Defensive Theory Compilation

Wanted to start a "Defensive Theory" thread for some time now for people to share their ideas on defensive gameplay may it be building up barriers, defense in depth strategies, proper bunker usage, etc. What do you guys think of defensive strategies and what strategies work for you?

Which game mode are we talking about? (1v1... 4v4? )

Would love to see a thread like that. I'm tempted to reinstall the game just so I can try some ideas I have out.

I'm seeing it now, 4 conscript start followed by 2 engineers or something... what can go wrong? (ha)

Arguably, for the Soviets the 2 best doctrines for this are anti-tank tactics and Defensive doctrine (obviously) with a possible third place going to urban defence.

Some theory -
The core of killing off tanks that you're presumably going to be facing down is forcing them to over extend so that they become easy meat for your tanks or AT guns. To that end. You don't want a fixed defensive position and if anything you don't even want the AT guns even covering the front line. Arguably you just have your anti-infantry at the front line. (for OKW that's a little hard), we're talking about MGs mainly. They hold up the main assault and shut down the infantry, perhaps at the same time you smack them with indirect fire. The tanks obviously will keep moving forward since nothing bad will be happening to them. In my mind I wouldn't have mines there. You want make it so that when the enemy hits a mine, there's no possible escape. They can't just reverse a few metres and then you become the one attacking.

With the enemy infantry hopefully seperated, you have your AT trap infantry ready, if the enemy hasn't struck a mine by now already. With the tank's engine damaged, its dead meat and you send in your AT guns.




I have a feeling that defense by itself, particularly in this game, is worthless if you don't gain from it. Therefore I'd recommend having a strong reserve. You have lots of AT mines etc already, if those are backed up by some of your forces, the non-manouevre ones, then you can afford to defend. Meanwhile you have your mobile forces, presumably a tank supported by some elite infantry (I'm imagining an armoured reserve of dual T-34-85s would give someone an extremely bad day... but Panthers or P4s would do the job just as well, if not better). Those then flank the overextended tank, or assault a different location, even the enemy base.

Just my uninformed noobish theorising.

Probably my personal order for best at defending a position would go -

1. Ostheer (bunkers + minefields + tellermines plus excellent AT guns and fausts)
2. Soviets (excellent single mine, good doctrines, very close to Ostheer, I'd be tempted to put them on an equal footing)
3. OKW (because of their flaktruk and single mine, but no MG, but a few decent doctrines)
4. Americans (M20 mine just isn't good enough when that's your only mine)

Which game mode are we talking about? (1v1... 4v4? )

Any, it's up to you guys. The more perspectives of the game here the better.

I'm seeing it now, 4 conscript start followed by 2 engineers or something... what can go wrong? (ha)

an engineer and 4 cons, supplement molo's/ATnades as necessary into a maxim and t70 is one of favourite build orders. the engineers provide a lot of utility with flame throwers, demos and mines especially. they're so cheap, with 2 engineers you can drop them like bird dirt, on anything and everything; very frustrating and often deadly for your opponent.

The ethos of a good defensive oriented commander should not only be about producing a superior defensive position, but also adding something that would force the enemy to attack that defensive position, like artillery of some kind.

For Soviets. Repeal the god awful community commander and replace it with something...anything. Here is my take:



Reinforced Defenses: Lets infantry construct a reinforced sandbag wall with much more hp, with a built-in wall of razor wire on one side to prevent the enemy from using the cover. Takes longer to build than regular sandbags. Also let's CE's build tank traps.

Guards Rifle Infantry: No explanation needed

Heavy Anti-Tank Mines: Allows CE's to build anti-tank mines triggered by vehicles only, with a high probability of immobilize (Just copy/paste the riegel 43 mine from ostheer)

100mm field gun M1944 (BS-3): Allows for the call-in of a powerful 100mm field gun to the field, a major threat to even the heaviest of armor.

Katyusha BM-31-12 rocket launcher: An up-gunned variant of our beloved/hated BM-13-16 Katyusha, this truck carries 12 300mm rockets instead of the 16 132mm the baseline katy carries.

The ethos of a good defensive oriented commander should not only be about producing a superior defensive position, but also adding something that would force the enemy to attack that defensive position, like artillery of some kind.

For Soviets. Repeal the god awful community commander and replace it with something...anything. Here is my take:



Reinforced Defenses: Lets infantry construct a reinforced sandbag wall with much more hp, with a built-in wall of razor wire on one side to prevent the enemy from using the cover. Takes longer to build than regular sandbags. Also let's CE's build tank traps.

Guards Rifle Infantry: No explanation needed

Heavy Anti-Tank Mines: Allows CE's to build anti-tank mines triggered by vehicles only, with a high probability of immobilize (Just copy/paste the riegel 43 mine from ostheer)

100mm field gun M1944 (BS-3): Allows for the call-in of a powerful 100mm field gun to the field, a major threat to even the heaviest of armor.

Katyusha BM-31-12 rocket launcher: An up-gunned variant of our beloved/hated BM-13-16 Katyusha, this truck carries 12 300mm rockets instead of the 16 132mm the baseline katy carries.

The 100mm is great idea but since it would look funny when hauled by the crew it should function in the same way as pak43

ok m8s the time has come to teach you how to be an EFFECTIVE DEFENDER as krasnaya armya, my best faction

first, we need to choose a commander, because all pros choose commanders at the start. so what is going to be our choice? of course, soviet defence kommander (the name has defence in it so it should be ok).

ok now that we have chosen our commander we can focus on choosing units well build. so when u start the game, dont build any conscripts (conscripts are bad, no mg=bad) and build DEFENSIVNAYA KOMPANYA, our source for best units.

ok m8 if you are reading this you propably think 'but m8, how can i win with dis on 1v1 or 2v2'? so here comes my tip: dont play these modes, play only 4v4 (more players = more fun). ill be referring to steppes in this guide cause it has sandbags you know, that shit really helps with defence

now that u have the kompanya you build 3 x maxim and go straight to MUNI POINT at the top. why? because ull need those munis later. now dont build anything just wait till u get DSHKA AUTOMATNYJ AVTOMAT and spam them (they cost 300mp, they sure must be good)

now build 1 conscript infantry squad and go to muni point and build as many sandbags as you can, this will help defending the point. when youre done send con squad to enemy base, we dont need them anymore (as i said before, cons suck and cost only 240mp for building sandbags)

you will propably see enemy armor such as panthers, tigers or even pz4 so remember to call in at least 1 M42 PRETIVPANTSERNA PUKAVKA to defend your post against those cats

ok if you are a high rank 4v4 player like me (rank 20000-30000) you should propably rekt those noobs at the other team, you are so good you could win against them alone

thx for reading my guide hope it helps

Okok so this is my guide on how to defend properly in this game.

Pick defensive doctrine as ostheer, tank trap your base sector, reinforce it with wire to prevent infantry from coming in, place riegel mines every 20minutes (as your resource income wont allow for more), spam trenches everywhere in your base, place 10 mg42's 3 mortars and 1 sniper into these trenches. And build one Pak43. And ignore sector arty as it doesnt work on your base sector. Enjoy a proper defense. Not sure if its viable in competetive 1v1 tho.

The ethos of a good defensive oriented commander should not only be about producing a superior defensive position, but also adding something that would force the enemy to attack that defensive position, like artillery of some kind.

For Soviets. Repeal the god awful community commander and replace it with something...anything. Here is my take:



Reinforced Defenses: Lets infantry construct a reinforced sandbag wall with much more hp, with a built-in wall of razor wire on one side to prevent the enemy from using the cover. Takes longer to build than regular sandbags. Also let's CE's build tank traps.

Guards Rifle Infantry: No explanation needed

Heavy Anti-Tank Mines: Allows CE's to build anti-tank mines triggered by vehicles only, with a high probability of immobilize (Just copy/paste the riegel 43 mine from ostheer)

100mm field gun M1944 (BS-3): Allows for the call-in of a powerful 100mm field gun to the field, a major threat to even the heaviest of armor.

Katyusha BM-31-12 rocket launcher: An up-gunned variant of our beloved/hated BM-13-16 Katyusha, this truck carries 12 300mm rockets instead of the 16 132mm the baseline katy carries.

I like the idea of Katyusha with heavier rockets, would actually be dangerous to tanks.

My theory of defense is that it is useful in some situations, and on some maps. The problem with defensive play style is people think it is too "campy." Sometimes I like to go cap the points, set some defenses about to make it harder to recapture, then split my forces between a point holding force and then a reserve group to fill in gaps especially in team games.

The only thing that is required while you are on defensive, is that, like what Imperial Dane said in his castings, to predict the units your enemy is going for. Which, in the current meta of M20 rush/ AAHT / shock/ T70, you build mines, set up mgs etc.. Always expect armour or some sort, therefore don't forget AT.

Okok so this is my guide on how to defend properly in this game.

Pick defensive doctrine as ostheer, tank trap your base sector, reinforce it with wire to prevent infantry from coming in, place riegel mines every 20minutes (as your resource income wont allow for more), spam trenches everywhere in your base, place 10 mg42's 3 mortars and 1 sniper into these trenches. And build one Pak43. And ignore sector arty as it doesnt work on your base sector. Enjoy a proper defense. Not sure if its viable in competetive 1v1 tho.

*Shieldkrettenberg flashback*

My theory about defense is as Napoleon said, "the best defense is the attack itself".
My experience in this game (and in COH1) tought me that the defensive player has the best chance to lose. So the conclusion you must draw is that you need a mobile strong army which is able to walk around the map easily while winning the majority of engagements if not all of them. If this kind of army is doubled by a good map presence (no matter if this means reinfforcement units/bunker, fwd retreat points etc) from strategic point of view the battle should be won, unless youa re outmicroed by your oponnent. Establishing good defensive positions on a certain side of the map (more or less big) will repel your enemy once, maybe twice, but not for ever.

If defensive style means just placing alot of mines, then I fully agree.

CoH / 2 is definitely desgined to favour offense in general. One of the biggest complaints leveled against the Brits was that their strong emplacements led to too much defensive play, especially in the lower tiers when you'd have that sim city silliness.

It's a balancing act, but I'm not angry that defences are "relatively" easy to bypass or dismantle. The only exception is when there are natural choke points in maps that mean you onyl have one or two spots that you need to flood with units and its trivial to lock down as a result.

CoH / 2 is definitely desgined to favour offense in general. One of the biggest complaints leveled against the Brits was that their strong emplacements led to too much defensive play, especially in the lower tiers when you'd have that sim city silliness.

It's a balancing act, but I'm not angry that defences are "relatively" easy to bypass or dismantle. The only exception is when there are natural choke points in maps that mean you onyl have one or two spots that you need to flood with units and its trivial to lock down as a result.

Well my problem with the defensive structures in game is that some defensive structures are a little more futile than in COH 1. For instance building a trench was somewhat silly in COH1 but is definetly stupid in COH2. I watched some high level game where a top player (can't remember the name) made a citadel with wire, tank traps and trenches in the middle of Minsk map but that was far from necessity, it was just for fun and probably to change the playstyle. Building wire, tank traps, etc. takes so much time that it should actualy mean something and be a valid strategy. In addition, when it comes to capping, in COH2 every resource point matters.
Many high level players are wiring in startgame some objects that provide green cover for the enemy. Fact is that the enemy can come from a different direction and the wire you just build can prevent you from seeking green cover. That is why I think in most of the situations this wiring business means only losing time.

Defensive structures as bunkers or fighting positions are useful but they can't be upgraded to create new units. Maybe is just me, but I really miss the medical bunkers COH1 style.

All in all I don't think a defensive style can help you reach a higher level. It's just meh. And sorry, but british defensive style in COH1 was quite interesting, on many maps to properly lock an area you needed brains.

Well my problem with the defensive structures in game is that some defensive structures are a little more futile than in COH 1. For instance building a trench was somewhat silly in COH1 but is definetly stupid in COH2. I watched some high level game where a top player (can't remember the name) made a citadel with wire, tank traps and trenches in the middle of Minsk map but that was far from necessity, it was just for fun and probably to change the playstyle. Building wire, tank traps, etc. takes so much time that it should actualy mean something and be a valid strategy. In addition, when it comes to capping, in COH2 every resource point matters.
Many high level players are wiring in startgame some objects that provide green cover for the enemy. Fact is that the enemy can come from a different direction and the wire you just build can prevent you from seeking green cover. That is why I think in most of the situations this wiring business means only losing time.

Defensive structures as bunkers or fighting positions are useful but they can't be upgraded to create new units. Maybe is just me, but I really miss the medical bunkers COH1 style.

All in all I don't think a defensive style can help you reach a higher level. It's just meh. And sorry, but british defensive style in COH1 was quite interesting, on many maps to properly lock an area you needed brains.

I think they should have something that makes defenses build quicker, like a munition upgrade or doctrine passive ability on CE, RE, and the pioneers. The tank trap ability on the two defensive commanders for Soviet and Wehr should come with something that lowers the time to build tank traps, barb wire, etc. For US make it a munition upgrade for RE like obstacles kit, OKW if I'm not mistaken have a bulletin that increases the speed at which sturmpioneers build defenses. (10% or something like that)