OKW Defensive vs US Rifle Company

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  VS

  Boomhauer

  Flauffingauffen

  Strong opening, terrible late game

  by: dart_striker map: Road to Kharkov

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I could really use another pair of eyes on this, I thought I was doing really well, but he turned it around super quick. My main problems is dealing with Jacksons and Shermans. It seemed like the jackson has a lot more range than my panther, and the shermans frequently just one shot wiped full squads before I had a chance to react to them. I know I had a problem with the PK43, honestly was hoping he would attack from that side again and he never really did. Kind of a waste of resources. Anyways some thoughts would be very helpful.

Gimme a sec.




Let's start with some (general) Sim City basics


You really love to build cover for the wrong person, your enemy:

Don't build it like this:

or this:

... except you want to bait with mines, which is usually too pricy for OKW in the long run. (fun with demos as SOV / USF though)


If you place your T3, it should have a purpose and be either well defended, or hidden from ranged attacks.

Here neither is the case, so i'm not a huge fan of this placement.
Let's say you want it there, for whatever reason, then try to back it up with the two Raketen nearby to prevent tanks killing it, while the T3 building will cover vs infantry. It will still easily die though, and doesn't cover anything too important there.
You could have placed it a few meters to the left of your PAK43. No direct fire possible, and it would cover your PAK / fuel.


Apropo lovely PAK43...

Always put it on AT mode. It won't kill infantry anyways, and you just lose the surprise value on it.
If you would move some Volks & MGs there, you might be able to bait him into using tanks, which usually wouldn't end well for him if he doesn't know about the 43.
Another thing is the placement IMO. As you said yourself, it didn't do anything, mainly because it's chilling around so far back at the edge of the map, also getting constantly overtaken by those fancy Rifles.
A different example on "how to Sim City":

Add some mines here and there, maybe an MG bunker, maybe JP4 & Stuka instead of Panther, and Sim City your way to victory.


Place mines in more useful spots. You either want to buy time, if infantry engages you, get a lucky wipe, and / or mainly disable tanks coming for you. Relay enemy base sectors are not useful for this, nor do you have the ammo as OKW to waste.




Game specific:


- You went quite agressive once you had the upper hand, which is certainly good, but i'm not sure why you wanted his useless base sector (on the right) so badly. Just go for his high value points (cutoff, fuel, ammo).
- Panther is nice, but not the answer to every lategame. The 10 range may sound little, but you've seen yourself how fast a Panther can go down. 80 + 175 fuel at 66% income is a lot. You can not afford to carelessly rush with a Panther, it's too pricy for that. Don't be too greedy with the chase, if you can't afford losing the unit - especially not twice.
- Recent patch changed Flamer crits to only occur under 50% health. Good change if you face Flamer spam, right? Sadly you never got any heal, and your squads were in fairly bad shape. Why is this a problem? You feed those Rifles with vet and you constantly have to retreat way earlier - you obv. also bleed more manpower than necessary.
> get T1. 35m and no heal is suicide.
- You used the FlakHT fairly well, and IMO you could have won the game, if you would cut him off, instead of pushing on the right, and then starting to become rather passive again.
- Vs. Jacksons a JP4 can be nicer, especially with 43, Raketen, MG backup, and you could easily save the 80+40 fuel... for another JP4, a Stuka, or whatever you may need in the game.
- keep in mind you want combined arms. Lonely T3 is no threat, nor is a lonely 43. Put those two together, throw in some infantry, and your enemy can't just rely on Rifles & tanks.



P.S.: i also think you did fairly well (at start). My guess would be that you didn't know exactly how to make use of it. You spread too thin sometimes, and left certain (unhealed) units alone to become wiped easily.

Wow, thank you for the analysis! Really cemented mentally some of the problems I had. I've been opposed to using the Tier one first because I like having the puma or half track. But I'll will definitely start mixing it into my games. Whats your thoughts on building sandbags as OKW. It always seems I need the cover to have my Vols worth anything, but I never have a Pio squad around to barb wire it or, like you said enough munitions to mine them?

Well, i'm a huge fan of T1 snowballing, but T2 has his perks, especially vs. USF.
T2 > T1 is also a rather common strategy and certainly no crime - also offers you access to fancy ISG & JP4. Obers & Panthers aren't the only option for later on.

Click on the two additional thumbnail pictures. If you place sandbags on those spots, then you're able to use them, but not your enemy.
Oh yeah, i forgot that other part where i've seen your 34s being placed a bit weird on your fuel point: you do know that cover is directional?

Yeah I just have a bad habit of not making sure I clicked on the right side of the cover.

Just seen it twice or so, while you otherwise use cover rather properly. Shit happens.