avoid the indirect fire and can go after every unit that tier offers.

There aren't a lot of set answers about whether to stall for late game or play extended T1 or anything (although really it all collapses into itself because you can't really spend fuel on anything except teching up) because the game is so new. Focus on the very basics of CoH:

1) Victory comes from securing victory points, so always keep those in mind.
2) Fuel is used to tech up and to build higher tier units, munitions are used for abilities like grenades and artillery strikes. Both are important.
3) Focus on cutting of your opponents' fuel and munitions to slow their progress and their combat effectiveness.
4) Secure as much of the map as possible to increase your resource income.
5) Preserve your units, or more specifically your squads. Reinforcing a squad is cheaper than building a new one and it preserves veterancy.
6) Protect your weapon teams and take basically any crew served weapons you can steal from your opponent.
7) Flank enemies to cut of their retreat path and to approach things like machine guns and AT guns without getting in their arc of fire.
8) Make sure you have anti-tank stuff prepared for enemy vehicles and tanks when they show up, or at least have some way to get it quickly.

I would recommend watching replays to get an idea for how people tend to play. Pay special attention to where Germans send the MG-42 and when they send it there and how they use it and so on. Although since you're posting most of the replays I guess that isn't helpful.

Thanks for the good answers, and yeah I have a hard time making my mind up where to place my 2 HMGs. The house west of the center munitions point or the curch east of it is kinda a standard place to place the first one to secure a nice early munitions income. But the result is often that you force your soviet buddy to head for the flanks (north and south) and that is kinda where he wants to be in the first place^^

My biggest problem I guess Is playing with the HMGS, Im not used to the stationary play(I call it stationary cause I'm bad at moving them around). I guess it all comes down to that I want to be aggresive all the time, and I have a hard time pushing forward with the HMGs. So my standard game playing as the german is. Locking down like 30 % of the map. My opponent takes rest. I haven't really gotten my head around being aggressive as the germans. It basicly feels like I'm defending from minute one

So what I'm looking for is kinda to know the game flow. Something along the lines. "It's OK to settle for a smal part of the map at first" But when you hit T2 you want to start doing this..."

It feels like my lack of insight in the germans faction has rendered me thinking they clash with my way of playing RTSs

I would say you want to be more competitive than 30% of the map for sure. So don't settle on your ground if your opponent is giving you space

A quick tip is to always move a HMG after it have been spotted or driven of a squad. Don't let your opponent know where it's. Keep moving it as soon as it's not needed and use your grens to scout and skirmish for it.

Also what Tycho said about anti tank. One of the biggest reasons I lost a lot when I was new was because I focused so damn hard on winning my early game that I forgot to tech up. It doesn't matter how much map you hold or how much you bleed if you fail to use it. If you bleed him you should push him back, if you push him back you should be ready to tech etc.

Take every opportunity to move forward, but don't move forward without your flanks covered. Wire, place bunkers. or just scout and figure out where your opponents units are. I don't think there's any hard and fast rules like you want because the Soviets control the pace of the game based on their tech choices.

Take every opportunity to move forward, but don't move forward without your flanks covered. Wire, place bunkers. or just scout and figure out where your opponents units are. I don't think there's any hard and fast rules like you want because the Soviets control the pace of the game based on their tech choices.

Well said, you are starting to close in on what I'm looking for I'm not looking for a rule more of like a mindset. Something along the lines you stated.

So I kinda wanna start of small and make sure that I keep the territory that I take over, and the slowly moving forward moving my HMGS forward bit by bit and chewing up the map? Do I wanna focus my units in one area? I remember reading somewhere, was it bartons guide... not sure but someone said you wanna focus on one side of the map, like picking The 2 North VPs and the North Fule and Lock that shit down and pushing that side hard with most of you units, Ofc you can send some pios south to do some decappin and harrasing. That sounded reasonable to me atleast

The best advice I ever got for playing Wehrmacht (and it probably transfers to CoH2 from what I've played) is only expand when you're comfortable with it. With the ami's and soviets you can flail around a lot and keep ground on sheer aggression. With soviets you need to advance slowly, always keep a look out on your flanks and always feel that you're in a defendable position.

It's kinda like a house of cards; you can't always build one that holds up, but you should always do your best and take your time to make sure each shelf is "good enough". ^^

The best advice I ever got for playing Wehrmacht (and it probably transfers to CoH2 from what I've played) is only expand when you're comfortable with it. With the ami's and soviets you can flail around a lot and keep ground on sheer aggression. With soviets you need to advance slowly, always keep a look out on your flanks and always feel that you're in a defendable position.

Won't work at higher levels - a the T34 spam will overrun any mid-game position.

From what I've played, it seems like that as long as you keep capping, the soviets are useless. As soon as you stop, and become content with your map control, it's basically GG (unless you have a hyper-death ball).

Press the map, and set up kill zones in areas that are contested (mid bridge in Pripyat, mid of that snow map). Really all you need to 'hold' a position is an MG42 and mortar, as the suppression rate is fairly high now.

How does an MG42 and mortar hold vs a Clown Car filled with Red Nosed Flaming Combat Engineers?

Won't work at higher levels - a the T34 spam will overrun any mid-game position.

Higher level as in the higher level created after 3-5 weeks of play? That's a bit to early to call I think.

Higher level as in the higher level created after 3-5 weeks of play? That's a bit to early to call I think.

Higher level in that they've been playing since alpha. Against the average player, you can basically do anything and still win. In Alpha I was about 32:2 win:loss in 1v1, closed beta was somewhere around 20:3 and in this new beta it's getting to be about the same (about 10:1 so far). The only losses I had in the alpha were all in a row, when the game thought it would be hilarious to give me 3 GR-experts/"experts" in a row. I managed to beat the first, but lost to the next two.

Right now the average player in CoH2 is about a level 8-9 in CoH1.